Reasons not to vote LABOR.

[Jovial Monk]

S&G still support the PM even now:

http://www.slatergordon.com.au/media/ne ... OU.twitter

The reporting today by Mr Baker is misleading. The facts of Ms Gillard’s role in the conveyancing matter are already on the public record. As reported recently in other media outlets, other practitioners within the firm were responsible for the conduct of the conveyancing file.

That was on 13 Nov.

[Rorschach]

Good grief Slater and Gordon are Labor's lawyers you dunderhead.

[Aussie]

Good grief Slater and Gordon are Labor's lawyers you dunderhead.

So.....what? Are you now broadening your smoke and mirrors non allegation? Have Slater and Gordon (not Gillard) been involved in misconduct? If so, please Sir.............specify the particulars.

[Jovial Monk]

Even if S&G were the lawyers for the ALP (are they?) they could not release a false statement I would think without some comeback from Law Association, loss of business if they were shown to have lied.

It is for the same reason Naffy saying Newspoll cheated to make the figures for the ALP higher can be discarded. No commercial firm wants to lose customers.

[Rorschach]

Good grief Slater and Gordon are Labor's lawyers you dunderhead.

So.....what? Are you now broadening your smoke and mirrors non allegation? Have Slater and Gordon (not Gillard) been involved in misconduct? If so, please Sir.............specify the particulars.

Oh and what allegations have I made Arsie?

You just keep building those strawmen.

[Aussie]

Guess you did not read this:

Are you now broadening your smoke and mirrors non allegation...

[My red..]

You never fail to let me down with just how lousy you really are at this.

[Rorschach]

No I read it...

But I like to deal in reality.
Not gobledygook.

Unlike yourself.

[Rorschach]

Left accused of keeping Aborigines in poverty
November 24, 2012
Dan Harrison
Indigenous Affairs and Social Affairs Correspondent

THE Aboriginal academic Marcia Langton has accused the left of standing in the way of indigenous advancement, consigning the nation's first peoples to lives of poverty.

In her second Boyer lecture, an extract of which is published in the Herald, Professor Langton argues the environmental movement has emerged as ''one of the most difficult of all the obstacles hindering Aboriginal economic development''.

''Among the left and among those opinion leaders who hang on to the idea of the new 'noble savage', Aboriginal poverty is invisible, masked by a 'wilderness' ideology,'' Professor Langton argues in the lecture, which will be broadcast on Sunday.

''Whenever an Aboriginal group negotiates with a resource extraction company there is an unspoken expectation that no Aboriginal group should become engaged in any economic development. They only tolerate Aboriginal people living on their own land as caretakers of wilderness, living in poverty and remaining uneducated and isolated.''

Professor Langton, the chairwoman of Australian indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne, attacks environmental campaigners who teamed with dissident Aboriginal groups to oppose development at Jabiluka in western Arnhem Land and elsewhere ''not because of impacts on Aboriginal people but to preserve nature and 'wilderness'''.

''Whether Aboriginal groups had projects imposed on them or negotiated successful settlements, these professional protesters, supported by sophisticated non-government organisations funded by a gullible public, accused Aboriginal leaders of 'selling out'. Not once have they campaigned against Aboriginal poverty. They assume that this is the normal for the natives.

''Time and again, native title groups have spent years getting an agreement with a resource company over the line, negotiating income streams that might shift indigenous people from the margins to the centre of regional economic development in return for land access, only for a ragtag team of 'wilderness' campaigners to turn up with an entourage of disaffected Aboriginal protesters to stop development at the eleventh hour.''

She accuses Labor of taking Aboriginal voters for granted since the days of the Whitlam government but says this changed with the election of the West Australian Liberal MP Ken Wyatt as the first indigenous member of the House of Representatives, and the defeat of the Labor government in this year's Northern Territory election, largely due to the disaffection of indigenous voters in bush seats.

Professor Langton says the territory result challenged mainstream perceptions of the marginal power of the Aboriginal vote and demonstrated the Country Liberal Party - once rabidly opposed to Aboriginal rights - had changed its colour.

Professor Langton's lecture will be broadcast on ABC Radio National on Sunday at 5pm and will be available at abc.net.au/radionational/boyerlectures.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political ... z2D3DPavKT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rorschach]

Forced returns of 'sham refugees' as Sri Lankans deported
* by: Dennis Shanahan, Political editor
* From: The Australian
* November 23, 2012 12:00AM

ILLEGAL immigrants from Sri Lanka who are not claiming to be refugees but are overwhelming the detention system are being targeted for forced returns, some within 48 hours of arrival.

The Gillard government's new focus includes regular forced returns of Sri Lankans to their home country, Australian Federal Police working in Sri Lanka to target people-smugglers, quickly classifying illegal arrivals as economic migrants, refusing "reintegration assistance" for those forcibly returned and sending the most recent arrivals to Nauru and Manus Island.

