Day to Day Politics: Random thoughts on the week that was.
Sunday 6 March 2016
1 What a shocker of a week it was for the Coalition. The Treasurer and the Prime Minister made fools of themselves by trying to link the BIS Report with Labor’s Negative Gearing policy.
2 As dramatic as that was I think Tony Abbott’s declaration of war with Malcolm Turnbull will have enormous repercussions down the track. Abbott has done himself no favours with colleagues with his National Security leak to Greg Sheridan and The Australian. You might even say that Turnbull may never,while he is surrounded by the methodology of Abbott governance, the negativity of it, be able to introduce the positive innovative style he talks about.
And we had this nauseating spectacle of Turnbull praising Abbott’s leadership at Howard’s 20th Anniversary while Abbott is shirtfronting him. Shades of Rudd you say. Well yes except Rudd had some public support whilst Abbott doesn’t. There can only be one inevitable conclusion if he continues. History shows that he will destroy Turnbull, himself and the parties chances of winning the election.
That won’t worry him of course because wrecking is in his DNA.
3 Friday I watched the PM at a press conference waxing lyrically about the roll out of the NBN. On Monday, another Government leak highlighted massive delays in Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN.
It was all contrary to my understanding. As I understand it and John Menadue confirms it, Senate Estimates hearings involving executives from NBN Co have become a sad pantomime. Senators spend a couple of hours asking NBN CEO Bill Morrow and CFO Stephen Rue probing questions about what taxpayers are receiving for an ever increasing expenditure of public and borrowed funds and unsurprisingly most of the questions remain unanswered because key NBN Co executives that should be expected to be able to answer the questions about expenditure and what is actually being done by NBN Co, are not present.
4 We are still waiting on the report into Parliamentary expenses but I’m told the Government, like their tax policy, want more time to get it right. Or it might just go away until after the election.
5 Canada have now accepted 25,000 refugees from the disaster in the Middle East. Our count . . . well, we need more time.
6 The quarterly growth figures of 3% whilst welcome are somewhat misleading because most of the growth was attributable to the Governments own spending and that of consumers. What happens when the Government cuts its spending.
7 The announcement of the week went to Bill Shorten with the “father of reconciliation” and Yawuru Man, Pat Dodson as Labor’s newest Senator for Western Australia.
8 Did you know that Joel Fitzgibbon, Jenny Macklin, Kelvin Thompson and Anthony “Albo” Albanese celebrated 20 years in Parliament last week.
9 A dispirited Facebook friend sent me this:
‘We have the highest unemployment since the ’90’s, one of the worlds worst legislations on climate change, wage disparity widening by the day, house and rent prices that are crippling what’s left of the middle class and devastating the poorer class, a national broadband network, that apart from being far from implemented is already antiquated . . . Malcolm Turnbull, during question time believes our most pressing issues are keeping tax breaks in place for those that can afford more than one property, making it easier for Murdoch to increase his media influence in this country, and lauding the fact that mad max won some oscars as an example of innovation in this country . . . the average man/woman in the street does not exist in any way . . . ‘
10 Further to my comment about Sydney Morning Herald columnist Paul Sheehan. I am pleased to announce that he has been “stood aside until further notice” over his false story of the woman “Louise” who claimed she had been raped and beaten by Arabic-speaking men.
Good result that.
11 Has there ever been a more crass candidate for the Presidency of the United States? Donald Trump as if to say that size is important in potential Presidential aspirants assures a debate audience that he is well endowed. Really, what a prick.
My thought for the day.
“Life is an experience of random often unidentifiable patterns and indiscriminate consequences that don’t always have order nor require explanation”.
34 comments
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David (other)
Return to home page5 Syrian Refugees
At a Senate estimates hearing , immigration officials revealed just 26 Syrian refugees had arrived since the 12,000 intake was announced in September 2015. In contrast, official Canadian Government figures showed 20,490 Syrian refugees had landed in that country since November 4. A total of 25,000 were due to arrive by the end of February.
