Back to the title of this thread... according to news.com's political editor, Malcolm Farr:

Apparently it's true. PM Abbott told Aung San Suu Kyi (house arrest roughly 15 years), "I was an Opposition Leader myself for 4 years."

Beyond life in politics, a future in the diplomatic corps awaits.

Back to the title of this thread... according to news.com's political editor, Malcolm Farr:

Apparently it's true. PM Abbott told Aung San Suu Kyi (house arrest roughly 15 years), "I was an Opposition Leader myself for 4 years."

Beyond life in politics, a future in the diplomatic corps awaits.

not a big fan of abbott but you're digging a bit deep there hardtack

we could bring up keating's malaysian pm's recidivist comment too (even though i agreed with him)

Edited November 30, 201311 yr by daisycutter

So Plibersmack is asking for an investigation into allegations of a rape committed 27 years ago by a now senior ALP figure, very senior.

These allegations have been widely known throughout the Victorian Legal fraternity for quite some time, but never reported in the media for some strange reason.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/abc-advertised-guardians-spy-story-tony-abbott/story-e6frg996-1226772306626

TONY Abbott says people are entitled to question the ABC's judgment after it promoted a rival news organisation's story detailing Australia's spying activity in Indonesia which sparked a diplomatic rift with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

ABC managing director Mark Scott said last month that The Guardian - which was in possession of intelligence documents leaked by former National Security Agency operative Edward Snowden - had approached the ABC a few days before the story about Australia's spying activities broke.

The Australian revealed the ABC rejected a request from Australian intelligence authorities to redact some details of spying activity.

Asked today on Channel Ten's The Bolt Report whether the national broadcaster should have redacted more information, the Prime Minister sidestepped criticising the ABC but did say people had a right to ask other questions of the taxpayer-funded organisation.

“I think it's fair enough for people to question the judgment of the ABC, not in failing to cover the story as it were, because plainly it was a story, but in choosing to act as if you like an advertising amplifier for The Guardian,” Mr Abbott said.

“It was The Guardian's story which the ABC seemed to want to advertise even though there's not normally advertising on the ABC.

“In the end, it is up to news organisations to make their judgments about what is fit to print, fit to publish, fit to broadcast, and they have to make their own judgments, but I think people are entitled sometimes to question the judgments that news organisations make.”

Asked by Andrew Bolt whether the ABC needed a new charter, Mr Abbott also declined to buy in. “I'm not in the business of making unnecessary enemies. I'm not in the business of further inflaming critics,” he said.

Last month, The Australian reported that the ABC sought advice from intelligence authorities, including the Office of National Assessments and the Australian Signals Directorate, before publication of a story about spying in conjunction with The Guardian.

The allegations that Australia in 2009 tapped the phones of the Indonesian President, his wife and inner circle have caused a diplomatic breakdown with Jakarta.

Sources have told The Australian the ABC was asked to redact three matters in the story but redacted only one. The ABC declined to comment at the time.

ABC News director Kate Torney has defended the ABC's decision to publish the Snowden revelations and emphatically rejected arguments that the ABC had simply published everything that Snowden released “without any consideration”.

- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/abc-advertised-guardians-spy-story-tony-abbott/story-e6frg996-1226772306626#sthash.bwGioXVV.dpuf

not a big fan of abbott but you're digging a bit deep there hardtack

we could bring up keating's malaysian pm's recidivist comment too (even though i agreed with him)

Not digging deep at all...I just found it amusing.

The Coalition's pre-election promise to match Labor's Gonski schools funding has been misunderstood by some people, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday.

Mr Abbott insisted that Education Minister Christopher Pyne had pledged that 'schools' as a whole would get the same amount of money under the new government.

That was despite being played a clip during the election campaign in which Mr Pyne said: ''You can vote Liberal or Labor and you will get exactly the same amount of funding for your school''.

Mr Abbott told Channel Ten's Andrew Bolt: ''I think Christopher said 'schools would get the same amount of money'. And schools, plural, will get the same amount of money. The quantum will be the same.''

Pressed on the apparent clear-cut promise to individual schools, Mr Abbott suggested there was confusion in the community.

''We are going to keep the promise that we made – not the promise that some people thought that we made, or the promise that some people might have liked us to make. We are going to keep the promise that we actually made,'' he said.

No fair cop I say, it's us that are confused. Unity ticket doesn't mean what we may have thought, that's our fault.

Is this an updated version Howards core and non core promises or Abbotts famous statement not to believe anything he says unless it is written on paper? I suppose it doesn't matter 53% of voters fell for it at the time.

