Socio-political commentary and like words and stuff. Now in several interesting new flavours: "https://TMGI-RailLandsRetailAgenda.blogspot.com" AND
"https://TMGI-SMLSChildAbuseCoverUp.blogspot.com" AND
"https://TMGI-The100Documents.blogspot.com.au/"
Howdy dear availees across the Third Rock...very brief post today 'cos the actual brief is to avail y'allselves of this footage of PM Scott 'Scummo' Morrison's extraordinary pseudo-Preacher, borderline Messiah-complex diatribe from the Australian Christian Churches conference...(is that the ACC shindig on the Gold Coast?-Ed)...yep...(that Scummo flew to in an official RAAF/government jet, and flew back again that evening?-Ed)...that Scummo flew to on the Taxpayer's dollar...and it's not just the cost, and not even the self-aggrandising, unhinged god-botherer ranting that really shrecked me off, it's the unashamed celebration that Pentecostal/Fundamentalist nutjobs are running the Federal Liberal/National Party, and therefore the country...(well what really pisses me off is not just that it's happened at all, and not even the time and effort that Scummo's committed to do this, not least of all when it was done in 'work hours' when he's supposed to be running the country, etc, what really riles me is the context of that time/effort as it relates to his refusal to address the March 4 Justice held in Canberra-Ed)...excellent point Ed...(when 1000's gathered literally right outside his door, and he flatly refused to even step-out and meet them-Ed)...indeed, yet here he is, when it suits him and it's all about him, etc, then he's got all the time he needs, on flights back and forth, etc, etc...
I know it's asking a lot to say please sit through any of the inane, often unintelligible word-salad gibberish that spews relentlessly from Scummo's sneering, smirking smear of a countenance, but I'm asking you to sit through the full 23 minutes of this 'speech' 'cos it's a deeply disturbing expose/insight as to what's really happening with Scummo and his phalanx of sky pilot acolytes...best of luck...sound at beginning is a bit off but please persevere...(I particularly like the stuff where he's preaching about "morality"-Ed)...indeed, it's insane hypocrisy from start to finish...here's the Facebook link...
And seeing as how 'Brother Stuart' gets a mention by Pastor Scummo, I'd also like to direct y'all to another excellent, thoroughly researched Twitter thread from Tweety The Sarcastic Sewer Rat, this time about Stuart 'Rolex' Roberts and his various business associations...this thread starts 23rd April 2021...there's several posts and various attachments...
Tomorrow: We May All Need A Day Off, But We'll See
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
Howdy dear availees, again we find ourselves back in the cut-'n'-paste place when it comes to this post, but as usual, it's 'cos we've been reading a bunch of stuff that others have articulated in the manner and with the accuracy, etc, that we would simply replicate...on top of that, my 'research' is basically reading the excellent research that others have done, so it would be borderline deceitful to present this stuff as our own work...(ask us about how corrupt the South Australian ICAC is, that we can help you with-Ed)...yes we can, we're all over that...(all over that like stink on a monkey masquerading as an angry blogger-Ed)...yep, all that ICAC stuff, and the Institutionalised Pro-Paedophile Corruption that defines South Australia's Parliament, Police, Judiciary, Public Service, etc, etc...(and how's about the rank Institutionalised Corruption of Mt Gambier City Council?-Ed)...well we're a bit outta' practice with the rancidly corrupt MGCC, what with being 'banned' from attending their meetings, etc...(all of which relates to using this 'ere blog to expose their corruption and your ICAC trial and how ICAC corruptly protects MGCC, etc, etc-Ed)...yeah, it's all one big bundle a' joy...
But specific to today's post, it's about the corrupting influence of religion, and the corrupt misappropriation of 'religion'...(oh gourd, here we go-Ed)...yes here we go, and I make no apologies 'cos there's been far more hatred and violence and abuse and hypocrisy and suffering and injustice and bigotry and just general systemic bastardry committed by and/or in the name of organised religion, than literally any other cause/excuse/motivator in human history...(are animals doomed to purgatory 'cos they don't have the self-awareness to deny the existence of a 'god' that their lack of self-awareness doesn't allow them to manifest in the first instance?-Ed)...dude, do not get me started on the existence or otherwise of 'deities', that's a whole nother discussion, today we're looking at how 'religion' is used as a 'power structure' to control and manipulate people, and/or to isolate and condemn people, and/or to 'justify' behaviours otherwise deemed unacceptable, etc, etc...
Two points to make first...any individual who is genuinely committed to the broader values of compassion and respect and inclusion, etc, as espoused by most 'religions', those genuine 'believers' will not only not take offence to anyone identifying and calling-out the gross hypocrisies witnessed within many 'religious' structures, genuine believers will support this critique and how much the inherent corruption, etc, undermines their belief/faith...(yeah, fair call mate-Ed)...and secondly, in Australia we are currently governed by a wholly 'Pentecostal' compromised/infested Federal government...if y'all are not already aware, a cursory Interweb search of the current Parliament, especially the Liberal/National Party, will immediately identify that 'Pentecostals' and other hardcore 'Christians' make-up a huge proportion of politicians, far exceeding their relatively limited numbers in the general populace...
Regular availees will no doubt recall our very genuine concerns about PM Scott 'Scummo' Morrison's exact position when it comes to his 'Pentecostal Faith'...for a brief recount, here's Ed...(ah right, well, I guess it comes down to the question of whether or not Scummo is a genuine 'Pentecostal Christian', or just presents himself as such to garner the 'Fundamentalist' vote, near enough?-Ed)...spot on mate, and why is that a question that should concern all of us?...(because, if he's just sucking-up for the votes, then he's just another disingenuous manipulator telling people what they want to hear-Ed)...which is problematic, what with the deceit and manipulation, etc, but what's far more concerning than that?...(well if you'll let me finish, it's far more concerning if he's actually a full-tilt Fundamentalist/Pentecostal because of their wildly self-focussed Prosperity Gospel agenda/ideology and End of Days Rapture belief ideology/agenda-Ed)...and now let's quickly unpack those two things...(oh do we have to? can't we just let dear availees discover for themselves the joys of this particular God-botherer Nut Cluster?-Ed)...just quickly please...(sure sure-Ed)...
(Well, in a God-botherer Nut Cluster shell, it's as we've described, 'Pentecostal Christians' like Hillsong, New Horizon, etc, subscribe to a 'Prosperity Doctrine' ideology that effectively says 'Greed Is Good' and personal wealth accumulation is what 'God' wants you to do, it's what 'He' wants for you, and when you've 'accumulated' that's a good thing because that means 'He' loves you...near enough?-Ed)...pretty close, and don't forget the 'tything' of income to the 'Church', that's the very basic cornerstone of all of these 'religions' is the prosperity of the 'Church' itself is Numero Uno...(indeed, and that's why we're using so many '''''''s, 'cos their quite deliberately false 'Churches' that are operating as 'religious organisations' solely for the most excellent tax benefits, ie, they don't pay any, hurrah-Ed)...spot on again mate....these are wealth creation enterprises sans any genuine 'Christianity'...(exactly, and the 'Pentecostals' take it a good few steps further, openly justifying their contempt and bigotry for anyone who isn't them, and/or is poor or disabled, etc-Ed)...yes sirree indeed, if you're poor that's 'cos 'their god' hates you and you deserve it, and vice versa...(and if you criticise their 'Church', then that just fulfils their 'martyr doctrine' that confirms that they are the 'chosen few', etc, etc-Ed)...exactly...
