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LNP: “It’s not us, it’s them”

Caretaker Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday blamed an alleged “scare campaign” by Labor concerning LNP threats to Medicare, for the swing against the government in the election results thus far.

Caretaker Attorney-General George (Bookcase) Brandis blamed Twitter for the alleged denigration of political discourse that apparently contributed to the government’s disappointment. Which is a bit rich coming from the man who declared that everyone has the inalienable right to be a bigot and thinks meta data is the address on an envelope not its contents, but whatever.

Caretaker Immigration Minister Peter Dutton (known as the Brussel Sprout or Mr Potato Head, either way it’s a vegetable) blamed unions for his slide in popularity in the Queensland seat of Dickson.

Several other ministers, including Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison, also blamed Labor’s “scare tactics” for the government’s fall from grace. Some have even blamed the stupidity of voters, a self-defeating attribution of responsibility one would think.

The complete absence of the media from the LNP’s jaundiced, wounded, blaming gaze is remarkable. It tells me that I was right to detect overwhelming bias in their favour from almost every media outlet including, unfortunately, sections of the ABC.

Tony Abbott, that desiccated piece of hyena scat, did obscene things with a sizzled sausage and left early to plot his next thrust for LNP leadership and deja vu all over again.

Such is the arrogance of these entitled drongos that it does not, for one moment, enter their drongo consciousness that they might have alienated voters all by themselves. It has to be somebody else’s fault.

The inability to listen to criticism is a boring characteristic in an individual. It’s boring because such people are in significant ways stunted. There’s nothing more valuable than a bit of criticism: in the emotionally mature it provokes thought and inspires the birth of change, and as I quoted a few days ago, he/she who isn’t busy being born is busy dying. The LNP is busy dying, and it has been for quite some time.

I’m struggling to recall a government that has made quite such a spectacular and total cockup as has this one. I’m not referring to unforgivable decisions such as taking us to war on the spurious platform of non-existent weapons of mass destruction, or taking us to an election based on the imagined threat of a few miserable, hounded and tormented people attempting to escape intolerable circumstances, but rather the internal clusterflucks that have rent the LNP’s fabric in ways that make the ALP’s internecine strife of a few years ago look pretty average, really.

And let us not forget that despite the ALP’s leadership debacles, they still got phenomenal amounts of legislation through. This cannot be said for the LNP, which has yet to resolve the 2014 budget.

However, the LNP is maintaining some consistency, you have to give them that much. They’ve blamed Labor ever since they took office, so there’s a three-year precedent. They’ve barely missed a beat in their blaming, making a smooth transition to blaming the ALP for the current election debacle and no doubt whatever the outcome, they’ll continue to blame Labor without so much as a hiccough.

This is, really, their area of expertise. Good governance? Not so much.

This article was originally published on No Place For Sheep.

 

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80 comments

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  1. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Snotty Morrisscum would be wise to keep his mouth shut and not blame anybody else but himself for his reprehensible mismanagement and worse, abuse of all his portfolios.

    He had the knives out for innocent and desperate asylum seekers while Minister for Immigration and Border Control.

    He had the knives out for vulnerable people on Welfare while he was Minister for Social Services.

    He has had the knives out for working people on average, modest and low or no incomes in his current caretaker role as Treasurer when he delivered that abomination of a budget in May 2016, which saw the LNP Degenerate regime intending to give lavish tax cuts to rich Big Biz while ignoring the bleeding obvious of a much overdue substantial increase to Newstart.

    All the fingers are pointing at you, Snotty!

    [Sorry Bighead, I beat you again! Oops!]

  2. bobrafto

    As I commented on another site ‘all the good the LNP stands for these days is how fast they can shovel money to the big corp’s in the guise of subsidies and tax cuts’,

  3. Jaquix

    Well thanks for foisting Pauline Hanson (and maybe one of her clones) on us, Malcolm. Jennifer Wilson is right, the ABC has definitely lurched to the right since Guthrie arrived. However, I am enjoying the coverage since the election, because the might have fallen, and now the commentators, presenters et al, have egg all over their face and having to report the facts! Annabel Crabbe is one of the few uncorrupted, and has written a very good, funny piece today (I found it on Facebook, heading on the ABC The Drum thingy) sorry I dont have a link. Malcolm is mortally wounded, all brought upon himself by his poor judgement and laziness. You can just imagine all the gnashing of teeth over at Liberal Party headquarters – hard to change PM’s again now, that would make them “worse than Labor” now wouldnt it. Perhaps they will convince him to resign of his own volition, so they can all save face.

