Good grief!
First this:
"Those close to Shorten and Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong say things are shaping up well for former foreign minister Julie Bishop - should she want a job... Wong has already described Bishop as 'a very effective diplomat'... Another name in the race, even if by his own suggestion: former communications minister turned gambling lobbyist Stephen Conroy." (Chatter reaches fever pitch on plum overseas postings, CBD, Kylar Loussikian/Samantha Hutchinson, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/5/19)
Then this:
"Labor leader Bill Shorten has left the door open to offering former foreign minister Julie Bishop a job if Labor wins government. In a pitch to West Australian voters at a business breakfast yesterday, Mr Shorten praised the high-profile Perth Liberal, saying he thought of her 'very highly'. Asked if she would be offered the position of ambassador to the United States when it becomes vacant next year, Mr Shorten first acknowledged Ms Bishop had said she wants to work in the private sector. He then added: 'I'll certainly be talking to her. I know that her and Penny [Wong] have a very good working relationship... I will always rate her highly. I'm not going to put a name against a label because we haven't even won. But I'm saying to you unreservedly here, I've got a lot of respect for her. Chloe and I know her well. She's a good person... we can't waste talent'." (Shorten considers Bishop for US ambassador role, Judith Ireland, Sydney Morning Herald, 16/5/19)
Bishop? Conroy? Any more spent LibLabs out there, desperately seeking relevance under a possible Shorten regime? I shudder to think.
Bishop first. Her reported comment of January 2014, in Israel, questioning the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, namely, "I would like to see which international law has declared them illegal," should rule her out, both on the grounds of ignorance of international law and common knowledge, not to mention elementary decency. She it was, too, who withdrew Australian funding from the Palestinian Authority on the grounds that it could be given to "Palestinian criminals" in July last year. As the head Labor Zionist, Shorten's words are predictable, but what does Bishop and Wong's alleged "very good personal relationship" tell us about the latter?
Conroy? Good God! Assessed by the astute Bob Carr as having "an umbilical attachment to Israel," Conroy, alone in the Labor Party in 2003, endorsed the Bush/Blair/Howard war of regime change in Iraq.
Showing posts with label Stephen Conroy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Conroy. Show all posts
Friday, May 17, 2019
Friday, July 21, 2017
The Incredible Lady Di
Two union leaders, Diana Asmar, state secretary of the Health Workers Union (HWU), the biggest union within the HSU, and Dr Henry Pinskier, a former vice-president of the ALP, "have described a Health Services Union (HSU) motion supporting a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel as 'anti-Semitic, misguided, ignorant and quite frankly, mad'." (BDS Health warning, The Australian Jewish News, 1/9/16)
They added: "It is not a trade union's job to delve into international geopolitical affairs or to raise misguided and anti-Semitic motions."
In which case then, why has Ms Asmar recently returned from an AIJAC Rambam Fellowship Trade Union Study Visit to Israel, where she "noted how incredible she found it to see Jews and Arabs working together in Israeli hospitals to treat all citizens without prejudice or favour," and "commented on the incredible medical technologies coming out of Israel, expressing incomprehension as to how BDS supporters could want to boycott such life saving techniques." (Returning trade unionists praise Israel at AIJAC function, jwire.com, 30/6/17)
(For the record, the only other Israel-bound unionist named by jwire.com was "Glen Chatterton of the Plumbers Union Service Trade Queensland." They were "accompanied" by Michael Borowick of the Australia/Israel Labor Dialogue (AILD).)
So what kind of unionist is one minute laying down the law that unions shouldn't be bothering their pretty heads with international geopolitical affairs, and the next is up to her neck in a certain international geopolitical affair?
Well, in addition to being an apparent expert on international geopolitical affairs and anti-Semitism, Asmar's certainly an interesting (and innovative) character, as the following profile indicates:
"Asmar is a former Labor mayor with the troubled Darebin council in Melbourne's northwest. As a novice leader of a small to middle-sized union branch, her salary has raised eyebrows inside the HSU, especially after pay packet excesses of [Michael] Williamson and [Kathy] Jackson. Asmar boosted her salary to $182,000 in the 2014 financial year... On $182,000, Asmar was the highest paid union official in Australia... Asmar's perceived mastery of the industrial landscape and how the modern world came to be has prompted some mirth among her colleagues. At a 2013 national council meeting in Sydney, they recall Asmar referring to 'World War Eleven' - apparently mistaking Roman numerals for the higher number. In all seriousness, what her colleagues do find astounding is the remarkable 'cashing out' of a $25,975 paid maternity leave entitlement that Asmar secured for herself in the 2015 financial year... World experts on gender and employment... say 'cashing out' maternity leave is unheard of, and defeats the whole purpose of the entitlement as leave... There is more that is murky about Asmar. During royal commission evidence in 2014, Asmar claimed she did not know about her election campaign funding because she left it to her husband, David, a former staffer of recently-departed senator Stephen Conroy." (From Diana Asmar: Bill Shorten's no 1 union mate, Brad Norington, The Australian, 7/11/16)
They added: "It is not a trade union's job to delve into international geopolitical affairs or to raise misguided and anti-Semitic motions."
