During a week in which the Murdoch Townsville Bulletin savaged the Queensland government like a pack of mad dogs over the proposed Adani Carmichael coalmine , readers of the paper must have thought it had been taken over by a new owner on Saturday .
There , on the leader page , was a well written opinion piece by a prominent member of the reporting staff , Shari Tagliabue , strongly against Adani , calling it a Trojan horse not needed in the north .
This was in stark contrast to the paper's long running massive support for Adani . Indeed , during the week , the Bulletin quoted Townsville's Mayor Jenny Hill making the extraordinary statement that the North would be set back 50 years if the mine did not go ahead . Some council staff believe the Dark Ages have already arrived as there are plans to slash employees by close to 200 , and it has nothing to do with the Adani project .
There , on the leader page , was a well written opinion piece by a prominent member of the reporting staff , Shari Tagliabue , strongly against Adani , calling it a Trojan horse not needed in the north .
This was in stark contrast to the paper's long running massive support for Adani . Indeed , during the week , the Bulletin quoted Townsville's Mayor Jenny Hill making the extraordinary statement that the North would be set back 50 years if the mine did not go ahead . Some council staff believe the Dark Ages have already arrived as there are plans to slash employees by close to 200 , and it has nothing to do with the Adani project .
Tagliabue's commentary was run next to a Bulletin editorial which actually , briefly praised Queensland Premier Annastacia Palasczszuk for arranging a supposed delayed royalties deal for Adani . Deputy editor Damien Tomlinson even painted a picture of the brave Premier on the burning deck of state , the fires fuelled by coal , fighting off the Lefties in her party, led by her deputy , Jackie Trad .
The Premier , he wrote , had " bravely stood up to the slick , millionaire-backed PR machine of the Stop Adani movement to fight for Labor's working class core in regional Queensland ..." He is, unfortunately , not expected to be nominated for a Walkley Award for this expression of deep concern for the toilers , but it could get a run as a filler in the laugh in column of the Daily Worker .
This glowing tribute for the Premier was despite the fact that the paper had flayed her unmercifully during the week ( see above ) , a digitally doctored photo depicting her in a Greens straightjacket , her deputy , Trad, said to depend on Green preferences to win and hold her South Brisbane seat .
Biff Latte Drinkers, Greens
Then there was a typical thundering editorial (which not many people take seriously ) LATTE-SIPPERS HOLDING US ALL TO RANSOM . Get the feeble, infantile message in this great Australian democracy where the Murdoch media monster has been given more federal approval to further extend its influence - Greens , latte soy-milk sippers evil ? See memo to "Green extremists " on front page below : YOU CAN'T STOP ADANI .
The Premier , he wrote , had " bravely stood up to the slick , millionaire-backed PR machine of the Stop Adani movement to fight for Labor's working class core in regional Queensland ..." He is, unfortunately , not expected to be nominated for a Walkley Award for this expression of deep concern for the toilers , but it could get a run as a filler in the laugh in column of the Daily Worker .
This glowing tribute for the Premier was despite the fact that the paper had flayed her unmercifully during the week ( see above ) , a digitally doctored photo depicting her in a Greens straightjacket , her deputy , Trad, said to depend on Green preferences to win and hold her South Brisbane seat .
Biff Latte Drinkers, Greens
Then there was a typical thundering editorial (which not many people take seriously ) LATTE-SIPPERS HOLDING US ALL TO RANSOM . Get the feeble, infantile message in this great Australian democracy where the Murdoch media monster has been given more federal approval to further extend its influence - Greens , latte soy-milk sippers evil ? See memo to "Green extremists " on front page below : YOU CAN'T STOP ADANI .
Greens bashing is a blood and smashed watermelon sport long engaged in by the Bulletin , Queensland LNP dullards , fat , tattooed men , the soon to be put out to verdant pasture Senator Ian Macdonald , texters in the Bulletin who like referring to the Premier as puddleduck or some other such variation . The Darwin Murdoch paper , Northern Territory News , has a a long track record of slinging off at southern latte drinkers .
Magpie Swoops in on Bulletin
A confessed non-latte drinker , what Shari had to say in her column was remarked upon by eagle eyed journalist (actually he is the Townsville Magpie ) , Malcolm Weatherup , still owed more than $100,000 by mean Murdoch for defaming him , who keeps a close , critical watch on the Bulletin .
