Where is this family holiday headed?

When Tony Abbott launched his election campaign in August 2013, he warned us that Kevin Rudd was “running the most dishonest election campaign in our history.”

Tony reassured us right up until the election

He then set about making his place in history

But Tony is gone and the party who thought for six years that he was the best person to lead them and our nation has elected a new leader.

The nation breathed a sigh of relief.

Malcolm would get us back on track to tackle climate change because he knows that Direct Action is an expensive waste of time or, to use his word, “bullshit”.

Malcolm is a proud Australian who would loudly proclaim the need for us to move on from the monarchy and become a Republic and get the ball rolling.

Malcolm has been a champion of marriage equality, realising there is no need to spend hundreds of millions asking the entire population if discrimination is ok.

Surely Malcolm knew what he was talking about when the Coalition promised that, within 100 days of being elected, the “NBN will have a new business plan to ensure that every household gains five times current broadband speeds – within three years and without digging up almost every street in Australia – for $60 billion less than Labor.”

After all, he is the innovation enabler.

Malcolm will get the kids out of detention. He made George Brandis go and talk to Gillian Triggs after all, and Tim Wilson seems less confident of getting her job.

Malcolm also understands that, to tackle the scourge of domestic violence, requires a cultural shift where women are respected at work and at home.

He showed that immediately with the choice of his cabinet. Mal Brough (what menu?), Jamie Briggs (I did nothing illegal), Mathias Cormann (solidarity bro), Peter Dutton (mad f*cking witch hater), Barnaby Joyce (geeze he was just having a drink), Michaelia Cash (I’m no feminist but I’m pissed off with him for interrupting my TURC).

He’s also got Sussan Ley. She’s a woman. And she’s very consultative. Extremely consultative. She’s so consultative she’s having another six inquiries on top of the countless reports she has already commissioned to find some way of dismantling medicare that the people won’t notice.

After fixing education, Christopher ‘the fixer’ Pyne has now gone on to fix industry, innovation and science.

Simon Birmingham seems a nice man. He’s young and we want renewal. Renewal is better than experience or expertise. Perhaps he’ll do better selling the backflip on education funding and delaying the attack on tertiary education. After all, he calmed down the furore over the mistaken text message by pointing out how admirable Peter Dutton was to confess that it was him.

Warren Truss has saved a lot of money by working out reannouncing infrastructure over and over is much cheaper than building it.

And Scott Morrison has fixed the budget emergency by telling us that was just politics. Things are so good we should all be excited. Phew, that was easy.

We’re all just one big happy family heading off on a holiday. Except Tony and his mates are being a bit naughty in the back seat. They keep poking people and just won’t be quiet.

As our previous PM, turned backseat driver, said in his campaign speech:

“… the worst deficit is not the budget deficit but the trust deficit. If you reward bad behaviour, you get more of it. If you reward failure, you just get more failure… send a signal to people in authority that we can forgive honest mistakes but not persistent incompetence and deception.”

 

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About Kaye Lee 1328 Articles
Kaye describes herself as a middle-aged woman in jammies. She knew Tony Abbott when they both attended Sydney University where she studied for a Bachelor of Science. After 20 years teaching mathematics, with the introduction of the GST in 2000, she became a ‘feral accountant’ for the small business that she and her husband own. Kaye uses her research skills “to pass on information, to join the dots, to remember what has been said and done and to remind others, and to do the maths.”

40 Comments

  1. Well said, Kaye. The litany of failure is evident despite the various masks that try to hide it. They know it. The voters know it. It will only take one medium size stuff up by Malcolm himself, for the wheels to go wobbly again.

  2. In over 2 years of holding power… their only claim to fame is stopping the boats and dumping carbon pricing. Pathetic…

  3. But will the majority of the electorate take off their rose coloured spectacles and see that this government will eventually destroy all that is good about this country.

  4. Sharp-shooting there Kaye Lee.

    Good to see these morons get held to account… at least here at AIM… at least we can feel inspired and, maybe even a little innovated – now to get the word out that knowledge is power, not money…

  5. Well said, Kaye.

    It amazes me that we can see all this, yet LNP voters see things through a very strange filter indeed.

    I found this today while searching for politicians’ email addresses. The lack of understanding coupled with minimal command of English is appalling. It is dated early 2015. Read it and weep:

    I have just sent this to Mal Brough.

    Well Mal,

    As a voter on the Sunshine Coast I find it very hard to believe that you

    will have any part of bringing our party to the same cess-pit level as the ALP.

    Driven by the left-wing media and the ALPBC.

    And I thought you people had some sense.

    Bite the bullet and call the Greens ( Commos) and ALP for what they

    are; people who want ONE WORLD Government.

    We should have had a double dissolution at the first knock-back in the Senate.

    Now may be too late.

