Tony Abbott's Oxford transcript

Apparently he wasn't the best scholar. Fairfax

The National Interest

Treasurer Joe Hockey this morning announced the decision to reject Archer Daniels Midland's $3.4 billion bid for the eastern grain handle, saying he had to take the national interest into account. ABC

and Barnaby Joyce is going around like the cat that got the cream

Gift to Indonesia to go ahead

Because nothing says I'm sorry like an old transport plane.

Defence Minister David Johnston says Australia's handover of an old C-130 Hercules to Indonesia will go ahead, despite cooperation being suspended between the two countries.
The aircraft flew over Darwin this afternoon and has had its Australian markings removed. ABC

Tony Abbott  is probably the worst re-gifter in the world, considering he just gave Sri Lanka some old boats we don't want anymore.

Hockey offers States billions to sell off assets

States will receive billions in federal government tax incentives if they privatise assets to fast-track the construction of productivity-boosting infrastructure projects under a deal reached between state and Commonwealth treasurers. The arrangement will be of most benefit to NSW and Queensland which own billions in unsold assets, such as power utilities.  Financial Review

Julie Bishop annoys China

China has dismissed Australian criticism of its newly declared air defence identification zone as "completely mistaken", and raised the possibility of damaged relations between the two trading partners. ABC

Plug pulled on Drug and alcohol funding

The Federal Government has withdrawn funding for the national peak body representing the alcohol and drug treatment sector, forcing the immediate closure of the 50-year-old organisation.

The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA) was told late yesterday that its core funding would be halted as part of the Government's budget deficit reduction strategy. ABC

Indonesian president responds to Tony Abbott's spying letter

The Indonesian president called for calm on the issue, but said bilateral cooperation would not resume until the Australian Government signs up to behavioural protocols and a code of ethics.
Former Army chief Peter Leahy hand-delivered the letter on Saturday, a move the Government labelled a sign of respect, and a presidential spokesman earlier today said the letter was "in accordance to our expectations". ABC

Pyne goes back to the drawing board

Walks away from Gonski. ABC

Abbott Government: Week 10 in review

• Tony Abbott generously gifts two clapped out old patrol boats to Sri Lanka. 
• Malcolm Turnbull mumbles something about the future of the NBN.
• There's a rental house in Canberra costing taxpayers $3,000/week but man of the people Tony Abbott rejected it.
• Indonesia recalls their ambassador over the spying kerfuffle.
• Tony 'No apology' Abbott refuses to apologise.
• A three star general tells Senate estimates no boats have been bought under the abortive boat buyback scheme.
• There's been a mixup on APS job cuts. 
• Indonesia suspends cooperation on people smuggling.
• Jakarta Globe headline: Abbott advisor compares Indonesian foreign minister to 70s porn star
• Amidst all the excitement Barnaby Joyce decides not to go to Indonesia.
• Tony Abbott writes a letter to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Probably doesn't contain an apology but no one knows except SBY (and ASIO, and whoever else reads his mail)

Tony Abbott writes back to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over spying row

How quaint. We're not made privy to the contents, of course. ABC

Barnaby decides not to go to Indonesia

Can't help but feel they dodged a bullet. ABC

Jakarta Globe: Abbott Adviser Compares Indonesian Foreign Minister to ’70s Porn Star’

Campaign strategist Mark Textor made the derogatory comment on Twitter as ties between the two countries plunged to their lowest point in years after a series of spying allegations.

“Apology demanded from Australia by a bloke who looks like a 1970′s Pilipino [sic] porn star and has ethics to match,” said the tweet, which has since been deleted. link

Indonesia suspends cooperation on people smuggling

indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says all military and intelligence cooperation with Australia is on hold until he gets a proper explanation as to why Australian spies tried to tap his phone.
Mr Abbott used his statement to the House, shortly after Mr Yudhoyono's press conference, to again stress his "deep and sincere regret" over the embarrassment suffered by the Indonesian president. ABC

Job cuts - redux

Political recriminations are flying in the wake of the government's decision to dump its policy to save $5.2 billion by cutting 12,000 public service jobs by natural attrition.

The Coalition is using Finance Department advice to accuse Labor of hiding job cuts of 14,500 over the next four years caused by the ALP's efficiency dividends, and to justify apparently walking away from the policy. Fairfax

No boats bought

Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell has been questioned at a Senate Estimates committee hearing this afternoon.

He told Senators that no fishing boats in Indonesia have been bought.

ABC

Abbott still not one for apologies

Tony Abbott rejects Indonesia's call for spying apology, calls for cool heads amid diplomatic row
Abc

Indonesia recalls ambassador over spying

The diplomatic dream team of Julie Bishop and Co face their biggest test yet. ABC

Taxpayers spending $3,000 a week to rent home Tony Abbott rejected

Mr Abbott has been staying at the Australian Federal Police training headquarters while The Lodge undergoes major repairs.

