KEVIN Rudd’s backers say the former prime minister can count on at least 25 votes in the Labor caucus, and up to 40, if he challenges for his old job.

While either figure would leave him short of a majority in the 103-member caucus, the claims show numbers are being counted and a challenge could come sooner rather than later.

Senior Ministers Stephen Smith and Bill Shorten, who have both been touted as “anyone but Rudd” leadership contenders, today expressed their support for Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and played down suggestions of an imminent challenge.

If Rudd looks likely of winning, Shorten, Smith and whoever else will also come forward to challenge for the top job. The temptation of winning will be too great to resist and JGill would be left with virtually no supporters.

Brandis’ basic argument is that the PM’s office conspired to stoke a riot, which engaged the safety and security of the PM and Abbott and therefore warrants an AFP investigation. Well, we know how inept the AFP are and how complicit they are in protecting the ALP.

…..the experts did not recommend non-discrimination. In place of the race power, they want recognition of culture, and laws for the advancement of Aborigines. What if these are contradictory?….They are seeking to use as a substitute for race a far more nebulous concept, culture, to achieve recognition. It seems that culture is the new black.

Then we can have a mature discussion about aboriginal culture – its not all dots on bark.

While the Prime Minister will today promise an interventionist government with support for skills, manufacturing and infrastructure, the Opposition Leader yesterday offered a minimalist approach, saying a Coalition government would “do fewer things, but do them better”…..Mr Abbott, by contrast, said the lesson from Europe was that government should do less. He cited Abraham Lincoln, saying that “governments should do for the people what they can’t do for themselves and no more”.

I’d say 99% just want the government to do the basic things well and get out of people’s lives.

THE Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Tony Negus, has refused to answer questions about his relationship with an assistant he took on overseas business trips.

An executive officer, Tamerra Mackell, accompanied him on several trips to Asia in the past 12 months, according to a News Ltd report, which suggested that it was unusual for AFP commissioners to travel without a uniformed chief-of-staff.

But a federal police spokesman, Nigel Ryan, said yesterday that Ms Mackell’s trips had been approved and she would continue in her job.

Tony Negus also has nothing to say about someone who tried to stab Tony Abbott with a spear during last weeks ALP orchastrated race riot. Yet when Negus came to power:

New Australian Federal Police chief Tony Negus today pledged to put more police into frontline investigations.

Just not when it comes to investigating the ALP.

Article can be found here. The economic highlight:

A recent study of a wide variety of policy options by Yale economist William Nordhaus showed that nearly the highest benefit-to-cost ratio is achieved for a policy that allows 50 more years of economic growth unimpeded by greenhouse gas controls. This would be especially beneficial to the less-developed parts of the world that would like to share some of the same advantages of material well-being, health and life expectancy that the fully developed parts of the world enjoy now. Many other policy responses would have a negative return on investment. And it is likely that more CO2 and the modest warming that may come with it will be an overall benefit to the planet.

AFP on Treasury leaking of Coalition costings in 2010 – MIA

AFP on 30,000 cases of multiple voting during the 2010 election – MIA

AFP on government leaks about the Australia Network tender in 2011 – MIA

AFP on death threats against Coalition politicians – MIA

AFP on Wayne Swan colluding with his mate and used car salesman Mr Grant for tax-payers money in 2009 – MIA

AFP on former Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and his relationship with the Chinese military via their representative and his mistress friend in 2008 – MIA

AFP on protecting Tony Abbott from a race riot in Canberra in 2012 – MIA (the PM had to tell the AFP to protect him)

…and I could go on. The AFP is thoroughly in the pocket of the ALP so don’t expect them to anything about honestly investigating the role of the PM and her office in inciting last week’s race riot:

Manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne today repeated calls for a full Australian Federal Police investigation into Thursday’s events.

“We are a long way from satisfying the Australian people about what the truth is about this matter,” Mr Pyne told Sky News’s Australian Agenda program.

“This is the most serious security scare an Australian prime minister has faced since the Fraser government. The Prime Minister should want to get to the bottom of what happened.”

Well given that the PM’s own advisor has resigned about the issue – having given false information to the tent embassy’s go between to stoke anger against Abbott – the PM is unlikely to do anything to encourage the truth to come out.

