Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Braver than a Frenchman

WHEN Voltaire was dying he is famously said to have rejected a priest's invitation to renounce Satan on the quite reasonable grounds that, given his circumstances, he did not need additional enemies. At the corner of Collins and Spencer streets, where Fairfax Media's Melbourne outpost's pallor remains no less an indicator of terminal health than a French writer's soiled sheets, Mark Baker is making his employer's peace with truth. Through a succession of its recent editors The Age has found it expedient to look the other way when stories that jarred its sympathies arose. Now, in almost the hour of its death, Baker is redeeming Fairfax with journalism of the sort that, had it been pursued earlier and in many other areas, might have done much to preserve the southern franchise's reputation and, perhaps, even its bottom line.

What makes this renunciation of past form so brave is that, as The Age reports and advances what the blogosphere has been covering for years, there are many quiet mutterings in Canberra that Age-style journalism needs to be supported by the public purse. Pointing out that our PM is a liar, a crook's mole moll and the happy beneficiary of a vital file's inexplicable disappearance is unlikely to impress the corruptocrats who now hold the purse strings.

As Baker has now peered into Gillard's wormy can, let us hope Fairfax survives long enough to see these further leads pursued:

1/ The S&G files on the Kerr Street property  and other AWU-related matters were transferred to Maurice Blackburn, where Nicola Roxon took charge of them, when the union yanked its business in disgust from Gillard's old firm.

Does Roxon have the missing files? Does Blackburn's have them? What light can be shed by Bill Shorten, also at Blackburn's and Roxon's then-lover, on the scandal at the AWU, where he went on to become the hero of the Beaconsfield Mine drama.

2/ Are the property-transfer records for 36 St Philip Street, Abbotsford, up to snuff? This was Gillard's address and is now owned by her former housemate. Was any attempt made to avoid stamp duty when the property was transferred to its current owner?

3/ Was Kerr Street purchased in Ralph Blewitt's name in order to hide property from Wilson's soon-to-be ex wife, who might have claimed it in a division of property. She should be relatively easy to find and her views might make for interesting reading.

5/ Was Town Mode, recipient of $17,500 in "slush fund" cheques, owned by a union associate of Bruce Wilson, whose mates allegedly kept doing unauthorised renovations to Gillard's digs.

And there is a final scandal, one which may represent the greatest and most damning example of cynical Gillardian ambition:

4/ How did Gillard come to barrack for the Western Bulldogs?

Consider, a Welsh girl raised in Adelaide moves as a 21-year-old to Melbourne, where her passion is endorsing Socialist Forum motions denouncing marriage as no better than prostitution and scheming with former CPA members, who represented almost half of Socialist Forum's members, to bring on the revolution.

Then she starts at Slater & Gordon, where Peter Gordon is a Bulldog supporter, as are numerous other of the firm's execs, including her supervisor there, Brendan Murphy, recently elevated by his former protege. Suddenly, Gillard becomes a Bulldog supporter.

Oh, and one other peculiarity of timing: Peter Gordon left his law firm not long after Gillard was shown the door. So did Murphy (to Blackburn's). Shortly after that, Gordon's marriage came publicly to pieces. Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, Gillard remains the Bulldogs' Number 1 ticketholder. The Dogs had a terrible year. A fresh start to the 2013 season would be to revoke the Prime Minister's membership and send her to St Kilda, where it is well known that criminals are valued and appreciated.







27 comments:

  1. And now Peter (and) Gordon is back at the Bulldogs...

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Old and Unimproved DaveOctober 17, 2012 at 9:15 AM

    Boudicca, though Iceni rather than Cymry, was a bit of a kamikaze too, by all accounts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter Gordon has been drafted back into the Western Bulldogs presidency overnight. It would be fasinating to know exactly what prompted him to terminate his career at S&G when he was young and naive. I hope Mark Baker attends the club's next media event (today?) confirming Gordon's return. Unfortunately, it will take more than one competent, conscientious journalist to make The Age start behaving like a newspaper again.








    ReplyDelete
  4. "Bill Shorten, also at Blackburn's and Roxon's then-lover..."

    Good grief! The Labor Party has had more liaisons than the Snowtown gang.

    Also won't the WA Corporate Affairs Commission have a copy of Gillard's letter explaining the bona fides of the AWU Workplace Reform Association?

    ReplyDelete
  5. hahahahahahhaha oh wow. #4 is something to chew over, thats for sure, and the best of it is that it's plausible, given the Prime Yabbie's predilections.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Prof,

    I will not have JEG referred to as a 'crook's mole'!

    The correct spelling is 'MOLL'!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why not Bill? She appears to have been keen on undercover work and eschewing detection,besides she stated married women are molls.

      As for the the Bunyip, he is on the boil. Maybe he could celebrate the occasion and draw more attention to this Fairfax dawn by standing outside the cnr of Collins and Spencer and let the steam give the edifice of journalistic subversion a makeover, as there seems to be a desire for a cleaner face.

      Delete
  7. You are wondering why Gillard supports the Western Bulldogs.

