Abbott’s Ever Diminishing Campaign Options

August 30, 2015
Written by: John Kelly
58 Replies

I read online Friday morning that Australian Border Force were planning to conduct visa checks across the Melbourne CBD starting the same day and continuing over the weekend.

I read that the ABF would be “positioned at various locations around the CBD” and they would be, “speaking with any individual we cross paths with.” They warned Melburnians to “be aware of the conditions of your visa; if you commit visa fraud you should know it’s only a matter of time before you’re caught out.”

At first I thought it was a piece of satire but on closer view I realised it was wasn’t. What on earth did it mean? I don’t have a visa so if I went into the city should I take my passport with me? If I’m accosted and don’t have any identification on me, will I be apprehended?

The messages were very clear. The ABF were up for interrogating anyone on the streets. I decided I would stay home. Then later in the afternoon I learned that, in a ‘William Wallace’ type twitter call to arms, the concerned citizen response was swift and united.

A crowd of several hundred complete with banners, megaphones and plenty of spirit converged on Flinders Street Station. To borrow the now immortal words of one of our favourite sons, the late Ted Whitten, they ‘ stuck it up them’.

It happened, I read, because the Twittersphere went viral.

One can’t help feeling for the Victorian Police. A body the majority of Victorians view with the greatest of respect, was somehow blindsided, along with Yarra Trams, the Victorian Taxi Directorate and others, into playing ball with the Australian Border Force when the ABF had no real idea what they were doing.

As a result of the protest the entire exercise was cancelled and the blame game began. The MSM were in no doubt that the real culprit was Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Whether he was or wasn’t became irrelevant when the broader reality dawned.

Up until yesterday national security was the only issue the Coalition had in their kit bag that they hadn’t already stuffed up in a monumental way.

‘Border Farce’ as it quickly became known, has taken care of that. While it’s anybody’s guess when the next election will be held, one gets the feeling that the government is fast running out of winnable strategies to take to the people.

National security was going to be front and centre. Having now missed that bus, one would think that all their efforts will be concentrated on the Trade Unions.

No, hang on, they stuffed that up too. Whether Dyson Heydon stays or goes won’t matter. His personal query directed to Bill Shorten that he was “concerned about his credibility as a witness” has sort of rebounded, quite spectacularly.

They can’t campaign on health, education or infrastructure without making people laugh. Nor on our reputation overseas which has gone from sound and steady, to mockery and derision.

Science and Technology are two more no-go zones for fear of the gasps that would come from an incredulous public. They could have a crack at renewable energy technologies but that would be a bit hypocritical.

They will also have to be careful how they play the ‘economy’ card. If you juxtapose their record over the past two years with their rhetoric leading up to the 2013 election, it makes for a litany of confusion and contradictions reminiscent of Joh Bejelke Petersen’s days as Queensland premier in the 1970s.

When Joe Hockey said he would produce a budget surplus in his first year and each year thereafter, he unwittingly demonstrated how ill equipped he was for the job. We all know how that’s working for him now?

Both he and the Coalition are also seriously compromised on the ‘How are you going to pay for it’ wedge. Joe Hockey is presently unable to tell us how he would fund the intended tax cuts he so desperately wants before he reveals any other goodies he might be contemplating.

They can hardly campaign on their overall performance either because they haven’t done anything…oh wait..yes, they got rid of the carbon tax and the mining tax and stopped the boats.

In the meantime they doubled the budget deficit, added $1 billion to the national debt for each week they have been in government and broken so many promises that any promise they make this time around, will only be met with more fits of laughter.

If Tony Abbott is still at the helm when the election is called, it is difficult to see them mounting much of a campaign at all. If Scott Morrison is the new PM then the extreme right wing of the party will have shot themselves in the foot.

If it’s Malcolm Turnbull, there will be some hope but given everything else that has transpired, it is hard to see him restoring enough confidence back into their copper veins any more than Kevin Rudd did for Labor in 2013.

Turnbull’s performance with the cost blowout of the now second rate NBN has left him looking quite sheepish and vulnerable. He’s also a republican which won’t help. Then we have Julie Bishop who has never been seriously tested and, I think, would not cope with the pressure.

They have, in fact, limited their options so severely that their only weapon will be fear. That might work but then again, they wouldn’t want to promote the ABF as the nation’s great protector.

Their last resort would be to try and convince the more gullible within the electorate into thinking that no matter how bad they are, the alternative will be so much worse.

Given how bad they have been themselves, that would really stretch the limits of our imagination, wouldn’t it.

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BlinkyewokAugust 30, 2015 at 12:15 pm

Well said. What is left for their inevitable 3 word slogans?

Kaye LeeAugust 30, 2015 at 12:29 pm

They have already started on a “who do you trust” campaign. It would be a very dangerous path to take because Labor could run an ad listing all of Tony’s broken promises complete with film clips and headlines.

Joe keeps quoting job creation figures that are totally spurious. Labor MUST nip that in the bud which is easily done by looking at ABS figures for the number of people employed and the aggregate monthly hours worked and population increases.

They will try to cast blame for the holding up of Adani but the reality is Hunt could have just fixed his paperwork and resubmitted it. It is increasingly apparent that the project just isn’t viable so once again a dangerous one to highlight.

We will hear about Free Trade agreements but if they refuse to allay the fears about labour market testing and ISDS clauses then that too could prove problematic. Why they won’t just listen to those concerns and fix them is beyond me. It hints at labour mobility being a crucial part of the deal from the Chinese side.

Growth is being propped up by creative accounting but they have to remember there will be a PEFO produced.

If we are relying on bracket creep to fix the deficit but then are offering tax cuts to fix bracket creep and boost pre-election polls, the budget is also on shaky ground.

Stopped the boats, axed the taxes, signed FTAs – will that be enough?

But then again, I didn’t think Tony Abbott was electable in the first place.

SteeleyeAugust 30, 2015 at 1:00 pm

It’s hard to disagree with anything in John’s article … in fact, it’s just about impossible. The three word slogans are surely just around the corner – along the lines of ‘Safe with Coalition’, and similar meaningless tripe. However, despite the collective despair of most correspondents on these pages at recent Government shenanigans, whether it be the confected Operation Ineptitude, inviting a sitting Royal Commissioner to a Liberal fundraiser, or systemmatic abuse of entitlements by politicians, several simple truths remain:
1) the MSM might report these blunders but they will rarely hold conservative politicians to account for what they have been doing;
2) high-rating shock jocks will support the far-right conservatives unles their toes are actively trodden upon, and this is one blunder that even Abbott should be able to avoid;
3) the current Opposition is inept and is running scared of either not appearing to be tough enough on our almost non-existent terrorism problem or not being generous enough to offer sandwich-sized tax bribes; and
4) the people who have it in their power to turf the conservatives out – the voters in marginal seats – are just insufficiently interested in what is going on if it doesn’t involve $10 per week in their pockets.

The polls might have been running ~47-53 against the government for yonks, but that margin can disappear in a few days. It only takes 3 people in every 100 to have the wind put up them and we are sentenced to another 3 years of what’s-in-it-for-me politics.

Hard not to to be sad at it all.

