Fighting Fake News with REAL;22/3/21, LAND FOR SALE; CORPORATE WELFARE; PORTER'S SUSS SALARY; DUTTON and SLIPPER SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

 

 Scotty is sending my clinic 50 doses a week

coronavirus

Record 844,000 vaccine doses given in UK in one day

 

 

Dangerous floods in the valley are not new. On April 4, 1817, Governor Macquarie lamented “it is impossible not to feel extremely displeased and Indignant at [settlers] Infatuated Obstinacy in persisting to Continue to reside with their Families, Flocks, Herds, and Grain on those Spots Subject to the Floods, and from whence they have often had their prosperity swept away …”

Dangerous floods are inevitable, so stop putting people in their way

 

  

Some firms receiving JobKeeper have paid out increased dividends to shareholders and bonuses to executives, and one leading expert argues "that's purely due to bad design" of the scheme.

JobKeeper pays dividends

 

Another Taylor shocker: Auditor lambasts dodgy handout to energy company that couldn’t do the job

Another scathing audit reveals how the fix was in for coal-fired power proponents — but even then they couldn't pick a winner.

 

 

The Coalition's recent history of deception makes Christian Porter's protestations of innocence harder to believe, writes Alan Austin.

Distrust in Government and Coalition harms Porter's claims of innocence

 

Who needs JobKeeper when  Rorts are aplenty

• Proposal that Christian Porter can return to ‘full-time salary doing part-time work’ further fuel for fury, Labor says

  However Government’s advice that victims of domestic violence should use super to escape abusers a stark contrast, Kristina Keneally says

  
  

• Peter Dutton charged taxpayers $465 for flight on day he was special guest at private event

   Remember what they did to Peter Slipper!!
  

   The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, charged taxpayers $465 for a flight to Maroochydore on the same day he was the special guest at a private event in Noosa River. 

   

   Mar 21, 2021 21:27

  

  Israel seizes Palestinian foreign minister’s travel permit after visit to International Criminal Court over war crimes probe

  Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, who was returning to the West Bank from a meeting at the International Criminal Court (ICC), was held up at a border crossing and got his VIP travel permit revoked by Israel. 

  FAKE NEWS & MISDIRECTION EXPOSED Cancel Culture king Andrew Bolt hasn't tried to sell subs for the Herald Sun for the last four days. It goes to show how non essential workers are overpaid and aren't hired or fired according to their service or value to society's needs.

   News Corp is very much a corporate agent for the loudest and uninformed mindset of cancel culture right wing ultra conservative minority but economically pwerful groups in Australia. The very opposite of what media and "free speech" in a Democracy was originally meant to be.

   Save the ABC it once better served the purpose of critically forcing the government to justify itself and who it really serves.
  

 

 

Fighting Fake News with REAL, 27/7/20; Right-Wing Bunnies at Bunnings; America's Friendly President; The shit will hit the fan and it should land on Abbott; Right-Wing Media have turned Socialist

theguardian.com

Australia doesn't need Reagan and Thatcher's neoliberal economics of misery | Van Badham

These economic times demand bold intervention to reconstruct our shattered economy and rebuild Australian workplaces

Australians experienced both the onset and impacts of neoliberalism in the 1980s in a more moderated form, given its introduction was facilitated by a Labor government, not a conservative one. Even so, its deprivations of job-offshoring, casualisation, privatisation and the end of full employment policy introduced economic insecurities into working life here that have been painfully exposed by the disappearing wages, layoffs and stand-downs of coronavirus.

These economic times demand bold intervention from government to reconstruct our shattered economy and rebuild Australian workplaces. Frydenberg spruiking Reagan, Thatcher and their economics of misery as the answer is just another hapless stagger, downhill in the wrong direction.

 The woman in Bunnings was right: the 1948 Universal Declaration Of Human Rights does have a clause about the right not to wear a mask at discount hardware chains | The Shovel

 

News In Photos

White House Clarifies That Trump Was Just Sending General Well Wishes To All Sex Traffickers

James Ashby sued the Speaker and lost — but the piper must be paid

Ross Jones 27 Jul 2020

The matter of a $3.75 million legal bill has been simmering since 2012, when James Ashby made false accusations against Speaker of the House Peter Slipper.

 The matter of legal and public relations expenses has been simmering since the 2012 attempt to overthrow the former Labor Government, when Ashby and sitting Coalition MP Mal Brough colluded with others to make false accusations in the Federal Court against the Speaker of the House, Peter Slipper.