In many respects it's quite cleverly organised/structured, justify ones own greed and bigotry, etc, simultaneously excusing said greed/bigotry 'cos that lot aren't us and therefore they deserve it, etc...and it explains perfectly, 1) Scummo's seething and barely/rarely disguised hatred for anyone who ain't in his 'faithful' crew, eg, low-paid workers, disabled, etc, and 2) why there's so many 'Pentecostals' in the Liberal Party...('cos their self-interested, self-serving ideologies are basically identical-Ed)...exactly, and that's why Scummo is the perfect storm of 'Pentecostal' bastardry, a self-obsessed narcissist operating at the head of a soulless ideology-driven Cluster Nut Collective masquerading as a democratic political party...
So we had intended to sink the slipper into the Greek Orthodox Church today, but as per usual, current events have overtaken us...(snooze and you lose buddy-Ed)...well quite, and a mere $30million rorting of Federal government funding intended for Aged Care, that then directly leads to dozens of COVID19 deaths, etc, etc, while they instead bought the Archbishop permanent citizenship and a luxury $6million Sydney Harbour apartment, etc, etc, all that'll just have to wait...(I love religion, really I do-Ed)...well quite...but on Tuesday just past, 20th April 2021, Scummo used public money/resources to pop-up to Queensland for the ACC National Conference on the Gold Coast, and bless all attending with his anointed presence...(we're not worthy-Ed)...and for a not-at-all creepy 'laying-on of hands'...
First stop, just Twitter search 'Pentecostal', 'cos there's a whole bunch of terrific stuff on there...and once you've wet ya' whistle, get thee along to the Twitter feed of Tweety The Sarcastic Sewer Rat, and trawl through the litany of appallingly illuminating posts/articles/threads there-in, from today's date Thursday 22nd April 2021...there's a whole bunch of well-researched stuff about various 'Pentecostal' appointments, etc...here's a series of links from that feed, but do go check-out the entire thing...(and not surprisingly, there's Kangaroo Court of Australia mentioned as having done an excellent article about this stuff-Ed)...yep, so let's start there...I've also included a link to a rather hilarious and well researched piece about the Exclusive Brethren...
And these are only a coupla' the many references/articles from Tweety's Twitter feed...there is a heap of excellent stuff about ServeGate and their supposed 'charitable functionings', and the ever-so dodgy Mr Leigh Coleman, whom Scummo mentioned by name in his Parliamentary maiden speech...(I see Tweety has included a link to that as well-Ed)...yes, again, nicely researched and retrieved and presented...there is heaps to go through, but for your own edification and education, please to be availing y'allselves of as much as you can stomach...what's identified there-in is a critical reality that we are all affected by...in amongst all those threads I reckon there's also a link to an explanation/guide about what 'Pentecostal beliefs' actually are...
And so I return to my original point, which is incidentally the point/concerns of many people, namely, we are currently experiencing the realities of a Fundamentalist/Pentecostal take-over of our supposedly Democratic system...(indeed, and as such, at what point do we stop dismissing this reality as being some sort of unhinged 'conspiracy theory'?-Ed)...indeed, or that calling it out for being exactly what it is somehow infringes on these Cluster Nuts' supposed 'religious freedoms'?...(particularly in the context where the God-Botherers are subjecting us to a Religious Fiefdom run by their fellow bible-jockeys-Ed)..."bible jockeys", I've not heard that one before...(nah, I think I just made it up-Ed)...nice...but certainly, there is no question that the Fundamentalist Christian lobby has overtaken the Federal Parliament, and that has immediate and obvious implications for all of us...(particularly for those of us whom ain't 'in the tent'-Ed)...amen to that brother...
And I'm going to conclude today's very long and involved and heavy post with something we haven't done for a while, a deliberate and wanton attempt at humour...so until...
Tomorrow: Hopefully Not About Institutionalised Corruption, But Probably Is
Oh, and just for the record, again, 'Ed' is not a person and 'we' don't refer to 'ourselves' as 'we/us' because we're schitzo-bonkers...(indeed we are not-Ed)...'Ed' is a very specific and deliberately confected literary device used to establish dialogue rather than diatribe, to create discussion rather than lecturing...(to present potentially opposing 'facts' as an exchange of ideas or thoughts rather than simply listing pros and cons, rather than writing one thing then having to list-off all the variables or potential counter-points, etc-Ed)...indeed, when one is not entirely certain of one's position/info/'facts', it's very important to acknowledge differing views/opinions/'facts'...(and if someone does know more about a particular topic/issue/situation, we simply acknowledge that and then discuss it amongst ourself...ourself? ourselves? whatevs-Ed)...oh, and of course, you are also a great tool for setting-up jokes, often self-deprecating ones, and atrocious puns, etc...(well I'd rather that you don't refer to me as "a great tool", but I get what your saying-Ed)...see, there you go, hilarious, and you didn't even know you were doing it...(well I'm not sure anybody would've known I'd 'done it' if you hadn't pointed it out-Ed)...ahaha, there you go again, classic...(if you say so-Ed)...yes we do...(mate, this is getting a little Meta for my liking-Ed)...ummm, sorry...errr, which of us is the confected literary device?...(I am-Ed)...oh yeah, so where to from here?...
(You are Nick Fletcher and this is your blog-Ed)...oh yeah yeah...(and I am Ed the literary device-Ed)...okay okay, got it now...(and your usual sign-off issss?-Ed)...errrr, oh, cheers and laters...(well done-Ed)...phew, I wasn't quite sure who and/or where I was there for a minute...(yeah, it did get a bit confused didn't it?-Ed)...yes I did, I mean, yes it did, no, it did and I did, wait...(I know what you meant-Ed)...strewth, probably a good thing this post is done, that 'literary device' stuff can be a bit of a rabbit-hole can't it?...(indeed it can-Ed)...so anyhoos, what are you upto now?...(ummm, gunna' make a coffee, maybe have a digestive biscuit or two-Ed)...mind if I join you, got nuthin' on 'til after lunch...(sure, that would be nice-Ed)...great...(but no shop talk, I've had more than enough for one day-Ed)...you and me both sister...brother...so how's your garden doing?...(yeah, struggling a bit, but recovering thanks to that nice drop of rain we had the other evening-Ed)...ah good...(and yours?-Ed)...yeah yeah, the same really, been very dry hasn't it?...
