Hypocrites!
For the Labor Party, tobacco money is dirty money, but the Federal Health Minister has been caught out seeking financial support from one of the nation’s top cigarette makers.
The ABC has obtained letters that show Nicola Roxon wrote to Philip Morris executives in 2005, inviting them to a $1,500-a-table fundraiser. The event, featuring new MP Peter Garrett as the star attraction, was held a year after Mark Latham banned tobacco donations to the Labor Party. Ms Roxon, who was then shadow attorney-general, signed off on the letters, saying she looked forward to the company’s “continuing support”.No big deal but maybe the ALP will now shut up about the Coalition doing the same thing. Hypocrites!
Facebook
Twitter
Does not matter who asks for it, who takes it, or who gives it. “Tobacco money is dirty money!”
Lets wake up in this country and ban the smoking of tobacco!
Peter, Peter…..if they can’t ban and enforce the ban on illicit drugs, how in hell do you think they could ban tobacco. You must have lived with your head in the sand. Put a ban on tobacco and create two more groups of criminals, suppliers and smokers…..makes perfect sense to me. Historically prohibition of legally obtained substances leads to massive blackmarkets. (I am not a smoker). I have been known to have a tipple.
and grog…and fat food…and whatever you hate.
Kev, I don’t hate smoking. Lets be honest it causes lung cancer. This places a huge burden on our health system. And for that reason along I belive it should be banned.
Kev, you are quick to highlight the failings of the left side of politics. Let’s be honest the right side also have heaps of failings, like taking money from tabacco companies, while supporting programs, they introduced and the Labour governments have introduced. The Tories can’t have it both ways.
Roxon was wrong and she has admitted it. Why won’t Abbott stand up and say no to tobacco money?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/labor-still-seeking-tobacco-donations/story-fn3dxity-1226077513054
THE NSW Labor party sought political donations from a major tobacco company as recently as this week, it has been reported.
Earlier this month, NSW secretary Sam Dastyari wrote to an executive at tobacco company Philip Morris offering a $5000 place at a Business Dialogue and Country Business Forum, The Australian reports today.
The letter arrived on the same day federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon was on Tuesday forced to apologise for sending a fundraising request to Philip Morris in 2005, a year after Labor banned tobacco company donations.
Peter…with about $11.00 plus going straight to the government in tax for each packet sold I think your point on cost is a little mute. Smokers well and truly pay their way and statistically they die earlier and quicker so the balance sheet might not all be such a huge cost to the medical system after all. Yes, smoking can cause lung cancer and a host of other maladies but there a lot of consumerables and lifestyles that are just as dangerous.
Smoking has simply become the Satan of the Nanny State set and I’m not big on Nanny State stuff.
Why doesn’t Abbott refuse money from evil tobacco companies?- I don’t know or care but the point is, it is the ALP that have been playing holier that thou on the subject – not the Libs.
Kev, So its ok to sin just so you don’t find out about it. I think it is hypocrital to tell people in government that they should not smoke and support and promote antismoking programs, and on the other hand to take money for their own political gain.
Taking money off the compaines who promote shortening life and profiting from it is wrong.
As for what the Liberals do and why, well Kev, I am interested. They, along with the other political parties want and need my vote. Since my vote is not for sale they (all political parties) need to justifiy why I should vote for them. If they say one thing and do another, they are not likely to get my vote.
Then the ALP are not likely to get your vote.
Kevin, I am known what is a thinking voter. I consider my vote each and every time there is an election. I have voted Liberal, ALP, Green, Democrat and even DLP.
My vote is decided not on polls, but on policies. I consider the policies of all the candidates in my electorate and then decide who gets my vote. In the Senate I am one of those rare individuals who fills in every square.
Will the ALP get my vote at the next election….it actually depends on their policies, what I think of their leader and their candidate in my electorate.
When I consider the policies and what I feel is best for Australia and my family then I cast my vote. (Sometimes if is hard to find anyone worthy of my vote.)
I hope you give as detailed consideration and thought to your vote and not just follow some party line.
What I do know is the Liberals will not get my vote with Mr Abbott as their leader, but that is another story for another day.
I hate smoking – I cannot understand why it is still legal.
The hypocrisy of the far Right on this issue (smoking and the so-called nanny state) is breathtaking. On the one hand they”‘ll happily defend the billions wasted by the taxpayer on health costs dealing with the consequences of lifelong smoking, at the same time waxing indignant about taxpayer spending on schools through BER.
Incidentialy, hasn’t Abbott indicated he’d support plain packaging?
