Thanks to Bill who writes:

Michael,

Speaking of their ABC, apparently the end of Outside Insiders isn’t quite as nigh as I thought it was, yet!

Thanks to Phil Coorey & David Speers for chatting!

Thanks to Underminder who writes:

Not the NSW Police first rodeo.

Too busy learning about hurting people's feelings at the academy to bother with common sense?

'Body-worn camera footage shows police handcuffing 81-year-old nursing home resident'

piug

Thanks for the clip Underminder - watch Albanese, not Biden.

BIDEN TO REPORTER: “Shush up, ok?!”

pic.twitter.com/shbunUzZaI

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 20, 2023

Imagine the outcry if Trump had told a reporter to “Shush up”

But ..it’s OK that the Dribbler does it. 

I am writing this because no one at the ABC — whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest — has uttered one word of public support. Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don't hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.

Supporters of Australia’s Constitutional Monarchy will be heartened to know Peter Fitz is inadvertently on their side.

His track record is magnificent. Everything he backs goes the other way .. or just turns to poop.

Pirate Peter is slowly becoming Punchline Pete.

Liberal members boo and stage a walk-out on Liberal leader John Pesutto at the party’s state council meeting in Bendigo #springst pic.twitter.com/xxAiy5OlJq

— Annika Smethurst (@annikasmethurst) May 20, 2023

I've received a number of notes from members of the Victorian Bar who are quite properly furious about their leadership's public support for Albanese's Voice.

This note is typical:

Dear colleague,

I write to you in response to the Bar’s forthcoming Poll on whether, in essence, the Victorian Bar should become involved in a political issue. 

I have been following with dismay the debate regarding the Bar Council’s apparent intention to support the ‘Voice’ and I am extremely concerned about the direction in which this will take the Victorian Bar, an organisation I love and of which I am very proud.  

While individual barristers are free to support any political issues as they see fit, the institution that is the Victorian Bar must remain staunchly independent and must be above politics.  We, as its members, must carefully guard its independence and be constantly vigilant and must not allow its independence to be compromised in any way. 

The Victorian Bar must be and remain ‘independent’ in the purest, truest meaning of that word.   

Its independence underpins the very high standing in which it is held by governments, the legal profession and, more generally, the community. That independence is why its views on issues such as the rule of law, legal aid funding and sentencing are listened to with great respect. 

Allowing the Victorian Bar to descend into political debate on any topic, as the Bar Council seems intent on doing, will erode the Bar’s standing and we, its members, should resist this at all costs. For the Bar Council to do this, contrary to its constitution and the Bar’s best interests, suggests arrogance. 

To retain the Bar’s independence, I urge you to vote at the forthcoming Poll and inform the Bar Council that you are against it committing the Victorian Bar to any political view on the Federal referendum.  

The Poll apparently opens on Wednesday, 31 May 2023.   

Kind regards,

Thanks to reader John P for this: