Aunty is not the all-conquering audience-snatcher, it’s the great unwatched
CUT & PASTE
The Australian
April 4 2014
44 per cent of people watched the ABC for more than four minutes a week.
ABC managing director Mark Scott, Wednesday:
NEARLY five years ago I (delivered a) lecture ... entitled “The Fall of Rome’’ … I looked at why (media) empires fail … The evidence that was clear then is even clearer now.
Decline. ABC annual report 2000:
ABC TV’s five-city weekly reach was 69.9 per cent.
Fall. ABC annual report, 2013:
ABC1’S average weekly (five-city) ... reach in 2012-13 was ... 44 per cent.
Define reach? ABC.net.au:
“REACH” is defined as the number of unique viewers who tune in to a channel for five consecutive minutes or more over a week.
Scott, Wednesday:
COMMERCIAL networks know that winning in news gives you a platform ... and they invest accordingly.
Seems to be paying off. David Dale, The Sydney Morning Herald, March 25:
WHAT Australia watched on Wednesday … 3. Nine News, 4. Nine News 6.30, 5. Seven News, 6. Seven News/ Today Tonight, 7. A Current Affair …
Dismal diet? Scott, Wednesday:
THE ABC offers a different diet — to what remains a large and appreciative audience.
Large? Dale, SMH, March 25:
(IN 10th place) ABC News (with) 848,000 viewers (nationwide).
Scott, Wednesday:
ONLY three certainties remain as a compelling live free-to-air proposition: news, sport and whatever TV marketing departments can convince you to watch tonight.
Michael Idato, the SMH, December 1 last year:
(THE ABC had no shows in the) Top 5 sport broadcasts, Top 5 single events … Top 5 news and current affairs ... Top 5 reality shows ...
Scott, Wednesday:
LAST year all 50 of the top rating programs were Australian ...
How many from Aunty? Idato, SMH, December 1 last year:
(OF the) Top 5 Australian dramas (only number) 5. The Dr Blake Mysteries (ABC) 1.03 million.
Proud of this? Scott, Wednesday:
AND, I might add, not one of those Top 50 rating shows was on the ABC — a fact conveniently lost on those who persist in depicting the ABC as an all-conquering, audience-snatching competitor.
Audience snatcher? Idato, SMH, December 1ast year:
ABC (with ABC2, ABC3 and ABC News 24) (had) an 18.1 per cent share.
Scott, The Australian Financial Review, Wednesday:
NO other media organisation has a more comprehensive process for detailing with audience complaints …
Marc Hendrickx, The Australian, March 14, 2012:
THE ABC has turned the process of correcting even the most basic factual errors into a saga ... In 2010-11, the ABC received 41,258 complaints ... only 463 … were upheld.
The future? Scott, Wednesday:
THERE are countless examples of iconic brands ... that failed to see what the technologically changing world meant for their business models.
The future. Daniel Hannan, The (UK) Telegraph, March 25:
THE (UK) government has indicated … the BBC will become, in practice, a pay-on-demand service … It won’t be political objections that do for the BBC monopoly, but technological progress. And, of course, you can’t argue with progress.
A blog revealing the horrors of Islam,International Socialism,the misery these two evils are inflicting upon the free the world,and those it has already enslaved,along with various articles revealing the attacks from within upon the western Judeo Christian ethic by those we entrusted to preserve it. Videos and Pictures of many varied subjects from around the world, along with some jokes of mine and any funny ones you want to send me.
Quote
Warning to all Muslims the world over seeking asylum and protection from the manifestations of their faith.
Do not under any circumstances come to Australia, for we are a Nation founded upon Judeo Christian Law and principles and as such Australia is an anathema to any follower of the Paedophile Slave Trader Mohammad's cult of Islam.
There is no ideology more hated and despised in Australia than Islam.You simply would not like it here.
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Voltaire French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)
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Those who demand you believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace also demand you believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming.
Aussie News & Views Jan 1 2009
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"But Communism is the god of discontent, and needs no blessing. All it needs is a heart willing to hate, willing to call envy “justice."
Equality then means the violent destruction of all social and cultural distinctions. Freedom means absolute dictatorship over the people."
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Take Hope from the Heart of Man and you make him a Beast of Prey-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“ If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.