(And so our two protagonists stroll casually out of view, chatting amicably, as the sun sets on yet another stellar installment of TMGI-Nar)...hey! who said that?!...(wasn't me, I'm right here-Ed)...no I know it wasn't you...(it was me-Nar)...and who in the sweet baby cheeses are you?!...(I'm Nar-Nar)..."Nar"? what the shreck sort of name is "Nar"?!...(it's short for 'Narrator'-Nar)...(I didn't know we had a narrator-Ed)...we don't!...(well apparently we do-Ed)...(well obviously you do-Nar)...no no no! stop this right now! we've just climbed outta' that particular bunny burrow and I ain't goin' back there, I ain't goin' back I tells ya'!...(what's his problem?-Nar)...(oh don't worry about him, he's just having a massive nervous breakdown manifesting as a failed Meta-comedy bit-Ed)...(that's a bit sad-Nar)...(yeah, but kinda' inevitable really, I mean, he's been talking to me for years now-Ed)...(really?-Nar)...(oh yeah-Ed)...hey fella's, I'm still here, right here...(see what I mean?-Ed)...(I do, I do-Nar)...(and I must apologise 'cos, no offence, but when I first saw "Nar" I thought it was actually short for 'Narcissist'-Ed)...(no offence taken mate, I mean, it's an easy assumption to make given who's imagined us into existence-Nar)...(yes, well indeed-Ed)...(and can I just say, I've been a fan of your work for quite some time-Nar)...(oh stop it, you'll make me blush-Ed)...orrr come on fella's...(no seriously, I'd love to chat with you about what motivates and inspires you, any particular muses, you know, all that sortta' stuff-Ed)...(sure, I'd be delighted-Ed)...(tell ya' what, let me buy you that coffee, it'd be my pleasure-Nar)...(the pleasure dear sir, is all mine-Ed)...(I know this wonderful little patisserie just off the High Street-Ed)...(terrific, I know the place, meet you there shortly, just got a quick errand to run-Ed)...(great, well ummm, see you there-Nar)...(ciao-Ed)...................fella's?...
Howdy dear availees and welcome to yet another purloined gem, this time cut-'n'-pasted from my Facebook feed...it's such a terrific tale of the Institutionalised Corruption and Misogyny that infests our Federal Parliament that I just had to post it...and this one is so remarkable, such a stand-out even in a broad acreage of similar corruptionings...(and is it just a coincidence that yet again it's the blokes who are identified as the blatant crooks and a woman who is standing against that corruption?-Ed)...not sure how to call that myself, but it's certainly a question worth asking...(and 'cos it's the blokes involved that li'l Joshy 'Fraudenburg' Frydenburg is working so hard to misrepresent the realities of his mate's corruption?-Ed)...again, a very pertinent question...(well?-Ed)...well, at a pinch, I'd have to agree with you on both counts, ie, I don't think that it's a coincidence, and Josh's related corruption is about protecting his mates in a manner he'd never act to protect a woman...but that's just my personal opinion...
More importantly than the gendered issues clearly involved, is that we are talking about multiple and extensive acts of corruption being committed by the Chair and Deputy Chair of the official regulator...(yeah, you'd kinda' expect the 'Corporate Corruption Watchdog' to be actually 'watching', otherwise they'd be known as the 'Corporate Corruption Participants', am I wrong?-Ed)...indeed, and you'd also be excused for being more upset if this latest litany of Instituitonalised Corruption wasn't overshadowed by the definable Pro-Rapist Corruption being exercised by the New South Wales Police...(you mean how they've been definably protecting 'alleged' Rapist Liberal Attorney-General Christian Porter, by refusing to investigate Ms Thornton's allegations?-Ed)...absolutely, and again I put 'alleged' because I believe that Porter did Rape Ms Thornton, and that his own recent conduct confirms that...but that's stuff for another post, so here's the copied article about the rancidly corrupt ASIC...(yay-Ed)...I've edited-out the photos but included the link in the title there if y'all wanna' peruse them...***
ASIC boss Chester refuses to back Frydenberg in stitch-up
She is a high-powered former deputy chair of the nation’s Productivity Commission. Now deputy chair at the corporate regulator, Karen Chester is the last person standing at the top of ASIC who is not personally involved in an extremely serious corruption scandal. She is also refusing to bow to Treasurer Frydenberg’s pressure to take part in the ongoing cover-up. Anthony Klan reports.
The last person standing at the helm of the corporate corruption watchdog not personally involved in serious alleged corruption is refusing to stand by the Federal Government’s claims that no wrongdoing has occurred.
The deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, veteran public servant Karen Chester, has refused to stand by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s claims that ASIC chair James Shipton - who was found to have charged taxpayers over 60 times the legal limit for his own personal “tax advice” - had engaged in no wrongdoing.
Frydenberg cleared Shipton of all wrongdoing in January, despite providing zero evidence to back that claim.
In fact, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the opposite.
Even a sanitised version of the “review” into the ASIC matter, which was altered by Frydenberg’s Treasury, points to serious wrongdoing by Shipton.
It clearly sets out a string of specific laws that the ASIC chair has almost certainly broken.
It also shows the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), the government body responsible for auditing ASIC’s accounts, has specifically found $118,557 Shipton charged taxpayers to receive to personal “tax advice” was over 60 times the legal limit.
Shipton made the $118,557 of “tax advice” claims in connection to his “relocation” from the US to Australia to take up the top job at ASIC, and later repeatedly falsely claimed the payments were legitimate.
But the ANAO has found (as evidenced in the ASIC “review” itself) that less than $2,000 of that was actually legal.
Frydenberg has refused to release the ASIC “review”.
Instead, on January 29, having sat on the ASIC “review” for six weeks, Frydenberg released a doctored version that was instead “prepared by Treasury”.
That same day Frydenberg announced: “There have been no instances of misconduct by Mr Shipton…nor have there been any breaches of applicable codes of conduct”.
When asked by The Klaxon whether she stood by those claims from the Treasurer, Chester responded with: “Decline to comment”.
Chester is the most senior person remaining at the top of ASIC who is not personally involved in the serious “relocation” payments scandal.
Her fellow deputy chairman at ASIC, Daniel Crennan QC, who was appointed under Treasurer Frydenberg, resigned in October, shortly after the scandal was made public.
(Pic 2)
Crennan had received almost $70,000 in illegal payments towards the rent on his luxury Sydney home.
Despite even Frydenberg’s doctored “review” showing those rent payments were against the law - and Crennan himself admitting they were illegal - zero action has been taken against Crennan.
And despite Shipton charging taxpayers for personal “tax advice” at 60-times the legal limit - and the fact that ASIC covered up both cases of serious wrongdoing for over a year - he has also faced no action.
Shipton remains ASIC chair, earning a taxpayer funded salary of over $800,000 a year.
(Frydenberg has said Shipton, who is only just over halfway through his five-year tenure, will be replaced - but Frydenberg hasn’t explained why, given he also claims Shipton has done nothing wrong.)
By releasing his own heavily-redacted and re-worked version of the ASIC “review”, Frydenberg’s fudge led almost every major media outlet to falsely report that ASIC report had cleared Shipton and Crennan of wrongdoing.
(Pic 3)
This is entirely incorrect, as revealed and exposed in extensive detail
Remarkably, and despite The Klaxon’s extensive reporting proving otherwise over several months, The Australian Financial Review yesterday ran another front-page story falsely claiming Shipton and Crennan were “found to have done no wrong”.
Further, that same article accused Chester of having “launched a fusillade at her own chairman James Shipton” and as having “thrown shade at the deputy chair and enforcement chief, Daniel Crennan”.
The article makes no reference to the fact that the almost $200,000 in taxpayer funds the men received were illegal and that ASIC - under their watch - had covered up the scandal for over a year.
It also provides no evidence to back its suggestions that Chester had somehow acted inappropriately by indicating wrongdoing by both Shipton and Crennan.
As previously reported in detail, the version of Thom’s report released by Frydenberg on January 29 - which he used to claim Shipton had engaged in no wrongdoing - was very different to the version Thom had submitted to the government six weeks earlier, on December 17.
Highly-concerningly, it appears Frydenberg may have not even shared the original, un-doctored, version of the ASIC “review” with ASIC, the corporate corruption regulator.
