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Self-belief is no substitute for accountability

Self-belief is a powerful tool in achieving success and there is no question that Tony Abbott has it in spades. But does he have the substance to justify it?

At high school, Tony was in the seconds for rugby, something that did not sit well with him or his father who both believed he should have been in the First XV.

After average results at university and an uninspiring football career, with the help of the Jesuit network, Tony headed off to Oxford to take up his Rhodes Scholarship. It only took a couple of games for him to be dropped from the rugby team with suggestions that his prowess had been somewhat exaggerated. Tony was strong on physicality but short on speed or finesse.

Tony’s certainty about himself led to him knocking Joe Hockey out at training one night when Joe had had enough of Tony’s autocratic style as captain/coach/selector for the seconds at Sydney University.

Student politics at Sydney University saw Tony, a callow youth straight from a Catholic boys’ school, given a platform to preach loud and long in his opposition to homosexuality and feminism. Further, he denounced contraception, labelling it part of the “me now” mentality. Ironically, whilst eschewing the use of contraception, Tony was an avid partaker of “me now” activities, if not the responsibility that went with them.

Even at the seminary, Tony was convinced that the Church was headed in the wrong direction and that he knew better, as he wrote in articles in the Bulletin at the time.

“Looking back, it seems that I was seeking a spiritual and human excellence to which the Church is no longer sure she aspires. My feeble attempts to recall her to her duty — as I saw it — betrayed a fathomless disappointment at the collapse of a cherished ideal.”

When Tony entered his first full-time job as manager at a concrete plant, it only took a couple of months for the plant to be black-listed and shut down.

“I got to the plant in the morning, marched up and down the line of trucks like a Prussian army officer, telling owner-drivers who had been in the industry for longer than I had been alive, that that truck was too dirty, and that truck was filthy, and that truck had a leaking valve and had to be fixed. Naturally enough, this wasn’t very popular”

In 1992, he was appointed director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, a position he held until 1994, when he was elected to parliament at the Warringah by-election.

Abbott was first appointed to Cabinet following the 1998 election, as part of the Second Howard Ministry, becoming Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, an interesting choice since he had little to no experience at all in these areas.

In 2003, he became Minister for Health and Ageing. This was also an interesting choice. When he was given the role of infirmarian at the seminary, a job that involved supervising the medicine cabinet and ensuring that the ill were not forgotten in their rooms, Tony objected saying

“My view was that I knew nothing about medicine and that those too sick to eat in the dining room ought to be in hospital. Anyway, I thought, most were malingering. So I encouraged “self-service” of medicines and suggested that meals would be better fetched by the friends of the sick. Many deeply resented this disdain for college’s caring and communitarian ethos. And, I confess, I did not have the courage to refuse room service to members of the seminary staff.”

Apparently he still considers sick people malingerers who should be discouraged from seeing a doctor.

Tony has displayed this absolute certainty that he is right all his life so, when he was elected leader of the Liberal Party in return for becoming a climate change denier, I started getting concerned. When he became Prime Minister I felt alarmed. Twelve months in and I am horrified. I am afraid for the present and for the future.

Tony Abbott is only one man, but this man’s unwavering belief in his own judgement has seen him surround himself with advisers who tell him what he wants to hear. Experts are sacked, independent advisory panels disbanded, oversight and freedom of information curtailed, journalists and the National Broadcaster threatened.

In the space of a year we have gone from world leaders in action on climate change to being called the “Saudi Arabia of the Pacific”.

‘In the year since they took office, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Liberal-led coalition have already dismantled the country’s key environmental policies. Now they’ve begun systematically ransacking its natural resources. In the process, they’ve transformed Australia from an international innovator on environmental issues into quite possibly the dirtiest country in the developed world.’

Instead of looking forward to every home being connected to the NBN and school funding bridging the gap of disadvantage and inequity, we have record numbers of new coal mines to enjoy. Instead of universal healthcare and unemployment benefits, we see people on pensions feeling very afraid about their future. Instead of affordable tertiary education and housing, we see places being sold to the highest bidder.

We have moved from bringing our troops home from Afghanistan, to a war in Iraq and Syria that will inevitably lead to civilian casualties and destruction of homes and infrastructure, a move that has seen us specifically named for revenge attacks. The “humanitarian mission” line has been exposed for the lie it always was.

Instead of strengthening laws against discrimination, we now see Australian Muslim women persecuted everywhere from parliament to shopping centres. Bronwyn Bishop has been on this tirade for years, calling for the hijab to be banned in 2005.

