Day to Day Politics: Astonishing, Morrison has a Damascus moment.
Saturday 27 August 2016
1 In what can only be described as a moment of divine intervention Treasurer Scott Morrison has undergone a remarkable conversion. After telling the Australian public in the most affirmative terms, since he became Treasurer, that we only had a spending problem, he now says that we also have a revenue problem. He chose another word though: ‘earnings’.
The circumstances of this remarkable conversion have not been revealed but inside sources say he saw the light after many hours spent in prayer.
In an interview with Leigh Sales when asked if he would need to pull in more revenue: “I’m not in that camp,” he answered. And so he continued on that theme throughout the election campaign despite the combined voices of economic experts telling him otherwise.
In his speech on Thursday he said that Australians have become too reliant on receiving government payments and see them as a “common and expected component of their income over their entire lifecycle”.
“More Australians are likely today to be net beneficiaries of the Government than contributors — never paying more tax than they receive in Government payments”.
Why now do we see him switching back to the Joe Hockey rhetoric of lifters and leaners, the blaming of welfare? He didn’t mention that Howard created massive welfare handouts to win elections, giving tax cuts that no one wanted or needed every election year during his tenure.
Had he not done so we would not have the economic problems of today? In his speech he blamed everyone other than him and his party as though, even after doubling the debt, it was blessed with economic purity.
The purpose of his speech remains unclear. Was it directed at as he put it to the taxed and the taxed-nots? If so I am confused given there are 54 millionaires and 675 Corporations who pay no tax at all. On top of that it is thought that multinationals avoid paying about $50 billion annually.
Was it directed at his own back benches who agree with tax changes so long as it doesn’t affect their constituents? Those MPs who might just cross the floor, not in the nation’s interest, but self-interest.
Or was it a set up speech that says; “If you don’t do as we say then the fault will be yours and that’s what we will tell the electorate. We did everything possible but Labor wouldn’t support us for the sake of the nation”.
However, as it stands Labor has already offered an olive branch but Morrison in typical standoffish style has rejected them.
If things are as serious as the Treasure suggests and he has Australia’s long-term prosperity as his first priority then one would think he would do so.
A Victorian Liberal backbencher in Russell Broadbent sees the opportunity to do so with superannuation and can’t figure out why Morrison doesn’t take up the offer. Labor’s compromise package seems fair and as Broadbent says:
“They could really come to a compromise here that would benefit the nation as a whole”.
“We are so close now, there’s hardly any difference … I think we need to reach across the aisle. Why are we attacking Labor?”
“Both the prime minister and the opposition leader know a combination of these two policies is fair. You’ve just got to take the opportunity”.
“They could really come to a compromise here that would benefit the nation as a whole”.
Morrison’s response has been anything but conciliatory saying that Labor’s proposal was “more suited to the economy of the 1970s than a 21st century economy where people have flexible work patterns, shared responsibilities in their families and different sources of income over the course of their life”.
It was a suggestive speech that finally acknowledged that, yes indeed, revenue is a problem but asking the rich to contribute was out of the question. Old economic theory would be used to make sure they paid less and the less well-off would have to forgo welfare and just, regardless of circumstance, get a job.
The fact is that the percentage of people receiving welfare has fallen over a decade and those receiving the bulk of welfare are not the young pole bludgers and other misfits but the elderly. Its misrepresentation and picking on a group to blame. The spin of “just get a job” as if it’s as easy as applying for your licence.
The rich and privileged would continue to get their handouts and corporates their subsidies. Things would get better over time, the rich would get richer and some of their wealth would drip down to the less wealthy. I for one have never seen the evidence of it working.
It was a speech that never addressed the growing problem of unfairness or inequality. In typical neoliberal fashion it suggested that revenue problems would be overcome by allowing more free rein to the markets that big business would, with the support of tax cuts, revitalise our economy if it were allowed to freely capitalise profit without any thought to the social consequences.
Morrison has now been Treasurer for almost 12 months. Thus far his main contribution to the portfolio has been to talk a lot about economics as though he had a degree. He has talked and talked and talked, added to the debt and done nothing.
An observation.
“In the recipe of good leadership there are many ingredients. Popularity is but one. It however ranks far below getting things done for the common good”.
2 I live in Traralgon Victoria. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience. We were told officially by our Internet Provider that we would be connected to the NBN in September. This has now been extended to November with the possibility of more delays.
