The recent Victorian State Election saw plenty of malice from both sides. It seems that the ALP started off by promoting their achievements but ended up in the gutter with the Liberals who seemed to be (from someone that lives outside Victoria) playing the man, not the ball, from prior to the election being called until election day. The Coalition’s Federal Election pitch in May was effectively ‘you can’t trust the other bloke’ while Morrison was secretly collecting Ministries, pork-barrelling where he though he might get an advantage and dog-whistling around the country by supporting a divisive candidate in a Sydney metropolitan seat – losing the seat in the process. A Victorian Liberal Upper House Candidate was barred from sitting in the party room (later overturned) before she was even elected because of her professed views and one Liberal candidate was claiming that Premier Dan Andrews should be made into a red mist – apparently a dog whistle to hunters and the ultra conservatives that suggests he should be shot with a high powered gun.
David Littleproud (a member of the LNP as he comes from Queensland) and his Nationals have already decided that they won’t support the upcoming ‘voice to parliament’ referendum. As Michael Pascoe suggests in The New Daily
David Speers posited that: “The real, unspoken reason for the National Party shift was to put more pressure on a weakened Liberal Party to follow suit.”
There will be plenty of grubby politics to play out leading up to the referendum, plenty of strawman arguments. Michelle Grattan believes votes will be lost if the “debate becomes dominated by the negative aspects of identity politics”.
It’s a safe bet it will be.
Pascoe also questions Nationals Senator Jacinta Price’s statements in relation to ‘the voice’ as she has worked in the past for a right-wing ‘think tank’, sharing bylines on opinion pieces with Tom Switzer defending ‘white history of Australia’ practices such as erecting statutes of Captain Cook.
The Liberals and the Nationals both suggest they are only responding to the taunts of others. They aren’t. If the Coalition hadn’t stuck their head in the sand over climate change, ensured all Australians had a living wage that kept up with the cost of living, if Morrison hadn’t accumulated secret ministries, if the Liberals and Nationals around Australia had selected candidates their local communities could relate to rather than those with divisive opinions they might stand a chance. While individual members of the LNP are probably nice people if you meet them, collectively they seem to be on a ‘winner take all’ crusade where taking prisoners is too kind.
Here’s an example of their attitude. The Brisbane City Council is probably the largest municipal body in Australia. The Council controls 1342.7 square kilometres of South East Queensland with a population of 1,242,825 which is larger than the state of Tasmania; as is the Council’s annual budget. By comparison the City of Sydney covers 25 square kilometres and has a population of 211,632. Brisbane City was formed in the 1920’s by the amalgamation of a number of smaller ‘town’ and ‘shire’ councils and is one of the few Councils in Australia where prospective Councillors run for election under the banner of a political party. The LNP, ALP and Greens all have representation. The Lord Mayor since 2008 has been a LNP candidate elected by general vote across the City of Brisbane.
There is one Independent Councillor in Brisbane’s Council Chambers. Nicole Johnston represents the ward (electorate) of Tennyson, an area that real estate agents generally use phrases like a leafy and quiet area, along the southern bank of the Brisbane River, close to services and the City. Property values in the area are what you would expect with such an idyllic descriptions. Johnston was elected as a Liberal Party Councillor in 2008, the same election that Campbell Newman – also representing the Liberal Party at the time – became Lord Mayor of Brisbane. The amalgamation of the Queensland Liberal and National Parties occurred later in 2008.
Johnston and the other LNP councillors had a fractious relationship between her election in 2008 and her suspension from the LNP in 2010. She resigned her membership of the LNP in May 2010, a day prior to an expulsion hearing was to occur. According to reporting at the time in The Brisbane Times
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the resignation ”provides a new way forward for the LNP council team”.
”All 16 members of the LNP council team have believed for some time that Cr Johnston has not acted as a member of the team,” he said.
”At the most recent council meeting, out of 13 votes taken, Cr Johnston voted with the ALP seven times, the LNP four times and abstained twice.”
