Stuart Robert And The Only Question Worth Asking Now…

Ok, I have this slightly absurd concept and I may get back to it later.

HOWEVER

I’ve been stopped in my tracks by this whole superannuation tax broken promise thing and the Stella performance of Angus Taylor now. Ok that should be “stellar” but after the typo I couldn’t help but think of Marlon Brando and his performance in “Streetcar Named Desire” where he calls out “STELLA!” so loudly that it rips his shirt and it’s certainly worth an Oscar for Angus’s acting performance… which sort of begs the question about the question I said that I’d get back to later…

I realise that – just as the Labor Party have chosen to extract retribution on the Liberals with this Robodebt RC – once the Liberals get back in power, they’ll probably have a Royal Commission into Superannuation changes…

Counsel Assisting: So, you were someone affecting by these changes. How did affect you? 

Witness: Well, I had to pay more tax. 

Counsel Assisting: And how did that affect you? 

Witness: This is hard, for me…

Counsel Assisting: Take your time.

Witness: I wondered if I should sell my yacht or disinherit one of my children… I mean if I kick my middle child out of home, we’ll save thousands on his school fees alone but my wife feels like it would be wrong to single out one child but I rather like the youngest so I rejected the idea of treating them all equally.

Counsel Assisting: And which of those did you decide to do?

Witness: It’s still something I need to decide but the pressure is growing and if I don’t do something soon, by the year 2039, I’ll have less money and … I’m sorry. My father bought me that yacht and…

Yeah, class envy notwithstanding, I can’t help but feel that this won’t have the same potential kick in the arse that things like a blind 90yo plus woman thinking she’d have to sell her couch to pay the debt, might have had. Certainly there’d be more outrage if any media organisation had reported it with the same repetitive cacophony that they attacked the whole Pink Batts thing…

Of course, people died with the Pink Batts thing and that was definitely Labor’s fault but with the suicides from Robodebt, as Alan Tudge said, “Who know if it was being kicked that led someone jumping out of bed, and who knows what causes someone to take their own life and who knows what causes a Liberal politician to pretend that they’re still with their wife once they’ve lost their seat which of course isn’t me because I resigned rather than show my face and look at Kooyong now you don’t have someone with family values like Barnaby Joyce as the local member…”

Ok, that may not be a direct quote but that’s what we’ve decided to run with and, as a member of Cabinet it’s my responsibility to back up their lies… Although, as Brother Robert said, “With respect, Commissioner, I wouldn’t put it like that.”

Personally, the only time I’ve ever used the phrase, “with respect”, it’s because it would have been inappropriate to use the words, “you” and “fuck”. Though not necessarily in that order…

Of course, Stewie wouldn’t put it like that!

The way that Commissioner Holmes paraphrased him made it sound like giving inaccurate information was the same as misleading the public, whereas Robert wouldn’t put it like that because saying it as clearly as Commissioner Holmes did, could give the public the right idea.

Anyway, I actually watched Angus Taylor on “Insiders” yesterday…

You know how it is when there’s some sort of accident, you know that you should look away but some part of you compels you to check, just in case you were imagining it and, “Nah, that actually happened…”!

Shame on me for watching. I feel like I’m some sort of voyeur…

The issue isn’t whether it’s a good idea or good policy or consistent with what Angus may or may not have said at some past or future time, the issue is that the Labor Party gave an ironclad, rolled gold guarantee…

Ok, maybe not that was, I seem to remember Tony Abbott as Health Minister in the “Never Ever” GST Howard government…

In the end the problem is not that politicians break promises, the issue is that we somehow stop them from governing by trying to trip them up at every opportunity.

It works like this:

• The Greens have a lot of excellent ideas that they can prosecute because it won’t lose them government.
• Labor have a lot of very good ideas that they can’t enact because Rupert Murdoch doesn’t approve.
• The Liberals have several ideas that may work but they’ll vote against their own idea if Labor suggests it.
• The Nationals haven’t had an idea this century.
• One Nation is so full of ideas that they’ve recruited an ex-Labor failure to the tweet them regularly. The only problem is that almost none of their ideas are workable.

I suspect that we might get better outcomes if Parliamentary votes were conducted by secret ballot. Although that could lead to the situation where the Opposition argue vehemently against a Bill, only to have us discover that all but four MPs actually opposed it.

While the prevailing view in the media is that Labor will lose some skin over their alleged broken election promise, I suspect that the public don’t care that much about politicians keeping their election commitments. Most voters would prefer competent government and understand that there are two sorts of broken promise. The first is when you announce an intention but changing circumstances mean that you have to change your mind. For example, if someone promised their kids a holiday to Hawaii but there was suddenly a work emergency they might have to break their promise. The second is when you promise something with no intention of carrying it out. “Yes, I won’t go out drinking with the boys even if we do win the premiership. I promise I’ll be home in time to say good-bye to your aunt who has been staying with us for the past week…”

Most voters would find the first type of broken promise forgivable and the second understandable but dishonest.

And while Newspoll may not always get it right, I wonder if the latest figures showing significant support for the super changes will lead to the Coalition quietly moving onto something else to oppose.

But as for the only question worth asking:

“I hear what you’re saying, Mr X, but is it true are you lying because solidarity demands it?”