Now, If I Say It, It must Be True, Because Liberals Never Lie.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Sure, but do you accept climate change potentially is one of the biggest impediments to growth?
JOE HOCKEY: No. No, I don’t. Absolutely not .
Well, I guess we can just accept that Joe Hockey could be right on this one. After all, climate change could lead to a lot of floods, fires and other devastation. This should be a real pick-me-up for the building industry, shouldn’t it? Impediment to economic growth? I don’t think so.
It’s just a shame that it’s still unclear that the climate even exists, let alone that man could have any effect on it. After all, we’ve been dumping stuff in the ocean for years and, in spite of what that upstart President from the USA has to say, the Barrier Reef is doing just fine, thank you.
As for those ABC cuts, well I think they’ve been well and truly dealt with. As Mr Turnbull implied, while Mr Abbott may have said no cuts to the ABC, the SBS and no changes to pensions, there was no reason to think that he was speaking on behalf of the Liberal Party. Or, indeed, was there any reason to think that he had the authority to deviate from the policies that had been so clearly spelt out by IPA prior to the election.
Of course, all these critics who are complaining (wrongly, of course) that Abbott changed his mind on the ABC, had no problem when he went against his election commitment on pensions. He clearly said they’re be “NO CHANGES TO PENSIONS” in the same interview. Yet, in spite of the fact that the intention was to eliminate all future rises, the government is still allowing some indexation, albeit at a lower rate. We didn’t hear a whimper out of the left on that one!
Now, to quote Scott Morrison from last week:
“And as former president Yudhoyono said, in advice to Australia, you’ve got to take the sugar off the table, and that’s what we’re doing.”
He pointed out that they were “taking the sugar off the table” so many times in that interview that I decided it must be some sort of metaphor and not simply a way off helping Joe to keep his weight down to somewhere near his IQ. A friend helpfully suggested that the metaphor was about making the table less attractive to ants.
“So, the asylum seekers are being compared to ants. What’s the table?”
“The table is Australia.”
“I see. I guess that means that the sugar is what makes Australia appealing. Affordable healthcare, a living wage and the Great Barrier Reef.”
So, I see it all now. Julie Bishop and Andrew Robb are right. The Liberals know what they’re doing with their Reef management. They’re taking the sugar off the table.
Silly old Obama. As if we want foreigners coming over here, telling us what to do. (And don’t say that Tony and Matthias are foreigners – that’s just racist – they’re as Australian as Anzac Biscuits with Vegemite!)
* * *
Peter Reith just wrote that he found it hard to believe that Labor would win this week’s Victorian election, in spite of the polls having them “slightly ahead” (on average, at 54-46%). It defied “common sense” according to Mr Reith.
This morning, Victoria’s Treasurer announced that – a few weeks ago – the Liberals signed a contract for the East-West Link which would entitle the consortium to over a billion dollars, even if Labor kept their election promise and didn’t build it OR the councils opposing it blocked it in Court.
Why did they sign a contract with such a big penalty clause so close to an election?
I guess it was just common sense!
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Peter Ball -
Ricardo29 -
Mic -
rossleighbrisbane -
Jennifer Meyer-Smith -
Loz -
mark delmege -
Jennifer Meyer-Smith -
Möbius Ecko -
Annie B
Return to home pageIn all the years I’ve been around , this current crop of Liberals have to be the biggest Liars I have ever come across . The Liberals will wreck this Country whilst they will tell us its good for us , the sooner they are voted out the better
Interesting views on Qanda last night, Waleed Aly thinks Abbott might be a one-termer, Noel Pearson can’t see it. Sorry Noel but being so far up Murdoch’s fundamental I don’t think you can see what’s happening. Even Amanda Vanstone was muted in her usual blind devotion to the Libs, though couldn’t bring herself to join in the criticism
Climate change is real. My only doubt on the issue is that carbon-dioxide is the guilty party. I certainly have no objection to moving toward sustainable energy sources like wind, tide and solar.
While everyone’s arguing about carbon as the sole cause, no one is keeping in mind that Fukushima is still pouring Gigalitres of contaminated water into the ocean every day. This won’t go away like Chernobyl did. It is seriously a Global Catastrophe that everyone seems happy to ignore.
As far as the politics are concerned, I’ve never been a fan of the Liberals (nor Labor particularly) but, I’ve encountered so many dyed-in-the-wool Liberal supporters who would happily hand over the bullets that were aimed at Tony Grabbit and his thugs.
The latest poll showed a disapproval rating of 54% for Abbott – and that was just the Cabinet!
After Labor, the Greens and the opposing progressive forces win the Victorian election on Saturday, on Monday I want their first collaborative effort to be to tear up that effing East West Link contract and to undertake legal investigation into how the billion dollar damages can be quashed since the people of Victoria were put under duress by the dubious deal between the consortium and the outgoing government.
Otherwise, the outgoing Premier Napthine and Minister for Roads and Public Transport, Terry Mulder, as well as their greedy political backers, can all pay the damages out of their own pockets.
I fear for Australia with this government in power.
Can you imagine how bad this government might look if there was a good opposition party and leader? As for growth its all about how many people we bring into the country and how many houses and shit we build – but that if you think about it is not really growth – and if we were honest we would know that without massive immigration our economy would be as stuffed as Greece or any of the old economies in Europe. This ‘growth’ binge is as stupid as it gets
The massive immigration is putting great strains on our social and economic frameworks.
Some migration is acceptable and compassionate asylum seeker and refugee re-settlement is morally just.
But streaming, relentless immigration at the expense of the living standards and job opportunities of our citizens is not ok.
Mic @ 7:59 am “While everyone’s arguing about carbon as the sole cause”
Whose arguing that? Certainly just about everything I’ve read on the subject, both scientific and in commentary has not stated that. Indeed CO² is not the greatest forcer nor the worst cause, water vapour is worse on many fronts with methane being far more effective as a green house gas. And even with CO², man made is a fraction of the total of natural CO² present in the system.
So why all the emphasis on man made CO² over all else?
It is the most enduring of the green house gases. Methane lasts a fraction of the time in the atmosphere as does water vapour.
It is man-made so it can be un man-made, and the removal of just the man made component has a significant and lasting effect.
We can do little about water vapour.
We can significantly reduce methane and the other green house gases man releases into the atmosphere, and we should as it all helps. But man-made CO² is the long term problem and the one we can do the most about now. Even significantly acting on it now will only see a gradual benefit over a long term as the CO² abates as it hangs around for a long time.
There are other reasons why CO², or more specifically man-made CO² is the main thrust of climate change amelioration, you can find studies on this if you search.
To Jennifer Meyer Smith ( comment November 25, 2014 at 8:03 am )
………..
Agree wholeheartedly with your post. I thought it was one of the sneakiest moves any politician could make – signing the contract for the East West link – just days or a week before the election was called.
Thought Napthine was reasonable, until he did that. …… Made it so people would vote to see something happen for their tax dollar, rather than have to pay for a contract that was never going to be fulfilled ( under Labor ). Very snide manouvre, that one.
As it happens we didn’t fall for it. And the blackmail that came from Canberra ??? They would only contribute ( a lot ), provided it was for the East-West link ONLY.
All tarred with the same brush.