Labor Green Loons and THEIR ABC

Why the ABC distorts the news agenda

Piers Akerman – 
Sunday Telegraph
December 01, 2013

IT came as no surprise to be quoted by the extravagantly paid Tony Jones, the host of the ABC’s Green-Left oriented Q & A program, last Monday as he sought to justify the taxpayer-funded media organisation’s attack on Australian-Indonesian relations.

Jones’ sniggering, simpering remarks are usually aimed at the luvvies and no doubt he hoped to embarrass me and all those in the media who believe that the national interest might just trump the public interest occasionally. 

During a program which featured an extraordinary riff about a truly inexplicable conspiracy theory from the human rights lawyer Julian Burnside, Jones reverenced my view in response to a serious question from Roslyn Coutinho, who asked: “The Australian public trust and value the ABC as a source of truth, however, the Indonesian phone tapping story could potentially have negative consequences for innocent parties, such as Australian cattle farmers and asylum seekers in Indonesia. So my question is for the whole panel, including Tony, but this could be wishful thinking, was the choice to run this story a selfish decision by the ABC or should governments be more careful about the potential implications of their intelligence operations in general? 

His reply, which must have been researched and prepared in advance, was: “I might answer your question by quoting News Limited columnist Piers Akerman who wrote last year, ‘I believe freedom is absolute. You either have a free press or you do not.’ The information came to the ABC, they published it. I wonder whether News Limited would have published it or held it? That’s a very interesting question we probably won’t know the answer to.” 
The quote is accurate, although it came from a blog written on March 18 this year, not last. 

But Jones was, as usual, a little too smart. He needs to be reminded of the context of the quote and it was this — and I shall now quote from blog which the ABC employee found irresistible. 

“It would not be news to readers of this site that this dysfunctional government’s ham-fisted attempts to muzzle the media anger me. 
“Unfortunately, I permitted that anger to show on the ABC’s Insiders program yesterday. 
“Flanked by two people who laughed at the notion that press freedom was threatened, and mocked by the show’s host, I raised my voice. 
“Perhaps I should not have. 
“I was angered by their naiveties, by their apparent belief that freedom can be trifled with. 
“I believe freedom is an absolute. 
“You either have a free press or you do not.” 
And I still believe that. 

The point that needs making for people like Jones however, who are more than willing to play the idiot if they think it will portray conservatives in a poor light, is that even a free press must be responsible. 
While the US Constitution goes further than any other to enshrine the notion of free speech, US law (and commonsense, a trait obviously absent from the halls of the ABC) make it a crime to recklessly falsely shout “fire” in a crowded venue.

Jones, of course, was only trying to justify the decision taken by the ABC to promote The Guardian’s publication of intelligence material stolen from the United States by the defector Edward Snowden, now living in Russia where he enjoys the hospitality of that nation’s security services. 

No doubt the Russians will keep him a long way from their computers but whether Snowden, The Guardian and the ABC would ever dream of publishing documents that would damage the national interests of Russia, is as Jones’ might muse “a very interesting question we probably won’t know the answer to”. 

I would hazard a guess though that The Guardian would not release such material because it is not interested in exposing Russian secrets, only those which would damage the web of Western nations which share democratic values. 

As an Australian, I have no qualms considering the national interest. 
The Guardian was always going to publish the material stolen by the defector, but I question the need for “our” ABC to assist that media group in promoting the damaging allegations in our region. 

If the ABC was truly interested in freedom of the press, I would never have had to challenge Insider host Barrie Cassidy last March, or later in the year when I asked why the ABC had so consistently failed to broadcast any news about the ongoing Victorian police investigation into former Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s involvement as a lawyer in helping to set up the AWU Workplace Reform Association (which she later described as a “slush fund") and providing legal advice to her former boyfriend Bruce Wilson and AWU member Ralph Blewitt. Ms Gillard has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The case will be given yet another airing in the Victorian courts tomorrow, though whether the ABC breaks with its habit and reports this is “a very interesting question we probably won’t know the answer to”. 
Meanwhile, the ABC continues its attempts to smear the Abbott government over the spying allegations. 

On Wednesday, the AM program began its report of the Indonesian response to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono thus: “Mr Abbott’s initial refusal to explain documents showing Australia spied on the President, his wife, and senior ministers, angered Indonesia, causing the President to suspend cooperation.” 