It has emerged the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet signed a 12-month lease on a house in August, during the caretaker period. ABC

Malcolm hedges on NBN future

Mr Turnbull is now warning of "bumps in the road" in the rollout of "a colossal undertaking" which is now "a daunting challenge"."Make no mistake, to get this project back on track and completed in a reasonable time frame at a reasonable cost is a daunting challenge," he said.  ABC

Boats to stop the boats

Tony Abbott is giving two old Customs boats to Sri Lanka to help stop the boats

The vessels being provided have seen about 10 years of service with Australian Customs and will be brought back to full operational capability at a cost of $2 million.

ABC

Abbott Government: Week 9 in review

• Liberal MPs and their families fly to Canberra on the government jet.
• Scott Morrison is very frustrated by Indonesia
• He reveals he has been thrice rebuffed by Jakarta
• Abbott says five percent is good enough
• The government shuts down parliamentary debate on boats
• Joe Hockey makes a bad comparison over debt
• Scott Morrison defends separating mother from sick newborn
• Julie Bishop rejects Australia is going soft on Sri Lanka
• Tony Abbott continues his No Apology tour by refusing to apologise to the asylum seeker mother
• Scott Morrison disses the Senate, says you're not the boss of me
• Tony Abbott praises Sri Lanka for addressing human rights, war crimes
• He had no ulterior motive whatsoever, oh except signing a deal on people smuggling

Tony Abbott to sign deal on people smuggling with Sri Lanka at CHOGM

I guess this was why he was saying such nice things about Sri Lanka. ABC

Tony Abbott praises Sri Lanka for addressing human rights, war crimes

Other Commonwealth prime ministers, notably Britain's David Cameron and Canada's Stephen Harper, have fiercely condemned Sri Lanka's reconciliation efforts and human rights abuses since the end of its civil war in 2009 but Mr Abbott said Sri Lanka had made significant and promising progress. fairfax

Scott Morrison disses Senate

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has refused to reveal if he will comply with a Senate demand for reports on all asylum seeker incidents at sea, arguing that the previous government had failed to comply with 75 similar requests for papers.

Challenged on whether he considered himself answerable to the Senate, Mr Morrison replied that he considered himself "answerable to the Australian people".

Fairfax

Tony 'No Apology' Abbott

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he "deeply" regrets that an asylum seeker was given limited access to her sick baby, but won't apologise "for what happens when people come to Australia illegally". ABC

Bishop rejects Australia going soft on Sri Lanka

Ms Bishop met with Mr Hague but says she did not discuss the issue of human rights abuses.

"I'm a personal champion of his preventing sexual violence in conflict initiative, so we didn't discuss that specifically, because I'd attended his presentation," she said. ABC

Scott Morrison defends limiting mothers time with sick newborn

Instead of apologizing like a normal person Scott double s down ABC

Joe cries Wolf over apples and oranges

The Federal Government's move to raise Australia's national debt limit from $300 billion to $500 billion does not signal a debt ceiling crisis in Australia, but it does signify that the current debt limit will be exceeded later this year. Allowing that to happen without prior legislative authority would create uncertainty.
However, Mr Hockey overreached when he compared that prospect with recent events in the United States. Given the fundamental differences in the two political systems, the "tremendous uncertainty" experienced in the US would not be mirrored here
ABC

There are no boats. Stop talking about boats

An early attempt by Labor to force the Abbott government to be more transparent about its efforts to stop asylum boats has failed, after the Coalition used its thumping lower house majority to shut down debate.

Immediately following the opening of proceedings on Wednesday, the Manager of Opposition Business, Tony Burke moved a motion to call Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to explain the Coalition's approach to stemming the flow of asylum seeker boats

Fairfax

Five percent reduction good enough for Abbott

The Abbott government appears to be walking away from a long-standing bipartisan agreement to lift Australia's target for cutting carbon emissions if global action on climate change is strengthened.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday said the federal government had made "one commitment and one commitment only" to reduce Australia's emissions by five per cent by 2020.

But both Labor and the coalition have since 2009 pledged to increase Australia's emissions reduction target to 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020 if there's genuine global resolve Fairfax

Scott Morrison rebuffed

Jakarta has rejected Australian requests to send asylum seekers back to Indonesia on two occasions since the start of Operation Sovereign Borders, the Abbott government has revealed.

In a rare move, given the secrecy surrounding the Coalition's border security regime, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison revealed on Sunday the Coalition had made four requests to Indonesia to accept asylum seekers that Australia had picked up in Indonesia's search and rescue region. Fairfax

The frustration of Scott Morrison

Indonesia's refusal to accept the return of asylum seeker boats is "very frustrating", Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has said, in what appears to be a swipe at Australia's northern neighbours.

Mr Morrison said in Sydney on Monday there was “no real rhyme or reason” why Indonesian authorities had not taken stricken asylum seekers back to their shores after a three-day impasse late last week. Fairfax

End Labor waste

But Liberal waste is fine

Yesterday, WA-based ministers, backbenchers, spouses and their children flew out of Perth bound for Canberra on one of the Government's 737 Boeing business jets.

The West Australian newspaper has reported that the fuel costs alone for the VIP flight will be more than $30,000. Abc

Abbott Government: Week 8 in review

whatup T. Abbs?

