Nobody told me Game of Thrones was starting early this year.
Wonderful to hear King Abbott pronounce the return of titles, especially after Sir Joseph of the Coffers recently declared the end of entitlement. I guess he was only referring to us common folk.
But we don鈥檛 have to worry too much because peasants and workers don鈥檛 receive knighthoods. Can you imagine Sir Timothy Francis Gerald Gooden the sixth? No, I thought not.
Titles are designed to put one person higher than another, reinforcing the notion that somehow some people are better than others.
Tony Abbott
The March in March protests across Australia over March 15-17 were a resounding success 鈥 not just because of their size, focus and breadth.
Just as significant is the fact that March in March tore apart the idea 鈥 seeded by the cynical rhetoric of John Howard's spin doctors in the wake of the invasion of Iraq 鈥 that protests don't work.
This protest worked precisely because it brought between 80,000 and 110,000 people out of their homes and into the streets in a disparate yet united way against the Tony Abbott government's attacks.
Well the fun just never stops, does it, when it comes to the Abbott government鈥檚 asylum seeker policies, or as they call it, 鈥渂order protection鈥. Because when it comes to needing protection, fleeing war, torture and genocide is one thing, but won鈥檛 someone think of all the poor, downtrodden borders?
Two important things were revealed when immigration minister Scott Morrison was finally forced to admit he had been wrong about most of the facts when one man was killed and at least 70 others were injured on Manus Island on February 16.
鈥淵ou don't want a wimp running border protection,鈥 Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on February 21. 鈥淵ou want someone who is strong, who is decent, and Scott Morrison is both strong and decent.鈥
When refugees are being killed and injured by thugs hired by the Australian government to run its offshore refugee detention camp in Manus Island, PNG; when Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop pressures Cambodia (one of the poorest countries in the world) to take asylum seekers off Australia (one of the world's richest countries) surely it is time to say: NOT IN OUR NAME!
And this is what thousands of people did over the weekend of February 22-23 in more than 750 vigils, called by internet campaigning network GetUp.
At a major speech in parliament on February 12, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government was 鈥渟erious about Aboriginal policy 鈥 no less serious than it is about stopping the boats鈥. He pledged to close the gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous outcomes in health, education and employment.
There are some cynics who argue that Tony Abbott is a lying scumbag who wouldn't know the truth if it was tattooed on Rupert Murdoch's arse. Or, to put it another way, if it was right in front of his face.
The Tony Abbott government has announced another Royal Commission into corruption in building industry unions.
But Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Dave Oliver said the terms of reference for this Royal Commission 鈥渁re narrowly directed at unions and will not adequately deal with corruption or unlawful behaviour by businesses or employers鈥.
In the third attack on the ABC by a government minister in the last month, Defence Minister David Johnston said on February 7 that reports that asylum seekers had their hands burned by navy personnel warrants an investigation into the national broadcaster.
"If ever there was an event that justified a detailed inquiry, some reform, an investigation of the ABC, this event is it," he said.
This follows comments by Prime Minister Tony Abbott on January 29 when he said the ABC 鈥渁ppears to take everyone鈥檚 side but Australia鈥檚 and I think it is a problem鈥.
Australian Services Union leader Sally McManus has compiled a list of or other attacks on Australians by the Abbott government since the federal election.
Prominent on the list are attacks on refugee rights, workers' rights, public services and the environment.
They include: abolition of the Climate Commission, abolition of the High Speed Rail Advisory Group and formal attempts to wind back the world heritage listing of Tasmania's forests.
Journalists have confirmed that up to five boats carrying asylum seekers to Australia have been turned back to Indonesia since December 10.
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