Get it? Most reasonable people would think the Indonesians were angered by the spying but the ABC wants its audience to see Abbott as the villain. 

The ABC sucks more than $1 billion from the taxpayers. 
What’s more, Labor rewarded it for its support with more money and was prepared to twice ignore a tender process and award it with the Australia Network to pursue “soft diplomacy” on Australia’s behalf in our region. 
The ABC is a bloated failure in the hands of ideologues. It should be stripped back to its charter, at the very least, or broken up and sold, if possible to commercial interests. 

In a world of expanding media, the notion of a taxpayer-funded national broadcaster is anachronistic. 
Those who want to keep “our” ABC, should fund it. Those who don’t should not have to pay for it.


Biased ABC leads a howling media mob

Miranda Devine
The Daily Telegraph
December 4,2013 

THE government has been in office 77 days but the Canberra press gallery has already written it off. Where fault can be found it will be furiously exaggerated. Where success occurs it will be ignored.

It began with the so-called expenses "scandal", when Tony Abbott's electioneering at sports events was recast as some sinister attempt to rort the public purse.

Then he was blamed for the Indonesia spying scandal which occurred under Rudd.

BLOG WITH MIRANDA DEVINE

On border protection, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has been hammered for not divulging operational detail about exactly how asylum boats are being stopped. He revealed this week that November had seen the lowest boat arrivals in five years, but all anyone wants to talk about is his "hostile" attitude to the media. Well, hello. He's only human.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne is the latest punching bag for refusing to implement the Gonski education funding model, as prescribed by Julia Gillard. Why was that a surprise to anyone, least of all Barry O'Farrell?

Treasurer Joe Hockey is being lambasted over the non-sale of GrainCorp, over which, hilariously, lefties are siding with the free market - anything to beat up on Abbott.

The contrast to the honeymoon period of the Rudd government is staggering. Kevin Rudd was feted as a messiah for more than a year.

At the end of his first three months, he was preferred prime minister over Brendan Nelson by 68 per cent to 10 per cent, according to ABC-TV's Insiders' "poll of polls", which relishes Abbott's less impressive lead of 44-29 over Bill Shorten.

Rudd's popularity soared to record highs thanks in large part to all the positive coverage lavished on him and his lame-brained ideas, like the 2020 summit, FuelWatch, GroceryWatch, an ETS, green loans, free pink batts, the end of homelessness, and dismantling border protection.

The media was dazzled, especially the ABC-Fairfax Media axis of love. But even conservatives gave Rudd the benefit of the doubt for too long.

To its eternal shame, The Australian newspaper even named him Australian of the year in 2010. Uh oh.

Rudd's media honeymoon was so prolonged that it seemed few people were more surprised when his party ditched him for non-performance later that same year than the press gallery.

More than any other news organisation, the ABC gave Labor a free pass over the past six years of calamitous government.

Remarkably, it has run dead on serious crime allegations against senior Labor figures which are currently being investigated by police, while
ferociously hunting down every verbal misstep or stumble by the new government.

Labor bodies are piling up and stinking behind the doors the ABC refuses to open.

Instead it fires all its barrels at the poor saps who barely have their feet under their desks.

So when Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi launched a scathing attack on the ABC in the Coalition party room yesterday, he was reflecting the opinion not only of his party's conservative base but of the bulk of his parliamentary colleagues.

The applause he received was a pointed rebuke to his old foe, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who continues to defend the national broadcaster.

"I'm concerned because it's not our ABC, it's not my ABC, it's 'their' ABC," Bernardi said.

"It's a taxpayer-funded behemoth that is cannibalising commercial media while spreading a message that ignores the majority views of Australians."

Bernardi told colleagues he does not advocate privatising the ABC since it has a role to play in regional communities.

But the national broadcaster "no longer complies with its charter of fairness and balance.

"It is politically biased, regularly unfair and has priorities completely at odds with its raison d'être,'' he said.

"Gone are the days when it simply operated TV and radio services. It has a massive online presence providing at taxpayers expense what commercial media operations need to charge for, four television channels and who knows how many radio licences.

"It is out of control and needs to be reined in. It needs to be broken up and returned to its primary purpose rather than the engorged propaganda unit it has become."

Bernardi is on the backbench because he was marginalised by many in his own party before the election for refusing to maintain a safe, politically correct line. Turnbull particularly targeted him because Bernardi led the revolt against the ETS which ended his leadership and launched Abbott.