“There may be even a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves”
Winston Churchill. Pg.310 “The Hell Makers” John C. Grover ISBN # 0 7316 1918 8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. Winston Churchill. Pg.310 “The Hell Makers” John C. Grover ISBN # 0 7316 1918 8
This matters above everything.
—Confucius
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'a socialist is communist without the courage of conviction to say what he really is'.
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Hontar: We must work in the world, your eminence. The world is thus.
Altamirano: No, Señor Hontar. Thus have we made the world... thus have I made it.
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Voltaire said: “If you want to know who rules over you, just find out who you are not permitted to criticize.”
--------Check this out, what an Bum WOW!!!!
When those sworn to destroy you,Communism, Socialism,"Change you can Believe in" via their rabid salivating Mongrel Dog,Islam,take away your humanity, your God given Sanctity of Life, Created in His Image , If you are lucky this prayer is maybe all you have left, If you believe in God and his Son,Jesus Christ, then you are, despite the evils that may befall you are better off than most.
Lord, I come before You with a heavy heart. I feel so much and yet sometimes I feel nothing at all. I don't know where to turn, who to talk to, or how to deal with the things going on in my life. You see everything, Lord. You know everything, Lord. Yet when I seek you it is so hard to feel You here with me. Lord, help me through this. I don't see any other way to get out of this. There is no light at the end of my tunnel, yet everyone says You can show it to me. Lord, help me find that light. Let it be Your light. Give me someone to help. Let me feel You with me. Lord, let me see what You provide and see an alternative to taking my life. Let me feel Your blessings and comfort. Amen.
-----------------------------------------
"The chief weapon in the quiver of all Islamist expansionist movements, is the absolute necessity to keep victims largely unaware of the actual theology plotting their demise. To complete this deception, a large body of ‘moderates’ continue to spew such ridiculous claims as “Islam means Peace” thereby keeping non-Muslims from actually reading the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, or actually looking into the past 1400 years of history. Islamists also deny or dismiss the concept of ‘abrogation’, which is the universal intra-Islamic method of replacing slightly more tolerable aspects of the religion in favor of more violent demands for Muslims to slay and subdue infidels"
*DO NOT CLICK ON ANY SENDVID VIDEOS *
Showing posts with label Mark Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Scott. Show all posts
Friday, April 04, 2014
Sunday, December 08, 2013
THEIR ABC Comes Clean and finally confirms suspicions of who it is they are working FOR
Australian's have always known who pays these Grubs,we do,this latest example of the ABC's Treacherous Bastardry shows us who these Grubs believe they should be working FOR, and it ain't us.
ABC out of control: now showing where a Liberal-appointed crime-fighter lives
Andrew Bolt
December 6, 2013
The ABC is now lured by its partisan politics into sheer bastardry, showing on TV the home of the man picked by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to fight criminal bikie gangs.
Here’s how the story unfolds.
Newman appoints a man he served under at Duntroon 31 years ago:
Brigadier Bill Mellor is a “highly decorated officer with an impeccable record” and the right person to lead the government’s war on criminal gangs, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said.
The retired Brigadier was transferred from his role as a flood recovery co-ordinator, to head up the government’s Strategic Monitoring Team…
Premier Campbell Newman served under the Brigadier during his time in the armed services, but Brigadier Mellor had distinguished himself post-military through roles such as heading up the southern Queensland flood recovery effort.
Clive Palmer disgraces himself - big surprise - with yet another lunatic conspiracy theory:
Federal MP for Fairfax Clive Palmer told ABC Radio that Brigadier Mellor’s appointment was ”tantamount to a Gestapo”.
“Changing legislation, employing ex-Army people to run judicial functions, I think it’s very bad to have military people in police positions in society,” Mr Palmer said.
Mellor has a distinguished record of service:
Brigadier Mellor commanded the Australian Force in Somalia and was a key player in the strategic planning for the Australian intervention in Timor.
Brigadier Mellor is the Deputy Chairman of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Queensland and a trustee of the General Douglas Macarthur Museum in Queen Street in Brisbane.