Our intake has stalled and it may be due to the fact that we are asking the UNHCR to do a deal to take our asylum seekers from Nauru and Manus as part of a swap but so far it would seem that the UNHCR are not playing ball.
Turnbull is desperate to clean out the Nauru and Manus camps prior to the election ; we’ll see how that goes.
This un-Australian LNP has ridiculed the defense white paper the the ALP submitted around 2013,I have read some of it and so far find nothing un-Australian about it,http://www.defence.gov.au/whitepaper/2013/docs/australia_in_the_asian_century_white_paper.pdf. a big concern that we all should have is that if the ALP get in power this sick un-Australian LNP government will do everything possible including acting against our national interest eg(the more boats arriving the better) to bring the elected government down, why do we stand for this?http://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=4280 and Both Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison made it abundantly clear that they did not want to stop the boats with an arrangement such as that with Malaysia. They wanted to stop Labor stopping the boats.
One thing I know for sure is that the media will look at Abbotts backgrounding of Turnbull with a “poor Malcolm” bent whilst very little of such sympathy was ever expressed for poor Julia!
We were in Vancouver in January and whilst chilly it gave me a warm glow when an extended family of around a dozen members stepped into the train carriage we were in and I immediately recognised them to be Syrian refugees. Each and every one of them from the oldest to the youngest was wearing a brand new coat. And not a trace of a bomb amongst them!
Today on Insiders as a new day dawned, the insipid Communications Minister Fifield was sort of interviewed by the giant fossil of all interviewers B Cassidy, who is living on a reputation well and truly past its used by date. Having the Communications Minister in the chair would have been an ideal opportunity, given the ongoing criticism of Turnbull’s NBN disaster, to ask a few in depth investigative questions.
As the minutes ticked by it began to dawn on me, Barry is not going to go near it. Sure enough one of the great scandals (one of many) surrounding this inept shambles of a Govt, is off limits. The ABC continues its protection racket and refuses to allow any discussion on a subject they have a personal interest in.
A certain former ABC Tech is once again proven to be the ‘good cop’.
Mr. Lord…as always I enjoy your post.
Re the LNP “making fools..”etc
I doubt that looking foolish and being wrong has ever got in the LNP’s way when it comes to spreading misinformation about the Labor Party.
Why sh0uld it change now?
Is MT and the LNP not TA and the LNP where policies are concerned?
They seem to have hides like elephants.
I hope the electorate will start to see MT for what he is ….ie TA in a new suit.
With regards to unemployment;
my heart brakes for people like my daughter,who, after being out of the work force because of child raring , has gained new and good qualifications in the hope of getting a job.
Last week she had 2 interviews but no job. I note that the Gov is offering companies $10,000 if they employ a person over 50. So are people in 30 to 40 age group being over looked by companies for the over 50 age group and the under 18 age group?
What hope is there for single mums?
David…after having watched many good interviews where the person being pressured to answer questions result in a waste of time…I wonder why you are bashing the ABC.?
I note you are not bashing the Murdoch press and their vested interests for its support of the LNP ??? !!!
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cc00HlKUEAIaArE.jpg
Is there a single economic indicator that has improved since the Liberals took power?
Remember Howard campaigned solely on net foreign debt in 1996 and won, then went on to rack up record current account deficit after deficit. The current crop of failed Liberals are continuing Howard’s miserable failed legacy.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-01/australia's-net-foreign-debt-tips-over-$1-trillion/7210622
ella…you must be quite new here. Firstly I am a fervent ALP supporter as would be obvious to all regulars , secondly I will merely pass your comment re the Murdoch press as ignorance of the facts, I have spent the last 9 yrs attacking that lot.
Re the interview, I presume you are aware of the debate that has been raging for weeks re the ABC, The NBN and the former ABC Staffer.
