‘PM using every trick in his power to push for yes vote’
“This is NOT about recognition, it’s about honesty towards all Australian citizens. The PM is using every trick in his power to push for the yes vote. It’s ‘do-or-die’ for him personally and for the survival of this government.”
Fran too:
“Yes he used every trick including the Bob Hawke histrionics.”
David P said:
“Appalling that he could not or would not meet with the (indigenous) delegations yesterday. What was worse, was that his minister failed to front as well. They are not genuine and insult those who would seek a genuine resolution to their problems from all the current agencies who failed and have never been audited in terms of where the funds they have received have been spent and the outcomes achieved.”
PatrickJD agreed:
“Albanese and his minister did not have the decency to meet Aboriginal people who travelled to Canberra from remote communities. The voice will entrench power in the hands of the present taxpayer funded elite bureaucracy.”
Terry tripled down:
“Let’s make the referendum really worthwhile for Australia and have a federal election on the same day.”
Warren was wry:
“Question for Albo: Will the voice be able to command the executive to address mortgage rates, inflation, power prices and general cost of living? If so, I’m all in too as you certainly aren’t doing anything.”
The Light looked on the bright side:
“Now we have the detail. Now we have clarity. Nothing to fear, everything to gain. The Yes vote will win.”
Tallulah quoted Teddy:
“ ‘It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.’ Theodore Roosevelt, The Sorbonne, Paris, 23 April 1910.”
Firinne wanted to know:
“Will Albanese take the high road a la David Cameron and resign if his voice referendum doesn’t get the result that he so desires?”
Mazza was mean:
“Perhaps FIFO’s tears and over-emotional performance were genuine. The awful realisation that he had lost control over ‘his’ working group, had been rolled by them at the last moment on the wording, and that he had firmly wedged himself into a position from which there was no retreat was cause to cry?
“The realisation that, after a resounding and embarrassing ‘no’ vote, he might get ‘rolled’ by the Labor Party and there might be no more opportunities for free first-class overseas junkets, no more corporate boxes at the tennis, no more photo-opportunities, must all have been very upsetting.”
Richard reckoned:
“We have way too much government already. So no to the voice for me.”
Jackson quoted Dutton:
“ ‘The government can’t out-legislate the constitution, that’s the reality so if you’re putting forward a form of words which is open to a broad interpretation by the High Court then the parliament can’t rectify that. That’s the issue here.’
“Dutton has highlighted a point that should concern us all. An overly prescriptive constitution paralyses government law making – something we see in the American system of government where the elected law makers are continually challenged by activists through the courts.”
Governed not Led said:
“The voice is just the start. What follows next are; truth telling, treaties, reparations, joint sovereignty, co-governance and a 1pc taxation levy upon the non-indigenous in perpetuity.”
Peter was puzzled:
“So elsewhere in the news we have a former high court judge expressing an opinion that the constitution is no place for too much detail and that we should trust the elected government on this issue. Given that Albanese refuses to explain his thoughts on this issue why would anyone trust him or the current government?”
Vincent said:
“As Dutton says, it will be the High Court that ultimately decides on the machinery of the voice.”
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The Australian Federal Police has launched an investigation after independent senator Lidia Thorpe appeared to lunge at women’s rights and anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen outside Parliament House, before being wrestled to the ground by police and then crawling away on all fours on the grass. Her behaviour prompted widespread condemnation from fellow politicians and commentators, who said it was not befitting of a senator. Gerard was unimpressed:
“The withdrawal of Katherine Deves and Senator Claire Chandler have proved the point of the existence of the problem about the intimidation against women and the need to address the issues raised by them and Kellie-Jay Keen (KJK). In fact this tour has pulled off the Band-Aid and revealed a gaping sore of the existence and extent of the problem of the erasure of women in Australia. KJK’s departure will not be the end of the matter, but only the beginning.”
Janet I said:
“I wish I could be there to stand beside KJK and am the brave women trying to speak.