But Labor and its allies - who thought nothing of having the husband of then Premier Anna Bligh head a government department - sniff a mate-ocracy:
The ABC, which had little problem with Bligh’s husband, runs with the pack:
The retired Army officer appointed by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to oversee the state’s controversial crackdown on bikies will be paid more than $200,000 for his year-long appointment.
Further details emerged about Brigadier Bill Mellor’s role as the Opposition and the head of the Queensland Police Union separately expressed concerns about the appointment and its implications for law enforcement in the state.
“It is very concerning ... it should be the role of the Police Commissioner,” Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk told the ABC.
“[Brigadier Mellor] has been a senior military officer but law enforcement is a completely different ball game.
“We don’t need the military running this state, thank you very much.”..
Ms Palaszczuk said it was a further example of Mr Newman “appointing his mates” to senior positions.
Then on its main 7pm Queensland bulletin last night, the ABC named the suburb Mellor lives in and repeatedly showed the street view of his home. Remember, this is a man appointed to help fight criminal bikie gangs.
Premier Newman has rung the ABC boss, Mark Scott, to protest. A public apology has yet not been issued.
The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
Absolutely astonishing, and worse than I thought. Reader Rolf:
And they actually showed the street number, a large brass number on a rendered brick post. I did not notice any pixellation in the shot of his house.
Why didn’t the ABC just paint a target on Mellor’s forehead?
UPDATE
Reader Michael has checked the tape:
Andrew, Can confirm that the original ABC news report showed 3 separate shots of Brig Bill Mellor’s house including a close up of the street number on the letter box. At the same time, a voiceover revealed the name of the suburb.
After complaint lodged, the ABC kept the story online but advised that they had pixelated the number on the letterbox and removed the reference to suburb. Now this is the residence of the key public servant tasked with coordinating the effort against criminal motorcycle gangs. The ABC must explain what benefit they hoped to derive from identifying Mr Mellor’s family home, and how they believed doing so would in any way serve the public interest.
ABC out of control: now showing where a Liberal-appointed crime-fighter lives
Andrew Bolt
December 6, 2013
The ABC is now lured by its partisan politics into sheer bastardry, showing on TV the home of the man picked by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to fight criminal bikie gangs.
Here’s how the story unfolds.
Newman appoints a man he served under at Duntroon 31 years ago:
Brigadier Bill Mellor is a “highly decorated officer with an impeccable record” and the right person to lead the government’s war on criminal gangs, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said.
The retired Brigadier was transferred from his role as a flood recovery co-ordinator, to head up the government’s Strategic Monitoring Team…
Premier Campbell Newman served under the Brigadier during his time in the armed services, but Brigadier Mellor had distinguished himself post-military through roles such as heading up the southern Queensland flood recovery effort.
Clive Palmer disgraces himself - big surprise - with yet another lunatic conspiracy theory:
Federal MP for Fairfax Clive Palmer told ABC Radio that Brigadier Mellor’s appointment was ”tantamount to a Gestapo”.
“Changing legislation, employing ex-Army people to run judicial functions, I think it’s very bad to have military people in police positions in society,” Mr Palmer said.
Mellor has a distinguished record of service:
Brigadier Mellor commanded the Australian Force in Somalia and was a key player in the strategic planning for the Australian intervention in Timor.
Brigadier Mellor is the Deputy Chairman of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Queensland and a trustee of the General Douglas Macarthur Museum in Queen Street in Brisbane.
But Labor and its allies - who thought nothing of having the husband of then Premier Anna Bligh head a government department - sniff a mate-ocracy:
The ABC, which had little problem with Bligh’s husband, runs with the pack:
The retired Army officer appointed by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to oversee the state’s controversial crackdown on bikies will be paid more than $200,000 for his year-long appointment.
Further details emerged about Brigadier Bill Mellor’s role as the Opposition and the head of the Queensland Police Union separately expressed concerns about the appointment and its implications for law enforcement in the state.
“It is very concerning ... it should be the role of the Police Commissioner,” Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk told the ABC.
“[Brigadier Mellor] has been a senior military officer but law enforcement is a completely different ball game.
“We don’t need the military running this state, thank you very much.”..
Ms Palaszczuk said it was a further example of Mr Newman “appointing his mates” to senior positions.