  4. Steve Laing - makeourvoiceheard.com

    You are right. It is everyone else’s fault, though mostly Labor. The LNP act like toddlers. No emotional intelligence whatsoever. They are unable to learn, only to blame. Why people ever vote for them is anyone’s guess. I wish I understood it.

  5. Freethinker

    This time they cannot blame the lefty ABC.
    I know, it is the AIMN fault, to many people with rintelligent posts there

  6. etnorb

    I blame ALL these inept, lying, obscenely wealthy effing Liberals for their own downfall! My only hope now is that Labor may get the majority in the Lower House, & will then be able to govern in their own right, with (probably) a majority of Senate members (including Independents) to enable Australia to “enjoy” a 3 year term of somewhat stable, & at least honest & sensible government. In previous years I have seen lots of stickers etc proclaiming that… “I did not vote for them”, maybe this time we could see some of these saying….”We lost the election because we did not do the right thing by Australia”, or something similar? Time will tell whether the labor party will be able to take charge, not holding my breath, but quietly hoping that they can, indeed, take power. At least they are not “blaming” the Libs for anything to do with winning the election, or losing it for that matter.

  7. silkworm

    Uhlmann’s bias on election night was obvious, at least to me, but then I knew what to be looking for. His pro-Abbott bias is acknowledged by many on the left. In any case, as the results came in on the night, and it became clear that a hung parliament was fast becoming a probability, Uhlmann let off an angry tirade against Turnbull, couching it in terms of Turnbull failing to achieve the “stability” that he had been campaigning for. Uhlmann was so angry his lips were quivering. And this is the man who presided over one of the debates between Turnbull and Shorten. What a joke the ABC is.

  8. Wun Farlung

    Just watched Barry Cassidy uttering his gutless form of opinion, suggesting that the LNP could cobble together an agreement with the cross benches…promulgating piffle

  9. lawrencewinder

    More entertainment to come… Night of the Long Knives re-enactment, Menzies House, Saturday 2.30PM

  10. Ross in Gippsland

    Wonder if Malcolm got out the Wedgewood Blue and the best cutlery to have the shit sandwich the electorate served up to him Sunday morning.
    He may have needed a wee dram of Old Moorehens Shredded Sporran after that appalling speech on Saturday night.

  11. cornlegend

    Labor Leadership team met today and went to Western Sydney.
    Labor expectation is 73 seats
    Also reafirmed no coalition with Greens, meanwhile Antony Green ABC is saying
    “An update on the vote count
    ABC election analyst Antony Green says some of the counts on the Australian Electoral Commission website are “just not right”.
    He says according to his analysis, the Coalition is on 68 seats, compared to 67 for Labor, five for independents and others, and 10 seats in doubt.
    He also predicts the Liberal Party will win the seat of Grey in regional Australia, over the Nick Xenophon Team candidate.

  12. cornlegend

    Bill Shorten has been mobbed by supporters during a victory lap in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay, which has been snatched from the Liberals in a 4.6 per cent swing towards Labor.

    A rock-star reception of cheers and claps from the public greeted the Labor leader and deputy Tanya Plibersek, who thanked voters in Penrith alongside Lindsay’s Emma Husar and Macquarie’s Susan Templeman.

    Young and old lined up to meet the Labor cohort including familiar face Shane Mundt, without his famous rat ‘Splinter’, who was photographed with Malcolm Turnbull during the election campaign.

    Mr Mundt assured the Labor politicians his vote had been cast for them otherwise his mother would “belt” him.

  13. kasch2014

    The tragedy is that we get the continued blaming, which is not confined to politics, but seems to be a general community trend. Trouble is, when the bitching is over, there seems to be no positive result, like we’ve learned something relevant to the subject at hand – other than to hire a better PR mob to improve one’s image with the voting public. The idea that the system and our performance in it it is seriously lacking relevance, competence and good values, that doesn’t come into the process. Politics are a social disease and good management of our resources and infrastructure is not important as a result. Those things are just bent to suit those afflicted with fear, greed and ignorance, who would wipe out their own offspring to maintain an illusion of personal advantage. But they would deny that as a likely outcome, of course. See http://www.lifesupportinternational.org for some alternative notions.

