The one that got away (Part two). If you think it ended last Saturday then think again
Sunday 26 May 2019
I said this last Monday.
1) The first thing I would point out is that this isn’t a runaway win by the conservatives. There is no doubt in my mind that had Labor had another leader they would have won.
Only 181,000 votes separate the two major parties with over 600,000 informal votes.
But however slowly, with our own methodologies, we are all still processing what it was that eventuated last Saturday night.
There are some aspects of it that might even remain a mystery. Try as I might I am still trying to resolve how a democracy like ours allows a very wealthy individual like Clive Palmer to spend $60 million not so much on getting his own party elected but more so to prevent another from doing so.
How does a democracy allow that? Moreover, when the man in question says he “decided to polarise the electorate” with anti-Labor ads to ensure a Coalition win.
On top of that a company he owns, Waratah Coal, is seeking federal environmental approval for its proposed Alpha North coal mine in the Galilee Basin one has to wonder…
“What’s in it for Clive?” Now that’s the question on everyone’s lips?
Together with Pauline Hanson’s grassroots popularity in Queensland, they destroyed Labor’s chances of taking seats in that state. In fact, winning the election full stop.
Now, for obvious reasons, we will not, under this government, have an integrity commission and the Morrison government will continue to get away with its corrupt behaviour.
2) Why is it that people seem to think that there are no jobs in renewable energy? Let me rephrase that. The impression that is left when discussion takes place about the need for coal mines is that they produce jobs, but you never hear it said: “Hey, so do renewable Energy projects.” It seems to be discounted from any discussion yet 170,000 people are employed in the Renewable Energy industry in Germany.
Why was Labor not busting its lungs with that message throughout the campaign?
3) For years the polls predicted that Labor, in varying degrees would win the election. History now records that it didn’t and rightly or wrongly the public have a right to feel cheated. Well only because the polls claim a certain degree of accuracy.
However, this inaccuracy was atrocious because they seemed to equate to the political environment of the time. Most people questioned as to why Labor were not further in front.
Again I seem to be asking myself how is it possible in the midst of chaos, scandal, lying and you name what else that a reverse of the polls was true.
People were actually saying that they didn’t mind Barnaby’s frolics between the sheets, his drunken behaviour, and stealing water, Dutton’s cunning with the immigration portfolio. All the chaos, all the other Trumpish like behaviour had their approval.
At least the pollsters are now trying to reconcile their methodology with Essential being the most honest. There was a time when the sampling was much more reliable, even accurate.
Have Mobile phones stuffed it or does the public now claim equal rights to lying as the politicians?
There is nothing wrong with polls if they give you an accurate reading of how the electorate is responding to the governance of the country.
4) I find myself desperately hoping that all these things will be cleared up with the application of some reasoned practical facts that convey truth. At the moment it is all so confusing.
One has to wonder why Bill Shorten didn’t attack the government over its claim to be the better money managers. Take for example the growing clouds over our finances.
Undoubtedly the Prime Minister is either lying or just chooses to turn his back on the Reserve Banks serious downgrading of Australia’s economic outlook.
”It is far better to form your own independent opinions relative to your life experience and reason than to allow yourself to be blindly led by others.” (John Lord)
According to the banks downgrading of the government’s growth forecasts, a surplus is now in grave doubt. All this became evident during the campaign so why didn’t Shorten use it.
One might even say that the country is technically in a recession and it’s only government spending that is keeping us above water.
On the surface, it may have looked as though he and his team had prepared well but with the benefit of hindsight Shorten and his team left to many areas open to attack. Hard to explain and easy to exploit.
Whatever our conclusion the bottom-line is that the Coalition were rotten but re-elected.
5) We will not know who made donations to the campaigns of both parties for another 8 months. Why is it so?
6) Last but not least is the expected appointment of Anthony Albanese as leader of the Labor Party. Many would say that had he been the leader this time around then Labor would have won. I think that would be a little disingenuous to Shorten who must have asked himself a hundred times “what more can I do?”
Albo, the warhorse who can mix it with the best of them will surely be the next leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition. From Albo, we will probably see a bit more biffo and a move to the centre left.
7) From Scott Morrison, we expect to see a Prime Minister emboldened by his surprise win. He faces many challenges from the right of his party who want to take it further right and externally from the world of global economics.