Cr Johnston was suspended from the LNP in March until the end of the year for “bringing the party into disrepute”.
Johnston went on to record victories in Brisbane City Council elections in 2012, 2016 and 2020. Newman resigned as Lord Mayor in 2011 to contest a State Election as the LNP’s party leader and won a massive majority. Annastasia Palaszczuk became opposition (and leader of the ALP) with a party room of 7 out of 89 Members of Parliament. Newman was such a divisive Premier that not only did the LNP lose the next election, Newman lost his seat. Following the rout, Palaszczuk and the ALP were elected to government. She is now in her third term as Premier of Queensland. Newman ran as a Queensland Senate Candidate in the last Federal Election under the banner of the LDP, and probably didn’t even get his deposit back.
You would think that after 12 years, the LNP would have better things to be doing than continuing to hold a grudge against Nicole Johnston. Sadly, you would be wrong. In December 2022, Johnston made a complaint in a Council meeting that members of the LNP were turning their back to her when she was speaking.
While Johnston has been quite outspoken over the years, she deserves the opportunity to represent the views of her community. Her community obviously support her – they keep on electing her. The LNP dominated Council should respect those views even if they don’t agree with them. One of the LNP Councillors who turned his back repetitively then claimed bullying when Johnstone made her speech in Council. Johnston has also made a number of claims that funding for projects in her ward is considerably lesser than surrounding Wards that have Councillors with an allegiance to the LNP. The LNP Council refuses to accept any of the responsibility for the funding difference. The LNP dominated Council Ethics Committee hasn’t met for 18 months despite some referrals to assess and somehow it’s the ALP Councillors’ fault. The Council’s Ethics Chairperson
in a statement blamed Labor for the ethics committee’s inertia, rather than any failure of systems as he had outlined in his parliamentary inquiry.
“Unfortunately, Labor councillors childishly quit Brisbane’s ethics committee as soon as one of their colleagues was referred,” Cr Allan said.
“Unless Labor councillors grow up and participate as required, we may soon have to consider an alternative approach.”
You can’t call holding a grudge against Johnston for 12 years of childish as a playground grudge that formed when a child was 6 would normally be forgotten (or a fond memory told over a drink) by the time the participants turned 18. The action is far more serious than that. There is absolutely no benefit to any of us when politicians disrespect each other in our council chambers and parliaments, as the politician is also disrespecting the thousands of people that are represented by each elected politician across the country. The LNP might believe they have better policies than their political opponents, but we’ll never know unless they stop holding grudges, playing political games and complaining when an opponents political promise is not implemented according to a manufactured LNP timetable (as the current debate around power prices demonstrates).
In short – like their conservative counterparts in the UK and USA, the LNP have little concern for the population generally; they are more interested in political games. That’s just not nasty; that’s immoral.
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You actually have to ask? Seriously? Have you not been paying attention for the last 26 years?
In my time, the unrelenting shittiness, pettiness, emptiness of conservatives in Australia (and nearly everywhere) has gotten worse, with self promotion, careerist posing, machinations, plotting, incrowd coercion, primitivity, all in a stinking stew of stupidity. C Newman, S Morrison, B Joyce, a ragtag bunch of praying, drinking, rooting, lying, cheating and bleating, just STINK.
And you have to ask, ”Is the LNP Nasty”? Geez, I thought that was a pre-requisite for party membership as well as the membership requirement of adhering to the “”Nazional$ party family values” as practiced by the representative in New England, Beetrooter, adultery, alcoholism, amorality, misogyny and self-service.
Campbell Newman was a financial and social disaster for Queensland, destroying the Queensland Public Service by slashing far too many hard-working staff committed to building a better Queensland for no more than ideological reasons. The pollies he appointed to his cabinet proved to be empty headed non-entities determined to make the most out of available government allowances, rather than continuing to build Queensland.
leefe/NEC,
We’d say “yes” in a heartbeat, but there are a lot of ignorant, misguided, selfish knobs out there who’d say “no” without a second thought. Even with a second thought they’d still say “no”.