When asked whether she had received a copy of the unreacted review, Ms Chester, via ASIC’s media unit, also replied “Decline to comment”.
(Pic 4-5)
Smokescreen
The Coalition first released details of the alleged serious corruption at ASIC on October 23 - the morning after its aggressive and coordinated public attacks on Australian Post CEO Christine Holgate.
Predictably, the manufactured Holgate “scandal” heavily overshadowed the vastly more serious matters at ASIC.
In disclosing the ASIC matters on October 23 the Coalition indicated - and led the nation to believe - that it had only just become aware of them.
However as revealed by The Klaxon yesterday, not only had official concerns been raised behind-the-scenes for over a year, but the Coalition had secretly launched its ASIC “review” - including signing a $50,000 contract for it to be undertaken - over a week before its October 23 Holgate attacks.
Those attacks were led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and followed-up immediately by Communications Minister Paul Fletcher and the then Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.
Despite its highly unusual, multi-pronged, October 22 attacks on Holgate, the Coalition provided no evidence supporting its claims of wrongdoing by Holgate.
An inquiry has since absolved her of any wrongdoing.
By contrast, the ASIC “review” in no way absolves, or clears in any way, Shipton and Crennan of serious wrongdoing.
Holgate, legally and within corporate guidelines, gave a total of $20,000 worth of Cartier watches as bonuses to four senior Australia Post executives.
The watches were worth an average of $5,000 each.
That was just 1/30th of the maximum $150,000 in bonuses she was legally entitled to allocate to each executive.
By contrast, ASIC chairman Shipton and his deputy Crennan received - themselves, personally - almost $200,000 in illegal benefits.
That’s the equivalent of about 40 “Cartier watches”.
(Pic 6)
While Frydenberg first released details of the ASIC matters on October 23, in the shadow of the manufactured Holgate “scandal”, AusTender documents show he had officially contracted the ASIC “review” over a week earlier, on October 15.
The Government contracted private Canberra company CPM Reviews to conduct the ASIC “review”.
It was prepared by Vivienne Thom, formerly Australia’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, who joined CPM Reviews after leaving the public service in 2015.
As previously reported in detail, the version of Thom’s report released by Frydenberg on January 29 - which he used to claim Shipton had engaged in no wrongdoing - was very different to the version Thom had submitted to the government six weeks earlier, on December 17.
As also revealed, Thom, after several years in her senior role at CPM Reviews, resigned from the company immediately after Frydenberg’s January 29 announcement.
No reason was given for Thom’s departure and CPM has repeatedly refused to comment.
More to come….
Source The Klaxon
1. Karen Chester ASIC, Corporate Regulation
2. Karen Chester’s response to The Klaxon via ASIC media manager Gervase Green
3. Literal fake news: January media reports claiming ASIC review “cleared” Shipton of wrongdoing. Source: Supplied
4. ASIC boss Chester refuses to back Frydenberg in stitch-up
Karen Chester is the last person standing at the helm of the corporate corruption watchdog who is not personally involved in serious alleged corruption. She is refusing to stand by the Federal Government’s claims that no wrongdoing has occurred.
5. Holgate sacrificed for Coalition "blue bloods": The smoking gun
When the Coalition launched its extraordinary attacks on Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate last October - over an incident which occurred two years earlier - it knew it was on the cusp of being engulfed in a completely seperate major scandal of its own.
6. How Christine Holgate was “thrown under the bus” by the Coalition. Source: The Klaxon
***So there we go...and the most immediately obvious point here...(apart from the fact that li'l Joshy 'Fraudenburg' Frydenburg is willingly and knowingly acting corruptly to cover-up his mate's corruption? apart from that?-Ed)...well, as well as that, sure...(and that ASIC, supposedly the 'Corruption Watchdog', that ASIC is so fundamentally corrupted that 2 of it's most senior officials are definably crooks?-Ed)...yeah yeah, but on top of all that are the two issues that would seem to confirm the 'gender issue' you raised earlier, namely, that 1) Ms Chester has been attacked in the finest Gas-Lighting Tradition, accused of acting inappropriately for speaking-out against this identifiable Institutionalised Corruption...(and 2) Ms Holgate was targetted as a convenient distraction from the ASIC Corruption-Ed)...exactly, and I cannot imagine either of these things being done to men within the LNP fold...so in that context it is misogyny, deliberately attacking and scape-goating women to protect corrupt men, namely, Shipton, Crennan, and Fraudenburg...
In previous TMGI posts we've stated that Scott 'Scummo' Morrison's unhinged attack on Ms Holgate was a crassly obvious act of misogynistic opportunism, laced with political expediency, that was about 2 main things...(getting rid of Ms Holgate 'cos she had very effectively saved Australia Post from it's financial woes and therefore potentially from being privatised by Scummo, something Ms Holgate publicly opposed-Ed)...for one, yes...(and to distract away from the rancidly corrupt $30million purchase of $3m worth of land at Leppington, amongst a litany of various other rorts/corruptionings-Ed)...yep, and in that second issue, it appears that we were in the ballpark, and even kickin' goals, but we missed the main goal, as identified above...with the benefit of this excellent article...(and with hindsight-Ed)...indeed, with this info and the resultant 'hindsight', the main game with attacking Ms Holgate was to try and distract from and even hide the Institutionalised Corruption within ASIC...(and Fraudenburg's related corrupt manipulation of the official report, etc-Ed)...yeah, to hide the collective corruption of ASIC and Fraudenburg...
And imagine the nation's surprise that those carefully deceitful attack-articles targetting Ms Chester, with a view to protecting Shipton, Crennan, and Fraudenburg, etc, embrace the collective disbelief that that would be spewed-out by the rancidly corrupt pro-LNP Murdoch media...(carefully ignoring the Truths known to it, and instead running corrupt pro-LNP propaganda? those zany Murdochrians-Ed)...if by 'zany' you mean immoral corrupt stooges, sure, the 'zany Murdochrians'...(and I'd be fascinated to learn just exactly why Ms Thom 'resigned' when she did-Ed)...yeah, it's very curious timing isn't it...anyhoos , a huge thankyou to those involved in researching and producing this most excellent article, hope you don't mind I've 'copied' your work, but I couldn't have worded it better myself, kudos and cheers...
Tomorrow: More Religious Corruption, Surprisingly, With More LNP Support
Yay, it's not just the corrupt Pro-Paedophile Right Wing Pentecostal nutjobs and Lutherans and Catholics and Anglicans, et al, and how they're all supported by the equally Pro-Paedophile Corrupt LNP, etc, etc, 'cos I've been reading about what stellar work the Greek Orthodox church has been perpetrating in the corruption firmament...(is that the stuff where they've been syphoning-off COVID19-related Federal Aged Care grants to buy their head honcho a luxury harbour-side apartment in Sydney?-Ed)...that's the one, some $30m worth of syphoning and a $6m apartment...(whilst the elderly in their alleged 'care' have been dying in droves due to COVID19 and substandard care?-Ed)...mate, I love religion, really I do...(and the Liberal Minister involved has received some sparkly medals from the church for his stirling service to the well-being of the Archbishop-Ed)...I love all of them, and I just wanna' hug 'em...(tightly?-Ed)...really, really tightly...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog, and can you feel the love?...cheers and laters...
