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happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders are murdoch politics journalist Samantha Maiden, ABC Melbourne radio host Raf Epstein, and ninefax politics chief late of the murdoch broadsheet David Crowe. This thread is not fact-checked. I block snitch-taggers.
happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders are murdoch politics journalist Samantha Maiden, ABC Melbourne radio host Raf Epstein, and ninefax politics chief late of the murdoch broadsheet David Crowe. This thread is not fact-checked. I block snitch-taggers.
will David Speers break the habit of the year and not open #Insiders by presenting ABC viewers with the perspective of Scott Morrison? Let’s see!
inquiries are [PUBLICLY] exposing [to journalists, politicians] where mistakes have been made in this pandemic, says Speers, who then repeats his ill-judged tweet about the prime minister saying sorry. But there is a but, and we can thank Michelle Grattan for that. #Insiders
the montage is mawkish at best. The visual equivalent of how politicians and journalists refer to “loved ones”. The prime minister’s apology* gets another airing and B Murphy gets #balance: the shocking whispering at a Royal Commission and a more dignified clip #Insiders
#WhatThePapersSay has devolved to boosting that murdoch press fave, speculative sensationalism. This week it is speculation about a vaccine and speculation easing restrictions. #Insiders
#TheCurve has fallen into line on easing restrictions too. Hmmm, says Mike Moore I mean David Speers, yes we will be debating that [easing restrictions] in the weeks ahead. Which David will be for sure. He has been chewing at “easing restrictions” since 19 April. #Insiders
we start with age care, and Samantha Maiden is asked about the responsibility of the prime minister, who segues pretty quickly to the partisan politics angle. Not that Colbeck is not a weakest link. He is. #Insiders
Epstein puts the focus squarely on suffering of old people in [Commonwealth] aged care facilities. He also highlights that aged care bosses are still telling precarious workers to come to work regardless of symptoms; and some staff still work across multiple facilities #Insiders
the prime minister babbling, panic mode, about his imaginary plan gets ANOTHER airing. He was shouting lies at Mark Riley at the time. Epstein calls the imaginary plan “relatively obscure online document”. Speers corrects him, Sparrow-like. Guideline”, he says. #Insiders
lmao Speers invokes the Royal Commissioner “not the counsel assisting, the Royal Commissioner” to square away his earlier [written] comment on un/foreseeability. Maiden gives no quarter. She says the possibility of standing down whole facility workforces was foreseeable #Insiders
he [Morrison] is going to try and shove responsibility onto Victoria, says Maiden, stepping into her time machine? Has anybody NOT heard him doing this already, and for weeks? #Insiders
off to the interview. Shorten is the shadow minister for aging. Is the Commonwealth doing enough?
A: No. Families are still being told everything is fine when it is not.
Yeah yeah but what needs to be done? asks Speers. #Insiders
A: No. Families are still being told everything is fine when it is not.
Yeah yeah but what needs to be done? asks Speers. #Insiders
you can’t serve two masters, says Shorten says. I’m saying we have to look after elderly Australians. The workers are paid crap, who are casuals.
So are you saying there is no room for profit in aged care? asks Speers. Twice. He seems incredulous at this proposition. #Insiders
So are you saying there is no room for profit in aged care? asks Speers. Twice. He seems incredulous at this proposition. #Insiders
the workers are doing the work of angels, says Shorten, and then makes an unfortunate comparison to fruit pickers. We want Labor politicians to back ALL low paid workers thanks Bill #Insiders
a much better widening of scope to disability workers. Shorten makes the case for PAID SICK LEAVE IN A PANDEMIC - god this is so basic - and retention bonuses. #Insiders
this seems to confuse Speers, who apparently thinks that when unemployment is high nobody (employers, politicians) need consider improving workers pay and conditions. This is pure market theory fantasy. The reasons are 1/ workers are people and 2/ PUBLIC HEALTH. #Insiders
asked about income support, Shorten says Labor has been way ahead of the government and politely defers to Chalmers and the strong case he has made on income support. Speers presses for stimulus policy position. Shorten heads him off with “we didn’t win the election”. #Insiders
say what you like about Dan Andrews, he shows up every day [not said - unlike SOME LEADERS] he answers the questions. Shorten has a prop today heh it is the Constitution. He points to s. 51(ix) quarantine. #Insiders
Speers counters that the section says the Commonwealth has power to “make laws” not to manage quarantine. Shorten shrugs this off. We’re not QCs is the gist. The Commonwealth is the big dog of Australian politics, he says. #Insiders
Shorten has a couple more goes. He says Morrison does not stick around for the tough questions. Asked about the Afghan soldier who shot ADF in Afghanistan, Shorten says Morrison has to not look like a simp to Trump.
