Day to Day Politics: What a pack of ineffectual fools.
Sunday 11 September 2016
1 On the eve of Malcolm Turnbull’s first year in office on Wednesday, what has become clear? The thing that is indelible in my mind is that we now know that he wanted the job more than he wanted to implement any sort of personal agenda for the country. That he gave up many long-held personal beliefs in order to live at the Lodge. We also know that he was a staunch supporter of Tony Abbott’s policies despite having criticised them.
On top of that, despite saying that his government would be more reasoned in style, the truth is that it is no better than Abbott’s robust lying demeanour.
After one year he has said that his greatest achievement is implementing a sound economic plan. If that’s so then it is one of life’s mysteries that the vast majority of the population haven’t a clue as to how it works.
When asked to name the government’s achievements prominent Liberals were at a loss to name any.
In yesterday’s Liberal Party Newsletter (The Australian), Peter Costello blasted the Turnbull Government saying they have failed to set out a clear vision. The party, he said, lacks vision as compared to the Labor Party.
Costello also stated the Liberal Party is supposed to be custodian of small government and low tax. He says they cannot give up this traditional ground
They do not seem to know what they stand for or where they are taking the country.
Probably his greatest achievement was that he contained the Coalition’s losses which would have been much greater had Abbott gone to the election as leader.
His graceless speech on election night is firmly engrained in the electorate’s mind as is his hypocrisy.
In the time that has elapsed since the election there has never been a hint that he and his government failed to meet community expectations and needed to perform better.
It was as if their born to rule mentality had been questioned and like chastised schoolboys they weren’t happy about it.
To quote social researcher Hugh Mackay:
“There’s a history of leaders who get an electoral shock acknowledging that they have heard the message, but not a hint of it from this government.”
“They were crowing as if they’d won the Olympic gold medal and it didn’t matter what the margin was.”
To make matters worse the future looks dank and Turnbull has a ministry of well-educated people who haven’t a clue as to how to govern outside of extreme ideology. The Ministry is populated with people who come across as nasty types, or at least give that impression.
Then there is an expectation that Turnbull won’t last the distance and Abbott is waiting in the wings ready to take over.
And if you think the worst is over, you would be wrong. Mountains of leftover unpopular policy going back to 2014 is yet to pass the Senate. The next session of parliament is sure to have its share of fireworks.
No, there is nothing you could point to as achievement in the first year of Turnbull’s tenure and the next looks like being a repeat of the same. Andrew Bolt gave Abbott a glowing report after his first year. I wonder what he will give Turnbull?
2 The Prime Minister said of the proposed the West Australian plan for a new $7.2 billion mining tax:
“It obviously sends a very troubling message to mining companies and other people considering making long-term investment,” he said.
“It’s a state issue, of course, but we view with great concern, as does the whole business community, the imposition of substantially increased taxes on particular, nominated companies.”
The acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said:
“The proposal was a matter for the state government and he would not run down any proposal that was designed to get a better deal for its constituents.”
Strange how things change when you’re in Government. You might recall that Barnaby called Labor’s mining profits tax a “debacle” and a “shambles” and even criticised respected senior public servant Ken Henry for proposing it in his comprehensive tax reform review.
My thought for the day.
“Current experience would suggest that the Australian people need to take more care when electing its leaders”.
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Jane Rayner -
jim -
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Klaus
Return to home page$hallowMal is living down to all the expectations I had of him after his disastrous short lived time as LOTO.
He showed then that he had none of the leadership qualities needed to be LOTO, and crrtainly none of the qualities required to be PM.
He is a vain, seriously untalented popinjay who lacks any of the qualities needed to govern a chookhous,e let alone a country.
I seriously hope that he won’t be able to implement any of the Liesalot “policies” he has espoused and that even his most ardent supporters will soon desert and replace him.
Unfortunately, there is no hope that there is any chance of him being replaced by anyone with a scintilla of decency or talent as the Liars have never been populated with anybody with a skerrick of the qualities needed to get us through tough times.
