— Australian

— dumb

— a farmer

— a banker

— a slave

— a capitalist

— a god

— a refugee

— a retiring politician due to a generous package of pension...

— a dunny cleaner...

As Turdball points out every five minutes in any of the speeches he delivers, there never has been a better time to be whatever... say "a journalist" for example... or a shit on a pavement...

The wheels are really falling off the Turnbull bus when even Rupert Murdoch's pet Newspoll can't get the Coalition above 50 per cent in the polls, says Bob Ellis.

MURDOCH is working very hard, but he cannot plausibly get the Coalition above 50, two party preferred.

He rings only landlines — that is, octogenarians. He redistributes Greens preferences as they were in 2013, when Windsor and Oakeshott and Katter thought Abbott would not cancel his money to Gonski, to health, to SBS and the ABC.

He rings no mobile phones.

And even with these limits, he achieves no more than 50-50.

The real vote, probably, is Labor on 52.3 or 53.4, two party preferred.

On top of this, there are only big mistakes being made.

Abbott’s assistant Credlin proves to have been, like Claudia's Livia, a ferociousscreeching tryrant of his empire that he, too, obeyed, and an enemy of his female deputy.

Dutton proves to have spent $50 million bringing back from Cambodia asylum seekers he sent there.

There is a further question about the Liberal Party. How did they tolerate Abbott/Credlin for seven years? How wise were they? Are they?

Is Pyne? Is Joyce? Is Cormann? Is Abetz? Is Andrews? Are they as wise as Plibersek? As Wong? As Dreyfus? As Burke? As Clare?

How many wise men have they left? Is Morrison wise? Is Joyce? Will Turnbull's genial insouciance cover all?

Is Turnbull as stupid as he seems to be? Will a ten week campaign, as it narrowly did for Bob Hawke, work?

And we will see what we shall see.

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/not-even-murdochs-magic-can-get-turnbull-above-50-50,8757

Former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett has savaged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government for having a gutless approach to policy making and considering an early double-dissolution election, which he says is driven exclusively by self-interest.

Mr Kennett said that Mr Turnbull's stances on gay marriage and negative gearing expose his lack of courage and conviction and are a failure to take advantage of a mandate.

"When they changed leaders, I thought we were in for a period of government, a period of stability, a period in which policy was going to be annunciated," Mr Kennett told Sydney radio station 2UE on Wednesday morning.

The Prime Minister has issued an ultimatum to the crossbench — vote for the Government's industrial relations bills or risk sending the nation to a double dissolution election.

Malcolm Turnbull has criticised those who see the decision to dissolve both houses as a "political tactic", arguing the decision would only be made to resolve an impasse between the Lower House and the Upper House.

"The only reason to go to a double dissolution is to resolve a deadlock," he said.

He said crossbenchers, Labor and the Greens had a clear choice.

"[If] they vote for those bills then there would be no question, we wouldn't even be talking about the possibility of a double dissolution," he said.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-11/malcolm-turnbull-issues-crossbench-ultimatum-on-dd-election/7238848

This ultimatum comes from a low life Malcolm... He wants to show who is boss and he wants the workers to bend at the knees.

The Senate cannot pass such legislation. Whether it's approved by the Lower House, or not. The House of representatives has been highjacked by Tony Abbott/Rupert Murdoch mob and any of its decisions is tainted with shit and mud.

The new Industrial Relation Bill is crooked. It's based on a false report by a slanted royal commission. It should be rejected. 

Overall Turdball is playing crooked politics to salvage a bad policy...

You should be worried what he will do next... It's not going to be pretty... The more he acts this way, the more Turnbull shows he is an imbecile.

To dismiss Niki Savva's book, The Road to Ruin, as scuttlebutt or to just focus on rumours that Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin had an affair is an insult to all those involved who spoke up about the real issue - the abuse of power. Barrie Cassidy writes.

The two elected prime ministers who fell the fastest were Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. Neither survived a first term, cut down by their own.

Why do you think that happened? What was the common thread?

The answer is straightforward.