 News Corp (Abbott's major media firm) played the part of magnifier, splashing fantasised lurid stories across multiple pages and screaming "sex scandal" at its readers. Ashby is openly gay and News Corp used his sexuality and his allegations as to what the married, religious Slipper allegedly liked in life, to beat Labor over the head so hard it could only reel.

 

 

 

Ultimately though, the bill will be settled one way or the other. James still has the wood on the Liberal Party. He can destroy the current players by exposing what their party did to gain the power it has not yet lost.

And nobody wants that.

 

How the illogical Right hijack debate

Rashad Seedeen 26 Jul 2020

Conservative political commentators preach simplistic narratives that align with their toxic worldviews, writes Rashad Seedeen.

 RECENTLY, THE HERALD SUN conservative columnist, Andrew Bolt, made the barely coherent claim that the outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria is largely the fault of multiculturalism. Such a baseless claim is typical fodder for a pundit like Bolt.
Here is a sense of his diatribe:

‘Victoria's coronavirus outbreak exposes the stupidity of that multicultural slogan “diversity makes us stronger”… tribalism does tend to make us think more of our own than of other “tribes”. That’s not good in any crisis where Australians must make sacrifices for the safety of all.’

The correlation is absurd, at best.

Returning to Bolt, rallying against multiculturalism is one of his favourite projects. The COVID-19 pandemic is only his latest bugbear. Bolt’s racist diatribe has a scatter-gun tendency. Previously, Bolt claimed that multiculturalism was ruining Christmas, brought violence to "our streets"  and is a form of "colonisation, turning this country from a home into a hotel".
Bolt’s rants have many targets but common themes include confected outrage and reliance on false information. He reached a new low when he described Greta Thunberg as "deeply disturbed" and with "so many mental disorders".
Thunberg, a globally-recognised teenage climate activist, has been quite open about her Asperger’s syndrome, yet Bolt’s mocking was so egregious that the Australian Press Council deemed that he had breached standards.
Meanwhile, Bolt has been regularly exposed for pushing inaccurate and false science in the denial of climate change.
 If we want to see the end of illogical and divisive rants from conservative commentators, we’ll need a combination of re-framing and direct political action. Either way, it’s up to us to make change possible.

FAKE NEWS

CORONAVIRUS DEATH TOLL: HOW IT COMPARES

COLUMN Australians can’t leave their country and can’t travel freely inside it because 155 people have died this year from the coronavirus. Meanwhile, in the first four months of this year, 3937 Australians died of respiratory diseases such as  pneumonia, influenza and chronic bronchitis. That isn't the only comparison that should give us perspective.    

27m ago 

What perspective Andrew Bolt what perspective politics? Should we be surprised that when Bolt's demonises Dan Andrews and doesn't mention that the deaths are found to occur in those sectors of our health system controlled and regulated by the Commonwealth? Dan Andrews hasn't politicized this but talks of excellent mutual cooperation between the two. 

Patients are being moved. However, the contagion's epi-centres tend to be found in areas regulated by Morrison's LNP .The majority of cases resulting in pneumonia and respiratory are due to a failed immune system which is common to all viruses. But COVID-19 has other long term consequences that effect the heart and kidneys. What Bolt fails to mention is those found with COVID antibodies lose them over a short period of time making them vulnerable to repeated infections and damage already done.

Bolt's comparison is a little like comparing chalk and cheese as pneumonia,influenza and bronchitis are some outcomes as they are of various viruses well known about which isn't the case with COVID-19. So Bolt's comparison suggesting the conclusion that they are the same similar or less dangerous has no currency and/or logic. But  Bolt's effort seems to be suggesting COVID-19 isn't particularly serious and that we are overreacting. He's being totally reckless and irresponsible. However, Bolt's a yo-yo declaring Andrews was underreacting without mentioning that the deaths were in Morrison regulated centres. Politics is the essence of Bolt's information and is Murdoch driven and unwanted in the circumstance. He's actually backward as Trump and Fox News were 2-3 months ago.

CORONAVIRUS DEATHS: SHUT THE DAMN DOOR

What's easier? Trying to stop all infections, or stop them getting into aged care homes?: "Here a third of all deaths have been nursing home residents... In the UK, The Guardian reported 16,000 people had died in nursing homes by late May... The New York Times has reported 40 per cent of all deaths in the US are in aged care facilities."

