From the ABC:
Costello's staffer run down near Parliament House
A 52-year-old man seriously injured in a hit-and-run incident near Parliament House in Canberra last night is understood to be the chief of staff for federal Treasurer Peter Costello.
Phil Gaetjens from Weston was crossing State Circle close to the Canadian High Commission when he was hit by a vehicle just after 7pm AEST.
It is understood he was walking back to Parliament House at the time.
Mr Gaetjens was taken to Canberra Hospital with serious head injuries but police say his condition is improving.
Sergeant Dick Dauth from the collision investigation team says it is believed a number of cars were in the area at the time.
"The vehicle that struck the pedestrian failed to stop," he said.
"Anyone with information in relation to this collision can report it to police anonymously on CrimeStoppers."
Sergeant Dauth has urged the driver of the car to come forward.
"At this stage we're unsure of the vehicle," he said.
"Further enquiries are being made and we hope to identify the vehicle before too long."
Game on.
Saturday, 30 June 2007
RUN DOWN: Treasurer's Chief of Staff Victim of Car Hit and Run
Friday, 29 June 2007
FRIDAY FREAK: Delay Due To Technical Difficulties
Programming note: Our blockbuster Friday Freak story will not be available until later today due to technical difficulties. Those requiring their dose of Greens bashing and debauchery should please email us landeryou (at) gmail.com and we'll provide it to you directly in case these difficulties persist.
Game on.
IDIOT NAMED: Enviroexaggerator Tim Flannery Slammed
Enviroexaggerator Tim Flannery has been put back in his place by NSW patriot Michael Costa:
KURNELL DESALINATION PLANT
Dr JOHN KAYE: My question is directed to the Treasurer and refers to an answer he gave to a question from me on Tuesday 26 June in respect of the Kurnell desalination plant. Firstly, is it not true there are two fundamental principles of sound economic management: one, avoid investment in infrastructure before it is needed, particularly if there is some risk that that infrastructure will never be needed; and, two, choose the lowest cost options wherever you can? So, when the Treasurer says the desalination plant would be "integrated into the Sydney water system," does that mean that, first, this infrastructure is needed now and there is no way we can delay the $1.76 billion investment and, second, there are no other lower cost options that could provide water and equivalent levels of security?
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: No, I did not write that question for him!
The Hon. Duncan Gay: Why did the Greens give Labor their preferences?
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: I suspect the real reason for that is they know just how hopeless the Opposition is! In answer to the question, first and foremost I would have to say that I find it quite extraordinary that the Greens should be asking about sound economic management.
The Hon. Catherine Cusack: Maybe it is because you do not know anything about sound economic management.
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: I certainly do not have a policy that seeks to do what the Greens do—that is, wipe out most of our economy. First, our export sector—
Dr John Kaye: Point of order: The answer is not relevant. The question asked about water not coal.
The PRESIDENT: Order! There is no point of order. I remind the Treasurer to continue to be generally relevant.
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: The question referred to economics and certainly I am entitled to refer to the Greens economic policy, because that is the benchmark of a failed economic policy. If people want to see an economic policy that will destroy not only this State but probably the nation if it is ever implemented, they need only look at the Greens policy. That unfundable policy, which is based on economic illiteracy, will lead to significant job destruction. I made some comments the other day about a desalination plant. The Government has made a decision to go ahead with desalination to drought-proof the Sydney metropolitan area. It has chosen a range of strategies to meet that objective.
The Hon. Duncan Gay: There was snow at Crookwell yesterday. It will all be flowing into the catchment.
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: That is what I love about these people. When the drought was at its worst, I kept saying, "It will rain". But the Greens and idiots like Tim Flannery said, "It will never rain."
The Hon. Melinda Pavey: He is the Australian of the Year.
