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Flagship Flailing, Coalition Failing

We are now well into the second week of the election campaign and it would seem the Coalition is starting to feel the heat. Their first wake-up call came last week with a distressing result from their own internal polling that revealed the seat of Eden-Monaro is looking very shaky. We don’t know the actual figures but we are told the result was a shocker.

So this week what we are witnessing is, Malcolm Turnbull sounding more and more desperate as he spruiks his utterly dishonest story on negative gearing. No Malcolm, house prices will not fall. They will not rise as savagely as they have in recent times, but surely if you care for young people trying to enter the market, you would welcome that, wouldn’t you?

It seems that, what most people thought would be a walk in the park for the government now appears to be a fight for survival. The Coalition are clearly on the defensive heading towards panic. We know because the majority of their time is being spent in marginal Liberal seats.

 

The desperation was evident this week with comments by “Aussie John” Symond when commenting on Labor’s negative gearing policy, “Well, what I’m concerned about is bringing out a sledgehammer and overnight hitting negative gearing on all established housing across Australia,” he said.

Not true, John.

Peter Martin’s article in The Age, takes a sledgehammer to this and other comments made by Symond and exposes them for their inadequacies. The most obvious being how he has overlooked the fact that Labor’s policy does not impact on existing established houses that are already negatively geared.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 27: John Symond founder of Aussie Home Loans attends the Variety Wharfies Lunch, Sydney?s longest lunch which sees the restaurants of Woolloomooloo?s finger wharf come together to raise money for Variety, The Children?s Charity, on June 28, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The reality is, anyone could still purchase an existing home up until July 2017 and still gain the benefits for as long as they own the house. That doesn’t sound like much of a sledgehammer to me.

Another blatant piece of mis-information centres on Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement on Sky News last Friday. Turnbull said that Health minister, Susan Ley had reached agreement with Pathology Australia that bulk billing arrangements would continue.

Not true, as it turns out. The government has agreed to delay changes to bulk-billing incentives, which were slated to save the budget $650 million over four years, until after the election. The AMA has warned the deal would still mean cuts to bulk-billing incentives for pathology services.

It seems, also, the plan does not apply to diagnostic imaging such as X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), positron emission tomography (PET) scans or mammograms, therefore patients could be left with hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars in up-front costs.

1cd13b811baca9362b12fa12232dab87The cuts are still there, they are still taking 650 million dollars out of health out of health over the next four years,” AMA President, Dr Owler told Sky News.

“Pathology Australia has said to me they have not guaranteed that there won’t be a change in bulk billing rates in pathologists, they don’t have the ability to make that guarantee.”

The changes to bulk-billing incentives revolve around the government introducing legislation to ensure the pathologists are charged fair rents for their collection centres. It will be up to the centres to decide if the benefits from that legislation are passed on.

Meanwhile, we can see that internally, the Coalition is in meltdown with Peta Credlin referring to Malcolm Turnbull as “Mister Harbour-side Mansion” and Sophie Mirabella, who may have self-destructed over a $10 million commitment that might or might not have existed, claiming her own party is leaking damaging information about her.

This week also, Malcolm Turnbull went to Darwin and tried to paint Labor as being soft on border protection. It didn’t work, but it tells us that if they have nothing more to contribute than tired old Abbottisms, their so-called 10 year plan, which seems to be their flagship, is already flailing and they are already flapping back to their favourite sloganeering.

dutton_sad_638That is evidenced by the latest inflammatory outburst by Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, on the literacy and numeracy skills of asylum seekers.

It all adds to the developing pattern of appealing to the lowest common denominator. It is another sign of the deep concern held within the Coalition.

Meanwhile, Labor’s Bill Shorten is on the offensive, announcing responsible, costed policies, also working marginal Liberal seats and seemingly having the time of his life.

So let’s see what happens next week.

19 comments

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  1. Steve Laing - makeourvoiceheard.com

    Have they gone too early on the xenophobia ticket? That bullet normally stays in the chamber until later in the campaign.

    Looks like Mirabella has been left out on the vine to rot. No money from head office, and Joyce pushing the Nationals candidate.

    Turnbull looking increasingly hollow. The lack of policy gives him nothing to talk about for two months. They already look like a spent force. All I’ve heard is that Australia’s future is to be a manufacturer of high tech weaponry. Though given the cuts, we’ll have nothing left to defend!

  2. jim

    Great post,along with their flailing the LNP still have the same abbot agenda to assist the big end of town it’s never been more glaring vote LNP out .

