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How much will it cost – the ridiculous hypocrisy of Morrison and Frydenberg

When Bill Shorten couldn’t put an exact figure on how much Labor’s climate policies would cost 11 years out from the deadline of 2030, Scottyfrommarketing and our work experience Treasurer, ably abetted by a compliant media, excoriated him.

It was a ridiculous question to ask in the first place to which Shorten gave the best answer possible – the costs of not acting far outweigh any mitigation costs. We do not have a choice and the longer we leave it, the more it will cost when we finally admit that we are cooking the planet.

Yet when asked if the surplus they had supposedly already delivered – “we are back in black” – was threatened by the bushfire crisis, Frydenberg answered, “I’m not in a position to give a firm answer to that question because the full economic impact is still uncertain.”

So if the economic impact of something that has already happened is hard to assess, how could they possibly expect Labor to have an exact costing of what the next 11 years would look like?

“When you are responsible economic managers, you have the financial flexibility to respond to crises and economic shocks whenever they may occur,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Oh you mean like when Labor steered us through the Global Financial Crisis emerging as the strongest economy in the world?

“This is a time when the Australian people know that their government is there to spend on the things that they need most,” says Frydenberg whose projected surplus came from a huge underspend on the NDIS and whose government has overseen blowouts in the waiting time for home care packages for the elderly. Many people have died whilst waiting years for the paperwork to be processed.

Even now, Scotty is sticking to the same theme to criticise a target of zero net emissions by 2050 – a target he promised to “look at” when under heavy criticism at the Pacific nation’s forum last year –saying that he doesn’t know the cost it would have on the economy.

“What troubles me is that there are plenty of people at the moment who will go out and make a glib promise about that and they can’t look Australians in the eye and tell them what it will mean for their electricity prices, what it will mean for their jobs,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

I seem to remember the Coalition telling me that my electricity bills would go down by $550 a year when they axed the price on carbon. Instead, they have skyrocketed.

So if Scotty can’t work out the cost and effects of what he is doing right now, how on earth does he expect anyone to predict what will happen in 2050?

This bullshit focus group marketing crap has to stop, Scotty. As does the statistical manipulation to try and hide your woefully inadequate management of the existential threat facing our country.

We need leadership and action, not political posturing and buck-passing.

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25 comments

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  1. Kate Ahearne

    Thanks, Kaye. You are relentless!

  2. johno

    Yes, well done Kaye. Scottyfrommarketing is an idiot.

  3. David Evans

    Fair go Kaye, take away the bluff bluster and bullshit and there is nothing left. Would you buy a used car off him?

  4. Michael Taylor

    “Treasurer warns surplus at risk as fires hit economy.”

    I seem to recall the LNP accused Labor for not seeing the GFC coming (which they did, actually).

    Perhaps we should heckle the LNP for not seeing the fires coming. After all, they were warned.

  5. ajogrady

    Something for Albanese to think about. How much will it cost in votes if he keeps disenfranchising voters who thought that the Labor policies at the last election were well thought through, fair, practical and sustainable and voted for Labor accordingly. Labor cannot afford to loose any votes

  6. whatever

    EnergyAustralia has already raised electricity rates and mailed all customers about the changes (7 Jan 2020).

  7. Kaye Lee

    It worries me too ajogrady. I can only hope that they want to put the focus on the government for the next couple of years rather than on themselves and will go to the next election with something that we can vote for again. If that is their strategy, they should stop ruling things out.

  8. Phil Pryor

    Every day, we must denounce these conservatives sluts for lucrative career, sluts for money and pose and front. To be a deliberate idiot by choice so as to deny truth and fact over personal self focus and greed is disgusting, despicable, shameful. The Head Moron is riddled with the filth of superstition, fantasy, delusion, deviation, primitive stupidity, much of this by CHOICE, a complete fool, traitor to Australia and the world and a threat to the planet, so GET OUT!!

  9. My say

    This government is a cancer ,slowly but surely killing Australia ,If something isn’t done to stop the lies,the cover ups,the dodgey deals ,the media not holding them to account ,for all there wrong doings ,we won’t have a country to worry about.

  10. Patagonian

    The mainstream media weren’t just compliant. They were complicit.

  11. Stephengb

    There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there is insufficient intellectual capacity in at least 40% of the Australian voting population, therefore I suspect that the misinformation, misrepresentation, the corrupt practices, the bare faced lies will cotnue to keep the LNP in poer for long enough for what is left of our democracy to be totally destroyed.

    When the reality of a Corporatocracy finally sinks in, it I’ll be too late.

    RosemaryJ36, has the right idea.

    Everything in my power to get these self serving, narcissistic, corrupt and lying people out of office.

  12. Lambchop Simcard

    The Lovely Peta was talking up Arson and lack clearing/back burning as the main culprits on Sky News Last night with her 2 well chosen experts from the peanut gallery.

  13. Harry Lime

    The Pm (Prime Moron) is behaving exactly as he did with Tourism Australia,Tourism NZ, which got him get the arse from those bodies which was basically ignoring all advice and using their money as he saw fit.He didn’t get away with it then,why should he get away with it now? The pressure must be relentless(Hello Albo)
    The government is a travesty of democracy and must be hounded out of office.Where are those two people in the LNP with a conscience? Or has the virus started by the Lying Rodent now completely infected the “broad church?”
    The Liar from the Shire has made a joke out of himself and a joke out of the country,and the joke is on us.
    Sending out the dross like Gash and Littlebrain to parrot the lies only makes it worse.They are one gigantic insult
    You can colour me badly pissed off..