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: You made him Australian of the Year, not me! Well it has started to rain and it seems as though it is going to rain forever. These people do not understand climate cycles. When it comes to the climate they are alarmists and cannot see beyond the end of their noses. They create division, panic and fear so that they can rustle up a few naïve people to vote for them at election time. Climates change. If there is one constant about climates, it is that they change. I do not mean that they are changing now; but they have changed over history. We will continue to see climates change, and rain cycles will vary from drought, to normality, to heavy rainfall incidents. That is the reality of the world and that is what we have to plan for. We do not plan on a day-to-day basis, as the Greens do. It is easy for them to make unaffordable promises and to come up with an economic model that could apply only in cloud-cuckoo-land. It is easy for the Greens to make policies that no-one need fear will be implemented. But that does not stop them putting up ridiculous propositions every question time. The Government's policy is clear. We have a range of alternatives to secure our water supply, including capturing water for our dam system, recycling and, now, desalination.
Game on
WAR ON ERROR: Distracted By Internal Crisis, The Age's Errors Multiply
OC Investigator Daniel points out that the Fairfaxista letters pages may already be suffering from cost-cutting in the left-wing newspaper publisher.
He points to:
■ The highly unusual criticism of The Age for its left-wing views slipping in today's letters:
Outrageous nonsense
I HAVE never seen such disgusting journalism as I saw in The Age today (28/7). Your paper is known for its left-wing views, but this tops the lot with this outrageous nonsense. You get a report sent to the Prime Minister and he turns and acts on it — then you go and publish this nonsense.
John Robson, Lower Templestowe
■ Obvious errors that may have survived spell-checker but not the roving eye of the sub-editor like this one:
This problem is bigger than hurricane Katrina, not simply a freak event. It is a system of devastation that sweeps through the town on Thursdays — the day welfare checks [sic] are given, which see lines form at the bottle shops. My family still lives in the red centre among the alcoholism, drugs, rape and violence.
and in another letter:
Why not track down a few more quite[sic] achievers in our country?
While they're looking for "quite achievers" perhaps the Fairfaxistas might either wake up the sub-editors they have or hire ones who can read.
Game on.
MAYNE'S SHAME: OC Takedown Victim Says Blogs Have No Impact But That Isn't True Is It Stevie?
Stephen Mayne made a million dollars from slagging people on a gossip email newsletter known to many as Nameless.
And yet now - after a case of premature disposition caused him to sell well under the odds - he seems a very bitter little man for someone well over six foot, and has astonishingly slagged Australian internet journalism.
He has told The Aged newspaper that:
"I don't think blogging has particularly set the world on fire here in terms of political coverage or political results"
And yet what he forgot to mention is that the OC breaks more news and more lefty legs (a figure of speech of course) than any other political news site in the nation. A big claim but I think quite true. The newspapers do their thing and often do it quite well but he knows full well that his own sad online publication no longer even breaks a sweat let alone a story. It's lame and always the same.
Just to remind him of when the OC chopped up Stevie Mayne's political party like kindling and lit a bonfire of freedom with it, here's The Australian's quick summary of events:
Oh yes and then there was that time when Glenny Milne attacked Stephen Mayne live on stage at the journalist's union award night which was being televised to an audience no less than four households. He attacked him because we'd impolitely yet entirely accurately pointed out that Milne was a bit of a pantsman and Mayne had linked to the story. The Sydney Morning Herald gives a reasonable summary.
Based on that evidence it does seem clear that we have rather lit a fire here at the OC, right under Stephen Mayne's bony Grammar boy ass. Pass the apple sauce.
Game on.
Thursday, 28 June 2007
GONER: Andrew Jaspan Is Going // Most Likely Replaced By Mark Baker With Ramadge Lurking In Shadows
Melbourne inner city's local daily newspaper in decline The Age continues to be in crisis, a low rent version of the London Guardian newspaper without the resources, scale, quality, depth or passion.
The man who helped drive them there - the OC can confirm - is going to be terminated imminently. It will be presented as the Englishman returning home for professional and family reasons, in truth it is an open secret that Jaspan was given the indication several months ago that he ought to be actively looking to go.
RAMBO HOPELESS
So who will replace him? Paul Ramadge, the self-styled Rambo Deputy Editor believes it will be him.
