Game on.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
CELEBRATION: Mrs Mirabella Gives Birth To Blessed Baby Girl // A Nation Awaits Happy Snaps
Mrs Mirabella's office reports that they have been inundated with well-wishers, flowers, rattles and Belinda Neal pin cushions.
Sophie is out of the maelstrom of activity in Wangaratta, in the safety of a hospital in Melbourne, selflessly choosing not to unnecessarily clog up local medical facilities in the north-east.
Patriots will recall Alexandra achieved fame even before she was born when a rival MP asserted after one of Mrs Mirabella's legendary caustic interjections "Evil thoughts will make your child a demon."
Sources close to Mrs Mirabella's office say a healthy, happy little angel arrived today despite all that.
Game on.
BUSTED: As Just Group Hits The Wall, Lew Goes Splat
Here's enough to make any anti Sol Lew patriot smile.
The shonky billionaire whose enthusiasm for Xenical diet pills rocked Collins Street as it shuddered from the shockwaves of his battered bowel syndrome has lost an enormous amount weight and money in recent times.
His effete chief adviser, aboriginal art collector, clothes horse and latte sipper Michael McLeod - formerly an ACTU official and Simon Crean's chief of staff - has packed on the pounds recently as he stressed out about the looming catastrophe. It is alleged that for every Xenical consumed by Lew, McLeod would be straight downstairs for some carbo-loading pasta at Il Solito Posto. Click here for a taste.
They have considered naming the back corner table after him. Arrogh'e merda is the working title.
THE NUMBERS REVEAL SOL'S SHRIEKING GRIEF
Here's some numbers for youse at home:
201.3 million shares in Just Group
22.8% of them are owned by Lew the Looter and his shadowy network of family trusts or in other words 45.8 million shares.
From their peak around $4.20 earlier this year, they have dropped $1.50 or around $69 million. Sweet.
The collapsed price might make his takeover bid easier, if people trust him with a dodgy bid that was half on the never never with scrip in a company infamous for corporate governance rorts.
But it's cost him plenty.
And consider also when he first bought in to Just Group, buying around 20 million shares for $2 a share. The juggernaut zoomed along to nearly $6 before hitting the brickwall of a consumption demand slowdown. That's $80 million of opportunity loss right there. That's plenty of Lexus convertibles for the young Lew Looters.
No wonder things are a bit frosty between some of the beneficiaries of the "family trusts" and the patriarch at the minute. His grandiose schemes are costing them a fortune.
Game on.
WEIRD: Paul Austin Is Right
In a non latte sipping brain-snap, The Age's Paul Austin patriotically concedes:
■ Going after three-time failed political candidate comrade Les Twentyman on his very recently stated views that heroin injecting rooms be created across Melbourne helped defend Kororoit from a candidate the OC has revealed to be the captive of the militant left;
■ The state government generally is toughening up and he even hints this might be necessary to deal with "daunting policy challenges";
■ Patriot ALP State Secretary Stephen Newnham's campaign record is "perfect" while praising him using the ultimate in Labor Unity compliment "unsubtle"; and
■The Age's bizarre assertion - much criticised by the likes of Nick Economou and Pollbludger - of a monster anti-government swing due to the sore loser Les was not correct.
Amusingly, the article reveals Twentyman is still trying to spin his position on drugs. In his memoirs, he writes passionately about why not only "safe" injecting rooms are a jolly fine idea but that prohibition of drugs and "the war on drugs" has failed. He's understandably keeping very quiet about these views now, as he prepares to run in the state seat of Footscray in 2010.
We hear whispers that a new grassroots movement is being formed to repel the ultra leftist's bid, Homeless Against Les Twentyman (HALT). When more news on this group becomes available we'll let you know.
Game on.
BRIGGS' ROLE IN HOWARD'S DOWNFALL: Unprecedented Detail Revealed In Thrill Kill On Liberal Preselection Candidate And Former Top Adviser
Responding to our yarn yesterday about Ian Hanke is a Liberal patriot very familiar with the role of Mayo Liberal preselection frontrunner Jamie Briggs in the previous government. With Alexander Downer set to announce his retirement today, it's very much Game on. Our correspondent certainly has game, shedding light on the clash between Briggs, Hanke and those desperate to keep the Howard government ship afloat before it ran into a bloody big iceberg called Workchoices. Kudos to the patriot correspondent for this fine offering:
HANKE DID NOT WANT THE JOB IN PMO
Ian Hanke coveted a PMO role? The narrative is absurd and desperate.