They gave extraordinary and dangerous authority to their staff. On top of that, in the case of Abbott - as forensically and convincingly told by Niki Savva in her book, The Road to Ruin - the key staffer, the chief of staff, Peta Credlin, used that "outsourced power" ruthlessly and indiscriminately, subjecting ministers and staff "to regular tirades, replete with vile language".

In Rudd's case, he took care of the abuse himself.

The great pity with the release of The Road to Ruin is that the distraction around rumours that Abbott and Credlin were having an affair, robbed the more essential debate - around abuse of power - of the oxygen it deserved.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-11/cassidy-abbott,-credlin-and-the-abuse-of-power/7237386

And Malcolm Turnbull is up there, for abuse of power, with his threat to the senate... hoping to get the approval from Murdoch because the Murdoch stable has now been left "with no other choice"... We shall see, but the whole thing is despicable. Shame Malcolm Shame...

The strange part here is that the Libs (CONseratives) feel insecure enough and now are preparing to make deals with the Greens so the Libs (CONservatives) can stay in power even with a minority government...

This would suck but the Greens under Di Natale have now become a branch of the Liberal (CONservative) party...

Last week's national accounts figures produced some good news - but not as good as the Turnbull Government made out.

The economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the December quarter and by 3 per cent over the whole of last year. Treasurer Scott Morrison hailed it as the strongest annual growth rate since the March quarter of 2014 and evidence that Australia was successfully managing the transition from the resources boom to broader-based growth.

Then came the real boast:

We are growing faster than every economy in the G7 and growing well above the OECD average. We are growing faster than the United States and the United Kingdom and more than twice the pace of comparable resource-based economies like Canada. We are matching the growth rates in economies like South Korea.

Are you feeling better now? If not, you may be wondering who's getting the benefit of the fastest growing economy in the developed world. Wages in Australia are barely keeping pace with inflation and, when other factors are taken into account, many household incomes are heading south.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says a broader measure of change in national economic well-being is its figure for real net national disposable income. This takes into account factors such as declining terms of trade, reflected, amongst other things, in higher prices for imported products. Real net national disposable income fell by 1.2 per cent last year.

It has fallen or shown no change in six of the last eight quarters. This is what economists mean when they talk of an income recession.

The reality for individuals is worse still. The national accounts figures show real net national disposable income per capita falling by 2.3 per cent last year.

Population growth is the added ingredient in this calculation and it is the one that is routinely overlooked in the debate about the state of the economy. That is, an important reason why the Australian economy typically grows faster than that in other developed countries is because our population is increasing faster, mainly through immigration.

Adding more people generates more demand - they buy housing and food, for a start - and therefore more production. That is why the housing industry and the rest of the business community favour high immigration.

It is a much debated question whether immigration makes us better off overall economically, since more people also require more government services and infrastructure, including in already congested cities. Many studies, both in Australia and overseas, have concluded that the net impact of immigration on economic growth is small but nevertheless positive.

But if we are trying to calculate how individuals are faring, we cannot just include the increase in economic activity and ignore the extra people that go with it.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-11/steketee-the-economy-is-growing,-but-what's-in-it-for-you/7239206

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's "exciting time" catchcry could soon face official scrutiny.

Federal Labor has referred the phrase's use in Government Ideas Boom advertising to the Auditor-General and wants an urgent investigation.

"I'm really concerned about a possible breach of the guidelines, which say you can't include party slogans," Labor's Waste Watch spokesman Pat Conroy said.

"And having a slogan associated with the Prime Minister is clearly a party political slogan."

The $28 million Innovation Department campaign is running across television, online, social media and print, with the Government saying it will help drive a cultural shift in Australia.

The advertising blitz came after the $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda was launched last December.

The innovation agenda report on page three stated: "There has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-16/government's-'exciting-time'-catchcry-'should-be-investigated'/7249684

One thing for sure, the creator of the bureaucracy around the "innovation" package have excelled in placing hoops, road blocks and very uninventive complex categorisation of "innovation". The best ideas will get rejected of course because they don't fit in the square boxes. I supposed it's our job to think outside the square and their jobs to make us fit into the holes... This of course will create an enormous boost of employment is bureaucratic nightmares and manufacturers of red tape.