“It’s not about headscarves per se, it’s about a clash of cultures where there are extremist Muslim leaders who are calling for the overthrow of the laws that indeed give me my freedom and my equality as defined by the society in which I live.

Now, this morning on a debate with a Muslim lady, she said she felt free being a Muslim, and I would simply say that in Nazi Germany, Nazis felt free and comfortable. That is not the sort of definition of freedom that I want for my country.”

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who formerly worked in intelligence, has accused the federal government of exploiting fears about terrorism to rush through new national security laws that push Australia towards a “police state”.

“It is clearly overreach by the security services who have basically been invited to write an open cheque. And the government, which wants to beat its chest and look tough on national security, said, ‘We’ll sign that’.”

The laws include jail terms of up to 10 years for journalists who disclose details of ASIO “special intelligence operations” and provide immunity from criminal prosecution for intelligence officers who commit a crime in the course of their duties.

David Irvine, retired head of ASIO, has wanted this green light for years as this interview from 2012 shows:

“Australia’s domestic spy agency says it’s just trying to stay up to date but critics say ASIO’s request for new laws is a blatant power grab.

ASIO has put several proposals to the Federal Government, including allowing its officers to commit crimes and not be charged.

It also wants to hack computers of people who haven’t committed a crime.

And most controversially, it wants telcos to store our phone and internet data for up to two years so it can be searched without a warrant.

ASIO director-general of Security David Irvine bristles at the suggestion that he is empire building.”

That was well before the rise of ISIS.

Last year I read an essay about the responsibilities of government.

“The government of a democracy is accountable to the people. It must fulfil its end of the social contract. And, in a practical sense, government must be accountable because of the severe consequences that may result from its failure. As the outcomes of fighting unjust wars and inadequately responding to critical threats such as global warming illustrate, great power implies great responsibility.”

Tony has great power but no sense of responsibility. He has confidence but no conscience. He has determination but no commitment. He is willing but lacks the skills. He attacks and blames but resents oversight and has never accepted accountability, and this is what scares me most.

The consequences of being wrong could/will be catastrophic and I don’t share Tony’s confidence that he, Maurice Newman and Cardinal Pell have all the answers.

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”

― Thomas Paine

 

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38 comments

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  1. lawrencewinder

    In brief, an Ideological bully of limited imagination and intelligence.
    Which is why he implements so much of the nonsense the IPA re-formulates from their donor’s wishes…. it’s a perfect loop of unthinking certainty. Fundamentalism.

  2. June M Bullivant OAM

    A piece that expresses what a lot of people are experiencing, fear for the future, fear of where this man is leading Australia, he is steadfast in what he believes in, the problem is that we can see where this is leading, there is no joy for the people of Australia, we need people who governs on our behalf, who cares about our welfare, who worries about our health, who is aware of what affect our lives, not one that want to go to war because he made the decision. The problem, the State governments think the same as Mr Abbott.

  3. Bob Manton

    I live in the hope that we will survive till he is kicked out at the next election without him doing lasting damage.

  4. Kaye Lee

    In the interest of accountability….

    Labor in August 2013 showed projected year-end debt of $178.1 billion. It remained the same for the next four months – the first four months of Coalition Government.

    Then, in December 2013, it rose to $191.52 billion and stayed at that till rising in May 2014 to $197.85 billion. And now in September it is $202.5 billion – up 14 per cent on Labor’s debt level. That’s a deterioration of over $2 billion a month.

    In Hockey’s opinion the document is “a report card on the previous Government’s irresponsible fiscal and economic management”.

    I wonder when these guys intend on taking over?

  5. M-R

    That’s interesting stuff – I had no idea of his early years, being sufficiently alarmed by the current ones. But it all adds up to the megalomaniac he has become. If this lot get another three years in 2016, Australia will be what Keating once threatened – and not only a banana republic but a second-world heading downhill for third one …

  6. Bilal

    Hopefully these vandals will be kicked out before the country is utterly ruined. It is important that articles like these should be widely read as those who support democracy are battling against Murdoch of the News Corp, the centre of US Islamophobic propaganda and Free Market mythology.

    Thomas Paine is always worth listening to.

  7. abbienoiraude

    I was so concerned with what was to come that I actually paid for the Quarterly Essay by David Marr on George Pell.
    It was worth the few dollars to this pensioner to have a heads up about the mentor of our PM.