Your comment ” after having watched many good interviews where the person being pressured to answer questions result in a waste of time…I wonder why you are bashing the ABC.?'” Does not appear to me to connect the dots.
So be it.
s there a single economic indicator that has improved since the Liberals took power?
And what improved under Rudd/Gillard? Unemployment went from 4.3% to 5.8% and govt debt went from zero to 10% of GDP in no time flat under that govt. I could argue that the huge increase in unemployment that happened under Labor has stabilised and the budget deficit is about the same.
Anyway you people say budget deficits are not a problem so we have nothing to worry about.
Politicide
It was only for two years, that the Thug was in the job
In that short time, he proved to be, a hopeless lying nob
Was not just him, cos in this crew, the talent is so sparse
It was always going to be one enormous sorry farce
It’s no surprise, that Abbott was a monumental fail
But who’d have thought, how quickly, it would all start to derail
I guess if you’ve no policies, and only can oppose
It isn’t any wonder, he went quickly on the nose
When asked about his policies, he had not much to say
That’s because, he’d outsourced them, all to the I. P. A.
He didn’t keep his promises, it turned out that he lied
He kept on blaming Labor, and the lying he denied
He got no help from Smokin Joe, whose budget went too far
While Joe and pal Mathias, smoked a great big fat cigar
While Brandis in the Senate, said that “Bigots do have rights”
The Thug announced, he would restore, archaic Dames and Knights
Pensioners, the unemployed, the students and the sick
All were helpless targets, of this useless lying prick
If not for the senate, they would surely have been screwed
Their budget based on lies, made sure, a poll decline ensued
The backbench got so nervous, with a feeling of despair
The Thug survived a challenge, up against an empty chair
He promised he would listen and would stop his captains picks
But six months on, not much had changed, he still played dirty tricks
All the Thug’s decisions, took them further up shit creek
From equal rights, to climate change, he kept a losing streak
His Captain’s calls kept coming back, to bite him on the bum
The public had concluded, he’s deluded and quite dumb
The government was in limbo land, the party paralysed
Their only hope was Turnbull, who the right wing just despised
While Abbott’s only focus, was on how to save his hide
Turnbull and his plotters planned the Thug’s politicide
Turnbull advanced with the numbers on his side
To everyone’s relief, they removed the Thug who lied
For a while it worked quite well, their polling headed north
The public were quite smitten, with the wanker from Wentworth
But Turnbull’s coup had come, with a saddle bag of bricks
The snake oil man was haunted, by a bunch of right wing pricks
Turnbull had agreed to many things he’d once condemned
It wasn’t long, till cracks appeared, the honeymoon would end
Turnbull talked in circles and his capital was spent
And Abbott and his acolytes, kept pissing in the tent
Shorten started scoring and Labor set the pace
The polls began to tumble, the lead all but erased
The Thug was out to seek revenge, he channeled Kevin Rudd
He would not rest, until he’d seen, the sight of Turnbull’s blood
As always, the deluded thug, had a destructive disposition
And like a suicide bomber, he’d soon blow up, the coalition
Rather than achieve little the Abbott/Turnbull government has taken Australia backwards.
Economically, the debt has doubled, private debt is stratospheric, income per head and wages growth have decreased. The car industry is going and the share market is the same level as March 2006. Tax rorting is endemic.
Socially, a hurtful debate on marriage equality is preceding a costly and unnecessary plebiscite that will not influence the very people who proposed it. Ten flag rhetoric about terrorism has seen increased racial vilification of our Muslim community.
Environmentally, an effective carbon tax that lead to emission reductions was replaced by a policy that Malcolm Turnbull said was a recipe for “fiscal recklessness on a grand scale”. The renewable energy industry was nearly destroyed by leaders who believed “coal was good for humanity” and “wind turbines are offensive”
Technologically, the National Broadband Network has evolved into a mess that is already obsolete, will cost billions to maintain and will eventually be replaced with Labor’s FTTH vision. Meanwhile hundreds of scientists lose their jobs in the “Innovative ideas boom”
Morally, we have experienced the most dishonest government in modern times who despite a change of leader continue to treat Australians like idiots.