• Business lobby urges the Commission of Audit to implement congestion charging
• Commission members get paid a cool $1500/day
• Joe Hockey blows out the budget by $3.1 bn
• Chris Pyne found to be talking out of his arse on independent public schools
• The ACCC claims to be running out of money, asks Hockey for more
• Greg Hunt claims scrapping the carbon tax will immediately lower electricity prices. Somehow.
• Joe sticks up for Tony, because action man Abbott is flat out running the country.
• Fairfax captures footage of Tony not answering questions from some mean journos. They obviously didn't get Joe's message. Also, this now qualifies as political journalism.
• George Brandis keeps a promise to Andrew Bolt, sticks up for white people's freedom of speech.
• A boat was almost turned back.
• Tony Abbott talks to journalists for long enough to say "it wasn't me" who cut funds for CSIRO.
• Indonesia declares itself unimpressed with turn back the boats.
• The boat that was almost turned back was not turned back after all.
• "But my wife is super well qualified" is heard after Tony tells MPs to boot family members off the payroll. 

Abbott tells MPs to kick family members off payroll

TONY Abbott's "sack your family" edict to MPs who double dip and employ family members has sparked warnings some will defy the order.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald Sun, the Prime Minister insisted he would not allow the new Parliament to descend into "a circus" and wanted to clean up the entitlements rules before ushering in a more "courteous, respectful'' approach. News

Boat not turned back

TONY Abbott's government capitulated to Indonesia on Friday night, ordering a Customs boat with up to 63 refugees on board to go to Christmas Island. Fairfax

Indonesia not taken with "turn back the boats"

Indonesia has declared it will refuse to take back asylum seekers rescued by Australian ships, casting doubt over the government's ''turn back the boats'' policy.

A mid-ocean stand-off between the two countries continued on Friday night off Java as Indonesia said it would not take a group of boat people who made a distress call on Thursday unless there was a threat to life. Fairfax

Abbott says "wasn't me" on CSIRO cuts

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has denied ordering bosses at the nation's peak science organisation to cut up to 20 per cent of its workforce.

A political storm broke on Friday after The Canberra Times revealed that up to 1400 scientists and researchers at the CSIRO would lose their jobs under the terms of a government-imposed ban on the public service renewing temporary contracts. fairfax

Boat almost turned back

Australia and Indonesia were involved in a mid-ocean stand-off in the early hours of Friday morning as a customs vessel tried unsuccessfully to return a boatload of rescued asylum seekers to a reluctant Indonesia. Fairfax

George Brandis changes the law for Andrew Bolt

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Attorney-General George Brandis will fulfil an election promise next week and introduce legislation to repeal a section of Racial Discrimination Act that conservative journalist Andrew Bolt was found guilty of breaching.

The repeal of the laws that make it unlawful to offend and insult people because of their race will be the first legislation Senator Brandis will introduce to Parliament, according to The Australian newspaper. Fairfax

Abbott ducks questions on Howard climate speech (video)

fairfax

'the claims are exaggerated' says John Howard Fairfax

Well that explains everything Joe

Treasurer Joe Hockey has defended Tony Abbott's low profile since the September election, saying the Prime Minister is "flat out" running the country. Fairfax

Repeal carbon tax = lower electricity price INSTANTLY

the magic of Greg Hunt


Environment Minister Greg Hunt says scrapping the carbon tax will bring down electricity prices "immediately", despite more warnings from business that it could take time.

ABC

ACCC runs out of money

Surely as Treasurer its Joe s job to make sure the bills are paid

News

Liar liar Pyne on fire

The ABC fact checks Chris Pyne on independent school outcomes, and finds him unsubstantiated.

There has been no measured improvement in student outcomes in WA independent public schools. "All international evidence" does not point to the fact that the more autonomous a school, the better the outcomes for students.
Mr Pyne's claims are unsubstantiated

Hockey dumps tax measures

Treasurer Joe Hockey says the Government will ditch or change tax measures proposed by the previous Labor government at a cost of $3.1 billion to the budget, including a contentious cap on self-education expenses. ABC

Auditors paid $1500 a day

more on Tony's commission of audit..

Members of the team hand-picked by the Abbott government to rein in spending will be paid $1500 a day. SMH

Congestion cuts on the cards with Commission of Audit

MOTORISTS should pay for a congestion tax or more tolls in capital cities, business groups lobbying the Abbott Government's razor and revenue gangs has argued.The man heading up the Commission of Audit - the Business Council of Australia's Tony Shepherd - has previously thrown his support behind a congestion tax. news

Abbott Government: Week 7 in review

• Scott Morrison says if you go to a brown-infested country, don't expect to just come back
• Centrelink: Coming soon to a post office near you
• Tony Abbott declares an end to Australia's longest war. Hope he told the Taliban
• Protesters burn an effigy of T-Abs, chase Hockey down the street
• 12,000 lazy public servants to get the chop
• Tony reassures us all our spies are legal
• Barnaby Joyce tells people not to be sheep when they see footage of animal cruelty
• Julie Bishop will have a little talk with Indonesia about 'trust'

Trust Julie Bishop

Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa says it is "not cricket" forAustralia to spy on the region at the behest of the United States, adding he has sought clarification from his Australian counterpart Julie Bishopon an important issue of "trust". Guardian