  3. David

    More concerning for the now than Dutton’s blatant continuation of demonising legal Asylum Seekers, backed up by Turnbull, is the ongoing David Feeney monstrous stupidity over his failure to declare his 2 million plus property and now its revealed he has been doing a Hockey, charging taxpayers the $270 a night travel allowance to stay in an apartment in Canberra during sitting weeks which is owned through a trust by his wife Liberty Sanger.
    There are always cockups during a campaign, but these two coming from the shadow Justice Minister no less a bridge too far. Sure the Govt is not hammering it too much, they have form in both disasters but the Murdoch media is flogging it and ongoing as they pour over ever entry in Feeney’s register.
    Bill Shorten has 2 choices for mine, ride it out which will send more votes to the Greens and Indies, the public have indicated they have had enough of politicians snouts in the trough. or quickly as in today suggest to David he offer his portfolio resignation and depart to the back bench or sack him.
    Just when everything is motoring along at a good steady pace for Labor, an idiotic free kick from one of his own. I thought David Feeney’s
    excuse was too hard to swallow, rorting by the Libs was rife, labor had hammered it in the House, the Speaker lost her job because of it, but he forgot. Unbelievable, he has to go.

  4. Backyard Bob

    Looks like Mirabella has been left out on the vine to rot. No money from head office, and Joyce pushing the Nationals candidate.

    Cathy can kiss Indi goodbye. It was cynical of the Government to have a Nationals candidate, but that will screw McGowan’s chances completely. I hope to be wrong, but I doubt I will be.

  5. my say

    The polls have really surprised them ,it is only week two and already they have bought out their hate and fear scare campaigns ,so desperate they have found their own Tampa,
    Yesterday it was enough to make you scream when Turnbull and Abbott campaigned together standing in front of boats for their photo shoots
    If this wasn’t a reminder to vote the Liberals out then we are in dire trouble

    ,

  6. Douglas Evans

    Turnbull et al might be starting to panic but the figures suggest that rumors of the Government’s demise are … well, premature. Try as I might, juggling Anthony Green’s House of Reps calculator against the Poll Bludger’s weekly aggregated poll results I can’t get Labor closer than 8 or 9 seats shy of forming government. Although Australia wide ‘Bludger Track’ has Labor in front by a whisker 50.1 to 49.9 it still trails in NSW 51.5 to 48.5, Qld 53.5 to 46.5 and SA 51.1 to 48.9. Labor’s negligible lead on Bludger Track is due to an unreasonably large swing against Turnbull government in WA (currently 10.4%) that William Bowe (the Poll Bludger himself) expects to shrink. Labor may yet get there but they are still a fair bit shy of the mark.

    As for that right wing creep David Feeney. If he loses his seat to the Green candidate Alex Bhatal – as he richly deserves – his ONLY notable ‘achievement’ in his lamentable time representing Labor in Canberra will be his leading role along with the similarly lamentable Karl Bitar in replacing Rudd with Gillard. He was imposed on the electorate against the wishes of the local members by the Party leadership as the result of a factional stitch up. He has done nothing for his electorate in the time since with his energy totally consumed by the factional machinations of the Labor Party. He perfectly embodies all that ails the ALP at present and if there is any justice in the world he will get the boot at the election.

  7. Douglas Evans

    @Backyard Bob
    There is still hope for Cathy McGowan. If she is seen by the electorate to have done a good job she might just get a majority in her own right. When Adam Bandt was elected for the first time in the Seat of Melbourne it was on the back of Liberal preferences. When Libs and Labor decided to trade preferences in an attempt to dislodge him at his second election he was well enough regarded within the electorate to get a majority in a three way contest without the support of either.

  8. Zathras

    As for Indi, I don’t think Mirabella is seen as any sort of asset for the Liberals.

    She’s a reminder of a period of unpleasantness they may hope we have forgotten and I doubt that Turnbull would be likely to put her on the front bench if he wins.

    They would probably do better to run another candidate for that seat without Mirabella’s baggage but it’s too late now.

  9. Graeme Henchel

    Jobs and growth, jobs and growth
    The snake oil man repeats
    Jobs and Growth, jobs and growth
    The latest dumb deceit

    We have a plan, we have a plan
    From the Smurk who likes to sneer
    We have a plan, we have a plan
    what it is, is never clear

    Their plan is very simple
    It will work well with the dumb
    Say plan or jobs or growth
    At every chance, ad infinitum

    Throw in some “it’s labor’s fault”
    And labor can’t be trusted
    Bash asylum seekers
    It’s all but done and dusted

    But Shallow Mal has got it wrong
    He’s not learnt from the past
    Slogans worked well for the thug
    But they didn’t save his arse

    Or course there’s some who’ll buy it all
    The waffle and the lies
    But most have woken up to Mal
    He’s Abbott in disguise

  10. diannaart

    @John Kelly

    Nice recap of weeks events. Malcolm most definitely the hollowest of the hollowest… Thinking Chaser Team genius

    @Steve Laing

    Good point on the xenophobia ticket – too soon? I hope so, the rhetoric on refugees continues to sicken.