RosemaryJ36August 30, 2015 at 1:21 pm

A thirst for power seems to be that motivates this mob. What to do with that power when they have it? – well! that is the $64.000 question. Answer – stuff it all up for the next lot like they did for you!

Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 1:34 pm

In the meantime they doubled the budget deficit

Really? Results for Hockeys first budget will be published next month. Then we will find out if he doubled the deficit.

RoscoeAugust 30, 2015 at 2:05 pm

sookie boy Joe knows how he will pay for the tax cuts, he has already announced it, it will be with the GST collected from overseas companies for them with online purchases by us. pure brilliance once again by the big sook

Kaye LeeAugust 30, 2015 at 2:08 pm

The August PEFO said the underlying cash balance in 2013-14 would be a deficit of $30.1 billion. The following year’s balance would be a $24 billion deficit, and in 2015-16 a $4.7 billion deficit, before returning to a surplus of $4.2 billion in 2016-17.

These forecasts total a deficit of $54.6 billion over the four-year forward estimates.

The December 2013 MYEFO estimated the underlying cash balance for 2013-14 would be a deficit of $47 billion. The projections for the following three years were deficits of $33.9 billion, $24.1 billion and $17.7 billion.

These total $123 billion over the four years of the forward estimates.

The difference between the two projections is $68 billion.

THE final federal budget deficit for 2013/14 came in at $48.5 billion. This included the $8.8 billion given to the RBA.

The May budget had forecast a deficit for 2014-15 of $29.8 billion.

The underlying cash balance for the 2014-15 financial year to 31 May 2015 was a deficit of $31,458 million with another month to go.

kerriAugust 30, 2015 at 2:29 pm

Great article John! Only a fool would disagree with your highly valid points wouldn’t they ?? (NOS)
Didn’t Julie Bishop get trialled as opposition Treasurer?
And didn’t she choose her sword over further humiliation?
I read in Crikey Friday an article by Bernard Keane espousing the wonders of Turnbull and what a great reformist he would be and how he could save the country! Spare me? Turnbull has next to no hope of getting into the top job and must be facing the reality that his political career is over. It will be years before the Libs can do a mammoth housecleaning job and get rid of all of the RWNJs. Until then Turnbull is lucky to be on the front bench. If by some extreme circumstance, like venus suddenly bursts into flames and dematerialises, Turnbull does get the job? He will be forced to do what the rest of the Lib heirachy expect, which won’t be all that different to Abbott or Morrison!

Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 2:48 pm

THE final federal budget deficit for 2013/14 came in at $48.5 billion.

Well thank goodness that is the last we will see of Wayne Swan.

John KellyAugust 30, 2015 at 2:49 pm

NoS, I don’t think we have to wait that long.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-06/has-the-government-doubled-the-budget-deficit/5423392

Möbius EckoAugust 30, 2015 at 3:36 pm

Yep even NoS’s beloved heroes Howard and Costello said Hockey’s projections were fanciful.

Right wing media commentators are calling for hopeless Hockey to go with his wife being a better candidate, but as she’s not elected Turnbull or Morrison would be the choices.

Face it Hockey is the worst Treasurer ever, worse than Howard under Fraser. Hockey is out of his debt.

kezzAugust 30, 2015 at 3:38 pm

Love your work. Always a brilliant read. Thanks. If they weren’t so bloody dangerous the satire from this mob wld be hilarious with a chance of torture.

Möbius EckoAugust 30, 2015 at 3:48 pm

https://vine.co/v/eI5b5bEDmXu

Abbott grooming Morrison to takeover from Hockey.

Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 4:28 pm

NoS, I don’t think we have to wait that long.

Yes we do. You can only condemn Hockey for numbers/projections he has put his name on. And those numbers are in Hockeys first budget and the result is published in September the following year ie next month.

Those PEFO projections are nonsense just like the 2010 PEFO projections. The PEFO projections before the 2010 election predicted a surplus budget under Labor within 2 years and a budget surplus of $4.5B for 13/14. In fact it ended up being a $48B deficit.

You people support PEFO because it suits your narrative. Here are the projections for the 2010 PEFO. Absolute nonsense.

http://www.treasury.gov.au/PublicationsAndMedia/Publications/2010/PEFO-2010/Report/Overview

georgepAugust 30, 2015 at 5:25 pm

@Mobius Ecko – “Hockey is out of his debt.” Lol. But we won’t be. Not for a long time. Better economic managers? My pimply backside.

cartoonmickAugust 30, 2015 at 6:01 pm

They say we get the Pollies we deserve.
Surely we haven’t been THAT bad have we ?
Surely we deserve better than the current crop we’ve been condemned to suffer ?

The Australian Border Force may have been the main actors in this previous Play, but I’m certain the script writers work in Canberra.

I think this cartoon depicts the background of these script writers . . . .

Editorial / Political

Cheers
Mick

crypt0August 30, 2015 at 6:14 pm

Abbott’s campaign options were summed up by Tony Windsor. All one of them.
“Mr Windsor said the Border Force operation was no mistake, but a “deliberate agenda to create fear in the community”.
Mr Windsor said: “I’ve got no doubt that some of these people in Abbott’s
government hope that something goes wrong domestically. That they can
taunt a Muslim into doing something so that they can say that we’re the
only ones that can protect you, the Labor party are too weak to protect
you, vote for us,” he said, adding, “I think that’s an extraordinary
agenda to go to an election on.”
http://www.cessnockadvertiser….
That’s all there is … pay attention as we wend our weary way towards the up-coming federal election.

O'BleakAugust 30, 2015 at 6:27 pm

I laugh til I cry. Then cry til I laugh. I feel like a mouse on an exercise wheel. I’ve never been so amused or appalled, ever. Life can’t go on like this. I’ll die laughing or become so depressed I’ll do myself in. When will it end? Tell me soon it will all be over, please. Somebody………help.

EricAugust 30, 2015 at 6:41 pm

Steeleye

I completely understand where you come from, and in a hard/cold light, Abbott is back no matter what. But only if you see it in a sort of ‘anything announced is new and has no history’

It is also a problem with those who dont work next to ordinary people. Sure, they only talk sport (the guys) or other people (the gals), but when something as stupid as most of what they are doing happens, then a lot of people lower their estimates of Abbott. In fact, it is slow to lower, but long to heighten, which Abbott desperately needs now.

The ABFarce is an indication that Abbott is getting desperate. That tells me something. Also, internal polling that we dont hear about cannot be buried in the party room.

But anyway, here are some other prespectives…
1) the MSM might report these blunders but they will rarely hold conservative politicians to account for what they have been doing;
– but the MSM is only relied upon by those over 50. And every year that rolls by, the more estates that are cashed in.

2) high-rating shock jocks will support the far-right conservatives unles their toes are actively trodden upon, and this is one blunder that even Abbott should be able to avoid;
– ditto.

3) the current Opposition is inept and is running scared of either not appearing to be tough enough on our almost non-existent terrorism problem or not being generous enough to offer sandwich-sized tax bribes; and
– yes they do rather look inept, but we will see if Shorten is a boxer who holds his punches or brings them out at the right moment. He is a numbers man like Abbott is a numbers boy.