Michael, you are assuming they have sufficient active neurons for something resembling a cognitive process to occur.
Only the greedy ones have that, leefe.
Ryan, your email inbox must be full. My emails aren’t getting through.
It is without doubt a prerequisite for membership and endorsement to their ranks; anything less is considered weak and possibly seditious to the cause of furthering their entitlement and support of the wealthy elite and is ruthlessly stamped out
Yes, fraudband is the perfect illustation that they are bastards. It was labor policy so abbott wanted to destroy it. He appointed malcolm to castrate it. What a bunch of nastie &(nts. We are now a 3 rd world country in so many areas. They have no concern about australia, only interest is to get power and hang on. The proverbial dog that caught the car. They have been out for 6 months and what policies have they got to show? Non, nulla, zip , a vacuum.
I listened to Angus today debating the energy bill. Total negativity, no contribution what so ever. Long may they rot in opposition.
Spudton had the hide to say something about Labor’s economic management today while somehow forgetting the near $1T of debt the LNP handed the government. Given Angus Taylor hid the electricity price increase until after the election, they don’t have the credentials to criticise the government. Long may they remain in irrelevance.
The Donald’s HUUGGEE announcement on the 15th:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-15/trump-hawks-nft-superhero-digital-trading-cards-as-campaign-lags?leadSource=uverify%20wall
Bwahahahaha…cough, choke, gasp…
Nasty? Not only, but also deceiving, conspiratorial, conniving, coercive, illegitimate, grasping, desperate, inebriated, paranoid, immoral, wilfully ignorant, immature, destructive, arrogant, corrupt, self-serving and despotic.
And it appears to have taken less than three decades, under the cover of entitlement, to institute this formulation, never letting a chance go by.
One can only ponder the parliament’s will and determination to attend to reform of the fetid worm farm of statutory provisions and forsaken conventions behind which such rancour can proliferate. Being well familiar with the costs of enquiries and litigation, and the ‘slippery eel’ rule, where the more vast the spaghetti of complexity within which to hide, the less chance of catching them. A century of herculean tasks for the NACC followed by the hurdy gurdies of the AG and courts.
Yet they rail about protection of reputation, whilst they re-work, smirk and go at it again. As they talk, so it becomes the lingua-franca at the ever burgeoning cost to the taxpayer and the country.
Yet there remain 30% who vote for them apparently so they can feed off the formula.
So no mercy, just get ’em by all means while they’re down.
I imagine the LNP will be screaming and frothing at the mouth (with a fair bit of the end of civilisation as the LNP know it) now the citizenship ceremonies are allowed outside of ‘straya day.
Firm in my belief that everyone cared about others, when I reached 1A, I assumed these intelligent boys were like me but they were not.
At the personal level, my 3 high school friends were SA liberal country party, children and their friends were often arrogant economic bullies to the B, C, D students.
‘Where did your parents get those pants, disposals?’ was a huge laugh getting put down.
‘Have you ever had new tennis shoes?’ (baking soda, vinegar and a toothbrush)
‘How can you talk to that poofter?’
‘Listen to them, they live in the trust homes.’
Imagine you are walking across the yard to the next class and a kid drops his bag, pens, pencils and books spread everywhere.
Is it not an automatic reaction for you to stop and help?
The boys just keep walking and talking with neither a sideways glance nor a break in conversation.
More recently, ‘the NBN is such a waste because labor people will never need it.’
Nasty is their accepted norm for those they consider a danger to their culture.
The LNP are not immoral but amoral and they have the considerable momentum of religion and media backing them.
They cannot take criticism because the believe their actions are true.
Sadly, labor, is unable to burn a few firebreaks air them as controversies in the media and cure some of the wrongs attributed to labor and introduce glaring mistakes by howard. the rabbott, turnbull scummo and dutton. Couch it in controversial terms and the media will print it.