  14. Kronomex

    While the children in charge of the empty surplus piggy bank stuff it up and wreck the ‘conomy their nasty and petty childish cries of, “It’s all Labor’s fault!” will bombard us. Nothing will ever be their fault.

  15. Arthur Tarry

    And now The Guardian is reporting that sports grants were allocated to other wealthy sports clubs for things like installing lifts and for upgrading facilities so they can better cope with fund raising weddings. I suspect there was a rush to allocate funds to ‘mates’ before the last election as they feared that their days of benevolence were coming to an end. Furthermore I suspect that this benevolence extended beyond sports grants as, for example, $2.5 million dollars was allocated to rebuilding the Sunshine Beach Surf Club in the Shire of Noosa, from other sources, just before the election too. A forensic analysis of all such pre-election grants would be illuminating !

  16. Zathras

    The trend for this government seems to be shifting toward adapting to rather than tackling the causes of climate change (or more accurately – “global warming” for the less polite).

    Trying to adapt to something that you caused and that can be treated is like a Doctor diagnosing cancer but telling you just to “adapt” to the symptoms.

    However, recent events have shifted the focus of the public and it’s up to the government itself to “adapt” or perish.

    As for the selective pre-election largesse of the government it reminds me of Howard’s last months when he blew virtually all of the “surplus” announced in the mid-year budget by the time of the November election in a vote-buying and hand-out frenzy. They have always been good at throwing your money at their mates!

  17. Keith

    It has been known for decades that fossil fuel corporations have paid unscrupulous Agencies to undermine climate science. We expect politicians to be on the ball, especially as they employ staff to keep them informed. Our expectations are not met and we are seeing the results. For politicians to do nothing or little now means climate intensifies events in the future. It creates the potential for more dry lightning, for example.

    https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/America_Misled.pdf

  18. Kaye Lee

    The world’s central banks have been told they must take responsibility for climate change if they are to stave off a systemic financial crisis, with a price on carbon pointed out as an effective policy.

    Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has downplayed the report, running with the old adaptation and resilience line.

    The report says governments have failed to act and will continue to do so unless faced with “much broader” pressure from the public and business.

    https://www.9news.com.au/national/aid-groups-pressure-government-on-climate/2d007478-1acf-4d33-980e-5a4e78334db1

  19. Henry Rodrigues

    Great cutting analysis, Kaye Lee. The observation that makes it all so real and frustrating and inevitable, is the description “compliant media”. Ready to hide Scummo’s mistakes, cover up the LNP’s misdemenours and launch mindless ferocious attacks on Labor to throw them off balance. Led by that old prick Murdoch and his minions, and the fools on commercial TV and Radio,they continue to keep this government safe and secure, to the detriment of the rest of Australia.

  20. Arthur Tarry

    Many people on the conservative spectrum now grundingly admit that our climate is changing but that it is caused by fluctuations in the sun’s activity, and certainly not through human activity. With this mindset they can justify doing effectively nothing about amelioration apart from window dressing and talking – something Scott from Marketing is very good at. This is, of course, contrary to all the best scientific advice available but who cares as conservatives know better and have conviction that they are absolutely right, as they are with most things, in their opinion. After all they are the adults ! With this mindset they can also suggest going down the pathway of learning to live with what God dishes up as there is nothing we can do anyway. How desperately despicable is this mindset, and how un-learned and medieval.

  21. Kaye Lee

    Greta Thunberg at Davos….

    “….we’re asking you to act as if you love your children more than anything else.”

  22. margcal

    Stephengb : January 21, 2020 at 12:46 pm
    There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there is insufficient intellectual capacity in at least 40% of the Australian voting population

    That’s a very generous estimate. I’d have said 50% plus the 2% top wealth coterie to make up the LNP’s 52% vote.

    I so wish #ScottSackedFromMarketing had been the version of that epithet to have taken off.

  23. Sharon

    I am impressed with the adjectives people find regarding our government. My 17 yr old grandson told me a couple of days ago that he sees nothing to look forward to regarding his, and others, future. This is not depression talking, this is sincerely how he feels. And my suspicion is that he is not alone, and those who speak out about how they view their future, eg Greta Thunberg, are attacked and maligned for their opinion. Perhaps one has to be of voting age to hold a valid opinion or to keep their opinion to themselves while they learn to agree with their elders who know everything. Personally, I find it hard to feel good with so much stuff’ going on – not to me personally, but in general…….. interestingly it was when Abbott was named PM that my current sad and depressed self emerged and hopefully in time that might change…… Thank you for a good article Kaye Lee, all articles on this site are good…….. and of course the comments, love reading the comments.

  24. Zathras

    “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there is insufficient intellectual capacity in at least 40% of the Australian voting population”.

    If you consider how uninformed or politically ignorant the average voter is, by definition half the population must be even less so.

    Many seem to be content with regurgitating the latest Telegraph or shock-jock topic to make themselves appear well-informed but let others do their thinking for them. They never seem to seek out the truth for themselves because they are content with their ignorance.

    Hate, blame and outrage can also be significant factors because once those strong masking emotions stop they have to deal with the pain of their unsatisfactory and unfulfilled lives. That’s why politicians try to provoke emotional responses rather than just deal in simple facts. They keep yanking our chains while the real business goes on quietly in the background.

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