Now Bernardi is leading the conservative revolt against the ABC, and again he is on the right side of history 


The ABC's evil plan to get tentacles into kids

Miranda Devine 
The Daily Telegraph
December 4,2013

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/

THE ABC is an enormous beast, with tentacles stretching across the internet and digital TV at a time when other media organisations are struggling to survive.

Its success at enforcing the narrow groupthink of the Left cannot be over-estimated, and not just on obvious flagship programs such as Q&A.

Take its controversial education show Behind The News, watched by more than one million unsuspecting children each week.

With a cheery youth-friendly style, it promotes the soft-left line on everything from asylum seekers to gender equality to big government spending.

Yesterday's episode of BTN began with a story about Education Minister Christopher Pyne's "broken promise" on Gonski funding.

Next was "Why sorry seems to be the hardest word over the Indonesian spy scandal", complete with footage of Kevin Rudd making his Stolen Generations apology. Praise for Rudd was cleverly delivered using Tony Abbott's words.

"So it seems Tony is a fan of people who say sorry too. Well, he was."

That is, until the Indonesia spying scandal erupted. No mention that the spying occurred during Rudd's sainted reign.

At the end of the package the young BTN host, sitting in a school he identifies as Norwood Primary, asks the children around him if they think "Tony" should have said sorry.

It's no surprise that the majority, about 30 children, put up their hands to say yes the Prime Minister should have apologised.

A scan of other BTN stories this year finds similar examples of loaded commentary: "The new PM Tony Abbott hasn't repaid some money that he claimed for going to a few running and cycling events. The fitness freak says they were genuine community events, so it's OK for the taxpayer to help foot the bill."

Subtle propaganda to children is all part of the ABC's long march.

What CNN should have asked Madame JuLIAR Gillard.

Spy saga legacy of Left's flawed reign

Piers Akerman
The Sunday Telegraph
November 23,2013 

IF CNN's international audience knew what a low priority Julia Gillard placed on national security, the network may not have given her a soapbox on which to offer unhelpful and irrelevant remarks about the alleged spying during ­Labor's term in office.

It is astonishing that a media outlet did not make it clear that Gillard, as deputy prime minister, showed such scant regard for national security that she sent a junior staffer and former bodyguard, Andrew Stark, to attend meetings of 

the National Security Council in her place. It is staggering that neither she nor Kevin Rudd attended every meeting of the NSC when they were in Australia but that's the true measure of their priorities.

To hear her flapping her gums about a topic she cared so little for only serves to ­remind the electorate of how flawed she was, and how fortunate we are to be shot of them both, despite the adoration they both received from the ABC and its partner in hypocrisy, Fairfax Media.

One can expect those media organisations to willingly dance to the tune being played by the defector Edward Snowden and his conductors in the Kremlin, but to see Gillard, Opposition leader Bill Shorten and other former national leaders such as Malcolm Fraser stepping out diminishes any remaining respect.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's dignified response to this Left-wing assault elevates him beyond measure.

Gillard's re-emergence so soon after being dumped by the ALP is an indication of the bitter battle being waged within Labor for some shred of consequence to show for the party's six years in office.

If only CNN had been better briefed, Gillard might have been asked about Labor's failure to provide any funding beyond December 31 for offshore processing of illegal boat arrivals, or of the cost of post-processing accommodation on Nauru and Manus Island.

She might have been asked about the lunacy of linking spending measures totalling over $16 billion over the current forward estimates period to the failed mining tax which is only raising $4.4 billion.

She could have been quizzed on the billions Labor ripped out of the Reserve Bank's reserves necessitating an injection by the Coalition of $8.8 billion to give the RBA a buffer with which to respond to international financial events.

She may have explained why Labor's debt ceiling would exceed its limit of $300 billion next month and is now forecast to break the $400 billion barrier. Under Labor and former treasurers Wayne Swan and Chris Bowen and former finance minister Penny Wong, the debt limit escalated four times, going from $75 billion to an eventual $300 billion, and it still couldn't keep up with ­Labor's wastrel tendencies.

Labor oversaw the fastest deterioration in debt, in dollar terms and as a share of GDP, in modern Australian history.

Just last week the public learnt Labor had planned secret cuts to the public service - but it had failed to fund more than 13,000 planned ­redundancies, leaving agencies to find the rest of the savings.

