Annabel Crabb Is in the Cabinet Kitchen cooking poly waffle with Scott Morrison showing us that he really is a nice guy and that he, like most of us, loves curry.
Since he is really a nice guy I no longer need to have sleepless nights worrying that he, on my behalf as a fellow Australian, whilst he was Minister for Immigration told the refugees that, ”they would never enter Australia and could go back where they came from or otherwise stay and rot in detention”.
The new Minister for Immigration, Peter Dutton, disputes the claim made by Amnesty International that the Australian government has been committing criminal activities by paying people smugglers to take the refugee boats back to Indonesia.
He assures us that even if monies were paid to the people smugglers it would be in accordance with Australia’s legal obligations.
The Opposition is suspiciously quiet during question time on this issue of payment to people smugglers – one wonders.
Australian Conservatism is now carried to and preached in the catacombs of Margaret Thatcher.
Our ultra-conservative ideologue ex-Prime Minister – in the eerie halls of Margaret Thatcher, is reorganising the second Crusade in the Middle East by proposing a start in Syria.
Tony Abbott is also expounding his expertise regarding Australia’s inhumane refugee policies and urges the European nations to adopt them to solve their pressing refugee influx.
At home our Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is explaining why the Australian Navy is exerting our influence in the China Sea with the US navy, a navy of a nation which the late Malcolm Fraser referred to as ‘our dangerous ally’.
The Foreign Minister assured the Australian electorate on the ABC news that this was not an act of aggression against China but a joint exercise with the American Navy.
The Australian Navy does have those exercises sometimes with other allies such as New Zealand and Malaysia Julie Bishop explained.
As the Foreign Minister informed the electorate during this interview, “those joint exercises are done to facilitate close cooperation in case of natural or human disasters”.
At home in Australia issues are continuing to be,”just put on the large table”, apart from important and pressing national issues such as Knighthoods and Dames.
The only policy which slipped off the table and caused some debate is the 15% GST, a policy which is in line with the 2014 budget ie no increases in corporate or superannuation taxes or changes to negative gearing tax benefits.
A proportionally unequal distributed tax is an increase in tax for those in the lower income brackets of Australian society but is all in line with the conservative ideologies as were manifest in the 2014 May budget.
In a recent speech delivered by Malcolm Turnbull at the Business Council of Australia, he enthused the audience into a total frenzy about the growing middleclass in Asia, Australia’s strategic position in the region and the need for innovation.
I know Australia has an extensive record of innovations made by individuals and institutional organisations such as the CSIRO to name only one of many.
Some of the Australian inventions by individuals and organisations are …
• Black Box flight recorder
• Spray on Skin
• Electronic Pacemaker
• Google Maps
• Penicillin
• Polymer Bank Notes
• Bionic Ears
• Electric Drill
• Permaculture
• Wi-Fi
• Ultra Sound Scanner
• Inflatable escape Slide and Raft
• Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines
• Atomic Absorption analysis In chemistry
The list of Australian inventions goes on and on but unfortunately the lack of venture capital has often resulted in Australian innovations being manufactured and marketed by overseas companies.
This conservative government’s rhetoric on innovation is very puzzling since they, in their recent budgets cut funding from many institutions which are known for their research and innovation.
Their funding was cut by the following amounts;
• Australian Research Council (ARC) $74.9 Million
• CSIRO $114.8 Million
• Defense Science and Technology Organisation$120 Million
• Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation (ANSTO) $27.6 Million
• Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) $78 Million
• Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) $80 Million
_____
Total $495.3 Million
Maybe Malcolm Turnbull at this stage of his leadership is just rehearsing for Annabel’s Kitchen Cabinet session and is enhancing his skills for the baking of more poly waffle.
Bob Lubout is a ‘climate refugee’ from Perth WA. He has been living in Penguin on the NW coast of Tasmania with his artist partner Sandra and their two dogs, Tessie and Winston since 2013. Bob’s work history includes owning his own TV/Electronic repair and maintenance business for many years and travelling all over the world servicing and installing analytical mining and industrial X-ray equipment. He went to Curtin University as a ‘mature age student’ where he gained a Bachelor of Education majoring in Sociology and Politics and then onto Murdoch University where he gained a Graduate Diploma of Science and Technology Policy. This led him to a career as a TAFE lecturer, teaching electronics, maths, science and aviation. Bob now enjoys spending his time researching and writing and flying around this beautiful part of the world in a small aircraft.
