Unlike many of your posts, that sounds reasonable. Cupcake.
It takes a certain amount of gutlessness to win government, unfortunately.
Howard govt implemented offshore detention. The Malaysian solution - which did not involve offshore detention, but UNHCR camps - was a response to the Christmas Island drownings. Then Rudd, in his second coming, did the big about turn in advocating offshore detention.
But I would agree that Labor has been wedged on refugee policy.
Mr GRR, I am a bit out of the loop here in USA, but I read your post and contacted a few of my Comrades back in Oz.
There is no indication the Labor will vote this motion down in Parliament this week. They agreed to meet further with the Government, but I was told they are committed to this Medivac bill.
Labor policy on refugees has been a farking disgrace, and I have been very vocal about it. If Tanya and Bill fold on this, they will suffer.
Bob Brown ! Give me a break, he was the biggest conman in Parliament ever.
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On Insiders there was speculation that Labor was hoping to get off the hook if, as reported, Cathy McGowan refuses to support the Phelps Bill as presently drafted. I suppose this would give Labor the chance to suggest some technical drafting changes and to delay a vote in the two week sitting of the Reps
Thereâs a blast from the past - but no I donât remember the term ever being used on there.
Eejit is a standard expression in Ireland, ya fookinâ eejit.
You clearly never saw The Commitments.
Been around for ages. My uncle, who was a Geelong fan, always thought Larry Donohue was an eejit.
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Now before any of you get hot under the collar, I was sent details of amendments that Labor is seeking to this MediVac bill.
These amendmentss would broaden reasons on why the minister could prevent medical transfers to include show additional criteria.
These are a criminal record, countering rants from ScoMo that Labor was happy to let murderers and rapists into the country; and that this bill only applies to those currently in offshore detention, not to new arrivals.
While I would be happier to close these places down, I will accept this as necessary.
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Theyâre not even trying now. Itâs Trump to base style, telling outright lies and trusting none of their support will bother to verify. ANd they may be right but it didnât work in Vic.
And so they should.
When you schedule yourself to work ten days in a 6 month period, you better damn well show up for those 10 days.
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Some of the comments are worth a peek. He gets his little behind chewed up like a dog toy. Please excuse the image
Scott Morrison has formally hit the panic button
Paul Bongiorno
Scott Morrison is desperately in need of a circuit breaker. Something dramatic to save his government and pull off an unlikely election win.
The opinion polls are stubbornly stuck in wipeout territory, the latest Newspoll just confirming the trend not only since August, but since the last federal election in 2016.
Nothing is working, not even the promise of a million new jobs.
When all else fails, go for fear and loathing. Fear for the nation and its citizens, and loathing of your main political opponent as a threat to our way of life as we know it.
So a bill that would take the politics out of transferring sick refugees and asylum seekers from the detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru for treatment in Australia is hyped to the equivalent of a green light for a new âinvasionâ as then opposition leader Tony Abbott called the flood of boat arrivals in the lead up to the 2013 election.
Mr Morrison told the National Press Club: âIf Bill Shorten allows that bill to pass in any way, shape or form, thatâs the test. Thatâs the only test going on in Parliament this week. Itâs not who wins or loses a vote. The only test is: Will Bill Shorten cave in and undermine our border protection by passing this bill in any form?â
Undermining this strident hyperbole is the fact that since 2013, there have been more than 800 such medical transfers and they have not led to the threatened influx of new arrivals.
Sure a key reason is that in the same period, 600 âboat peopleâ have been turned back. But Defence Minister Christopher Pyne sent a strong signal on Sunday that should Labor pass the transfer bill, then the government will stop the interceptions.
A new spate of successful boat arrivals before the election could be a 2019 version of the Tampa mercy ship that an embattled John Howard demonised as a threat that needed fully armed, black-clad commandos to board and stop.
There is a precedent: The Liberals in opposition refused to vote for the Gillard Labor governmentâs Malaysian people swap â a turn-back strategy that they feared may just work.
At the time one senior Liberal told me: âThe more boats that come the better for us.â
Mr Pyne told Barrie Cassidy on Insiders: âShortenâs law will weaken border protection in Australia. There will be more people-smuggling boats arriving and weâll have to re-open Christmas Island. Thatâll cost $1.4 billion.â
That presumes that all 1000 hapless people who have been holed up for five years are sick enough for immediate transfer. Itâs an admission of the terrible human cost the deterrence-through-cruelty policy is exacting.
The fact is, this is not 2001. Scott Morrison is not John Howard â a long- time prime minister â and the world is not reeling from the horror of the September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre and other targets in the United States.
If indeed the boats were allowed to start arriving again, surely the blame would be worn as much, if not more, by the government as Labor.
Mr Shorten, after all, is only proposing to take the politics out of medical transfers. Once treated he proposes to send the refugees back. Nevertheless, the government has successfully put him in a hard place. It will be a test of his political smarts.
The best outcome for him would be for the crossbench to accept an amendment to the Senate bill stiffening ministerial discretion. This would lead to the first defeat of a government on substantial legislation in 90 years.
No wonder Scott Morrison is very afraid.
Can you guys in WA go and check the beaches. People smugglers expected any time now.
The Libs have lost the vote.
Wouldnât be surprised to see one or two boats âallowed inâ as Morrison and Dutton attempt to tampa with the patrol boats.
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They are already here. That wannabe politician Sharna tweeted that over 900 refugees have already been medivacced.
So the Squibs lose the Medivac Vote.
Where can I put $1000 on a boat or two suddenly âGetting Throughâ magically after not having done so for years, and Murfuch front pages screaming âLabor helping People Smugglersâ for a Month or more afterwards??
Likely an odds on bet, but 10 bucks is 10 bucks eh.
Is it really that appealing for refugees to try. Get locked up for the best part of a decade until your mentally and physically fried so the Dr let you in.
The latest Essential poll out today might ease it further then ,mate.
After possibly coming in to 53 -47 from 55 - 45 at Xmas last year, ⌠they are now back to that despite the past week or 2 of the fear mongering on Boats etc.
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Again 2-3 % polling error.
You need to compare rolling averages. For example the ave of the past 3 months is better for Labor than the three months prior to Turnball getting chopped. Thatâs a meaningful movement. Week to week is noise.
Lol, ⌠you donât say.
1929! What a record to break by Libs - congrats Scummo.