In which case then, why has Ms Asmar recently returned from an AIJAC Rambam Fellowship Trade Union Study Visit to Israel, where she "noted how incredible she found it to see Jews and Arabs working together in Israeli hospitals to treat all citizens without prejudice or favour," and "commented on the incredible medical technologies coming out of Israel, expressing incomprehension as to how BDS supporters could want to boycott such life saving techniques." (Returning trade unionists praise Israel at AIJAC function, jwire.com, 30/6/17)
(For the record, the only other Israel-bound unionist named by jwire.com was "Glen Chatterton of the Plumbers Union Service Trade Queensland." They were "accompanied" by Michael Borowick of the Australia/Israel Labor Dialogue (AILD).)
So what kind of unionist is one minute laying down the law that unions shouldn't be bothering their pretty heads with international geopolitical affairs, and the next is up to her neck in a certain international geopolitical affair?
Well, in addition to being an apparent expert on international geopolitical affairs and anti-Semitism, Asmar's certainly an interesting (and innovative) character, as the following profile indicates:
"Asmar is a former Labor mayor with the troubled Darebin council in Melbourne's northwest. As a novice leader of a small to middle-sized union branch, her salary has raised eyebrows inside the HSU, especially after pay packet excesses of [Michael] Williamson and [Kathy] Jackson. Asmar boosted her salary to $182,000 in the 2014 financial year... On $182,000, Asmar was the highest paid union official in Australia... Asmar's perceived mastery of the industrial landscape and how the modern world came to be has prompted some mirth among her colleagues. At a 2013 national council meeting in Sydney, they recall Asmar referring to 'World War Eleven' - apparently mistaking Roman numerals for the higher number. In all seriousness, what her colleagues do find astounding is the remarkable 'cashing out' of a $25,975 paid maternity leave entitlement that Asmar secured for herself in the 2015 financial year... World experts on gender and employment... say 'cashing out' maternity leave is unheard of, and defeats the whole purpose of the entitlement as leave... There is more that is murky about Asmar. During royal commission evidence in 2014, Asmar claimed she did not know about her election campaign funding because she left it to her husband, David, a former staffer of recently-departed senator Stephen Conroy." (From Diana Asmar: Bill Shorten's no 1 union mate, Brad Norington, The Australian, 7/11/16)
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
The Conroy Conundrum
Don the sackcloth and ashes now!
Stephen Conroy, 53, has up and resigned... and, thanks to 20 years 'service' in the Senate, this great man will be getting a cool annual pension of $200,000. Nice.
I know... WTF?! right?
But wait, it gets worse:
In his Diary of a Foreign Minister, Bob Carr described Conroy as "the firebrand of the Victorian Right with an umbilical attachment to the cause of Israel." (p 233)
I know... OMFG!! right?
But what I want to know is why, O why, anyone in their right mind, in the 21st century, other than maybe a certifiably mad Christian Zio, would have such a thing as "an umbilical attachment to Israel"?
I mean, if Conroy wore a pith helmet everywhere, or a monocle, or a Davy Crockett hat, wouldn't you want to know why?
Is it Christian Zionism? Is it parental blah? Priestly blah? Is it Leon Uris? Morris West? Is it patronage? Is it some unholy combination of these? What is it?
Seriously, I'd really, really love to know what IT is.
Stephen Conroy, 53, has up and resigned... and, thanks to 20 years 'service' in the Senate, this great man will be getting a cool annual pension of $200,000. Nice.
I know... WTF?! right?
But wait, it gets worse:
In his Diary of a Foreign Minister, Bob Carr described Conroy as "the firebrand of the Victorian Right with an umbilical attachment to the cause of Israel." (p 233)
I know... OMFG!! right?
But what I want to know is why, O why, anyone in their right mind, in the 21st century, other than maybe a certifiably mad Christian Zio, would have such a thing as "an umbilical attachment to Israel"?