3 If anyone is wondering how sales of Andrew Bolt’s book are going I can tell you. According to ‘Bookscan’ figures, ‘Worth Fighting For‘ has sold just 2,665 copies to date. For comparison Niki Savva’s book about former PM Tony Abbott, ‘Road to Ruin‘, has sold 34,496 copies since it came out in March.
Niki’s book is a good read.
4 Cory Bernardi has suggested he might back Labor over its claim of Parliamentary Privilege regarding information about the NBN. “I’ve always been of the view that parliamentary privilege is inviolable,” the Liberal senator said, and “I’m seeking advice”.
So am I.
5 The Greens have officially decided to block the plebiscite for Marriage Equality. They say that the legislation should be handled by the Parliament. They are correct and in my view Labor should follow suit and put more pressure on the Prime Minister to take a vote. What an awful position he is in. He supports Marriage Equality, doesn’t agree with the plebiscite but is being instructed by the right-wing of his party.
I have written many times that a plebiscite to confirm something you already know is illogical. Added to that is the possibility of social upheaval.
The Prime Minister should have the intestinal fortitude to take it up to his party or he will face the possibility of it festering for another three years. He probably won’t though and the public will see who is really pulling the strings, THE FERAL RIGHT OF HIS PARTY.
6 Every day I write my opinions on a variety of subjects. They are my own thoughts based on my political philosophy, many individual and collective influences, and my world view based on 75 years of a living experience.
On some Facebook pages it’s astonishing just how many on the right of politics swear blind they never read would never contemplate reading my work, so abhorrent it is to them. Then they go on to opine about it.
Whatever intelligence I might have affords me no understanding of this.
My thought for the day
“It is the misinformed who shout the loudest. The rest of us are content with the truth we enquired about”.
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Return to home pageHe may have had a conversion on the road to detaxus, but I just wish he would travel to the west following a bright star ( not a liberal) and disappear off the edge of the planet
“It is the misinformed who shout the loudest. The rest of us are content with the truth we enquired about”. “Wrong John Lord ”
It is IDEOLOGY, Lobbyist’s, Rich and Powerful who don’t want to pay tax. Remember that massive turd Kerry Packers’ rant on not wanting to pay tax.
Though these wealthy arseholes carry on like spoilt rotten children. Imagined Rant, ” Well these poor people don’t pay tax; we’ we must get something from then it’s IDEOLOGICALLY wrong according to the Rich mans guide book “. Stamping their feet like little children!
These people know their truth in their guts but they are effin liars. Deny Global Warming for a long as it takes until they build up their wealth portfolio. “Coal is Good for the Soul” I’m writing their next Slogan for Coal. I can see Christopher Pyne saying this.
They don’t care if they wreck the place as long as the cogs keep rolling along.
The IDEOLOGY that Privatising everything was a good idea. What a great load of suckers we are. Most parts of Globalism is a scam also.
Connect the dots and you will see.
This is not Class warfare either. As the Libs pull this card out when it suits them
It’s all the dodgy Politicians, Bankers- money people with their snouts in the trough. And to Minimize their Tax which their main IDEOLOGY.
And Yes I too worry about the…… young pole bludgers and other misfits
I’m pleased that the Greens have officially decided to block the plebiscite for Marriage Equality, but why did they not let Sarah Hanson-Young keep Immigration, she was after all Australia’s conscience when if came to asylum seekers. She showed to us and to the world that we are not all heartless like Dutton..
And where’s the logic in anything the Coalition does, it’s all upside down…Negotiation to them means ordering, telling others what to do. Jobs and growth equals creating more jobless. The majority of Australians ( Turnbull included) believe in SSM, but he still going to have a very costly plebiscite…
If Labor’s economic policy is “so 1970’s”, one can only describe Scotty’s LNP policy as so medieval.
The robber barons grabbing everything from the sovereign wealth of this country and being paid (by the rightful rulers) to do so.
The rightful rulers don’t have any problem handing over land and infrastructure to their pillaging corporate mates, by selling them assets and calling it investment.
The neo-dark ages are here.
Helvityni
I think Richard Di Natale has shown some wisdom in moving SHY away from Immigration into Education.