1. It’s not the far Right it’s everyone right of the far Left.
If you are going to deny money spent on health costs for smoking then you should also deny money spent on health issues for drug addicts,alcoholics, seriously obese people, people who come to grief through stupidity and any other type of person you Lefties consider beneath you.
2. …waxing indignant about taxpayer spending on schools through BER. No…waxing indignant about the fact that many of the buildings were seriously overpriced and huge amounts of money were wasted.
I’m not defending smoking – it is indefensible but we will be having this discussion about alcohol soon, particularly if we have a health minister who’s Dad died from liver cirrhosis and that is not the way to run a country. (Roxon’s Dad died from oesophageal cancer)
Yes, Abbott has indicated he is supporting plain packaging
To illustrate my point, the following is on the ABS website –
“Of the total health care costs resulting from all forms of drug abuse in 1998-99, approximately 80% were attributable to tobacco. In that year costs attributable to tobacco were $1094.4 million net, including medical, hospital, nursing home and pharmaceutical costs (Collins and Lapsley 2002).”
These are costs for one year (88-89).
I wonder what it’s costing us now?
Lots of interesting stats here – http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4831.0.55.001
On the TV news this evening there was an article which stated some 32 000 Queensland teenagers are smokers. That is 32 000 children somking and damaging their health.
I am so pleased that not of them is a child of mine.
If you have children, qualify the last statement with “yet” if not then you are missing out on the most important thing in life. Juliar would not understand that statement.
bob, I do have children and I work with children every day. To take a pot shot at someone who does not have children, for whatever reason is, a low shot.
I know many women and men who are not parents. If that is all you have to whinge about life must be good for you!
Peter, Peter, Peter, you must have taken a speed reading course back in the seventies. You seem to have misinterpreted my comment as one of criticism. I bet you describe a tumbler with half its volume filled with water as “half empty”. Lets go through it again…..you say that of the 32000 child smokers in Queensland you are so pleased that none of them is a child of yours….that could mean that your children do not live in Qld, or they live in Qld and do not smoke, or you do not have children. Now if they are alive and well and not smoking…great, but they have a lot of living to do so I would have qualified that with “yet”. In the event that you were childless(which is not the case) my comment was sympathetic, not critical. My last sentence is an aside aimed at Juliar, whom as we have all been informed is childless and whom for that very reason would not understand what it is to have children and the joys that come with parenthood. At no point did I mention childless persons who have no choice in the matter, of whom I also know several. I stick by the statement that persons who are not parents whether by choice or otherwise are missing out on what I perceive as the most important thing in life. That is my opinion and is not a criticism. Can you please point out where my comment was a whinge and please do not indicate spaces between the lines where you obviously focus when reading.
bob
I do have two children of my own. My children live in Queensland, attend Queensland State Schools. Neither of these two people smoke. By what they say and their views on smoking I would be very surprised if they were ever to take up smoking.
I work with 740 children every school day. To my knowledge none of these smoke.
As for my whinge comment, it was directed at your comment about our Prime Minister.
One could argue you that parents are missing out on what some see as the advantages of being childless.
I stand by my view that you took a cheap shot at our Prime Minister.
If you were offended I offer my sincere apologies.
If you think you are not having a cheap shot, you might like to correct your spelling of Julia.
Peter
I don’t see that as a cheap shot or a whinge, and you obviously have the knowledge required to be able to put a title to the name I mentioned. Why change the spelling when any thinking Australian and even those outside this country can, as you did, point the finger in the right direction? It is probably because my spelling of the name in this instance has become the common useage over the last twelve months. It will probably be added to “The book of Children’s Names” at the next reprint.
I am not offended….no apologies necessary. I suspected you were a teacher/headmaster just like our old friend/foe 1735099. “work with children” conjured up a picture of a McDonalds franchisee, or a checkout chick at Woolies or Coles. I am surprised that your children attend State schools in Qld.though.
For your obvious interest…I am a non smoker, and I have lost 8 family members to cancer and one sibling is in remission. Longevity in my family means exceeding 67 yrs. None of my 3 kids smoke nor my 8 grandchildren (YET)nor my in-laws. Like you I am happy about that. Still doesn’t change the fact that it is a legal and lethal habit that is partaken of by conscious choice of those with little regard to their own health or that of others, but if it does not infringe on the quality of life of others who gives a toss. I have grown to understand that suicide by nicotine is no different to suicide by bus, just slower for most people. No offence mate, I just like to wind people up for a bit of light entertainment.
Bob, I look forward to the next round. Enjoy your day. Peter
“I work with 740 children every school day. To my knowledge none of these smoke.”
What? Are you a ‘kinda’ teacher?