  14. Peter Phelan

    Don’t tell me I’ve come across yet another piece of Leftish garbage.’Jaquix’ on here,is whingeing because the ABC has ‘lurched to the right….’It has obviously never occurred to Jaquix that the ABC has been outside it’s charter ever since the year dot,an absolute disgrace in its biased view on every single issue it has ‘covered’.Like every Labor leader in living memory(ie. a lot longer than most people on this site!),Shorten has possibly spent his way back into Govt,expanding the problems left by you idiots with short memories,and preventing Tony Abbott from doing the job he was elected to do in 2013.On top of the spending and selling of her soul that Little Miss Pinochinose did in 2010 to get herself into the Lodge.You mob couldn’t run a bath.

  15. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Good to make your acquaintance too, Peter Phelan!

  16. jimhaz

    @ PP

    “The ABC Charter binds Auntie to providing “innovative and comprehensive” broadcasting services, and then goes on “without limiting the generality of the foregoing” to talk about national identity, informing and entertaining, educating and reflecting cultural diversity, as well as encouraging the arts. In doing all these things, the ABC should “take account of” services already provided by the commercials, and its responsibility to “provide a balance between broadcasting programs of wide appeal and specialized broadcasting programs”.

    As none of the commercials provide objective viewpoints, then well and truly within the ABC’s charter is to “take account” of this and provide more left leaning coverage.

    You would appear to have a brain turned to slushy mucus. Go back to counting pennies you will never spend.

    or writing for the Centre for Independent Studies

  17. Athena

    Hi Tony, *waves at Peter Phelan*, still sore at being sacked by your party I see.

  18. jim

    T’is 2017 and we still use pencils and the counting of votes done by humans strange folks indeed they trust computers to keep track of Teratrillions of their cash but don’t trust computers to count or even submit a vote from they own pc/address why did they invent the fn internet?.Hmmm,…. the establishment hasn’t a fn clue

  19. kerri

    Another great rant Jennifer!
    And watching The Business on ABC tonight some business knob commented along the lines of
    “It’s almost like voters don’t want economic growth???”
    Good grief! Why would the average voter put their job, their health, their parents, their children’s education, public transport, Environment, international reputation and the future of the country above economic growth??
    Australia is divided into three distinct categories!
    1/ the average person simply wanting health care, stability, education and working conditions.
    2/ the average business person wanting profits, stability, slave labour, jobs for their mates and entitlement.
    3/ Pauline Hanson.

  20. Carol Taylor

    They just cannot believe it, all that strategising and it was a fizza. Surely someone, somewhere, somehow might have sat down and thought – ever since Turnbull took over, abandoning his principles along the way to follow the far right wing agenda, that his popularity has plummeted. Somehow this has morphed into: We Want Tony. This being an absolute failure to realise that it was Malcolm morphing into Tony which was the cause of their demise.

    Love it..bring back Tony. The Morgan Poll taken just before Malcolm knifed Tony was 56.5/43.5 in Labor’s favor. And the Murdoch media are still delusional enough to think that with Tony they could have done better than with Turnbull?

  21. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Peter Phelan,

    what have you to say to Carol’s comment?

  22. susan

    I did lots of prepoll and polling booth hand out hours and without exception, any voter who was told to vote to save Medicare looked blankly at the speaker. Many people are just oblivious or there were just so many issues at stake that the LNP blaming a Medicare scare campaign on their loss is just ludicrous.

  23. TuffGuy

    Very interesting to see the post election attitudes of Labour and the LNP. Shorten out there doing a sort of victory lap, meeting the constituents with other Labour members, thanking everyone for their support, totally gracious in possible defeat. As for the LNP, well Turdball pretty much summed them up in his election night speech, still blaming Labour for everything only now they are also blaming the stupid voters too. Any press go near them they refuse to comment and can’t run away quick enough, but hey they will still form a majority government apparently. Although someone apparently forgot to mention this new strategy to Bernadi who seems more interested in being the LNP spokesperson for their racist, homophobe wing.