A bullying practitioner of the tirade, Age insiders say that unlike most of his peers in editorial leadership who lack social skills, Ramadge lacks the news judgment necessary to retain any respect from those who report to him. He is held in even greater contempt than Jaspan, a now universally reviled figure.
Ramadge has the hide of a rhino so will keep fighting for a promotion til the better end. On the grounds that he would be possibly a more destructive and thermonuclear Editor in Chief than either Stephen Mayne or even my good self (memo to Chairman Ron, will work for food), Ramadge would certainly an amusing choice.
But those who gossip at The Age (everyone except Leonie Wood) know that Ramadge's dog won't hunt.
MAN MOST LIKELY
A far more likely prospect is former long-time Asian correspondent, later The Age's Opinion Editor and now Editor of the Canberra Times, Mark Baker. He certainly appears to be the favoured one of the Fairfax family who are now the largest shareholder in the recently merged Fairfax Media and might be looking to be a bit more hands-on by influencing Jaspan's replacement.
Having a Sydney family of blue-bloods directly accountable for the ongoing obscenity that is The Age newspaper would be - as the young folks say - kewl.
Game on.
OUTFOXED: You Are Passing More OC Roadkill
Patriots with very good memories for such things will recall that we named and shamed the Greens candidate for Melbourne long before they were willing to publicly announce him.
Today they made the announcement, nearly six weeks after our own. Indeed it appears that Senator Bob Brown's campaign launch in Melbourne was somewhat derailed by an off-message attack on Premier Bracks and the ALP prompted by a well-timed story in The Age revealing the secret Greens Liberal Deal. As the clear front-runners in the federal seat of Melbourne, this is the kind of stupidity they will need to avoid not to snatch defeat from the jaws of inner-city victory yet again.
Mind you, Adam Bandt has actually already been elected according to the Greens website with their Bandt pic (typically enough not properly working) is http://www.vic.greens.org.au/elected-greens-1/Adam_Bandt.jpg
So it really is "wakey, wakey, hand off snakey" time for Comrade Tanner. He's clearly a smart bloke who has trouble with basic arithmetic. His playbook is to be inoffensive to the Greens in case they don't like him. It's the "I'll keep quiet so the schoolyard bully doesn't beat me up" strategy. And unlikely to work in this case, Comrade Bandt knows what he has to do, keep the Greens primary high by stealing Tanner primaries and hoping the secret Greens Liberal Deal delivers him Liberal preferences to the extreme left group.
Tanner is usually intent on fighting a different battle altogether, where he focuses criticism on the Liberals who are not really his opponent. He was lucky to get away with it last time, as the Greens website notes:
With a 5 to 8% swing from Labor to the Greens, Mr Bandt may unseat Labor’s Lindsay Tanner. At the last State election, the Greens polled 48% on a two-party preferred basis, nearly unseating State Labor Minister Bronwyn Pike.
In many respects, Bandt is a more likely prospect to win than their Senate candidate Dr Richard "Bridesmaid" Di Natale, a potential three-time loser whose second go probably would have succeeded but for revelations of the Greens Liberal Deal. Ironically the good doctor's brother-in-law Greg "Mini-Me" Barber ironically part of the "brains trust" that cut the deal in the first place.
Game on.
SPRUNG: Greens Caught In Web of Deception
The Victorian Greens have been busted engaging in criminally misleading election advertising, involving the cyber hijacking of an an ALP website. Victorian Greens are all hot and flustered over the attacks on their secret deal with their stated political opponents in the Liberal Party.
The deal is simple: The Liberals give preferences in inner city lower house seats in return for Greens agreeing to split-ticket and preference to the Liberals in other marginals. Recent sweeteners that the Liberals appear to have demanded include votes on legislation and the appointment of Chairs of parliamentary committees. Very cosy.
But to the ultra left (and ultra right which is much the same anyway) purity is everything.
