Day to Day Politics: My after Easter catch up. Bolt looks to Sky.
Tuesday 29 March.
1 After a short break it’s a bit difficult to know where to start, Oh well, let’s start with Bolt. After 5 years of poor ratings with ‘The Bolt Report’ on 10 it seems he is looking to the sky with a nightly program. Ten apparently refused to continue funding his ratings disaster.
Monday to Friday he will cover his set topics of Racism, Free Speech, Muslims, National Defence, Tony Abbott, George Pell and Climate Change.
He will interview a stream of compliant guests who will undoubtedly agree with him. He will critique the media and politicians which of course means those who disagree with him and while doing so opine about the news of the day. He will preach to a smaller Sky audience but a more agreeable one.
Bolt said:
“The worst thing of any of the jobs I’ve got, whether it’s the newspaper, radio or TV, is trying to get guests on … You go from being fearless to supplicant! The big question is, will Malcolm Turnbull come on?”
He has trouble getting guests. No, he can’t be serious.
An observation.
We have so much to learn from people we disagree with that it’s a wonder we don’t do it more often.
2 Bolt’s fellow right-winger Cory Bernardi in the meantime has raised the prospect of a split in the Liberal Party by laying the background for a new Conservative party. It’s clear to anyone who takes an interest in politics that internally the party is split into two groups. The Neo Conservative, Tea Party types, and old style Small L libs. Tim Costello got it right when he said the party was two parties in one. It’s a battle royal for the ascendency.
As it stands, despite have a leftish leader, too weak to lead, conservative policies are having their way. There are many examples of this. Only last week they shelved a promise to announce the plebiscite question on Marriage Equality until after the election. The extremists are having their way. They want to frame the question to their own liking.
Tony Abbott is forging ahead with his own right-wing agenda openly critical of anything outside of his own legacy, highlighting meetings with world leaders as he travels and he intends campaigning in his own right. What he misses of course is the extent of his own unpopularity.
John Hewson suggested:
“He won’t go away, so I think you give him a role. Define the role very carefully and encourage him to be judged by his performance.”
As if he would take a role that in any way diminished his ego.
Former Howard Minister Peter Reith suggested he keep his head down lest he lose his legacy.
3 Former Labor minister Craig Emerson hit the mark when he said it was strange the prime minister had left the timing of the next election in the hands of four senators “who hate his guts”.
“That’s a master stroke, apparently” Emerson said.
However, late on Monday it was reported that Turnbull was in discussion with Senator Day about extending the Legislation to include other forms of corruption. Something Glenn Lazarus has been suggesting for months. If this compromise is reached and the bill passed if would make a mockery of wanting to be rid of the cross bench senators because our democracy wasn’t being served.
4 On top of all their other worries they still have the problem of Arthur Sinodinos to deal with. By any measure, including the pub test, Arthur doesn’t pass. It simply beggars belief that when he was finance director of the Liberal Party that he didn’t know about the intricate scheme to channel loads of illegal donations to his party.
His evidence at the ICAC enquiry was astonishing. It seemed that the poor Senator had had an early onset of dementia, so bad was his memory. In fact one has to wonder how a person with such a poor memory could possibly serve in any capacity.
Surely now it’s time for a national ICAC.
Once these accusations surface they usually have a way of growing legs of their own, with an inevitable guilt ridden conclusion.
It’s all very well for Mike Baird and the PM to say just fess up and reveal who the donors were, but the implications in doing so may be very bad indeed if favours are seen to be involved.
5 I have often wondered why it is that politicians address each other as honourable when it is obvious to most that they are not.
They are certainly not honourable when it comes to their expenses and the recent findings suggest that the proposed changes supported by the Government won’t make the less so. The proposed changes are an improvement but superficial at best.
Lenore Taylor put it this way:
“Question: When are expenses legitimate? Answer: When the politician says so.”
The report has yet to reach any conclusion about Bronwyn Bishops rorting of the system. In the meantime she hasn’t yet chosen an artist to paint her portrait to hang in Parliament House. Hope you’re sitting down. The cost is $30,000.
My Thought for the day.
“Those who cannot forgive are foolish but equally so are those who seek to forget.”
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13 comments
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Möbius Ecko
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Terry2
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Steeleye
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Matthew Oborne
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Ian Sprocket Muncher Parfrey
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Michael
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Geoff Andrews
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Wally
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Möbius Ecko
Return to home pageFortuitous that you put Bolt and Reith in the one post as the former has just savagely attacked the latter. No guess as to who or what it was over. His surname starts with Abbott.
All the good little mindless robot Boltites hit the social media in unison also condemning the “has been rorter” Reith, he of the disgraceful “Children Overboard” infamy.
Telling of the right wing hypocrisy, especially Bolt’s, that they backed Reith when he was at his height in the Howard ministry along with either being mum on or excusing Children Overboard, but now he speaks a truth about their failed Abbott they turn cannibal and Children Overboard was a disgrace.
Predictive observation: Whilst they savage a has been Reith on Children Overboard they will never do the same to a has been Howard.