I despise smoking. I can’t stand the stink. None of my four, now adult, children smoke, nor does my wife or our collective parents and so on. Despite the peer pressure they experienced I believe my constant refrain has helped my children escape the evil habit. However, many of their friends do smoke.
I despair. I ask the girls “why do you smoke?” They reply, “it’s cool” or “I need to keep my weight down.”
What a sad state of affairs.
“To keep my weight down” – fuck.
Nobody thinner than someone in end stage cancer.
“What? Are you a ‘kinda’ teacher?”
Peter, I think he means “Kindy”.
There are plenty who post here who are stuck in the last century, as revealed by their language.
Hence “headmaster” for “principal”. This goes way back. My mother became a principal in 1941 when my dad left the leadership of his small school to enlist in the RAAF.
She had to resign (both from the principalship and teaching) when he returned in 1946 because she was a married woman.
I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall if anyone had addressed my mother as “headmaster” back then. She had an acerbic turn of phrase.
Enjoy your mid-year break.
Bobby, I guess if your mum wasn’t a bloke she would be a bit pissed off being called Headmaster. Back then if she was a woman then the term would have been Headmistress. You of the new age seem to have short memories, even language experts like you. You seem to have forgotten gender usage in the language you grew up with. I think that if the term kindergarten had been used by the two Peters you would have been short of something pompous to say. I reckon mate that the term “kindy” sounds like something you would include in a conversation when talking down to a four year old. At least as a short term “kinda” has a more phonetic ring to it.
Peter W, thanks for supprting me. I suggested that smoking be outlawed.
“‘kinda’ has a more phonetic ring to it”
The problem with that is the way it is written. I think he was trying to make a phonetic stab at “Kinder”.
“Kinda” is a slang diminutive of “kind of”.
The base word is from the German (kindergarten).
I don’t know what the Mexicans call the year before year one, but here in Queensland it’s not “Kindy” or “Kinda”.
We use the word “Prep” (diminutive for “Preparatory”).
You mistake pomposity for accuracy.
As for the new age, it’s an improvement on the days when women were dismissed when they married or became pregnant.
My mother did finish up as what you call a “Headmistress” before she retired, but her title was Deputy Principal, Early Childhood.
Well Bobby, I guess there’s no point in saying “kinder that” to you in relation to posts on this blog.
WTF – “a phonetic stab at “Kinder.” Pretentious Twat.
‘Kinda’, is slang around my neck of the woods for ‘kindergarten’ – I didn’t invent it, it was writ large when I entered the ‘parent of a ‘school kid’ world’ thirty something years ago.
See: http://www.kpv.org.au/page/view/kindergartens-in-victoria-131/
Victoria maintains a ‘proper’ education system un-sullied by pretentious word-mangling titles like “Deputy Principal, Early Childhood”.
The state has a vibrant mix of state, religion affiliated private and secular private schools. They pretty well all follow the same progression – one to two years of ‘kinda’, followed by what is known as “grade prep” or “preparatory year” followed by six more years of primary school to “grade six” and then a further six years of high school from “year seven” to “year twelve”.
Some schools have headmasters/mistresses, some have principals it all depends on a school’s heritage. Me, I spent some tortuous years at a secular boarding school which most definitely had a headmaster. He’d held the post for thirty years when he finally retired to the big office in the sky. As an aside, the school did not have teachers, but masters. They wore gowns and mortar boards and ‘swept’ along the cloisters like a phalanx of Jimmy Edwards with cane at the ready.
http://www.moviemarket.com/Photos/C329837_B78226.html
Regardless of the slang used to describe the school level only a ‘kinda’ teacher would be likely to “work with 740 non-smoking children every school day”. Sadly it’s not uncommon to see primary school kids hanging around shopping centres and malls with fags in hand.
Nothing pretentious about this, of course – “They wore gowns and mortar boards and ‘swept’ along the cloisters”
‘Nothing pretentious about this, of course – “They wore gowns and mortar boards and ‘swept’ along the cloisters”’
No, it’s an accurate description of the strange ‘theatre’ of that particular school.
Whereas your posts are never anything more than self-aggrandising twaddle.
“Whereas your posts are never anything more than self-aggrandising twaddle”
Whereas your posts are never anything more than mindless abuse.
“Whereas your posts are never anything more than mindless abuse…”
No they are carefully crafted to target you one seven pompous self-aggrandising history-challenged, Bobby the pedant ‘spellcheck’ crystal-ball red-herring.
Tell us again how a conservative insulted you way back when – that always brightens my day.
Throw in a few ‘phonetic’ ‘diminutives’ and ‘base-words’ while you’re at it – it’s grey and cold here and we need a good laugh.