4) the people who have it in their power to turf the conservatives out – the voters in marginal seats – are just insufficiently interested in what is going on if it doesn’t involve $10 per week in their pockets.
– yes, but they are not thinking in a vacuum. They also installed loads of solar panels in the suburbs, they are seeing that Abbott is not so great on economics, and since Abbott is a joke in their heads, an ALP campaign of all the stupidity he has done will not endeer them to Abbott.

But if Abbott goes and Turnbull or Morrison go in instead, then they will shoot up their support. In my opinion.

Also, there will be the Pavlovs who react to anything offered to them, but they are the illiterate ones. The middle shifts and I believe they shift away from the LNP, because they have kids they care about. If they lose them, they lose the election. But they dont hook onto the ALP.

When the landscape is seen as a grey, then anything can happen, hence Abbott’s mounting stupidity to look tough no matter what.

Just keep your eye out.

brickbobAugust 30, 2015 at 7:02 pm

Thanks for another great article Mr Kelly,yes this Govt has painted itself into a corner,and when they try to walk back over the wet paint towards the next election,they will slip and slide and fall on their collective arses and will end up as a pathetic phony portrait which would’nt sell for 2 dollars at an op shop.

Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 8:19 pm

Face it Hockey is the worst Treasurer ever,

Swan is the worst. Swan is the one who trashed the budget and the people who voted for him. But i will agree Hockey is not great. Turnbull would do a better job.

This is Hockeys prediction for his first budget

http://budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/overview/html/overview_01.htm

A deficit of $29.8B. The result will be higher but it will not be double.

Only fools would believe PEFO. The results predicted from the 2010 PEFO were nonsense and i would not trust the predictions of the 2013 PEFO either.

WsherlockscottholmesAugust 30, 2015 at 8:29 pm

They’ll do what they always do. Lie. The n b n will be cheaper and faster. The adani mine will create 10000 jobs. Bronwyn is a woman of integrity. We run the economy better.

Of course, no one believes them any more.

crypt0August 30, 2015 at 8:44 pm

Actually, Wsherlock, there is one who still believes them.
Look up … there he is … just above!
You can rely on there being one in every crowd!
Except the abbott LNP govt., of course, where there are scores !

David Smith-WhiteAugust 30, 2015 at 9:15 pm

Song: We Stopped the Boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
We did nothing else of note,
But it sure wins us votes.
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
So faux ‘reform’ wouldn’t float,
When we rammed it down their throats.
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
Tho’ not the rorts, the aborts and the bloats.
So we’ve copped a lot of flak,
From the gutter press and hack.
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

Did you know, we stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
Have you heard, we stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
It’s all over town; it’s the word going down:
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
In the sea that surrounds us like a moat.
For is Australia not a castle,
Full of xenophobic arseholes?
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
If we can’t find the right scapegoat,
And our re-election is remote:
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
If it all sounds like rote,
Please forgive us, if we gloat?
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

DSW

jimAugust 31, 2015 at 4:27 am

Yes Hockey will hold off “the budget emergency” now until Labor are in power, Even though Julia Gillard was the first PM in 40 years to keep interest rates, inflation rates, unemployment rates,all under 5% at the same time, When all the Murder media was saying we’re doomed worst government ever, kick this mob out. So now rabbitt has cut $68million from the ABS and ABS has been without a CEO for months but hockey blames Labor for not leaving enough money to upgrade their computers a leading economists at the NAB has said the figures from the ABS should be ignored totally ,source the ABC.

Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 7:40 am

When all the Murder media was saying we’re doomed worst government ever,

Yep it definitely was.

The Liberal Party did not lock up 2,000 kids. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not trash the budget. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not explode the unemployment rate. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not destroy the car industry. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not trash our borders. The ALP did.

stephentardrewAugust 31, 2015 at 8:14 am

Great article John.

Hockey has nothing left and a screaming deficit on his hands and in driving the debt mantra has hang himself by his own stupidity. Western powers are completely out o hand as Wall Street buy backs and inflated share prices artificially inflate growth while heading towards disaster.

Neil is a troglodyte lost in times past and theoretical models long dis-proven. A fossil of another time left behind by accelerated change which the science clearly demonstrates. (see Ray Kurzweil)

Conservatism is just not up to the challenge. Just look at the mess the world is in due to the wonders of capitalism. Capitalism has failed miserably.

SirJohn WardAugust 31, 2015 at 8:48 am

Abbott swears there will not be RANDOM Armed interrogations. That means they will be done on a systematic organised form.

JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 11:05 am

Niel seems to be giving it his best, but hiding economic illiteracy is difficult even in the most favourable of circumstances. When your aim is to defend the most incompetent, venal and dishonest government in Australian history, the endeavor is hopeless.

diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 11:24 am

For two years now Abbott and his goons have done nothing:

Children still in detention

JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 11:34 am

diannart:

As Terry notes in another thread, they did manage to move four refugees to Cambodia, albeit at a cost of over $13 million each.

Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 11:45 am

When your aim is to defend the most incompetent, venal and dishonest government in Australian history, the endeavor is hopeless.

The Coalition have not trashed anything like the ALP did. And it started right from the beginning of the Rudd govt.

Wayne Swan predicted a $20B surplus for his first budget and it ended up a $27B deficit. A $47B turnaround. None of Swans predictions were even close.

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 12:09 pm

Jexpat an overall cost of $55 million. $40 million in aid was given no matter how may refugees they took and $15 million was given to house and educate the refugees they took, all four of them.

This raises a point that was never raised by the MSM. One of the most frequent complaints I hear from racists as to why we should not allow refugees is the welfare money they will cost us. Yet the Cambodian solution involved paying exorbitant welfare to every refugee settled there by our government. They had their housing, living, health and education all paid for by our government.

So where was the outcry over that super generous welfare payment to refugees.

JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 12:30 pm

Niel must have mised my point about economic illiteracy.

The Australian response to the global financial crisis was, thanks to the Labor government and Wayne Swan ability to implement evidence based economics, by far the most effective in the world.

As Nobel prizewinning economist Joseph Stiglitz noted: “While other countries fell into the global recession, Australia maintained strong economic growth, low government debt and a triple-A credit rating.

…Most countries would envy Australia’s economy. During the global recession, Kevin Rudd’s government implemented one of the strongest Keynesian stimulus packages in the world. That package was delivered early, with cash grants that could be spent quickly followed by longer-term investments that buoyed confidence and activity over time. In many other countries, stimulus was too small and arrived too late, after jobs and confidence were already lost.

In Australia the stimulus helped avoid a recession and saved up to 200,000 jobs. And new research shows that stimulus may have also actually reduced government debt over time.”

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/australia-you-dont-know-how-good-youve-got-it-20130901-2sytb.html

What’s even more amusing to the literate among us is that you’re attempting to credit Howard for blowing a once in a generation boom. Instead of seizing to opportunity to invest in world class infrastructure, R&D and sustainable 21st Century industries that could have ensured a prosperperous future for all Australians, his government guaranteed a structural deficit in years to come through ill conceived tax cuts (deja vu).

That will go down in history as one of the worst ideologically driven blunders since Australia bungled its response to the Great Depression.

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 12:52 pm

Jexpat don’t bother, honestly. That has been pointed out and comprehensively sourced for Neil dozens or more times and he just ignores it to post the same crap almost word for word over and over.

