Bronwyn Bishop was instructed by Tony Abbott’s office not to apologise for the$5,000 helicopter ride that cost the former speaker her job, a new book reveals.

The Road to Ruin author Niki Savva has revealed Bishop wanted to “lay it all on the line” and issue a “grovelling” apology for taking the expensive ride at the taxpayers’ expense.

...

“Tony Abbott has absolutely no respect whatsoever for Kevin Rudd,” Brandis told Sky News.

But Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the situation was reminiscent of the Rudd-Gillard era.

“There’s no question it’s harmful,” he told ABC.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/06/bronwyn-bishop-told-by-tony-abbotts-office-not-to-give-helicopter-apology

Richard Di Natale also mumbled in his devious salad that "this was why they wanted to get rid of micro-parties"...

Tales of dysfunction, infighting and secrecy within the office of former prime minister Tony Abbott have been chronicled in a book to be released today.

The account, written by political commentator Niki Savva, tracks Mr Abbott's rise to power and his demise. It argues his chief of staff Peta Credlin shoulders a significant amount of blame for what went wrong.

Savva, herself a former staffer to successful Liberal treasurer Peter Costello, has spoken to a range of current and former politicians, staff and friends about their experiences.

While some excerpts were published over the weekend, the full book is not out until today.

It is already under fire from Peta Credlin herself, who told News Corp papers over the weekend that the book was "scurrilous" and that Savva had not contacted her nor Mr Abbott for comment.

Savva defended her approach.

"What I decided was that Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin any day, any night, can get out there and give their version of events, and their version of events often differs very widely from everybody else's," Savva told ABC's Insiders yesterday.

"There are people who had been abused for years during that administration, who suffered in silence, and I thought they should be given the chance to tell their story.

"And that's what I tried to do and they have very bravely gone on the record, so many of them, to explain what happened."

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-07/politicians-pass-judgement-on-the-collapse-of-abbott-government/7225080

Tony Abbott  SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT. His promotion to head the Liberal Party, then become PM was orchestrated by the rag sheet owner Uncle Rupe. Tony Abbott was "unelectable" until Uncle Rupe's minions smoothed out all Tony's daily shit and glorified his rotten beliefs. Uncle Rupe is the king of fester...

Last week, we were treated to two unedifying spectacles, writes managing editor David Donovan — Cardinal Pell in Rome, and the media piling on Credlin and Abbott over their alleged affair.

Most of last week, we were treated to the unedifying spectacle of Cardinal George Pell giving evidence to the Child Abuse Royal Commission via videolink from Rome.

And what did we learn from Pell's evidence?

That even though he didn't see anything, know anything and was the unlikely victim of a massive criminal conspiracy to prevent him from discovering the truth about the numerous priest paedophiles fiendishly operating all around him, he was, paradoxically, the only one doing anything to stop abuse in the Church.

And also that Gerald Ridsdale was a "sad story and not of much interest" to him.

Which was, of course, charming news for the victims...

To top it all, the Cardinal gave an "exclusive" interview to Rupert Murdoch's ever so unbiased Andrew Bolt, where he admitted he could have travelled back to Australia to give evidence, but stayed because he had an "important job" in Rome.

So what ever happened to that medical condition? That heart thing that prevented him flying? Just a lie? A ruse to keep himself out of harm's way? Out of the range of public opprobium in his home country, where all the offences he deliberately ignored occurred?

Really, who would believe a single self-serving thing George Pell ever says?

Again, an unedifying spectacle.

Speaking of unedifying, the week ended with a media circus over some alleged – possible, perhaps – affair between former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his then chief of staff, Peta Credlin.

Well, I don't know about you, but I couldn't care less whether these two were intimate. Some people say that it is evidence, if true, of Abbott's hypocrisy and deceit — but we already knew about all that. Anyone who ever thought any different has obviously never read Margot Kingston's excellent 'Australians for Honest Politics' exposé, for instance.

Peta Credlin hits back at claims that she was caught feeding Tony Abbott from her fork : Tony Abbott's former ... https://t.co/bO4U33ZST1

Now we hear Peta Credlin apparently fed onion munching Abbott food from her fork in an Italian restaurant. In my mind, the only people who should really be concerned about whether or not Tony and Peta were forking – or even spooning – each other should be Margie and Brian — their respective spouses.

The rest of us should be far more concerned about how they and their cronies were forking Australia. And how they might just do it again, if we're not very careful.

The mainstream media's latest pile-on over Abbott and Credlin is a tale told by an idiot — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Have any policies really changed under this new Government? Communications Minister Mitch Fifield could not name one on ABC Insiders yesterday — just saying that the "tone" had changed since Turnbull had taken over. 

Yes, we have a new "Tone", alright.

Welcome to the new Tone, just like the old Tone.