Q: explain Simp?
A: soft.
#Insiders
Q: explain Simp?
A: soft.
#Insiders
Speers closes out the interview and plays a clip of what the prime minister racist Sydney radio what he thinks about his political opponents. Yeah, viewers got Morrison’s opinion of Labor to bookend an interview with a Labor frontbencher #Insiders
next up is #RubyDutton. Like award wages, Speers likes the “complex” excuse for Liberal government failures. Crowe discusses facts. Swabs, test results (recall passengers were disembarked before test results were known) #Insiders
So, Sam, were BorderForce given the all clear?
Kristina Kenneally over-egged the pudding, says Sam. She also points to the breakdown of ministerial accountability. She and Speers share a little chuckle about ministers duck shoving responsibility into public servants #Insiders
Kristina Kenneally over-egged the pudding, says Sam. She also points to the breakdown of ministerial accountability. She and Speers share a little chuckle about ministers duck shoving responsibility into public servants #Insiders
Raf says there has been too much politics in the question of whose fault is what. He says the ADF protected him once, and makes a classic error of privilege, assuming that means ADF personnel treat everyone the same way they treated him. #Insiders
ah yes, command and control. This is the false assumption that all armed agents of the state are absolutely swell blokes who never abuse their powers, or citizens, and the only issue is to codify command and control. Wrong. #Insiders
yet another clip of Scott Morrison lying, this time deflecting from his apology* with vague bullshit about unidentified persons not answering when ~uniformed soldiers~ came knocking #Insiders
Crowe is fed up with all this ADF this and ADF that. If the feds offer ADF support just take it, he says. Yeah JUST SEND IN THE TROOPS TO A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS WHERE THE COPS ARE ALREADY ON THE GROUND WHAT COULD GO WRONG. #Insiders
these people have not been traumatised by armed and uniformed executive power and it shows #Insiders
patient zero. Speers kicks the murdoch masthead rumour along. Epstein identifies Rydges Hotel by name but not which occupation or status of person within - guest, security, night staff might be responsible for the outbreak #Insiders
[rate exceeded]
Epstein was winding up on a more upbeat note “we’re doing okay now, we’re doing better” and Speers bookends this with another repeat of the command and control narrative - myth. #Insiders
Epstein was winding up on a more upbeat note “we’re doing okay now, we’re doing better” and Speers bookends this with another repeat of the command and control narrative - myth. #Insiders
we then go to another David, the third for this week, Lipson in Washington. Asked why Biden picked Harris, he starts with “she’s a woman, she’s a person of colour” 
#Insiders
#Insiders
after telling us that Biden picked Harris because she is a WOC, Lipson moves seamlessly to what her critics think of her, which I see no point repeating. The “criticisms” get plenty of air, you have heard them - or will hear them ad nauseum by November #Insiders
now that we know Harris is brown and a woman and what her critics think of her, Speers asks what Donal Trump thinks of her. Lipson repeats the insulting and offensive remarks Trump has made about Harris, which he calls “in a gendered way” to mean abusively misogynist. #Insiders
after this off-the-scale display of white males erasing the personhood of a highly accomplished US Senator, it is back to the panel for #FinalObservations #Insiders
oops sorry I missed #TalkingPictures with the very cool Fiona Katauskas (pesky rate limit put me out of sync). Clip here. https://twitter.com/insidersabc/status/1294784688066887682?s=21
#FinalObservations Crowe: says to stop using the dehumanising term decant re transferring aged care residents out of aged care facilities. They are not objects they are people, he says. #Insiders
#FinalObservations Epstein: says self-isolation for families with a positive case in the household could possibly be accommodated in hotels or hospitals. No appetite for this measure earlier, but may be better public health-wise [very paraphrased] #Insiders
#FinalObservations Maiden: says Labor has not capitalised on pandemic politics [paraphrased] like that’s a bad thing. Slow to strike, she says. No traction.
She stops short of starting leadership speculation and defaults to that journo fave “wait and see what happens” #Insiders
She stops short of starting leadership speculation and defaults to that journo fave “wait and see what happens” #Insiders
re this presaging of Labor leadership speculation, recall that former Labor leader Bill Shorten was the interview this week #Insiders
we go out with another “lesson” from online meetings, this time to “not blow up at your staff” while the mic is on. #Insiders
long read I wrote yesterday on the lazy incompetence and dangerous despotism of Scott Morrison: https://imatthewsblog.com/2020/08/15/if-there-is-a-morrison-doctrine-it-is-mission-creep/
ping @YaThinkN
(another long one) with obligatory shout out (I don’t do this on purpose, there just always seems to be a relevant ref to you lol)
(another long one) with obligatory shout out (I don’t do this on purpose, there just always seems to be a relevant ref to you lol)
