Cunningly disguised as a car carrier , this large bumboat smuggled the world's biggest single cargo of childish car bumper stickers into Townsville this week in support of the proposed Adani Carmichael coalmine . Despite its massive size, the local media did not report the arrival , because there are no shipping reporters in town , in fact north of the Alamo .
The Murdoch Townsville Bulletin should have known in advance about the Demeter Leader arrival because it is the major northern distribution point for stickers taking the piss out of soy latte drinkers , grouping anybody against the mine as latte sippers. Another shining example of balanced journalism on an important national and global issue .
Shown above are just two of the promos , described as "cheeky" , for the stickers , which have appeared in the Townsville Bulletin .The two smiling gents are none other than Senators Ian Macdonald and Matt Canavan , said to have been the first to get their hands on the tongue in cheek stickers at the Bulletin office.
Senator Macdonald 's strange habit of wearing high-viz clobber like that of an actual worker or a school crossing Lollipop man is on record as saying the independent activists GetUp ! are a Hitler youth organisation . However, just recently he was said to have behaved like Hitler when as the chair of a Senate committee he refused permission for a member to ask questions . This caused adjournment of the hearing when his order was challenged . On resumption , florid faced Macdonald was forced to acknowledge he had no power to stop the democratic right of a person to ask questions.
Strangely , the local media did not pick up the fact that a local politician who had accused a group of being Hitler youth had himself been accused of acting like Hitler .
Senator Macdonald is also one of the many savage Tories and the right commentariat who obsessively monstered Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs over the Forgotten Children report on refugee children in custody . In a face to face , the red faced Senator delivered a "lambasting ."
One account of his onslaught said ...
"But just as the Queensland senator really got his ancient motor fired up , he hit a roadblock-despite his apparent fury at its (report) content, Macdonald admitted that he had not actually read the report . "
Laughter ensued , a titter ran through the house , followed by groans . The senator is on record as saying he wants to stay on in parliament until he is 80 .And a member of his staff is a candidate for the next Queensland election .
And the illustrious Senator Canavan , minister for Federal Resources and Northern Australia no less , a former chief of staff for now Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, is one of those ever ready on the government side and One Nation to attack the ABC for doing its job properly, expecially reporting facts about Adani.
A radio interview in which Senator Canavan called an ABC report lies got a great run in the Townsville Bulletin, naturally highlighting "LIES ". Listen to the actual radio interview and you understand why non Murdoch media and others rightly criticised Canavan's comments .
His CV states that he is a former executive of KPMG , the global network which provides audit, tax and advisory services, some of it to governments. As such the organisation is often called in to fully investigate and report on various important matters for governments and companies : will this fly ? are the principals kosher? what are the ramifications , etc ? So why hammer the national broadcaster for doing a legitimate check on Adani ?
It is interesting to note that Demeter was the goddess of the fruitful earth , protector of the social order and marriage . This fact alone , you would think , sufficient enough to inspire an imaginative local scribe...if anybody keeps an eye on the docks , even ventures down to the waterfront once every Leap Year .
And the same day as the latte bashing stickers were being unloaded , another ghost fleet vessel , Gas Defiance , owned by a shipping line with the dodgy moniker , Stealthgas, was in port . Hopefully not plundering our bigger than Saudi Arabia gas deposits while the expensive lights go out all across the nation .
