The Courier Mail front page for Wednesday, July 30, 2014 labels Dr Chris Davis a ‘turncoat’.
There’s always an exception to the rule. In Queensland, it’s former Liberal National Party (LNP) member Dr Chris Davis.
Elected to the seat of Stafford in 2012, Davis took on the role of assistant health minister in the Newman Government. He was a critic, albeit quiet, of the former Beattie and Bligh Labor governments over their non-delivery of services, particularly in the area of health.
In March of 2014 he rose to prominence when he broke ranks with his government to defend public hospital doctors when new contracts were enforced with very little consultation. Initially seeking to be a go-between, he spoke at multiple rallies at which no other LNP MP dared to attend. Even during the most devastating of times when his daughter Jessica died in a road accident, Davis continued to front up at meetings to canvass doctor’s concerns and consult with one of the groups of Queenslanders he believed he could best represent.
Meanwhile, in the Queensland parliament, Premier Campbell Newman famously labeled these resistors “rabble-rousers”.
By May of 2014 he’d been sacked from his assistant health portfolio but was battling his own party on a new front over the raising of the political donation declaration limit from $1000 to $12,400. Throughout his battles he’d always maintained a position of “judgement and conscience in the public interest”.
And then he was gone. A resignation on a slip of paper passed late one night to the Queensland Speaker of the House initiated a by-election for his seat of Stafford.
After Labor reclaimed the seat with an 18.6 percent swing, Davis announced his resignation from the LNP and filed an application with the Labor party for membership stating that “the perception in the community is that Labor has the commitment to listen to the electorate”.
On Wednesday the @couriermail admonished him as a ‘turncoat’ and plastered his comments against the Labor party over it’s front page.
However, were Dr Davis’s comments cherry-picked and taken out of context? Mid-afternoon he released the full text of what he’d sent to the news organisation, drawing parallels to the criticism labelled at Tony Fitzgerald QC.
You can read his full statement here.
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The shit that Murdoch's "Opinion News" publishes isn't worth the paper it is written on.
Day after day of :
Hatchet job on Clive Palmer.
Hatchet job on Tony Fitzgerald.
Hatchet job on Doctor Davis.
Just as easy to have a daily lift out section with the broncos on the back page.
With the rest of News Corpse devoted to "celebrities".
No wonder the world views Murdoch's media as "Limited News".
The only thing that can be hoped for is that Abbott gets to mangle Murdoch's eulogy.
And my tip is that it wont be long now.
With any luck he will be buried upside down & in the vertical position.
Thaaaank you, John Fraser – says it all, so I can’t add any more. One of Murdoch’s recent quotes: “Our greatest President was President Lincoln.” Says it all really.
Any propagandist from any tyrannical country on the planet could take lessons from Murdoch on how to control the press, and have it say whatever you want. This type of press actively seeks to manipulate public opinion – in the style of Fox News in America. Sod the ideas of ‘informed debate’ being a prerequisite for a functioning democracy. Fox News is so rampantly politically right wing, and is so unbalanced in its reporting, that it is arguably the BIGGEST THREAT to democracy we have, as it actively misleads – rather than informs – its viewers. The fact that it poses as a news reporting organisation is fundamentally dishonest. It is simply a propaganda arm. This is how Rupert Murdoch and his ilk, would like Australian news reporting to be. And that is why the Courier Mail reports the way it does. It is quite deliberately trying to manipulate rather than inform the public.
Just what did we do to deserve a press like this? We must have been very, very bad in our past lives…..
Both party’s are to blame for courting this power hungry maniac Murdock it is long overdue for Government to step up and brake up the organisation that has destroyed our free press. Who has the balls to do this? If those out there in positions of government cannot see the writing on the wall yet and not prepared to act to reclaim our nation, then catastrophe and anarchy will prevail.
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For the sleuths/Sherlock Holmes out there :
"I found this Article today here : http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/sydney-pr-guru-catriona-pollard-impersonated-by-campbell-newman-supporter-20140731-zz3ts.html
It would appear APN media has 2 odd “Commenters” posting in favour of the LNP.
Both appear to have joined APN media in July 2014.
First up is “judyspeaks” ……. http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/profile/judyspeaks/
then there is “kateryan” …… http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/profile/kateryan/
A Google search of their photos brings up this for “judyspeaks” ……. http://friendfortheride.wordpress.com/tag/haralee-cool-garments-for-hot-women/ …. scroll down and “Haralees” (Haralee Weintraub) profile is available.
Appears she is the CEO of “Haralee.com Sleepwear” and living in Portland, Oregon as of 28 July 2014.
Next is the photo of “kateryan” …. http://smartwomentravelers.com/2010/05/featured-smart-women-traveler-clare-evans/ ….. appears she is an American who does a lot of travelling, as yet no mention of visiting Australia.
Also appears the photo of “kateryan” is associated with a porn site.
Of course there is always the possibility that this is not an LNP dirty tricks program and the owners of the ‘Comments” are using photos of people who are not public figures, but may be using them without Authorisation."
I am posting this across all citizen media.
Who knows perhaps this is a part of Joe Hockeys threats.
Well spotted John Fraser!
I worked at the Courier Mail back in the 1960s, walked out when the support for Joh got too extreme to be credible, but it did have some ethical journalists and editors then; now I wouldn’t wipe my bum with any Murdoch paper.