Now, in a weird change of mood, the macMedia, including the merde-och press, has reasonable praise for Rudd, while it has very little to say about Tony Abbott who seems to be sinking slowly into quagmaric oblivion, unless he places his foot in his mouth sooner or later... The Libs (CONservatives) may be waiting till the next Newspoll to bring back Malcolm, but, by then Rudd might have hard-cemented his secondship...

Meanwhile some of the media spruikers who wanted Julia's blood, are comparing Rudd to Napoleon... Sure, Abbott may be a boot, but he is no Wellington...

mischief by Gus...

The opposition leader, Tony Abbott, has denied wrongly claiming expenses when doing his book tour for Battlelines, despite repaying the government more than $9,000.

The autobiographical book was launched in 2009 with Abbott undertaking a tour to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra.

After the tour he claimed $9,397.42 in travel expenses from the government but freedom of information (FOI) documents obtained by citizen journalism website No Fibs reveal he was asked to pay the money back after a finance department investigation.

When asked at a press conference on Monday morning if he had wrongly claimed travel expenses while promoting Battlelines, Abbott replied: "No, I did not."

He did not elaborate on the answer before taking the next question and ended the press conference after answering questions from two other journalists on the press club debate and the potential timing of the election.

In 2010, when questions were raised by ABC television program The Drum, a spokesman went on the public record saying: "All travel undertaken by Mr Abbott has been within the entitlement. This is a blatant attempt by Labor to smear and mislead."

When asked through a spokesman why he did not correct the public record after his office conceded to the finance department the expense claim was "incorrect" and repaid the money, a spokesman said: "As the government has made clear, this matter was resolved more than two years ago."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/08/tony-abbott-book-tour-expenses/print

What about the expenses for "his" pollie pedal charity?...

MARGO KINGSTON’S stunning weekend #Battlerorts scoop has finally gone mainstream, with Fairfax Media’s Bianca Hall todayreporting that Tony Abbott was forced to repay the Commonwealth almost $10,000 in travel expenses he incurred whilst promoting his 2009 book Battlelines.

Hall also noted the outrage expressed by Abbott’s office when the allegations were initially raised in 2010:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had to repay $9400 in travel expenses accrued while he promoted his book Battlelines in 2009, it has been revealed.

Freedom of Information documents show Mr Abbott repaid the expenses in 2010, despite initially describing the allegations through a spokesman as ”a blatant attempt by Labor to smear and mislead”.

Mr Abbott made the trips in July and August 2009 – before he became Opposition Leader in November 2009 – to promote his book.

The trips included promotions at a Melbourne bookshop and Canberra’s National Press Club.

The case was revealed on the weekend by former Fairfax journalist Margo Kingston, who published the FOI documents on her website, No Fibs.

Abbott has not been referred to the Australian Federal Police for this serious abuse of his entitlements because of what is known as the Minchin Protocol, which enables politicians to pay back the Commonwealth for any breaches of their entitlements without penalty.

Despite this, former Speaker Peter Slipper is facing criminal prosecution in Canberra over expenses totalling less than $1,000. Slipper had offered to repay these expenses to the Commonwealth but, as reported by Kingston, the Australian Federal Police declined to allow him to do this because the matter had been referred to them for action.

My, my, aren't the little piggies squealing?

While peals of distress issue from the electorate over the federal budget, I'm moved to ask the 53.49 per cent of people who voted for the Coalition - "what did you expect?"

Of course, rusted-on conservatives knew what they were getting with Abbott and are no doubt shifting an extra $50K into their trust or super fund to cover the uptick in junior's uni fees. They saw this coming, it's just what they ordered.

However, the millions of Australians who've now staggered away from the government - like drunks leaving a CBD nightclub stunned beers cost $15 - dropping the Coalition's primary vote to 35 per cent? What did they expect?

While the rest of the globe battled debt crises and stagnating economies, did you sleepwalk through the election campaign? Do you need to be reminded who wears which colours on the field?

Conservatives don't get into politics to protect welfare benefits or uplift the poor, so why are you surprised a government comprised of them does neither?

Do you order burgers and complain they contain meat? Do you fly to Bali and plonk your porky patootie on the sands of Kuta and bleat you can't see La Tour Eiffel? 

Cut welfare. Reward business. Downsize the public service. This is what the Coalition does, it's a national tradition. Or have you not being paying attention to the leopard's spots?

As Waleed Aly put it so succinctly yesterday: "You cannot rein in deficits and abolish two major taxes, and replace one of them with a climate change policy that costs billions and promise no tax hikes and quarantine education, health, defence, public broadcasting and pensions from cuts. That’s like a weight-loss diet that does away with protein but promises no cuts to cake and lard!"

But then little piggies don't worry about where the food is coming from, they only squeal when there's not enough. The ever-reliable self-interest of swinging voters delivered us an Abbott government because he promised the most and took nothing away.

They gorged on the fantasy of a family-size pizza with the lot, priced the same as garlic bread. Now it's been delivered cold and they see just how sparse those toppings are, how wispy the crust, how oily the cheese, and they have a national case of buyer's remorse.

Oh, petulant piggies.

The former Navy chief, who is a controversial political figure in Indonesia, said Australia was trying to pressure Indonesia into cancelling the executions by raising the issue of its $1 billion in Boxing Day tsunami aid and discouraging visitors to Bali.

He reminded Australia that Jakarta had been working hard to prevent asylum seekers attempting to travel to Australia in boats.

"If Canberra keeps doing things that displease Indonesia, Jakarta will surely let the illegal immigrants go to Australia," Mr Tedjo said on Metro TV.

"There are more than 10,000 [asylum seekers] in Indonesia today. If they are let go to Australia, it will be like a human tsunami."

Mr Tedjo has previously supported isolating the 10,500 refugees and asylum seekers on a remote island in Indonesia.

The chief security minister said it was "no big deal" if Australia stopped trading with Indonesia in the wake of the execution of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

"We have calculated, in fact, Australia enjoys the surplus on the Indonesia-Australia trade," Mr Tedjo said.

"Australia will in fact receive pressure domestically if it stops its livestock exports to Indonesia since Indonesia is Australia's main market."

Mr Tedjo, who was delivering a speech on nationhood at the School of Law at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said Australia needed to respect the Indonesian judicial system.

He said a prisoner swap, which was proposed by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a last-ditch attempt to save the lives of Chan and Sukumaran, was "unethical".

"We respect other countries' legal systems, Australia must learn about ethics here in University of Gadjah Mada," Mr Tedjo said.

Mr Tedjo recommended the appointment of graft suspect Budi Gunawan as national police chief and outraged many in January when he lashed out at supporters of the popular and widely trusted Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In December, Mr Tedjo also provoked anger when he suggested unresolved human rights cases were things of the past.

Views are divided on capital punishment within government ranks.

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-nine-executions-indonesian-minister-threatens-to-release-human-tsunami-of-asylum-seekers-20150310-140dhn.html