malcolm and clive go intimate...

married with children

HE insists it was a coincidental rendezvous, but two days after dining with Clive Palmer Malcolm Turnbull has admitted an “obvious” fact: the Coalition has to schmooze the PUP leader.

“We ought to be talking to him, engaging with him,” he said before adding “obviously not ceding ground”.

“But you don’t make any friends, you don’t win any votes, by being rude to people or being abrasive.”

“Engagement and charm is a very valuable thing in politics. You gotta do it.”

His advice comes after Treasurer Joe Hockey yesterday poked a little fun at Mr Palmer over his dinner date with Mr Turnbull and Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson.

“Obviously Clive might have more than one meal a night so it is quite possible you will bump into him at a restaurant,” Mr Hockey joked on morning TV.

Later during Question Time he thanked the man he called “Professor Palmer” for a question on debt.

Mr Palmer’s party members have decided not to negotiate with Coalition members inside Parliament House in a display of protest.

They’re demanding more staff to consider budget legislation before any sit-down meetings.

The PUP leader will control a crucial voting bloc of four in the new Senate, his party’s Dio Wang, Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus, as well as the Motoring Enthusiasts Party’s Ricky Muir.

Note to whoever said: a "coincidental rendezvous"... A rendezvous cannot be coincidental...

By Gus Leonisky at 30 May 2014 - 3:24pm
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a gutless wonder...

Western Australia's Palmer United Party senator-elect Dio Wang says he does not know whether his campaign was funded by money allegedly siphoned from an account containing funds belonging to a Chinese mining company.

Clive Palmer's Mineralogy company is currently involved in a bitter legal stoush with the Chinese state-owned Citic Pacific Corporation over royalty payments for the Sino Iron project in WA's Pilbara and control of the nearby port at Cape Preston.

Among claims made by Citic in the case is that Mineralogy has provided no documentation to explain two withdrawals totalling $12 million from an account set up to run the port.

"I'm not involved in Mineralogy's operations, so I don't know whether the allegations are true or not," Mr Wang told the ABC's 7.30 program.

Mr Palmer's opponents have seized on the allegations.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney recently used parliamentary privilege to link the withdrawals to the election campaign.

"The best party that Chinese money can buy; the best party that fraudulently obtained money can buy," Mr Seeney told Parliament.

But Mr Wang said he finds the allegations very hard to believe.

"There isn’t any missing money," he said. "That’s just a fantasy. All of our accounts are fine. If they’re not why don’t you go to the police and report it? Have some guts. Why doesn’t Rupert Murdoch get on a plane and come over here and report it to the police? Because he’s just a gutless wonder."

Mr Palmer scoffed at West Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s claim that the Chinese hate him because of his legal battle with Citic Pacific, noting that his West Australian senator, Dio Wang, was indeed Chinese.

"Does Dio Wang hate me? I don’t think so."

With the shift in the balance of power in the Senate imminent, Mr Palmer denied doing deals with Malcolm Turnbull during a secret dinner at Canberra restaurant Wild Duck on Wednesday, saying they only agreement they came to regarded the beverages.

"I did ask him would it be possible if he filled up my wine glass and he complied with that request immediately," he said.

Mr Palmer used his address to the NSW Business Chamber to express his opposition to a number of the government’s budget proposals including the paid parental leave scheme, the increase to the pension age, the debt levy and the freeze on dole payments to under 30s, noting he had a spell on unemployment benefits when he was 18.

He described Parliament as a "mad house", admitted he was inspired to enter politics because he wanted to "throttle" Julia Gillard and thought Tony Abbott a "nice guy" who "avoids the real, hard decisions".

By Gus Leonisky at 30 May 2014 - 3:35pm
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no lipstick on his pig of a budget...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has indicated he is open to the "refinement" of the GP co-payment for medical visits - a key component of his Government's budget measures.

After preliminary discussions with some cross-benchers Mr Abbott says he is confident the budget will pass and appeared open to negotiations.