    This piece by Kaye fits nicely into that and exposes the controlling, spoiled brat, bovver boy who is a child-like, arrogant and ignorant person brought up in a hot-housed environment without any real life experience.

    What does Abbott do for me?
    He scares the bejeesus out of me and makes me terrified for Australia and her future.
    In short; He is indeed a terrorist of the first order.

  8. john o'callaghan

    I enjoyed reading this informative article very much,and if i compressed it into a more crude homestyle way i would say that everything Abbotts touches turns to shit. A truly dangerous man.””’

  9. Kaye Lee

    abbie,

    Pell’s arrogance knows no bounds. He has only ever studied theology but he felt sufficiently informed and empowered to make a submission to the senate committee on climate change

    Pell stated in his 2006 Legatus Summit speech:

    “Some of the hysteric and extreme claims about global warming are also a symptom of pagan emptiness, of Western fear when confronted by the immense and basically uncontrollable forces of nature. Belief in a benign God who is master of the universe has a steadying psychological effect, although it is no guarantee of Utopia, no guarantee that the continuing climate and geographic changes will be benign. In the past pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.”

    Responding to the Anglican bishop and environmentalist George Browning, who told the Anglican Church of Australia’s general synod that Pell was out of touch with the Catholic Church as well as with the general community, Pell stated:

    “Radical environmentalists are more than up to the task of moralising their own agenda and imposing it on people through fear. They don’t need church leaders to help them with this, although it is a very effective way of further muting Christian witness. Church leaders in particular should be allergic to nonsense….. I am certainly sceptical about extravagant claims of impending man-made climatic catastrophes. Uncertainties on climate change abound … my task as a Christian leader is to engage with reality, to contribute to debate on important issues, to open people’s minds, and to point out when the emperor is wearing few or no clothes.”

    Tin foil mitre

  10. stephengb2014

    Q. When does self belief (egotism) transpose into a megalomania?
    A. When the egotist gets power without accoutability?

  11. Phi

    Yep, this article hits the Abbott nail square on the head – damned shame it doesn’t crack the idiot’s skull and do the nation a favour. I don’t like Abbott’s Australia – not one bit of it – it stinks.

  12. Judith W

    A quote from Rollo May in “The courage to create” (1975) : People who claim to be absolutely convinced that their stand is the only right one are dangerous. Such conviction is the essence not only of dogmatism, but of it’s more destructive cousin, fanaticism. It blocks off the user from learning new truth, and it is a dead giveaway of unconscious doubt. The person then has to double his or her protests in order to quiet not only the opposition but his or her own unconscious doubts as well.

  13. Norm in Waridjuri country

    I don’t see a person who is totally sure of himself.
    He apparently runs to Rupert Murdoch for advice – Murdoch was the only person he discussed the PPL plan with! [I cannot find the reference at this moment]
    Yes, I know that Credlin is an advisor, but she seems to take a very dominant postion in his life.

    He is not sure enough of his position on an issue to discuss it with his colleagues, nor cabinet, and the rest of the Coalition seem to be left out completely.

    All very worrying.

  14. Kaye Lee

    Judith and Norm,

    I think you are right about the unacknowledged self-doubt. If a rich, powerful person tells him that allowing foreign companies to dig up our resources whilst receiving government subsidies and avoiding paying tax is a good idea, then he acquiesces immediately. If people who own coal mines tell him that renewable energy is bad then he nods his head. Scientists don’t know what they are talking about….rich people do, especially rich people who can print nasty things about your opponents and nice things about you without being constrained by having to tell the truth.

  15. xiaoecho

    Blimey!! It is a bit of a worry that even at the seminary – as a trainee priest, he was too mean spirited to minister to his sick fellow seminarians. This is the man who holds the fate of Australia’s vulnerable in his hands. Now I am REALLY SCARED.

  16. mars08

    As a nation, we are Through the Looking-Glass…

    “I’m just one hundred and one, five months and a day.”
    “I can’t believe that!” said Alice.
    “Can’t you?” the Queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”
    Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”
    “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

  17. Kaye Lee

    “This government confected an economic emergency to gain permission for their cuts, which were ideological in the first place,” the former treasurer tells me. “Their catchcry ‘lifters and leaners’ is obnoxious, and where does it come from? F*cking Ayn Rand. And Hockey, the treasurer of this country, puts this shit in his speeches. The Liberals have a political romance with the US right.”