This has forced a large number of departments and agencies to offer voluntary ­redundancies, which were not funded by the former government and which have subsequently pushed some of them into operating losses.

".....she believes that a married woman is a prostitute.  (Quote) "Prostitution in marriage is the transaction of sex in return for love, security and house-keeping." (Quoted by Helen Trinca, The Australian, April 6, 1984, p.7).

Madame Gillard (l) without Tim "the Beard" Mathieson seen here playing dress up or something. 

If CNN wanted Gillard to be relevant it should have asked her why she failed to release a secret report that estimated the NBN would leave taxpayers up to $31 billion worse off. Instead of addressing Labor's failed policies and seeking answers to questions Labor has lied about, the international broadcaster gave Gillard a platform to talk about national security - an area in which, like so many others, she demonstrated no expertise.

It is understandable a global audience may be enthralled by stories of spooks told by ­defecting traitors, but there is really nothing new to these tales. What is more important to the nation is the truth and nothing but the truth about ­Labor's six deceitful and ­immensely damaging years in office.

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?

Australian Government issues official Travel Warning for Australians travelling to Indonesia 

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:

Their ABC "No healthy democracy should have a state media this dominant"

ABC can't keep its big advantage over private media

Andrew Bolt
Herald Sun
November 20, 2013

THE Abbott Government has wanted to dodge the fight it must have with the ABC. It can't afford the blood right now. It needs to establish its power and trust. And there's Malcolm Turnbull, of course, the ABC favourite who stands guard as Communications Minister.

But for how much longer can the Government let the ABC run amok? I don't just mean that the taxpayer-funded ABC has become even more stridently partisan since the election. Not satisfied with having Leftists helm every one its main current affairs shows, it's now screening slabs of comfort food for Labor viewers traumatised by the election result, from an hour of Julia Gillard being "interviewed'' by worshipper Anne Summers to four hours of Paul Keating being adored by Kerry O'Brien. Just as concerning is how the ABC is metastasising, using our $1.1 billion a year to strangle private media outlets and stifle diversity.

No healthy democracy should have a state media this dominant, with the ABC sprawling over four national TV channels and four radio networks, and now an online newspaper that gives free the kind of news and views that dying Fairfax newspapers must sell to survive. And, of course, there's the taxpayer-funded SBS and taxpayer-funded Conversation.

This week showed the danger the ABC now poses to diversity. In May, Peter Fray, former editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, started PolitiFact Australia, a website that checked the truth of what politicians said. But while he was hiring staff, the Gillard Labor government gave the ABC a $10 million top-up, in part to create a Fact Check unit of its own in direct competition not just with PolitiFact but Fairfax's own "Fact Checker".

No surprise this week PolitiFact said it had cut its staff from seven full-timers to just three part-timers and even they would be gone unless some moneybags showed up.

Said Fray: "We don't have the budget the ABC does and taxpayers' funding."

So how much longer will the Government let the ABC destroy free enterprise - and the culture that supports it?

The Overpaid Labor Green Loon propagandists of "Their ABC"

The Overpaid Labor Green Loon propagandists of "Their ABC"

Leaked document shows ABC stars' salaries

Jenni Ryall
The Daily Telegraph
November 20,2013

Their ABC "No healthy democracy should have a state media this dominant"

It's the ABC of inequity - salaries show some are more equal than others  Just like Animal Farm

A SALARY document detailing the annual pay of dozens of ABC staffers reveals Lateline host Tony Jones is the public broadcaster's highest-paid presenter.

The revealing documents have been published in The Australian.

The ABC has launched an investigation into the leaking of the confidential payroll details of its top broadcasters and journalists.

"This hurts the ABC and it hurts the ABC's ability to attract and maintain talent," said ABC managing director Mark Scott.

Lateline host Tony Jones is the public broadcaster's highest-paid presenter on $355,789 a year.

Juanita Phillips, weeknight presenter of ABC News in NSW and evening presenter for ABC News 24, earns $316,454.

7.30 presenter Leigh Sales is paid $280,400 a year.

Quentin Dempster, who has been employed by the ABC for 20 years and currently hosts NSW 7.30, makes $291,505.

Top earner in radio, Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover comes in at $290,000.

Not far behind in radio, Melbourne Mornings presenter Jon Faine earns $285,249. He recently signed a new contract for $300,000.

"I'm not embarrassed. I'm annoyed," he said of the salary information being released.

Insiders presenter Barrie Cassidy earns $243,478.