So the cross bench senators are not being obstructionist when it comes the passing the ABCC legislation, they are actually being agile and innovative by suggesting that, ‘certainly we need to make a stand against corruption but just to target the building and construction industry is a lost opportunity and looks like Union bashing’.
It will be very hard for Turnbull to refuse to take on board the calls coming from the Senate to seize the opportunity and broaden the ABCC legislation to cover all corruption in both unions and industry.It seems that we are moving closer to a New South wales style independent Commission Against Corruption.
This makes sense and the government knows it does : we just don’t need to play silly games using a Dd to bash unions.
‘Bolt looks to Sky’
I was wondering why the phrase had a ring of familiarity to it, then in struck me. Back in my childhood in the 50s/60s the US developed an air-launched ballistic missile system. It was named ‘Skybolt’. It was a dud.
How appropriate.
The right wing commentators are doing a fine job. They all have an opinions that Abbott would not agree with, he isnt going to vanish, he isnt going to take a plum job so he can be pushed out and off the scene, Reith saying Abbott is delusional.
How to ensure Abbott continues the way he is now, simply keep it up, Hewson should know well enough Abott isnt going to take a job to get rid of him especially after Hewson suggested it publicly.
How do you deal with a Former PM who was a complete disaster who thinks he is great and doesnt want to be forgotten?
Hope into a time machine, go back to 2009 and not make him opposition.
The Libs put themselves in an impossible position, weren’t the warning signs there when even campaigning we heard veiled threats from him about deposing him as loto, as PM he made plenty of threats to his side about keeping him in as PM, what good is a threat if you don’t back it up, and clearly he is.
We have all read some serious implausible articles, One said a convincing win will stop Abbott.
what part of delusional are some journalists not getting, the far right say he did a great job and we need more of it.
The General Public are ahead of jounalists in dumping their aspirations for Turnbull, Turnbulls approval now in negative territory yet some still give him credit without any reason to back up the assertion.
Abbott bought into the idea of a right wing remake of this country, the far right Bernardi and co. almost immediately cried out there is no right wing voice in this country, there certainly is they obviously think they are silenced when they cant direct policy.
Bernardi wont split now if he ever does and the part of the Liberal party Reith calls delusional wont give up on their chance to remake the country in the IPA image.
There is no way they are shutting Abbott up, they put an idiot in charge who thinks he is the greatest thing to happen to politics and he wont face reality any time soon.
Will a compliant media not report his doings to help the Libs get back in?
just an aside check ABC just in against other news sources and you will how balance means not touching many negative stories on the Liberal party.
Hey another great post John, speaking of entitlements I read that mrabbot while opposition leader spent more than the PM,and than on becoming PM mrabbot immediately ordered a bullet proof car likely to be over a million dollars why would mrabbot do that I wonder?Please Australians when you vote leave LNP squares BLANK and then we can start to reverse the damage the idiot mrabbot and the LNP have done. Thanks.
Leaving the LNP squares blank is idiocy.
Put the LNP LAST.
A great post.
I cannot help getting the feeling that current commentary is based on the assumption (or it could be real) that our current compliant, blinded, controlled, almost brainwashed, tired, (plus any other excuses) voters and ditto head office chosen pre-inflated ego candidate robots so much so that if what one (we have two PM’s at the moment) of our “dictators” says, goes – we must have a faux democracy in greatest need of systemic review and revision.
Would not commentary be better serving us all if it concentrated on joining the the power of a vote dot with the quality of candidate dot??
while everything you say about the LNP is correct, you miss one thing. It still looks, at this stage, like shorten is unable to win the next election. If his odds are still so shabby, after all the help the LNP are giving him, he has no hope of ever being PM. If he wasnt as self interested as all the other politicians, if he truly had Australia best interests at heart, perhaps he should stand down, citing poor polling figures… at least give his party a chance..
“For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–”
Shakespeare’s sarcasm in “Julius Caesar” translates perfectly to the modern politician.
Like the thief in the Spanish proverb – the thief thinks that all are of his condition – the rorting politician KNOWS his theft is acceptable because “everyone else is doing it”.
But we tolerate it because they are such nice people and they’ve all foregone their normal career to serve us and they can always pay it back if their hand get caught in the till.
And yes, Ian. Leaving a blank against the LNP would ensure an LNP victory in the house of reps ballot. but not the senate ballot.
As if he would take a role that in any way diminished his ego.
At this point I would suggest Hewson is more on the Labor side of politics than he appears.
His suggestion regarding Abbott, opens the way for Abbott to embarass himself further by ignoring both his leader and broad public opinion.
$30,000 for a portrait of the worst speaker the australian parliament has ever produced! Why not a picture of an arse farting in the direction of the public to show what the ugly old —thinks of the people who’ve been paying her salary.
Are there any artist who would want to paint Bishops portrait? Would deserve a long holiday after staring at her for very long.
They could save some money and combine two portraits into one. For example Bishop and Sinodinos.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeivMJjXIAAtnz5.jpg