Indeed Hockey’s as Shadow Treasurer economic plan for the GFC was pointed out and would follow the US model. Hockey’s plan was only $4 billion less than Swan’s stimulus. That worked out well for the US didn’t it? And only $4 billion less means Hockey would have had a $43 billion turn around for over $200,000 unemployed and hundreds or more business closed down.

Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 12:57 pm

Jexpat

WE hit the GFC with unemployment at 4.3%, zero Federal govt debt and a booming economy thanks to Howard/Costello.

I would like to see the ALP pay off some debt just for once but i have never seen it. It is dishonest to give Labor credit for our soon to be forgotten low govt debt because they did nothing to obtain it.

Costello took govt debt from 18% of GDP in 1996 to zero in 2006. I have never seen an ALP govt do something like that.

You mentioned tax cuts. I wonder what you think about these tax cuts? This is Wayne Swan boasting about how great his tax cuts were in his very last budget. He even provides a Table showing how much better were his tax cuts compared to Costello.

http://budget.gov.au/2013-14/content/overview/html/overview_41.htm

The Government has delivered $47 billion of tax cuts in our first four years since coming to office. In addition, we have provided further tax cuts as assistance for the cost of living impact of the carbon price from 2012‑13. Even after accounting for the small increase in the Medicare levy in 2014‑15 we will be delivering total tax cuts of around $20 billion a year over the next four years compared to the 2007‑08 tax scales.

JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 1:10 pm

Möbius Ecko:

Understood, but sometimes the temptation to use a “useful foil” when it presents itself cannot be resisted.

diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 1:24 pm

Children still in detention

There are no excuses.

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 1:44 pm

diannaart and being abused whilst in detention even worse.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNtIx6SUYAAXgOC.png

Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 1:59 pm

There are no excuses.

I agree. Hard to excuse this under Labor

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/asylum-seekers-refugees-and-human-rights-snapshot-report/2-onshore-detention-and

Between January 2011 and February 2013 there were 4,313 incidents of actual, threatened and attempted serious self-harm recorded in immigration detention facilities in Australia.[73] In the 2012–2013 financial year there were 846 incidents of self-harm across the immigration detention network.[74]

Between 1 July 2010 and 20 June 2013, there were 12 deaths in immigration detention facilities. Coroners have found that six of those deaths were suicides.[75]

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gangey1959August 31, 2015 at 2:08 pm

Is ‘Neil of Sydney” tony abbotts AMIN alter ego ?
@NoS, You are still a dickhead. You will probably die a dickhead.
Keep trying though mate. You know you’re right.
PS. Another 3 word slogan for our pm. “We F*cked (it) Up!”

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Dyson Heydon decides to keep his huge tax payer remuneration and is staying on. He was paid for every day of the week he spent making this deliberation and will be paid when the Federal Court challenge comes.

Yet another massive waste of money by this government.

JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 2:20 pm

Möbius Ecko:

One would think that both Heydon and the govenment would want to cut their losses on this (even if that involved leaving a bit of money on the table).

Every day from here on out now is a continuing exercise in poor judgment.

diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 2:27 pm

Möbius Ecko

Even if the Abbottoir had done everything else right (and they are so far from doing any good as it is possible to be) – there is no excuse for the continued internment of innocents.

Incessant blame of Labor, two-thirds into a term of office, is the behaviour of psychopaths – even if Labor were actually as bad as this chorus of nutters claimed, there is a point where normal people get on with the job.

Real adults get on with whatever needs to be done, they do not snivel and blame everyone around them.

There are no more excuses.

SirJohn WardAugust 31, 2015 at 2:38 pm

Reading what the Gestapo from Gilbert and Sullivan-land has said; it is true they will not stop people at random. What they will be doing is following the Victorian Police around and if those cops pull up a person of interest and hand them over to the Gestapo to whisk of to a detention centre and then deport them. It is there in the paperwork where a third generation Australian could be disappeared off the street given the secrecy around these matters is there to keep us safe.

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 2:51 pm

Heydon’s reasoning for staying on are unbelievable. He said the unions did not show disposition that he knew it was a Liberal fund raising event when that’s exactly what they showed. There was even another damning email that surfaced whilst he was on his weeks sojourn that was the nail in the coffin but Heydon has refused to acknowledge there is a coffin let alone nails in the lid. He’s not acknowledging any emails exist.

In any case this is a gift for Labor up until the election and yet another failure for Abbott on a captain’s pick.

KyranAugust 31, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Soooo, wait a minute. If you are called before the turkey (my bad, TURC), do you go for the heydon excuse (“I overlooked it”) or the Arfur excuse (“I don’t recall”)? Don’t try the Gillard/Shorten routine of answering questions. That will damage your credibility! Given the rules of evidence, these idiots have just guaranteed everyone a get out of jail card. Yep, this turkey has been basted. Any progeny will be lambasted. Take care

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Might be cynical but a suggestion is that Heydon is delaying his being ousted so he can keep earning the huge salary Abbott is giving him. It’s to the courts next and who knows who long all that will take.

Kaye LeeAugust 31, 2015 at 2:56 pm

If he didn’t know it was a Liberal function, why did he say he wouldn’t be able to do it if the Commission was still sitting?

Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 3:02 pm

Apparently he only reads emails that are printed out for him and as the ones for the Liberal fund raiser weren’t printed out he didn’t read them, ergo he’s not biased.

Oh this is a gift to Labor that’s too good to miss.

KyranAugust 31, 2015 at 3:08 pm

My bad, ME. Posted mine then read yours (2.51). What about soldier Stoljar? Will he get an adjoining (non)coffin? This government has taken farce to a whole (hole?) new level. Take care

JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 3:22 pm

Möbius Ecko wrote: “ It’s to the courts next and who knows who long all that will take.”

Well, that depends. The secretary of the ACTU, Dave Oliver has a judgment call to make: should they take their chances in the federal courts, or should they waive their rights and allow the commission to deliver biased, and perhaps in the public’s mind, tainted findings?

Also, there’s a resolution on the Senate books asking the governor general to remove Heydon as commissioner.

My first inclination would be to take the matter to court, but after the appalling decisions in ICAC v. Cuneen, my faith in the courts’ own impartiality in applying the law where a member of their “swell club” is concerned is… somewhat less than sturdy.

Kaye LeeAugust 31, 2015 at 3:40 pm

Following his retirement, Justice Heydon reflected on the difficulty many judges face in knowing when it is time to go.

“The older you get, the more settled you get — the more you have to do the same thing at the same time every day, every month, every year — and to disturb that routine is just unthinkable,” he said.

“So the writing [of] … ‘I hereby tender my resignation…’ is a hard letter for us to write”.

Kaye LeeAugust 31, 2015 at 3:42 pm

In 1989, Justice Heydon, along with the late Roderick Meagher QC, conducted an inquiry for the NSW Liberal Government into the “Duties and Fiduciary Obligations of Officials of Industrial Unions of Employers and Employees”.

Their report called for improvements in the governance of trade unions, and for union officials to be equated with company directors, and overseen by the corporate regulator — now ASIC.

