good morninghappySunday! Today on #Insiders are Niki Savva, murdoch columnist and former media advisor to Peter Costello (Liberal Party, Howard government treasurer, now ninefax chair); recently returned ABC Europe correspondent Bridget Brennan; and Professor* Mark Kenny.

this thread is not fact checked. I block snitch-taggers.

opening spiel from Speers: tougher restrictions - stage four - on the way for Victoria.

On 12 April, Speers devoted an entire #Insiders hour to “easing restrictions”.

montage: Victorian Premier Dan Andrews doing his job, Scott Morrison being a deadset bastard (“Victorian wave”, “community transmission”) and footage of people suffering due to Liberal Party decisions and actions ie giving aged care assets to their donor clients #Insiders

breaking: the Commonwealth has withdrawn from the Palmer legal challenge to the WA border closure. Sounds like Scott Morrison threw his Attorney General under a bus to contain the political cost of being seen to support 2019 preference deal guy charged with fraud #Insiders

why haven’t current restrictions [in Victoria] done the job? Speers asks Savva. She says Victoria didn’t have the requisite infrastructure but it also raises the question why the feds didn’t move sooner. She calls Morrison’s nasty “Victorian wave” rhetoric unhelpful. #Insiders

Savva is serious and responsible. She refuses to be politicised/horse raced by Speers. She says this thing moves at lightening speed. #Insiders

clip of Dandrews on people who are not home the army come knocking. Brennan says people have to go to work. We are literally at a level of discourse in this country where a young Indigenous woman journo spells out the facts on [lack of] sick leave to senior white males. #Insiders

yes yes good point says Speers. He moves on to Professor* Kenny on the serious policy matter of paid sick leave for casual workers #Insiders

Victoria does not fail, says Savva. A quarter of the population live there. She is still trying to communicate to Speers that this is not a matter for political speculation/horse race coverage. #Insiders

Professor* Kenny interrupts to emphasise the lack of sick leave for casual workers. We call it the precariat, he says of the university sector, which gives large secure salaries and professorships to former journalists but not job security to highly qualified tutors #Insiders

cut to shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers on paid sick leave. Chalmers competently makes the obvious case that [invariably low paid] casual workers should have the basic condition of paid sick leave to stay home if symptomatic or contacted by tracers re a confirmed case #Insiders

two gotcha “I just want to be clear” crap Qs this week. First is to demand whether Labor thinks Jobkeeper timeline is adequate, or should be extended or perhaps extended in Victoria/hotspots. The second is the stupendously ginormous $30 billion+ super withdrawals.

thankfully Speers lets Chalmers answer the fucking question on super withdrawal. Chalmers reminds #Insiders that the Liberals hate Labor legacy policies.

aged care. It is the prime minister’s responsibility, says Chalmers. Yeah but what is the Labor position on profit-seeking private operators in aged care? asks Speers. Chalmers says aged care is a horror show and the prime minister should take responsibility #Insiders

clip of Dandrews saying he would not like his mum in some of the [hellholes run by Liberal Party client donors known as] aged care homes and of federal health minister Hunt working himself up just thinking about his mum in aged care. #Insiders

we go from these men leveraging their mums to make political points to Professor* Kenny stating there are workers who “cobble together” a living working across multiple facilities (bit like how casual tutors who work at 3 unis to keep a roof over our head). #Insiders

Brennan reinforces the point about aged care, sick leave, and low paid workers doing multiple jobs. Nobody is suggesting the workers are not caring people, Speers says, which is not true. He bothsides the Q to Savva. #Insiders

clip of Porter normalising the Commonwealth intervention into alleged corporate fraudster Clive Palmer Court challenge to WA borders. To segue to Morrison’s decision to withdraw the Commonwealth from the case, citing “the Victorian wave” like the slimebag he is #Insiders

Speers invites Savva and Professor* Kenny to comment on the politics of Morrison withdrawing the Commonwealth from a High Court constitutional challenge after his AG from WA backed it in. Savva again explains the seriousness of the Covid19 situation. For. Everyone. #Insiders

moving on from the virus let’s look at... Aboriginal health policy, says Speers bewilderingly. At the CtG presser Aunty Pat Turner specifically pointed to zero covid deaths in Aboriginal communities and success of Aboriginal controlled orgs responding to the virus #Insiders

Speers highlights absence of additional funding attached to additional or reset CtG targets, and long time frame on health target parity for almost all indicators other than life expectancy. He asks Bridget Brennan who the coalition of peaks represents? #Insiders

there are 51 Aboriginal peak bodies signed up to the CtG Agreement with the Commonwealth, state and territory leaders and local government. Brennan reminds Speers that Aboriginal people are not a homogenous group. The peaks represent who they say they represent #Insiders

[it is extremely likely that Morrison has used CtG as a political experiment, to test his new national cabinet arrangement in a federalism policy context. Just my opinion.]

#TalkingPictures Fiona Koutsakis has done a very nice Karen #Insiders

#FinalObservations 1 is Bridget Brennan on the Attorneys General from around the country chose not to #RaiseTheAge of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14. She notes 65% of children in prison are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids. #Insiders

#FinalObservations 2 is Professor* Kenny making a long winded point about what political leaders “are remembered” for in the passive tense as tho media coverage of aggressive legacy prosecution by incumbent tory power is not a thing. It is #Insiders

#FinalObservations 3 is Niki Savva on the politics of federalism. #Insiders

we go out with footage of aging white Englishmen with a seat in the House of Lords - born to rule, the exact opposite of meritocracy mythology - being incompetent buffoons when it comes to a virtual vote in the British parliament #Insiders

the point being that our federal politicians refuse to sit in the Australian Parliament while even these hopeless luddites their lordships are learning to vote on bills via zoom #Insiders

this has been another edition of watching #Insiders so you don’t have to

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