I mean, if Conroy wore a pith helmet everywhere, or a monocle, or a Davy Crockett hat, wouldn't you want to know why?
Is it Christian Zionism? Is it parental blah? Priestly blah? Is it Leon Uris? Morris West? Is it patronage? Is it some unholy combination of these? What is it?
Seriously, I'd really, really love to know what IT is.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
The Carr Diary 12: Reflections 6
In his Diary entry for 27 November, 2012, Carr tells how he received a phone call from Kevin Rudd, "speaking in that sinister undertone that bodes no charity."
You might remember the msm media seizing on this and hyping it as one of the Diary's quotable quotes. Typically, however, what immediately followed it - a matter of far more import - received scant attention:
"Darkly he commented on the state of affairs, rehearsing the history of his relations with the Israel lobby, once so happy, now so gloomy. How much of this is about money, I asked him. He said that about one-fifth of the money he had raised in the 2007 election campaign had come from the Jewish community." (p 232)
He goes on to describe the cabinet meeting from which Gillard emerged, virtually bereft of support:
"So nine ministers spoke against the Prime Minister's position and [defence minister Stephen] Smith had spoken at the earlier meeting. That was ten. On the other side, only two [Shorten and Conroy, described as having "an umbilical attachment to the cause of Israel"] had spoken for her. But the Prime Minister repeated that it was her right to decide and she would adhere to her previous position. Her brisk efficiency descended into a style that was icy and robotic." (p 236)
The next morning Carr informed Gillard, who had obviously learnt nothing from her lack of support in cabinet, what was being planned for the coming caucus meeting:
"I said the motion in caucus would no longer be for Australia to support a 'yes' vote at the UN... but for Australia to support an abstention. I saw fear dance in her eyes. She had not been expecting abstention business." (p 238)
In caucus, Gillard had the choice of either sticking to her guns and going down for Israel, or else caving in and so retaining her position as PM. It was a no-brainer. Carr writes of her decision to finally back down in the face of a caucus revolt against her hitherto adamantine refusal to contemplate anything other than an Israel YES vote (in the form of a Palestine NO vote) with all that that signified: "For a moment at least, the universe was moving in accordance with the laws of justice." (p 240)
He adds: "The Prime Minister... had a word with me outside, saying she wanted help in seeing that the story wasn't pitched in terms of her being done over..." (p 240)
What an extraordinary state of affairs! As I indicated in my 18/1/13 post, The PM Who Put Her Job on the Line for Israel, the day an Australian prime minister took her leadership down to the wire for Israeli apartheid must surely rank as one of the most bizarre and ignominious moments in Australia's political history. The msm media at the time, of course, simply failed to register this. Thank God Carr has chronicled it for us. He will be forever in our debt for having done so. I'll let him have the last word:
"I rang the local ambassador of the Palestinians to tell him the decision. He was thrilled. 'I can show my face in the Arab world,' I joked. I rang [US ambassador] Jeff Bleich to break the news that we won't be sticking to them. But he had been primed with a good line, I guess from the Prime Minister's office. 'I hear you and the Prime Minister stopped a 'yes' vote getting up,' he said. Er, yes, I concurred. I told him it confirmed a shift in thinking in my party - tired of Netanyahu and the bellicose right wing and sick of the spread of settlements. He agreed Israel had lost the public relations battle. He said we couldn't be accused of changing our vote to earn Security Council votes - we didn't promise anything. That's right, we got elected without a commitment and simply delivered. I got a message from James that Yuval was unhappy with the decision and my role in it. It had been my doing. Correct. The column of ten nations, die-hards, glued on Israel supporters - Micronesia and the Marshall Islands - had just been reduced by one. A message to the settlers and the fanatics in Israel, a message to the noble Israeli liberals and moderates, a message to a suffering West Bank population, battered and trapped, a message to the UN membership about Australia, the country they just elected to the Security Council." (pp 240-41)
You might remember the msm media seizing on this and hyping it as one of the Diary's quotable quotes. Typically, however, what immediately followed it - a matter of far more import - received scant attention:
"Darkly he commented on the state of affairs, rehearsing the history of his relations with the Israel lobby, once so happy, now so gloomy. How much of this is about money, I asked him. He said that about one-fifth of the money he had raised in the 2007 election campaign had come from the Jewish community." (p 232)
He goes on to describe the cabinet meeting from which Gillard emerged, virtually bereft of support:
"So nine ministers spoke against the Prime Minister's position and [defence minister Stephen] Smith had spoken at the earlier meeting. That was ten. On the other side, only two [Shorten and Conroy, described as having "an umbilical attachment to the cause of Israel"] had spoken for her. But the Prime Minister repeated that it was her right to decide and she would adhere to her previous position. Her brisk efficiency descended into a style that was icy and robotic." (p 236)
The next morning Carr informed Gillard, who had obviously learnt nothing from her lack of support in cabinet, what was being planned for the coming caucus meeting:
"I said the motion in caucus would no longer be for Australia to support a 'yes' vote at the UN... but for Australia to support an abstention. I saw fear dance in her eyes. She had not been expecting abstention business." (p 238)
In caucus, Gillard had the choice of either sticking to her guns and going down for Israel, or else caving in and so retaining her position as PM. It was a no-brainer. Carr writes of her decision to finally back down in the face of a caucus revolt against her hitherto adamantine refusal to contemplate anything other than an Israel YES vote (in the form of a Palestine NO vote) with all that that signified: "For a moment at least, the universe was moving in accordance with the laws of justice." (p 240)
He adds: "The Prime Minister... had a word with me outside, saying she wanted help in seeing that the story wasn't pitched in terms of her being done over..." (p 240)
What an extraordinary state of affairs! As I indicated in my 18/1/13 post, The PM Who Put Her Job on the Line for Israel, the day an Australian prime minister took her leadership down to the wire for Israeli apartheid must surely rank as one of the most bizarre and ignominious moments in Australia's political history. The msm media at the time, of course, simply failed to register this. Thank God Carr has chronicled it for us. He will be forever in our debt for having done so. I'll let him have the last word:
"I rang the local ambassador of the Palestinians to tell him the decision. He was thrilled. 'I can show my face in the Arab world,' I joked. I rang [US ambassador] Jeff Bleich to break the news that we won't be sticking to them. But he had been primed with a good line, I guess from the Prime Minister's office. 'I hear you and the Prime Minister stopped a 'yes' vote getting up,' he said. Er, yes, I concurred. I told him it confirmed a shift in thinking in my party - tired of Netanyahu and the bellicose right wing and sick of the spread of settlements. He agreed Israel had lost the public relations battle. He said we couldn't be accused of changing our vote to earn Security Council votes - we didn't promise anything. That's right, we got elected without a commitment and simply delivered. I got a message from James that Yuval was unhappy with the decision and my role in it. It had been my doing. Correct. The column of ten nations, die-hards, glued on Israel supporters - Micronesia and the Marshall Islands - had just been reduced by one. A message to the settlers and the fanatics in Israel, a message to the noble Israeli liberals and moderates, a message to a suffering West Bank population, battered and trapped, a message to the UN membership about Australia, the country they just elected to the Security Council." (pp 240-41)
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Australia Post Issues Israeli Propaganda Stamps 3
While the precise origins of Australia's Israel stamps lie shrouded in mystery, we do at least know who was present at last month's launch:
1) The Max Brenner-slurping, BDS-bashing Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Conroy, you'll remember, was one of only two ministers (the other was Bill Shorten) who supported PM Gillard when she wanted Australia to vote against Palestine getting observer status at the UN last year.* As the jta.org report on the launch put it: "The official release Friday in the office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy celebrates the friendship between Australia and the Zionist enterprise that has endured since the battle." (Australia, Israel commemorate 1917 battle with joint stamp, 10/5/13)
2) Israel's Ambassador Yuval Rotem, who "noted the friendships forged between Australian soldiers and Jewish residents amid the 1917 battle." (ibid) Amid the battle!
3) Australia Post's managing director Ahmed Fahour, who said: "The Battle of Beersheba is something close to the hearts of both Israelis and Australians and was a clear choice to feature on the stamp issue." (ibid)
[*See my 28/11/12 post The Powerlessness of One, which also contains a killer quote on Conroy from The Latham Diaries.]
1) The Max Brenner-slurping, BDS-bashing Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Conroy, you'll remember, was one of only two ministers (the other was Bill Shorten) who supported PM Gillard when she wanted Australia to vote against Palestine getting observer status at the UN last year.* As the jta.org report on the launch put it: "The official release Friday in the office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy celebrates the friendship between Australia and the Zionist enterprise that has endured since the battle." (Australia, Israel commemorate 1917 battle with joint stamp, 10/5/13)
2) Israel's Ambassador Yuval Rotem, who "noted the friendships forged between Australian soldiers and Jewish residents amid the 1917 battle." (ibid) Amid the battle!