Women being bullied into silence is shameful.”
Diane had questions:
“ ‘The erasure of women in Australia’? I would have thought women are listened to now more than ever before.”
John begged to differ:
“Women listened to? Most politicians are too afraid to even define what a woman is.”
Nada reckoned:
“Next the government will have the police haul away the modern day brave suffragettes and throw them in jail. Seems history does repeat itself. “
Lawman suggested:
“They should have arrested Ms Thorpe.”
Charles J’s advice:
“Lidia, you recently asked in the Senate chamber ‘What sort of women do you think I am?’ Your behaviour tells us what sort of woman you are, and let me tell you, it is not very impressive … You must remember you are paid to represent ALL Australians. If you feel you cannot improve your behaviour markedly, you should resign your position.”
Claudio said:
“There is more than one way to keep women silent. These women have been banned from social media and now they are held accountable for the actions of men who gatecrash their events and refused protection from the police against extremist mobs.”
Jennifer’s take:
“It had been raining and the grass was soft and slippery. Looks to me like she was headed toward the guest speaker and an officer held her back, then she ‘went down’.”
LB Loveday weighed in:
“Not just ‘thrown to the ground’, but ‘I got pulverised by the police’. Will she be able to be repaired?”
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As part of The Australian’s exclusive The List: Richest 250 out today, billionaire wrangler John Stensholt revealed the surprising suburb where more Aussie billionaires live, and concluded, like F Scott Fitzgerald, that the rich are different. Glencoe was amazed:
“I haven’t even run into a thousandaire in my suburb.”
Cam was nonplussed:
“In fact 30 live on the waterfront in Sydney with 20 in Toorak and 6 in Mosman Park … we all know where the wealthy areas are, this is hardly breaking news.”
David passed the hat around:
“I’m not at all jealous, but if Gina offered me a few million I wouldn’t say no. If she gave away one million per day it would take about one hundred years before she ran out of money.”
Susan said:
“Just conspicuous asset ownership rather than conspicuous consumption and further contributing to the property price bubble.”
Keyser said:
“That's quaint. No waterfronts in Toorak. That's because, if you need to live upmarket in Melbourne, you have very little option but to take Toorak.”
RA did the math:
“Just 10pc of the combined fortunes of all these wealthy would pay mortgages of ordinary folk for a year. The headline that more people are falling behind on their mortgages due to rising interest rates stands in abject juxtaposition with the headlines celebrating Australia’s many billionaires.”
Gertrude got misty:
“Growing up in suburban Hunters Hill many years ago was a childhood dream. Everyone knew their neighbours, kids would hang out together as much as possible by roaming between homes, mucking around on the water and playing in the bush. If someone had a pool all the local kids would come for a dip on hot summer days. Our parent’s veranda was weekend cocktail heaven and our dad raced his yacht, which he built in our backyard, twice a week. The local pubs were full of characters and the ferry ride into the city was noisy and chaotic with school kids. I wonder if it’s still the same today?”
Be careful, warned Mr T:
“Good luck to them but all in all a very tempting honeypot for Chalmers to slap on some CGT.”
Caz could dream:
“I once rented in Sydney’s East. To have Vaucluse and Double Bay as your background with Bondi just down the road was a nice environment to live in. It felt like I was living the high life right up to the point I opened my front door and entered my teeny tiny, aged 2-bed apartment.”
Last word to Grace:
“Yes dears, life is not all about a water view. It’s not really surprising, either. Old money is understated, and Toorak is elegant and grand. There is nothing flashy, and gauche about Toorak.”
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Welcome to the column where you provide the content. An emotional Anthony Albanese has set up a three-month political brawl with Peter Dutton after endorsing a constitutionally enshrined indigenous voice to parliament, which boasts powers across all arms of the government to intervene “early in the development of laws and policies”, leading to what some warn will be a lawyers’ picnic that could hamstring government for over a decade. John was suspicious: