So the Morrison/Abbott plan for more tents was 'sponsored' by a company out to make money?

[i-need-a-martini]

Can they possibly be more stupid?

Like, helloooooo? Knock, knock? Anybody home in that big round thing on the top of your neck? You're building up to an election and you decide that now (NOW??) is a good time to run with some shonky deal with a company who is profit driven and make that deal part of your 'policy' to build a tent city?

Seriously? As Julia Roberts would say "Big Mistake. Huge mistake!"

If Morrison was a public servant (I mean a real one) he would be sacked for taking that flight paid for by Toll. 

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/coalitions-tent-city-trip-funded-by-log...

[icyfroth]

What worries me if the ALP get back in is that Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd is the best they can come up with.

[monman12]

IF: "What worries me if the ALP get back in is that Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd is the best they can come up with."

Gillard is leaving politics and moving to Adelaide , the former a wise move and somewhat overdue according to the electorate. As for Rudd he is doing a good job, so far. I only  hope that he has not kicked off his "good ideas" too early.

Time will tell.

nɥºɾ

[i-need-a-martini]

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@icyfroth wrote:

What worries me if the ALP get back in is that Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd is the best they can come up with.

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I don't think it's a acase of 'best of' with Rudd - he was always a strong leader with well thought out policies and if it wasn't for his upsetting the mining industry all those years ago we would be in a comfortable poltical position right now.

[monman12]

INAM: "..........you decide that now (NOW??) is a good time to run with some shonky deal with a company who is profit driven and make that deal part of your 'policy' to build a tent city?......."

"A company that is profit driven",  incredible.

" some shonky deal with a company".  Toll Holdings is so shonky, that the ALP currently have/had contracts/sales with them worth 25million dollars, now that is really shonky..

I can understand a private business funded trip to Tahiti or Hawaii  "outraging" the Myopics (any colour),  but to 8 square mile Naru. a moonscape of mined bat poo, incredible.

"...........it wasn't for his upsetting the mining industry all those years ago we would be in a comfortable poltical position right now...."

Actually he upset the ALP's Head office, the ACTU,  and the Caucus were not keen on him either. However , Michelle Grattan summed it up with: "THE execution of Kevin Rudd has been carried out with ruthless efficiency, driven by polling, pragmatism and powerbrokers.:

nɥºɾ

[lakeland27]

the ALP don't have contracts with Toll, but the federal government has. they don't however undertake trips at Tolls expense in order to sweeten a potential tent purchase. especially as the coalition have a 'turn back the boats ' policy.. if they assume that will work, why begin the process of buying up tents ?

[nero_bolt]

dont ya love the labor hacks and luvvies and their total lack of facts or inability to reasearch ANYTHING... 

The Sydney Morning Herald should explain how it “understood” the Coalition had a terrible conflict of interest that made its latest announcement on boat people look silly. Did it fall again for Labor spin?

Here is the paper’s big gotcha story:

A logistics company that stands to profit from the Coalition’s ‘’tent city’’ on Nauru funded the trip of its immigration spokesman Scott Morrison to the remote island to announce the plan to house up to 2000 asylum seekers in tents.

Here is how the story initially reported the central “fact”:

It is understood Toll Holdings chartered the flight for the Coalition and News Corporation.

“Understood”? That is usually a euphemism for “guessed”. And Fairfax guessed wrong.

Its story - which ran most of yesterday - now includes this late additional detail:

Toll Holdings told Fairfax Media late on Tuesday night that it had been invited by the government and the opposition to work on ‘’potential logistics solutions’’ to the asylum seeker issue.

‘’Part of this involved sending some senior executives to Nauru to assess the situation on the ground.

There were spare seats available, which were offered to the shadow minister. There was no significant extra cost to allow non-Toll passengers on the trip,’’ a spokesman said.

The story’s second paragraph, which originally read “It is understood Toll Holdings chartered the flight for the Coalition and News Corporation”, has since been changed to this:

The trip to Nauru was facilitated by Toll Holdings...

Needless to say, there is a substantial difference between a company chartering a flight for the Opposition and merely offering spare seats.

But damage done, and Labor will laugh.

Good job, Sydney Morning Herald. The lack of an apology says plenty.

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@lakeland27 wrote:

the ALP don't have contracts with Toll, but the federal government has. they don't however undertake trips at Tolls expense in order to sweeten a potential tent purchase. especially as the coalition have a 'turn back the boats ' policy.. if they assume that will work, why begin the process of buying up tents ?

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[lakeland27]

Poor wulfy, the newspaper was mean to her boys.  .. its about time ..

dont worry wulfy , rupert still has 70% of the market (even if no-one seems to be listening anymore)

[icyfroth]

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@monman12 wrote:

IF: "What worries me if the ALP get back in is that Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd is the best they can come up with."

Gillard is leaving politics and moving to Adelaide , the former a wise move and somewhat overdue according to the electorate. As for Rudd he is doing a good job, so far. I only  hope that he has not kicked off his "good ideas" too early.

Time will tell.

nɥºɾ

---

not quite what I meant. I meant: if Gillard and Rudd are the best representatives the ALP can present, I dread to think what the rest of them are like.

"As for Rudd he is doing a good job, so far. I only  hope that he has not kicked off his "good ideas" too early.

Time will tell."

I can't see the point in spending money to build up infrastructure in PNG so they can settle the refugees. If wer'e going to spend money on resettling them we might as well keep them in Australia and spend the money here, creating jobs. Unless he's banking on PNG as a deterrent, but PNG is so close, we'd probably end up with them anyway.

.

[i-need-a-martini]

Monman (and to a lesser degree nero although I really have no interest in exlaining anything to nero so this is mainly for MM):

Government has specific sets of protocols for dishing out contracts to ensure there is conflict of interest. Every public servant from entry level up knows this.They can't take a free lunch from a prospective tenderer, let alone something substantial like a free plane ride. Why?

To be hopping into bed with a company this close to the election and be seemingly by-passing protocols is not acceptable by any govt. Nero starts a thread on Obeid and his shonky doings but Morrison just performed the same type of behaviour that Obeid is now standing before ICAC for. 

[*mrgrizz*]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

Monman (and to a lesser degree nero although I really have no interest in exlaining anything to nero so this is mainly for MM):

Government has specific sets of protocols for dishing out contracts to ensure there is conflict of interest. Every public servant from entry level up knows this.They can't take a free lunch from a prospective tenderer, let alone something substantial like a free plane ride. Why?

To be hopping into bed with a company this close to the election and be seemingly by-passing protocols is not acceptable by any govt. Nero starts a thread on Obeid and his shonky doings but Morrison just performed the same type of behaviour that Obeid is now standing before ICAC for. 

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that is not true