5m ago 

What Bolt conveniently overlooks is that currently, less than 10% of that 30% of deaths have occurred in his hated Socialist controlled Aged -Care centers. Today that 10% has shrunk to even less. So these deaths have occurred in private institutions not regulated by Dan Andrews but Scott Morrison which before COVID Bolt deemed  best but over-regulated system. He's now been calling for even stronger regulation somehow suggesting Dan Andrews take them over completely.  https://theconversation.com/heres-what-we-know-so-far-about-the-long-term-symptoms-of-covid-19-142722 (ODT)

CORONAVIRUS TESTS TOO LATE IN AUSTRALIA'S DEADLIEST STATE

COLUMN On Sunday, we saw the same deadly incompetence after Premier Daniel Andrews said another 10 Victorians had died of the coronavirus. This is the state that makes fit, healthy people wear face masks — even when alone in the open air — while leaving open the door to nursing homes. Killing zones. And it doesn't get test results back until too late.

11m ago 

  God Bolt repeats himself doesn't he and conveniently ignores so many facts. 

1) Victoria was the most successful state in the country the boom state for jobs. It should be no surprise when a recession hits the biggest downward impact will generally be felt here.

2) Victoria the jobs state had the highest number of new arrivals looking and finding work. 

3) However, across the nation, the precariousness of that work has been exacerbated across Australia due to the LNP's attack on industrial relations and the unions.While Australians battle against casualisation, wage theft and imported labour making those conditions felt more here along with anxiety. 

4) That impact is felt the most among the working poor and that's where COVID-19 has hit the hardest. In the State that 6 months ago provided the greatest opportunity for work.

5) The "deadliest" State as Bolt calls it is now suffering because it was the best and it's borders now closed. Job loss, financial need, desperation and anxiety has now increased

6) You won't hear Bolt arguing for a UBI to alleviate that pressure in the need to beat this virus. No all you hear is his call to get back to work no matter the precariousness of that work. A precariousness he doesn't have to face being paid for unproductive work. We hear him telling workers that the virus is a trivial matter and immunity is easily achieved just get back to work. Children are perfectly safe and should be back in school. All facts that research is to date proving to be wrong advice.

7) His illogical efforts to debate is the right-wing attempt to hijack a political conversation which can be found in MURDOCH's MEDIA global approach in the US,UK and Australia. supporting the policies of the clowns currently leading the countries to the world's greatest failures. (ODT)

Andrew Bolt's Blog,20/7/15; Bolt pleads for the poor rich; Beat the drums of war for Abbott's domestic sake; Abbott's assault on Slipper; Just a small mine according to Bolt, but an informed reply by a reader;

 

 

 

 

 

The kind of tolerance that makes citizens too terrified to speak

Doesn't Bolt exhaust himself defending Reclaim Australia and the UPF or find himself caught between a rock and a hard place when these groups members are singled out by police for their Jew hating sloganeering? Apparently not  anti- Antisemitism is fine  as long as it's coupled with the Islamophobic and anti Asian message. It's a total package of hate.  

More important is the numbers of people involved and the importance Bolt gives  to these extremists trying to get media  attention. It's just Bolt's chance to  sell the fear deny the justified reaction that racism causes whenever openly displayed. This isn't a matter of free speech but vilification of 3% of decent Australians. It's an action that promotes prejudice and  the discrimination that comes with it.

 

 

 

 

Column - If Bishop insists on charging for these rorts, she must go

Link Paywall to Herald -Sun

 "So where is Prime Minister Tony Abbott?" 

The Liberal Party has rapidly taken down Tony Abbott's response when Peter Slipper was accused I wonder why? Bolt never refers to it.  Transcript Of Abbott's Assault On Slipper Over Parly Expenses Removed From Liberal Party Website

 

