Builders or wreckers – the contrast is stark
The Coalition came to power in 2013 with the promise to wreck things and they didn’t disappoint.
Labor had introduced a price on carbon that was working well. It encouraged polluters to reduce emissions, investment in renewable energy, and research and development. It gave money to farmers for carbon abatement. Trade exposed industries were compensated as were consumers with a tripling of the tax-free threshold, increased pensions and energy supplements to welfare recipients.
We also had a tax on mining superprofits with the revenue to be redistributed via company tax cuts, small business instant asset write-offs, increasing the superannuation guarantee and super tax concessions, an infrastructure fund for the states, increases to family tax benefits, a supplementary allowance for those on income support, plus the schoolkids bonus.
And then along came Tones who got rid of it all.
Investors in clean energy fled as the Coalition “axed the tax” and cut the renewable energy target. Soaring profits from mining continue to be funnelled off to foreign shareholders as they squeeze every cent of profit from what are fast becoming stranded assets, leaving this energy rich nation to deal with exorbitant power prices and the insecurity of an aging fossil fuel generation fleet.
Under the Gillard government, a real FttP rollout of the NBN had begun.
Abbott’s response to this nation building infrastructure as he instructed then shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull to “demolish” it?
“The Government is going to invest $43 billion worth of hard-earned money in what I believe is going to turn out to be a white elephant on a massive scale. We can be certain the NBN will be to this term of government what pink batts and school halls were to the last term of government.”
It is telling that they chose Murdoch’s Fox Sports studio to announce the demolition.
We are now paying billions to redo NBN connections to all those poor bunnies who had the totally inadequate FttN thrust upon them.
Over the last nine years, our relations with other countries soured. Our rankings for human rights, transparency and corruption, and press freedom have all tumbled, as has trust in government and other institutions.
These will all have to be rebuilt.
From the way Peter Dutton has started as leader, it seems the wrecking mentality continues in the federal Coalition. Luckily, the Australian electorate has made them irrelevant.
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17 comments
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pierre wilkinson -
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New England Cocky -
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totaram -
margcal -
Fred -
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ajogrady
Return to home pageLabor builds, Liberals sell
Under the Coalition the very fabric of our society was sold off, privatised or abolished
and yet they claim to be saviours of the economy
once again they leave the country in a mess and have already started blaming the new government for their own failures
So, so typical of the despicable, destructive, undemocratic, right-wing-extremists in the appalling – and, thankfully, PREVIOUS – inept government: the now notorious LNP regime! If they are unable to win through lies, intimidation, character-assassinating slander and self-promoting bullshit, they will just spit the dummy, throw a HUGE tantrum and WRECK THE JOINT! Chief among these malignant, manipulative, lying WRECKING BALLS are:
JOHN HOWARD who signed-off the lives of countless millions of people (including those of Australian soldiers whom the LNP view as nothing more than cannon fodder) in a politically-motivated invasion of Iraq in order to take Australians’ attention away from his catastrophic ineptitude and a level of corrupt wastefulness of hard-earned taxpayer dollars that drew harsh and justifiable criticism from the highly respected IMF (the International Monetary Fund) who described the Howard/Costello regime as the worst, most wasteful government in Australia’s history (up to that time). This horrendous Iraqi/Syrian war that involved the equally depraved George W Bush regime, achieved ABSOLUTELY NOTHING except the complete destabilisation of the middle east and caused the death and permanent displacement of literally millions of innocent Iraqi and Syrian civilians!
TONY ABBOTT. WOW, what ELSE can possibly be said against this absolutely appalling, totally inept, swaggering, incoherent misogynist and pathological liar? The ONLY thing the muttering, spluttering, inarticulate Abbott will be remembered for is being one of the worst, most internationally condemned, arrogant, self-promoting WRECKING BALLS the LNP have ever managed to inflict on our nation! This short-sighted, uncouth, uncivilised, contemptuous bully embarrassed and shamed our nation consistently on the world stage. His regressive, alpha-male contempt for women was widely condemned as was his arrogant, condescending treatment of anyone who was poor, on welfare or, in any way, disadvantaged! The “Mad Monk” – an ex-priest who couldn’t hold down a job outside of his role as a permanent political parasite – maintains a level of callous inhumanity that belies his affectation as a “christian” but who is nothing more than a nauseating bible-thumping hypocrite. There are few politicians in our history as loathsome or as despised as the pompous, swaggering sociopath, Abbott who will, forever, be a burden on Australian taxpayers – even in retirement!
SCOTT MORRISON. So much in common with Phony Abbott inasmuch as being the perfect example of WHY it is SO IMPORTANT that religious hypocrisy should never be mixed with politics in a secular nation like Australia! Like Abbott, Morrison is a stone-cold, callously inhumane and corrupt sociopath who tries – and fails – to hide his shocking depravity, incessant remorseless lies and malignant, self-serving corruption behind a very thin, and transparent, layer of repugnant bible-thumping hypocrisy! Unlike the imbecilic Abbott, Morrison has rat cunning in that he is a toxic backstabber who betrayed just about everyone – even his own colleagues: Michael Towke and Malcolm Turnbull – on his rise to the top of what we now know to be the absolute WORST, most corrupt and inhumane regime in our history. Morrison was intensely disliked by most of his colleagues which should have been a RED FLAG WARNING to the gormless, Murdoch-manipulated fools who voted for him! Like Abbott, Morrison couldn’t attain or maintain a hard-working job out in the REAL WORLD – in fact, the bone-idle Sloth Morrison was sacked or “mysteriously dismissed” from just about every job he failed to keep before he became a permanent dysfunctional and corrupt political parasite sucking off the bleeding wound of the Australian taxpayer ad infinitum.
PETER DUTTON !!!! My God, this frothing-at-the-mouth, callously inhumane, child-torturing political psychopath is waiting in the wings like some demented demon waiting to usurp Howard, Abbott and Morrison as the absolute WORST, most terrifying demonic lunatic to have EVER been dragged up from the deepest, most fetid bowels of the LNP. It is, quite frankly, IMPOSSIBLE to even imagine a more sinister, inhumane, depraved and unapologetic racist to mismanage, destroy and annihilate our nation in rapid time as Peter Dutton! He has all the compassion of a starving red-bellied snake; all the appeal of a castor oil enema and the foresight of Mr Magoo sans glasses! Even if Australians are not “believers”, everyone should PRAY to whatever is holy that this monstrous individual NEVER becomes our next PM! Dutton is said to have a personal fortune of more than $300 MILLION but has NEVER EVER disclosed how he attained it. His level of self-serving arrogance and REFUSAL to be questioned, interrogated or challenged is a RED FLAG WARNING that this malignant and dangerously undemocratic narcissist intends to rule over our nation like some insufferable, undemocratic fascist. Believe me, there will be no federal election as important as the NEXT one in order to keep the worst of the worst, Peter Dutton, out of despotic power that will, inevitably, seek to destroy, annihilate and defund EVERYTHING Australians cherish including our democracy!
I second the remarks of Kathryn and would like to third it and more…Australia’s recent record of conservative political perverts STINKS.
“The Government is going to invest $43 billion worth of hard-earned money in what I believe is going to turn out to be a white elephant on a massive scale.”
Funny that RAbbott’s concerns about the cost of White Elephants did not extend to the Northern Inland Railway that to date has cost a guestimated about $700 MILLION with an expected final cost after another blackmail payment to Nazional$ (thanks Beetrooter) of a further $500 MILLION to link into Port Gladstone, the CSG export terminal for Narrabri Pilliga Scrub CSG. (Now where were Beetrooter’s two ”grazing” properties situated over CSG deposits??)
Will the new Albanese LABOR government have the guts to challenge John Anderson, former Nazional$ leader and major supporter of this picadillo, about why private bankers will not fund this public infrastructure project? Could it be financially INVIABLE for at least 50 years?
@ Kathryn: You are being far to kind to ”Boofhead” when you describe him as ”a more sinister, inhumane, depraved and unapologetic racist to mismanage, destroy and annihilate our nation in rapid time”. That presumes that there is a single worthy feature in his body ….. which is yet to be proven.
However, as Napoleon said, ”Never disturb you enemy while they are making mistakes” it may be karma that ”Boofhead” becomes the longest serving Misleader for Life oof the Loyal Opposition.
For an era about which many volumes could, and no doubt will, be written, this summary of government under the LNP coalition, 2013-2021, is about as succinct as you could get.
Well worth sharing with those of short attention span.
Dutton’s performance on Insiders must have Liberal Party bosses despairing that they allowed this shallow and inarticulate boofhead to take over the reins of their party, even temporarily.
The Liberal party must also be lamenting the decision to include John Howard in their campaign. His dismissive comments about the so called teal independents “They’re not independents, they’re anti-Liberal groupies,” clearly hurt the Liberal party vote.