The Coalition's pre-election promise to match Labor's Gonski schools funding has been misunderstood by some people, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday.

Mr Abbott insisted that Education Minister Christopher Pyne had pledged that 'schools' as a whole would get the same amount of money under the new government.

That was despite being played a clip during the election campaign in which Mr Pyne said: ''You can vote Liberal or Labor and you will get exactly the same amount of funding for your school''.

Mr Abbott told Channel Ten's Andrew Bolt: ''I think Christopher said 'schools would get the same amount of money'. And schools, plural, will get the same amount of money. The quantum will be the same.''

Pressed on the apparent clear-cut promise to individual schools, Mr Abbott suggested there was confusion in the community.

''We are going to keep the promise that we made – not the promise that some people thought that we made, or the promise that some people might have liked us to make. We are going to keep the promise that we actually made,'' he said.

No fair cop I say, it's us that are confused. Unity ticket doesn't mean what we may have thought, that's our fault.

Is this an updated version Howards core and non core promises or Abbotts famous statement not to believe anything he says unless it is written on paper? I suppose it doesn't matter 53% of voters fell for it at the time.

I'm not familiar with this Gonski Report and what the full version contained, but you seem to know a bit about it; did the Labor Party introduce the whole raft of recommendations or just some of them?

I'm not familiar with this Gonski Report and what the full version contained, but you seem to know a bit about it; did the Labor Party introduce the whole raft of recommendations or just some of them?

Robbie I have a feeling you are familiar with the Gonski recommendations and are about to tell us about them and that Labour did not take on board all the committees ideas.

All I know is the idea was for the federal government to provide a minimum level of funding for every school to match every child under their care based on their level of disadvantage. That is Government schools look after the majority of disadvantaged students and need extra funding to meet their needs. That's my layman's take on the Gonski committees in depth four year battle to build a model acceptable to all the stakeholders involved.

Now we have Mr Pyne stating he will issue a new model in the new year. Based on what grounds we may ask!

the gonski stuff does look like a right snafu

if the libs do have valid concerns they are doing a pizz-poor job of explaining them

i can't see much unity at this stage

Abbott and Pyne the synchronised, double backflip with a pike to execute the full Gonski! That's something special as Bruce would say. I love it. It is good for education. But I must say Pynes ability to hold so many conflicting positions in such a short space of time and still manage to deny the obvious and get on the offensive is a gold medal performance.

These Politicians are a special breed of people.

you just worked that out hood?

i must add though that shorten's policy of having (apparently) a different "deal" for every state never did sit very well with me

if pyne has a achieved a more uniform and unified arrangement with the states then that might be a plus

i hasten to add i'm no gonski expert when it comes to the small print

as i suspect is true of most posters

i must add though that shorten's policy of having (apparently) a different "deal" for every state never did sit very well with me

if pyne has a achieved a more uniform and unified arrangement with the states then that might be a plus

i hasten to add i'm no gonski expert when it comes to the small print

as i suspect is true of most posters

DC my default position is that Pyne has achieved JS on top of the existing Gonski arrangements. He hasn't met the committee, he hasn't met the recalcitrant states who refused to be involved he has just said we will follow the original recommendations and throw a billion at the other States and they have not said no so far. Anyone know anything else?

But before Robbie jumps on me, this is a good outcome, it is good for kids.

DC my default position is that Pyne has achieved JS on top of the existing Gonski arrangements. He hasn't met the committee, he hasn't met the recalcitrant states who refused to be involved he has just said we will follow the original recommendations and throw a billion at the other States and they have not said no so far. Anyone know anything else?

But before Robbie jumps on me, this is a good outcome, it is good for kids.

well i must have misheard the telly tonight

the recalcitrant states have come to an agreement in principle today and the "missing" shorten $1.2B has been reinstated

did you not hear? was i mistaken?

well i must have misheard the telly tonight

the recalcitrant states have come to an agreement in principle today and the "missing" shorten $1.2B has been reinstated

did you not hear? was i mistaken?

Well you might be right but I suspect there is plenty of partisan politics involved. When the SOS went out Newman and Bartlett were quick to come on line with their LNP colleagues after spending last year playing the spoilers I am not cutting Pyne any slack as if he is the worlds greatest negotiator. Remember Gonski was unworkable just last week, now everyone is on board and happy! Miraculous.

Well you might be right but I suspect there is plenty of partisan politics involved. When the SOS went out Newman and Bartlett were quick to come on line with their LNP colleagues after spending last year playing the spoilers I am not cutting Pyne any slack as if he is the worlds greatest negotiator. Remember Gonski was unworkable just last week, now everyone is on board and happy! Miraculous.

good to see you have an open mind on these issue hood and don't rely totally on the age and abc for your info

What do you get when the adults are in charge?