    The people that voted for you wanted an end to the mindless spending and debt.

    WE STILL WANT THAT.

    I cannot believe that you have been swayed by the mainly left-wing press and

    “Their ABC”. It definitely isn’t ours.

    Malcolm Turnbull is an ALP plant and I find it VERY HARD to believe that you

    people in the party cannot see that.

    He is more left than KRudd and Julia.

    Heaven help us, because I can see that you cannot.

    Abbott needs a bomb up him and he needs to take positive action

    and stop pussy-footing around. But, he needs to be the Captain.

    And I definitely hope the Nationals remove their support if Abbott

    gets rolled and Turnbull gets nominated.

    Heaven help Australia.

    Cheers for now,

    My name

    Another was even worse:

    what a week leader this turnbull – he should have sticked to finance not politics – hes too week and too greenie for my liking – no wonder the abc and the sydney morning herald are leaving him alone – pitty he didnt do somwthing with this left wing group in the abc while he was minister for communications
    i would[*] vote for a party that is as far left as he is – no wonder shorten is not getting ahead in the polls – malcolm is more labour or should i say green than he is liberal national – and what is barnaby doing about letting china having a field day in obtaining a lot of our country – not much
    why sell our country off to foreigners when our brave soldiers died for us to be free

    I think this luminary intended to say he would not vote for…

    These are some of the people voting for the LNP. We won’t convince them with facts — at least while their noses are glued to FOX TV and Murdoch’s horrid propaganda rags, and they listen to delusional, angry, talk-back radio. As I’ve said many times, the first thing any responsible government should do is take Murdoch’s toys away from him. He is damaging people and destroying our democracy with his incessant misinformation.

  6. Succint . I was working on my bathroom renovation t’other day and tearing down some wall lining realised that I was “reforming” the room…a bit like the “reforms” to medicare and education. It appears the the mongrel IPA agenda is still being implemented.
    It’s a pity Roskam can’t get pre-selection: is it that the mongrels of the ruling rabble really don’t like him,either?

  7. Saying that Turdbull is left is rubbish. He is so far right he puts Abbot in the shade, the attacks on Medicare alone are the cruelist cuts I can ever recall, falling mainly on the poorest family’s to try to cope with. There is a petition or two going around on the latest extreme right wing cut, so now we have to pay for blood tests and pap smears, these mongrels never stop. I hope and pray that Australia wakes up to them before the next election. Their cumulative cuts have already consigned some of us to an earlier death.

  8. Feminist rule update: “Mad Witch” is vile, contemptible and sexist. “Dickhead” is perfectly ok. Gotcha.

  9. Except it was Labor action of putting in place Houston’s Expert Panel, recommendations that stopped the boats. The CEF/MRRT should have been left in place.

    This PM is working overtime mopping up Abbott’s failures/mess.

  10. I can recall a time when young, the City of Sydney full large holes in the ground, full of water for a long time.

    A time when property developers went mad, tearing city buildings down.

    Reminds me of what Abbott has achieved. Then as now, more good destroyed than good built.

    Don’t forget the big one, destruction NBNco beyond repair,

  11. Turnbull is NOT a leftie in wolf’s clothing. Turnbull is as an extreme neoliberals as most in his government.

    Don’t get taken in by the perception many on the right are spreading.

    What we see is the real Turnbull in spite wishful thinking of some.

  12. Florence,

    “Dickhead” has the identical character to “c*nt”. It is necessarily gender related. It’s sexist and insulting and we should really stop using it, like we mostly have with “c*nt”. When feminists use it in the context of bemoaning sexism, it’s hopelessly hypocritical.

  13. You make a valid point BB about the gender-based abuse and I admit to taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in that clip of the old guy calling Tony Abbott a dickhead. I will try to remove that term from my lexicon in future. If I was Samantha Maiden I would have laughed too but I think it goes beyond the language used. We are entitled to expect a certain standard of behaviour from Ministers of the Crown (oh for the day when we no longer use that term either) and for Dutton to be showing solidarity with Briggs by abusing yet another woman was beneath what I consider acceptable standards. His language also shows a distinct lack of vocabulary. When he told Roxon to get on her broom, he showed he has no comeback other than abuse. He is an incompetent, rude, belligerent man who has done nothing to contribute to the well-being of this country and its citizens or the poor souls who are unlucky enough to have to beg him for mercy.

  14. Kaye Lee,

    I think we need to strive for consistency in relation to gender-based pejoratives. It’s absolutely appropriate that we speak out against any such thing aimed at women, but we’re being immensely hypocritical if we ignore it with regard to men, and, ultimately, the whole point gets undermined.

    I agree the Maiden thing goes beyond her personally. She can be as “ok” with it as she wants but her personal feelings don’t speak to Dutton’s extraordinary lack of couth, which, of course, remains the whole point. Interesting that Madonna King doesn’t seem to get that.