Then on its main 7pm Queensland bulletin last night, the ABC named the suburb Mellor lives in and repeatedly showed the street view of his home. Remember, this is a man appointed to help fight criminal bikie gangs.
Premier Newman has rung the ABC boss, Mark Scott, to protest. A public apology has yet not been issued.
The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
Absolutely astonishing, and worse than I thought. Reader Rolf:
And they actually showed the street number, a large brass number on a rendered brick post. I did not notice any pixellation in the shot of his house.
Why didn’t the ABC just paint a target on Mellor’s forehead?
UPDATE
Reader Michael has checked the tape:
Andrew, Can confirm that the original ABC news report showed 3 separate shots of Brig Bill Mellor’s house including a close up of the street number on the letter box. At the same time, a voiceover revealed the name of the suburb.
After complaint lodged, the ABC kept the story online but advised that they had pixelated the number on the letterbox and removed the reference to suburb. Now this is the residence of the key public servant tasked with coordinating the effort against criminal motorcycle gangs. The ABC must explain what benefit they hoped to derive from identifying Mr Mellor’s family home, and how they believed doing so would in any way serve the public interest.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Malevolent shysters are damaging Australia / Australian Government Issues HIGH Degree of CAUTION for travel in Indonesia for Australian's
Malevolent shysters are damaging Australia
Andrew Bolt
Herald Sun
November 21,2013
WHAT self-serving, malevolent shysters - deliberately damaging Australia and blaming Tony Abbott for it. Who are these hypocrites who betray Australia, peddle a traitor's leaks and demand we surrender to Indonesia, just to destroy a Prime Minister they hate?
Blog all day with Andrew Bolt
Let's start with the clowns. On Tuesday, ABC managing director Mark Scott insisted the ABC was right to join the far-Left Guardian Australia in publishing secret intelligence stolen from the US National Security Agency by the American traitor Edward Snowden.
Scott said it was in the "public interest" to reveal Australia in 2009 monitored the phones of Indonesian leaders, even though he knew it would hurt his country.
"Yes, I appreciate that the release of some of this material might … cause some difficulties with the Australian-Indonesian relationship in the short term."
That is putting it mildly. These reports from the ABC and Guardian, revealing Australia monitored the phones of even President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife, haven't just led Indonesia to formally downgrade our relationship.
Nor have they simply goaded Indonesia into threatening to withhold co-operation in fighting terrorists and people smugglers, potentially putting Australians in more danger and tempting more boat people to risk their lives at sea. They will also boost support for any anti-Western nationalists in Indonesia's presidential elections next year. God knows what that might cost us.
Scott airily waved all this away, but get this. The next day he discovered there was indeed one secret too damaging to publish: how much the taxpayer-funded ABC pays its star presenters.
Scott today raged at length about this terrible leaking of information the ABC fought for three years to keep secret.
"Payroll information should be confidential. It shouldn't leak!" shrieked the head of a news outfit that made serial leaker Julian Assange a hero. Why, this leak "puts us at a significant disadvantage to our competitors".
Can you believe this guy, who had no trouble publishing secrets that put his whole country "at a significant disadvantage to our competitors"?
But Scott's hypocrisy is trumped by the Greens'. In 1999, Greens leader Bob Brown was demanding an "international peacekeeping force" invade Indonesia, if that's what it took to free East Timor. But now? These same Greens are shocked - shocked - that we tapped the phones of Indonesian leaders and they cry crocodile tears at "the damage that the unregulated surveillance state is doing to our diplomatic relationships".
Are these people mad? Have they forgotten that Indonesia, today a democracy under a friendly ex-general, was only recently less benign and tomorrow might be again? Don't they realise the phonetapping in 2009 occurred only a month after yet another Islamist bombing, this one killing three Australians in Jakarta, when Australia needed to know how serious Indonesia was in tackling extremists? Of course, the Greens are simply adolescents in permanent revolt against Father. They are at heart irresponsible, not to be trusted with real power.
But what excuse is there for Labor leader Bill Shorten? On Tuesday he sided with the Greens, Fairfax journalists and extremist Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir in demanding Abbott apologise to Indonesia.