So he is finally getting a chance to make them take his advice.

diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 5:20 pm

Since September 2013 to date, the Liberal Federal government have done nothing to help those innocents still in detention camps.

No more excuses.

Nada

Nothing

Nix

eli nesSeptember 2, 2015 at 7:48 pm

a great read! Good point about bishop she spoke poorly in front of the UN. But shorten doesn’t seem able to attack her. as a token liberal woman (even I can see she’s no mirabella, peta and definately not a michaelia) He is equally reluctant to stress a mentally weak, robb.
Would albo, catholic albeit not jesuit indoctinated, have been better? We mat find out if little billy resigns after the election.

Al EdwardsSeptember 5, 2015 at 4:27 pm

Yes John the Government has run out of credible options to win over the electorate, only leaving fear campaigns to pin their hopes on. The Government will think themselves fortunate for the fact they still have an ace up their sleeve. There is a fear campaign that the majority of Australian’s have been conditioned to accept, through Murdoch lead Main Stream Media, for the last 20 or more years and that is firearms in Australia and the upcoming firearms debate. With the Lindt Cafe Siege review coming to a close and the National Firearms Agreement Review acting on the Cafe Siege recommendations, you will see Abbott and Co. successfully bluff Australia by saying the best way to combat home grown terrorism / lone wolf attacks or criminal firearms use is more Tough New Firearms Legislation and restrictions or another compensated confiscation, known as a buyback. Tougher legislation and restrictions always appears to be the default response to criminal use of firearms at any level of government, making scapegoats of law abiding Firearms Owners, because they can’t proactively deal with criminals or now, lone wolves, using any of the 260,000 or more unknown and untraceable ‘Grey Market’ firearms like Man Monis used. The outcry over the Adler shotgun is the first part of this public safety policy and with the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in April next year, the government will play to firearms hysteria and the outrage that Australians feel at what happened at Port Arthur, timing the release of this public safety policy for maximum effect before April. They will tap dance on the victims graves to get re elected. Will It be the only Abbott lie that Australia buys and will you pay for this illusion of safety with 15% GST and another industrial deregulation scheme.

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BlinkyewokAugust 30, 2015 at 12:15 pm

Well said. What is left for their inevitable 3 word slogans?
Kaye LeeAugust 30, 2015 at 12:29 pm

They have already started on a “who do you trust” campaign. It would be a very dangerous path to take because Labor could run an ad listing all of Tony’s broken promises complete with film clips and headlines.

Joe keeps quoting job creation figures that are totally spurious. Labor MUST nip that in the bud which is easily done by looking at ABS figures for the number of people employed and the aggregate monthly hours worked and population increases.

They will try to cast blame for the holding up of Adani but the reality is Hunt could have just fixed his paperwork and resubmitted it. It is increasingly apparent that the project just isn’t viable so once again a dangerous one to highlight.

We will hear about Free Trade agreements but if they refuse to allay the fears about labour market testing and ISDS clauses then that too could prove problematic. Why they won’t just listen to those concerns and fix them is beyond me. It hints at labour mobility being a crucial part of the deal from the Chinese side.

Growth is being propped up by creative accounting but they have to remember there will be a PEFO produced.

If we are relying on bracket creep to fix the deficit but then are offering tax cuts to fix bracket creep and boost pre-election polls, the budget is also on shaky ground.

Stopped the boats, axed the taxes, signed FTAs – will that be enough?

But then again, I didn’t think Tony Abbott was electable in the first place.
SteeleyeAugust 30, 2015 at 1:00 pm

It’s hard to disagree with anything in John’s article … in fact, it’s just about impossible. The three word slogans are surely just around the corner – along the lines of ‘Safe with Coalition’, and similar meaningless tripe. However, despite the collective despair of most correspondents on these pages at recent Government shenanigans, whether it be the confected Operation Ineptitude, inviting a sitting Royal Commissioner to a Liberal fundraiser, or systemmatic abuse of entitlements by politicians, several simple truths remain:
1) the MSM might report these blunders but they will rarely hold conservative politicians to account for what they have been doing;
2) high-rating shock jocks will support the far-right conservatives unles their toes are actively trodden upon, and this is one blunder that even Abbott should be able to avoid;
3) the current Opposition is inept and is running scared of either not appearing to be tough enough on our almost non-existent terrorism problem or not being generous enough to offer sandwich-sized tax bribes; and
4) the people who have it in their power to turf the conservatives out – the voters in marginal seats – are just insufficiently interested in what is going on if it doesn’t involve $10 per week in their pockets.

The polls might have been running ~47-53 against the government for yonks, but that margin can disappear in a few days. It only takes 3 people in every 100 to have the wind put up them and we are sentenced to another 3 years of what’s-in-it-for-me politics.

Hard not to to be sad at it all.
RosemaryJ36August 30, 2015 at 1:21 pm

A thirst for power seems to be that motivates this mob. What to do with that power when they have it? – well! that is the $64.000 question. Answer – stuff it all up for the next lot like they did for you!
Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 1:34 pm

In the meantime they doubled the budget deficit

Really? Results for Hockeys first budget will be published next month. Then we will find out if he doubled the deficit.
RoscoeAugust 30, 2015 at 2:05 pm

sookie boy Joe knows how he will pay for the tax cuts, he has already announced it, it will be with the GST collected from overseas companies for them with online purchases by us. pure brilliance once again by the big sook
Kaye LeeAugust 30, 2015 at 2:08 pm

The August PEFO said the underlying cash balance in 2013-14 would be a deficit of $30.1 billion. The following year’s balance would be a $24 billion deficit, and in 2015-16 a $4.7 billion deficit, before returning to a surplus of $4.2 billion in 2016-17.

These forecasts total a deficit of $54.6 billion over the four-year forward estimates.

The December 2013 MYEFO estimated the underlying cash balance for 2013-14 would be a deficit of $47 billion. The projections for the following three years were deficits of $33.9 billion, $24.1 billion and $17.7 billion.

These total $123 billion over the four years of the forward estimates.

The difference between the two projections is $68 billion.

THE final federal budget deficit for 2013/14 came in at $48.5 billion. This included the $8.8 billion given to the RBA.

The May budget had forecast a deficit for 2014-15 of $29.8 billion.

The underlying cash balance for the 2014-15 financial year to 31 May 2015 was a deficit of $31,458 million with another month to go.
kerriAugust 30, 2015 at 2:29 pm

Great article John! Only a fool would disagree with your highly valid points wouldn’t they ?? (NOS)
Didn’t Julie Bishop get trialled as opposition Treasurer?
And didn’t she choose her sword over further humiliation?
I read in Crikey Friday an article by Bernard Keane espousing the wonders of Turnbull and what a great reformist he would be and how he could save the country! Spare me? Turnbull has next to no hope of getting into the top job and must be facing the reality that his political career is over. It will be years before the Libs can do a mammoth housecleaning job and get rid of all of the RWNJs. Until then Turnbull is lucky to be on the front bench. If by some extreme circumstance, like venus suddenly bursts into flames and dematerialises, Turnbull does get the job? He will be forced to do what the rest of the Lib heirachy expect, which won’t be all that different to Abbott or Morrison!
Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 2:48 pm

THE final federal budget deficit for 2013/14 came in at $48.5 billion.

