In which Mr Gore goes to Canberra and discovers where all the hot air is coming from
THERE may be one or two inconvenient truths awaiting discovery by Clive Palmer’s co-star.
THERE may be one or two inconvenient truths awaiting discovery by Clive Palmer’s co-star.
Lest you think it’s just us bagging Palmer, Michael Pascoe on The Sydney Morning Herald website yesterday:
THERE’S something Al Gore should understand before sharing a stage with Clive Palmer. First and foremost, Palmer is a Liberal spurned ... That puts Tony Abbott in a particularly difficult position. When a key player in the Senate balance of power is primarily interested in embarrassing the government and making life as unpleasant as possible for the PM, “policy” counts for nought. As PUP won’t ever be in government, short of some frightening Argentina-like future for this country, Palmer can promise and say whatever he likes. It’s a thought former US vice-president Gore might have done with before accepting any role in the Palmer parliamentary circus. I suppose it’s possible that he did … but nobody’s credibility is enhanced by a dance with Clive.
The ABC’s Mark Scott on Twitter yesterday:
SENSING hyperventilation in The Australian’s editorial room. #palmgore
The ABC’s Jonathan Green, tweeting a tad more accurately than his boss:
GUESSING that Al Gore is now available for birthday parties, hens nights, etc.
Big picture. Heading on a press release from Bill Shorten last night:
OPPOSITION comment on Clive Palmer — typo corrected.
Words in ears. Troy Bramston in The Australian on Monday:
DURING the past few months, (Anthony) Albanese has been an unremitting critic of Shorten to anyone who will listen. Albanese has rubbished Shorten to MPs, party figures, union leaders, staff, even journalists.
Say it ain’t so! Anthony Albanese in parliament on Monday:
IN today’s edition of The Australian, an opinion piece by Troy Bramston contains a number of falsehoods, assertions and fictions … they are absurd, wrong, without any attribution, unprofessional and contradicted by a cursory examination of the facts …
No point rocking the boat, eh? News.com.au on June 26 last year:
MR Shorten did not believe he had been dishonest in telling the media over the past two weeks he was still supporting Ms Gillard. “As I was going through the process of thinking what to do, do you think it is my job to be a public worrywart? That just destabilises the situation,” he said. “Up until the spill ... I was going to support the prime minister.”
Then again, Albo does have special powers. Bramston in The Australian on September 14 last year:
“IT’S pretty amazing that Albo got off scot-free (after the failed leadership putsch),” says a key Rudd backer. “He was up to his neck in it all, as much as (Chris) Bowen and (Joel) Fitzgibbon were. So was Mark Butler, who was firmly in our camp by then too. But Gillard was too scared to lose Albo.”
Convicted Northern Territory PUP politician Larissa Lee yesterday:
IF (Chief Minister) Adam Giles wants to play games with the people of Arnhem then maybe he should go out there and understand the Madayin laws, and those people will tell him straight where he stands, because he’s nothing more than a little blow-in.
From Djiniyini Gondarra’s presentation to the Law and Justice Within Indigenous Communities conference in Darwin, February 2011:
LET me start by explaining the Yolngu system of law that is called the Madayin. I think it is very hard to translate this term Madayin into English as English does not seem to have a word like Madayin.
Certainly true on the ABC news website, which quoted Lee thus:
IF Adam Giles wants to play games with the people of Arnhem then maybe he should go out there and understand the mighty Aluras …