ABCTV Breakfast host Virginia Trioli earns $235,664, while her co-host Michael Rowland is lagging behind by $84,000, earning just $151,006.

Former Media Watch presenter Jonathon Holmes, who opposed the release of ABC salary information, was earning $187,380. Paul Barry replaced him in July.

Former political editor Chris Uhlmann earns $255,400 a year.

 Radio National's Breakfast host Fran Kelly is on $255,000.

ABC's online political editor Annabel Crabb is on $217,426.

Mr Scott said he was very concerned about the release of such private information.

Mr Scott's basic pay is recorded in the documents at $678,940, but with bonuses it is listed in the ABC's latest annual report as $773,787.

"I think everyone would expect that payroll information should be confidential. It shouldn't leak," he told ABC Radio in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"I'm very concerned about that and an investigation has been launched this morning into how that information could have got out."

Mr Scott said it wasn't in the public interest to release the ABC's payroll information, as a Senate estimates hearing had previously decided.

For the full list of salaries, click here.

The leaked documents show erratic pay rates for their biggest stars and will no doubt lead to demands for an increase in wage from employees who seek to sort perceived inequities.

Read more on The Australian.

How Their ABC reports on accused Muslim Murderer and accessory after the fact Sheik Man Haron Monis

Couple charged after Sydney woman Noleen Hayson Pal fatally stabbed and set alight at 

Werrington in April
Updated 5 hours 57 minutes agohttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-15/couple-charged-over-woman-fatally stabbed-and-set-alight/5095012?section=nsw
MAP: Werrington 2747

A self-styled (well so far no one in the ABC Muslim Multicultural Industry has come out and said he is NOT a Muslim Cleric, he has been Infamous for more than a few years now, or is Their ABC implying that this piece of Shit is a "Miss Understander" of the koran? a "Lone Wolf" well Their ABC has a plethora of Lone Wolf's, 20,000 plus since 911 in fact. ) Muslim cleric and his partner have faced court charged over the brutal murder of a woman in Sydney's west earlier this year.

The body of Noleen Hayson Pal was found in the stairwell of a unit block in the city's west at Werrington in April after emergency services were called to a fire.

The 30-year-old had been stabbed a number of times and set alight.

Police arrested Man Haron Monis, 49, and Amirah Droudis, 34, after stopping their car at Campsie early this morning.

Monis is sometimes also known as Sheikh Haron.

Droudis was then charged with murder, while Monis was charged with being an accessory before and after the fact to murder.

Police say the couple knew Ms Pal before her death.

Monis and Droudis faced Burwood Local Court this afternoon.

The couple did not apply for bail, which was formally refused.

They are expected to face court again later this month.

Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, police, werrington-2747, campsie-2194

First posted 9 hours 16 minutes ago as at 1142 pm Friday Nov. 15 2013

November 15 2013 Just another Harmony Day Down Under

The Brilliant Robert Wargas, In case you forgot, How identity politics works.

How do identity politics work? A quick refresher course

By Robert Wargas US politics
The Telegraph
November 11th, 2013

Tim Stanley has already drawn your attention to a perfectly odious video of Dan Savage’s recent appearance on the Australian show Q&A, in which he “jokes” about mandating abortion to combat “overpopulation.”

Miranda Devine: "THE sneering foulness of the Left is bubbling up like overflow from an unblocked sewer at the realisation the Abbott government is here to stay."

Q & A

I urge everyone to watch the video of the entire episode, which you can find here. I did so a few days ago and have been turning the detritus over in my mind ever since. The entire episode really is a marvel of political correctness and identity politics, and a few brief comments are necessary, I believe, to remind everyone of the type of attitudes and opinions that underlay such a large segment of contemporary society. Those familiar with these slimy phenomena needn’t even watch the episode to understand the following points; they will read and nod with familiarity. Call it a refresher course, then.

1) Note how crude and vulgar Savage acts in general. Early in the show he refers, in an exceptionally explicit manner, to his alleged ability in oral sex. He seems to direct this comment at Peter Hitchens. I want you to imagine for a moment what would happen if a heterosexual man appeared on a television debate show and mentioned his prowess in oral sex to a female panelist. This would quite rightly be construed not only as creepy and disgusting but as an act of harassment, especially if the obvious purpose of the comment was, as in the case of Savage’s, to make his interlocutor feel uncomfortable and humiliated.

