It's hotting up..

A gala evening last night at Bennelong at the Opera House with News supremo Lachlan Murdoch hosting the annual News Corp bash with Piers Morgan as special guest along with many LNP politicians like PM Scott Morrison , Josh Frydenberg & nary a Labor pollie in sight. 3 nights earlier Labor leader Anthony Albanese (with his new makeover) hosted 500 guests at Doltone House which was heavy with top industrialists like billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest. With an election within 3 months- make of it what you will.

Kylie's a Living Treasure

The National Trust has just announced 7 new Living Treasures in association with that esteemed organ of repute Woman's Day and although some are predictable, others may surprise.

Dr Karl Kruzelnicki

No list would be complete without Kylie Minogue who wowed them at the Sydney Mardi Gras last night and has been elevated to almost Sainthood status in the UK. Olivia Newton John is one along with racing driver Jack Brabham, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki the scientist and ABC broadcaster (his wife makes those lurid shirts he is fond of), conservationist Dr Harry Butler, cancer expert and pioneer Professor Ian Frazier and mining billionaire Clive Palmer.

Clive Palmer?. Just days ago Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan was warning us against the dogged pursuit of power and wealth by the handful of mining magnates Clive Palmer, Gina Rinehart (on her way to become the world's richest person) and Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest. 

treasures: Clive Palmer

Swan called them a 'danger' to democracy with their capacity to affect government policy as they did in 2010 by funding a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to derail the new mining tax. Clive and the other two billionaires said it would break them although Twiggy Forrest confessed he hadn't actually hadn't got around to paying tax yet but "soon would". The campaign successfully dispatched PM Kevin Rudd's career to history and just to show there were no hard feelings, Palmer splashed out and gave 55 treasured employees a brand new Mercedes each for Christmas that year.!

Palmer's latest campaign is to destroy the Football Federation (run by Australia's second richest person, Westfield owner Frank Lowy) with his new soccer association. A real treasure!

Some Christmas Cheer from Alan Rusbridger & Rupert Murdoch

On the 1st November Rupert Murdoch gave a speech in Sydney praising his personal baby The Australian newspaper. Rupert is famous for saying he never interferes with his editors. Perhaps they just think like him.

Murdoch also promised that in a few years .. "it will be possible to have all the energy we want from economic cheap nuclear plants..it will be safe..there will not be an energy waste problem..we don't have to rush into a lot of mad schemes fouling up the country..windmills and other crackpot ideas.. "

That came as a shock to the  landed gentry of Rupert's beloved Liberal National Party coalition who have accepted $100,000 a time to allow an energy corporation to install windmills on their land.

.."just don't let the bloody Greens mess it up.." he continued.

The Greens hold nine Senate seats and the balance of power and look like picking up seats in the Victorian state election. Getting anything past them in Parliament will be a Herculean task.

The Australian promised in an ill-advised editorial after the August General Election to "destroy the Greens" The newspaper has been back pedalling ever since.



Alan Rusbridger



Fast forward to Friday night's 702 ABC  Sydney Radio Andrew Olle Lecture  given by Alan Rusbridger, editor of the UK Guardian newspaper. Speaking about the media he said :

"And, of course, most topically, there is the prospect of a merger between a wholly owned BSkyB and the four newspaper titles owned by News Corp. That would give one company control of nearly 40 per cent of Britain‟s press as well as a broadcaster with nearly £6bn in revenues compared with the £3.5bn licence fee of the BBC.

Now, I realize that even raising this question immediately translates, in the minds of some, into an argument about Rupert Murdoch. It‟s not. There‟s no one I would want to have that much power."

In his speech Rupert Murdoch said the profits from the current resources boom should be spent on education. How that could be achieved, he didn't say.

In May this year The Australian was at the forefront of a determined campaign to undermine then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who had announced a 40% mining tax on the minerals dug out of land owned by the Australian people and which has driven the extraordinary wealth of the country. He hoped to raise $12 Billion in just 2 years.

The entire News Corp mast heads went into bat for the 3 mining billionaires leading the charge-Andrew 'Twiggy 'Forest. Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer. The 3 funded a multi million dollar ad campaign which News Ltd apparently mistook for news and fact.

The mining tax spelt the end of civilisation as we know it...Forrest, Rinehart and Palmer proclaimed the new  tax would destroy the industry, lead to massive job losses and anyway, they were struggling already as it was.

The ruling Labor Party capitulated. It was the end of Rudd's leadership and he was swiftly replaced by Julia Gillard who limped home in the August election.



Clive Palmer



Just to show there are no hard feelings Clive Palmer, a National Liberal Party supporter threw a $20M bash last Thursday in Townsville for 2000 employees to celebrate the $200M personal profit he had made from just one mine.



Clive's a generous man to those who please him. At the party he announced 55 employees would each be receiving a brand new $50,000 Mercedes-Benz B180 each. Palmer toasted the post-GFC recovery as being responsible for his good fortune.

That's the recovery that Rupert Murdoch said in his speech was "governments wasting billions of dollars " for which Kevin Rudd received world-wide praise for keeping Australia out of recession but whose actions were roundly condemned by the Liberal National Party, but supported by those "bloody Greens"!

Complicated isn't it ?.