You can follow David Donovan on Twitter @davrosz.

https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/abbott-and-credlin-an-affair-to-forget,8749

The deal between the Coalition and the Greens to effectively exclude minor parties from gaining Senate representation may have unfortunate unintended consequences for one of those parties, writes Peter Wicks.

SOME HYPOCRISY leaves me shaking my head, some makes my blood boil and, on the odd occasion, it leaves me in stitches with hysterical laughter.

Thankfully, this week has supplied the latter of these three.

In the last few days, discussions have been held between over 30 of the nation's minor political parties. These discussions have been to decide a course of action and response to the Coalition and the Greens move to lock them out of the Senate by altering the way the preference system and flows work when you vote for Senate members.

Anyone who believes that the Coalition or the Greens would ram a controversial change such as this through parliament with almost no debate in order to benefit other parties is either a fool or has no understanding of politics.

The Greens are in panic mode after seeing the Sex Party pick up an Upper House seat in Victoria and the Animal Justice Party pick up an Upper House seat in NSW. These are both seats that they, in their arrogance, believe should have been theirs.

They do not desire to see this replicated at the Federal level.

Greens supporters have also been deluging elected representatives with warnings against doing a deal with the... https://t.co/TKXpPCOIzV

The Greens would like us all to believe that their decision to rid Australia of the voting system that saw them enter parliament is about increasing democracy.

No it isn't.

There is not one thing about this dodgy backroom deal that makes voting for the Senate more democratic — not one. Despite the completely false statements claiming that voters will now be able to choose where their preferences go, the fact is voters have always had that choice.

Forcing voters to number more boxes above the line is, however, likely to see the number of donkey votes skyrocket.

There are winners and losers in every political change. In this change, the losers are all of the minor political parties that the Greens feel threatened by and the Coalition are having problems negotiating with. They are the big losers.

How convenient.

So now the minor parties, who the Greens have sought to ensure will not get the benefit of preferences, have decided to direct their preferences away from the Greens or the Coalition.

And my, how they are squealing…

Don't betray base: @GreensMPs asked to rescind deal with #LNP over Senate votinghttps://t.co/HdtebvZrvS #auspol pic.twitter.com/j3h1QsvTaF

All of a sudden, all over social media, all those Green members and supporters who were complaining about the evils of preference flows and how undemocratic they were have had a sudden change of heart and desperately want them back. Not all of them, of course, only the ones who need preference flows.

I attempted to debate democratic process with the staffer of one Victorian Green MP yesterday on Twitter — ironically, a Greens MP only in parliament due to Labor preference flows. When I asked him to give me one way the new Senate voting was more democratic I was blocked. I guess that question went in the “Way Too Hard” basket. He was complaining about the notion of the Sex Party and Animal Justice Party not preferencing the Greens.

In doing this deal with the Coalition to ensure these parties never make it Senate, the Greens have shown themselves to be a political enemy of the minor parties, it’s that simple. Changing the electoral system to intentionally wipe out another party is not the act of an ally, it is the act of an enemy. Enemies tend to be put in last place on how To vote cards and in Senate preferences.

In NSW, the Animal Justice Party had an early taste of Greens attitude when theParliamentary Inquiry Into Companion Animal Breeding Practices was announced. The Greens reportedly sought to ensure that Mark Pearson of the Animal Justice Party was not a part of it, despite his major role in it being announced. However, they ultimately failed and Pearson found himself on the committee. Despite Pearson being the only member to have been to a puppy factory or a battery hen shed – none of the Greens having had that level of experience – they nevertheless they sought to do him out of his earned position. Something, I’m sure, Pearson and the AJP will not remember too fondly when it comes to directing preference flows.

Seems pretty crazy 4 Animal Justice Party 2 preference Labor ahead of Greens.Obviously not based on policy.Revenge? https://t.co/4IUvSY0fNZ

In Federal Parliament this term, the Greens have, in my view, three main achievements:

• screwing over thousands of pensioners;
• helping huge corporations hide their tax evasion from the public;
• destroying the Federal futures of minor parties.

The fact the dodgy Senate deal with the Coalition is blowing up in the Greens faces already is a sure sign that acts of political bastardry do have repercussions.

Sometimes those repercussions can even prove fatal.

Peter Wicks is an ALP member and former NSW State Labor candidate. You can follow Peter on Twitter @madwixxy

More than a quarter of the jobs in the renewable energy industry have disappeared since 2011, with a continued decline in the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The clean energy industry, consumer groups and conservationists all blamed federal government actions, like reviewing the renewable energy target and maintaining the policy of axing the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, despite the bills axing them being blocked by the Senate.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/15/renewable-energy-jobs-fall-27-four-years

Meanwhile the heat is on, on planet earth...