Thread by @iMusing

good morning☀️happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders are SBS chief political corro Anne Henderson, the West Australian bureau chief Katina Curtis, and ABC host Patricia Karvelas.

the interview is with opposition Senator Bridget McKenzie, who was once sacked from cabinet for breaching *ministerial standards of the Morrison government*. Her bloke, Simon Benson, knew about the five extra Morrison ministries and kept it from the public #Insiders

opening spiel: the Liberal Party goes after Labor but ends with one of its own senators “mired in scandal”. Speers says the Coalition “strategy” was “always going to be risky”. This minimising trash. #Insiders

Senator Thorpe “rounded on” Van, says Speers. He repeats the laughable claim that the man whose sleazy non consensual touching was removed “promptly” from the Liberal Party room even tho Morrison knew, Cash knew, three years ago. #Insiders

the montage at least has clips of the magnificent defund-based speech by Senator Thorpe, who says we know police are not the experts and proper funding for actual sexual violence response and support services is urgent #Insiders

#MakingNews is Van leaving the Liberal Party and whining plus state by state breakdown of the $2 billion ~social~ housing funding announcement. Also the bank costs imposed on sending money home eg for Pacifica workers #Insiders

Soeers editorialises that “some said” Senator Thorpe should have gone to police about the groper even tho she has explained why going to police is a hiding to nothing (Ed) #Insiders

panel. Apparently Curtis has been reporting the”consistent” points Senator Thorpe has made since 2021. Clip of Birmingham with his usual minimising and best spin nothing to see comments on appalling Liberal Party politician conduct. #Insiders

they may not have known the exact claims SENATOR Thorpe made but knew he had to move offices, says Speers. Let’s call this out, says Karvelas. A Senator is unsafe in the workplace and the workaround they found was to move his five where he potentially endangers others #Insiders

praise for Stoker bravely going public [after Senator Thorpe did so and drew all the heat]. There were contemporaneous questions raised at the time says one of the panellists I missed who. Then we get the fanciful claim that corporates HR deal effectively with harassers #Insiders

Speers praises Dutton for speaking clearly on racist Sydney radio. Karvelas says Senator Thorpe felt a fire when hearing a male who has done what he [allegedly] did wax lyrical on sexual violence. She has been in this position says Karvelas (yep most of us have) #Insiders

Van’s denials repeated. The Dutton decision to remove a bloke first reported by Stoker in 2021 again called “swift”. Clip of Senator Thorp explaining that going to police is not an option and why. For “whatever reason” says Henderson. Because they are misogynist, Anne. #Insiders

why Stoker did not go public. Karvelas says we can not police how people respond boom boom police (sic) and you can not take everything to police that is why we need robust systems. Curtis outlines role of the new parliamentary office for misconduct complaints #Insiders

an independent commission with powers to suspend people from parliament was recommended and has not been established. We should acknowledge that none of this would have happened without Brittany Higgins going public says Karvelas (= ideal victim narrative) #Insiders

the removal of Van from the party room, again. Henderson says he has set a new standard and there are (anonymous passive voice) “concerns” about due process #Insiders

Karvelas says there were multiple allegations and as leader could Dutton really stand by this person and Speers says the alternative was he stands down while claims are investigated #Insiders

clip of Barnaby “open secret” Joyce who has also been named by multiple women as a sleazy handsy drunk (paraphrased) lecturing Senator Thorpe about what she “should have done” #Insiders

interview. McKenzie is a fine upstanding senator in her own lunchtime who does not listen to gossip and always takes action okay Bridge #Insiders

has this sleaze been swept under the carpet in the past (paraphrased)? There are three fantastic journalists on the couch today says McKenzie and setting up the PWSS (parliamentary standards office) is so important #Insiders

should you explore who knew what and when re Van? McKenzie says Dutton acted decisively. This is two years on tho says Speers. Oh so he does know it was not “swift” after all. McKenzie says there was a lot of cheering, silently (which is not cheering) for the decision #Insiders

are you suggesting Labor should have ignored what Higgins was alleging? McKenzie thinks every opposition should pursue relevant questions and Labor did not take a backward step and the Coalition was “very careful” with their tone this week. #Insiders

fact check: the Coalition-murdoch campaign this last week has been absolutely fucking abhorrent, causing trauma all over the country. Neither were being “careful with their tone” #Insiders

Gallagher is a senior foimoile Senator McKenzie is a senior foimoile says Mckenzie, repeatedly. She is trying to distance herself from her sides aggressive victim blaming strategy while cosying up to the credibility Gallagher has established thru her actual work #Insiders

is it fair enough to review partisan public spending in seats the Coalition wanted to win? Roads infrastructure says the Nat, as always. Hawke government also Howard she says. Grasping here. #Insiders

but should the Commonwealth be building roundabouts and mini golf? McKenzie runs the same kind of lines. Labor governments past, she says. Sadly, as a federalist, Commonwealth overreach is entrenched. We (feds) should not do health or education either really she opines #Insiders

now about a fuel efficient standards. McKenzie supports a low emissions transport system. But about this actual standard? She has guardrails, says McKenzie, the new headwinds, and pretends Nationals care about low income people, a lie. #Insiders

let’s get back to how the Coalition pursued SenatorGallagher this week says Speers to the panel (he usually rehashes his own interview in real time) and Henderson says they kept going #Insiders

Karvelas says she made a lot of calls asking are you going to keep going? She has spoken to Liberal Party politicians who are concerned that this oppositional strategy is bad when families are struggling #Insiders

Speers repeats the spurious Coalition claims about what Labor did in 2021 and plays a clip of Gallagher. Was Labor pure of heart? he asks. (Was the Coalition? The reason we never ask this of the Coalition is they never act bona fides. Never). #Insiders

Henderson reminds us of the hopeless and insulting response Morrison offered up at the time, the “met by bullets” remark, the “ask Jenny” bullshit. Karvelas says the Liberals do not have their smoking gun. #Insiders

publication of the leaked texts that were meant to be only used for a criminal trial. Some teal independents are raising issues about media publishing the texts, says Speers. Henderson says it has a “chilling effect”. #Insiders

Karvelas says it is clearly re-traumatising and there is a duty of care. What about public interest in what Gallagher knew? asks Speers. Journalists make judgements all the time, says Karvelas and says these texts did not meet public interest test given the trauma #Insiders

translation on “chilling effect”: de facto decriminalisation of rape.
Implied false premise: that victims should be encouraged to report to police, the worst and last responders to rape.

housing. The government found $2 billion behind the couch!! Chortle chortle. Curtis says the Greens see the social housing announce my as a win. Speers says the Greens have long supported funding and building more public housing #Insiders

the Russian embassy. Record time in passing a bill into law but also apparently Russian spying tech causes dizziness or nausea? Was that the claim? #Insiders

what about theChinese embassy tho? Curtis says well theChinese embassy has been there a long time, the Russian proposal was for a new build. Speers says Russian spy tech is said to be very sophisticated. #Insiders

#TalkingPictures is up. Dan is a back to you Speersy man. #Insiders

https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1670218516807524353

#FinalObs 1 is Curtis saying the referendum bill will go to the vote in the Senate tomorrow morning. She recounts the Barunga history and broken Hawke promise on treaty #Insiders

#FinalObs 2 is Karvelas saying yes the referendum bill will pass but it can lapse. The government does not have to set a date. Precedent was the local government Ref bill #Insiders

the outtake is a Parkinson mashup with too much Trump voice for my taste😣#Insiders

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

I have to be somewhere so thanks in advance for fact checks and appreciation and big Sunday hellos to all👍🏼