The Concatenate

Both Fairfax and News are running attacks on Channel Nine after the TV network hit them with subpoenas to find our where the infamous Llewellyn affidavit came from.

For a news outlet to be making this attack on the confidentiality of sources is astonishing, but the vehemence with which the Fairfax and News Limited outlets are responding suggest James Packer’s personal life is going to come under ever-greater scrutiny. The old gentleman’s agreement between Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch appears to have expired.

The Concat was the first media outlet to put together evidence of a foreign-instigated coup in East Timor way back on May 26 and come up with the notion of ‘A very Australian Coup’.

This week, evidence has mounted that foreign fingers had been dabbling in the Dili brew.  Noted foreign correspondent John Martinkus interviewed Mari Alkatiri for NewMatilda.com and conducted his own research on the ground.

Alkatiri accuses forces from Indonesia or Australia of conspiring with local opposition groups to overthrow his Government.

Martinkus’ sources confirm that three separate unsuccessful approaches had been made in the past 18 months to the commander of the East Timor military (F-FDTL), Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak, and his deputy, Lieutenant-Colonel Falur Rate Laek, to lead a coup against Alkatiri.

These approaches were made by senior figures within East Timor’s Catholic church and, again early this year, by two prominent East Timorese leaders and two foreign nationals.

He concludes:  “Perhaps those mysterious two foreign nationals and the local leaders who approached the military had finally found their man in the East Timorese defence force to carry out their coup?”

Disclosure:  Hugo Kelly writes for New Matilda

While we don’t like talking about Taiwan for fear of upsetting our Chinese friends, trade would appear to be booming.

AAP, via Yahoo, reports that airline capacity between our two nations is going to be boosted 50% to 6,000 seats a week by late 2007.

Of all the useless things this Government has done to supposedly help small business there is a new king.

Fran Bailey has announced the creation of a “pandemic planning kit” for small business.

Yes, if the world is ending you can go to a Government website for advice over how to keep your business running in the ashes of a world gone mad.

It comes with a hilarious checklist of things a small business should do to keep going through the pandemic. Full of corking advice like this:

Establish a pandemic planning team or Influenza Manager for your business to coordinate and monitor influenza pandemic issues and to advise you on relevant developments.

I’m sure Doreen at the newsagent, with the delivery boys, will be thrilled to be appointed to the “pandemic planning team”.

The AFP have put out a media release announcing their pleasure at capturing a staggering 350 kilograms of MDMA in a shipping container.

Aside from the scale of the haul (which is going to raise the cost of some parties this weekend), it’s interesting because it’s an article of faith in the drug community that there’s very little real ecstasy (MDMA) in Australia and most of what’s sold under that name is a mixture of speed and LSD.

It looks like someone’s had a red hot shot at changing that.

Customs Minister Chris Ellison has expressed his happiness.

What does the Prime Minister get for a backbench revolt over draconian immigration legislation?

Well Fisheries Minister, Eric Abetz, has announced that there’s going to be an Indonesia-Australia ministerial forum on illegal fishing:

“Minister Numberi and I have agreed to hold a Ministerial Meeting on IUU fishing and its affect on our region. This will help raise the profile of IUU [Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated] fishing within the region, highlighting the magnitude of the problem and enabling action to be taken that spans various jurisdictions.”

And if large numbers of West Papuans were to be given asylum in future, you can bet the forums would cease quite quickly too.

Yesterday the ABC pumped out a media release advising that they wouldn’t be publishing Chris Master’s book Jonestown” based on his excellent Four Corners expose of the life of shock jock Alan “The Parrot” Jones. The ABC cites “commercial reasons”:

“ABC Enterprises has a clear responsibility to deliver a commercial return to the ABC. To proceed with publication will almost certainly result in a commercial loss which would be irresponsible.”

A well written book about such a popular, high profile man would make a loss?

The SMH goes some of the way to explaining this peculiar decision. It seems the “commercial consideration” involved was potential defamation, despite teams of lawyers giving the book the OK.