3) Australia Post's managing director Ahmed Fahour, who said: "The Battle of Beersheba is something close to the hearts of both Israelis and Australians and was a clear choice to feature on the stamp issue." (ibid)
[*See my 28/11/12 post The Powerlessness of One, which also contains a killer quote on Conroy from The Latham Diaries.]
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Powerlessness of One
These two quotes were made for each other:
"Cabinet sources told The Australian yesterday that at least 9 ministers spoke against Ms Gillard's 'personal decision' to have Australia vote against the resolution to give Palestine observer status at the UN. The torrid meeting was described as 'vigorous' and 'willing' with only one minister, Senator [Stephen] Conroy, prepared to speak on Ms Gillard's side and only one other Minister, another Victorian, Bill Shorten, prepared to vote with the Prime Minister." (PM facing rebellion in the ranks, Dennis Shanahan & David Crowe, The Australian, 28/11/12)
"Bob Brown is killing us on this issue through the power of a simple, commonsense message: Bush is an imbecile and Australia should not be a part of his war. Mind you, our position could be worse - Conroy could be in charge. At today's Shadow Cabinet he formally moved that we endorse Howard's deployment of troops and an American invasion of Iraq, irrespective of the UN. Not even the other Big Macs - the US faction of Rudd, Smith and Swan - could support him. All he had was his own vote. Imagine that: the ALP supporting Bush and Howard in the invasion of a country on the other side of the world without UN approval. If we followed the Conroy doctrine, after the next election, Brown would be the Leader of the Opposition." (Mark Latham, The Latham Diaries, 2005, p 211)
"Cabinet sources told The Australian yesterday that at least 9 ministers spoke against Ms Gillard's 'personal decision' to have Australia vote against the resolution to give Palestine observer status at the UN. The torrid meeting was described as 'vigorous' and 'willing' with only one minister, Senator [Stephen] Conroy, prepared to speak on Ms Gillard's side and only one other Minister, another Victorian, Bill Shorten, prepared to vote with the Prime Minister." (PM facing rebellion in the ranks, Dennis Shanahan & David Crowe, The Australian, 28/11/12)
"Bob Brown is killing us on this issue through the power of a simple, commonsense message: Bush is an imbecile and Australia should not be a part of his war. Mind you, our position could be worse - Conroy could be in charge. At today's Shadow Cabinet he formally moved that we endorse Howard's deployment of troops and an American invasion of Iraq, irrespective of the UN. Not even the other Big Macs - the US faction of Rudd, Smith and Swan - could support him. All he had was his own vote. Imagine that: the ALP supporting Bush and Howard in the invasion of a country on the other side of the world without UN approval. If we followed the Conroy doctrine, after the next election, Brown would be the Leader of the Opposition." (Mark Latham, The Latham Diaries, 2005, p 211)
Monday, October 25, 2010
Record Rambam
Rambam (v): To be sponsored by smooth-talking Israel lobbyists in Australia on a grooming session conducted by tough-talking PR people in Israel with a view to the sponsored adopting the missionary position for Israel when called upon in Australia. Usually said of Australian politicians, media hacks and other serviceable community misleaders.
Rambam Fellowship, Journalists Mission, Australia Israel Leadership Forum etc: Formal designations given to the process of rambamming. (From MERC's Dictionary of Zionist Discourse)
This is my 39th post on the subject of rambamming. The practice, as you'll see from the following report in today's Australian, is booming. And, take note, for the very first time, the ABC is getting in on the act. (My own comments in square brackets. Serial offenders (SO) are indicated where known. For the details see my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too):
"The largest ever Australian parliamentary delegation to visit Israel will travel to Jerusalem as part of a dialogue hosted by the privately funded Australia Israel Leadership Forum. Julia Gillard has given approval for 6 ministers and parliamentary secretaries to be part of the trip led by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd [SO]. They will be part of a record 17 members of the House of Representatives and Senate who will take part in the December visit. The other Labor MPs are Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, Industry Minister Kim Carr, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs [In view of our voting pattern in the UN, how fascinating!] Richard Marles and MPs Michael Danby [SO. Labor's unofficial Minister for Israel] and Anthony Byrne. Bill Shorten [SO], the Assistant Treasurer, is expected to join.
"The Liberal Party plans to send 9 members and senators - deputy leader, Julie Bishop [SO], Christopher Pyne [SO], Andrew Robb [SO], George Brandis [SO], Kevin Andrews, Brett Mason [SO], Mitch Fifield [SO], Steven Ciobo and Guy Barnett [SO].
