Make your vote count: The importance of this election is such that it will determine our future for better or for worse
Diary entry #26: Saturday, April 9 2022
1 It’s hard enough without all the criticism.
By the time this piece is posted, we may know the date of the 47th Australian Federal election. At that time, the Prime Minister’s power to do any more damage to our democracy, at least for the time being, will have been taken away.
Assuming it is Saturday, May 21, it will determine who governs our nation for the following three years. Clearly, for almost a decade now, the leaders of both Conservative parties and their acolytes of cruelness, dishonesty, corruption and self-interest haven’t governed for the nation’s good.
Scott Morrison is carrying so much lead in his saddle leading up to the election that you would think it is a handicap race.
Unquestionably, they have been the worst government in our history. (How many times have I said that?)
Accordingly, the polls show Labor well ahead of the Government:
“… the latest fortnightly Newspoll has Labor’s two-party lead narrowing from 55-45 to 54-46, from primary votes of Coalition 36% (up one), Labor 38% (down three) and Greens 10% (up two), with One Nation and the United Australia Party both steady on 3%.
We also have the first Ipsos poll for the Financial Review, as foreshadowed in the previous post, which has Labor’s two-party lead at 55-45.
Also, out on Wednesday:
“… was a new poll from Roy Morgan, which usually reports fortnightly but seems to have made an exception for a budget week, finds Labor recovering much of what it lost in last week’s poll, it’s two-party preferred having progressed over three polls from 58-42 to 55.5-44.5 to 57-43 in the latest result.”
Another survey conducted by The Resolve Political Monitor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age by research company Resolve Strategic showed that Labor was going into the election campaign in “pole position”. Its primary vote results produced a clear lead for the party in two-party terms.
The bookies have Labor at $1.33, and the Coalition is on $3.10.
Now that the election campaigns of both parties have started, it is time for the people of Australia to wake up from their political hibernation and be serious about this election. It well may be the most important one they will ever vote in.
Substantial and worthwhile change can come with short term controversy, but the pain is worth it for long term prosperity.
2 Journalists who work for Rupert Murdoch must find a place in their personal journalistic ethics to incorporate fairness into the words they write. That is, of course, if they have any. Other journalists must also lift their game and not be lazy.
3 An announcement of the date had to be delayed because the Liberal Party needed to sort out some preselection issues with candidates unwanted by the local branches. So severe that Scott took them to court (using taxpayer funds) to sort out his own mess.
On Wednesday, April 6, in The Guardian, Mostafa Rachana reported that New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet labelled the NSW Liberal preselection saga a ‘debacle’ and an ‘abject failure’.
Yet another example of Morrison not being able to manage his own party. Pathetic governance.
The exchange and intellectual debate of ideas need to be re-energised, and it is incumbent on everyone to become involved.
4 It was a strange ending to the 46th Australian Parliament with a budget delivered traditionally with the usual critiques from economic journalists, the Opposition and others. It was also timed to fit into the timing of an election, and its purpose was clear. Please give us your vote, and here are five hundred dollars with our compliments – the valedictory speeches – some worthy and others worthless – were heard from those who were not returning.
5 Then, on the tenth hour of that evening, the Senate Chamber erupted; a horrific payout echoed its way up and down the multitude of scandal-filled hallways with the words of Liberal Senator Fierravanti-Wells stopping at the Prime Minister’s door.
She joined a long list of parliamentarians and others critical of the prime minister’s character. The numbers that have spoken negatively regarding the man’s character are compelling.
The Senator concluded that he wasn’t a very nice man, among other unmentionable things. He has been called a liar by many, including Emmanuel Macron. His deputy, Barnaby Joyce said he was a hypocrite and a liar. The former NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian (allegedly) called him a horrible person. Jacquie Lambie and Pauline Hanson both called him an intimidating bully.
Michael Keenan – a former ministerial colleague of Morrison – (allegedly) called him a complete psycho. Another cabinet colleague described him as a fraud. Former MP Julia Banks said he was a “menacing controlling wallpaper“.
In Women’s Agenda, Madaline Hislop said that Katherine Cusak, the outgoing NSW Liberal, has joined a growing chorus of female politicians who have accused Scott Morrison of bullying. She also said that:
“… he had ‘ruined’ the Liberal party and that she would not vote for him or the party at the federal election.”
And on top of all that, David Crowe, in an article for the SMH, tells us that:
“Two men involved in a hard-fought Liberal preselection battle have signed written testimony that Scott Morrison warned people about the “Lebanese background” of his opponent in a crucial ballot to decide a safe federal seat, helping him win a bitter contest to enter Parliament more than a decade before he became Prime Minister.”
5 To say the least, trying to win an election carrying that sort of baggage plus the weight of his Christian hypocrisy will be burdensome.
Yet Scott Morrison robotically goes about his business like a talking machine, committed to rattling off one lie after another. There is no correction from the right-wing press, be it our carbon emissions reductions figures, the Great Barrier Reef, the budget or just questions in general.