    Here’s the Abbott story: that the adults are in charge and are liberating an economy and national mood from interventionist governance. Our potential will be recognised through a hunger unspoilt by the moral hazard of welfare. In this vision, taxation, unions and government caps on university fees are leeching our spirit. In this, its most theoretical expression, there are things to commend it. In practice, it’s falling apart.

    “In their story,” Swan tells me, “unions are a much greater source of pain, are much more important, than corporate tax avoidance. This is ideology. It’s the worst of ideology, because they aren’t prioritising. Whatever the faults of unions, it’s nothing compared to what tax avoidance is costing us.”

    “The government are completely out of touch with the people,” Swan tells me. “It’s becoming very obvious. The budget is a huge demonstration of that, but look at their policy on education. Removing government caps on uni fees. It will prevent poorer kids going. That galah Pyne sees education as a private good, not a public one.”

    Michael Cooney, a former speechwriter for Gillard and now head of the Chifley Centre, said: “It is urgent business for Labor thinkers to shake the grip of what I call a ‘nostalgia for the new’. Parties which are homesick for the past, no matter how recent, and movements which long to debate the issues of 15 or 30 years ago, can never effectively comprehend the real issues of our contemporary life.”

    http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2014/10/04/testing-the-vitality-the-australian-dream/14123448001061#.VC_QXDccRjp

  18. Anne Byam

    An interesting, and as always, well written article, Kaye.

    Heard something today on TV – from a very old series called “The Jewel in the Crown” — ( abt the British in India in the mid to late 40’s ) …. and one thing stood out above all other statements.

    A main character admonished his son ” one must always speak and seek the truth ” …. to which the son answered ” Yes, father I agree – BUT it is easier to believe what is said to BE believable, than to accept a truth”. ( not verbatim ). But the message was clear. The current Government does not speak the truth ….. it relies upon speaking to the people of Australia in words that they THINK we will believe, and follow. We tend to accept the namby-pamby utterances of the Abbott and any of his cohorts who happen to be in front of a microphone. ” Geez …. they wouldn’t say that unless it was REAL and TRUE ….. would they ? ”

    OH YES THEY WOULD. And will continue to ‘feed’ the people with trumped up rhetoric, in order to BE believed. Political speak is and has always been, designed, orchestrated, and delivered to be BELIEVED …. but NEVER the entire truth. WE are not entitled to that – especially when a Liberal ( LNP ) Government is in command. We are the plebs, they are the upper echelon, so can say what they like to the lowlier likes of us. Well – stuff them and their beliefs. ( there are many Liberals out there at the moment who are also very disgruntled at the antics of this Government.) I just hope they are not ‘afraid’ of their beloved party.

    ——–

    I am alarmed at the use of words here such as : ‘really scared’ …… “all very worrying” …….. “scares the bejeezus out of me and makes me terrified for Australia” ……. ” fear for the future, fear of where this man is leading Australia”.

    I have said VERY similar myself in past posts, but now realise that the expressed opinions ( fears in short ) ….. are EXACTLY …. repeat EXACTLY what this monster WANTS us to feel. And we are playing right into his hands. The more he can demoralise this country, the better he will feel for his ill-perceived decisions, and actions – and the more dangerous power he will be able to wield. Do NOT give in to fear of this Government. They are not here for the next 100 years ….. just two more. … ( or less if a DD is called ). Remember that.

    I totally REFUSE to be afraid of this pack of f**kwits currently at the head of our country. I believe in Australia and in the people of Australia. There is enough evidence out there to prove the point. Soooo many are complaining, and showing total disgust at the way these morons are speaking, ordering, putting forth, demanding, and continually … that is CONTINUALLY, underscoring fear, trepidation, retribution and the possibility that we will all go down the gurgler. It is their mantra.

    Abbott uttered “We want a united Australia” …….. that’s about the LAST thing he wants. But its what WE want.

    Do NOTallow this bully to brow-beat you all into submission.

  19. mars08

    “The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt”
    ~Bertrand Russell

    Which, unfortunately brings us back to those gruesome photos of the budgie thief….

  20. Kaye Lee

    “We are all promoted to our own level of incompetence,” Abbott once quipped to The Australian.”So sooner or later mine will be reached.”

  21. mars08

    “…As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

    ~H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), American journalist and critic

  22. Anne Byam

    @mars08 ……… not too sure about the ‘cock sure’ … !!! ( no offence intended towards Bertrand Russells’ quote ).

    Perhaps that’s a big part of his problem !!! He is not at all sure of his manhood, his masculinity or his self perceived ‘power’.

