I always thought the real Julia gillard was a backstabbing bitch.

f1wc, I'd like to hear from you what your view of what laws Thompson has broken if all allegations are proven true?

Well, let's see. Misappropriation of union funds for a start. If he did spend it on hookers, I'm pretty sure that's illegal too. So is the using of said money to finance his electoral campaign.

From a legal level there's only an issue if HSU want to pursue charges, isn't there? Is there a reason that they haven't?

Is it? Majority parliaments from both sides have dragged their feet on moving against MP's in the past. The LNP have an actual convicted criminal in their ranks right now.

Not saying that it excuses current practice, but I find the selective moral outrage a bit rich.

Umm, you do remember this is politics right?

Yes. It's been going on a long time.

People tend to forget that.

PM slammed over foreign labor 'lunacy'

by: Gemma Jones From: The Daily Telegraph May 25, 2012 5:02PM

MINING magnate Gina Rinehart has been granted permission by the government to employ hundreds of foreign workers in a decision which has enraged unions.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been attacked by union allies at a manufacturing round table meeting at Parliament House today.

The meeting after a week of job losses at Qantas and at Hydro aluminium smelter on the Central Coast came just hours after the decision to grant Ms Rinehart's latest project foreign labour was announced.

Up to 1715 temporary foreign workers can now be employed on construction of the $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore mine, in the first enterprise migration agreement struck by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen.

Almost 7000 Australians are to be offered building jobs and there will be 2000 permanent positions for local workers over the 20 year life of the mine.



The project argued there was not enough local workers to meet their demand.

AWU chief Paul Howes called the decision "sheer lunacy."

"I expressed to the Prime Minister, as did my colleagues, our sheer amazement this decision was being made," he said.

"I am not normally lost for words but frankly I just still can't get my head around what political genius thought this is a good idea.

"Who thought this was a great thing to do today, it is just sheer lunacy, sheer lunacy that in a week where so many jobs have been cut to give Gina Rinehart the massive pat on the back and free Christmas present they did today."

He also attacked Treasurer Wayne Swan's bashing of billionaire miners Clive Palmer, Ms Rinehart and Andrew Forrest.

"I thought we were actually attacking these guys at the moment. Whose side are we on?" he said.

ACTU leader Dave Oliver called the decision "reprehensible."

"We are calling on the prime minister to immediately intervene to ensure before any workers are being brought in under the 457 visa program that there has been appropriate measures in place to ensure that the local market has been tested," he said.

A Roy Hill spokesman said the decision to grant it the ability to hire up to 1715 foreign workers as part of an enterprise migration agreement was sensible.

"The temporary overseas positions will bolster skill areas which cannot be serviced from within the Australian labour market to allow construction to proceed, and the workers will have the same pay rates, working conditions and safety standards as Australian employees," the statement said.

"The temporary overseas workers will make up less than 20 per cent of the construction workforce, and the sooner the construction is finished, the sooner that 2000 permanent jobs will be created for Australian citizens for the next 20 years."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pm-slammed-over-foreign-labor-lunacy/story-e6freuy9-1226367227676

Pathetic
We have the skilled people

A job I was on in petrochem last year had 10,000 applicants


If we really want to fix unemployment in this country and breath new life in to engineering the Fed Gov't would compel 70%+ of engineering for ALL resource projects be carried out by Australians in the major cities.Ford in Geelong for instance would be perfect for a major production facility

This idea that we start a project in the Pilbara and then import thousands of containers from China with everything needed IS LUDICROUS

Even worse when you see projects turning up in modular form from China.One loading dock in Headland required 6000 tonnes of steel.It was towed here in just 4 modules from China

We have a wonderful opportunity, but it's all being wasted

Gillard facing fresh threat

Misha Schubert
May 27, 2012

JULIA Gillard's prime ministership is again under threat, with Labor sources saying government whip Joel Fitzgibbon is now actively canvassing for votes to return Kevin Rudd to the leadership.

The holder of the key post is normally a bulwark against moves to depose a leader. Sources said Mr Fitzgibbon switched camps some time ago but had begun making a case for change to MPs last week. He did not return calls on the issue.

There is growing despair in Labor ranks about the government's dismal stocks, and a loss of faith in Ms Gillard's ability to turn things around. But people close to her in government insist she will not quit the leadership voluntarily. Some who favour a switch do not want it to happen until the last day of parliamentary sittings in June, giving a new leader the long winter break to reorganise the government and tweak policies.

Ms Gillard will face an angry Labor caucus on Tuesday over her government's deal to allow mining magnate Gina Rinehart to import 1700 foreign workers, even after the Prime Minister sought to hose down fury from her key union backers with a vow to ''make sure Aussies get jobs first''.