6 Yet more scandal.
The well-informed ABC and its journalists found a tidy sum of $18 million (plus $4 million annually) hidden in the bowels of the budget for the Australian Future Leaders Foundation Limited Program. Have you ever heard of them? No, nor have I. Apparently, they have no staff or office. I’m confident they will follow up on this one.
7 And a blast from the past Barnaby Joyce scandal.
Did you know that when Barnaby Joyce was appointed drought envoy a couple of years ago he received $675,000 in expenses for the nine months he was in the job and was allocated two staff members at the cost of about $200,000? He never wrote a report, instead angrily claiming he sent “an awful lot” of correspondence to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, including by text message.
Oh dear, what a cesspool of corruption we have become.
8 What an awful look is all these government appointments are. They look like they are running scared and trying to prop up a tired and out of date conservative philosophy – jobs for the boys and girls.
9 The recently released United Nations Climate Report used what can only be ‘called last chance’ language:
“Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) is beyond reach. In the scenarios assessed, limiting warming to around 1.5°C requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030; at the same time, methane would also need to be reduced by about a third. “
We are at a crossroads.
Also on this subject, Lisa Cox of The Guardian reports that “the Morrison government has been accused of sitting on a significant report card on the state of Australia’s environment.” It was received in December but hasn’t been released because of all the “bad news” it contains.
“Labor, the Greens, the independent MP Zali Steggall, environment groups and scientists have called on the government to release the Australia State of the Environment report before the election in May. Produced by scientists and compiled every five years, it was last reported in 2016.”
Environment minister, Susan Ley, has had it since December.
Meanwhile on the other side of the political fence:
“As part of its climate change commitment, a Labor government would seek to co-host a UN COP meeting with Pacific Island nations.”
10 I repeat:
Make your vote count: The importance of this election is such that it will determine our future for better or for worse.
My previous diary entry: A gift or two from the Government now, but you will pay later.
My thought for the day
One of the cornerstones of Christianity is the concept of “truth”: in fact, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the light”: “the truth shall set you free”: Our Prime Minister is a fervent practising member of that faith.
Even allowing for the hue of political practice, it is difficult to imagine how arguably the greatest liar ever to have walked the corridors of Parliament can perpetuate its hypocrisy.
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19 comments
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Return to home pageYour straight forward opinions above clearly state the case for au urgent change in government, but the mechanism for making that change is absent. So,
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1) Vote anyone but Liarbrals, One Notion, AUP (Palmer) in city electorates;
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2) Vote credible local Independent or SFF in country electorates; and most importantly
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3) VOTE BELOW THE LINE NUMBERING EACH CANDIDATE in your order of preference ensuring that sitting COALition candidates get the highest numbers; then
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we may have a chance of saving Australian democracy for our grandkids.
Well said, lord.
People should neither vote informal nor donkey.
Always love your use of ‘truth’. I don’t think it is clear that the Bible’s use of truth fits with your perception of scummo’s lying.
The three aspects of the Bible’s truth, that are meaningful to me:
Truth is spiritual reality
Truth does not require verification through reliable sources
Truth is best communicated through repetition (ghandisevagramashram)
Sadly, should the bandit’s scheme work to 30% labor cannot win government.
But if he pulls a public prank, he may again derail the predictions and produce another miracle.
ps
Are you keeping your vote quiet.
What we have seen under the L-NP traditionally, but nakedly under Morrison, is what used to happen openly in the Middle Ages in England but with more subtlety until Johnson: that is, the doling out of the nation’s assets to cronies and hangers-on.
Morrison’s gang just see that as their commercial ‘droit de seigneur’. The last few weeks has seen feverish rooting going on.
The most astute political comment this week : from a disability pensioner to Morrison in a Newcastle pub :
“I’m sick of your bullshit “
Thank you sir, you summed up the mood of the nation !
Oh joy, Craig “Eggman” Kelly is in Launceston. He was sitting outside the local record shop, Avenue Records, while I was inside picking up a nice copy of Quadrophenia by The Who and a 1969 album called W C Fields on Radio and almost choked when I heard him say to one of his minders, “Oh look, it’s a record shop.” I wonder what gave it away? Could it have been the LP’s in the window and two long racks of the same inside and up on the wall? Sadly, I’ll never know because I had to leave.
I’ve also realised what he reminds me of; a game show host or crappy loud mouthed comedian, you know the type, “Take my mother. Please.” and other obnoxious pub style jokes from the 1970’s.
the polls had Labor ahead easily last time, and look what happened.
We cannot be silent. We MUST shout VOTE LABOR every day till the election.
A good first move for the new government would be to make parliamentary terms 4 years with a set election date to STOP this disgraceful holdup until it suits the PM, and his blatant anf fraudulent use of public funds for his campaign.
VOTE LABOR
Keitha, I too have Labor’s presumptive 2019 victory in mind. The thought of another Liberal government trashing and burning our country and throwing everyone back under the bus makes me feel like throwing up and moving to NZ.