  24. Damo451

    G’day Peter Phelan ,would you like to catch up and have a drink to drown your sorrows ,I have a lovely bottle of 2016 LNP Tears Hermitage in the cellar .Sorry I drank the first bottle without you ,but I can assure you it was absolutely delicious 🙂

  25. Matters Not

    Shorten shouldn’t even aspire to be PM at the present time. Buy some popcorn, sit back and watch the LNP rip themselves to bits in the HOR. By all means call on Turnbull to resign and continue to highlight his lack of ‘judgement’ and the like but whatever you do don’t touch this ‘tar baby’ at this point.

    As for the Senate, there will be so many new Senators desperate to make their name. Desperate to grab the headlines. Desperate to rise above the pack. Don’t try to reason with them. Their honeymoon is just beginning. Leave it be. Don’t rain on their tea party.

    This is not the time to be the PM. Be ‘strategic’! Stand well above the mess they created. Don’t be tempted to seize this poisoned chalice.

  26. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    MN,

    I like your thinking only if it applies to the immediate until the numbers are sorted out. I want the LNP Degenerates out of the House of Representatives.

    I have some trepidation as to how the Senate will operate with Pauline Hanson and cohorts there.

    But on the positive, Labor will win the HoR and call on its mates in the Greens to ensure there are sensible alliances happening in the Senate.

    I anticipate Bill sees this sense. Di Natale will oblige.

  27. cornlegend

    Labor cannot win the HOR. full stop

  28. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    What is the break down? Can we hope for the LNP Degenerate defeat we have ALL wanted for 2 3/4 years?

  29. Matters Not

    cannot win the HOR

    Yep! Obvious to those who can count. It’s a stroke of luck. (At this moment of time.)

    Better to ‘spectate’ and fuel the fire. But only from the sidelines.

    At this point Shorten should (encourage) let his troops shoot most of the bullets and become Prime Ministerial – above the fray.

    Stay out of the mud. Let the LNP ‘right’ do their demolition.

  30. Michael Taylor

    From my understanding, neither of the major parties can secure the 76 seats needed. Is that correct?

  31. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    MN,

    great you can count when seeing through Labor dim goggles!

    Think BIG picture and form alliances in HoR which means:
    Greens = 1
    NXT = 2
    Independents = 1
    … and that is calculated at this time of 7.28pm on 4 July.

  32. kerri

    Tuffguy I am also interested, in the ABC assertions over numbers and seats. Apparently Antony Green thinks the votes that the AEC counted are “just not right”?? Where does this hubris end?? Surely the results on the AEC website are votes counted, not ABC speculation based on history, encumbent, wind direction blah blah blah. I have been checking the AEC tally regularly and they still have Labor at 71 and LNP on 67?? How is this a Turnbull majority??? OK I get that there are many seats in doubt, and mind you I have been unable to ascertain exactly how many are in doubt (AEC had Grayndler in doubt?) as the numbers vary depending on where you look, but why is everyone in such a rush to be the winner of the guessing game? Clearly a time for patience which seems to be in short supply! Glad to see Shorten reminding media that we need to wait until votes are counted but did not like his demands for Turnbull to resign! Too soon Bill!!! Let the media and/or the public make that call. Be wary of taking the high road too soon!

  33. Matters Not

    neither of the major parties can secure the 76 seats needed

    Certainly true re Labor. (Require too many miracles). The LNP could get 76 (with lesser miracles) and 77 with a really, really good break. (No-one knows at this point. But history suggests that ‘postal votes’ will favor the LNPs.) Then again, history is not always a guide.

    A safe bet is the LNP will form government either on its own (very risky) but probably with some ‘promises’, ‘understandings’ or whatever (deals) with the ‘independents’. Turnbull’s last gasp. He will grab it. Any one surprised?

  34. Freethinker

    IMO as the count it is now the ALP cannot form government if they keep their promise of not dealing with the Greens or any other party.
    I hope that will not brake the promise.