2) Savage acts the way he does because he believes he is entitled to do so. He believes his status as a member of The Oppressed exempts him from the rules of common decency and politeness that his Bourgeois Oppressors follow. You will notice all aggrieved people act in this way: they abuse others in the most heinous way while simultaneously demanding that those they’re abusing act deferential towards them. Note also that, in Savage’s case, this contempt for common decency extends to dress as well: he doesn’t feel compelled to wear a shirt or tie or jacket to an appearance before an enormous television crowd.

3) The audience encourages the panel’s radicalism. The panellists, emboldened by the howls of approval, are therefore encouraged to outdo one another in expressions of identity politics.

4) Notice how, with the exception of Peter Hitchens, all the other panelists are categorically obsessed with their own social identities, mainly in terms of gender and sexuality. For them, there is no reality beyond this identity; it is what defines them, determines their place in life as well as their moral standing. Like all radicals, however, their obsession (and pity) is limited only to select groups. If a feminist says, “As a woman, I feel that…” everyone keeps quiet and listens. If a conservative male says, “As a man, I feel that…” he is excoriated as a reactionary misogynist. Double standards are the single standard of political correctness.

5) As a corollary to point 4, notice how all the panelists (again, excepting Hitchens) turn every answer into a speech about how some nefarious force is responsible for all their problems. Nothing is their fault. The ills of the world are due to the racism, sexism, classism, and other -isms of the eternal oppressors. Nonetheless, the panelists seem almost to rejoice in their perceived oppression. It’s almost as though they enjoy it. Why not? It defines them. Like all radicals, their worldview is an odd and toxic marriage of self-worship and self-pity.
Do I really have to remind you that such people and attitudes have controlled our universities for well nigh half a century now? If you are someone who has never attended a university, let the episode and these brief observations serve as a kind of primer on the criminal misuse of the academy. Then again, these attitudes are so widespread nowadays, a university education is no longer necessary for the dumbing down of Western civilisation.

Robert Wargas

Robert Wargas is an American journalist who lives in New York. He has written for Newsday, PJ Media and Publishers Weekly. Most recently, he worked as a historian at the renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, where he helped the institution document its record in biotechnology and molecular biology.

Australia Haters Gone Bad er

Intolerance and rudeness shouldn't be the bottom line

Andrew Bolt 
Herald Sun
November 6, 2013


IT IS getting harder to cop moral lectures. I mean, have our moral "betters" ever been this savage?

For instance, once you might have thought a "human rights" lawyer just wanted people to be nicer to each other. But then comes Julian Burnside, the best-known of them, urging children to spit on Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

Tweeted Burnside: "I hope little children stop him in the street and spit on his shoes."

I note Burnside refuses to set the children an example. He neither urges them to act in a civil way, nor takes the lead in spitting on a government minister.

He lacks conviction or lacks guts, urging children to do what he dares not.

How often it turns out that the greatest demands for tolerance come from the intolerant.

Take Dan Savage, a gay activist on the ABC's Q&A on Monday who demands more tolerance for gays, but showed little himself.

"You are full of s---," he told one panellist and heckled: "I give a wicked blow job."

Asked to nominate a "dangerous idea ... to change the world for the better", he suggested "abortion should be mandatory for about 30 years".

Same twist with The Age. It denounced signs calling Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard a "witch", but when former 

Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died ran a big picture on its website of a sign jeering, "The bitch is dead".

The Age has even now promoted T-shirts printed by one of its columnists with the slogan "F--- Abbott."

You see, with tribalists it's not the principle that counts, but the side.

I can understand such abuse from desperate attention seekers. When Catherine Deveny, an ABC favourite, tweeted that she hoped her former Age editor developed "a-----e cancer" I knew she needed to sell tickets to her shows.

Miranda Devine: "THE sneering foulness of the Left is bubbling up like overflow from an unblocked sewer at the realisation the Abbott government is here to stay."

  Catherine Deveny,Fat and Proud ?

But we pay the ABC more than $1 billion, so it could set the moral standard, not trawl the meanest streets for cheap tricks.

Yet we've seen ABC TV even show a picture of a conservative critic doctored to make him look as if he was having sex with a dog.

The journalists' union is no better. To present the finalists of its Walkley Awards, allegedly to honour the noblest journalism, it hired two presenters who had tweeted about Abbott performing sex acts, including with an animal.

The crude rule. And it's not OK.

