Scott Morrison – you are a fraud

The man in charge of our government at present is far too similar to Donald Trump for comfort.

He tells lies – as do, it seems, far too many politicians – but he does so with a frequency and purpose that makes his behaviour seem unexceptional, because it is consistent.

His hubris is such that he does not even perceive, or, if he does, he does not care, that his plans to achieve, and retain a firm grip on, power are seriously damaging the future for most of those affected by his policy decisions.

He is, in consequence, a dangerous man to be allowed to hold the reins of power.

Recent revelations, by Gladys Berejiklian, give an alarming insight into the ready acceptance of ‘pork-barrelling’ as a political ploy – which is not confined to one side of politics and highlights the need for a Federal ICAC with teeth – as well as show-casing  the way in which governments limit the effectiveness of existing corruption bodies, as in NSW, by cutting available funding.

The Coalition government has done just that in relation to funding for the ANAO.

Hence the Sports Rorts affair – which still requires attention!

Without access to party meetings, I can only conjecture that there is a sufficient majority of Coalition members for whom being in power is more important than the methods by which they attain and retain that power.

I suspect that Malcolm Turnbull’s level of ethics was the reason for his downfall, as the concept of retaining power, by any means available, would have sat less well with him than, it seems, it does with too many of his fellow Coalition politicians.

The inquiry into Aged Care Homes was established before the pandemic, and it has confirmed what other evidence supports – that institutions subject to Federal Government regulations have been responsible for a majority of COVID-related deaths among elderly residents.

But there are even more important, international issues affecting life at present, which affect more than our economy.

GLOBAL WARMING IS A FACT OF LIFE AND A GROWING DANGER TO ALL LIFE ON EARTH.

That is a really inconvenient truth.

Ignoring it, and continuing to do so, in the face of mounting evidence, is criminal irresponsibility.

It is possibly even worse than leaving children and defenceless women in the control of abusive fathers and partners.

But of course, the relentless list of deaths from domestic violence spells out clearly that our ability to take effective action lags far behind our awareness of the need to take it!

To believe in anything, including the existence of a god who is all-powerful, requires an ability to ignore lack of evidence of any truth in the ‘belief’, and predisposes that believer to wash his hands of responsibility for his own actions.

The apparently warped mind of the soon to be ex-POTUS, enables him to believe that he has an entitlement to be re-elected, and the evidence indicates that he is incapable of accepting that he is no longer favoured for that honour by the majority of citizens of the USA.

We need to concentrate on facts.

A majority of observers of the voting process, plus, so far, an almost total majority of Courts to which the election process has been appealed, have failed to support Trump’s claims of fraud.

He has failed to produce the necessary evidence.

His unwillingness to take any effective action in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in escalating numbers of infections and death – clear evidence of faulty policy.

The USA is not alone in this. Second waves are common all round the world – only a few countries have managed as effectively as has Australia – and in our case, that has been despite the Coalition government’s policies, not because of them.

Immediately political point-making takes over from rational assessment of a situation, we are in trouble. Had Victoria had a Liberal government, the Coalition would have been in there, backing it to the hilt!

Putting the country’s economy above the lives of the population is literally putting the cart before the horse.

The government has a balancing act to perform, and all decisions have to put the lives of the people before the health of the economy.

Ideology prevents the government from seeing that a Universal Basic Income, balanced by tax reforms that mean those who do not need it, refund it, is essential IMHO.

It is not a perfect solution – what is? – but spending so much time and effort categorising people in order to determine which Centrelink benefit category they fit into, and ignoring the needs of many who are less readily categorised, is cruel.

We are a wealthy country.

No one should be forced to live on the streets or go without sufficient food.

No child in Australia should be allowed to live in poverty. Sorry, Bob Hawke, but your promise was an empty one.

Tax havens have to be controlled to ensure that we do not have a small minority able to use existing wealth to create more wealth, while others are living in abject poverty, reminiscent of Charles Darwin’s writings begging for a social conscience.

Perfection will never be attained.

Improvement should be a continuing goal.

And saving life on Earth from extinction should currently be government’s top priority.

Getting re-elected is really dependent on proving that the government is doing a good job for all of us – not just for those who vote in its candidates!

Life will never be perfect, but we all need to be making a massive effort to ensure that it has the right conditions to continue to be viable – along with all other life on earth!

We live in extraordinary times and we need to take extraordinary actions to ensure that life on Earth continues – and if that means overturning a corrupt government – so be it!

Now the fire season is once more upon us, is the PM planning a vacation?

And – just one last aside – when did Ministerial responsibility cease to be an issue, with almost automatic resignation being a consequence?

In other words – when did we stop expecting integrity from elected politicians?