Howdy y'all and welcome to another partially poached post...and here-in lies the exact sort of spot-on research and presentation that makes me an unabashed fanboy of (Ms?) Ronni Salt...whilst most people familiar with the Maniacal, Psychopathic Control Freak-ness and Spineless Scapegoating that PM Scott 'Scummo' Morrison brings to everything he does...(and the Prosperity Gospel Fueled Bigotry and Ideological Hatred, don't forget the Prosperity Gospel Fueled Bigotry and Ideological Hatred-Ed)...yeah yeah, and the PGFBIH...(oh, and the Pentecostal Nutjob Misogynistic Insecurity Ideological Gender Hatred, don't forget that-Ed)...well yeah of course, I mean, you always include the PNMIIGH, that goes without saying...(fair call-Ed)...okay, so apart from the MPCFSS, the PGFBIH, and the PNMIIGH, what has Scott Morrison ever done for us?...(well he brought that Sickening Smug Leering Smirk that ya' just wanna' wipe of 'is dial with the flat of a shovel-Ed)...orrr yeah, he did bring that...(I wonder if anyone will notice that we've shamelessly ripped-off Monty Python's Life Of Brian 'What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?' schtick?-Ed)...oh I wouldn't think so, but best not to mention it, just in case...(gotcha'! my lips are sealed-Ed)...
So anyhoos, most people familiar with Scummo's usual work, well we were immediately aware that what he did to Ms Christine Holgate, that was all about creating a distraction away from the gross corruption of the Liberal/National Party, a litany of bare-faced corruption being played-out daily in Parliament and in clear view of the ever-suffering public...(hey that's us!-Ed)...yes, us and everyone else...I'm not going to go through all of those various corruptionings again here, but I think the 'latest one' was the $30million purchase of some land worth $3m...whatevs, Scummo's pantomime-grade confected outrage at the Dispatch Box was transparently fake, including his ludicrous pseudo strongman staccato annunciation that he does, "She.Can.Go."...(hasn't he now denied ever saying that?-Ed)...well, denied that he publicly denigrated her and forced her out of her job, etc...(both of which he clearly, definably did-Ed)...well quite...Scummo stood-up in Parliament and ripped into Ms Holgate, demanding she quit/resign/"Go"/whatevs...
I, like many others, also saw an obvious sub-plot that had been playing-out prior to the 'Cartier Watches Scandal' beat-up...(a 'Scandal' that it turns-out was approved by multiple executives at Oz Post and was well within Ms Holgates legal remit to conduct, and therefore entirely appropriate and lawful!-Ed)...exactly, and just for those who are unawares, a coupla' years back Ms Holgate purchased 4 Cartier watches, total value $20,000, as reward/bonuses for executives who had landed a massively lucrative Banking Services Provision contract for Oz Post...and it was all legal and signed-off by several senior Oz Post executives, etc...and my immediate suspicions about this attack by Scummo and dismissal, and likely the genuine reason for Ms Holgate's sacking, was...(that Scummo hates women?-Ed)...well, sure, but apart from that...(he particularly hates and fears intelligent successful women? 'cos they make him look like the sub-standard stooge that he is?-Ed)...okay, sure sure, all of that, that Ms Holgate was/is an excellent CEO who had very professionally reversed the sagging fortunes of Oz Post, etc, but all of the Gender Hatred and Fear aside, it was that success, full stop, that really pissed-off Scummo and his LNP clown posse...
Scummo and the LNP have been angling for years to down-grade and sell-off Australia Post...(they sure have-Ed)...and on top of that, Ms Holgate was appointed by former PM Malcolm 'Smooth Operator' Turnbull...(ouch, it's the perfect storm isn't it? a professionally competent woman making Oz Post financially viable and even profitable, who was also appointed by Turnbull-Ed)...indeed...(mate, she didn't have a hope-Ed)...not really, no...(Scummo clearly had the daggers out for her, and the Cartier watches re-birthed faux scandal was the exact 'justification' Scummo needed to do the whole hyperbolic confected outrage stuff-Ed)...indeed, it was a win/win/win for him wasn't it...1) be seen to be vehemently doing the 'strongman reacting angrily to outrageous corruption' routine, not least of all to 2) distract away from his gross incompetence and outright complicit involvement in multiple LNP rorts and thievery, and simultaneously 3) get rid of that troublesome woman who was rooting-up the 'Sell Oz Post Agenda'...(and he's just so bloody-mindedly obvious in his deceits and machinations as well-Ed)...yes he is...
What I hadn't realised/noticed was the extensive groundwork that Scummo and the subserviently complicit Main Stream Media had been doing for months in setting-up Ms Holgate...having said that, it comes as absolutely no surprise that Scummo's li'l meltdown in Parliament was preceded by an extensive campaign of deliberate disinformation and denigration in the pathetic MSM...and this is where I defer to Ronni Salt for her excellent Twitter thread/expose on the anti-Holgate media campaign leading upto Scummo's li'l Parliamentary performance...so here's the link, and please be taking the time to go right through it, and then share it with all and sundry...
Howdy dear availees...going to do 2 cut-'n'-copy posts today 'cos I agree with what these two folk have to say, and in this first post, the author has previously been definably pro-LNP, and hence the title of this post...I've included the direct link to the full article 'cos there are several links in said article to news coverage related to the subject matter...(I love the comparison to Married At First Sight and the cavalcade of 'neck-tattooed idiots' who routinely gaslight the women involved-Ed)...yeah, I don't watch it myself, but I was aware of Twitter-chatter about a particularly toxic man and his appalling treatment of his 'partner', and recently signed and shared a petition that was calling for the producers, Channel 9, to act to protect the female participants...(rather than exploit them for 'train-wreck ratings'?-Ed)...exactly...
I also fully support Christine Holgate, the former CEO of Australia Post, who was hounded out of her position by Scott 'Scummo' Morrison...(who actually told her to quit/leave on the floor of Parliament, after a hyperbolic diatribe about her apparently outrageous and unacceptable behaviour-Ed)...you saw it then?...(we all saw it, he was all piss and vinegar about how "She.Can.Go."-Ed)...and Ms Holgate did 'quit', but it was only after being thusly publicly abused and humiliated, and for what turns-out to be 'not an actual problem', and certainly not unlawful/illegal...and now Scummo's gone the full-unit Uber-Gaslight by completely denying that he played any part in Ms Holgate's departure/sacking...it's just the latest in a relentless litany of gaslighting denials by Scummo and/or the LNP...(there's some discussion down our way, that Scummo has finally lost his marbles having spent so long in the fictional gas-lighting realm-Ed)...is that right?...(indeed, it's said that he's the Pharoah-Ed)...the Pharoah?...(yeah, the King of Denial-Ed)...oh dear gourd...(and that he's been residing there so long that he's fully immigrated and no long even occasionally visits the reality the rest of us all occupy-Ed)... you get that impression don't you?...
Anyhoos, here's the link and the trimmed-down copy of the article...remember, this is just a very brief review of only some of the litany of scurrilous and openly corrupt dealings of the criminal cabal we also call the LNP...***
The reality TV show Married At First Sight
is currently enjoying (if that is the word) its eighth season. The show
is notorious for its fighting, toxic relationships and gaslighting – a
form of psychological manipulation where one person forces the other to
question their perception of reality. The show has occasional success in
matching people who make it through the televised emotional torture to
emerge as an intact couple.
I cannot be snooty or morally superior
about the show – after all, it pays my wages (indirectly, as it is
broadcast on Nine, the publisher of this masthead). I also watch it, as a
kind of bubblegum brain-break from the news cycle and grind of working
life. So do many of my friends.