  35. cornlegend

    Michael
    Labor Leadership met today and even they think 71-72.They also again confirmed no coalition with the Greens .
    It was interesting that even the ABCs Antony Green said today that this might be a good one for Labor to lose.
    “I] think it would be fun to be an Opposition only by 1 or 2 and watch the LNP self destruct from the sidelines, especially with a dogs dinner Senate with the newcomers wanting to make a name for themselves.
    If Labor did get to 72, or even 73 the could come to an arrangement, a memorandum of understanding just on supply and confidence and leave them free to vote on Bills and Legislation according to their own Party policy or conscience.
    Green is also saying only 1 NXT
    Green said “Federal election 2016: Don’t trust AEC seat count, warns ABC’s Antony Green”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/federal-election-2016-dont-trust-aec-seat-count-warns-abcs-antony-green-20160704-gpyde9.html#ixzz4DQnf9AbC

    Me, I’m sort of a bit inclined to want to sit back and watch the LNP tear themselves apart

  36. Sam

    Peter’s comment proves that the ABC should either remain neutral or become this leftist haven the rightists say it is. No matter how far to the right it leans, those that complain will still target the ABC for cuts and savage it on talk radio and in newspaper columns etc. So surely it makes sense, for the ABC, to either become that which their enemies will always see them as or at least give the conservative elements no more than equal footing?

  37. cornlegend

    Freethinker
    Labor has said they won’t enter any coalitions
    They are open to negotiation on supply and confidence.
    NXT, McGowan, Wilkie have all declared they too would not enter any alliances

  38. kerri

    MN agreed Shorten should stay dignified above the fray.
    BTW did anyone else notice Pauline’s rent-a-crowd staffer?
    That pillar of morality? Ashby.

  39. The Faceless Man

    Regardless of the outcomes, myself and the other 2.7 million (2009 estimate, would it be more or less now?) Unpaid Carers will remain just that. I didn’t see one politician or media raise any concerns about this deplorable situation for those Australians although with pensions and benefits plus wages they will be receiving would surely omit them from requiring a family member or friend sacrificing their life to take care of them. In this ever increasing PC society where it’s politically correct to demonize, stigmatize and alienate, the poor, homeless, disadvantaged, terminally ill, disabled, unemployed and etc etc of our country will continue to languish meanwhile the libs will predictably blame others, the same rhetoric about budgets and how the importance of the economy trumps all other national issues. Screw you! Our government says.
    Screw you, homosexuals
    Screw you, unemployed
    Screw you, asylum seekers!
    (A rant with many tangents I know, my first comment after reading this site for years)

  40. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    More fool Labor, NXT, McGowan, Wilkie.

    You need to hone up your negotiation skills, cornlegend and get them to agree.

  41. Marilyn Riedy

    Gee, Libs, do you really think it is not your fault? Not one scrap of policy except attack welfare and give tax cuts to wealthy corporations. You don’t think you might have annoyed pensioners, retirees, environmentalists, scientists, people whose jobs have been sent offshore, unemployed, apprentices, nurses, doctors and those impacted by Western Sydney Airport and WestConnex? You don’t believe that the people have seen through your lies and slogans. Abbott fooled us once. Trust was destroyed. We have had enough of your elitist policies that don’t work. It was a deliberate policy to vote for minor parties. Get over it, suck it up and stop trying to deceive the public.Above all start to act to protect our environment and stop selling off our country to foreigners.

  42. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    The Faceless Man,

    I 100% agree.

    Why did you not state your case before this election?

    WE needed YOU

  43. Möbius Ecko

    Noticed that Abbott had a carers logo on the collar of his riding jersey in a doorstop yesterday.

  44. Matters Not

    Albo rules out a challenge. Reality strikes.

    While not supporting the election of Shorten to the leadership, it would be sheer madness to discard him at this point.

    He’s played strong, done good! (In memory of Jack Gibson.)

  45. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Any late protagonists to the contest lose credibility now that they can see where the election went.

    Fence-sitters are not respected.

    _____

    I have said the same, MN, somewhere else. Hell knows where!?

  46. Matters Not

    Great to see that one contributor knows where this election has gone (perhaps). Then again, I hope I recognise my limitations.

    While the results in the HOR might be ’emerging’ they are by no means clear. Still lots of ‘fog’. As for the Senate – give me a break. Not a reader of ‘tea leaves’.