    We can but hope it is so. Cos ultimately, it might help bring him down – at least psychologically. There’s plenty to back up that statement.

    ( nasty comments of mine, admittedly – but aimed at a very nasty character – the PM himself ).

  23. Anne Byam

    @ Kaye ….. October 4, 2014 at 9:57 pm

    Oh how right I hope that statement is !!!

  24. Garth

    I am a firm believer in ‘look not at what a person says but, look at what they do’. Words are easy and on any objective analysis of the current government (or most governments actually), we are able to get a more accurate picture of their purpose by looking at their actions than their words. How anyone could believe anything that comes out of Tony’s (or any other LNP mouthpieces) mouth astounds me. How many bold faced, blatant lies does one have to tell before people withdraw their trust. Unfortunately, I think I know the answer, people are generally trusting and want to believe the best in their fellow human. It is inconceivable to most that someone (or a political party/associates) could be so disdainful of their fellow citizens that they would lie so openly, represent vested interests so blatantly, and cause so much angst and heartache to their neighbors. It really is heartbreaking …. and the actions of Labor regarding the changes to security laws make me despair for any positive change in the future.
    Once again Kaye, a fantastic piece to focus the mind but i’m rapidly losing hope.

  25. Garth

    Just as an aside (something that dawned on me a while ago .. I clearly don’t have much of importance to occupy my time) …. for any superhero fans out there …. can anyone see a parallel between J Jonah Jameson’s treatment of Spiderman in the Daily Bugle, and the treatment of anything not-LNP in the Australian MSM ?? I don’t have any illusions that Labor or the Greens are Superheros but it was just amusing …. Murdoch as JJ … trumpeting his own prejudices and self interests above anything else … seemed an apt analogy.

  26. Rob031

    A post I put up on Guardian Australia http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/03/burqa-furore-no-way-to-walk-australias-tightrope-on-race?commentpage=2:

    I’m thinking of Abbott’s “I’m confronted by” comments. First it’s Homosexuals; and more recently Burqa’s. In both instances it seems to me that he’s actually being genuine.

    Think of it this way folks. Abbott lies and lies as he is a political animal. But when he is asked or feels he is expected to give an opinion as to his personal likes and dislikes he says it how it is for him. Perhaps such circumstances gives him permission to not lie?

    Whatever you think of the man I think that this is a pretty understandable thing to do.

    As PM, however, I think he is being a silly self-indulgent goose when he says such things in the public realm. If he had half a psychological brain he’d keep such opinions to his wife only. It’s stuff like this that troubles me about our “Great Leader”. The poor bastard wants to be viewed as a genuine human being at times; and at another times he’s at the mercy of his own combatational impulses.

    I view Abbott as a flawed person with very little self-awareness – and as a person that is to be viewed with pity and great suspicion. It’s tragic that we’re saddled with such a person who has the reins of power in his teeth and with both hands over his eyes all at the same time. The sooner he goes the better.

    ——–

    Back to here at AIM: “Pity” is such a powerful word. Abbott is such a pitiable character. Some of his character flaws are human enough and worthy of our pity and even sympathy – sort of. He should never have arrived at the position where he is calling the shots. It’s quite perverse. We are, however stuck with him for a couple of years. Let’s all hope that during this period he never receives a significant boost in the 2pp polls and we can all have a political leader who is a great deal less toxic and bloody stupid at the helm.

  27. stephentardrew

    The other side of this is Abbott’s support for the US banking sector. Bill Black Professor and past regulator says it how it is. The next collapse is on the way and it will be worse. US goes down and we follow. Abbott is making us completely vulnerable to the next turn down. Everything he touches turns to crap.

    Moyers & Company

  28. Anne Byam

    StephenTardrew …. unfortunately, I have to agree. If there IS another collapse, I doubt we will do anything but follow.

    However, I think we have to remember that during the last collapse of the U.S. economy ( in the GFC ) …. we did NOT fall in a hole. We in fact weathered it better than anyone else, and sustained a reasonable economy and a much better stability……. THAT however was under Gillard’s Labor Government. There is the slightest of hopes we could repeat that triumph.

    I would not be anywhere near as hopeful though, with the LNP at the helm. …..

  29. Garth

    @Rob031 …. I think you’re right. Anyone can lie and present a version of themselves that they think the audience wants to see (something the ‘Great Leader’ seems to do quite well and often) but I think the real gaffes (such as the ‘not settled/barely settled, confronting, etc comments) are a real insight into the mans soul. As you have said, he appears to have little insight into his own position and how it aligns with any reasonable level of what could be called ‘respectable values’. I just keep hearing Paul Keating in my head but it now seems like a cruel taunt … ‘if Tony Abbot becomes Prime Minister then God help us, God help us’. It’s just too surreal to believe.