Well thank goodness that is the last we will see of Wayne Swan.
John KellyAugust 30, 2015 at 2:49 pm

NoS, I don’t think we have to wait that long.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-06/has-the-government-doubled-the-budget-deficit/5423392
Möbius EckoAugust 30, 2015 at 3:36 pm

Yep even NoS’s beloved heroes Howard and Costello said Hockey’s projections were fanciful.

Right wing media commentators are calling for hopeless Hockey to go with his wife being a better candidate, but as she’s not elected Turnbull or Morrison would be the choices.

Face it Hockey is the worst Treasurer ever, worse than Howard under Fraser. Hockey is out of his debt.
kezzAugust 30, 2015 at 3:38 pm

Love your work. Always a brilliant read. Thanks. If they weren’t so bloody dangerous the satire from this mob wld be hilarious with a chance of torture.
Möbius EckoAugust 30, 2015 at 3:48 pm

https://vine.co/v/eI5b5bEDmXu

Abbott grooming Morrison to takeover from Hockey.
Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 4:28 pm

NoS, I don’t think we have to wait that long.

Yes we do. You can only condemn Hockey for numbers/projections he has put his name on. And those numbers are in Hockeys first budget and the result is published in September the following year ie next month.

Those PEFO projections are nonsense just like the 2010 PEFO projections. The PEFO projections before the 2010 election predicted a surplus budget under Labor within 2 years and a budget surplus of $4.5B for 13/14. In fact it ended up being a $48B deficit.

You people support PEFO because it suits your narrative. Here are the projections for the 2010 PEFO. Absolute nonsense.

http://www.treasury.gov.au/PublicationsAndMedia/Publications/2010/PEFO-2010/Report/Overview
georgepAugust 30, 2015 at 5:25 pm

@Mobius Ecko – “Hockey is out of his debt.” Lol. But we won’t be. Not for a long time. Better economic managers? My pimply backside.
cartoonmickAugust 30, 2015 at 6:01 pm

They say we get the Pollies we deserve.
Surely we haven’t been THAT bad have we ?
Surely we deserve better than the current crop we’ve been condemned to suffer ?

The Australian Border Force may have been the main actors in this previous Play, but I’m certain the script writers work in Canberra.

I think this cartoon depicts the background of these script writers . . . .

Editorial / Political

Cheers
Mick
crypt0August 30, 2015 at 6:14 pm

Abbott’s campaign options were summed up by Tony Windsor. All one of them.
“Mr Windsor said the Border Force operation was no mistake, but a “deliberate agenda to create fear in the community”.
Mr Windsor said: “I’ve got no doubt that some of these people in Abbott’s
government hope that something goes wrong domestically. That they can
taunt a Muslim into doing something so that they can say that we’re the
only ones that can protect you, the Labor party are too weak to protect
you, vote for us,” he said, adding, “I think that’s an extraordinary
agenda to go to an election on.”
http://www.cessnockadvertiser….
That’s all there is … pay attention as we wend our weary way towards the up-coming federal election.
O'BleakAugust 30, 2015 at 6:27 pm

I laugh til I cry. Then cry til I laugh. I feel like a mouse on an exercise wheel. I’ve never been so amused or appalled, ever. Life can’t go on like this. I’ll die laughing or become so depressed I’ll do myself in. When will it end? Tell me soon it will all be over, please. Somebody………help.
EricAugust 30, 2015 at 6:41 pm

Steeleye

I completely understand where you come from, and in a hard/cold light, Abbott is back no matter what. But only if you see it in a sort of ‘anything announced is new and has no history’

It is also a problem with those who dont work next to ordinary people. Sure, they only talk sport (the guys) or other people (the gals), but when something as stupid as most of what they are doing happens, then a lot of people lower their estimates of Abbott. In fact, it is slow to lower, but long to heighten, which Abbott desperately needs now.

The ABFarce is an indication that Abbott is getting desperate. That tells me something. Also, internal polling that we dont hear about cannot be buried in the party room.

But anyway, here are some other prespectives…
1) the MSM might report these blunders but they will rarely hold conservative politicians to account for what they have been doing;
– but the MSM is only relied upon by those over 50. And every year that rolls by, the more estates that are cashed in.

2) high-rating shock jocks will support the far-right conservatives unles their toes are actively trodden upon, and this is one blunder that even Abbott should be able to avoid;
– ditto.

3) the current Opposition is inept and is running scared of either not appearing to be tough enough on our almost non-existent terrorism problem or not being generous enough to offer sandwich-sized tax bribes; and
– yes they do rather look inept, but we will see if Shorten is a boxer who holds his punches or brings them out at the right moment. He is a numbers man like Abbott is a numbers boy.

4) the people who have it in their power to turf the conservatives out – the voters in marginal seats – are just insufficiently interested in what is going on if it doesn’t involve $10 per week in their pockets.
– yes, but they are not thinking in a vacuum. They also installed loads of solar panels in the suburbs, they are seeing that Abbott is not so great on economics, and since Abbott is a joke in their heads, an ALP campaign of all the stupidity he has done will not endeer them to Abbott.

But if Abbott goes and Turnbull or Morrison go in instead, then they will shoot up their support. In my opinion.

Also, there will be the Pavlovs who react to anything offered to them, but they are the illiterate ones. The middle shifts and I believe they shift away from the LNP, because they have kids they care about. If they lose them, they lose the election. But they dont hook onto the ALP.

When the landscape is seen as a grey, then anything can happen, hence Abbott’s mounting stupidity to look tough no matter what.

Just keep your eye out.
brickbobAugust 30, 2015 at 7:02 pm

Thanks for another great article Mr Kelly,yes this Govt has painted itself into a corner,and when they try to walk back over the wet paint towards the next election,they will slip and slide and fall on their collective arses and will end up as a pathetic phony portrait which would’nt sell for 2 dollars at an op shop.
Neil of SydneyAugust 30, 2015 at 8:19 pm

Face it Hockey is the worst Treasurer ever,

Swan is the worst. Swan is the one who trashed the budget and the people who voted for him. But i will agree Hockey is not great. Turnbull would do a better job.

This is Hockeys prediction for his first budget

http://budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/overview/html/overview_01.htm

A deficit of $29.8B. The result will be higher but it will not be double.

Only fools would believe PEFO. The results predicted from the 2010 PEFO were nonsense and i would not trust the predictions of the 2013 PEFO either.
WsherlockscottholmesAugust 30, 2015 at 8:29 pm

They’ll do what they always do. Lie. The n b n will be cheaper and faster. The adani mine will create 10000 jobs. Bronwyn is a woman of integrity. We run the economy better.

Of course, no one believes them any more.
crypt0August 30, 2015 at 8:44 pm

Actually, Wsherlock, there is one who still believes them.
Look up … there he is … just above!
You can rely on there being one in every crowd!
Except the abbott LNP govt., of course, where there are scores !
David Smith-WhiteAugust 30, 2015 at 9:15 pm

Song: We Stopped the Boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
We did nothing else of note,
But it sure wins us votes.
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
So faux ‘reform’ wouldn’t float,
When we rammed it down their throats.
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
Tho’ not the rorts, the aborts and the bloats.
So we’ve copped a lot of flak,
From the gutter press and hack.
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

Did you know, we stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
Have you heard, we stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
It’s all over town; it’s the word going down:
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
In the sea that surrounds us like a moat.
For is Australia not a castle,
Full of xenophobic arseholes?
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
If we can’t find the right scapegoat,
And our re-election is remote:
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!
If it all sounds like rote,
Please forgive us, if we gloat?
We stopped the boats! We stopped the boats!
We stopped the boats!