    Hanson appears to have done well in the Senate on the ‘primaries’ but she need a good preference flow (in Queensland at least) to get her other candidates over the line. That may be more difficult.

    But Queenslanders are different. (Shakes head).

  47. The Faceless Man

    Jennifer, lets put it down to the complex enigmatic mind of a carer whose sole focus is the care of his mother who suffers from Motor Neuron Disease. Thank you for your input.
    And Möbius, Abbot is a spider pretending to be a ladybug.

  48. The Faceless Man

    He pretends to be a benevolent addition to the flower yet we all know he’s just there to suck the guts from the worker bees.

  49. Freethinker

    The Faceless Man, I share your pain, and IMO we cannot only blame the Coalition, all the parties are the same, Not one of them presented a policy to look after of the homeless, the volunteers that help the sick, the charity organizations with their people that work 24-7, etc.
    I have not seen any politician visiting the charity organizations, the food vans driven by volunteers every night to look after the homeless.
    It is appalling!

  50. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Freethinker and Faceless Man,

    you won’t have any arguments from me but at least see how the Greens bothered to see SOME of the vulnerable people on Welfare and in Detention.

    They get 10 ticks for social RESPECT.

  51. Freethinker

    Jennifer I have my heart for those people in detention but we cannot overlook the ones sleeping outside tonight in our cities. Just spare a thought for them and the volunteers that take some food to them.
    We have to look after our own

  52. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Yes, Freethinker,

    we look after our own and other people who are obviously vulnerable when running for their lives.

  53. The Faceless Man

    Incredible really isn’t it , freethinker?
    Jennifer, the Greens got my top vote however it was based on their environmental policies rather than their welfare policies.
    Heres some fun maths figures for you that will make you feel great; I am a ful time carer, I care monday to friday, 6am to 6pm. On the newstart (which I don’t receive) I would earn an hourly rate of 20c an hour. On the carers payment (which I also don’t receive) it would be just over 5$ an hour.
    My heart goes out to those unfortunate lot that are forced through circumstance to do this 24hrs a week.

  54. The Faceless Man

    It’s a drop in the ocean considering how much I’m saving the taxpayer’s.

  55. Damo451

    Freethinker and Faceless Man ,totally agree that we need to look after our own.
    While I have no doubt that life in the detention centres would be shocking ,they passed through many other countries on their way to get here ,where they could have sought asylum. Australia is a choice not a destination for asylum.
    The Greens are tripping over our own poor and destitute on their way to asylum seeker rallies and it is a disgrace !!

  56. Dan Rowden

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith,

    Master of Laws from Monash University

    Do you really have this qualification?

  57. Wally in Wiradjuri country

    “The inability to listen to criticism is …”
    At work a few weeks back, I came up with a ‘brilliant idea’, so told my manager about it.
    He listened to what I had to say, then told me that it had already been accepted and was starting.
    What impressed me was that he let me finish. I may have a had a better version, I may have been able to add an improvement.
    Not only was he polite, he was sensible.

    It seems that most politicians are not able to even listen.
    If they do listen, they do not seem to understand the situation.
    They seem to be so very afraid to change, even if it is obviously to improve things.

  58. harshmind

    MN, Queenslanders may well be different. My deciphering of the AEC running tally tells me that, while there is a strong element of gratitude from people being told by Hanson that it’s OK to remain xenophobic and ill-informed, this is also the State where the Greens increased their HoR vote the most. I agree with many of the comments here. Shorten should allow the Coalition to self-destruct while giving himself time for constructive discussion with the cross-benches. One way or the other it will be an entertaining winter.

  59. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Dan Rowden,

    who are you to ask?

    What presumed authority do you have to demand any response?

  60. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Still waiting for an answer, Dan Rowden!

  61. cornlegend

    Do you really have this qualification?
    what’s this?
    GAME Changer & Head Honcho, Getting Australia Moving Enterprises

  62. Dan Rowden

    Is this true of you, JMS, or not?

    Qualified with a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma In Education from La Trobe University, Bundoora thanks greatly to Gough Whitlam; Former secondary school teacher of English and sometimes History; Qualified lawyer with a Master of Laws from Monash University with special interests in human rights, civil rights and law reform

  63. Dan Rowden

    I can’t believe I ended that question with “or not”. I apologise to all who perceive and are quietly offended by the error.