Neil did you bother to read what I posted or read the link? Where did I say budget deficit?
But it’s always been you and you mindlessly adored Liberals that have gone about budget deficits (and current account deficits in the past when it suited them). So by that standard it’s your Liberals that are failing badly, but do we see you caning them as you so relentlessly caned Labor over budget deficits, of course not hypocrite.
And it’s not just us that are stating that under economic circumstances budget deficits are not bad and if implemented correctly on the right structural programs, can be very good for the economy. It’s your precious and hypocritical Liberals that have gone from budget emergencies and economic disaster to budget deficits not being all that bad after all and there isn’t a budget emergency anymore, even though the economy has gone down since they took power.
As you always do and always will no matter what evidence and empirical data we produce you deliberately ignore an ancronym in your mindless attacks on Labor, GFC.
Also of not, and completely predicable, you respond to a valid criticism of your slavishly followed Liberals with an attack on Labor. Labor your answer to everything bad about the Liberals, and there’s an awful lot bad about the Liberals.
Why don’t you address this since in the past you were so critical of Labor’s internal politics? http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cc00HlKUEAIaArE.jpg
Anybody else notice the large increase in Liberal government propaganda ads dressed up as government info lately?
Watching some car racing and channel flicking in between gardening stints this arvo and I lost count of the propaganda ads. How much is this costing us when they are supposedly undertaking a budget repair. Shades of Howard yet again. All waste whilst policy after policy fails and putting out millions+ in ads saying how great his government is.
the Deficit that you are referring to, is a Deficit to what??
Mark Needham
Mangled my next to last post, sorry. Teach me to rush a post using a smallish smart phone.
Anyway back to the massive failure that was Howard. Such a failure that much of what is happening economically today and the moral decay can be sheeted back to his too long time in office.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2016/03/05/inside-john-howards-legacy/14570964002969
Wow, is this a new record. Breaking a promise not after an election, not years, months or weeks later, but hours after making it.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/same-sex-marriage-plebiscite-promised-this-year-if-coalition-wins-election-20160305-gnbma9.html
Only the Liberals can break promises of this incredible amount and magnitude at this incredible speed.
David
I agree with you : why don’t you raise the NBN omission with Barrie and see what he has to say – he won’t bite you.
Mobius Ecko
Very strange, on the one hand they tell us the election will be at the normal time, August – November and then they tell us that Abbott’s plebiscite will be after that but still in 2016.
Why on earth if they insist on a plebiscite don’t they combine it with the election and save a heap of money. Why force us to the polls twice within months ?
Will do Terry…… re the plebiscite, because they are a disorganised rabble? and the inner fighting is still going on despite the best efforts of the Murdoch media, trying to convince us all is sweetness and light.
David, I may new to this forum and you may be right….BUT… I don’t see the point in asking a question to which you will NEVER get a truthful
answer from the LNP. Why give them the platform to repeat the same old same old , that being…..we were left a mess by Labor which we are trying to clean up.
When during question time in parliament ,Labor pushes the LNP on any issue they always turn it back onto Labor…Why give them air?
I am so over this sort of rubbish…you are better off letting the person being interviewed show themselves for what and who they are ???? NO???
Wow you did it again.
You deleted my comment about deleting my comment.
I must be dangerous to your beliefs
ella if it assists I was an announcer and announcer trainer with Radio NZ, an announcer with the BBC and a Producer with the ABC over some 35 yrs. I suspect I may have an inkling about interviewing techniques.
One will never know what answer one will receive from an interviewee until the question is asked, no matter who that person is and even if one knows that same person is a tricky, evasive, even lying individual (sound like a politician?).
A decent interviewer will never approach an assignment with a series of questions to be followed rigidly, no matter what responses are being received. Listening and quick thinking is part of the art.