Tony Abbott Doorstop: Peter Slipper MP
21/04/12
TONY ABBOTT:
The Speaker is the guardian of parliamentary standards. The Speakership is one of the most important offices in the Parliament. The Speaker is there to uphold the integrity of the Parliament and now we have very, very serious allegations against the incumbent Speaker, allegations of sexual harassment and allegations of potentially criminal misuse of entitlements. These are very serious allegations indeed. Yes, the Speaker is entitled to the presumption of innocence but he does have quite a lot of explaining to do.
It’s also very important that the Prime Minister act to ensure the integrity of the Parliament. The Speaker is only in that office because the Prime Minister used her numbers late last year to install him. The Prime Minister, to uphold the integrity of the Parliament, needs now to require the Speaker to step down until these matters are resolved.  It’s also incumbent upon the Australian Federal Police to swiftly investigate the potentially criminal allegations that have been made against the Speaker.
I can’t underestimate the seriousness of this. The Speaker is required to maintain parliamentary standards and yet there are now these extremely serious allegations against the Speaker himself. So in order to maintain the respect and the reputation of the Parliament, in order to preserve the integrity of the Government and our institutions, it is very important that the Prime Minister act swiftly to require the Speaker to step aside and it’s very important that the Australian Federal Police quickly investigate these matters so that they can be resolved as soon as is humanly possible.
QUESTION:
So these aren’t the first allegations against him. Should this have been dealt with a long time ago?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well these are matters that have been referred to a court. These are matters where legal documents have been lodged. These are matters that are now to be the subject of proceedings in court, so these are of a vastly more serious and substantial nature than anything that has been alleged against Mr Slipper in the past.
QUESTION:
After everything that’s been going on with Craig Thomson, I suppose the question is, you know, where to from here? Does she need to make a stand now?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well this does go to the integrity not just of the Parliament but of the Prime Minister and of the Government. The Prime Minister cannot wash her hands of this business the way she has tried to wash her hands of the allegations concerning Mr Thomson because Mr Slipper is no mere backbencher. Mr Slipper is the Speaker of the Parliament. Mr Slipper occupies a very, very important office. He is the guardian of the standards of the Parliament, the protector of the reputation of the Parliament and now there are these extremely serious allegations against him and that’s why the only proper way forward is for the Speaker to step aside while these allegations are being dealt with. If he doesn’t do so voluntarily, the Prime Minister should indicate that she will require him to step aside until these matters are resolved.
QUESTION:
Do you have any thoughts on who should take his place while the investigation is ongoing?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, as a matter of ordinary parliamentary procedure, if the Speaker is unable to take the chair, the senior Deputy Speaker automatically would take the chair.
- See more at: https://newmatilda.com/2015/07/18/transcript-abbotts-assault-slipper-over-parly-expenses-removed-liberal-party-website#sthash.mUTmQzzr.dpuf

Tony Abbott Doorstop: Peter Slipper MP
21/04/12
TONY ABBOTT:
The Speaker is the guardian of parliamentary standards. The Speakership is one of the most important offices in the Parliament. The Speaker is there to uphold the integrity of the Parliament and now we have very, very serious allegations against the incumbent Speaker, allegations of sexual harassment and allegations of potentially criminal misuse of entitlements. These are very serious allegations indeed. Yes, the Speaker is entitled to the presumption of innocence but he does have quite a lot of explaining to do.
It’s also very important that the Prime Minister act to ensure the integrity of the Parliament. The Speaker is only in that office because the Prime Minister used her numbers late last year to install him. The Prime Minister, to uphold the integrity of the Parliament, needs now to require the Speaker to step down until these matters are resolved.  It’s also incumbent upon the Australian Federal Police to swiftly investigate the potentially criminal allegations that have been made against the Speaker.
I can’t underestimate the seriousness of this. The Speaker is required to maintain parliamentary standards and yet there are now these extremely serious allegations against the Speaker himself. So in order to maintain the respect and the reputation of the Parliament, in order to preserve the integrity of the Government and our institutions, it is very important that the Prime Minister act swiftly to require the Speaker to step aside and it’s very important that the Australian Federal Police quickly investigate these matters so that they can be resolved as soon as is humanly possible.
QUESTION:
So these aren’t the first allegations against him. Should this have been dealt with a long time ago?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well these are matters that have been referred to a court. These are matters where legal documents have been lodged. These are matters that are now to be the subject of proceedings in court, so these are of a vastly more serious and substantial nature than anything that has been alleged against Mr Slipper in the past.
QUESTION:
After everything that’s been going on with Craig Thomson, I suppose the question is, you know, where to from here? Does she need to make a stand now?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well this does go to the integrity not just of the Parliament but of the Prime Minister and of the Government. The Prime Minister cannot wash her hands of this business the way she has tried to wash her hands of the allegations concerning Mr Thomson because Mr Slipper is no mere backbencher. Mr Slipper is the Speaker of the Parliament. Mr Slipper occupies a very, very important office. He is the guardian of the standards of the Parliament, the protector of the reputation of the Parliament and now there are these extremely serious allegations against him and that’s why the only proper way forward is for the Speaker to step aside while these allegations are being dealt with. If he doesn’t do so voluntarily, the Prime Minister should indicate that she will require him to step aside until these matters are resolved.
QUESTION:
Do you have any thoughts on who should take his place while the investigation is ongoing?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, as a matter of ordinary parliamentary procedure, if the Speaker is unable to take the chair, the senior Deputy Speaker automatically would take the chair.
- See more at: https://newmatilda.com/2015/07/18/transcript-abbotts-assault-slipper-over-parly-expenses-removed-liberal-party-website#sthash.mUTmQzzr.dpuf

