James Delingpole’s posters are welcome over here till service resumes…
Current topics include the recent sacking of Tim Flannery and Drunk Tanks. Or anything else that takes your fancy.
I’ll close off this thread after the DT blogs resume operation.
UPDATE 20-SEP-2013 16:40 OK the DT’s up and running again. I’ll post a new thread here shortly.
Be Responsible - Be Free! 
G’Day Ozboy, thanks for doing this.
Great news with Abbott following through on getting rid of state funded propagandists who obviously raise alarm to justify their positions and departments (empire building). That’s where state funded bureaucrats are actually far from “independent” despite typical leftist media propagandist efforts to portray them as such.
Would you be able to update on the latest re. the Senate and the pathway for getting the carbon tax repealed? Does it look straightforward without having to contemplate double dissolution?
Given the makeup of the new Senate, it is highly likely that Abbott will have the numbers to pass all his flagship legislation, including the repeal of the Carbon Tax. But the new Senate does not sit until 1 July 2014. Until then, Abbott faces a hostile Senate. Should Labor respect Abbott’s mandate re the Carbon Tax (as the Coalition did re WorkChoices following its defeat in 2007) this will be no problem; otherwise Abbott is faced with a choice.
Either he can sit on his hands until next July when a compliant Senate sits or, should Labor and the Greens block the repeal legislation twice, Abbott will have a constitutional trigger for a double-dissolution election. Abbott doesn’t want to take that route if possible; though it would spell annihilation for both Labor and the Greens, unless there is significant electoral reform in the interim (as I argued back here), it is all but a mathematical certainty that the resulting Senate would be even more of a zoo than it will be otherwise – Oz
Also Oz, any news on Gina Rinehart making a closing move with Fairfax now the political environment is more favourable (i.e. post election)?
As a major shareholder, Gina’s objective is to make money on Fairfax. This is unlikely to involve shutting down the three major mastheads altogether (the Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Age and The Canberra Times). But there will be a downsizing. The board of Fairfax have already laid off a significant portion of staff, journalistic as well as administrative and production. They will also be reducing SMH and the Age’s format from broadsheets to tabloid. The online content is slowly disappearing behind a paywall.
Longer-term, it would seem a break-up of Fairfax Media is inevitable. The money-making arms of Fairfax i.e., its radio network and bespoke websites like Trading Post, Weatherzone and RSVP will be hived off, leaving the old mastheads to shrivel up, and reduce to either online-only content or die altogether – Oz
Thanks Oz, sorry, I’m not sure if “closing move” was the best choice of phrase in my original question. What I meant really was is there any movement on her closing a deal on a full takeover.
There’s been nothing reported prominently recently. You can follow their ASX entry here. Her stake is now about 18% I believe, and I doubt she wants to raise it much further, given its price volatility – Oz
Cheers for all the info. mate 🙂
Ozboy any news on Gina Rinehart’s major assets, the public needs to know?
All here on Wiki. Depending on who you believe, she’s worth between AUD 18 and 22 billion – Oz
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/19/gina-rinehart-loses-family-trust-dispute
The family and Gina will have it’s day in court also some more of her assets…
Market analysts have often viewed Rinehart’s asset portfolio as somewhat top-heavy – Oz
OK the DT seems to be back up.