The deal has exposed fresh tensions at the top levels of the government as Ms Gillard telegraphed her fury about the arrangement, revealing a rift with Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, backers of Mr Rudd in February's leadership vote.

Ms Gillard took the edge off union outrage yesterday by saying companies would have to use a new jobs board - an electronic billboard - to look for Australian workers first.

''Companies won't be able to bring in foreign workers if there are Australians ready, able and willing to do the work on the jobs board,'' she said.

Ministerial approval has been granted for the deal, but The Sunday Age believes the contract with Ms Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has yet to be signed.

But the handling of the issue by Ms Gillard's office has angered even some loyalists, who contend it was a textbook case of squandering a chance to show leadership.

Unions warned that the Rinehart deal could ultimately bring in many more foreign workers than just 1700, and could undercut local wages. The head of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, Dave Noonan, said the deal was a ''big con job'' because the Enterprise Migration Agreement would extend 457 visas to semi-skilled workers such as drivers for dozers, graders and cranes. The company could also bring in as many tradespeople - such as carpenters, electricians and welders - as it wanted on top of the 1700 in the non-trades.

''The backlash will be enormous from blue-collar workers and the community because they know it's about a two-tier labour market. I don't know why Labor would have a bar of it,'' Mr Noonan told The Sunday Age.

Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes attacked Mr Bowen's suggestion that the deal had been necessary for the Roy Hill project to go ahead.

''It's a $6 billion project. She is worth $29 billion personally. The logic of someone worth $29 billion not being able to secure $6 billion for a project that will be extremely profitable just doesn't add up. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of capital-raising by the Immigration Minister.''

Ms Gillard did not explicitly endorse the deal yesterday, but she argued that with half a trillion dollars of investment projects in the pipeline, there would be a need for some foreign workers. But she insisted: ''My concern here and the concern of the Labor government is always to put Australian jobs first.'' She also vowed to have stronger oversight of Enterprise Migration Agreements in future.

Labor senator Doug Cameron, a former national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, said he was angry that a visa deal had been struck when employees were being laid off elsewhere. ''I think the politics of this is terrible,'' he said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott seized on suggestions that Ms Gillard had only found out about the visa deal on Wednesday, and her fury at the arrangement, declaring it a sign of ''a government at war with itself''.

Greens leader Christine Milne raised fears that inadequate English skills of foreign workers might affect mining safety.

Ms Gillard also faces caucus concern about a budget plan to dump 100,000 single parents on to the dole, leaving them $120 a fortnight worse off. And Greens MP Adam Bandt's motion to lift the dole by $50 a week, to be debated tomorrow, will add more pressure.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-facing-fresh-threat-20120526-1zc2r.html#ixzz1w1jukZov

It just gets worse and worse for Gillard.

On another point come on Ruddy a king amongst men, the most loved man in Qld. Here comes Kevin 12.

really sad thing is Rudd would be stupid enough to allow himself to be rolled out again for more punishment from a pack of low life morons who will stab him in the back as soon as look at him.....and unfortunatley there are enough stupid australians dumb enough and brain dead enough to think its a good thing and vote for him...in some sick belief that things will be different........nothing has changed...nothing will change until Labor learn a lesson, they are but a poor shadow of there former glory.....they would be lucky to have 5% of there old values, jobs are falling at alarming rates, go ahead quote unemployment figures, they are ok because there is a large proportion of casual jobs propping up the figures......but permanent jobs have dropped and many many people are working multiple jobs to make ends meet, while Gillard supports the importing of foreign labour.....and the union squeal like stuck pigs and do nothing....their hands tied by election,caucus and faction deals......meanwhile Shorten and Albanese conjour up plans for a come back....mealy mouthed die hards with vested interests and their snouts in the trough.......scabs.....bludgers...liars...and morons....wake up Australia.....


reminds me of that movie "weekend at bernies" just wheel RUDD out again even tough he is dead, but the Labor scabs will try anything

Edited by batfink: 27/5/2012 06:00:26 PM

reminds me of that movie "weekend at bernies" just wheel RUDD out again even tough he is dead, but the Labor scabs will try anything

You make some good points but Labor has more of a chance with him leader than Gillard. It wouldn't suprise me if he has a crack. He could of just pissed off and there would of been an election months ago but he has stayed on for one last crack.

Julia Gillard is once again the nation's preferred prime minister and her government has received a small boost, according to a poll.
But leaders of both sides of politics have a way to go to winning the public's approval, with 60 per cent of voters dissatisfied with Ms Gillard and Tony Abbott's performance. Mr Abbott's personal support is at its lowest level since he won leadership of the opposition in 2009.
The latest Newspoll shows support for the federal government has inched its way to its highest level in three months. Its primary vote crept up two points over the past fortnight to 32 per cent, while the Coalition rose by one point to 46 per cent.