“It made it clear that Jones was prepared to spend money and this would become a game of deep pockets, and that’s where the ABC would be exposed.”

So now the ABC won’t run stories attacking targets capable of mounting defamation actions? Or just not against ones with friends in the corridors of power who gets fan mail from Ministers?

We can only hope Chris Masters takes his book somewhere else. Channel 9 is looking for some serious talent, we’ll see if Packer Junior likes Alan Jones as much as his father did.

Michael Mori 1, Australian Government 0

For the last few years the Australian Government, particularly Alexander Downer and Phillip Ruddock, have sneered at David Hicks’ Counsel, Major Michael Mori, and his protestations that the Military Commissions system set up to try David Hicks was illegitimate. The SMH now reports that the US Supreme Court agrees with Major Mori. Leaving the Bush administration and the Australian Government alone in all the world in thinking the Commissions in any way represent “Justice”. It makes you wonder what sorts of “Justice” our Government is planning to unleash on the rest of us with their singular views on the subject.

—-

Israel ups the kidnapping ante

The Age has a story on dramatic events in Gaza where the Israelis are responding to the kidnapping of one of their soldiers with a mass roundup of their political opponents. This looks like a move trying to provoke another war. It no longer has much to do with a kidnapping to any rational mind.

(more…)

AAP, via News, inform us that a second Australian has been shot in Thailand, following Pam Fitzpatrick dying last week.

Two in two weeks makes you wonder at what point random coincidences end and the muslim insurgency in the south of Thailand begins.

It isn’t easy being Minister for Defence in Australia. The media scrutiny of the normal hiccups associated with defence projects can get a bit rough.

Until this week the AEW&C Wedgetail project was thought to be a rare shining beacon of a hassle-free defence project.

The Minister, Brendan Nelson, has now announced that he’s taken Boeing to task for their slippage and given them a right old rap over the knuckles. He’s waving an even bigger stick if they don’t sort it out:

“The contract between the ADF and Boeing does include a provision for liquidated damages. The government is reserving its contractual rights in this regard.”

It remains to be seen how Boeing responds to being handled in this manner.

AAP, via News, are warning of a new threat to all we hold deer…

“A large population of feral deers had the potential to inflict damage on cattle production, destroy crops and rainforest as well as native flora and fauna, Dr Easton said. He said the deers could also transmit infectious bacterial disease leptospirosis and zoonotic infection brucellosis, both of which can be spread to humans, and posed a significant risk to motorists.”

Dr. easton conveniently came forward to warn the media of this peril after a deer made TV news last night being chased around Ipswich by police and media.

But you’ve all been warned!

The ABC, via Yahoo, reports that permission has been granted for an onshore abalone farm in NSW. Environmentalists are displeased. The owner points out that he needs clean water if he wants to grow abalone.

If aquaculture is going to remain viable in this country we’re certainly going to need to be growing more difficult and higher yielding beasties to stay ahead of the fish pens of the Mekong River.

At the Press Club today there were a couple of take away points from listening to Sol Trujillo

â–  Telstra are a “media-com” company now. So scrub out mentions of “telecom” from your lexicon.
â–  Telstra are no longer in anyway an arm of the Government. At least as far as the CEO is concerned.
â–  Telstra will not be borrowing money to pay dividends any more.
â–  Sol considers the current regulatory arrangements to be destroying the value of the company and has no intention of backing down.
â–  The T3 float is definitely proceeding.
â–  It’s worth facing the media every now and then just show you can shoot down all the scuttlebutt they’ve been gossiping about for months.
â–  The Press Club questioners wasted their time with cheap polemic questions, when they could have been finding out just what the hell a “mediacom” is and if it means Telstra are planning to own major media assets to realise that vision.

Fran Bailey has announced that the Motor Trades Association of Australia and four insurance companies have signed a Motor Vehicle Insurance and Repair Industry Code of Conduct in a ceremony in Western Sydney.

The plan is that now there will be clear rules for what repairs will be carried out and by who. The new deal starts on 1 September. The code is online at the Industry Department’s site.