"I believe, for instance, that the example of the United States in the way that it handled a similar issue with Germany provides the opportunity for us to consider the same course of action," he told Parliament. Shorten was referring to President Barack Obama's response to another Snowden leak, which revealed the US had monitored the calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama - foolishly - rang Merkel to apologise and, his spokesman said, "assured the Chancellor that the US is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel".
BUT Indonesia is not Germany. And, if Abbott gives such a guarantee to Indonesia, he'll be under pressure to give the same to the leaders of Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and whoever else demands one. And if the next Snowden leak shows us spying on Chinese leaders, what does Abbott do next?
No wonder two Labor frontbenchers are already back-pedalling. Tony Burke today refused to spell out what Shorten actually wanted Abbott to say to Yudhoyono: "I'm not going to add to the words Bill Shorten put forward."
Immigration spokesman Richard Marles was just as skittish, refusing to confirm whether Shorten truly wanted Abbott to say to Yudhoyono what Obama said to Merkel. So what the hell does Shorten really want?
I suspect it's to embarrass Abbott and sink his successful campaign to stop the boats - a campaign that relies on Indonesia's help.
The Fairfax media, mad with Abbott hate, is doing its best to help, seeming at times to blame Abbott for spying actually done under the Rudd government. Worse, Fairfax writers are virtually united in insisting Abbott give Indonesia the apology we cannot afford. Indeed, most are on Indonesia's side. Don't doubt that. Hatred of Abbott and his signature boats policy is driving much of this hysterical media coverage and damn the national interest. Hear it from Jack Waterford, of the Fairfax Canberra Times: "There are many people, including me, who want to see our shameful policies fail."
Hear it also from Richard Ackland, of the Fairfax Sydney Morning Herald, suggesting the Indonesian President sends an armada to topple Abbott: "Best way for SBY to respond to spying is to open the spigot on refugees. Put 50,000 on boats, point them at Oz. Goodbye Abbott."
The hypocrites. The scoundrels. And is it too much to say they've sold out their country?
Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.
We continue to receive information that indicates that terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia, which could take place at any time.
Terrorist groups remain active throughout Indonesia despite police disruptions. Police continue to conduct operations against these groups and have stated publicly that terrorist suspects remaining at large may seek to attack Western targets.
You should exercise particular caution around locations that have a low level of protective security and avoid places known to be possible terrorist targets. See the Safety and security section of this advice for details.
Terrorists have previously attacked or planned to attack places where Westerners gather, including nightclubs, bars, restaurants, international hotels, airports and places of worship in Bali, Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia. These types of venues could be targeted again.
Local police advise that a demonstration is planned for outside the Australian Embassy on 21 November 2013 .
Australians should monitor local media, avoid protests, maintain high levels of vigilance and security awareness.
Australians should expect traffic delays and restricted access to and from the Embassy at the time of the demonstration.
You should telephone ahead for an appointment before going to the Australian Embassy (See Where to get help section).
Australians planning to participate in “Schoolies” events in Bali in November 2013 should see our Schoolies page for information for staying safe.
Indonesia is subject to a range of natural disasters including volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. You should pay close attention to emergency procedures and monitor local warnings.
Visitors to Indonesia, particularly to tourist locations such as Bali and Lombok, should be aware of the specific risks from crime, and from drink-spiking and consumption of alcohol adulterated with harmful substances such as methanol.
Tourists may also be exposed to scams and credit card/ATM fraud (see under Crime for more information).
Petty crime, such as opportunistic theft, is common in Indonesia. Thieves on motorcycles may snatch handbags and backpacks from pedestrians. Tourists may be exposed to scams and confidence tricks in Indonesia. Legal disputes are common regarding the purchase of real estate including land, houses, holiday clubs and time share schemes.
You should exercise normal beach safety behaviour and consider carefully the risks involved in using motorcycles, including licence and insurance issues (see under Local travel for more information).
Visitors should be aware that there is a risk of rabies throughout Indonesia, in particular Bali and Nias. See under Health for advice to Australians travelling to or resident in Indonesia.
We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Central Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua and West Papua provinces where additional safety and security risks exist. Since October 2012, a number of violent incidents have been reported in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
Since July 2009, there has been a series of violent attacks in the area around the Freeport Mine in Papua province. A number of these incidents have resulted in deaths, including of one Australian. Attacks were reported in the area in March and April 2013. Further such attacks could occur. Information indicates that attacks may be planned near the area of operation of the Freeport mine.
