There have been two remarkable admissions from the government in the past 48 hours. Together, they indicate the trouble in which Turnbull and co find themselves.

So, the former Attorney-General, federal Liberal Member for Berowra & nemesis of David Hicks is retiring from Parliament & has been appointed by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as Australia’s first Special Envoy for Human Rights.

from Crikey …

Department of Immigration secretary Michael Pezzullo has said the government will not give in to "moral lecturing" from doctors, lawyers, churches and state governments that have pleaded to allow 267 asylum seekers bound for Nauru to stay in Australia.

The 2008 financial crises and meltdown occurred because large banks were speculating in fraudulent risky loans that failed. When the meltdown occurred, banks turned to the federal government, who immediately bought into the idea that banks were too large to fail, and taxpayers subsidized banks to the tune of trillions of dollars. No one really knows how much the bailout cost, but here is partial list of banks you generously helped out:

Citigroup - $2.513 trillion

from Crikey…

One of the most startling cases of a government using the fig leaf of “national security” to protect its own interests is happening right before our eyes - and it should have Australians up in arms.

Politicians say a lot of things in public, and so it’s only natural that occasionally they will use words incorrectly. Lampooning sometimes follows, and in most cases the mistakes should be quickly forgotten and forgiven. (The exception being gaffes, where an inadvertent truth is revealed, but we can talk about that another time – I’m sure it won’t be long until we have an excuse.)

It's all starting to fray badly around the edges for Malcolm Turnbull, writes Bob Ellis.

Is Australia really a multicultural safe haven of equal opportunity? Or is racism more prevalent than ever before?