OK, well I guess you’ve all heard the news by now. Cory Bernardi is being seconded to the United Nations for three months. Apparently this is a regular thing. Well, not Cory going to New York, but a government and opposition member going to the UN to work with people over there. Given Bernardi’s comments about the UN being an organisation that we should just ignore, it seems rather queer that he is quite happy to go there. Perhaps, he’s heard about what a great place New York is, and hopes to get some shopping in. I don’t know.
Anyway, let’s forget that this is the strangest appointment since Tim Wilson was happy to be made a commissioner for a commission he argued should be abolished. There’s another fundamental point to be made. Some are saying that this is proof that Turnbull intends to hold a July election, but they’re wrong.
Bernardi’s departure date hasn’t been confirmed, so I’d say that it’s more certain that the poll will be called within a week of him leaving, and he’ll be gone for the election. Of course, just because he’s not in the country doesn’t prevent him from saying something that reduces Turnbull’s election chances, but I guess Turnbull’s hoping that once out of the country, Cory won’t keep up to date with current events in Australia. That seems reasonable given that Bernardi hasn’t kept abreast of current events since the 1950s.
Anyway, Turnbull has enough problems now that Tony Abbott has decided to govern from the backbench. Tony’s recent pronouncement on the Safe Schools program as being social engineering showed the sort of leadership that typified Abbott. OK, one could point out that the program began in 2014 while he was PM so if he’s going to criticise it, then surely he’s the one who should take the blame for the fact that it’s programs like this that have made certain people feel as though they’re just as good as the rest of us. And by certain people, I don’t just mean the gay community… I mean all those people who don’t think Tony Abbott is the best PM we’ve ever had, because clearly Abbott supporters are the only ones whose opinion means anything. Anyway, it was Labor’s idea to make schools safe and did I mention that we stopped the votes…er, boats?
Tony was also at it in the party room … That’s the Liberal Party room, btw, just in case you’re worried that any more tables got shattered. He was lecturing them on how the government needed to find ways to stop the waste, because simply deciding not to dance on tabletops was hardly going to cover anything, and while Jamie Briggs promise not to tackle any more ex-PMs was welcome, it wouldn’t be enough to stop our Medicare bills being more than the government could afford. Basically, I think Abbott’s plan with Medicare was that, while the government needed to continue to take the Medicare levy, sick people should pay for their own health care and the levy was really only there to cover the costs of collecting the levy!
But Turnbull showed us all that he was still a man of compassion with his tears during the Stan Grant interview. While some have unkindly suggested that when one is crying, it’s normal to wipe the tears away after they’ve left one’s eyes, rather than stick your fingers right into your eyes as Turnbull did, I feel that he was sincere in his attempts to cry and that any suggestions it was just a stunt are a little harsh. I’m sure that if Malcolm wanted to cry, he’d only have to think of the people he leads and he’d have no problem shedding a tear or two … OK, when I say “leads”, I’m being slightly sarcastic …
Anyway, if that didn’t make him a little weepy, I’m sure the opinion polls could get him there!