MORE

As Ms Gillard insisted former media adviser Tony Hodges acted alone in revealing to union leader Kim Sattler the Opposition Leader’s whereabouts on Australia Day, Mr Abbott said it was imperative an Australian Federal Police investigation take place.

“The only way to get to the bottom of this is to have a full investigation,” Mr Abbott said in Sydney.

“Both Kim Sattler and the Prime Minister’s former staffer should give sworn statements and in the meantime the Prime Minister needs to tell us what she was told verbatim by her office and by her former staffer.”

Mr Abbott said it wasn’t up to him to personally refer the matter to the AFP.

“I want to give (Ms Gillard) a chance to do the right thing and refer this for full investigation to the Australian Federal Police,” he said.

The AFP do not need a referral. They can investigate at any point.

The Opposition Leader said today that without a full AFP probe, the events and the involvement of the Prime Minister’s staffer would ultimately reflect badly on the Gillard government.

“We really need to get to bottom of this,” Mr Abbott said.

“Unless we do the conclusion the Australian people will inevitably draw is that there is a very grubby political culture in this government which goes right to the heart of the Prime Minister’s office.”

He said the events were “the most serious protest, the most serious security breach involving our nation’s top leaders in 30 years”.

I would not be in the least bit surprised if Gillard orchestrated the whole thing. A this stage there is no evidence that she did, but she did volunteer information about Tony Hodges’ role in the race riot, along with her other mate Kim Sattler who passed on the message to the rioters. The circle is closing in.

MORE

Even Chris Uhlmann thinks a criminal offense has been committed:

CHRIS UHLMANN: And all the things I’ve just described are the basis for criminal offences: incitement to riot or affray, causing public alarm and making false statements with the intent to cause public alarm, so why isn’t that worthy of a police investigation?

Not the AFP though. No charges against anyone, including the guy with a spear that tried to stab Abbott. The AFP are hiding behind the idea that they need a referral, which is false. If they suspect a criminal offence has been committed they need to put aside their ALP sympathies and act.

Ugly scenes, especially to see the PM stumble like that. I don’t know if Tony needed that amount of protection however. I would have liked to have seen him have gone one on one with a couple of the occupiers. A bit of head kicking; anyway I digress. The event underlines how utterly repulsive the people that occupy the front lawns of Old Parliament House are. It is an ugly eye sore in the heart of the national capital. My game plan to get these vagrant trespassers out is as follows:

1. At around 0300 hours turn the ground sprinklers on hard – we are talking tent destroying water pressure;
2. When the occupiers come too from their drunken drug induced stupor they will invariably try to shut the sprinklers off through destructive means;
3. At that point riot Police can move into to arrest them for destroying public property, while using electronic jamming techniques to stop the occupiers calling in backup;
4. The site would then cleared by a covert team of removalists to take away the squalled remains of the embassy, including a bio-hazard team to deal with any extra nasties; and
5. Follow up at around 0600 with a team of gardeners to remove the grass and begin construction on a new and large rose garden where the tents, shacks and toilets once were.

By the time morning news gets started the whole operation will have been complete and the site closed off due to the new garden construction. Any follow-up invasion of the site would be a breach of trespasser and OHS laws, which would result in further arrests.

Also today, AJ ventured into US politics with Paul Sheehan, and to put it mildly it was embarrassing. Apparently AJ sees no problem with Bill Clinton having had 12 separate affairs and so sees no moral conundrum with Newt Gingrich’s sordid martial history and the implications it has for his character, such as when he sat in judgement of Clinton yet was carrying on an affair of his own. No mention of Newt’s ethics violations, a polite way of saying he was corrupt, and that he got kicked out of the House of Representatives. No mention either of Newt’s lobbying efforts in his post-political career and his attempts to miss-represent what he was doing promoting socialist mortgage financing with Freddie Mac. No mention either of Newt’s pro-global warming ad with Nancy Pelosi and his past attempts to promote Co2 regulation and pricing. Like Andrew Bolt on MTR, AJ presented a mostly fact free analysis and you wonder if he bothers to brush up on the details prior to his show. And then there is AJ’s unholy alliance with the Greens to take down exploratory gas and oil interests.

If AJ is an indication of where the centre-right media are at the moment it is going to be even harder for the Coalition to regain office. Analysis should be considered and based on facts.