NSW Premier to face spill motion

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

A trio of New South Wales Liberal MPs have pledged to move a spill motion today against Premier Gladys Berejiklian over her handling of the abortion decriminalisation bill. Mulgoa MP Tanya Davies and upper house members Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato released a statement at 8.30pm on Monday criticising the “shameful process” of key amendments they wanted made to the abortion legislation being "rejected in full or in part". Deputy Premier John Barilaro was one of several senior Coalition ministers to back Berejiklian. "This is ridiculous,” the Nationals leader tweeted. “Our Coalition agreement is with Gladys and any move would be a dumb move.” It comes as Seven News and Sunrise have repeated a false claim that pro-choice activists campaigning in favour of the abortion legislation chanted “put the foetus in the bin” in Sydney on Saturday.

Paedophile rings: An investigation by The Age has detailed how paedophile priests did not act as individuals but operated in clusters. The priests co-ordinated to share victims, pass around details of children considered easy targets, and to cover up abuse. At the centre of a number of these networks was Melbourne seminary Corpus Christi, from which at least 75 convicted and alleged sex offenders emerged, including George Pell and Gerald Ridsdale. The story comes as investigative journalist Lucie Morris-Marr releases a new book on the Pell trial. Pell is expected to lodge an appeal ($) with the High Court in the coming days over his conviction for abusing two choirboys.

Huang Xiangmo asset freeze: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian Taxation Office sought urgent orders in the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday to freeze the Australian assets of Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo as it chases $140 million in allegedly unpaid tax and penalties. The Independent Commission Against Corruption has been investigating an alleged $100,000 secret cash donation Huang made to the NSW Labor Party before the 2015 state election. The property developer has lived in Hong Kong since his Australian permanent residency visa was cancelled on December 5 last year.

Lavish CEO bonuses: A report by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors has found that of Australia’s 100 largest companies, only one chief executive eligible for a bonus was not awarded a slice of profit in the 2018 financial year: Domino's Pizza boss Don Meij. The median bonus awarded to an ASX100 chief executive was $1.61 million — the second highest in the history of the survey. ACSI chief executive Louise Davidson said bonus payments should be rewards for exceptional performance, not the default. “The way bonuses are being handed out suggests there is a culture of entitlement whereby supposedly ‘at risk’ pay is not very risky at all,” she said. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce was Australia's highest-paid chief executive in 2018, taking home $23.9 million — 275 times the full-time average wage.

“Being a conservationist is a conservative agenda, it is not a green agenda, it has been taken from us and we actually want it back.”

FARMERS FOR CLIMATE ACTION CHAIR LUCINDA CORRIGAN WANTS TO PUT THE 'CONSERVE' BACK INTO CONSERVATIVE.

Scott Morrison’s poverty fix

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Hang on a minute: they’re just wrapping up the medal ceremony.

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Robot priests can bless you, advise you, and even perform your funeral

“A new priest named Mindar is holding forth at Kodaiji, a 400-year-old Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Like other clergy members, this priest can deliver sermons and move around to interface with worshippers. But Mindar comes with some ... unusual traits. A body made of aluminum and silicone, for starters.”

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