DSW
jimAugust 31, 2015 at 4:27 am

Yes Hockey will hold off “the budget emergency” now until Labor are in power, Even though Julia Gillard was the first PM in 40 years to keep interest rates, inflation rates, unemployment rates,all under 5% at the same time, When all the Murder media was saying we’re doomed worst government ever, kick this mob out. So now rabbitt has cut $68million from the ABS and ABS has been without a CEO for months but hockey blames Labor for not leaving enough money to upgrade their computers a leading economists at the NAB has said the figures from the ABS should be ignored totally ,source the ABC.
Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 7:40 am

When all the Murder media was saying we’re doomed worst government ever,

Yep it definitely was.

The Liberal Party did not lock up 2,000 kids. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not trash the budget. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not explode the unemployment rate. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not destroy the car industry. The ALP did.
The Liberal Party did not trash our borders. The ALP did.
stephentardrewAugust 31, 2015 at 8:14 am

Great article John.

Hockey has nothing left and a screaming deficit on his hands and in driving the debt mantra has hang himself by his own stupidity. Western powers are completely out o hand as Wall Street buy backs and inflated share prices artificially inflate growth while heading towards disaster.

Neil is a troglodyte lost in times past and theoretical models long dis-proven. A fossil of another time left behind by accelerated change which the science clearly demonstrates. (see Ray Kurzweil)

Conservatism is just not up to the challenge. Just look at the mess the world is in due to the wonders of capitalism. Capitalism has failed miserably.
SirJohn WardAugust 31, 2015 at 8:48 am

Abbott swears there will not be RANDOM Armed interrogations. That means they will be done on a systematic organised form.
JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 11:05 am

Niel seems to be giving it his best, but hiding economic illiteracy is difficult even in the most favourable of circumstances. When your aim is to defend the most incompetent, venal and dishonest government in Australian history, the endeavor is hopeless.
diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 11:24 am

For two years now Abbott and his goons have done nothing:

Children still in detention

Children still in detention

Children still in detention

Children still in detention

Children still in detention
JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 11:34 am

diannart:

As Terry notes in another thread, they did manage to move four refugees to Cambodia, albeit at a cost of over $13 million each.
Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 11:45 am

When your aim is to defend the most incompetent, venal and dishonest government in Australian history, the endeavor is hopeless.

The Coalition have not trashed anything like the ALP did. And it started right from the beginning of the Rudd govt.

Wayne Swan predicted a $20B surplus for his first budget and it ended up a $27B deficit. A $47B turnaround. None of Swans predictions were even close.
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 12:09 pm

Jexpat an overall cost of $55 million. $40 million in aid was given no matter how may refugees they took and $15 million was given to house and educate the refugees they took, all four of them.

This raises a point that was never raised by the MSM. One of the most frequent complaints I hear from racists as to why we should not allow refugees is the welfare money they will cost us. Yet the Cambodian solution involved paying exorbitant welfare to every refugee settled there by our government. They had their housing, living, health and education all paid for by our government.

So where was the outcry over that super generous welfare payment to refugees.
JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 12:30 pm

Niel must have mised my point about economic illiteracy.

The Australian response to the global financial crisis was, thanks to the Labor government and Wayne Swan ability to implement evidence based economics, by far the most effective in the world.

As Nobel prizewinning economist Joseph Stiglitz noted: “While other countries fell into the global recession, Australia maintained strong economic growth, low government debt and a triple-A credit rating.

…Most countries would envy Australia’s economy. During the global recession, Kevin Rudd’s government implemented one of the strongest Keynesian stimulus packages in the world. That package was delivered early, with cash grants that could be spent quickly followed by longer-term investments that buoyed confidence and activity over time. In many other countries, stimulus was too small and arrived too late, after jobs and confidence were already lost.

In Australia the stimulus helped avoid a recession and saved up to 200,000 jobs. And new research shows that stimulus may have also actually reduced government debt over time.”

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/australia-you-dont-know-how-good-youve-got-it-20130901-2sytb.html

What’s even more amusing to the literate among us is that you’re attempting to credit Howard for blowing a once in a generation boom. Instead of seizing to opportunity to invest in world class infrastructure, R&D and sustainable 21st Century industries that could have ensured a prosperperous future for all Australians, his government guaranteed a structural deficit in years to come through ill conceived tax cuts (deja vu).

That will go down in history as one of the worst ideologically driven blunders since Australia bungled its response to the Great Depression.
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 12:52 pm

Jexpat don’t bother, honestly. That has been pointed out and comprehensively sourced for Neil dozens or more times and he just ignores it to post the same crap almost word for word over and over.

Indeed Hockey’s as Shadow Treasurer economic plan for the GFC was pointed out and would follow the US model. Hockey’s plan was only $4 billion less than Swan’s stimulus. That worked out well for the US didn’t it? And only $4 billion less means Hockey would have had a $43 billion turn around for over $200,000 unemployed and hundreds or more business closed down.
Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 12:57 pm

Jexpat

WE hit the GFC with unemployment at 4.3%, zero Federal govt debt and a booming economy thanks to Howard/Costello.

I would like to see the ALP pay off some debt just for once but i have never seen it. It is dishonest to give Labor credit for our soon to be forgotten low govt debt because they did nothing to obtain it.

Costello took govt debt from 18% of GDP in 1996 to zero in 2006. I have never seen an ALP govt do something like that.

You mentioned tax cuts. I wonder what you think about these tax cuts? This is Wayne Swan boasting about how great his tax cuts were in his very last budget. He even provides a Table showing how much better were his tax cuts compared to Costello.

http://budget.gov.au/2013-14/content/overview/html/overview_41.htm

The Government has delivered $47 billion of tax cuts in our first four years since coming to office. In addition, we have provided further tax cuts as assistance for the cost of living impact of the carbon price from 2012‑13. Even after accounting for the small increase in the Medicare levy in 2014‑15 we will be delivering total tax cuts of around $20 billion a year over the next four years compared to the 2007‑08 tax scales.
JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 1:10 pm

Möbius Ecko:

Understood, but sometimes the temptation to use a “useful foil” when it presents itself cannot be resisted.
diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 1:24 pm

Children still in detention

There are no excuses.
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 1:44 pm

diannaart and being abused whilst in detention even worse.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNtIx6SUYAAXgOC.png
Neil of SydneyAugust 31, 2015 at 1:59 pm

There are no excuses.