While I do my part in encouraging people see the truth and sense, I take some comfort in the thought that while the Coalition got in last time, it was only with the barest of margins. The general populace clearly were leaning towards a more kind and progressive Australia, even before they realised the extent of Morrison’s arrogance, ignorance, malignance, and plan to ransack and hobble the country for the benefit of a few privileged entities.
I agree on the four year fixed terms. In addition to reducing the opportunities for manipulation of dates, there may even be time to get stuff done between the first year of settling in and the last year of gearing up for the next election.
Our system is currently barely fit for purpose. I recently saw a great comment on Guardian describing reforms that would make the system even better – electoral commission reforms, advertising reforms (YES!!!!) and so on.
I hope for all Australia’s sake we get a progressive government this time.
And, not to be forgotten (if Australia is to be brought back to any sort of valid sense of itself) is the crying need for a strong, securely funded, current and retrospective Federal ICAC. One that that can work with the Audits Office and Senate Estimates to (hopefully) stop the poisonous self-serving rorts and similar insults to democracy and the nation that have been repeatedly highlighted in this period of ATM government.
Four years fixed terms. Pre voting is only allowed seven days before voting day. Parties to have no part in issuing postal votes. Must have a genuine reason for any pre-voting.
H&T, absolutely. There are numerous ways we could improve the system, but that is a key element – meaningful consequences for willful wrongdoing within the political system.
My first question is why and how is Scummo using taxpayer dollars to sort out an internal Lieberal pre-
selection mess?????
Why? Gillard was unfairly pressured by the media under the rabbott’s orders to announce the 2013 election. Shouldn’t the PM have the advantage of choice?
I have long preferred fixed 6 year for the senate and no above the line voting and, to prevent how to vote cards, to have a random draw for positions on the individual ballot papers.
I was scrutineering in an exhaustive preference system where the Alphabetical order gave the first named the large donkey vote but he was not preferred by 50% so he came second 3 times.
The young Canberra uni boys were horrified that he got 30% and didn’t get a seat. They were thinking quotas which was 25% and too young to understand the system.
We later got an idiot labor man who knew even less and he brought up another Canberra child to explain the new quota system which has seen our council go from individuals, some with political views where discussion were in house to parties where outside parties decide the position.
Vomit buck bullshit boy strikes again. Totally shameless and ultra nauseating. Gosh, I wonder if the tax payers footed the bill for this vileness?
@4.48 pm.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2022/apr/09/australia-live-news-updates-federal-election-2022-scott-morrison-anthony-albanese-weather-nsw-floods-coronavirus-covid-labor-liberal-party-
Hughes is going to be interesting : in the last two elections the sitting PM (Turnbull and Morrison) has intervened to keep Craig Kelly as the Liberal candidate against the wishes of the local branch.
Kelly, as it turned out was the rat that the branch knew he was.
In 2019 Kelly fielded 53.2% first preference votes for an easy win.
Kelly is now standing for Palmer’s UAP
This time, the federal executive have once again bypassed the local branch (what’s left of it, most resigned) and parachuted in Jenny Ware to represent the Liberal Party.
Labor has had a set back with their candidate Peter Tsambalas, a local teacher, pulling out as he was waiting for notification from Greek authorities that he had officially renounced his Greek citizenship. He began the process in December 2021.
Is the electorate of Hughes just blindly rusted on to the Liberals ?
You fucking beauty.The desperate liar has just’ announced’ he has been personally responsible for ‘saving’ ,get this..’forty thousand’ (40,000) lives during the pandemic…that’ll be a huge comfort to the families of the thousands in aged care that should not have lost theirs.Not to mention the hundreds who took their own lives as a result of ‘Robodebt’ This fucking arsehole is exhibit’A’ in the shameless stakes.If people don’t know by now what a cretin Morrison is.they are probably deceased.Like the .Monty Python parrot..Call the election .you fucking tosser, and let the people repossess their badly wounded country.
Morrison, like the fossil fuel industry, is a stranded asset and has trashed the Liberal brand. Rather then being the daggy dad benevolent and democratic leader he portrayed he would be he is a authoritarian and transactional leader that the NSW Liberals can attest to. When it comes to leadership Morrison is the proverbial sow’s ear. As much as the Murdoch L/NP Turd Polishing Media and gullible sycophantic L/NP stooges try so desperately hard to make a silk purse out of the Morrison sow’s ear, it wont change the reality that Morrison is hopelessly saddled with his own chronicled reputation for lying, incompetence and poor judgement.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/the-most-abject-failure-of-leadership-in-living-memory-20211014-p58zw4
Vile little man. He’s brown trousers scared of losing his pig trough position.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sharma-withdraws-attack-on-abc-spender-over-alberici-campaign-link-20220409-p5ac7t.html
I’m going to place a bet on Morison to win,that way i know his going to lose,i did the same for Donald Trump,but i think that might have backfired,looking at the current old senile codger running America now
Now that, finally, the election has been called will Scummo and Crony Co. Inc. try and find some way to screw a bit more out of the public purse before they start having to pay for their own outright lies, foul and dirty…I mean election…campaign.