Married At First Sight can be a bubblegum brain-break from the news cycle and grind of working life.
But
it does strike me as more than passing strange that at the moment we
are having a national conversation about respect for women, the nation
is gripped by a show which depicts disrespect for women by the monstrous
jerks they are often matched with.
Sometimes, flicking between
current affairs and “reality” TV, one feels the news cycle has collapsed
in upon itself, as though there is little distinction between what is
news and what is served up for entertainment, and no firm line between
where consequences end and causation begins.
I
had that feeling this week as the Prime Minister Scott Morrison
appeared to blatantly gaslight the former Australia Post chief executive
Christine Holgate, telling reporters that she “decided to leave
Australia Post. That is just a matter of record”.
Illustration: Reg LynchCredit:
Holgate
left her job at Australia Post after Morrison publicly shamed her on
the floor of Parliament for giving four senior employees bonuses in the
form of Cartier watches worth $12,000 in total (the employees had
clinched a $66 million deal).
The Canberra press gallery was
briefed on how personally outraged the PM was about this Marie
Antoinette-esque profligacy. The PM was “appalled and shocked”, he said.
He
sputtered with indignation as he thundered in the House in October last
year: “We are the shareholders of Australia Post on behalf of the
Australian people ... [Holgate] has been instructed to stand aside. If
she doesn’t wish to do that, she can go.”
Fast
forward a few months, fold in a harrowing news cycle of abuse and
harassment of women in the political sphere, and the PM’s agency in
Holgate’s departure seems greatly diminished.
Holgate
was not pushed, certainly not sacked, according to Morrison. She
decided to leave. It is gaslighting more masterful than any man sporting
a neck tattoo could manage on MAFS.
In fact the PM’s Holgate
comments were a rare moment of proactivity from a Prime Minister who has
been mostly reactive during his time as leader.
He
was reactive during the bushfires crisis, during sports rorts, and
during the recent rolling catastrophe of disrespect for women that has
overtaken the political news cycle.
By contrast the government’s
reactivity to the pandemic was effective and swift, notwithstanding the
current issues with the vaccine rollout.
But reactivity is not leadership, and neither is shutting things down and avoiding consequences.
Here
is a random list of the ministers and government members who have
committed various transgressions and who have suffered few consequences
for them: Stuart Robert, who had to resign from Malcolm Turnbull’s
cabinet for breaching ministerial standards (in an affair involving
Chinese mining deal and the gift of a Rolex watch).
Senator Bridget McKenzie took the fall for sports rorts
after she failed to disclose membership of two gun clubs that benefited
from the grants program. More than 100 emails were exchanged between
Senator McKenzie’s office and the Prime Minister’s office about the
program, but the PM denied there was political interference in the
assessment process.
LNP MP George Christensen was the subject of a warning
from the Australian Federal Police after his visits to red light
districts in the Philippines. Christensen took at least 28 trips,
spending about 300 days in the Philippines over a four year period to
2018. The AFP worried he could be vulnerable to blackmail.
In 2017 Sussan Ley resigned from the ministry
over an expenses scandal, after it was revealed she had travelled to
the Gold Coast on taxpayer funds, and had purchased a property while
there. She refused to make her travel diaries public.
Liberal-turned-Independent MP Craig Kelly defended and protected a senior aide accused of a pattern of harassment of very young women. Queensland MP Andrew Laming is accused of harassing female constituents, both online and in person.
All
of these people have kept their jobs as parliamentarians. Some of them
were cycled out of the ministry for a while only to be cycled back in.
Morrison
talks about a Canberra bubble, but when it comes to consequences and
accountability, Parliament seems more like an ark, floating on a
colossal tide, protecting its species.
It’s yet another example of
how disconnected politics has become from reality – because out here in
the real world, call-out culture, new standards of corporate
accountability and the zeitgeist are breaking consequences over the
heads of all kinds of people, every day.
Twitter: @JacquelineMaley
***So there we go...and onto the next post about Scummo's new 'strategy' to ignore women and try to appeal directly to men...(you mean continue to ignore women-Ed)...sure, fair enough...anyhoos, see you laters for that and further posts...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
Howdy dear availees...bit of a 'cheat' post today, just gunna' direct y'all to this excellent and very long essay/article by Nick Feik...it covers many aspects of the Liberal/National Party institutionalised corruption and absolute lack of accountability, etc...y'all will probably know some of this stuff, and there's plenty not covered, but I learned a bunch a' stuff I didn't know already and thought it was a worthwhile read that is easier for me to just post rather than try to comment on...it took me about 10 minutes to get through, so get a cuppa' and enjoy...
Tomorrow: Back To The LNP's Sexual Assaults Cover-up Quagmire
Doing this 'cheat' post also helps me personally, 'cos I'm still dragging myself back from the pit of depressive malaise that the last coupla' months has flung me into...not too proud to say I'm struggling, proud to say I'm still trying...still delving daily into the Twitterverse and various news feeds and ABC/BBC Radio News, etc, and these two Facebook pages...
#JusticeForKatharineThorntonRIP - Australia believes in you
Howdy dear avilees...apologies for the temporary hiatus in this 'ere blog, but I hit a bit of a wall with all the Sexual Assault stuff and the re-traumatising nature of that...my stuff relates mostly to what I and other families and our kids have been subjected to by a Pro-Paedophile Corrupt System/State regarding the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...as part of that we parents have been routinely attacked as 'the problem', from SAPol (police) blaming us for their deliberately failed faux-investigation, through to politicians like the rancidly corrupt Rory McEwen, via the front page of The Border Watch newspaper, accusing us of being 'conspiracy theory' nutters who had "actually hounded the teacher"...we received similar treatment from the ABC and The Advertiser (Murdoch)...so in context, I do find it oddly amusing watching the media rip into each other...not so hilarious is the clearly 'gendered' nature of the conflict as it's developing over the multiple 'Sexual Assault Scandals' spewing out of Federal Parliament...
So here's the farcically misogynist 'attack' piece on Samantha Maiden from career stooge Aaron Patrick...apparently the 'activist sisterhood' have got it horribly wrong in having a go at poor ol' Scummo...I've followed that (below) with a thread to some very pointed Twitter chatter, and below that, today's response piece from The Guardian, identifying how hilariously pear-shaped things have gone for our mate Aaron...***
PM caught in crusade of women journos
Anger at the government over the abuse of women is being led by a powerful group of female journalists.
When Scott Morrison
inexplicably threw back a false account of sexual harassment at a Sky
News reporter last week, his unlikely target was sitting a few metres
away: a woman making a professional comeback by holding the most
powerful man in the country to account. Him.
Samantha Maiden’s run of scoops had left Morrison’s government, and the Prime Minister, in disarray.
The political editor of News Corp’s free news site had exposed intimate and compelling information
about the high school debater whose life fell apart after a teenage
encounter with Attorney-General Christian Porter, who was removed from
the position on Monday.
She broke and led coverage
of Brittany Higgins’ claim of rape in a minister’s office, and the
young adviser’s feelings of being abandoned by a government she served.
The ABC promoted her on its most prominent platforms, including Insiders,Q&A and RN Breakfast, where she became the surrogate voice of her victim sources.
On Four Corners,
Maiden accused Morrison of operating a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy
about Higgins’ 2019 alleged rape in the office of Defence Industry
Minister Linda Reynolds.