Column - Mad campaign against a mine that will feed us

Link paywall to the Herald - Sun

" AUSTRALIANS have a crippling case of supermarket syndrome"Bolt

Bolt is  calling us stupid and ignorant against his greater wisdom. This once 18 year old uni failure calls the youth of today even more ignorant than he was. His case and point a " a medium-sized coal mine on the Liverpool Plains.". Given that the aquifier to Australia's largest water resource in our most fertile farmland has already been breached by mining only ignorants  could consider it happening again. Farmers and scientists are left out of Bolt's equation because he'd be then hard pressed calling them rabble. However the Aquafier is 70 meters deep and the proposed mine 300 meters.

A rare comment  printed by a reader of Bolt's blog

 Andrew, your continued support of the Shenhua Watermark open cut coal mine is both naiive and ignorant.  Your remarks on the Bolt Report yesterday showed a serious lack of scholarship and understanding of this issue and the coal seam gas industry which you also support.  Your claim yesterday that this proposed mine will not damage aquifers in the area is absurd.  The mine will be 300m deep and the aquifer is 70m below the top of the ridge.  Agriculture relies on water from aquifers and this mine will affect the aquifers as does CSG.  May I suggest you do some research before making any more comments.  May I also suggest that if this mine and others like it are approved, you switch from growing tulips to vegetables in your garden.  

And no, I am not a greenie or socialist or even a xenophobe.  I am simply sick and tired of the ignorance of most commentators on this matter.

Centaur of Regional NSW (Reply)
Mon 20 Jul 15 (08:32am)
 

Another flight Bishop will have to defend

Link paywall to the Herald - Sun 

Where is Tony Abbott the troops are restless?

There were two sets of protesters on the street. The media savaged the more peaceful

Link Bolt's blog and selected fan Unsourced

Bolt's more peaceful Reclaim Australia members caught in the act of throwing bottles at anti-Racists. Is this legal or attempted  GBH. Damn left media is so biased showing this photo.

Apparently wearing the Australian flag as a mask is a sign loyalty these days and if worn in a 7/11 one shouldn't feel afraid they're 'good ole boys'.

 Bolt's whinge against the left media is a bit ludicrous as The Age certainly gave the event no attention at all  today but then News Corp is everywhere as is Bolt. So serious was this event attention Bolt has given it was not really for Melbourne readers.

Could Bolt feel anymore comfortable in generating his media lie ."One side denounced the Islamic State that has beheaded civilians, murdered gays and raped women; the other tried to attack those worried by the danger." The side he's praising did nothing of the kind. They don't care about the Middle East it's an excuse to show their Antagonism to Islam in Australia, Antagonism to Halal Certification and yes Asian Immigration in general to Australia.  They want a return to the White Australia Policy and that is Racism.  The police removed 2 of these good people Bolt supports  off a bus in Melbourne because of their anti- Semitic slogans. Yes Bolt your team are Jew haters  and you the friend of the Jews condones them. Reading his complaint it seems  Bolt is a racist with a shrill meter.

 

Violent Christian mob attack Muslims doing Eid prayer in Indonesia’s Papua

 

More taxes, cries a Liberal leader

Link Murdoch's Paywall 

"this sounds too much like just another grab for even more taxes to underwrite massive social welfare spending, with the bill sent to the “rich” who already pay for most of the country’s spending:"

Bolt never addresses the widening income and wealth gaps that justify "billing the rich" The myth of the "trickle down " effect is just that an ideological myth. According to Bolt values like the equality health and welfare of Australian citizens are values we can ill afford. However Bolt's case the "we" are those that in the past 25 years have become exceedingly richer while the middle class has been shrinking and the poor and working poor growing. Remember Hockey's truth "the poor don't drive cars" Even Bolt's boss Rupert speaks out against the burgeoning wealth gap that threatens the undoing of  Corporate Capitalism's progress. Murdoch sees it as the biggest danger and advocates that the gap be reduced. However you wont hear that from Bolt

Saudis arrest 400 over Islamic State plot

Link The Australian & SMH

Bit of a stretch suggesting Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop have exclusive rights to the crystal ball of military strategy. Abbott said he was sending troops to the Middle East to  Degrade and Destroy ISIS and hinted it was going to be a simple exercise. Over a year later ISIS has not only survived our brave leaders onslaught of words and bombs but has survived in increasing numbers. 

