Poison Deviny

9/5/12: “How do Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott justify their vote of confidence in Craig Thomson yesterday? For that is the message they sent by voting with the government against the Opposition motion to suspend Thomson for 14 days. Their assistance allowed Thomson to escape parliamentary censure in the wake of the damning Fair Work Australia report alleging financial mismanagement and rorting at the Health Services Union. The report alleges Thomson spent $500,000 of HSU members’ money on prostitutes, ATM cash withdrawals, fine dining and election expenses in his central coast seat of Dobell

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15/5/12: “CRAIG Thomson has been cleared of almost all allegations of dodgy election funding following an investigation by the Australian Electoral Commission. But there will still be demands for him to use his address to Parliament next week to explain why his old union, the Health Services Union, spent a significant sum on his political ambitions. The AEC today reported that just over $88,000 in money from the Health Services Union, where Mr Thomson had been national secretary, had been used to support his 2007 bid for the seat of Dobell on the NSW central coast as an ALP candidate. However, most of the amount - totalling about $71,300 - were either below the threshold for compulsory declaration, or had been declared by the HSU.”

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/craig-thomson-cleared-of-dodgy-election-funding/story-e6frea8c-1226357611368

“Who is Michael Lawler? For starters, according to reliable sources, Michael Lawler is friends with a man named Tony Abbott. Apparently, the two of them socialise regularly. Conveniently, Tony Abbott is also the leader of the political party making so much ground out of the claims Michael’s partner is making. Michael Lawler works for an organisation called Fair Work Australia, where he is a Vice-President on a salary of $400,000 a year. The only person higher than him at that organisation is Iain Ross, who just replaced Geoffrey Giudice – the one who Tony Abbott and Lawler’s partner Kathy Jackson were attacking daily – as President of Fair Work Australia. On the 11th of October 2002, according to the FWA annual report, Michael Lawler was appointed Vice President of Fair Work Australia — although back then it was called the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Previously, Lawler was a barrister who made his mark representing employers in employment disputes. The man who appointed him to the AIRC was none other than Tony Abbott — who at the time was Employment and Workplace Relations Minister under John Howard’s Coalition Government.”

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/how-the-hsu-tangled-jackson-lawler-and-thomson-with-abbott/

How do Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott justify their vote of confidence in Craig Thomson yesterday? For that is the message they sent by voting with the government against the Opposition motion to suspend Thomson for 14 days. Their assistance allowed Thomson to escape parliamentary censure in the wake of the damning Fair Work Australia report alleging financial mismanagement and rorting at the Health Services Union. The report alleges Thomson spent $500,000 of HSU members’ money on prostitutes, ATM cash withdrawals, fine dining and election expenses in his central coast seat of Dobell,

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“Leader of the House Anthony Albanese said Mr Thomson was a backbench member of parliament and entitled to stay there until authorities came to their conclusion. He said that was the sentiment of Mr Abbott when Liberal MPs Andrew Laming and Ross Vasta were subject to police and Criminal and Misconduct Commission investigations in Queensland in 2007.”

“Searched by the AFP last Friday were the Brisbane offices of three Queensland federal Liberal MPs - Gary Hardgrave, Andrew Laming and Ross Vasta. The investigation has been linked to allegations of abuse of electoral allowances for printing of campaign material. A printing firm in Woolloongabba, in south Brisbane, and a graphic artist’s office were also the subject of police searches. All MPs have denied any wrongdoing, complaining the investigation began following an allegation by a “disgruntled employee”.”

““Oh no, look,” spluttered Oakeshott, “More than likely he would say no, he can’t command authority. But … the disappointing thing with the … Liberal party leadership is … it is more close to, you know, the BA Santamaria, the DLP view of the world, not true Liberal economics. It is closer to print-more-money economics.”

What’s he on about?

Abbott doesn’t advocate printing money. That’s Obama’s gig”

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Windsor is making a crack about Abbott being like a DLP member a protectionist rather than a free market Liberal. Member’s of his own party feel this crack might be apt:

Former Howard minister Peter Reith: “Tony Abbott’s recent decision to change the onus on dumping reminds me of John Howard on protectionism before our election win in 1996, although John offered the reassurance that came with his generally pro-market values. My worry is not immediately the dumping decision, but what it says about the policy of an incoming Abbott government. Of course, anti-dumping provisions are allowed under WTO rules, but they have been often misused for protectionist interests. So any free trader will look very closely at anything called “anti-dumping”.”

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3665982.html

In Sophie Mirabella’s words: “effective anti-dumping systems perform a crucial function in world trade by providing recourse against the insidious practice of dumping. This occurs where foreign producers attempt to sell their goods in overseas markets at a price below the one they would charge at home.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/unenlightened-attacks-on-anti-dumping-policy/story-e6frgd0x-1226193960334

and the American President has no power over the Federal Reserve except appointing the Fed board members who has to be approved by the Senate; thus a President advocating the Fed print money should have no affect.