Sarah has shown a passion for combating the indefinite detention policy and campaigning for the honest resettlement of the people trapped in a political limbo on the islands of Nauru and Manus. But she has been banging her head against a brick-wall of indifference and Dutton has had some success in painting her as a crazy publicity seeking woman : that’s how he plays the game and whilst public opinion should be pointing to the absolute incompetence of Dutton in managing his portfolio what’s been happening is that the focus emanating from talkback radio and News Corp has been focusing on SHY.
So, time for a change of strategy on the part of the Greens and whilst we can thank Sarah for her efforts she has reached an impasse – the Nauru authorities for instance will not issue her a visa to revisit the island probably also influenced by Dutton. So, no change in Greens policy but time for SHY to move on.
Don’t forget that Morriscum DOESN’T want his children to grow up poor, just everyone else’s children who aren’t in the 10%.
Terry2 makes a good point about SHY.
And the Greens have to be wary, unfortunately, of attacks against them not just from the Libs, but also from Labor.
It has been a concerted trashing in the lead-up to the election, and is unlikely to be discouraged by the result, even though Labor’s primary vote sends warning signals about how they are going to adapt to the future.
“You want to cut tax breaks on my fifth investment property? Wah! You won’t give me more corporate tax cuts? Wah! You want working class kids to be able to sit next to my precious darling at university? Wah! Why won’t poor people stop interrupting the experts on Q&A? It’s a communist plot! Wah! Wah! Wah!”
“It’s true that there is a class war in this country. But it is being waged every day of the week against workers and the poor, relentlessly, by these spoilt, entitled born-to-rule brats.”
https://redflag.org.au/node/5282
to achieve a compromise solution, Labor must first abandon all their policies and thoroughly embrace neoliberalism
— liberal politics #101
Take a leaf out of Iceland …… Who sacked all their rotten corrupt Government and jailed their rotten corrupt Bankers !
The Iceland example:
More on Iceland.
“Iceland again sets a unique example of leadership for populist movements around the world who are eager for an end to corrupt politics, central reserve-banking tyranny and the takeover of government by corporate interests”
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/06/27/iceland-proves-dont-need-politician-president-businessman-as-president/
“However, instead of running to the vaults to shower the banks with money, they let the banks fail. They also resisted traveling down the European/Republican austerity road. Instead, they kept their social programs intact at a time when they were most needed.”
“We were wise enough not to follow the traditional prevailing orthodoxies of the Western financial world in the last 30 years. We introduced currency controls, we let the banks fail, we provided support for the poor, and we didn’t introduce austerity measures like you’re seeing in Europe.”
http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/01/17/iceland-sentences-26-corrupt-bankers-to-74-years-in-prison/
I could be wrong, but didn’t the Panama Papers reveal that the former president had a few billion stashed away?
We could also take a leaf out of Canada’s book on media laws.
Regarding the NBN. We were connected about a month ago.
We lost our landline.
Rang Telstra who were adamant the NBN wouldn’t effect our landline in spite of the fact that the NBN box lies just above the Telstra box and the wiring travels through the same conduit between them.
Telstra turned up to repair the fault ON A SUNDAY,!!!! With no warning.
Hubby and I were skiing but our 22yo daughter tried to deal with the guy who thereafter put in a report that no one was home and he had no access. In the meantime the neighbour across the road has also been without a landline. This Monday they finally reconnected our landline from outside the house (no access required apparently).
6 weeks without a landline.
The kind lady who took my blood for testing on Tuesday said when the same happened to her she rang Telstra and demanded a refund of the rent for that period as she had had no service!
Footnote; we are in Josh Frydenberg’s electorate!! go figure?
Kerri, when we had the Rudd NBN in Canberra we were able to do away with our landline and go VOIP (make calls over the computer), saving us $20 a month.
Here in Victoria – when we get Fraudband – I’m told that it won’t allow me to replace my landline with VOIP. We don’t use our landline but we have to keep it and hence pay the $20 a month to have it. Without it we can’t get the NBN.
Malcolm certainly is delivering a load of rubbish.
Let us not forget that Morrison belongs to a church that believes in tithes.
kerri,
My business was without EFTPOS, fax or security for over two months because our provider stuffed up the lines in a porting mistake and then Telstra refused to reconnect them because the area was “NBN ready”. I pointed out that it was repairing a fault on an existing line but that seemed to make no difference to customer service in the Philippines so I said well hook us up to the NBN then. That will take 6 weeks she said. In the shit fight that ensued, the NBN and Telstra technicians ALL said to us that this is a dog’s breakfast. The FttN technology is stuffed and there are insufficient technicians employed to connect it anyway. They are using contractors all of whom agree the whole thing is a nightmare. Even the Telstra sales guy I was dealing with told me he has a personal complaint lodged with the ombudsman about his home connection.