Ongoing violence in Puncak Jaya District in Papua Province has led to a number of deaths in recent years, including most recently in February 2013 in Tingginambut and Sinak. There is a possibility of further attacks in Papua and West Papua provinces, including attacks on infrastructure and national institutions.
Because of the high threat of terrorist attack in Indonesia we strongly recommend that you register your travel and contact details with us so we can contact you in an emergency.
Be a smart traveller. Before heading overseas:
Andrew Bolt
Herald Sun
November 21,2013
WHAT self-serving, malevolent shysters - deliberately damaging Australia and blaming Tony Abbott for it. Who are these hypocrites who betray Australia, peddle a traitor's leaks and demand we surrender to Indonesia, just to destroy a Prime Minister they hate?
Blog all day with Andrew Bolt
Let's start with the clowns. On Tuesday, ABC managing director Mark Scott insisted the ABC was right to join the far-Left Guardian Australia in publishing secret intelligence stolen from the US National Security Agency by the American traitor Edward Snowden.
Scott said it was in the "public interest" to reveal Australia in 2009 monitored the phones of Indonesian leaders, even though he knew it would hurt his country.
"Yes, I appreciate that the release of some of this material might … cause some difficulties with the Australian-Indonesian relationship in the short term."
That is putting it mildly. These reports from the ABC and Guardian, revealing Australia monitored the phones of even President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife, haven't just led Indonesia to formally downgrade our relationship.
Nor have they simply goaded Indonesia into threatening to withhold co-operation in fighting terrorists and people smugglers, potentially putting Australians in more danger and tempting more boat people to risk their lives at sea. They will also boost support for any anti-Western nationalists in Indonesia's presidential elections next year. God knows what that might cost us.
Scott airily waved all this away, but get this. The next day he discovered there was indeed one secret too damaging to publish: how much the taxpayer-funded ABC pays its star presenters.
Scott today raged at length about this terrible leaking of information the ABC fought for three years to keep secret.
"Payroll information should be confidential. It shouldn't leak!" shrieked the head of a news outfit that made serial leaker Julian Assange a hero. Why, this leak "puts us at a significant disadvantage to our competitors".
Can you believe this guy, who had no trouble publishing secrets that put his whole country "at a significant disadvantage to our competitors"?
But Scott's hypocrisy is trumped by the Greens'. In 1999, Greens leader Bob Brown was demanding an "international peacekeeping force" invade Indonesia, if that's what it took to free East Timor. But now? These same Greens are shocked - shocked - that we tapped the phones of Indonesian leaders and they cry crocodile tears at "the damage that the unregulated surveillance state is doing to our diplomatic relationships".
Are these people mad? Have they forgotten that Indonesia, today a democracy under a friendly ex-general, was only recently less benign and tomorrow might be again? Don't they realise the phonetapping in 2009 occurred only a month after yet another Islamist bombing, this one killing three Australians in Jakarta, when Australia needed to know how serious Indonesia was in tackling extremists? Of course, the Greens are simply adolescents in permanent revolt against Father. They are at heart irresponsible, not to be trusted with real power.
But what excuse is there for Labor leader Bill Shorten? On Tuesday he sided with the Greens, Fairfax journalists and extremist Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir in demanding Abbott apologise to Indonesia.
"I believe, for instance, that the example of the United States in the way that it handled a similar issue with Germany provides the opportunity for us to consider the same course of action," he told Parliament. Shorten was referring to President Barack Obama's response to another Snowden leak, which revealed the US had monitored the calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama - foolishly - rang Merkel to apologise and, his spokesman said, "assured the Chancellor that the US is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel".
BUT Indonesia is not Germany. And, if Abbott gives such a guarantee to Indonesia, he'll be under pressure to give the same to the leaders of Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and whoever else demands one. And if the next Snowden leak shows us spying on Chinese leaders, what does Abbott do next?
No wonder two Labor frontbenchers are already back-pedalling. Tony Burke today refused to spell out what Shorten actually wanted Abbott to say to Yudhoyono: "I'm not going to add to the words Bill Shorten put forward."
