Saturday 9 January 2016

A day back on the job and the day-to-day political realities of life are hitting me. I’m still catching up and it has given me a nasty hangover that won’t go away.

Two observations.

‘Less informed voters unfortunately outnumber the more politically aware. Therefore, conservatives feed them all the bullshit they need. And the menu generally contains a fair portion of untruths’

‘People need to wake up to the fact that government affects every part of their life (other than what they do in bed) and should be more interested. But there is a political malaise that is deep-seated’

1 The Royal Commission into Trade Unions has released its final report. Surprise, surprise it has found that some Unions are corrupt. They are. It also found that certain companies by colluding with them were also possibly corrupt. The media predictably centres its attention on the Unions.

As a counter balance and if the government was truly interested in corruption why didn’t it also have a Royal Commission into the banks disgraceful conduct over financial advice. It has cost taxpayers far more than any misconduct by Trade Unions.

We might also have a RC into why, with the Governments blessing, large corporations are exempted from paying tax. And why the wealthy privileged are not required to disclose how much tax they pay.

We could also have an inquiry into the immoral 15% tax discount on superannuation given to high income earners.

Independent Senator John Madigan called for the government to go after the banks and financial planners – not just union officials.

“If the government sets up a body that deals with all corruption, I would support it wholeheartedly,” he said.

“Why aren’t they pursuing all corruption with such fervour?”

Good point indeed.

As George Negus tweeted.

@TurnbullMalcolm You weren’t going to insult our intelligence! Unions corrupt and dishonest; business incorrupt and honest? Give me a break.

2 There is a lot of truth in the old adage that Australians go to sleep for the first two months of every year. But there is much more in the fact that politicians take advantage of it.

So during a heat wave when all we are interested in is cooling down they cynically announce a review into the status of some Medicare procedures.

On top of that it looks as though the Coalition will renege on the funding for the final two years of Gonski. They will of course be able to continue to fund Private schools to the tune of almost 2.4 billion.

‘We have continued to fund privilege rather than disadvantage in education, ‘said Mr Cobbold, who is the Save Our Schools (SOS) spokesman.

‘It’s a straight choice. Do you fund wealthy private schools at the expense of disadvantaged schools, or do you turn some of that funding around to support disadvantaged students in the public and private sector?’

Not to mention that the cost of having your child minded while you work might soon be $200 a day. That’s each of course. So if you have a couple of kids that’s $2000 a week. Pampering the rich I suggest.

3 Unlike former PM Abbott I am not into creating fear but do you realise that in a matter of months Barnaby Joyce may very well be Deputy Prime Minister. I kid you not.

4 Fairfax reports that.

‘Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has contradicted reports the Hong Kong bar incident that ended Jamie Briggs’ ministerial career was little more than a playful misunderstanding, describing the female diplomat’s complaint against Mr Briggs as a “serious matter’.

The complaint has been given a lot of ‘exposure’ Indecent or otherwise. He then circulates a picture of the offended lady to a small group of friends. It ends up in the media and Jamie throws his hands in the air in the ‘not me’ cowards manner. It’s a case of character assassination. Not hers but his by self-inflicted wounds.

It doesn’t finish there. Journalist Samantha Maiden who branded Mr Briggs’ behaviour while travelling as “dumb as all get out” receives a text from Peter Dutton (intended for Jamie Briggs) calling her a “mad f—— witch”

Delightful smutty types I must say. I think I will have more to say on this. Maiden really didn’t help the cause of the goog ladies of Australia by accepting Dutton’s apology but she might have been reminded about who she works for.

An observation.

‘Most problems that society faces arise from the fact that men have never really grown up’

5 An English knighthood for Australian election strategist Lynton Crosby. Rather reminds me of when, if you left $10,000 in a brown paper bag on his desk, Joe Bjelke Peterson would guarantee you one for services rendered.

Crosby is known for what Boris Johnson describes as ‘the dead cat strategy’ [which involves distracting the public from a politically difficult issue by creating shocking news]. I wonder what the Queen must think with that sword in her hand. ‘God give me strength’, perhaps.

6 2 years 4 months 6 days since the last election. The score for the Abbott/Turnbull government on the ABCs Government promises fact check site is. 15 broken, 117 stalled, 40 in progress, 16 delivered.

7 A couple of comments from the now 86-year-old Bob Hawke caught my attention on the release of the 1990-91 cabinet documents by the National Archives.

‘If you were sitting down today to work out a constitution for this country, you simply wouldn’t have anything that remotely resembled the stupidity – and it is nothing less than the stupidity – of having a division of constitutional powers today based on those meanderings a couple of hundred years ago.’

And.

‘One of the things that gives me the shits more than anything else about the conservative parties is their continuing, concerted attack on the trade union movement,” Hawke says in the briefing, a few weeks before the release of the Royal Commission Report into Trade Unions.’

‘In the period when we were in office, they, as you know, made sacrifices in the greater interest and I think it is ungenerous in the extreme that the conservative political forces in this country don’t recognise the debt we owe to the organised trade union movement. That doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t clean its act up.’

8 There is no doubt that the Prime Minister is enjoying enormous popularity. However, after three months of heavily overdosing on syrupy over saccharised sweet talk he still remains in the concept of old politics. He gave promise to a new paradigm but other than style the prototype is still the same.

My thought for the day.

‘Instead of searching within when we are at fault the first human reaction is to apportion blame elsewhere. Why is that so?’