My Latest Twitter Updates

Attorney-General Robert McClelland is speaking on the release of a Customs & Border Protection inquiry into the Christmas Island wreck… #
McClelland: Inquiry finds all personnel acted in accordance with protocols… #
Michael Carmody, CEO Border Protection: This report is a review and no substitute for the coronial inquiry. #
Carmody: There was no firm intelligence to say the vessel had departed or was arriving at Christmas Island. #
Carmody: The vessel was first sighted 600 metres offshore of Christmas Island. #
The report of the Customs Internal Review on the Christmas Island boat disaster – http://bit.ly/elqXuw (PDF) (via @smurray38) #
The review makes 8 recommendations: 1. A review of policies, processes and procedures. 2. A trial of land based radar surveillance. #
Recommendations: 3. Arrangements for reporting of incidents be confirmed & reinforced. 4. New procedures for SIEVs arriving Christmas Is. #
Recommendations: 5. An officer level de-brief of this incident to enhance interagency command and control capabilities… #
McClelland says the government accepts all the recommendations of the Customs Internal Review. #
Carmody says it is believed around 90 people were on SIEV221 – 40 rescued. #
This is the review's map of the locations of SIEV221, HMAS Pirie and ACV Triton on Dec 15, 2010: http://twitpic.com/3svx2u #
That's a nice glitch on News24 – looked like a tape of the previous hour announcing the McClelland press conference and now black screen… #
Victorian SES says the levee bank is holding in Swan Hill – peak expected later this week or early next week. #
Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings is holding her first press conference: I am willing and ready to grasp the opportunity… #
Giddings: I will continue as Treasurer as well as Premier… Bartlett will be Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. #
Giddings: I have worked positively and constructively with the Greens as a minister and I look forward to continuing to do so… #
Giddings: Voters don't want to be rushing back to the polls – they want stability… but I won't pretend things haven't been tough for Labor #
Giddings: My focus is firmly on the future… I'm proud to stand here as the first female Premier… more than that I'm a Labor Premier. #
Giddings: While I will be a leader in the Labor tradition, I will also bring my own style… I'm down-to-earth, unpretentious… #
Giddings undertakes to provide as much information as possible about the financial challenges facing Tasmania…. #
@citizen_cam At least she's not a family man… #
Giddings: Unemployment is at 5% – whilst we don't control all the economic levers, everything we do is with jobs in mind. #
Giddings: We have many challenges ahead of us when it comes to the state finances – I will lay this out from Feb 15. #
Weekend news reports said Giddings was horrified when she saw the state of the books last month – she's dropping broad hints about that now. #
Giddings: I'm a strong supporter of our forest industry and forestry workers… #
Giddings says she first became interested in politics in 1975 at the age of 3… her mother went to bed for a week over the Dismissal… #
Giddings: I decided that Mr. Fraser must be a bad man – and what do bad men do, they kill little children… my mother said no… #
Giddings: My mother said he won't kill you but he won't hold you hand as you cross the road… #
Giddings: That's what Labor does – it holds your hand as you cross the road… [NB: I think I'm hearing this correctly – check tape later..] #
Giddings says returned Deputy Bryan Green made a mistake and paid for it – he's human, we're all human… #
Green: "Thank you very much for those words, Lara, it's very decent of you." #
Bryan Green: We can be a progressive government moving forward, on the back of a strong economy… #
On foresty, Giddings says business and other groups are coming to the table "off their own back"… #
What ARE we going to do about the decline of once great idiom? #
"Who in their right mind would want to run this country at the moment?" George Negus asks the Prime Minister. #6PM #
Negus to Gillard: "The word I hear from the commentators about your performance is 'disappointing'. How do you think you're going?" #6PM #
#6PM so far: 2 mins introducing "Team 6" – 1 min of news – 3 mins of Gillard – 2 mins of Qld floods – 4 mins of child suicide bombers. #
An "awgy" ? #
#6PM Part 2: 4.5 mins of Gillard's progress – 1 min of Irish govt and Berlusconi's awgies – 15 secs of what's coming up. #
Negus to VC winner Ben Roberts-Smith: "Were you shit scared?" #6PM #