“Their first instinct is to protect the
institution, to protect the office and to ensure that there is a nice
clean couch for Linda Reynolds to sit on when she returns to work on
Monday,” she said on the show.
In taking up the stories – and
causes – of women who believed they were abused by entitled men, Maiden
may have done more than any other individual, journalist or otherwise,
to define the Morrison government as indifferent to sexual harassment,
assault and rape.
She isn’t alone. The Higgins and Porter stories
cleaved a schism through political journalism, exposing a shift in the
centre of gravity from the male perspective to the female.
Angry
coverage that often strayed into unapologetic activism came forth from a
new, female media leadership: Laura Tingle and Louise Milligan on the
ABC, Katharine Murphy and Amy Remeikis at The Guardian, Lisa Wilkinson on Channel Ten, Karen Middleton in The Saturday Paper and a cameo by Jessica Irvine on the Nine Network.
Maiden
was probably the most influential, and restrained. Based on copious
facts, rather than opinion, her copy was devastating. At every step, as
the government tried to staunch the stories, it seemed Maiden was there
with a new angle to propel them along.
Morrison’s frustration
at his loss of control was evident last Tuesday. In a briefing room in
Parliament House’s ministerial wing known as the Blue Room, the Canberra
press gallery was summoned to hear a prime ministerial mea culpa.
Vowing to do a better job protecting women, Morrison seemed rattled. He teared up. He swore. He apologised.
Samantha Maiden on Sky News on May 24, 2018, when she was a political reporter on the channel.
Having
arrived too late to get one of the few seats, Maiden sat on a ledge on
the far right of the room, vying with the ABC’s Andrew Probyn for
Morrison’s call.
About 20 minutes in, one of her Sky News
successors, Andrew Clennell, said: “Prime Minister, if you’re the boss
at a business and there had been an alleged rape on your watch and this
incident we heard about last night on your watch, your job would
probably be in a bit of jeopardy, wouldn’t it? Doesn’t it look like you
have lost control of your ministerial staff?”
Morrison displayed a flash of what sounded like anger.
“I
will let you editorialise as you like, Andrew, but if anyone in this
room wants to offer up the standards in their own workplaces by
comparison I would invite you to do so,” he said.
Clennell didn’t back down: “Well, they’re better than these I would suggest, Prime Minister.”
“Let
me take you up on that,” Morrison replied. “Let me take you up on that.
Right now, you would be aware that in your own organisation that there
is a person who has had a complaint made against them for harassment of a
woman in a women’s toilet and that matter is being pursued by your own
HR department.”
If Maiden realised the Prime Minister was referring to her, she didn’t show it.
Within
hours of the news conference, News Corp Australia’s executive chairman,
Michael Miller, issued a rare and detailed written response. There was
no toilet incident. Sex was not involved. Two journalists had exchanged
words, and one was later ticked off by the human resources department.
Miller’s
involvement was initially puzzling. Even though Sky News is owned by
News Corp, the broadcaster usually speaks for itself. People began to
wonder: had something sordid happened at one of News Corp’s papers?
After
a few days, word filtered through the press gallery. The Prime Minister
had messed up the details, but was referring to a confrontation at the
end of 2020 between Maiden and Jade Gailberger, a young reporter in Canberra on News Corp’s internal wire service.
Gailberger
had decided to run for the federal parliamentary press gallery
committee, which liaises with Parliament House bureaucrats on behalf of
journalists who work in the building. The committee was useful for
networking, and, in a place where gossip is professional currency, was a
step closer to the heart of the Canberra media establishment.
Another News Corp journalist, Herald Sun reporter
Tamsin Rose, also stood. Contested elections for the committee aren’t
rare, but they aren’t common either, and Maiden had decided, without
being asked, to help Rose get elected, according to a person involved.
A year ago, Maiden joined the news.com.au website, which has some 10 million monthly readers, from The New Daily, an online news service funded by industry superannuation funds.
At the New Daily,
Maiden had been unhappy with the Parliament House office allocated to
her, and had unsuccessfully lobbied the press gallery committee for a
better location, according to a source who is not a committee member.
I think every journalist in the gallery is wary of her.
— Former female colleague of Samantha Maiden
One day, after joining news.com.au,
Maiden ran into Gailberger in a corridor, according to a person briefed
on the encounter. She forcefully told the younger reporter that, by
standing in the press gallery election, she was potentially splitting
the big News Corp voting bloc. Maiden urged her to drop out.
Gailberger was so shaken that she felt unable to attend work for several days afterward, according to a Press Gallery source.
Morrison and his aides resented that they were being criticised by someone with her own blemished record, according to a source.
(The first account of the confrontation was published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald CBD column. Gailberger and Rose didn’t respond to requests for comment. Maiden wouldn’t discuss what happened.)
Maiden already had a reputation in Canberra’s clubby reporting circles as a difficult colleague and spiky competitor.
“I think every journalist in the gallery is wary of her,” a former female colleague says.
Before joining the New Daily, Maiden was an on-air correspondent at Sky News.
At
Sky, Maiden brought a newspaper-like ability to work political sources
that was different to the broadcaster’s line-up of polished presenters.
Her political knowledge strengthened the bureau, and she brought in
guests beyond Sky’s regular stable of talking heads, giving viewers a
broader perspective on the news.
Maiden could also be challenging
to share an office with, according to fellow journalists, who said she
did not prize teamwork and intimidated younger reporters, male and
female.
Journalists who cracked a joke were sometimes met with a
withering put-down. In the office, Maiden didn’t always couch her words
to protect other’s egos.
In June 2018, Maiden abruptly quit.
Revealing
her resignation on Twitter, Maiden disclosed that she had been
diagnosed the previous year with anxiety and depression.
Other colleagues reported positive experiences. Neil Breen was editor of the Sydney Sunday Telegraph
when Maiden was the chief political reporter for his paper and News
Corp’s other Sunday tabloids. He is now a 4BC radio broadcaster in
Brisbane.
“In all the years she worked with us I never ever had an
issue, and no one ever had an issue,” he says. “In all that time no one
ever said a sideways word about Sam Maiden.”
Maiden’s boss,
news.com.au editor-in-chief Lisa Muxworthy, says: “Sam is an
extraordinary journalist and Walkley winner who has once again broken a
story of great importance. She continues to lead the coverage and I am
proud of her achievements.”
In the press gallery elections
late last year, Maiden’s involvement seemed to backfire. Her candidate
was defeated, a loss that other journalists in the ballot saw as a
measure of Maiden’s popularity not hers.
In private, Maiden
complains about what she saw as a years-long smear campaign by jealous
rivals. If she were a man, she argues, she wouldn’t be criticised as
intimidating or outspoken.
Maiden doesn’t seek sympathy – what she
refers to as a “pity party” – but may deserve some. Her single mother
struggled to pay the fees for St Peters Girls’ School, one of Adelaide’s
best, and the Maidens lived with a fear of debt collectors knocking on
the door.
From time to time, Maiden has described being expelled
from St Peters and invited back as a guest speaker after achieving
professional success. In the story, she refuses on principle.
In
reality, Maiden was suspended for disobedience. When the principal said
she could return, she was rude towards him. When she met him again, at
an awards ceremony for the state’s top matriculating students, she
refused to acknowledge him.