Adult entertainment.

Well you might be right but I suspect there is plenty of partisan politics involved. When the SOS went out Newman and Bartlett were quick to come on line with their LNP colleagues after spending last year playing the spoilers I am not cutting Pyne any slack as if he is the worlds greatest negotiator. Remember Gonski was unworkable just last week, now everyone is on board and happy! Miraculous.

Haha..exactly. It's amazing how quickly Newman came on board the moment it was a Lib offering the money. Truly remarkable.

You have to wonder whether cheques with no strings attached is really a national reform, but the important thing is that the funding is going to reach the schools, hopefully in a spread that meets the original intention of Gonski.

That tells me where you stand; nowhere.

Grow up and make a decision, casting an informal vote is a cop out.

Just how could he have done that without admitting that the Labor Party were in charge when this occurred, and that it did in fact happen?

Do you think it would have been appropriate for him to admit we did it at all; Robb has been criticised for saying it happened, correct?

I'm not your old man, I don't have to put up with you.

You mss the point I hate the Labor Party and I'm not stupid enough to believe that the Libs get everything right; the Victorian Libs are a joke and I will probably vote informal at the next election. If they elected either Turnbull or Hockey as leader I'd do the same federally.

I'm a Liberal who won't vote for the current Liberal government because they are incompetent and I would never vote for the labor party; I have a position you have none, that's the difference.

good to see you have an open mind on these issue hood and don't rely totally on the age and abc for your info

DC I have done some more reading on the subject, not from Fairfax or the ABC or indeed the Hun or the Oz, but it is now obvious Gonki is dead. Pyne had stumped up the money to match Labour but there are no conditions and that is what Gonski is about minimum funding for the relatively disadvantaged children. Abbott and Pyne have committed now to the same dollars but no conditions. The states will do what they want. Most suspect they will just cost shift to the Commonwealth. You give us a billion we withdraw a billion of state money.

This was how the Pyne deal was done on the back of a few desperate phone calls. The LNP just don't get it. Improving education outcomes for all kids benefits all of us eventually, it is about lifting national productivity. But they seemed to be about maintaining the class divides and advantages.

By the watt The Age is reporting that all evidence of the Gonski report has disappeared from the Department of education site. No mention at all of 4 years work by educational experts and no rational explanation of where it has gone. They have some explanation of a Goverment changeover. But other government offices have changed nothing.

I suspect Chris Pyne is taking us into Orwellian territory. The ministry of truth is up and running.

PJK to Clinton on the upcoming election with Howard.

"I'm going to put an axe into his chest and rip his ribs apart."

"Bill loved my dirty talk"

Absolutely awesome.

PJK to Clinton on the upcoming election with Howard.

"I'm going to put an axe into his chest and rip his ribs apart."

"Bill loved my dirty talk"

Absolutely awesome.

Can you please translate?

Can you please translate?

Just watching the doco on PJK.

He actually uses proper English that he speaks without any help.

Remarkable.

DC I have done some more reading on the subject, not from Fairfax or the ABC or indeed the Hun or the Oz, but it is now obvious Gonki is dead. Pyne had stumped up the money to match Labour but there are no conditions and that is what Gonski is about minimum funding for the relatively disadvantaged children. Abbott and Pyne have committed now to the same dollars but no conditions. The states will do what they want. Most suspect they will just cost shift to the Commonwealth. You give us a billion we withdraw a billion of state money.

This was how the Pyne deal was done on the back of a few desperate phone calls. The LNP just don't get it. Improving education outcomes for all kids benefits all of us eventually, it is about lifting national productivity. But they seemed to be about maintaining the class divides and advantages.

By the watt The Age is reporting that all evidence of the Gonski report has disappeared from the Department of education site. No mention at all of 4 years work by educational experts and no rational explanation of where it has gone. They have some explanation of a Goverment changeover. But other government offices have changed nothing.

I suspect Chris Pyne is taking us into Orwellian territory. The ministry of truth is up and running.

did you think shortens education plan was true to the gonski report?

i think you are being premature and melodramatic to claim gonski is dead

we should keep our powder dry and see if the libs can deliver genuine education reform

you seem to be very partisan about this and keen to point score

i'm not convinced one way or the other yet, though pyne did get off to a bad start initially

far too much hysteria and impatience going around at the moment

Edited December 3, 201311 yr by daisycutter