  30. Kaye Lee

    When Tony was at the seminary, they asked him to see a psychologist who concluded that “he had developed an inability to be really intimate.” I don’t think he has an empathetic bone in his body. It’s a character flaw that makes him incapable of connecting with people.

  31. Lawriejay

    Bully at School thug at University and an out and out lout in Parliament
    Lawriejay

  32. Tony Francis

    Abbott raises the question – what kind of person would be willing to be Prime Minister of Australia in exchange for supporting a greedy, predatory and self-destructive brand of capitalism headed by the Institute of Public Affairs, Rupert Murdoch and the fossil fuel industry? Answers could include:
    • a brutal political thug with huge (‘mad monk’?) self-esteem problems and no conscience
    • someone who is power-hungry, nasty and dangerous and arouses fear rather than trust and respect from others
    • someone with extreme inadequacies which are at least partially hidden by the mainstream media and the House of Representatives Speaker
    • someone who responds to deserved severe criticism with insouciance
    • someone who only listens to those who say what he/she wants to hear.

    There have been some marvellous attempts to demolish him which can be seen on video e.g.
    • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Tony Abbott President of the USA of Australia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3IaKVmkXuk (2 June 2014)
    • Gillard labels Abbott a misogynist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihd7ofrwQX0 (8 October 2012)
    Unfortunately, Abbott is still Prime Minister.

  33. Ruth Lipscombe

    I now know where the LNP’s share of brains,commonsense,humanity,empathy etc reside —Kaye Lee has them all, because as sure as the sun rises the Lying Nasty Psychopaths have none.(thank you Hotspringer)
    This barely second rater ,ruining our reputation on the world stage ,appears determined to reduce Australia
    to such a low level in everything that (in his own eyes) he will shine.
    What have we done Australia to ‘deserve him)?

  34. Hotspringer

    And all the above character traits seem to make him the perfect leader of the Lying Nasty Psychopaths.

  35. stephentardrew

    Ruth:

    We stopped thinking and investigating through laziness believing what we were told by a dysfunctional media that lied, lied, lied. There is plenty of blame to go around however criticizing our fellow citizens for being hoodwinked is not going to help one iota.

    We need to challenge, wherever possible, the lies of this disgraceful government and give time for people to admit they made a mistake. Accusing and abusing only leads to resistance and recrimination. We need to welcome our fellow citizens back into the fold through gentle persuasion and the evidence accumulating to demonstrate this government is the most inept and corrupt we have ever witnessed in this country.

    Kaye Lee and others on this site are compiling the type of rational and sustainable material capable of challenging MSN complicity and complacency by informing with facts. We all have our little bitches and cathartic bursts (mine often being satire) however I think we must all agree that rational unemotional facts will defeat screaming recriminations any day.

  36. Anne Byam

    @ Ruth. …….. I mostly agree with stephentardrew.

    We have always been a rather laid back, happy-go-lucky, ‘she’ll be right mate’ …. and lazy thinking kind of people. Way too trusting, and probably spoilt into the bargain, in living in a country so endowed with beauty, riches, jobs, happiness, lots of sport and sports minded people ( exercise is good for what ails ya ) …. and a general sense of security and well being.

    It’s our attitudes – not wrong, but most likely naive – that has caused us, Australia – to ‘deserve him’ .

    We’d best change our way of thinking eh ? But that will take time and a lot of hard work by people who DO think rationally, have foresight, and who are not afraid to stand up and be counted – ( peaceful protests etc. ). It will HAVE to come to this. The more it is seen and heard, the more it will be understood. THEN we can make a change, back to the better good – with less naiveté .

  37. John East Gippsland

    And yet 42% of the voting population would choose him and his party to govern again. Go figure.

  38. stephengb2014

    Like many socialy concious indebiduals we are appalled at the antics of this government. And man of us are startled at the apparent indifference the Labor party seems to attach to this mans obvious phsycotic tendancies. It is clear that thisman and his cabinet are unfit to hold such high office, yet there is no indicaion from the Labor ranks that acknowledge the evidence.
    What is going on, is this just a matter of MPs not wanting to risk their fat salaries and benefits?
    walks like a duck, quavks like duck????

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