    @ByB

    Thinking you may be wrong about Cathy McGowan – popular, has done good job – why would people want a change? Ding dong Mirabella’s gone…

    @Douglas Evans

    Not weeping for David Feeney… rather a Greens replacement than a right wing Labor pollie.

    @Graeme Henchel

    ROFL

    Which occurs first; the jobs or the growth?

    I believe we need growth BEFORE more jobs are created, but what would I know? Malcolm thinks jobs and then growth… before jobs or growth, we need investment…

  11. brickbob

    Dirty Dutton has soiled his and the Nations pants once again,””” get rid of him.””””

  12. Florence nee Fedup

    I wonder if most voters are interested in border security, Where are the polls putting it top of list of most people’s concern.

    I know the government & commentators are bit who else.

  13. Rob McCulloch

    Aussie John Symonds is on the record as saying ~ in a 2013 interview ~ The EXACT OPPOSITE~ John Symonds then said that Negative gearing was “grossly distorting House Prices upwrads” and “giving Investor Purchasers an unfair Advantage over all other HOME BUYERS” ~ This maybe was before his “Harbourside neighbour” ~ Mister Harbour-side Mansion Turnbull ” called in” a few Favours and begged Ausiie John to “rattle the can of Facts” in Malcolms Favour.
    To be fair – he does have to live in the same street at “twinkle-toes” Mal ~ who’s up to his “Agility and Innovation” ~~~ as he ever so recklessly “handles the Truth”

  14. Carol Taylor

    Douglas, there is also a good change that by running a candidate against Mirabella, that the Nats have split the vote. There is nothing to suggest that any NP vote will necessarily flow to Mirabella rather than Cathy McGowan. Having already stated that they did not want Mirabella to represent them, is the electorate inclined to give her a 2nd chance..not going by Mirabella’s current dummy spit which would indicate that things aren’t going all that well for her.

  15. Carol Taylor

    Rob, ah yes good old Aussie John who has suddenly decided that “grossly distorting House Prices upwards” is a good thing – especially for his profits and commissions. As a campaign strategy..conclusion: dismal fail..therefore moving right along it’s “next please” and we’re onto the topic of “evil foreigners” who can’t even speak English..4 other languages, just not English.

  16. Keith

    I watched the Press Conference debate on climate change involving Hunt and Mark Butler. Hunt tried to give the impression that Australia is streets ahead in relation to other countries in what they are doing. Squandering a couple of billion dollars on direct action was promoted as great policy by Hunt. He tried to give the impression Australia was a leader in the Paris deliberations; he did not acknowledge the negative gongs Australia received.

    If climate is not tackled in a very proactive way; we will not have a smooth economy in twenty years time.
    Cape Grim monitoring station has just reached 400 ppm of CO2; the station at Mauna Loa in Hawaii is approaching 408ppm CO2. But, should the increase in CO2 measured in the atmosphere continue at the rate it is increasing at present; then, 450 ppm of CO2 will be reached before two decades have elapsed.

    Currently, millions of people are at huge risk of a major famine and lack of water resources in India and South East Asia; just hope the monsoon season serves them well. Sadly, many Indian farmers have committed suicide through the damage done to their farms.

    If you care about your family, your friends, and neighbourhood you will give the COALition the flick in relation to their climate change policy, and push Labor hard to improve their policy. On a global basis the Shenhua and Carmichael mines are mutually exclusive to safe climate change policy.

  17. Florence nee Fedup

    That debate at NPC should have got better run in the media. That much else going on, it went under the radar.

    Most knew dirt tricks was coming but last nights raids by AFP would have surprised all. 22 or more homes raided throughout the night, with Foxtel in full tow beats all that any could have thought up.

    Not a security document, not even cabinet document. A document that bought up at a senate estimate hearing, which should have been presented when requested. Showing the inner workings of NBN. A document that embarrassed Turnbull. A document they claimed never existed. Seems to be a action of a whistle blower.

    What crime if any, has Conroy or the staff target committed. Conroy is no more guilty any crime than Turnbull was during the Grech/utegate affair.

    Why the need for so many police. Family homes, I imagine with wife and kids have had to endure police in the home until 5 am this morning. How can the police justified such behavior. Judges condemned police for such action when doing searches under warrants during TURC hearings. Not necessary.

  18. Pingback: Flagship Flailing, Coalition Failing | THE VIEW FROM MY GARDEN

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