Immigration spokesman Richard Marles was just as skittish, refusing to confirm whether Shorten truly wanted Abbott to say to Yudhoyono what Obama said to Merkel. So what the hell does Shorten really want?
I suspect it's to embarrass Abbott and sink his successful campaign to stop the boats - a campaign that relies on Indonesia's help.
The Fairfax media, mad with Abbott hate, is doing its best to help, seeming at times to blame Abbott for spying actually done under the Rudd government. Worse, Fairfax writers are virtually united in insisting Abbott give Indonesia the apology we cannot afford. Indeed, most are on Indonesia's side. Don't doubt that. Hatred of Abbott and his signature boats policy is driving much of this hysterical media coverage and damn the national interest. Hear it from Jack Waterford, of the Fairfax Canberra Times: "There are many people, including me, who want to see our shameful policies fail."
Hear it also from Richard Ackland, of the Fairfax Sydney Morning Herald, suggesting the Indonesian President sends an armada to topple Abbott: "Best way for SBY to respond to spying is to open the spigot on refugees. Put 50,000 on boats, point them at Oz. Goodbye Abbott."
The hypocrites. The scoundrels. And is it too much to say they've sold out their country?
We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia, including Bali, at this time due to the high threat of
terrorist attack. You should also be aware of the severe penalties for narcotics offences, including the death penalty; some specific health risks; and risks associated with natural disasters.Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.
We continue to receive information that indicates that terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia, which could take place at any time.
Terrorist groups remain active throughout Indonesia despite police disruptions. Police continue to conduct operations against these groups and have stated publicly that terrorist suspects remaining at large may seek to attack Western targets.
You should exercise particular caution around locations that have a low level of protective security and avoid places known to be possible terrorist targets. See the Safety and security section of this advice for details.
Terrorists have previously attacked or planned to attack places where Westerners gather, including nightclubs, bars, restaurants, international hotels, airports and places of worship in Bali, Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia. These types of venues could be targeted again.
Local police advise that a demonstration is planned for outside the Australian Embassy on 21 November 2013 .
Australians should monitor local media, avoid protests, maintain high levels of vigilance and security awareness.
Australians should expect traffic delays and restricted access to and from the Embassy at the time of the demonstration.
You should telephone ahead for an appointment before going to the Australian Embassy (See Where to get help section).
Australians planning to participate in “Schoolies” events in Bali in November 2013 should see our Schoolies page for information for staying safe.
Indonesia is subject to a range of natural disasters including volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. You should pay close attention to emergency procedures and monitor local warnings.
Visitors to Indonesia, particularly to tourist locations such as Bali and Lombok, should be aware of the specific risks from crime, and from drink-spiking and consumption of alcohol adulterated with harmful substances such as methanol.
Tourists may also be exposed to scams and credit card/ATM fraud (see under Crime for more information).
Petty crime, such as opportunistic theft, is common in Indonesia. Thieves on motorcycles may snatch handbags and backpacks from pedestrians. Tourists may be exposed to scams and confidence tricks in Indonesia. Legal disputes are common regarding the purchase of real estate including land, houses, holiday clubs and time share schemes.
You should exercise normal beach safety behaviour and consider carefully the risks involved in using motorcycles, including licence and insurance issues (see under Local travel for more information).
Visitors should be aware that there is a risk of rabies throughout Indonesia, in particular Bali and Nias. See under Health for advice to Australians travelling to or resident in Indonesia.
We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Central Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua and West Papua provinces where additional safety and security risks exist. Since October 2012, a number of violent incidents have been reported in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
Since July 2009, there has been a series of violent attacks in the area around the Freeport Mine in Papua province. A number of these incidents have resulted in deaths, including of one Australian. Attacks were reported in the area in March and April 2013. Further such attacks could occur. Information indicates that attacks may be planned near the area of operation of the Freeport mine.
Ongoing violence in Puncak Jaya District in Papua Province has led to a number of deaths in recent years, including most recently in February 2013 in Tingginambut and Sinak. There is a possibility of further attacks in Papua and West Papua provinces, including attacks on infrastructure and national institutions.
Because of the high threat of terrorist attack in Indonesia we strongly recommend that you register your travel and contact details with us so we can contact you in an emergency.
Be a smart traveller. Before heading overseas:
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