Hey great post again, if only Australia had a truthful media we could have a proper democracy, instead of the spew we have of making one party look stupid and the other look grand, if only Australians knew where we’d be without the ALP blocking most of the cruel harmful policies of the lying Turnbull/ abbot government, then democracy would suffice, as it is now it’s almost impossible and I have to give it Mr Shorten and the ALP for fighting for us all.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2817-right-wing-governments-increase-suicide-rates/
Well if they put Abbott back their should be another election, we did not vote for Abbott as leader!
Michael, we did not vote for Malcolm as leader. We ( well, many) voted for the party he lead (?). If the party the electorate chose to put into power changes leader, we have a new PM. I imagine that you should already know this, so why call for another election?
Malcolm is the cherry on the top of a huge, steaming pile of ordure.
They hope we’ll be fooled by the cherry and swallow their abysmal attempts to govern for the people they feel really matter, those with huge profits, no morality and zero social responsibility.
“Current experience would suggest that the Australian people need to take more care when electing its leaders”.
No truer words have been spoken.
We now have TWO failures; I would have thought that the Abbott experiment was one too many, No, we did not learn, we now have our second failure….
So much so, that the words spoken after the coup ( It’s never been a better time to be an Australian), have an eerily hollow ring to them.
I am worry that this inept government will create something to fool the electorate again.
The opposition need a very well displayed discipline so they can attack the government free of unnecessary distractions.
So far Malcolm is the popular leader against Bill and if Malcolm drop further IMO we will see a big revolt within the Liberal Party.
The LNP Degenerates’ denialism that they are the worst government under both Abbott and Turnbull, will come back to bite them on the bum.
The fact they don’t acknowledge how much the Australian people demonstrated their disgust on 2 July, is more reason for that vengence to be felt doubly harder next time, which will be sooner rather than later.
They won’t get any pity from me when they bite the dust.
John
Your “My thought for the day.
“Current experience would suggest that the Australian people need to take more care when electing its leaders”.
Needs bearing in mind
A story, {well, a prediction from years ago}
Fizza the Rooster
Sophie was in the fertilized egg business. She had several hundred young pullets and ten
roosters to fertilize the eggs.
She kept records and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.
This took a lot of time, so she bought some tiny bells and attached them to her roosters. Each
bell had a different tone, so she could tell from a distance which rooster was performing. Now,
she could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.
Sophies favorite rooster, Fizza, was a very fine specimen but, this morning she noticed old
Fizza’s bell hadn’t rung at all! When she went to investigate, she saw the other roosters were
busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets hearing the roosters coming, would run
for cover.
To Sophies amazement, Fizza had his bell in his beak, so it couldn’t ring. He’d sneak up
on a pullet, do his job, and walk onto the next one.
Sophie was so proud of Fizza, she entered him in a Liberal sponsored chook Show and he became an overnight sensation among the judges and the Liberal glitterati
The result was the judges not only awarded Fizza the “No Bell Peace Prize” they also
awarded him the “Pulletsurprise” as well.
Clearly Fizza was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out
how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the
unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention?
The moral of the story?
Vote carefully in the next election.
You can’t always hear the bells.
Peter F- you are correct with what you say but sadly a large portion of the electorate do (as as Michael Lacey posits) believe they are voting for the leader. The same portion couldn’t name their local candidate/MP
Perhaps a by-product of political donation reform would be that candidates/MPs would have to be more engaged with the potential voters
I cry, go hide, come back, and cry some more. When will this misery be over?
What we are seeing today is the flowering of the seeds planted by John Howard when he ousted from the Libs anybody remotely politically, religiously, culturally or economically moderate. The weeds have grown tall on IPA manure but unfortunately for Mal and the rest of the Libs this garden stinks.
I so admire John’s articles in AIMN that they have become an everyday must read for me. I usually totally agree with him and , furthermore, he provides new insights and information that I missed in my overview of politics. The articles are all wonderful reading. I thought I was a political tragic too, but I pale into insignificnace when compared to John’s oversight and reach into our political domain. Please keep up the good work, you are much appreciated by many.
In hindsight, I would even question whether he had long held beliefs. More likely, the charade was more suitable at that time, than any other. The man is hollow, without character. His only proven/remaining ambition appears to be “wanting to be PM”.
Beyond that, shallow as a flat soup bowl.