"Governments get their budgets through, that's what governments do. And sometimes there might be a little bit of refinement here and refinement there but budgets are passed by the Parliament ... that's what I'm expecting," Mr Abbott said.

Under the budget's proposed changes, bulk-billed patients will have to pay a $7 fee to visit the GP, have an X-ray, scan or a blood test. The Government says the fee will save $3.4 billion over five years.

The Government says the majority of the money raised from the fee will be directed into a medical research fund that is expected to grow to $20 billion by 2020.

Health Minister Peter Dutton indicated last week that the Government was not open to negotiations on the price of the co-payment or any possible exemptions.

The Opposition is now accusing the Prime Minister of a "backflip".

"Just one week ago Tony Abbott said he would never surrender when it came to his budget measures. And today he has done a total backflip," Labor frontbencher Kate Ellis said.

While the Government is negotiating with incoming cross-bench senators, Greens Leader Christine Milne has ruled out giving any ground on the co-payment.

"We are not going to help Tony Abbott put lipstick on the pig that is his budget," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-31/abbott-open-to-refinement-of-co-payment/5491660

Well said Christine... Don't stop the pressure. Don't give Tony an inch...

By Gus Leonisky at 31 May 2014 - 6:24pm
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the bad, the worse and the ugly...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been dragged into the dispute between Cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull and conservative columnist Andrew Bolt, with the matter raised in Question Time.

The Prime Minister declared his support for his parliamentary colleague in the increasingly personal battle between Mr Turnbull and Bolt.

Mr Turnbull set tongues wagging in Canberra last week when he had dinner with Clive Palmer, who is refusing to directly deal with Mr Abbott until he is given more taxpayer-funded staff.

Today Mr Turnbull described Bolt's latest column as "unhinged", "crazy", and "bordering on the demented" because it argues he is agitating for his old job by befriending Mr Abbott's "natural predators" like Mr Palmer and supporters of the ABC.

By Gus Leonisky at 2 Jun 2014 - 5:18pm
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"pass the salt"...

Right after he signs their death warrants: Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir, David Leyonhjelm (the majordomo has so far had five unsuccessful shots at spelling the place-card), Jacqui Lambie, Bob Day, John Madigan and an invisible person called Dio Wang, whose RSVP threw the place-card scribe into utter discomposure after it was discovered his real name is Zhenya Wang.

Nick Xenophon is on the invitation list, too, but here is another quandary for the maitre d': having betrayed all the others, should he be placed at a table in another room altogether?

Malcolm Turnbull has been overheard opining that he might have an urgent appointment elsewhere.

Perhaps a reprise of happier times at the Wild Duck restaurant with Clive Palmer, a man who respects his food too much to demolish anything but a plate of pork ribs. Anyway, surely Clive wouldn't have too many complaints about the coming denouement of the aforesaid Lazarus and Lambie, fully-purchased Palmer United Party rats.

Why, consumed with various fiscal difficulties of his own these days, it's not at all certain that Clive realises that Zhenya Wang remains his single PUP Senator.

Lucy, however, has put her foot down. If Malcolm's timing had to be so appalling, she has declared, he'd just have to deal with it.

The invitations to dinner had gone out weeks ago.

Couldn't he have held off letting his guests know they were to be consigned to the night of the living dead until they'd eaten their fill and merrily departed, air kisses all round? Isn't that how it's always done at The Lodge?

But no. Malcolm was always impetuous, Lucy knew. Remember when he told no less than Kerry Packer, a man who kept a loaded 9mm semi-automatic Glock in his desk, that "you'd better make sure that your assassin gets me first because, if he misses, you better know I won't miss you'?"

And now, good Lord, he just had to decide to change the Senate voting rules...an hour or two before hors d'oeuvres for the victims! Talk about devils on horsebacks!

Lazarus, the Turnbulls have already been advised, is so upset he's going to boycott the event.

"How in hell are we supposed to have a proper Last Supper if Lazarus isn't there?" Malcolm cried. "What would Leonardo da Vinci do?"*

By Gus Leonisky at 24 Feb 2016 - 5:46am
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