Paul,

It's hardly the worth talking to SM these days..he's all a dither because his wonderful govt continues to thrash around like a dying mastodon in a tar pit.

Here's an example of the morals of this govt and its minions on Nauru.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/sarah-hanson-young-spied-on-in-hotel-room/story-fn59niix-1227483329675?utm_content=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=EditorialSF&utm_source=TheAustralian&utm_medium=Twitter

"Sarah Hanson-Young was allegedly filmed by security guards in her hotel room during a covert operation to monitor the Greens senator during a tour of immigration detention facilities on Nauru.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has urged the Australian Federal Police to investigate the scope of the December 2013 spying plot, which was dismissed as untrue by the government but later confirmed by the private contractor Wilson Security.

The company has described the covert exercise — codenamed “Operation Raven” — as “the rogue actions of a misaligned individual”

“As soon as a responsible manager of the company was made aware of the activity, the individual was stood down and the subject of disciplinary action,” the company said last month.

However, in an interview aired last night, a former Nauru guard described the operation as an “extensive spying operation”.

“What I’d heard from other guys who were involved was that they were briefed on her room number, the vehicle and what time she was going to be in and out of the camp,” the former guard anonymously told the ABC’s 7.30 program.

“They were also told to follow her, and they were told to keep notes on who she was talking to around the island and in her room.”

“We understand her movements were tracked and that she was photographed and filmed inside her hotel room,” he said."

If we'd literally "gone out of our way" to elect amoral scumbags, we couldn't have found people more apt than this govt.

SM,

If Heydon and his witless functionaries couldn't work out that it would be beyond the pale for him to attend "any" Liberal Party event while he's been charged with banging Labor over the head with a RC frying pan - then they're completely unhinged.

Jeepers....the invitation had a dirty great Liberal logo on its heading.

For the further benefit of Shadow Minister, here are some sage words from Dyson Heydon:

"It is fundamental to the administration of justice that the judge be neutral. It is for this reason that the appearance of departure from neutrality is a ground for disqualification. Because the rule is concerned with the appearance of bias and not the actuality, it is the perception of the hypothetical observer that provides the yardstick. It is the public's perception of neutrality with which the rule is concerned."

One presumes he would hold a Royal Commissioner to the same standard.

Parrot,

It is a long bow to draw to assume that a judge giving an unpaid speech at a Liberal organised function shares their values. Notably the same shrill noise is not applied to the Labor MP(s) scheduled to attend the annual address.

The Labor / Pedogreen coalition is so scared of union corruption being exposed that they will do and say anything to stop it.

P.S. the judge was not appointed by the Libs.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Haydon's role in presiding over a contentious inquiry
into trade unions is hardly a secret and being a
brilliant lawyer he would have seen that the invitation
to attend a Liberal Party fund-raiser could be seen
as a conflict of interest. A bad move. Therefore I
suspect the fault lies not with the Royal Commissioner -
Haydon but with the
NSW branch of the Liberal Party who neglected to tell
the Justice that it was a political fund-raiser at which
he was to speak. And when the justice found out - he
withdrew from the event. However questions now need to be
asked regarding the NSW branch of the Liberal Party.
As Julian Burnside suggests - they are either stupid,
unprincipled, or corrupt. And if they try to shift the blame
onto the Justice they would indeed be stupid, unprincipled
and corrupt.

Der, SM...it's a Royal Commission - the commissioner is appointed by Letters Patent through the Governor General.

What sort of drongo, who is constantly calling on those in front of the RC to recall tiny details from way back, can't glean the impropriety in attending a Liberal Party bash when he's charged with "examining" the other side in an RC?

But ya know, it doesn't really matter...it's just one more hole in the fabric of the Abbott govt....desperate and dateless, with only the likes of SM and his kiddie names to defend it.

"It has been a noisy, out-of-control week in Canberra: the Liberal Party has imploded over same-sex marriage, the government has announced a farcical climate change policy, the credibility of its trade union royal commission has been shredded. But in the hallowed space of the cabinet room, and even in the Parliament, it's been much quieter.

Ministers reflect on the painfully thin agenda before the cabinet: thin in subject matter as well as substantive submissions. Parliament has not been overwhelmed by major legislation to debate.

A meeting of the National Security Committee of the cabinet has, however, recently asked for a list of national-security-related things that could be announced weekly between now and the election.

How much scrutiny has gone in to these "announceables" is unclear.

National security being the new religion, it's a bit rude to ask any questions, to the point where senior ministers insisted during a bid for funds by a national intelligence agency some months ago that the "bean counters" from Treasury and Finance be kept out of the room."

"Bombing Syria. Messing with the constitution to get a political outcome on same sex-marriage. These are now the playthings of a prime minister so desperate, so out of control that he is overseeing the complete surrender of proper governance to day-to-day tactics.

The problem is that it isn't even working for him. Every issue that is running in politics at present is highlighting the bitter divisions, or policy confusion, or both, within the government."

Etc...

http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/laura-tingle/tony-abbott-determined-to-lead-the-whitlam-government-of-our-time-20150813-giy574?stb=twt

Shadow, you can down play Heydon's involvement with the Liberal Party as much as you like. The fact remains that until he was exposed as a Liberal Party lackey, he was willing to assists the party material to raise money to oppose the Labor Party, even if it was only one dollar. Whilst at the same time conducting a RC which directly involved the Labor Party, going as far as having the political leader of the party, Bill Shorten, appear before him. As a known conservative it was long suspected his appointment was political for the reason he is a conservative, and therefore is likely to make findings against Shorten and the unions. Suspicion is not evidence, but this latest scandal confirms he is biased in favor of those who would gain politically from adverse finding against Labor and the unions. He should resign.