I agree. Hard to excuse this under Labor

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/asylum-seekers-refugees-and-human-rights-snapshot-report/2-onshore-detention-and

Between January 2011 and February 2013 there were 4,313 incidents of actual, threatened and attempted serious self-harm recorded in immigration detention facilities in Australia.[73] In the 2012–2013 financial year there were 846 incidents of self-harm across the immigration detention network.[74]

Between 1 July 2010 and 20 June 2013, there were 12 deaths in immigration detention facilities. Coroners have found that six of those deaths were suicides.[75]
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gangey1959August 31, 2015 at 2:08 pm

Is ‘Neil of Sydney” tony abbotts AMIN alter ego ?
@NoS, You are still a dickhead. You will probably die a dickhead.
Keep trying though mate. You know you’re right.
PS. Another 3 word slogan for our pm. “We F*cked (it) Up!”
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Dyson Heydon decides to keep his huge tax payer remuneration and is staying on. He was paid for every day of the week he spent making this deliberation and will be paid when the Federal Court challenge comes.

Yet another massive waste of money by this government.
JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 2:20 pm

Möbius Ecko:

One would think that both Heydon and the govenment would want to cut their losses on this (even if that involved leaving a bit of money on the table).

Every day from here on out now is a continuing exercise in poor judgment.
diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 2:27 pm

Möbius Ecko

Even if the Abbottoir had done everything else right (and they are so far from doing any good as it is possible to be) – there is no excuse for the continued internment of innocents.

Incessant blame of Labor, two-thirds into a term of office, is the behaviour of psychopaths – even if Labor were actually as bad as this chorus of nutters claimed, there is a point where normal people get on with the job.

Real adults get on with whatever needs to be done, they do not snivel and blame everyone around them.

There are no more excuses.
SirJohn WardAugust 31, 2015 at 2:38 pm

Reading what the Gestapo from Gilbert and Sullivan-land has said; it is true they will not stop people at random. What they will be doing is following the Victorian Police around and if those cops pull up a person of interest and hand them over to the Gestapo to whisk of to a detention centre and then deport them. It is there in the paperwork where a third generation Australian could be disappeared off the street given the secrecy around these matters is there to keep us safe.
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 2:51 pm

Heydon’s reasoning for staying on are unbelievable. He said the unions did not show disposition that he knew it was a Liberal fund raising event when that’s exactly what they showed. There was even another damning email that surfaced whilst he was on his weeks sojourn that was the nail in the coffin but Heydon has refused to acknowledge there is a coffin let alone nails in the lid. He’s not acknowledging any emails exist.

In any case this is a gift for Labor up until the election and yet another failure for Abbott on a captain’s pick.
KyranAugust 31, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Soooo, wait a minute. If you are called before the turkey (my bad, TURC), do you go for the heydon excuse (“I overlooked it”) or the Arfur excuse (“I don’t recall”)? Don’t try the Gillard/Shorten routine of answering questions. That will damage your credibility! Given the rules of evidence, these idiots have just guaranteed everyone a get out of jail card. Yep, this turkey has been basted. Any progeny will be lambasted. Take care
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Might be cynical but a suggestion is that Heydon is delaying his being ousted so he can keep earning the huge salary Abbott is giving him. It’s to the courts next and who knows who long all that will take.
Kaye LeeAugust 31, 2015 at 2:56 pm

If he didn’t know it was a Liberal function, why did he say he wouldn’t be able to do it if the Commission was still sitting?
Möbius EckoAugust 31, 2015 at 3:02 pm

Apparently he only reads emails that are printed out for him and as the ones for the Liberal fund raiser weren’t printed out he didn’t read them, ergo he’s not biased.

Oh this is a gift to Labor that’s too good to miss.
KyranAugust 31, 2015 at 3:08 pm

My bad, ME. Posted mine then read yours (2.51). What about soldier Stoljar? Will he get an adjoining (non)coffin? This government has taken farce to a whole (hole?) new level. Take care
JexpatAugust 31, 2015 at 3:22 pm

Möbius Ecko wrote: “ It’s to the courts next and who knows who long all that will take.”

Well, that depends. The secretary of the ACTU, Dave Oliver has a judgment call to make: should they take their chances in the federal courts, or should they waive their rights and allow the commission to deliver biased, and perhaps in the public’s mind, tainted findings?

Also, there’s a resolution on the Senate books asking the governor general to remove Heydon as commissioner.

My first inclination would be to take the matter to court, but after the appalling decisions in ICAC v. Cuneen, my faith in the courts’ own impartiality in applying the law where a member of their “swell club” is concerned is… somewhat less than sturdy.
Kaye LeeAugust 31, 2015 at 3:40 pm

Following his retirement, Justice Heydon reflected on the difficulty many judges face in knowing when it is time to go.

“The older you get, the more settled you get — the more you have to do the same thing at the same time every day, every month, every year — and to disturb that routine is just unthinkable,” he said.

“So the writing [of] … ‘I hereby tender my resignation…’ is a hard letter for us to write”.
Kaye LeeAugust 31, 2015 at 3:42 pm

In 1989, Justice Heydon, along with the late Roderick Meagher QC, conducted an inquiry for the NSW Liberal Government into the “Duties and Fiduciary Obligations of Officials of Industrial Unions of Employers and Employees”.

Their report called for improvements in the governance of trade unions, and for union officials to be equated with company directors, and overseen by the corporate regulator — now ASIC.

So he is finally getting a chance to make them take his advice.
diannaartAugust 31, 2015 at 5:20 pm

Since September 2013 to date, the Liberal Federal government have done nothing to help those innocents still in detention camps.

No more excuses.

Nada

Nothing

Nix
eli nesSeptember 2, 2015 at 7:48 pm

a great read! Good point about bishop she spoke poorly in front of the UN. But shorten doesn’t seem able to attack her. as a token liberal woman (even I can see she’s no mirabella, peta and definately not a michaelia) He is equally reluctant to stress a mentally weak, robb.
Would albo, catholic albeit not jesuit indoctinated, have been better? We mat find out if little billy resigns after the election.
Al EdwardsSeptember 5, 2015 at 4:27 pm

Yes John the Government has run out of credible options to win over the electorate, only leaving fear campaigns to pin their hopes on. The Government will think themselves fortunate for the fact they still have an ace up their sleeve. There is a fear campaign that the majority of Australian’s have been conditioned to accept, through Murdoch lead Main Stream Media, for the last 20 or more years and that is firearms in Australia and the upcoming firearms debate. With the Lindt Cafe Siege review coming to a close and the National Firearms Agreement Review acting on the Cafe Siege recommendations, you will see Abbott and Co. successfully bluff Australia by saying the best way to combat home grown terrorism / lone wolf attacks or criminal firearms use is more Tough New Firearms Legislation and restrictions or another compensated confiscation, known as a buyback. Tougher legislation and restrictions always appears to be the default response to criminal use of firearms at any level of government, making scapegoats of law abiding Firearms Owners, because they can’t proactively deal with criminals or now, lone wolves, using any of the 260,000 or more unknown and untraceable ‘Grey Market’ firearms like Man Monis used. The outcry over the Adler shotgun is the first part of this public safety policy and with the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in April next year, the government will play to firearms hysteria and the outrage that Australians feel at what happened at Port Arthur, timing the release of this public safety policy for maximum effect before April. They will tap dance on the victims graves to get re elected. Will It be the only Abbott lie that Australia buys and will you pay for this illusion of safety with 15% GST and another industrial deregulation scheme.

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