Hanke has consistently eschewed policy roles and knows his reputation as a dark arts wizard would never have been acceptable to the PMO or the then PM.
Hanke headed an informal unit disparagingly and falsely described as a dirt unit. Shame on Simon Cream for that misrepresentation! (OC: Hard to imagine Simon telling a lie really *sarcasm*)
Hanke's network was in fact a 'truth in industrial activity' agency, dedicated to highlighting union thuggery and the web of influence unions wield throughout our parliamentary democracy. Hanke's heart and shiny head lived for that noble vocation. (OC: LOL) Many journos depended upon that network over a long period of time.
Briggs was little more than a gopher who started off as Hanke's researcher while employed in the Andrews' office before the 2004 election.
After the 2004, the risible Josh Frydenberg moved on to unsuccessfully campaign for Kooyong preselection leaving vacant his role as PMO advisor on workplace relations.
Hanke campaigned for Jamie Briggs' promotion to that vacancy. This reflected poorly on Hanke as Briggs had no substantial policy experience except through Briggs' guidance from Mary Jo Fisher - now a Senator - in industrial matters. Senator Fisher was Reith's senior advisor on IR and drier than chip!
The Andrews' office as a whole was pleased by Briggs' departure thinking he would be a conduit for decision making, not a precious, petty wannabe. Stupid mistake!
Between the end of the 2004 election and the announcement of Workchoices, there were several Cabinet submissions to include and exclude reform features. One of those features excluded was the fairness test for AWAs. The decision came from PMO and the finger remains pointed at Briggs who was in constant contact with Fisher during her employment at Business SA.
It is at that point you would expect a 'political' adviser to step in and say to the PM: without the fairness test the safety net would be lowered below that of community standards during a period of low unemployment; it would provide manna from heaven to the ACTU. Remember: the fairness test was a live issue and could go either way.
OWN GOAL BY BRIGGS
A number of other incidents would build up to a crescendo by the time Peter McIllwain, CEO of the Office of the Employment Advocate fronted the 2005 May Budget Estimates. McIlwain elaborated that a small sample of 250 AWAs had revealed at least one penalty condition was abolished in each agreement.
McIlwain conducted a sample on the behest of PMO's advisor Jamie Briggs. As Estimates rules demand and the APS Code of Conduct expect, he could not withhold such research if asked.
McIlwain would not have otherwise commissioned the research as nearly every union and non-union agreement trade penalty conditions for increased remuneration and improved productivity. Of course, AWAs took away penalties, so did collective agreements negotiated by unions!
Up to this point, the unions had no evidence to demonstrate punters were worse off. As Paul Keating said: repetition, repetition, repetition ....
Briggs pointed the finger at the Andrews' office and McIlwain. Hanke challenged Briggs over this. Briggs' faux incredulity failed to impress and the relationship crumbled.
The Andrews' office apparently persevered with Briggs while devising contingency measures for Workchoices' fallout to demonstrate Howard's commitment to the battlers. That plan included the fairness test's reintroduction. Briggs blocked its ascension to Cabinet.
Briggs' energy was increasingly poured into promoting Hockey as Minister for Workplace Relations. Hockey was announced as a Workchoices spokesman without any portfolio responsibilities. This represented a misplaced reliance on communications to overcome a political problem.
Briggs was open about his hostility to the Andrews' office and to the then Minister himself. Among those aware of his activity, it was perceived as delusional. It was in fact worse than that. It is unclear if Sinodinos or Nutt were aware of this, both were probably blinded by Briggs' flattery.
The fairness test was re-introduced after Hockey's promotion to IR Minister in the last Howard Governemnt reshuffle in early 2007. It only proved the point that communications would not solve the bleeding in the marginals alone, especially when a fresh Opposition leader who did not scare voters seemed to catch the Howard Government off balance.
How on earth did this become about Ian Hanke ... ?
Briggs' acumen is disputed because he has not acted honourably with his colleagues, senior public servants or sworn Ministers of the Crown.
Enough is enough. Briggs' preselection carries too much baggage, and unlike Hanke's head and reputation, Jamie is too tarnished to be trusted with Mayo.
As one former colleagues has put it: there is an anecdote a day about Jamie between now and preselection day. I suppose The OC is aware of that by now.
Game on.
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