Last year, Maiden won a Walkley journalism award
for scoop of the year for revealing that Morrison went to Hawaii for a
holiday during the bushfires that ravaged Eastern Australia.
This
year, she may be in contention for a Walkley for the Brittany Higgins
or Christian Porter scandals. The Porter allegations were broken by
Louise Milligan on the ABC, but Maiden, who attended the same school as
the alleged victim, followed up with important information and
developments.
Porter has responded by suing Milligan and the ABC
over the story, a step roundly criticised by the ABC’s defenders. Most
journalists do not believe, if they act in good faith, that defamation
law should be used to try to silence them.
When I contacted Maiden on Friday to tell her about this article, she issued a threat of her own.
“The AFR
has published many lies about me and I have accepted it in good grace
because I do not believe journalists should sue,” she wrote. “I may be
prepared to change my mind over this.”
***And here's an example of what people are saying, and the relevant Twitter thread...***
Paula Matthewson
@Drag0nista
·
THREAD:
Sam Maiden and I do not get on. But the hit job on her by the AFR is appalling and clearly an attempt by the Govt or its supporters to silence the powerful female journos who continue to expose the toxic culture that festers in parliament house.
Journalists
rally in support of news.com.au political editor. Plus: Michael
Stutchbury defends Aaron Patrick’s ‘reasonable’ article
Samantha Maiden, political editor of news.com.au, who honed her steely reporting skills in the rough house of News Corp
Last modified on Fri 2 Apr 2021 10.25 AEst
When
the Australian Financial Review and senior reporter Aaron Patrick set
their sights on Samantha Maiden for what is known in journalism as a
“hit job”, one could have been excused for expecting it would do the
seasoned reporter some damage. Dig up her work history, delve into her
childhood, fling around words like “challenging”, “spiky” and
“difficult” and the reporter who revealed allegations that Brittany Higgins had been raped in Parliament House might be cowed.
What
the editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, and Patrick didn’t foresee was
that what many believed amounted to the bullying of a top female
journalist, who has led the coverage of harassment and sexual violence
against women in politics, would backfire so spectacularly.
As
the artist Jon Kudelka said: “Did the AFR seriously just run a
comically transparent hit job on Samantha Maiden for being a journalist
while female?”
In an unusual show of
solidarity, journalists from across the media rallied in support of
Maiden, the political editor of news.com.au who honed her steely
reporting skills in the rough house of News Corp: at the Australian, the
Sunday Telegraph and Sky News Australia.
Journos from Nine Entertainment
(publisher of the AFR and its sister papers the Age and the Sydney
Morning Herald), News Corp, the ABC, Guardian Australia, Crikey and the
Saturday Paper all spoke up.
There were the likely allies
in support of Maiden, such as the journalism academic Margaret Simons –
who said it was a “nasty and ill-judged piece” that, in her view,
“breaches ethical codes on several levels” – to the highly unlikely
ones, such as the UK singer Lily Allen. By the end of the day tweets in
support were trending on Twitter.
‘Activism’ or public-interest journalism?
The
ill-judged piece started off musing about how a pack of female
reporters had made the prime minister’s life difficult with their
“activist” and “angry” journalism and then veered into a deeply personal
examination of Maiden’s character, childhood and family circumstances.
“Anger at the government over the abuse of women is being led by a powerful group of female journalists,” Patrick wrote.
“Angry
coverage that often strayed into unapologetic activism came forth from a
new, female media leadership: Laura Tingle and Louise Milligan on the
ABC, Katharine Murphy and Amy Remeikis at the Guardian, Lisa Wilkinson
on Channel Ten, Karen Middleton in the Saturday Paper and a cameo by
Jessica Irvine on the Nine Network.”
As Murphy
has pointed out, this cohort of reporters is not “new”; some, like
Maiden, Tingle and Murphy, have been reporting on politics for decades.
Their work is not “activism”, it’s public interest journalism.
Politicians
who spoke up include Labor’s Penny Wong, whose words were backed up by
her Senate colleague Kristina Keneally: “In these last weeks we have
seen extraordinary work by many women journalists, keeping a focus on
issues which have too long been unspoken. Dismissing this as a ‘crusade’
or ‘unapologetic activism’ undermines their work and deliberately
misses the point.”
Some of the detail in
Patrick’s article was so grotesquely inappropriate it can’t be repeated.
The AFR had removed the worst line from the online article due to
guidelines relating to reporting mental health issues, Stutchbury told
Beast.
Patrick did admit that
Maiden “may have done more than any other individual, journalist or
otherwise, to define the Morrison government as indifferent to sexual
harassment, assault and rape”.
On this point
Higgins herself agreed, saying that Maiden, who gained her trust over
weeks, carefully listened to her and fact-checked her story, was her
“personal hero”.
It’s not the first time Patrick has been accused of bullying female journalists on the pages of the financial daily. He ran a long campaign against the former ABC Lateline host Emma Alberici, calling her “a woman of considerable self-belief”.
To this accusation, Patrick said: “Absurd and ridiculous claim that ignores tough coverage of powerful men.”
‘Filling in some details’
Stutchbury
told Weekly Beast he had received some email complaints from readers
and he understands there is “a fair bit more criticism on Twitter”.
He
defended the story as an attempt to fill in an under-reported aspect of
Scott Morrison’s “damaging News Corp diversion in his mea culpa press conference last week”; and the fact that the PM had been talking about Maiden when he made the comment.
“Apart
from abuse, some complainants don’t seem to like the idea that the
overall ‘enough’ phenomenon has been led by female journalists fed up
with the harassment of women,” he said. “That same point has been made
by others who are openly supportive of the female journalists.
“Others
similarly don’t like the suggestion of ‘activism’, even though that
seems a reasonable observation of journalists who speak at rallies, even
those in aid of good causes.
“It
reports that Samantha Maiden is a fearless and admired – but in some
circles controversial – journalist. Filling in some details on Samantha,
and observations from her supporters and critics, aims to help readers,
particularly those outside the Parliament House bubble, understand this
overall very important story and the overdue efforts to improve the
status and lives of women.”
‘Twitter fuss’ warning
One
editor who took a different approach to many journalists was the
relatively new editor of the Age, Gay Alcorn, who responded to some
staff tweets about the Patrick article – which was in the Age’s sister
paper – by sending a note to all staff warning them not to comment
publicly.
“I know there’s a Twitter fuss about
a particular piece today, but be really careful adding opinions
criticising other journalists,” Alcorn said on Slack.
“And
NEVER make a generalised comment about ‘Canberra’ coverage because that
includes our own bureau, which is extremely unfair and will not be
tolerated – it would be like someone in Canberra carelessly tweeting
about how hopeless ‘Melbourne’ coverage is on a particular issue. I am
talking to a few people but this applies to you all.”
***So there you go...I've shaved-off the last unrelated paragraph about Nine getting 'hacked' just to shorten this post...I hadn't realised that when Scummo (incorrectly) attacked the 'NewsCorp journo' in that bizarre press conference, about 'an incident in a female toilet', etc, that it was Ms Maiden he was attacking...I'll get into this 'gendered attacks' stuff a bit more when normal TMGI services resume...
Tomorrow: Scummo Does A Li'l Sacrificial Laming
And yes, that is spelled correctly, I'm referring to that choice piece of work, LNP Member Andrew 'All Done In The Best Possible Taste' Laming...oh, and 'Ed' will make a long-awaited return...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
