Sunday political talkies: Tim pops the question to Julia, Glenn gets in the gutter (again), Barwick rolls in grave?
Mood:
crushed out
Topic: election Oz 2007
Picture above: In the election season presentation is probably everything especially for the "environment minister". But you can't choose your neighbours. Taken Saturday 10th Nov 07. There was a State MP for the Coalition in Vaucluse, now a fundraiser for Mal Turnbull who also thought he could buy a political career, by the name of Michael Yabsley.
Author’s general introductory note (skip this if you know this regular weekly column):
This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies in Big Politics and Big Media.
Indeed it’s the tv version monitoring task similar to what Nelson Mandela refers to here in his book Long Walk to Freedom (1994, Abacus) written in Robben Island prison (where he was meant to die like other African resister chiefs of history in the 19C), at page 208
“..newspapers are only a shadow of reality; their information is important to a freedom fighter not because it reveals the truth, but because it discloses the biases and perceptions of both those who produce the paper and those who read it.”
Just substitute ‘Sunday tv political talkie shows’ for "newspapers" in the quote above.
For actual transcripts go to web sites quoted below except with Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.
Media backgrounder
- Sunday Teleg front page biffo by none other than rubbish can trawler Glenn Milne today. One wonders how many dud women he's had in his life, if you don't count alcoholism as a woman. One presumes Gillard cooperated with the story to get in front of it which is gutsy and wise. The story fundamentally alleges 2 things with a sensational personal angle to attract broader interest
1. Julia Gillard could have been in on a corrupt union scam involving violent stand over tactics - highly unlikely, would have been revealed in Victorian Parliament long ago if true so it's just another smear job by Coalition/Costello friendly Milne adding some evil lustre to a boring a election 2 weeks too long and heading into Hunter S Thomson territory;
2. She lacks the competence to spot a union fraudster both legally as a professional, and personally as a squeeze. Well this might have been true to some degree 15 years ago when it happened - and she concedes nearly as much in the story - only the Chief Judge of the High Court of Australia and former Attorney General of Australia, patron of the Australian Conservation Foundation, patron saint of conservatives etc etc also happened to be a declared bankrupt at one point earlier in his career, refer this PDF file TAX AVOIDANCE AND THE HIGH COURT SINCE SIR GARFIELD BARWICK By ...
Barwick also said paying tax was not a moral obligation:
"In his memoirs, entitled “A Radical Tory” (The Federation Press, 1995) at p 229, Sir Garfield Barwick sets out, as plainly as may be, his views upon taxation. He said,
“Criticism from some quarters of my decisions in taxation cases warrants a brief reference to them. They are fairly numerous and relate to many aspects of the assessment of taxation. As I remark elsewhere, the Commonwealth Statute of 1936, which resulted from Mr Justice Ferguson’s efforts and those of David Roper (later Chief Judge in Equity), his assistant secretary, was generally understood and gave no undue difficulty in its administration. It has, however, suffered frequent amendment, so that now it is a patchwork which often lacks consistency. Into the detail of my decisions on this hotchpotch of legislation I will not go, but I will indicate the principle upon which I acted, a principle denied by some politicians but one which is fundamental to the operation of income tax law and has had the endorsement of earlier courts.
The liability to pay income tax is wholly derived from the law imposing and providing for the assessment of that tax. The obligation to pay it is a legal one. Some politicians try to treat it as a moral obligation. But it is not. The citizen is bound to pay no more tax than the statute requires him to pay according to the relevant state of his affairs.
Consistently with this view, it has long been a principle of the law of income taxation that the citizen may so arrange his affairs as to render him less liable to pay tax than would be the case if his affairs were cast in some different form. In the language of the layman, the citizen is entitled to minimise his liability to pay tax. This is sometimes expressed as a right to avoid tax, an expression which is in contradiction to the evasion of tax, a failure to pay tax which is properly due.
On this principle, I regularly acted. Provided the citizen’s transactions were not shams, pretences, the form of his transactions and their legal consequences would affect his liability to tax, even though that form might be unusual and adopted for the express purpose of limiting the liability to pay tax.
I do not countenance fraudulent dealings, or give effect to sham transactions or the destruction of records. But clearly I did not accept the view that there was a moral duty to pay tax. Further, I held the view that it is for the Parliament in passing laws imposing taxation to make its meaning as unambiguously clear and certain as the use of language will permit. In the event of ambiguity in such legislation, the citizen, not the executive government, should have the benefit of that construction of the language of the statute which is most favourable to his or her interest.”
[bold added]
Inevitably there will be a chunk of the population who will slow the car to view the damage but it looks more like a fender bender than a write off to this writer. Julia Gillard is one talented lady and yes charming in her way. Her beau is lucky to have her. Time for a proposition, yer reckon Tim (hair care salesman Mathieson)? As Shakespeare says, in Julius Caesar
" There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries "
A famous Julius Caesar quote by William Shakespeare, the great Bard and dramatist
Time to step up boyo.
..............................
- Similarly Sandra Lee, the chunky hiefer also at the mutant Teleg, gets a bad case of skinny envy attacking Danielle Ecuyer for daring to take on the big boys from the Coalition and the ALP. In fine Mardi Gras form Ecuyer has turned to flesh for some electioneering stunts having already won the credibility battle on brains as a former merchant banker, articulate speaker in many tv spots, and resolute - with trip to the wilds of Tasmania. With the polls neck and neck in Wentworth she is likely to make a real difference to the outcome on the shoulders of the radical Green Party on reportedly 14% or so. She has our blessing here. We notice Ecuyer gets the nod from Geoffrey Cousins here in a full pager Wentworth Courier 7th Nov 07.