#6PM Part the third: 2.5 mins of VC winner interview and program close. #
So how many of us seriously harboured a fantasy that #6PM would be a serious program? More like 60 Minutes for people who can't concentrate. #
@mprimme Well, I don't know about the commentators but this home viewer knows junk when he sees it. #
@Senexx Then you have a serious advantage over those of us who wasted our time on 10! #
@prestontowers I think he's better than that. It's just futile to expect the commercial networks to do news seriously. #
@Dawkinsb I had forgotten that the 7PM Project is the pinnacle of current affairs television… #
@Davidramli Are you very, very young or just good-natured gullible?! #
@smurray38 I have a very bad feeling about how this year is shaping up…! #
@smurray38 At this rate we're going to have to keep listening to #PM #
@ebony_bennett It's found its feet… of clay. #
@rod_benson Come on, Rod, it was junk and you know it! #
@rod_benson It's not because it was Ten – I think they do news better than the other commercials. But in-depth stuff? No way. #
@Pollytics Well, if you agree it's junk then Ten may as well show The Simpsons instead. At least it tackles issues seriously… #
@rod_benson Do I have to cut my ear off? #
@rod_benson They said they would. The promos talked of taking time to tackle stories in detail. They didn't even try to do that tonight. #
@Pollytics Look, I agree with all that but it's still a triumph of hope over experience. #
@rod_benson It won't last that long! #
@Kimbo_Ramplin This is infinitely better than anything we get elsewhere. My fear is the ABC is about to dumb it down. #
@rod_benson That audience is already on its way to 11. #
The Aust Electoral Commission has an Australia Day electoral enrolment drive. Listen here: http://twaud.io/qfnB #
@ern_malleyscrub Is she deliberately barren? #
If you like economic tables & graphs there's some good ones in this NSW Parlt Library report – http://auspol.info/eOrl10 (via @smurray38) #
@BiteTheDust It's 20.1 here, down from today's top of 22.1 – that's what I call summer! #
@BiteTheDust Although 29 is forecast for tomorrow, rising to 33 by Sunday. Things are deteriorating rapidly… #
@BiteTheDust To be fair, it has been an unusually mild summer. Barely touched the 30s, let alone 40s. Worst is some humidity few weeks ago. #
@smurray38 @adullard World of Sport was the main religious program in those days. #
@adullard St Joseph's or St Kevin's? #
@adullard Dangerously close to my old stomping ground! #
@adullard Just down the road in Mandeville Crescent. #
Parkinson: Why you imported Oprah Winfrey when you've got the Dame (Edna) on your door-step beats me. http://a-pac.tv #
@adullard Sadly, some of them may be related to those who do. #
@adullard Not their mothers! I'm not that old… 1990-2004 era. And as you would know, everyone is related to, or knows, everyone else. #
That's a very nice, quiet scene on A-PAC at the moment, arguably the best political programming of the year so far. #
Doing the Electoral College maths on Obama's 2012 chances: http://auspol.info/fOgMM8 – more pathways to victory than you might think. #
The case for increasing the size of the US House of Representatives: http://auspol.info/h8jmj8 #
@brettwp For some reason, I have an affection for those faithless electors who reverse the order of the ticket. #
A marvellous piece by Peter Sissons on how the BBC covered Royal deaths: http://auspol.info/dW5Ybh (via @Colvinius) #
"Don't go overboard," he said, "she's a very old woman who had to go some time." #
"I can't remember precisely my reaction, but it was far from polite and it included the name of my lawyer." #
Succession planning in China: http://auspol.info/e2ljTQ whilst Belgium can't resolve its election from 7 mths ago: http://auspol.info/dPwudo #
This counter shows Belgium is closing on Iraq for the record of the longest time without a government: http://auspol.info/hx4tSt #
@clubwah Imagine how the Belgians will eventually react to another 17 minutes from their version of Rob Oakeshott. #
@lapuntadelfin On the internet no-one knows you're not a man. #
@smurray38 Re bookstores, did you see this? http://auspol.info/frdbWV #
Just installed the Penultimate app for iPad: http://auspol.info/fIiN1h – this is very useful. #
@nikki_isabel That's true but having just discovered the app I'm quite taken with it. Handy for those times when you can't easily type. #
MySchool: how it gets it so wrong http://auspol.info/fRwvhW #
@smurray38 Hope someone yells out "liar"… #
Great – a 3 second power failure at this hour of the morning. Everything reboots, clocks flash… #