"And the ABC will break with long-held tradition and allow a journalist to attend, political editor Chris Uhlmann. AILF is the project of Melbourne property developer Albert Dadon... Mr Dadon said the record number of participants 'is testimony of the goodwill that exists between Australia and Israel'.
"Asked who was paying for the 17 MPs, Mr Dadon said: 'The general rule for parliamentarians taking part... is that they pay their own way to Israel and we take care of all expenses on the ground except for ministers, who are also paying for their expenses'.
"Five journalists are expected to attend, Uhlmann, Greg Sheridan [SO] from The Australian, Steve Lewis from News Limited, Tony Walker [author of a bio of Arafat] from The Australian Financial Review and Lenore Taylor from The Sydney Morning Herald.
"On the trip, a ceremony will be held at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum to honour William Cooper, the Aborigine who led a protest to the German consulate in Melbourne in 1938 after Kristallnacht (On November 9, 1938, the Nazis launched their first anti-Semitic attack on German Jews, to become known as the Night of the Broken Glass.) While various organisations protested after Kristallnacht, Cooper is the only known individual to have organised a demonstration*. Funding for a 'chair' dedicated to studying resistance during the Holocaust will be formalised. 'It's fitting that the study chair at Yad Vashem that will be researching the resistance against the Nazi occupation during the Holocaust be dedicated to the memory of the only man in the world who had the courage to protest and stand up against Kristallnacht', Mr Dadon said." (Record number of pollies to join tour of Israel, John Lyons) [* See my 2/8/10 post Insufficiently Righteous]
Rambam Fellowship, Journalists Mission, Australia Israel Leadership Forum etc: Formal designations given to the process of rambamming. (From MERC's Dictionary of Zionist Discourse)
This is my 39th post on the subject of rambamming. The practice, as you'll see from the following report in today's Australian, is booming. And, take note, for the very first time, the ABC is getting in on the act. (My own comments in square brackets. Serial offenders (SO) are indicated where known. For the details see my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too):
"The largest ever Australian parliamentary delegation to visit Israel will travel to Jerusalem as part of a dialogue hosted by the privately funded Australia Israel Leadership Forum. Julia Gillard has given approval for 6 ministers and parliamentary secretaries to be part of the trip led by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd [SO]. They will be part of a record 17 members of the House of Representatives and Senate who will take part in the December visit. The other Labor MPs are Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, Industry Minister Kim Carr, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs [In view of our voting pattern in the UN, how fascinating!] Richard Marles and MPs Michael Danby [SO. Labor's unofficial Minister for Israel] and Anthony Byrne. Bill Shorten [SO], the Assistant Treasurer, is expected to join.
"The Liberal Party plans to send 9 members and senators - deputy leader, Julie Bishop [SO], Christopher Pyne [SO], Andrew Robb [SO], George Brandis [SO], Kevin Andrews, Brett Mason [SO], Mitch Fifield [SO], Steven Ciobo and Guy Barnett [SO].
"And the ABC will break with long-held tradition and allow a journalist to attend, political editor Chris Uhlmann. AILF is the project of Melbourne property developer Albert Dadon... Mr Dadon said the record number of participants 'is testimony of the goodwill that exists between Australia and Israel'.
"Asked who was paying for the 17 MPs, Mr Dadon said: 'The general rule for parliamentarians taking part... is that they pay their own way to Israel and we take care of all expenses on the ground except for ministers, who are also paying for their expenses'.
"Five journalists are expected to attend, Uhlmann, Greg Sheridan [SO] from The Australian, Steve Lewis from News Limited, Tony Walker [author of a bio of Arafat] from The Australian Financial Review and Lenore Taylor from The Sydney Morning Herald.
"On the trip, a ceremony will be held at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum to honour William Cooper, the Aborigine who led a protest to the German consulate in Melbourne in 1938 after Kristallnacht (On November 9, 1938, the Nazis launched their first anti-Semitic attack on German Jews, to become known as the Night of the Broken Glass.) While various organisations protested after Kristallnacht, Cooper is the only known individual to have organised a demonstration*. Funding for a 'chair' dedicated to studying resistance during the Holocaust will be formalised. 'It's fitting that the study chair at Yad Vashem that will be researching the resistance against the Nazi occupation during the Holocaust be dedicated to the memory of the only man in the world who had the courage to protest and stand up against Kristallnacht', Mr Dadon said." (Record number of pollies to join tour of Israel, John Lyons) [* See my 2/8/10 post Insufficiently Righteous]
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