NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns says he “refuses to believe” his visits to hospital emergency departments disrupt their usual procedures, after the Perrottet government advised him to desist.
…visits ‘I refuse’: NSW opposition leader advised to cease hospital visits
NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns has called on Premier Dominic Perrottet to front the media and provide clarity over whether state Transport Minister David Elliott was offered a public service posting in London.
‘Serious allegations’: Reports Perrottet considered public service role for Elliott
Barilaro has revealed his third reference was former premier Barry O'Farrell, who he said was a "dear friend" and a "big supporter".
He refused to disclose the third referee before the lunch break but has returned willing to do so.
Mookhey: Do you understand the perception that is created when a former leader of the Liberal party is giving a reference to a former leader of the National party for a job like this?
Barilaro: Not at all. If I was - if I was an external candidate and my referee was the chairman of KPMG, because that's who I worked for, and another candidate wouldn't have any access to the chairman of KPMG, but I have the ability to call on referees who are some high-profile referees. I've been lucky enough in my life journey to have met some wonderful people.
Barilaro's other two references were Ambassador to the United States Arthur Sinodinos and secretary of the Department of Regional NSW
Past few weeks have been hell, Barilaro tells inquiry
WSJ: The IRS Is About To Go Beast Mode
“Portugal and Luxembourg are the only two Western European countries with which Australia lacks a DTA, an anomaly that can hopefully be rectified with little effort on both sides.”
Twitter confirms zero-day used to access data of 5.4 million accounts
Infographic of the world’s $104 trillion economy - BoingBoing – “Fascinating at-a-glance look at the $104 trillion global economy, divvied up into slices of geographical pie. I wasn’t surprised that the United States has the biggest economy, at $25.3 trillion, and that China is close behind with $19.9 trillion (and is expected to surpass the United States by 2030).
- How small Russia’s economy ($1.8 trillion) is in comparison with the U.S. and China.
- Japan, at $4.9 trillion, has the third largest GDP. That’s more than Germany at $4.3 trillion, or the UK at $3.4 trillion.
- Iran’s GDP is $1.7 trillion, which is more than I would expect for a country that has so many sanctions imposed on it.
- I expected Canada’s GDP to be more than $2.2 trillion…”
Poynter: “The Walgreens drug store chain posts the results of the COVID-19 tests it oversees, and the picture is grim. More than a third of the tests are positive and some states have seen a spike of 25% in the last week. Click on the map, which is linked to an interactive for each state…”
Truss and Sunak’s Reheated Thatcherism Is the Last Thing the UK Needs
Truss and Sunak treat the Iron Lady as their muse, while Labour touts another flavor of neoliberalism, that of Tony Blair.
Four charged over alleged $1 million identity theft and bank fraud
NICK GILLESPIE INTERVIEWS JOHN CLEESE: New video from Reason TV on “John Cleese’s War on Wokeism.”
THE SNITCH, Law and order with Brenden Hills
IF YOU CAN'T JOIN 'EM, BEAT 'EM
ONE-time Australian Taxation Office deputy commissioner Michael Cranston has a new job.
He's working with a Sydney law firm that specialises in tax disputes. It seems odd given that Cranston is not a lawyer and a perusal of his profile on the firm's website specifically states Cranston "is not a lawyer".
So what does he do?
Given that he worked for the ATO for 40 years, he apparently knows a thing or two about how the joint works and can help negotiate a deal for taxpayers who find themselves in a bit of strife.
"Michael's strong mediation skills allow him to negotiate and achieve the best result possible for taxpayers," the profile says.
Cranston made national headlines in 2017 when he was arrested and charged for misusing his position.
He fought back tears in the Downing Centre District Court in 2019 when he was found not guilty.
"I knew I hadn't done anything wrong and I'm just so happy the justice system prevailed," Mr Cranston said outside court at the time.
The ATO didn't give him his old job back, so Cranston has now moved into advisory roles.
GOT A SNITCH? CONTACT BRENDEN.HILLS@NEWS.COM.A
The Snitch: Mark Buddle’s wife Mel Ter Wisscha was once an NRL Tigers cheerleader
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 30, 2022 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Cyber insurance price hike hits local governments hard; New York Counties to Get Free Services to Better Defend Against Cyberattacks; Why emergency calls sometimes can’t get through; and A Rogues’ Gallery of Robocallers.
JOEL KOTKIN: Free Trade for China, Not for the Deplorables.
The pandemic demonstrated in the starkest possible way the vulnerabilities brought about by the de-industrialization praised by Ivy League geniuses. As noted by Tom Mahoney, a principal figure at Mforesight, a firm that studies and advocates for manufacturing innovation, the usual first answer to how to boost profits is to shift production abroad. The belief that “a manufacturing firm (can) maintain itself long-term without controlling its own production” is virtually a dogma. To this end, Mahoney contends, firms like McKinsey are “the great evil empire along with anyone with an MBA.”
In accordance with this trend, U.S. medical equipment producers have left en masse for abroad, notably to China. As a result, Chinese dominance of the medical supply chain undermined our initial pandemic response, exposing us to the reality that we’re unable even to produce masks for our own people. Instead, we were forced to genuflect to Beijing, while they refused to share critical information on the pandemic. As observed by Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, “China’s decision to block exports of these goods led to widespread shortages.” Moving forward, “there is also the concern that an increasingly assertive China might seek to exploit the world’s dependence on it for political purposes.”
China’s ambitions go beyond the role of cheap labor supplier. It now seeks control of key tech industries, in part so they can impose their own standards for telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and other sectors. The movement of tech to China, widely boosted by U.S. firms, has made us dependent on our biggest global adversary, even, remarkably, for defense components.
That’s the kind of policy that can only be endorsed by morons who pay no price for getting things wrong — which is to say, our current governing class.