And Sandra, it's a cliche, but still quite true - stop whining at people and who can and do, and go on a diet and deal with it.
- Could have fooled me - spotted at Town Hall station as MX flunkies for News Ltd distribute their trashy fodder:
- The malice of the mutant News Ltd is pretty obvious in
Latham: Soaking up the high life
trying to make out a $535K house on a greenfield site, compared to say a $1M poky terrace anywhere in inner Sydney, is somehow "a mansion" when reporting on Mark Latham's report in turn the Financial Review. How dare he go to Fairfax indeed. Then we read this and sure enough
First home benchmark $1m same day rival paper.
A $65K annual pension for a guy who can't walk down the street - what would you rather? The guy has a pool presumably because if he went to the beach his family would get hassled by such as these photo stalkers taking pictures of him in his towel through a metal fence. Are these 'news' folks for real?
As we understand the Latham piece we just bought today 2 days stale now, this is the main concern of Latham (below left) regarding profligate materialism, while the Telegraph still seems to prefer the 'leadership' of this chump below right?:
Meanwhile big business seems to get it, at least those not hopelessly conflicted: See this full page advert in the Good Weekend recently
- Very funny channel 7 election night promo take off of coalition anti union adverts instead targetting "boring" [but worthy] Kerry OBrien (not including his ding with the bouncers, prefacing Trigger Trioli for a new future), Laurie Oakes etc
- New Age style home front in Wentworth, picture taken yesterday 10th Nov 07 from footpath
- pro developer bias of the Big Meeja at the cost of everyone else's amenity and peace of mind? Anti democratic given the loathing of Big Business developers and this ALP govt? The old DA for a cubby house cliche of local govt as the State Govt panders to donors and smashes neighbourhoods to keep its money politics grip on power? In short systemic corruption?
DELAYS of as much as six years and complications for developments as minor as a cubby house are amongst the complaints against Sydney's councils.
- Go Warrnambool, you good thing - 100-1
Triumph ... Nikita Beriman at Flemington yesterday.
Photo: Getty Images
10 Meet the Press
Press round up sure enough leads with Milne dirt digging dealt with above.
Alot of technical probs at start - no audio first minute including opening file footage of Rudd, Nick Minchin etc. Fairly understandable - everyone is getting ragged including this writer with 2 weeks still to go.
Talent is Nick Minchin whose middle name is boring.
Out take is flattering grab of humorous Gillard at Press Club getting the laughs.
1st adbreak - Get Up spoof about an empty box of scaremonging. Subtle. Interesting actor talking head. Might work. Not sure.
Panel has Milne slumming it to a degree and another bright telegenic woman Jessica Irvine. Milne bowls up 2 tough questions including tipping hat to Gillard for some balance.
Minchin waffles on. Great grab of HR Nichols extremism by Minchin. Irvine strong questions - Milne goes at him too re IR wobbles (my word) of govt.
2nd adbreak funny advert with animation offsetting Get Up almost as a culture jam. Shows little union turning to big monster similar to those recycle telephone book munchy figures.
Economic boffin Dr Steve King from Western Sydney sounds very credible on debt burden (says Res Bank downplaying very heavy historical burden), borrowing boom, individually sensible collectively bad idea. Milne asks deferentially ‘how bad is it going to get?’ . Got to attack negative gearing, another aspect [missed it] tax cuts? Far too scary for any mention prior to the election. Need structural change he says.
Outtake no audio Milne and boffin in animated conversation.
Transcript in due course www.ten.com.au/meetthepress ,
Myspace web address: www.myspace.com/meetthepeople
7 Weekend Sunrise, 8.35-40 am Riley Diary -
Riley picks up visuals of Seinfeld 'show about nothing' alluded to by Latham in his AFR article. Very funny editing and connections words to mataphors. Again one of Riles best. Q & A, no mention of Julia Gillard story in the pre package or after, just as ABC no interest in 7 am and 7.45 radio bulletins. Riley agrees with Gawenda article about tactics gone hyper yet so shallow and losing track of real policy substance.
http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend
Insiders 2
Main talent is Kevin Swan, washout of interest rate rise. Lots on signficance of the word of apology. Almost swallows his voicebox at one point but recovers okay. (Long long interview interrupted by Ross Coultard wrap on rival 9. )
Missed alot of the show due to 9 coverage.
Final observations - Lenore Taylor - David Marr - Piers Akerman.
Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/
Sunday 9
Headlines have flattering footage of Gillard on interest rates.
Wrap up with curious Godfather music in reference to the Coalition Govt. A metaphor for death foretold?
Focus group horse stables spring carnival obviously Vic not NSW where equine flu apparently has voters very anti federal govt?
Panel discussion with Bob Brown for Greens, Lyn Allison looking a bit left out and Steve Fielding by remote screen identified with Pauline Hanson and Lyn Allison drives that point especially Qld FF is pro Coalition.
Peter Andrews feature to follow about drought proofing.
http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/default.asp
Posted by editor
at 6:55 AM EADT
Updated: Monday, 12 November 2007 4:26 PM EADT
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