ISIS and Abbott seem to be on the same page they both want to escalate the war for their own domestic reasons. They both want more coalition troops on the ground so that the Sunni tribes and Shiia militias might be encouraged to unite to remove the foreign invaders and the governments they support and ISIS wants to destroy. No matter what, ISIS wants to escalate this fight and take it to all Middle Eastern countries. In particular those countries currently ruled by Western supported autocrats which both Shiia and Sunnis oppose. Oppose not for religious reasons but the poverty and lack of opportunity they inflict on the majority of  Arabs and Persians alike. It's the underlying factor that unites them.

"The Islamic State really does threaten to be as big a danger as Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop say - and that many on the Left refuse to believe:"

Bolt is merely stating the obvious but trying to suggest Abbott has some special powers as leader. To date all Abbott's been doing has been using the Middle East conflict for his own domestic advantage. He has been dividing Australia as was suggested by Scott Morrison after the Cronulla Riots.

 The Left know as well as anybody what's going on except they are realists. That what's occurring is a peculiarly Middle Eastern rebellion and not a East West one however that narrative  suist the the common cause of Abbott and ISIS and is what Bolt is helping to promote. In a nutshell they are traitors  to Australians on and all. Islam: the ‘Open Civilisation’ confounds closed minds:

 Violent Christian mob attack Muslims doing Eid prayer in Indonesia’s Papua

 

Will this just fade to black? Will the AFP and DPP assist?

Wipe My Brough. I’m in Trouble

 

Since the airing of the 60 Minutes Ashby interview the murk of conservative gutter politics, with regard to the Ashby/Slipper Affair, has worsened.
James Ashby has left himself open to charges of perjury and Mal Brough (a private citizen at the time) has all but confessed that he incited Ashby to steal Slipper’s diary.

Coalition gutter inhabitant Christopher Pyne has contradicted himself in saying that he had no direct knowledge of Ashby’s accusations other than what he read in the papers. Yet it is alleged he had a meeting with him to discuss the matter and might have offered him some form of job security.
He confirmed that he raised a possible Coalition win at the Queensland 2012 and federal 2013 elections as chances for Mr Ashby to secure a new job.
 Why did channel nine wait until September 7 to air the interview? It could have done so while parliament was sitting. Questions would have had to be answered especially by Brough and Pyne.
Had they aired it a week earlier, on Sunday 31 August, it would have been at the start of a Parliamentary sitting week.It has been suggested that Ashby was paid $100,000 for the interview.

 Labor backbencher Graham Perret has asked the AFP to urgently investigate the case. It is difficult to imagine they wouldn’t given Brough’s confession on 60 Minutes:

“I would urge the Australian Federal Police to proceed with its investigation immediately, especially given the risk of disappearance for vital evidence.”

 Victorian Labor MP Michael Danby, has said he will ask the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to examine whether Mr Ashby has perjured himself by changing his story on whether he was offered any incentives to make a sexual harassment claim against his then boss Mr Slipper.
Mr Danby said:

“Taking him at his word, James Ashby claims to have been induced by Liberal MPs into making his sordid claims against Peter Slipper. What he told 60 Minutes last night about these alleged inducements directly contradicts what Mr Ashby put on oath in a sworn affidavit?”

Let’s take a few steps backwards and look at the sequence of events.

Sexual harassment claims were made by Ashby against Slipper. Justice Rares found that it was a vexatious claim and that its real purpose was to bring down the Speaker and cause as much havoc as possible to the minority government.
Later his judgement was overturned by the full court in a split decision and as a consequence we had two judges saying it was more to do with law than politics and two others saying the opposite. The appeal court determined that it should go to court to be sorted out. But then Ashby withdrew making a mockery of the court’s decision. It has always been about power and the price conservatives place on it. In this case they were even prepared to subvert our democracy to obtain it.

Photo: morningmail.org

Both Pyne and Abbott insist they had no specific knowledge of the events but both are contradictory and by inference say they had a general knowledge. We need to know exactly what that was. Abbott for example needs to explain the mystery of how a press release calling for Slipper’s resignations was on the streets the moment the Telegraph went to press with the story. Metadata records even suggest that the press release was prepared prior to the Telegraph story. Remember the Telegraph was leading the media charge.Why is there is an application from June for the Commonwealth to pay $1 million for Ashby’s legal costs.