  15. I agree. It isn’t just men that have to make a cultural shift. I am reminded of the discussion following another article I wrote after Julie Bishop appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. I called the story “Harpy’s bizarre” and was rightly called out for it. The pun was too good to resist but it undermined the point of the article. I was also called out for using the term “unmanned drone”. I thought that one was going a bit far but as the commenter pointed out, drone would have been sufficient.

    As I tell anyone who will listen, we are all ever more beautiful every day and it has nothing to do with mirrors. Listen, learn and improve 🙂

  16. When Tony Abbott launched his election campaign in August 2013, he warned us that Kevin Rudd was “running the most dishonest election campaign in our history.” – Yet again ANOTHER case of Abbott “projecting”.

    We still have the same Libs,minus knights & dames (A policy that does effect any of us either way).Plus with the added bonus of these Libs wanting to increase and/or broaden the GST,and attack workers rights (cut penalty rates).

    Turnbullsh*t is all style and no substance.

    Idiot Abbott is no style and no substance.

    The reasons many people are falling for the CON JOB of Turnbullsh*t is the free ride and promotion by the BIASED MSM.With the same gullible people in the public falling for it.Also,the people falling for the style and no substance.The other reason people fall for the shallow style and no substance: When they are ignorant and do NOT understand the details of policies.A good talker,sounds good to the ignorant.

    Sadly,our democracy does NOT work properly 🙁 – A BIASED MSM owned by too few,and a majority public that are gullible and politically ignorant.Truth be told the public are the biggest problem,cause a more aware intelligent masses would NOT fall for the MSM and/or a good talker like Turnbullsh*t they do. Our so called democracy = A BIG FAILURE.It does NOT work when the ignorant and gullible out number the informed and questioning.

  17. @BYB

    Men were not burned at the stake for thinking with their little head.

    Besides, and this is only my personal experience, but dick head appears to be used regularly by both sexes and can be a term of endearment depending on context.

  18. diannaart,

    Your first sentence seems rather irrelevant, not to mention, sort of odd.

    Your contention that “dickhead” can sometimes be used as some kind of term of endearment applies to c%nt as well. It doesn’t matter to me. Using anatomy as a pejorative is simply wrong and insulting, in my view. If feminists are going to complain about one (and I think it’s appropriate that they do), they need to be consistent and disavow the other.

  19. <

    Does anyone know ………..

    How Jamie Briggs votes in relation to same sex marriage ?

    How Jamie Briggs votes in relation to the church's stance on marriage ?

    How Jamie Briggs family holidays are going ?

    After his unwanted attentions on a Junior staffer.

  20. BYB

    Women were burned at stakes just for being women. They did not have to do anything wrong at all. Add “mad” & “f*cking” to “witch” and it is very nasty comment indeed.

    Men can be dickheads but they didn’t get burned at stakes, for ‘thinking with their little head’. If you cannot understand this… I don’t care.

    The diplomat was judged as guilty for simply behaving like a professional, Briggs didn’t get what he wanted and whined and sought revenge by posting photo, but that’s not all folks, ‘good’ mate Dutton made his judgement on another woman doing her job.

    As for “c^nt” being a term of endearment? Really, If you say so…

  21. diannaart,

    Women were burned at stakes just for being women. They did not have to do anything wrong at all.

    Your ignorance of history is noted. I’ll correct that and the rest of your naivete in a couple of days when I get back on the Net.

    As for “c^nt” being a term of endearment? Really, If you say so…

    This, in particular.

  22. To the point, Why isn’t C pain being queried about his role in the Slipper affair.???. MINERS AT Rio tinto are in negotiations for a pay cut Funny how these sorts of things always happen on the Libs watch. Is M Turnbull to be another lying rabbit???. You you bet you is>!

  23. I can hardly wait, BYB

    You mean, women WEREN’T burnt at stakes? AND evidence of endearments – ‘cunny’ was an endearing term back in 17th Century England.

    Hey, give it your best shot – you are clearly the man for the job.

    I’ll just entertain myself over on Twitter – having a good night, Tim Ferguson just liked one of my tweets.

  24. Well said Kaye Lee,

    confront the hypocrites wherever they are: LNP first, second, third ….one hundredth and Labor interposed where relevant.

    But there are others along the way who settle comfortably into the cracks shown from either side of the political spectrum.

    I want THOSE weasels exposed too.

  25. Kaye Lee, you mention in an earlier post that Briggs is “undecided” on “marriage equality”.

    So he is ok if he scores a leg-over with someone at work, but not sure if his wife should be up to the same thing, say with the milky, while he is about his work time activities?