Miranda Devine: "THE sneering foulness of the Left is bubbling up like overflow from an unblocked sewer at the realisation the Abbott government is here to stay."

Sneering Lefties love to hate Abbott

Miranda Devine 
The Daily Telegraph
November 6, 2013

THE sneering foulness of the Left is bubbling up like overflow from an unblocked sewer at the realisation the Abbott government is here to stay.

From Jonathan Biggins' agonised cri de coeur playing at the Wharf Theatre, to the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Opera House, to the live audience of the ABC's Q&A, lefties are suffering an existential crisis.

The letters page of the SMH is exploding with rage.

Refugee advocate Julian Burnside has found his vicious tongue.

Student protesters - suddenly enraged about cuts brought in by Labor - burn effigies of Tony Abbott.

Welcome back to the Howard years, those glory days when the Left laid claim to the moral high ground.

Much of the baggage Labor brought with it into office, and which eventually brought it down, was filled with progressive fancies.

The last six years was an uncomfortable time for lefties as their wishes were granted by government (hello open borders, hello carbon tax).

None of it turned out well, but they now pretend it wasn't the ideas that were the problem. Not that they want to think too hard because they're too busy revelling in victimhood, post-election.

A selection from the Fairfax letters pages shows their fighting spirit: "Abbott's neo-idiocrasy"; "Climate change deniers and coalminers will be dancing in the streets with Abbott"; "This is what happens when you send a boy to do a woman's work"; "Please, Tony Abbott, couldn't I just say an 'Our Father' and 10 'Hail Marys'?"; "Can we be sure it was The Lodge and not Rome he has been aiming for?" Oh, yes, Abbott is worse even than Howard. He's Catholic! Herewith, some tales from the frontline.

At the Wharf Theatre on Monday night the chattering classes wallowed in the rueful melancholy of Whoops - The Wharf Revue. The mystery is that: "Abbott (deficient of faculty) delights not many … And yet he rules."

In one skit "the last surviving Q&A panel", including Bob Ellis and Marieke Hardy, cower as the Abbott forces storm the citadels of culture.

Amid the sound of exploding ordnance, a football falls at their feet: "Oh no! Eddie McGuire is closer than we think." Yuk yuk. The barbarians are through the gate.

In another skit, Abbott is played as a lip-smacking Neanderthal: "a smug Catholic knob … a blokey bloke not worth two bob" whose only skill is producing "soundbites of unrelenting negativity".

The same theme was taken up by the real Q&A on ABC TV later that night.

"For me the biggest mystery is that Tony Abbott is a Rhodes Scholar," sneered Germaine Greer to howls of laughter from the audience.

The program was a classic in the genre of conservative-bashing.

The cleverest person on the panel was British conservative columnist Peter Hitchens, eloquently arguing against same-sex marriage, and other totemic issues of progressives. Or trying to.

He could barely complete a sentence without being interrupted by Greer, American homosexual activist Dan Savage (whose "dangerous idea" is making abortion mandatory for 30 years), and Hanna Rosin, author of The End Of Men.

Tony Jones gave all free rein - except to Hitchens.

"I'm stopping you," Jones told Hitchens.

"Don't stop me … I haven't finished my answer," protested Hitchens. "You haven't stopped anyone else."

It's always the way.

The audience is as bad. "It's a rally," Hitchens told them, waiting to speak over applause for a Savage interjection. "While you do this I can't talk, and you know it, and that's to your shame because silencing opponents is a very wicked thing to do."

He even told his fellow panellists they were "fantastically intolerant".

"This is the absolute seedbed of totalitarianism. When you start believing that the opinions of other people are a pathology then you are in the beginning of the stage that leads to the secret police and the gulag."

Yes, it is true that Abbott has won the election. But conservatives have never yet won the culture war.

When Labor is in office, the Left do their work, quietly, inside the corridors of power, to change the nature of the country. The curriculum, the universities, the ABC, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the National Museum of Australia.

They do it for posterity. When conservatives are in power, they keep busy fixing the economy, controlling the borders, maybe switching off a money tap or two at the ABC.

But they are too polite to seize the narrative of history. In the culture wars it's always two steps forward for the Left. The best conservatives have ever managed is to maintain the status quo.

When the conservatives are in power, the Left make merry mischief.

They bully and bluster and fill every cultural space.

Which is why, for all their moaning, they haven't been this excited for years.