Perhaps the extent to which members of the Coalition generally back each other up, establishes that there is truth in the proverb of ‘honour among thieves’, which dates back at least as far as Cicero.
Certainly, when it comes to the policies pursued by the current Coalition government and its treatment of the electorate, honour directed towards those who elected them is a non-existent component of their behaviour. To address our MPs as “Honourable Member” has become an oxymoron!
Unfortunately, few of our politicians in recent years have behaved with sufficient integrity to be in a position to criticise others really effectively. It is left to the people, for whose benefit the government is supposedly elected, to voice publicly their concerns at government corruption.
Scott Morrison took the Coalition to an election where he pranced around the country, in a one-man-band fashion, spreading a litany of lies about Labor’s election platform, while having over-sighted a significant vote-buying exercise which was probably in many regards illegal.
I wish everybody would take the trouble to look up this man’s career path. It is unsavoury, and highlights the level of incompetence and/or self-interest which has meant that he seems to have resigned early from every contract position he signed up to, before the proverbial hit the fan.
This run-down has been in the public arena for long enough without legal challenges, to substantiate it as accurate. Older sources, which flesh out the defamation of Michael Towke, cast even more doubt on Morrison’s integrity and moral compass.
Now, this power-hungry menace is approaching expert advice in a cherry-picking manner. He leads the world in declaring a pandemic in relation to COVID-19, while denying credence to the science which underpins efforts in most developed countries to take effective action on climate change.
On his watch, the management of the Murray Darling Basin has morphed from incompetence into corruption, leaving many rural communities desperate for water – while foreign companies fill their tankers with pure spring water to ship overseas – for profit!
The conflicts of interest for many Ministers are seldom as public as has been the relatively minor one of the former Sports Minister, and that was only used as an excuse to try to get the Sports funding rort off the agenda. Unfortunately for the Coalition, that effort has not been successful as the Senate inquiry continues.
Sadly, those responsible for the Australian Constitution saw their role as defining the Commonwealth Government’s role in the federation of existing states. They had the foresight to allow for the possibility of other states being formed, but – pre-WWI and the subsequent exponential growth of technology – they lacked the vision to foresee the way in which corruption might require attention.
Increasingly, elected governments seem to have put their needs ahead of ours!
Although they have recently modified it, they developed for themselves a superannuation scheme we could only dream about.
They ignore the fact that many of them will be able to find lucrative employment when they retire from Parliament, and the benefits heaped on the ones most likely to be well-rewarded, anyway – out of the pockets of many who can ill-afford it – are obscene.
Now corruption appears to be endemic – and looking at our current PM’s background – are we surprised?
And – yes – the Labor Party is far from lily-white, but the argument that someone else has committed a crime so that absolves me from repeating their efforts just does not wash!
At this time in the world’s history, we desperately need intelligent, honest, well thought out policies.
Are we likely to get them from a government which tore strips off Labor for the debt they accumulated – then went on to increase that debt to massive proportions?
Of course, the bush fires and the hit to trade from the COVID-19 epidemic/pandemic will ensure the promised surplus cannot be achieved. But even if it were, has anyone heard the government report how much annual interest they are paying on the national debt?
And our continuing concentration on financial issues is clouding our judgements on policy when it comes to global warming.
Apart from our blinkered Prime Minister, there is growing acceptance that anthropogenic climate change is a reality, that we have a limited time frame during which we can implement policies which will be effective in reducing the extent to which temperatures will increase, and that every day we fail to commence that action, the greater the likelihood of failing to achieve optimal outcomes.
And we have no Constitutional means of removing an incompetent government.
Can we afford to wait till the next election is due?
Support for people power is growing.
Once more – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:
“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”
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