Yes, you may have missed it but just before Scottie flew off to tell Fiji that they don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to their own citizenship laws or climate change, he wrote a piece about how Australians weren’t angry and that it was just a few “angry noisy voices” (sic. Where’s the comma between the adjectives?) causing any suggestion that he wasn’t the most popular PM we’ve had in almost six months.
He began: “When I called into the Shoalhaven Heads Hotel on the NSW South Coast over the break, it was nice to spend time with Australians from all walks of life who had a positive outlook.”
Here is a photo from the article. It depicts these Australians from all walks of life:
Now for those of you who are thinking that this has even less diversity than a Coalition front bench, you’d be wrong because ScoMo adds that these were: “Locals, holiday makers staying at caravan parks, small business people from western Sydney, surf lifesavers, fishing and rural fire service members, professionals, kids, mums, retirees, pensioners.” Obviously, he met more people than just those in the photo. It must simply be that these were the only ones prepared to pose with him. To be fair, there was another photo of him with a bald guy, captioned, “The PM meets some locals”.
He then went on to tell us: “There was no sign of the angry mob on social and in other media, shouting at each other and telling us all what we’re supposed to do, think and say.” Which is pretty funny coming on top of his insistence that local councils hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26th and enforce dress codes.
From his holiday, Scottie gleaned a number of things.
Amazingly, people are concerned with everyday life, they want jobs, they want the economy to be strong, incomes to keep up with the cost of living, Medicare to make healthcare affordable, kids to be safe, kids to be smiling, fair treatment at work, not to be ripped off or played for a mug, a welfare system that looks after those doing it tough but not to be a free ride because the best form of welfare is a job… Which I’ve always interpreted as: “Get off ya backside, ya lazy bludger. Jesus healed the lame and blind so there’s no excuse!” These were all in the list and I am not exaggerating, even if I was tempted to add that we all wanted to “get along like we used to in middle school… I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy…” #
All in all, it seemed to have been written by someone who was rather confused about whether he was one of us or part of a government. After listing all the cost of living problems that people have, he added:
“This tends to stress us out, but we are dealing with it.”
Did he mean that these stress the average person out, or did he mean that he was leading a government of stressed out minister and backbenchers who are doing their best with a limited intellect?
He explained that “we” wanted to take care of the environment because it was “where we live and play”. (No, I’m not kidding.) But we’re not going to sign up to “destroy our economy” because of the “extreme” views of some. Yes, coal and gas will be around for “a while” but eventually renewables will have a greater role, “so let’s just have a sensible plan and get on with it”.
Awesome. We have a PM who has concluded that we need a sensible plan. Well, that’s a great start after energy policy has caused the Liberals so much angst. At least we have someone who’s realised that a plan would be a good start, and a sensible one would be even better.
After telling us that we all want hospitals and education to be well funded, he added that we already pay enough taxes. Of course, he had told us that we get annoyed at those who dodge them, but his conclusion is to ensure that the government doesn’t waste money and to ensure that the economy is running well. He didn’t seem to want to talk about people dodging tax.
“And we’ve been around long enough to know that it’s not only about the money. Give me a good teacher for my kids over a new school hall any day.” This is code for don’t come and ask for any money because I gave it all to the private system just before Christmas, because it seemed to be about the money to them. People in the public system should just be content knowing they can have the best teachers, so they don’t need new buildings… Of course, NOT having a new school hall doesn’t actually raise the quality of the teachers, so it’s a rather interesting choice our PM offers.
Interestingly, when he talks about immigration, he tells us that those who hate don’t speak for him. For the rest of the article, it’s all been about “we” or “us”, so apparently, he feels a bit of a loner when talking about hatred. Whatever, migrants helped build this country, and we all get along and we need to keep it that way.
Yes, as Scottie reminds us: “We’d be a pretty dull lot without Australians from so many peoples from so many different backgrounds, starting with our indigenous Australians who were here first and who we respect.”
Yep, we better not forget those indigenous Australians. Mentioned them after several paragraphs talking about immigration. Tick. We’ve acknowledged their were here first. Tick. We respect them. Tick. What more do they want?
There were two other things I found instructive. First, when Morrison told us that he wouldn’t be dragged to the left or right or intimidated by the “shouting”, he added; “I’ve always had my feet firmly planted in the same place they’ve always been.”
In other words, I never move. Or change.
But it was his repetition of the “a fair go for those who have a go” slogan that got me really thinking. When you say it quickly, it sounds… Well, just silly. However, when you stop and actually think about it for a moment, you realise the implication. If it’s only a fair go for those having a go, it means that those who – for whatever reason – aren’t “having a go”, then they don’t get a fair go. And, if they’re not getting a fair go, doesn’t that suggest that there’s something unfair there.
Or to put it another way, if you’re not getting a fair go, then it’s because you’re not having a go, and that’s why inequality exists and it’s really your own fault because if you were having a go, you’d be getting a go. After all, the best form of welfare is a job and if you don’t have one it must be because you’re not having a go.
Gees, cobber, I thought that in Australia, we believed that everyone should get a fair go. Perhaps, our PM isn’t as fair dinkum as he pretends to be.
#For those who don’t get the reference:
