Election diary No 9. Wednesday, 2 February 2022.
1 All governments make mistakes, but this one’s capacity for cock ups is becoming legendary. So consistent are they that they are like a daily thunderstorm of crisis downpours.
This time, pharmacists have their knickers in a knot over the prime minister’s “free” rapid antigen test program.
News.com.au reported that they have dubbed the RAT test debacle as “reckless and negligent.” If this is so, it could cause trouble for the Government.
According to pharmacists, the so-called “free” rapid antigen test program with a $10 rebate that won’t cover the wholesale cost and won’t be refunded for weeks.
It means that the Government expects the pharmacists (small businesses) to hand out the tests free to concession cardholders, leaving them out of pocket.
The crux of the matter, according to the pharmacists, is that had the Government ordered the tests directly from wholesalers in November and December, it could have handed them out free or at a cost to taxpayers of $5 per test.
Conversely, the Government is:
“… offering a rebate of double the amount – $10 for a single test to chemists – when soaring demand means that the wholesale price is now more than the rebate.”
How stupid is that?
The wholesale price has risen to $12 “off the back of” huge orders placed by state and federal governments during January:
“Pharmacists say they are paying as much as $12 or more for the tests wholesale in some instances, as demand soared off the back of massive orders from state and federal governments in January.”
Adding to the frenzy, the scheme started last Monday with pensioners and concession cardholders unable to sauce the “free” tests.
It was last August that Scott Morrison first raised the issue of RATS tests. No excuses on this one.
Chalk this up as a massive fail.
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Lies continue to flow from the Prime Ministers lips with all the frequency of opinions from Andrew Bolt.
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The campaigns
2 The Prime Minister continues his preliminary Clayton’s campaigning, trying to convince all and sundry that he is responsible for everything good that happens as if it is a gift from a higher order. At the same time, he refuses to “risk his parliamentary majority” by condemning ministers in his party who cross the fine line of incompetence. The hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed.
3 Last Sunday, 30 January, the consensus on the first Insiders panel seemed to be that although Labor was well ahead in the polls and would win if an election were held now. The Coalition still had plenty of time to recover.
Later the same day, Newspoll released its first poll for the year and described it as a horror result for the Government. 56-44 to Labor. Read more at The Poll Bludger.
The importance of this poll is that it is the first one close to the election that signals how people will vote. Generally, in the election cycle, polls only measure how people are thinking at the time. From here on in, they measure peoples voting intentions.
Albanese speaks to the National Press Club
4 In a very down to earth speech to the National Press Club the Opposition Leader impressed with his sincerity.
During the questioning period, the ABCs, Andrew Probyn, asked Albanese to explain who he was. The obvious inference was that nobody knew him. He gave his standard stock answer that he will probably repeat a hundred times during the campaign, but I would make the point that there isn’t a lot to know. And I would add to that, that ALP campaign strategists should make a virtue of it.
Compare Morrison, a Prime Minister embroiled in corruption, an unhealthy attitude toward women with a fundamentally conservative narrow world view versus Alabanese, a clean skin with no hint of controversy, a progressive who sees things as they are and could be. A man for the times.
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Just because clowns govern us, it doesn’t mean it is a laughing matter.
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Accountability
5 Worth repeating this from January 2020, but a few months after the 2019 election, the McKenzie Sports Rorts scandal seems to be growing legs by the day. With the PM making a major speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday, he won’t want this on his head unless he wants to face a line-up of the best journalists in the land.
For me, it is inconceivable that in the process of making announcements daily during the election, he knew nothing of how they came about. He must have taken part in the process to have authority over his statements.
It still follows him everywhere here he goes.
Uncoloured waters
6 Another ongoing crisis has been the state of the Great Barrier Reef. It has been in crisis for as long as I can recall, yet the Morrison Government now decides on the eve of an election that they can spare a billion dollars over ten years to fix things up.
Pub test, anyone?
7 The response has been a resounding voice of disbelief from the scientific community, who with raised voices of a resounding crescendo saying, “you fix it when you fix climate change, you fools.”
And whatever happened to the $440 million Malcolm Turnbull gave to some little tinpot show up north with liberal party connections?
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Telling the truth should not be delayed because we are not sure how people might react to it.
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Responsibility
Let’s be serious. Richard Colbeck would not be the Aged Care Minister if a better person were available. Instead of giving his portfolio his full attention when asked to attend a Senate Enquiry, he said he couldn’t justify diverting his time. He was at the cricket for three days. There wasn’t a crisis at the cricket, but there is in aged care.
Writing in The Monthly, Rachel Withers reported the Prime Minister’s response in unglowing terms:
“Morrison defended his minister against the “knockers”, insisting that Colbeck – who has been slammed in the past for not knowing how many aged-care workers had been vaccinated or how many residents had died – works very hard. Pushed on the fact the incident did not pass the pub test, the PM insisted that Colbeck had taken the feedback “on board”. “He will take that criticism on the chin,” Morrison said, “and he’ll get back to work, which he does every single day.” One wonders whether those “knockers” who have lost loved ones in residential aged care (415 residents have died this year alone) or the overworked staff will also be willing to take it on the chin.”
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The left of politics is concerned with people who cannot help themselves. The right is concerned with those who can.
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9 When he was elected, Tony Abbott was quick to have a Royal Commission into four pink batts deaths. Still, a more practical examination of the occurrences of covid would be to look at the separation of the politics from the event to find the best path forward should a future event occur.
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Previous Diary: No 8 – For ‘lack of integrity’ the Morrison government scores an A+.
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My thought for the day
In 2011 Malcolm Turnbull didn’t think there was a need for an inquiry into the news media but agreed with the then PM Gillard that Newscorp should stop publishing crap. They still do.
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