It is now evident that these candidates were appealing to a younger, better educated sector of the electorate – a sector that used to support the Liberal party.
The Liberals like the Black Knight of Monty Python fame insist they have just sustained a flesh wound but this level of trauma could be terminal particularly with the wrong person now leading them.
Fortunately none of this is my problem !
Well said, Terence. Dutto’s performance on Insiders was extremely comforting. His floundering responses to questions confirmed his eminent suitability for a long-term in the parliamentary wilderness, and were reinforced by his declaration that the ALP’s emissions reduction target, while admittedly modest, will be opposed by her majesty’s loyal opposition. His front bench colleagues, too, have very nearly achieved dizzying heights of mediocrity and are similarly a source of comfort.
Kaye Lee
I see that Ralph Babet representing Clive Palmer’s UAP has won the sixth Senate spot in Victoria, at the expense of Liberal Greg Mirabella.
Mirabella was a Senator representing Victoria only since December 2021 – he is the husband of Sophie Mirabella.
I see that Sophie was appointed a Commissioner to the Fair Work Commission in May last year. Prior to that she had been appointed to the Board of ASC Pty Ltd (Australian Submarine Corporation).
Very hard to wean these people off the public teat !
The people of Victoria have the dubious distinction of having elected the only UAP member in our parliament, how could they do that ?
Between Babet and Mirabella, I don’t know how to digest this news – overall it’s like the curate’s egg : good in parts [but still rotten overall].
Funny how Barrelopork creates a new “senior trade and investment commissioner to the Americas” not long before he quit politics and being trade minister and then magically gets the job because he’s the bestest qualified. No corruption or jobs for the boys here…move on…move on.
“However, Perrottet has defended the appointment, saying that Barilaro emerged as the best candidate from a global recruitment process, at a cost to the government of $18,150.”
Then release the list of other candidates you bunch of wankers. Oh wait, it’ll be commercial in confidence…silly me.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/upper-house-to-hold-inquiry-into-barilaro-s-plum-new-york-appointment-20220619-p5auvd.html
There is a lie, circulating amongst the Coalition faithful, that Albo said that “your EV will be charged overnight from your solar panels”.
I have not checked, but I simply cannot believe that Albo said anything so stupid. Craig Kelly might have done. On the other hand, just the other day, Dutton said that “renewables do not work at night”, certainly forgetting that the wind does not stop blowing just because the sun has gone down.
The contrast is indeed stark!!
I’d seen the news (headlines) about babet. Hadn’t realised Mirabella missed out – three cheers and more for that!
I did wonder if Babet would do a Lambie and become and independent before not to long.
But overall, yes, how could Victorians do that? (she says, speaking as one – a Vic that is, not a Babet voter!).
Kathryn: I feel you are maligning “red bellied black” snakes by comparing their compassion to that of crazy aggressive Dutton. I live on the edge of the bush and welcome RBBs as they get out of your way on approach and they help control brown snakes.
On the other hand, the eastern brown snake is one of Australia’s most aggressive snakes, speedy, temperamental and responsible for the most snake-related deaths in all of Oz. All round very dangerous – a much better analogy for PD.
A great read, kaye,
The rabbott first destroyed the carbon price in 2009, with 36 senators, doesn’t that make twice?
My multimillionaire, in support of the copperman, said the NBN is a waste of money no labor voter will never need fibre.
This from a rich man, who with a health card, takes the same handouts as the poor, whilst supporting the septic’s card system,(he still thinks in food stamps, but current SNAP benefits to a household are called an allotment. SNAP households are expected to spend about 30% of their resources on food, so the allotment is calculated by multiplying the household’s net monthly income by 0.3, and subtracting the result from the maximum monthly allotment for household size.)
The arrogance, of the LNP, knows no bounds. They have the god given xstian skill of rationalising to arrive at innocence.
ps dutton showed on insiders he thinks the election outcome wasn’t the libs fault. Labor will cock up the government fixing the mess of 9 years neglect and trying to progress through the mire of ukraine, sri lanka, china and coal.
sad kathryn leaving out the copperman, $440m to a 4man company should have been enough?
Fred, my sincere apologies to all those delightful little RBB snakes out there whom I tragically maligned by comparing them to the venomous, totally malignant, sadistic demonic parasites and destructive wrecking balls in the LNP! Hmmmmm, I agree – comparing a RBB snake to Dutton is a bit like comparing a sweet little daddy-longlegs with a huge, venomous funnel web and, even then, Dutton makes funnel web spiders look almost innocuous!