  26. It seems counter intuitive to quote tiny, but “If you reward failure, you just get more failure…”
    The current government has had two of nearly everything in a time span of two and a half years. Prime minister; Treasurer; Ministers for education, health, defence, immigration, communication, etcetera. Seems to me, it is easier to count the number of portfolio’s that have only had one incumbent.
    The precedence for cabinet re-shuffles in the past was usually a multi term government wanting to ‘refresh’. This current mob of adults in charge seem more fixated on the primary school game of musical chairs, with a tendency to replace one special form of incompetent with another. They play less to music than the shrill shrieks of a small but very vocal group, who are not elected and representative of only the privileged few.
    For the life of me, I cannot think of one ‘competent’ minister. To add insult to injury, they have created a ‘special’ form of incompetence, an incompetence they believe can be concealed by lies and obfuscation. It can come as no surprise that concepts such as integrity and decency are alien to them.
    Thank goodness for sites such as this. Thank you Ms Lee, take care

  27. diannaart,

    I can hardly wait, BYB

    I bet that was a lie 🙂

    You mean, women WEREN’T burnt at stakes?

    Yes, I’m trying to argue something that is self-evidently false. It’s how I amuse myself. You seemed to be implying that incineration for pretty much invented and invisible crimes was a fate exclusive to women. That is untrue. Blokes got lit up like Belisha beacons on a regular basis, witch trials notwithstanding.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_burned_as_heretics
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_burning
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_burning

    Basically the history of killing people for no reason has a long and varied reality. But no history of people being killed for pretty much no greater reason than that of their gender can ignore the greatest example of this of them all. Millions, not thousands or tens of thousands, but millions of men and boys through history have been slaughtered for merely having a penis by the vehicle of military conscription.

    But, it’s not a competition. It has sucked to be a largely powerless human being fairly much forever. Disturbingly, it sill works that way.

    The context of my point about gender based pejoratives was made explicitly regarding an article printed in a reputable media outlet of a woman complaining about sexism whilst referring to men as “dickheads”. For me the irony and hypocrisy of that is substantial. I think we should all cease employing anatomical or any gender specific terms as pejoratives or insults.

    AND evidence of endearments – ‘cunny’ was an endearing term back in 17th Century England.

    I’m not sure why you offered this right after having said to me:

    As for “c^nt” being a term of endearment? Really, If you say so…

    But the bottom line is that in male circles particularly the C bomb can be used as a throw away friendly term as much as “dickhead” is thus employed. “Haha, you silly c__t”.

    For me, none of this matters. Whatever occasional light-hearted applications of either term may exist the fact is they are essentially negative, derogatory terms and most often employed in that sense. I’m sure you get why the C bomb is offensive to many women. It should be because it is. But the reasons why “dickhead” is bad are absolutely identical. It’s the automatic association of gender, through anatomical reference, to a lack of intelligence or character or suchlike. For me, sexist language of this sort will never, ever stop if we ignore an entire side of the equation. That’s all I’m really arguing.

    As for Dutton and his use of “witch”. I’m afraid boofheads like him will have no idea at all of the historical implications of the term and why it’s so offensive. Fools like him will have no sense of why the term is a universal insult and not a personal one. He’d have no more an idea of why the term is unacceptable any more than he would regarding calling another male a c__t.

    Maybe the education he’s receiving on social media at the moment will have some effect. Then again, maybe we’ll finally be able to get blood from a stone.

    Congrats on being hearted by Tim Ferguson. I got hearted by him once too, but I suspect in my case he mistook me for someone else.

  28. Dunno exactly what you have written there, but I skimmed enough words to know it wasn’t “let’s live and let live”.

    Final time I will bother with you BYB (not any relation to Sideshow are you?)

    I was not writing a thesis on “The Persecution of Men and Women Throughout the Ages”.

    I was making a point regarding the use of the word witch compared to dickhead.

    Apparently I failed to be clear and succinct enough for you. No one can claim I did not try.

    Nor am I ignorant, stupid, vapid, naive or any other personal insult you have thrown or wish to throw at me – you have not even met me FFS – for which I am grateful.

    As Adam Hills recommended,

    “Don’t be a dick”.

  29. Backyard Bob,

    it’s occurred to me that you seem pleased to target some of the commentariat, who you might perceive to be easy targets coz they express disgust or dismay at injustice, myself included. (No disrespect intended to those not yet targeted by BYB.)

    Instead of targeting people, who express themselves with passion mixed with gentleness, use your intellectual skills on targeting the politicians, who you presumably agree, are abusing our standards of living and hopes for the future.

  30. Ah, yes, the “targeting people” approach to reproachment. I do like the approach except where it encroaches on the area of reproaches that don’t actually fall within the specified approach or possible encroachment on areas of reproach that don’t involve the obvious exhaustion of this particular pun.

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