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Day to Day Politics ‘A hangover of monumental proportion’

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?’

 

9 comments

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  1. Cliff

    John you have the monetary values wrong. $10,000 only got you a brass plaque to hang on your building when Joh cut the ribbon. The plaque was basically a sign to your competitors that you were under the protection of the all mighty.

    $100,000 was the currency.for a knighthood. A certain businessman went broke leaving debts in the millions and that was not a black mark against him. My bank manager rang me at 6 o’clock in the morning to let me known and like me the bank also took a dunking.

  2. Terry2

    With Lynton Crosby, I could have understood an MBE or at a push a CBE but a knighthood is just the Conservative Party thumbing its nose at the electorate.

    The whole system of honours normally reflecting public service has been diminished by this honour.

  3. Kaye Lee

    Crosby represents the tobacco companies – the Tories renege on plain packaging laws.

    Crosby represents Dart Energy – the Tories announce unprecedented tax breaks for the shale gas fracking industry

    Crosby advises a group of private healthcare firms on how to exploit perceived failings in the NHS – the Tories launch a secretive backdoor NHS privatisation amendment

    These three conflicts of interest broke in a little over a week in 2013

    http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/lynton-crosby-conflicts-of-interest-tory.html

    That is the way the conservative game is played and you have to admit, Crosby has excelled at it. And they call the unions corrupt?

  4. Sen Nearly Ile

    The answer is ‘human’ survival.
    To direct blame is a safety mechanism, oft used by pollies, that at best deflects criticism or at worst buys time which kills interest. With the rabbott’s truss being discarded who are we going to blame for the new leader of the nats??
    ps
    The last 3 words brought back poignant memories of A hero from my youth quickly ruined by the second worse PM in history – johnnie. Sorry for anyone too young for professor JSM

  5. brickbob

    There is a saying that a picture tells a thousand words,and how true that is,and that photo of Turnbull with his arm around Briggs says all that is wrong with these cretins.
    Turnbull kissing Briggs butt to keep hin on side,and Briggs kissing Turnbulls butt to climb the greasy pole to success,i find that photo almost obscene,they are nothing more than political prostitutes selling themselves for self advancement anf dirty money,and the journalist who support them are nothing more than paid corporate presstitutes.

  6. mark delmege

    I thought the abc reached new depths this week with full spectrum propaganda on the syrian front

  7. David

    Given Maidens ‘declared’ in writing numerous times 100% support for Abbott…Briggs and Dutton being faithful Abbott supporters, wouldn’t be beyond the realms of probability there was a phone call or text from the deposed PM to his News Corp lady friend, inviting her to take one for the team and eat humble pie publicly. Not that I would usually equate the word humble with Maiden. Ah but love knows no bounds and is probably still much to go around within that foursome.
    We haven’t heard the last of Anthony John Abbott, not by the proverbial long shot.

  8. Sen Nearly Ile

    good one david. the rabbott knows the media will take lies as truth unless sued and even then rupert et al have insurance and can employ enough sleazes to make the unmega rich complainants bankrupt.
    Shame little billy doesn’t understand that:
    if he and his team poses questions with a sniff of truth the media will run with them
    and
    the old fashioned teaching technique
    ‘answer a question with a question
    is the best method of making the pupil learn’.

  9. Wayne Johnson

    do away with honours unless its for people that do good for their community not a prince that dosnt need one and also set up a federal icac to deal with political corrupt is the one investigation we need

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