Having the curtain drawn back on their wicked arrangements and secret deals with the conservatives they pledge to oppose is a big worry with voters inside the Latte Curtain who vote for the Greens because they think the ALP is not left wing enough. Imagine their shock to discover the lefter, purer version of the promised land they voted for involves support for the right-winger Phil Davis, monarchist Gordon Rich-Phillips and opposing anti-nuclear power measures.
So the Greens have engaged in what is blatantly fraudulent advertising, almost certainly illegal in Australia, where it has bought a link on Google Adwords pretending to be the ALP's site which exposes the Greens-Liberal-Deal. It then cyber hijacks the reader to a Greens party site written by a Sean Hardy, a member of their politburo executive.
It's an extraordinary thing for them to do on a number of grounds. Firstly, it's a highly misleading and deceptive communication to voters, with all the potential criminal sanctions that flow. Secondly, it confirms that they are panicked about their secret deal with the Liberals coming to public attention.
2.36PM UPDATE: The swift stick of OC justice has been applied. Electoral authorities are believed to have ordered the Greens remove their highly misleading hijack advertisement. Instead the ALP now has an ad, not on a pay per click basis that will be a permanent reminder of the folly of "Greens strategists" (no doubt some hippy experiencing mid-life crisis and acid flashback simultaneously). Those searching on Greens Liberal Deal will find the website exposing Green antics. Those searching on Greg Barber will find the same. Those searching other phrases of relevance will find the same website. How amusing.
Game on.
LADIES WHO LUNCH: Victor Perton Fondly Remembered
While former Liberal MP Victor Perton's work for liberty in China is to be commended, even more impressive is an old story that the OC heard for the first time today which is that his ex-girlfriends formed a support group who convene occasionally for lunch to swap their Victor stories and to generally console/congratulate each other about moving on.
Nice to be remembered, I suppose.
Game on.
BACKLASH: Grill Expulsion Disgusts Kalgoorlie Community
The ALP has offended many people in Western Australia through its clumsy and outrageous treatment of former Labor Minister Julian Grill.
Yesterday's Kalgoorlie Miner ran a "leader" or editorial on the matter yesterday, speaking for many in the Kalgoorlie community:
SHABBY TREATMENT
The Labor Party's expulsion of Julian Grill on spurious grounds is a shabby way to treat a man who has served the Goldfields, the state and the party with distinction.
The fact he channelled a donation on behalf of a client to another political party provides only technical grounds for the move against him.
The real reason is obviously to purge the party of any traces of Brian Burke's influence. Mr Grill has been found guilty by association on a technicality without a fair trial.
All lobbyists use their knowledge and networks to achieve results. That's why companies and individuals hire them.
The fact Julian Grill was good at his job is no reason to udnermine his business or to devalue his past contribution.
Never has a truer word been spoken.
Game on.
BARELY LEGAL: Shameful Sleazy Socialist Senator Seeks to Seduce Sex Slave
Forty seven year old Victorian Senator Gavin Marshall has been accused of sexually harassing a woman less than half his age. The Senator - whose office issues a guide to school-leavers with more than a page of information about sex [pdf] - uses his position of power to hit on impressionable young women interested in getting ahead in politics. It is predator behaviour and a horrible abuse of power.
BARELY LEGAL
The victim - twenty years' old at the time - has bravely come forward to tell the story of the Senator's highly inappropriate conduct at a "slave auction" designed to raise funds for the Socialist Left cause. It is not the OC's practice to name victims of sexual harassment, however we are certainly willing to pass on media inquiries to her for her own decision.
The function - itself a rather odd event - was held last September at a Richmond venue called der Raum.
The young woman is not a member of the Socialist Left but was being supportive of friends who were involved in student elections at Monash University.
Marshall not only attended but wanted to enthusiastically bid on any of the slaves he liked the look of. His minder stopped him from bidding but not from drooling. A slave auction - while a little too politically correct even for the OC - is apparently a means of fund-raising where bidders compete for the right for the slave to date or perform a task
SEXUAL HARASSMENT = UNWELCOME ATTENTION OF A SEXUAL NATURE
The OC has been told exclusively that after the auction, "the sleazy old man" then explained to his slave - only partly in jest - that a slave owner had the right to do "anything he wanted with her." He then joked that he "could put her on his Visa card".