This seems to be biting DoPe hard on the arse. Ah, the LNP, where a little bit of extra graft and corruption is never enough. “It’s not a captain’s pick,” he screams as he stamps his tiny feet. “It’s not, it’s not, it’s not!”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/liberals-shiver-at-the-ghost-of-metherell-amid-anger-at-barilaro-appointment-20220622-p5avqc.html
How not surprising. He’s probably got someone 4 – 6 decades younger than himself hiding in the wings.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/rupert-murdoch-and-jerry-hall-to-divorce-report-20220623-p5avwb.html
Once you strip away the blatant ingrained insidious and systemic corruption, the obvious and absolutely consistent poor judgement, the culpable and dangerous incompetence, the continual deception and the constant distortion, the endless creations of laws and opportunities to suppress and stifle contrary debate, the flagrant sneaky and self serving promotion of religious faith at the expense of political integrity, the erroneous attempts to hamper voting, the anger and disgust generated by cutting and running leaving our Afghani comrades in arms to their fate, the crippling of living standards, the devious and unfettered betrayal of Australias sovereignty, the culpable treachery in the ruination of good international trade and international relations, the trashing of Australias good international reputation, the shambolic and totally inept governance standards, the deceitful marketing spin and hypocritical sloganeering plus being a constant and continuous impediment to Australia and Australians reaching their true potential what does the L/NP actually stand for? What is left? What is left is a snide, sneering, sniping, selfish, smug and contemptuous ideology that nurtures, coddles and promotes corrupt to the core thugs, swindlers, chiselers, fraudsters, shysters, cheats and con artists, solicitors of anonymous brown paper bag donations, pathetic debauched degenerates and perverted misogynistic misfits, pseudo Christian cult wack jobs, fanatical religious lunatics, QAnon advocates, cowardly saber rattling war mongering hawks, sadistic and selfish economic vandals, problamatic climate skeptic fundamentalists, environmental saboteurs and desecrators, first nations people apathetic Judases, handicappers to the handicapped, oppressors of the needy and the disadvantaged, enablers of the obscenely wealthy parasitic profiteers, drunken lecherous fornicators and provocateurs plus egotistical born to rule privilaged sociopaths and psychopaths that are devoid of standards, principles, values, morals, ethics, honesty, and basic empathy always rorting, stealing, fiddling, fudging, obfuscating and basically out and out blatant lying while being protected by a maliciously biased, pathetic sycophantic and delusional media.
Influenced by professional predatory lobbyists whores and directed by crooked callous conservative think tanks whose shadowy underbelly of criminality makes Ned Kelly look like a gentleman. The L/NP not only do not represent most Australians but do not respect them.
Members of the L/NP are selfish corrupt cowardly sooks of, at best, average talent. They are defined by their privilage and family connections that explains their mediocrity. Merit and ability is always a secondary consideration when deceit and deception is considered meritorious and rat cunning and a Machiavellian character is considered ability.
The L/NP have managed to create a massive trust deficit not only domestically but internationally that has left Australias once good reputation in tatters and Australia is now bordering on pariah state status. “Private and confidential” is a misnomer to the L/NP. Diplomacy, critical thinking and cause and effect are foreign concepts to the L/NP. These failings will have or result in dire consequences and outcomes for Australia and Australians. In particular the L/NP believe that success is the ability to go from one total failure to another total failure with no loss of enthusiasm or any sign of a guilty conscience or any shame.The L/NP not only rewards lethargic sneaks, cheats and sly back stabbers but consider mediocrity as their gold standard.
The L/NP are an insult to equitable governance standards and egalitarian rule. The L/NP are not fit to hold any form of public office in a functioning, vibrant nation that is a cohesive humane society. Australia was built on the egalitarian theme of “a fair go” for all where “the greater good” is paramount to its fundamental beliefs. These values created strong and proud foundations that builds better futures for the many not just the few. These strong ethical values are an anomaly and an aberration to the L/NP. Somebody once said that Fascism comes wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
Enough is enough.
Australians dont need “can do” capitalism they need a “can do” government.
Another 3 years of the insanity, turmoil and malfeasance that masquerades as governance by the L/NP will see Australia become barely recognisable as the once great egalitarian nation it once was.
Australians have got to stop voting against there own best interests or they will forever be remembered as the people from the land of boiling frogs.
Lest we forget.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7141990/john-howards-legacy-lives-on-and-we-are-worse-for-it/