Now lets take Minister Fifield as an example. He has either laid down strict rules to be followed, not to be deviated from, as Ms Credlin demanded for her charge former PM Abbott, when ever he appeared pre-recorded on 7-30, I doubt the Minister has become so timid. Or if its to be ‘open slather’ then anything just about goes, within reason of course. As Minister Fifield’s duties include responsibility for NBNCO and as that topic is hot and has been since the Torys took office, that should have been high on Mr Cassidy’s list of topics.
So to your ” I don’t see the point in asking a question to which you will NEVER get a truthful answer from”. Well that may be one way of looking at it. I can’t possibly agree. If one doesn’t ask the questions, then no one will ever know if the Minister is lying, under instruction to not answer, protecting someone or ignorant of the topic. Barry Cassidy is a professional, skilled and knows the ropes. There are methods of making your guest look very stupid should they refuse to answer or obviously lie and I fail to see the reason for asking Fifield to be a guest if NBNCO was off limits unless………
…..what is happening and social media has grasped it, either the ABC is telling Cassidy how to perform his job and he has been nobbled, as they have been embarrassed already by revelations of deliberate silencing of a former highly respected technical staffer re the NBN, or the order has come from Govt to lay off as its a too hot hot potato.
I don’t know of course but in my experience it is very unusual for a very senior, experienced broadcaster as Barry is, to accept either of those alternatives. Barry Cassidy is no Leigh Sales!!! As Shakespeare’s Marcellus said “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark”
Sorry it was a lengthy response, there is no short answer.
Neil, what are you talking about? I didn’t see any comments.
Howard’s woeful legacy.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cc1BgiLUsAEo0W6.jpg
Most wasteful, biggest spending, highest taxing, largest government and worst of all gave us his educatee on lying, Abbott.
This is slightly off topic but as it is in keeping with the current shambles of a Govt, it certainly warrants a glance
Bronwyn Bishop instructed by Tony Abbott not to apologise for the $5000 helicopter ride, a new book reveals:
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/03/06/16/49/abbott-bishop-told-not-to-give-helicopter-apology … #9News
Neil, what are you talking about? I didn’t see any comments.
Well someone deleted my comment. i posted a comment in the afternoon, it was put into moderation, i went out for a couple of hours and when i came back the comment was gone.
The LNP are installing another IPA stooge in the Senate. James Paterson has been preselected for the Victorian Senate ticket.
” The 28-year-old lobbied hard and beat out eight others including international relations expert Denis Dragovic and legal aid lawyer Karina Okotel for the position at a Liberals preselection convention at Melbourne’s Caulfield racecourse on Sunday.”
And they pretend they pick people on merit.
David (other) thank you.
It appears to me that we kid ourselves that we live in a democracy if things such as this can happen.
I feel devastated ….I have such regard for the ABC and Barry. If it is true please Barry speak out…bad things happen when good people do nothing.
Neil of Sydney, in the past week I too have tried to post on various topics. My posts disappear into thin air. I don’t know why these ones have not.
Ella, sometimes comments get caught up in the spam filter, for no apparent reason. We try to clear them as quickly as possible, which isn’t always possible (if that makes any sense).
Ella I have on Terry2’s suggestion asked Mr Cassidy by way of a Direct Message to his Twitter account, why he completely ignored the NBN in his interview with the Minister responsible this morning.
I will post the reply here, if he bothers to respond.Should he not we can assume….trouble at mill.
The AIM Network…thanks for the explanation.
David, good on you for asking , I tried to find contact details on the ABC page…not much luck…guess I could write an email to the Minister for Communication…I think I will.
I guess you are right…no answer is an answer in itself.
Hi ella
Try this one ; http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/contact.htm
@Ella, Terry2…am awaiting a response to my polite request to Mr Cassidy. I guess he receives a good many comments so probably take time if he bothers. Good on you Ella, hope you get something back.