  64. Brad Adams

    Jim, it’s actually 2016 (not 2017) and the first count is done by hand at the polling station to get a quick result. There is a second count by hand at a regional centre to confirm the result but then all of the voting slips go through a computer scanner to confirm and recount. (That starts on Tuesday) Computers can be hacked and how do you tell that someone has only voted once? If we had a national identity card then something maybe could be tied in. But when people can claim benefits under several names then there are obviously ways to get around a computer system.

  65. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    My apologies for not responding sooner gentlemen,

    but yes those are all my qualifications. Any questions?

    Smearing dirt, won’t work.

  66. paul walter

    What gentlemen? Around here?

    So, you are an ambulance-chaser, are you?

  67. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Don’t accuse cornlegend or Dan of being ambulance-chasers, paul. That’s not polite!

  68. cornlegend

    I’m curious what the hell is Getting Australia Moving Enterprises?
    couldn’t find it in company registers

  69. Kronomex

    Which is worse: the “Medicare” texts asking people not to vote for the LNP or the long list of Abbott/LNP promises broken?

  70. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    “Company registers”! You obviously operate in the Big End of Town!

    Why are you interested? Your union and Labor mates got work to pass on, have you?

    Put your money where your mouth is and support the impetus of this embryonic concept, which is to advocate for robust and creative measures to get unemployed and under-employed people into sustainable and meaningful employment that meet their diverse skills, qualifications and experience.

    I’m particularly interested in opening up such opportunities to mature aged, unemployed people, who are languishing in unemployment. However, the same concept can be applied to young people, who are equally shut out of diverse employment opportunities, if they haven’t got any strings to pull.

    After all, Labor believes in supporting workers, don’t you?

  71. kasch2014

    Yeeeeaaaaahh! It’s so simple, yet when they’ve paid so much for PR folks to lie for them, they’ve got to keep trying!

  72. cornlegend

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith
    actually I was interested in changing those who do our conveyancing in Victoria.
    Never mind,
    off to scrutineer

  73. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    cornlegend,

    any legal or other work would be of interest.

  74. paul walter

    JMS, thanks for advice..must humbly admit to being a bush lawyer of modest talents, sadly not recognised by those who seek to drag him down through envy and spite.

    On the subject of legal work, I’d say the unfortunate Dr Paul Frijters of QLD uni, who posts at Club Troppo, who got chucked for doing social sciences work the autocrats didn’t like, is seeking help for redress and reinstatement after what appears a shameful injustice perpetrated upon him by uni authorities.

  75. Dan Rowden

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith,

    Sorry, I lost my internet overnight and most of this morning – my ADSL does not like rain. I was asking for confirmation because the law degree is really quite impressive, atop everything else. I’m just trying to establish where to place you in my personal, “How seriously should I take this person” hierarchy.

    Basically I like to know who I’m debating with where that’s at all possible. If I’m going to “smear” you it’ll be over your apparent dalliance with Minor Party Menage.

  76. Freethinker

    Why the issue of some people have a formal qualifications, which kind or if they do not have any?
    Knowledge alone is not enough, if there is lack of understanding
    An to have that understanding the “school of life” is where you get it.
    Ex Uruguayan president Jose Pepe Mujica come to my mind.

  77. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Thanks paul walter,

    I’ll look into it.

    _____

    Dan Rowden,

    I have an ongoing “dalliance” with Australian Progressives and an ongoing fundamental belief that the days of the dinosaur duopoly are over. Where does that put me in your seriousness hierarchy?

    More power to the Greens!

    More power to upcoming left, centre-left and sensible centre micro parties!

  78. Dan Rowden

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith,

    Your dalliance with “centre-left and sensible centre micro parties” and “dinosaur duopoly” rhetoric is not the property or province or sole predilection of the “Left”. Many “conservatives” are adopting this attitude as well. This thinking just gave us the senate we’re about to have. If you think that’s a good thing, then fair enough; we’ll just have to disagree on that.

  79. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    No, Dan Rowden,

    my advocacy or preferences most definitely did not support the Senate that is about to happen.

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