Pigs at the Trough

Shellharbour, NSW. 2019. 

Wreathed in scandal. 
That was all there was to it. 
They could not take a trick. 
Not a single solitary trick. 
They did not deserve to win. 
The Australian public did not deserve them. 
And it was an entirely own goal, because nobody wanted the other side either. 
Out to sea the trellises had collapsed, their ruins washing further out to sea.
Suddenly he had had enough. 
He couldn't stand it anymore, and up and left. 
There would be a future date. 
In the inland it was so dry even the cacti were wilting. 
Another cloudless sky. 
Another gush of heat. 

THE BIGGER STORY:

MORE SCANDAL


https://www.crikey.com.au/2019/02/18/minerals-council-scott-morrison/

According to Scott Morrison, we have a lot to thank the mining sector for.

In a speech at the Minerals Council of Australia dinner at Parliament House last week, the Prime Minister reaffirmed his deep commitment to the industry, and railed against the “noisy, shouty voices” that wanted to shut it down:

There’s a Shire expression. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about it’s that wonderful southern part of Sydney. We have our own language and if we like something, this is what we say; ‘How good is mining?’

Morrison said that he would repeat this pro-mining mantra — of questionable origin — across the country, in Canberra, Townsville and Toorak. “I want you to succeed because stronger mining industry means a stronger Australia. A weaker mining industry means a weaker Australia,” he said.

The dinner came as part of the MCA’s Mining Week, a series of talks, panel discussions and events billed as “the industry’s opportunity to engage with decision-makers in Canberra”. But, how exactly did we end up here?

The hottest ticket in town

The MCA is a hugely influential lobby group which has poured millions into political coffers over the years. In early 2018, it made the oddly frank admission in a Senate inquiry that it had made donations to gain access to politicians, breaking from the standard line about “supporting democracy” usually employed by similar groups.

Last week’s dinner displayed the depths of this access. Morrison was joined on the guest list by numerous Coalition MPs, including Resources Minister Matt Canavan, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Environment Minister Melissa Price — who was recently called “invisible” by environmental groups over her conspicuous absence during a summer of heatwaves and natural disasters.

HELLOWORLD, THIS IS ME

US ambassador and former Treasurer Joe Hockey reportedly asked US embassy staff to meet with controversial travel company Helloworld, with which he has close ties, prior to it lobbying the department for government work. Hockey holds both a close personal relationship with company manager and Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes as well as more than $1.3 million in shares in the company.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Hockey told staff to organise a meeting between the Washington embassy’s head of operations and an executive from Helloworld subsidiary Qantas Business Travel in April 2017 ahead of a government tender pitch. The news comes after Finance Minister Mathias Cormann admitted to calling Burnes directly three times to book flights, one set of which he was not charged for.