In the three months since the government announced its policy of putting asylum-seekers in detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea for five years, more than 3500 Sri Lankans have arrived illegally by boat, with most not being from the Tamil minority that lost the civil war three years ago. In all, 7868 asylum-seekers have arrived since the August 13 announcement.

While asylum-seekers from Pakistan and Afghanistan have dropped off markedly since August 13, Sri Lankan "economic migrants" have almost doubled, swamping detention and offshore processing centres on Christmas Island, Nauru and the reopened Manus Island in PNG.

Tony Abbott has responded to the government's failure on offshore processing by declaring the Coalition will not agree to the government's plan to expand the humanitarian refugee intake.

In a policy and budget cut promise to be given in a speech today, the Opposition Leader says: "If elected . . . the Coalition will save around $1.3 billion over the forward estimates by not proceeding with the government's plan to increase the level of Australia's humanitarian intake from 13,750 a year to 20,000.

"The Coalition will always support a generous humanitarian program. However, it should not be expanded while the government cannot afford to pay for it." Exactly...

Mr Abbott said the government had made it clear that increasing the size of the humanitarian program would not stop the boats.

Analysis of boat arrival nationalities, obtained by The Australian, reveals that in January there were no arrivals from Sri Lanka, but since April, when about 100 arrived, the Sri Lankan total has jumped every month to a peak last month of more than 1200.

In the same period the number of Pakistani arrivals has dropped from 100 in August to just 10 this month, while Afghan asylum-seekers are down from 360 in August to 100 last month. The number of Iranians has remained steady at about 420 and Iraqi arrivals have doubled to just over 200 last month although they are well down so far this month.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, who announced yesterday the forced return of 40 Sri Lankan men, said the government would "continue to return people to Sri Lanka" and "transfer people to Nauru and Manus Island".

In a reference to Sri Lankans who were not seeking refugee status on the basis of being part of a persecuted Tamil minority after the end of the civil war in 2009, Mr Bowen said: "We will continue to return people where they do not engage Australia's international obligations."

Government sources told The Australian that most of the Sri Lankan illegal boat arrivals were not Tamils but economic refugees who were not seeking refugee status. Hallelujah they finally recognise what many people have been telling them for over a decade.

Mr Bowen acknowledged the "big increase" in Sri Lankan arrivals and said the government would "immediately return anybody who does not have a credible asylum claim, which we've been doing". If only they'd do it for other countries too.

The involuntary return of 40 Sri Lankan men yesterday by plane took to 466 the number of Sri Lankans who had been sent home since August.

Mr Bowen said the Greens' claim that their policy of expanding the humanitarian intake to 20,000 without a deterrent effect would cut the number of boat arrivals was wrong.

In his speech, Mr Abbott cites Mr Bowen's remarks to support the Coalition's decision to limit the humanitarian intake to 13,750 as part of a plan to save $1.3 billion over the budget estimates.

"Over the coming months, the Coalition will release a series of savings measures that will demonstrate our strong commitment to fixing Labor's budget mess," Mr Abbott will say.

"Restoring control to our borders through putting in place the proven Howard policies will also deliver significant savings to the budget. Each boat arrival costs the taxpayer more than $12 million."

The Opposition Leader will say that the Coalition has a "proud record of supporting those most in need".

"Under the Howard government, the humanitarian intake was expanded to over 13,000 places, making it one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world," Mr Abbott's prepared speech says.

"Under the Rudd and Gillard governments, there have been more than 30,000 illegal arrivals. This means that, to a large extent, the management of the humanitarian program has been outsourced to the people-smugglers.

"If elected, the Coalition will again refocus Australia's refugee and humanitarian program to give priority to genuine refugees applying offshore.

"Under the Coalition, a minimum of 11,000 places of the 13,750 places for the refugee and humanitarian program will be reserved for offshore applicants.

"This will reverse the trend under Labor where the number of places available for offshore refugee and humanitarian entrants fell to 6718 places in 2011-12."

[mantra]

Over the coming months, the Coalition will release a series of savings measures that will demonstrate our strong commitment to fixing Labor's budget mess," Mr Abbott will say.

"Restoring control to our borders through putting in place the proven Howard policies will also deliver significant savings to the budget. Each boat arrival costs the taxpayer more than $12 million."

The Opposition Leader will say that the Coalition has a "proud record of supporting those most in need".

What a load of rubbish. "Over the coming months" - what about now? He will not be able to reintroduce Howard's policies because they are dated and the world has moved on. The Coalition cabinet is also burnt out and past their used by date.

What "proud record" of supporting those most in need? Homelessness reached its peak during Howard's reign.

Abbott talks - but says nothing.