    Loose women make the best football groupies... plenty of marriages for her to wreak there too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Usually, when The Age take up any new cause, the ABC jump on it and give it their megaphone treatment. So, the ABC must be watching all this scurrilous, rightwing scuttlebutt about slush funds on The Age front page with trepidation. The ABC thought they had quashed all this rampant misogyny and yet now they see The Age jumping on the bandwagon, dredging up Gillard's past like any common or garden variety of misogynistic nutjob. They must be feeling cold and lonely out there on the fringe-left if they can't fully trust The Age.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.October 17, 2012 at 1:57 PM

    Oh Prof, the red-headed one has form, and one can't help but wonder ....

    Poor Western Bulldogs. Playing on a muddy field.
    Mud sticks, especially if it's real mud.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gillard doesn't have red hair, it's muddy brown-grey. Bottle red surely doesn't count.

      Both gillard and nikola ropschitz are disturbing when one considers that they have deliberately used marxist feminism to rise via the Peter Principle to offices vastly beyond their expertise.

      Delete
  10. Deciding to barrack for the Doggies is surely another example of Gillard's propensity for serial misjudgement.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Question 6 Professor, which is the one which will end her political career...

    6/ How did Julia Gillard witness Ralph Blewitt's signing his Power of Attorney as Blewitt was in Perth, and Gillard was in Melbourne?

    See Michael Smith's letter to the Chief Commissioner of Police at: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/my-report-to-the-chief-commissioner-of-police-in-victoria.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. Prof! You have made a mortal enemy by attacking the Mighty Saints! May whoever you barrack for lose every match-by one point! May all your footy wishes turn into emus and kick you're F******* dunny down! The only thing that keeps me from paying you a visit is your unrelenting opposition to the Altona Droner, the Bogan with a Slogan!

    Worse! May you shank EVERY iron you use and top every drive! May every putt lip the rim! May your slice be only worse than your hook! The Golf God has spoken!

    ReplyDelete
  13. The comment at 5:09 above seems to indicate that, not only are Saints supporters crooks, they are angry crooks to boot.

    The Irish Lion

    ReplyDelete
  14. Prof,

    Could you please publish a list of Federal ALP Frontbenchers who HAVEN'T rooted someone else in cabinet.
    Shouldn't take up a lot of blogosphere space.

    The Irish Lion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.October 18, 2012 at 1:35 PM

      Must be some way you could do it with venn diagrams, Prof. Show us who has shared in that very special way and who is outside the overlap.

      Delete
    2. What's needed is a social network analysis Pretty sure the Lying Slapper would be a major Hub as well as a Connector.

      Here's what I imagine it would look like:

      http://tinyurl.com/8bdzupc

      Delete
  15. Mr Bunyip Sir,
    You have a very good way with words, I am mighty pleased you are blogging regularly again. There is a huge need for a slice of sarcastic truth, as the MSM have been dodging and weaving to avoid the lawfare of our illustrious govmint. If this mob in power were innocent they would have started proceedings against those calling Juliar a crook, they just wish to keep it quite but the cat is out of the bag.

    Anyone who has experience of trying to put a cat in a bag will understand that this govmint has a problem. Wayne of Middle Earth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, now! Ignorance on display here! The 'cat' of the saying was the 'cat o' nine tails' carried by the bosun in old time ships. It was a whip with nine lashes, hence the name. The Bosun would keep the 'cat' in a bag and when punishment was decreed, would let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. Putting it back in would be easy!

      Delete
    2. Another explanation of the expression I heard was the one where ye olde english yokel farmers would buy a suckling pig from a market but the disreputable merchant would, out of sight, put a cat in the bag instead and warn them not to open the bag until they got home in case the frightened ‘pig’ escaped. When they did get home they 'let the cat out of the bag' - or the truth will out.

      Love the Professor's work.

      Delete
    3. I was being metaphoric Sir, this govmint have been pretending they are experts at herding cats. Wayne of middle earth

      Delete
  16. mojo, Unrepentant YankOctober 18, 2012 at 6:57 AM

    Bill Thompson: The correct spelling is 'MOLL'!

    or possibly "frail". A "moll" was generally armed ("gun moll"), where a "frail" was not.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "Moll" or "Mole"

    In these circumstances either is acceptable.

    Maurie MacQuarie of Macquaries (snigger) Dicktionaries

    ReplyDelete
  18. This may be impolite, but may I quote a comment made on Andrew Bolt's blog?, viz., "that Gillard is flailing out in all directions like a disintergrating and out-of-control wind turbine ". This conjunction of the ineffective Gillard and a fatuous green energy scheme is very witty.

    Re your penultimate paragraph Prof - the occurrence of these events is not so much beyond coincidence such as to suggest a link between them. Is there a media report that would provide a clue?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow ! I blinked and read that again as I could not believe what I was reading. This cannot be the Age surely. They are more into hyperbowls and direct quotes from people no one wants to know or care about.

    Simply Amazing.

    Too bad, too little, too late.

    ReplyDelete
  20. JG is a Bulldogs fan because it's in the western suburbs where the safe labor seats are. Backin the old days when she lived in the inner suburbs, before she won preselection she probably took no interest in football at all.

    The old image
    She tried to cultivate of being an old westie die hard from Altona is just so much bollocks.

    ReplyDelete