Here is what he said about brave Shari whose column was headed THE LATTE LOGIC and contained an illustration of belching chimneys atop a mountain of coal, the caption DIRTY BUSINESS: We deserve better, smarter, sustainable industries . Weatherup, initially gobsmacked by the piece, in part , commented :
Here is what he said about brave Shari whose column was headed THE LATTE LOGIC and contained an illustration of belching chimneys atop a mountain of coal, the caption DIRTY BUSINESS: We deserve better, smarter, sustainable industries . Weatherup, initially gobsmacked by the piece, in part , commented :
In a nutshell , Shari put forward a well argued, analytical view of an
argument you rarely see in a News Ltd publication … but not only that, it was
presented right next to a diametrically opposed iditorial (editorial ) along the standard
Astonisher (Townsville Bulletin ) lines...
It was indeed breath-taking almost unbelievable stuff. And there
can be no mistaking who Taggers was talking about when she wrote: ‘Childish
name calling is a puerile attempt to brainwash the population into thinking a
handful of promised jobs in an industry no one is interested in funding or
backing is the way forward.’ This written in a paper whose stock in
trade is name calling and journalistic jingoism on this subject and most all
other subjects. And was written even in the edition that carried this biased
anti-Green, pro-Adani, front page, above .
Ms
Tagliabue – who, one must think, has had a better job offer – also asked ‘When
did caring for the future of our land, our ocean, future generations and , yes,
jobs – sustainable ones – become such a liability … and (people who used to
call themselves green) until ‘green’ was hijacked by politicians who have frankly
done the cause for a clean planet no favours at all.’ Oops, Shazza, you
forget the word has also been hijacked by the people who own the paper you work
for. If there is a job offer out there, it sure as hell won’t be with
News Ltd, maybe The Guardian.
Townsville Bulletin Bubble
From the pen of another Bulletin reporter , one of the old hands still remaining , John Andersen, just back from a trip to Sydney and the scenic Blue Mountains , where local Mountain Devils drink latte with a shot of rum to keep warm on wintery nights , came confirmation in the same Saturday paper of the fact that the Townsville Bulletin is in an obvious inward looking bubble , one like the interior of the Black Hole of Calcutta . In an item headed THE ADANI FIGHT IS ON IN STREETS OF CITIES , he opened with the telling : In the North we live in a bubble when we think that the Australian population mostly supports Adani .
Down south he had found anti-coal and anti-Adani posters on railway platforms and walls of store fronts . He wrote that the fight for and against the mine was not just confined to central and northern Queensland . It was being fought in the bars , clubs and in the streets at a national level .
The Townsville Bulletin suddenly went quiet after one of its polls during the week asked : "DO you think Labor is out of touch with the needs of the North?"... The result was 59% No and 41% yes .
Still , this has not stopped the Bulletin from running a car sticker campaign with the message : DON'T TAKE MY COAL JOB AND I WON'T TAKE YOUR SOY LATTE . Really . Naturally Senator Ian Macdonald and other LNP suspects have rushed in to endorse the inane sticker message which were being handed out for free from the Bulletin office . More arriving this week .
A text message to the editor of the corny latte bashing paper said the Bulletin seemed to have a strange grudge against lattes , which blue collar workers and tradies liked , and speculated that so do journos .
Incidentally , the Weekend Australian , the Murdoch flagship, carried a full page advertisement for AGL headed WE'RE GETTING OUT OF COAL , declaring that by 2022 it will be getting out of coal , that it already runs Australia's largest solar and wind farms and have started a fund that will add up to $3billion into renewables. AGL asked ... YOU WITH US ? Not at the Townsville Bulletin .
Adani Cock Up
Then came the Monday edition of the Bulletin and it resumed its attack on the Queensland government, giving prominence to a panel piece headed LABOR'S SHAME ON ADANI , by an LNP shadow minister who attacked "labors Left faction " and its " grubby green alliance with extreme activists . "
But then the Bulletin revealed that over the weekend a bizarre event took place which makes you wonder if there is something in the city's contentious water supply- the dreaded clumsy drug - which makes people do stupid things in high places . Thinking the Australian government and Queenslanders were going to give them a pile of money, Adani prematurely celebrated by having its name placed on a prominent city building .
The Bulletin ran a pic of the sign and said it may have to be pulled down as fast as it was put up !!!. It quoted Adani spokesman Ron Watson as saying the signage should not have been installed so soon !!! The work order should have been cancelled when the Carmichael mine was put in doubt over State Government royalties last week ... There was an oversight ... the company had put on hold plans to set up a Townsville office... we don't have a big team and it (sign ) slipped through... what goes up , could come down ...he would not confirm if office space had been rented....
The last word in this incredible saga was delivered by the above keen latte sipper, also partial to thick shake dregs , at The Strand , on the Townsville waterfront , who says he will personally lead a flock of his mates to the Bulletin coal /cesspit and peck the eyes out of any reporter who takes the piss out of latte lovers. Photograph by latte and Pelican fancier, Peter Sky-Tower .