On a two-party preferred basis, the Coalition retains a virtually unchanged, election-thumping lead of 54 per cent to Labor's 46 per cent – a rise of 1 percentage point.
The result represents a five-point rise in Labor's primary vote since the budget on May 8. The latest survey was conducted after a brutal week in Australian politics, in which the Coalition aggressively pursued MP Craig Thomson, who is accused of using union money to pay for personal expenses, including the hiring of prostitutes.
Mr Abbott and other Coalition figures have labelled Mr Thomson's speech to Parliament last week, in which he rejected all allegations, as "utterly implausible", and have referred the Labor exile to the privileges committee, with claims he misled Parliament.
Mr Abbott and Ms Gillard engaged in a near week-long slanging match. Mr Abbott accused the Prime Minister of clinging to Mr Thomson's vote as a life-raft for her minority government, while Ms Gillard retorted that the opposition leader was playing a dangerous brand of gutter politics.
The result?
Ms Gillard has overtaken Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister with a bounce of four points, rising from 36 per cent a fortnight ago to 40 per cent.
Mr Abbott sank three points to 37 per cent. His personal support is now at its lowest level since he became Opposition Leader in 2009.
Overall, Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott were judged equally badly – with 60 per cent of voters saying they are dissatisfied with their performance.
The small measure of positive news for Labor comes ahead of today's caucus meeting, which some MPs have predicted will be "robust."
Cabinet unity took a hammering this week over the conflicting stories about the foreign worker agreement with mining magnate Gina Rinehart. Left-aligned MPs and senators are also expected to take issue with the changes to the single-parent payment revealed in the budget.
MPs of all stripes weighed in on the poll numbers - with some Labor figures less cheered than others.
NSW Doug Cameron said the results were ''still abysmal'' with the ''slight upturn'' in the poll numbers was due to government measures to support people struggling with the rising costs of living.
''The Newspoll figures are still abysmal but they're getting better,'' he said.
Senator Cameron, who has been highly critical of the enterprise migration agreements announced last week, said he didn't want to see ''industrial apartheid' as a result of the program.
Parliamentary secretary Richard Marles said the uptick was because the public were turning off Mr Abbott, who he said was ''a dog'' of a candidate for the prime ministership.
Opposition spokesman for Immigration, Scott Morrison, said it was a harder task for an opposition to be seen as ''positive'' by the public.
The coalition was not ''worried'' by the poll. But Queensland Senator, Barnaby Joyce ascribed the sustained attacks on Mr Thomson as a reason for the coalition's slight poll slump.
Labor backbencher Kelvin Thomson spoke out against the foreign worker deal for a second day and warned Labor to ''not get too excited with this poll.''
Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said: ''People are seeing an opposition leader that is so desperate to try and bring a government down that they have formed an adverse opinion about how negative this bloke had become.’’

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr has announced that Australia has expelled two Syrian diplomats.

Senator Carr's decision comes in the wake of a gruesome massacre in the town of Houla which led to the deaths of more than 100 people at the weekend, including dozens of children.

"This is the most effective way we've got of sending a message of revulsion to the Syrian government," Senator Carr said at a media conference this afternoon.

He says two diplomats, including Syrian Charge d'Affairs Jawdat Ali, will have 72 hours to leave the country.

DFAT head Dennis Richardson spoke to the two diplomats this afternoon.

Senator Carr has called for an end to military activity in built-up areas and negotiations between the regime's political opponents.

He says Australians are appalled by the massacre.

"They're appalled at a regime that could connive in or organise the execution, the killing of men, women and children," he said.

"Australians want that conveyed. And the best way of conveying it right now, given the restraints of what we deal with in the UN in New York, is to expel Syrian diplomats from Australia."

Senator Carr said Australia took the action "with other nations around the world" and he expected similar announcements to be made in other capitals soon.

Yesterday, Britain summoned Syria's top diplomat in London to protest against the violence at Houla, calling it a "sickening and evil" crime.

France says Syria's leaders will have to answer for their "murderous folly".

The weekend massacre of more than 100 people in Houla has been widely condemned by world leaders and the United Nations.

UN special envoy Kofi Annan flew into Damascus on Monday to try to enforce a ceasefire that was agreed to in April.

But international action stronger than the ceasefire has so far been vetoed by China and Russia.

Eyewitnesses in Houla have offered horrifying accounts of what happened at the weekend.

One anonymous man told of hiding in his attic while his children and brothers were shot.

"When they opened the door I was still with my family in the living room. I was standing behind the door," he said.

"They took my brothers outside and I hid in the attic. All I could hear was gunfire. It felt like the whole house was shaking.

"I opened the door and saw bodies. I couldn't recognise my kids from my brother's. It was indescribable. I had three children. I've lost three children."

Haha! He's your problem now.