Just another day.
“In a shocking development in Bolivia, striking workers – who were demanding more mining concessions with less stringent environmental rules – kidnapped and “savagely beat to death” 56-year-old Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-26/bolivian-minister-kidnapped-savagely-beaten-death-striking-mineworkers
“Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe instructed the Commissioner General of Zimbabwe Police Republic, Augustine Chihuri to arrest and detain the whole Zimbabwean Olympic Team members immediately they arrived the Harare International Airport”
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2016/08/24/mugabe-orders-arrest-detention-of-zimbabwean-olympic-team/
Aaaah Yes. The unbelievably stupid scooter moronscum. The thing who is atill trying to work out the difference between numberes and letters, and what the two things do when you make combinations of either. Our federal treasurer. A thing of faith at hillscream.
Eternal dickhead, and beyond redemption. Can we have him sent back to whatever planet he came from? Please.
PS. Go Iceland.
PPS. I read the articles on here, and a couple of other sites, because I realised how little I really know about real stuff. It is a shame that it is not compulsory reading for our Parliamentary members and leaders.
And for what it is worth, NOONE is ”Born to rule”. Some of them only believe that they are, and spend the rest of their lives trying to prove that they were correct.
Gabget1959
“scooter moronscum”
Mind if I use this?
kronomex – I also noted that Morrison comment about not wanting his children to grow up poor. Of all the words he uttered just those few words about the prospects for his children hit my nerves like an electric shock. They embodied the very essence of the man and his politics – he does not speak for the Australian people – he doesn’t care about them – in fact those outside his inner circle of neoconservatives and evangelical crazies, he holds in contempt.
Gangey1959
Apologies for misspelling your handle. Dunno what happened there.
Cheers.
We should worry about “scooter moronscum’s” kids the same way that he worries about ours.
Not at all.
Damn autocorrect can do that, H’.
No autocorrect mate. The mistake was mine.
I read that Iceland article. If only…
Cheers.
Hey Scomo, here’s a simple explanation of the national economy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBpm5sVmGYc
There’s the $8.8 billion of nominal funds at the Reserve Bank that Hokey transferred in 2013 if you want to reduce the alleged deficit. As the issuer of our sovereign currency they don’t need it.
winston smythe packer paid every bit a tax the ATO regulations required and he exhorted all of us to do the same.
surely, lord, your ‘misinformed’ are the libs ‘informed’ so repeating by shouting is expected and reinforces their informed belief. (senate malc feels he is very well informed! As does his boss, pauline.
Who remembers labor shouting there was no debt crisis for the 3 years of the rabbott’s day after day misinformation??
He used simple home debt with the word billions to win agaist a lemon led labor to prove crisis and labor countered not. Now turnball he uses simple debt and trillions to scare the new boys and girls who have the balance.
Turnball is not as stupid as the rabbott’s merry men and he knows the loonies have lost the power to say no to anything he wants.
They can only say yes to turnbull. and he will rely on the pragmatism of diludbran to screw the SHYs and shorten for tilts at pollie power.
Since jan 2014 labor has ignored, emails forwarded that illustrated the real debt crisis for Australian misinformed resulting from the rabbott’s release of the tertiary dogs onto the left hand side of the bell curve and the advertising companies have been stealing millions for the private tertiary institutes and for the vice-chancellors bums on seats rorts.
Ask labor to release the number of party members who have a VET/TAFE debt? Do they care about kids being conned by averts into signing for up to $96000 debt????
My bet is kate ellis and her predecessors are still on the uni degrees at the top end and are head in the air voiding the teaching/nursing degree students studying with poor school marks and the many thousands functionally illiterate and enumerate all gathering debt at compound interest without the foggiest what that means?
Challenge any labor here to calculate the debt of a student, following the rabbott’s daughter into $60000 design, who gets pregnant and becomes a housewife
For argument’s sake let’s assume she marries a lawyer and helps him pay off his HECS.
What is her debt when he pisses off after 25 years?
What is his obligation to pay off her debt???
Who, in labor, cared in 2014?? Who. in Australia, cares now?? Not the university boys and girls?? The dumb and poor can get @%%@@