Australian Politics, Mark II

Are you sure that the Nazi’s didn’t have TV? I’m sure that they would have if it had of been invented by then.

Edited: Should have read to the bottom of the thread.

Germans invented it before Baird…different format though.

Providing they weren’t lying at those technology museums in Berlin and Munich.

Yeah, it’s weird.
They had it during the war (and well before) but not immediately after it for a few years?

Surely a more apt comparison would be comparing the conditions on Manus to the conditions in Australian prisons on the mainland and then comparing the crimes of the inhabitants of each.

Dutton claims he is controlling arrivals of undesirables by plane by vetting at Dubai. But what is he doing about those arrivals from Western countries with E Visas or NZ under simpler visa schemes?.
I suspect that Border Force is rejecting visas from nationals of countries who just might claim asylum on arrival.

Umm, I hate to point this out, but the Murdoch media simply has no room for logic.

Plenty of room for flawed logic though, does that count?

Farking lol - people smugglers are giving exclusive interviews to Australian newspapers now?

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How dodgy is this Paladin group - positive that liberal mps losing their seats at this election have jobs lined up at Paladin.

Home Affairs senate estimates on Monday. Should be interesting.

Some guy is digging on Twitter and found they own a Pentecostal church or something like it.

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Apparently their company address is a beach shack in Rebekah Sharkie’s electorate.

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So that’s what all the gags about beach shacks and Paladin were referring to.

I know it’s early doors and an election hasn’t been called just yet but I wonder at which point Scummo changes the tone and busts out a little light hearted Australiana in aid of a few votes? Sure if you’re a National you can dust off or borrow some farmer’s Acubra anytime but what does Scummo have up his sleeve? Cos this pre campaign fear mongering might not be doing much for many apart from your non thinking, paranoid type of Queenslander.

How a soldier of fortune landed a $423 million Manus Island contract

By **Angus Grigg and Jonathan Shapiro Australian Financial Review

Feb 15, 2019 — 3.04pm

As diplomats and aid workers fled East Timor in 2006, a former Australian soldier landed in the capital, Dili, looking to profit from the chaos.

The world’s newest nation had descended into a low-level conflict zone of rock throwing and street battles, all of which presented an opportunity for the newly discharged Craig Thrupp.

The then baby-faced 25-year-old was looking to get into the security business and could often be found at the Castaway Bar on the Dili waterfront trawling for opportunities.

Craig Thrupp went to East Timor as a 25-year-old, looking to get into the security business. David Edward Everitt

“He was always around, not just at the Castaway but at every expat function,” says one person who remembers Thrupp from Dili.

"He was very driven, always looking for an angle and I suspect had bigger plans for himself”

Those plans would largely go unfulfilled for the next decade, as Thrupp bounced from low-level opportunities in East Timor to Indonesia and more recently Papua New Guinea, often leaving [a trail of bad debts and unfulfilled contracts]

But his luck would change in early 2017 when the multinational giant Broadspectrum (previously Transfield), under pressure from activists, gave up its lucrative refugee processing contracts on Nauru and Manus Island.

This was Thrupp’s opportunity and one he would exploit fully with his business partner, Ian Stewart.

Their Paladin Group had been a small subcontractor on Manus, providing some security and cleaning services for the respite centre, which housed 60 people. Its contract was estimated by competitors to be worth around $15 million a year.

From that modest position in the world of crisis capitalism, Paladin would be invited by the Department of Home Affairs to participate in a “limited tender”, which in most cases means there were no other bidders.

That saw Paladin, despite its lack of capacity, expertise or track record in the sector, [appointed as the government’s main service provider on the island becoming the recipient of contracts worth $423 million over 22 months.

Exactly how Paladin came to receive such a substantial slice of government business will be the subject of intense scrutiny in Senate Estimates hearings next week.

Home Affairs Minister [Peter Dutton distanced himself from the growing scandal three times during the week, while hinting it was not easy to find a company willing to take on the contract.

“I’ve seen this criticism before in relation to closed contracts,” he told Sky News.