The discussion sent chills done the young lady's spine. Marshall was born just one year before her mother and she was perfectly capable of knowing when she was being sleazed onto. The look of lust was in his eyes, the victim told the OC in a distressed state yesterday.
Confident that he'd made a favourable impression on his prey, he even left her with his business card, in case she wanted to "follow up."
She didn't. And she didn't want to hear any more stories about how devoted he was to his kids or how his wife cruelly wronged him.
The business card - pictured right - has been retained for "DNA analysis".
This is the first confirmation of a long repeated rumour about Senator Marshall, that he uses his position to hit on barely legal young women who have got active in politics without the expectation of their political mentors trying to sexually exploit them. He wasn't successful on this occasion but you hate to think how many times he has got away with his sickening brand of socialist sleaze.
Game on.
UNDER ATTACK: Greens Struggle To Explain Voting Record
The Victorian Greens are under siege over claims by the ALP they have betrayed their supporters by voting with the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council.
The left-wing press this morning reports on Labor's campaign to hold the Greens to account for the behaviour of the three Greens upper house MPs who have adopted some very strange tactics.
GREENS-LIBERAL-DEAL.COM
The probing website Greens-Liberal-Deal.com explores the Greens voting behaviour in the upper house and asks the big questions about why they have turned into what they call the "Mini-me's to the Dr Evils in the Liberal Party." They are even running an amusing competition into where their first promotional billboard should be deployed (click above).
Basically the Victorian Greens have made what many observers say is a simple strategic mistake. Ignoring the effect on thir brand, they have decided to vote down proposals in conjunction with the Liberal party if they are not perfectly to their satisfaction in all respects.
This is standard enough form in local government where it is common to vote with enemies to ultimately secure the outcome you want.
But in the Parliament, under the direction of the supposedly shrewd Greg Barber who instructs the butter wouldn't melt in her mouth Sue Pennicuik and the angry feministe Colleen Hartland Victorians have witnessed the strange phenomenon of seeing Greens vote down the lifting of taxes on hybrid cars in pursuit of extending a tax cut to a luxury car-barge that uses much more fuel than the average family sedan, voting for Liberal Party chairs of commmittees, voting against a plebiscite on nuclear power designed to put pressure on the federal government not to proceed with plans for nuclear power and several other curious decisions.
FROM MEG TO GREG
Greens party strategists fear that "Greg (Barber) could easily become our Meg Lees if he's not smarter than this." The OC understands that Federal Leader Bob Brown has grown increasingly concerned about the direction of the Victorian Greens, spending much time attempting to counsel Barber to focus on the "big picture".
Barber has told allies who have told the OC that he has struggled to make the transition from local government where you can see what needs to be done, assemble a majority and implement a solution to the Greens' role of gilded irrelevance where they get to sit in the red velvet chamber but actually have very little real input into anything.
The normally slick and well-rehearsed Barber struggles to communicate with his base about why it is that the Victorian Greens are voting with the Liberals 68% of the time, more so than supposedly ultra-conservative MP Peter Kavanagh of the DLP and the National party. His defence in The Age today about accountability doesn't explain most of their decisions and won't prevent the damage to the Greens brand which attracts them a considerable vote before they have to do anything.
TANNER EVERY REASON TO BE WORRIED
Labor is hopeful of its campaign paying off by helping fend off the Greens attack on the federal seat of Melbourne where Essendon supporter and coodabeen patriot Lindsay Tanner has every reason to be afraid and very afraid of a "surge" in the Greens vote, with the prospect of the Greens-Liberal-Deal delivering Liberal preferences to the Greens candidate once again.
Despite the apparent end to the drought, which clearly had very little if anything to do with global warming, the Prime Minister's use of "wedges" and the considerable increase in focus on environmental issues - particularly behind the latte curtain - means that Tanner has much to worry about. Tanner's only hope might be the dismal start the three overpaid underworked and strategically stupid local Greens MPs have made.