“There are very few people who can deliver services in the middle of nowhere on an island that is so remote.”

That is not how those in PNG see the operating environment. One contractor, who spoke to AFR Weekend , says there were a number of consortiums eyeing off the Broadspectrum contract and waiting for Home Affairs to open up the tender process.

“There were lots of people ■■■■■■ off they didn’t get a shot at that contract,” says the person, who asked not to be named.

The East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre on Manus Island. Paladin Group had been a small subcontractor on Manus, but became the recipient of contracts worth $423 million over 22 months.

Their annoyance was magnified by a view Paladin was ill-equipped to provide the required services, a position shared by the company’s former chief executive Craig Coleman.

In court documents filed as part of an employment dispute with Paladin, Coleman claims just three weeks before being awarded the contract in September 2017 Paladin was “not well prepared to perform the role provided for under the Proposal”.

“Paladin did not have the corporate structure, human and other resources or processes that would permit it … to perform the roles required under the proposal,” he alleged.

Those assertions will be tested before a judge later this year. Paladin will not comment on the case and has refused to respond to queries about the Manus contract.

Craig Thrupp: “He was very driven, always looking for an angle and I suspect had bigger plans for himself.”

Home Affairs has also been silent, saying it has “nothing further to add”, after admitting earlier in the week it was aware of allegations made against Paladin in court documents filed by Coleman.

The former Paladin chief executive alleged the company had lied during the tender process, made questionable payments and acted in a deceptive manner.

Despite knowing of these allegations, Home Affairs extended Paladin’s contract on January 3 and awarded it an extra $109 million, taking the total value of its contracts to $423 million.

As the scandal moves into its second week the issue of offshore processing is once again threatening to overshadow the broader bilateral relationship with PNG, according to Jonathan Pryke from the Lowy Institute.

“We do whatever necessary to keep the facilities open,” he says.

Pryke says Australia’s reliance on PNG for offshore processing of refugees has changed the balance in the relationship, at a time when China has emerged as an aspirational power in the Pacific.

“The issue has upset the status quo in the relationship. PNG has a lot more influence in the relationship now and it has been driven by Manus Island,” he says.

“We do treat the relationship very timidly. We aren’t overly critical and I think the Manus Island facility contributes to that, as does China’s emergence as a viable alternative partner for PNG.”

Dutton has hinted previously that such larger geopolitical considerations were partly behind the department’s refusal to provide more information around the Manus contracts.

He says releasing the full contracts would “cause damage to Australia’s international relations with Papua New Guinea”.

Labor and crossbench MPs are determined to challenge the government.

“The Paladin contracts, and the unexplained increases, yet again raise serious questions about lack of probity and due diligence inside Home Affairs,” says Greens senator Nick McKim.

“It’s an absolute disgrace that a shonky operator like Paladin is raking in the millions while comprehensively failing to provide even the most basic support for many hundreds of vulnerable refugees.”

Such rhetoric is only going to get stronger during estimates.

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If this is real, and not some sort of an internet meme, a new low has been reached by the Murdoch media.
Lets tick the boxes:

  • compare the incomparable for a “positive” win. " See it’s not _that_bad"
  • show the background as a tropical paradise to further reinforce the"win"
  • use of a dark-skinned person"grinning" with the win, to bait the racist underbelly

That is as a disgraceful piece of journalism as I have ever had the misfortune of viewing.

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It’s pretty standard for the Tele, although I agree it’s one from the top shelf.

I am in the wrong business. $15 million to provide cleaning and security for 60 people in a year seems like a very profitable business to me.

$423 million over two years for 1000 people would be challenging but I reckon I could manage and make a tidy sum,

I’ve just done the maths, and I’ll take the second one, please.
1000 people at $1000pw for two years, and I’m gonna go nuts and employ one person per refugee at $2000pw.
So $312M, and I’ll take the $110M.

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lets just say you employ 100 really good people and give them a two years contract at $1 million each. Then you spend another $100 million over two years on cleaning stuff and other consumable things and rubber bullets and comms gear etc. Gives me over $200 million profit.

I can never understand these monopoly money figures.

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