Game on.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
AHEM: Student Leftist Reveals True Colours Red
The Socialist Left operative Zoe Edwards may have escaped takedown due to the OC's embarrassing abundance of compassion, but she has not entirely escaped scrutiny.
One observer keenly observed that she said while defending the payment of a huge affiliation fee in the tens of thousands of dollars that "NUS isn't about what students get out of it."
Which does make us wonder what it is meant to be about.
Some of her growing number of critics point to a potential conflict of interests involving her position as Victorian state president of NUS making it inappropriate for her to railroad funding through to an organisation that appears on the brink of collapse.
Game on.
AMWU AT WAR: "Sellout" Dave Oliver Faces Big Challenge As Election Results Imminent
The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union continues to groan under the weight of its own internal feuding and intrigue.
The OC has learned that:
■ The recent caravan purchase of near retirement age, long term left-wing stalwart powerbroker former President John Speight from the union's federal office has been interpreted by union Kremlinologists as an indicator of his imminent retirement. Sources within the union believe that several of Speight's associates will be "offed" or "boned" or "terminated with extreme prejudice" very soon.
■ That the final results of the corrupted union ballot will be announced later this week, with Workers First and Socialist Left boss Dave Oliver looking like he's comfortably won. Andrew Giles has triumphantly told left-wing associates that he is now the undisputed champion of internal faction conflicts, with Dargavel owing him "big-time".
■ Much intrigue could play itself out over the loyalties of the newly elected crew of the Metals Division of the union. Traditionally, the national secretary has effectively personally appointed their delegates to the ALP and Trades Hall but there are some whispers about that they might not see eye to eye with Dave Oliver on "certain issues". They are a more militant brand of left and might have more in common with unionists of the bare butt variety.
■ Dale Oliver will have no choice but to embark on some radical cost-cutting due to the steady decline of members in the manufacturing sector and increasing financial strains within the organisation as a whole. Oliver's supporters believe this will give him the chance to purge "trouble-makers" and cement his grip on power. His opponents say he has to face up to the realities that the changes in membership are not temporary and that resources should be justly allocated where the need is.
Game on.
OUTRAGEOUS: Double Standards Exposed in Shameful Julian Grill "Expulsion"
Julian Grill has been expelled from the ALP ostensibly for donating money to the National Party. (In reality he's been expelled for getting bad press, something that hasn't yet prompted the expulsion of Dr Carmen "I can't recall" Lawrence.
Trouble is, ALP candidate Gary Gray has also donated money to the National Party.
Oops.
WA Premier Alan Carpenter said yesterday:
"I'm delighted that the ALP has finished the membership of Julian Grill," he told reporters.
"I'm somewhat surprised about the basis upon which the decision has been taken ... but the Labor Party has got pretty firm rules."
Not that firm it seems.
OC investigators in Perth tell us that Gary Gray is apparently furious with secretary Bill Johnson for what he says was his creation of this mess, with Gray's explanations about the differences between what he did and what Julian Grill did straining credulity. Both gave Other People's Money to the National Party. Only one is getting expelled. Red faces all round.
From what we hear Julian Grill isn't going to bother suing or appealing the decision so it's worth remembering how his contribution was regarded pre-witch-hunt by successor in Parliament:
JULIAN GRILL
My predecessor, Julian Grill, deserves special mention. During 24 years in Parliament he was described by a former national secretary as the best constituent member of Parliament in Australia he had come across. He was described by farmers as the best Minister for Agriculture they had the privilege to work with. He was roundly regarded as the best Minister for Transport of his generation. He is the man behind Bunbury 2000 and the redevelopment of East Perth... His wife Lesley also deserves special mention for not only supporting Julian for all those years but also making the Labor Party in Kalgoorlie-Boulder at the time the strongest in the State and for always being there with a smile and a wonderful little giggle. She did the same throughout my campaign.
Game on.