The one thing he has on his side is the fact that the electorate has given him permission to lie with impunity, just like Murdoch has.
”Lying in the media is wrong at any time however when they do it by deliberate omission it is even more so. Murdoch’s papers seem to do it with impunity.” (John Lord)
8) Congratulations to David Speers on his selection as the replacement for Barrie Cassidy on Insiders. Should do an excellent job and enhance the ABCs reputation for unbiased reporting and trust.
9) And George Christensen has to be congratulated for increasing his margin in his seat of Dawson by 11%. Just goes to show that if you put your weight behind something you are generally rewarded.
Even if you rip off the taxpayer to spend 3 months of the year courting your girlfriend in the Philippines.
And we shouldn’t forget Craig Kelly who now has a margin of 10% in Hughes. NSW.
“There’s nothing like the certainty of a closed mind.” (John Lord)
It seems like country people just don’t care who represents them.
My thought for the day.
“Lying is wrong but lying to defend a lie is appallingly immoral.”
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21 comments
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Egalitarian -
Robin Alexander -
Adrianne Haddow -
Peter F -
wam -
Miriam English -
DrakeN -
Graham -
Josephus -
David1 -
Kronomex -
Jean -
Colin Stuart-Campbell -
wam -
Matters Not -
Michael Taylor -
Ben -
Adrianne Haddow -
jack -
Peter F -
Miriam English
Return to home page“There’s nothing like the certainty of a closed mind.” (John Lord)
It seems like country people just don’t care who represents them.
It’s no different to the city there’s just a smaller pool of people in the country.
As a 82yr old pensioner solely no other finance!own my home! Pay my way! But LNP announcement by minister for centrelink payments(head held down)that all payments will be made by INDUE CARDS(cashless) including AGED PENSIONS!2020! Truly deeply upset and feel totally humiliated that this heartless gov. Wish to inflict this on the aged with no justifiable reason?majority of us nondrinkers gamblers!worked till we dropped pay our bills try to enjoy whats left of life?now they wish to control us like we are guilty of something?I do hope Senate cN stop this they wont find a way of overriding approval of this disastrous change to our lives! I was at function past week 6pensioner ladies at table they had no idea what Indue Card was? Just didn’t comprehend what it a means!imagine stress & humiliation to aged!(my observation over the years is that they probably voted LNP too!) Hope you can make this obvious bad move known to public! Noticed few twitter becoming aware!Lnp now keeping it secret until ready to strike I
I Imagine?
Sadly, Robin, many of us could see this coming. The friends and donors of the LNP make very tidy profits from the the administration of these cards. Why would they not want to spread it further?
Look at the stories and news articles about the Parents Next program and its stringent, unrealistic compliance regime, that started in certain disadvantaged ‘postcodes’ but has now quietly and insidiously spread to include many more and will continue to do so during the tenure of this most despicable of governments.
This paternalism was viewed as reasonable by most of our society, while it was indigenous communities who suffered the humiliation of having money sequestered. It was ok while it was only single mothers living in disadvantage who had to jump through hoops logging in at activities for the kiddies to prove their value as parents.
Robodebt has destroyed the lives and prospects of many, yet continues. Newstart…. $40 a day to pay rent, energy charges , transport costs and dress presentably for 10 or so job interviews per week. NDIS doled out begrudgingly, and excruciatingly slowly, using the technique of delaying the payments by constructing levels of administrative obstruction, in the hope that the prospective recipient will die before payment is achieved,
The LN/IPA now consider they have a mandate to introduce more of the austerity measures they saw enrich corporations and banks in other parts of the world after the GFC.
It must have galled these doyens of economic management, sitting on their greedy little claws, while the Labor government managed effectively to keep Australia out of that mess of financial realignment that much of the world are still suffering.
The continued moving of government services into the hands of private enterprise, with the resultant skimming of great swathes of any budget, into the hands of those who administer those funds, it is very unlikely that any area of previous government services will survive intact. They have become an easily accessed cash cow for those who hold this government indebted to them for their donations and support.
And yet the scare of that grossly misunderstood ‘socialism’, was sufficient to have many people vote for those who will assist the demise of community services, and scrape off the cream while they do it.
It is true that the coalition are the better economic managers, but NOT for those who have just voted them into power.
wow
1 Many in Labor said little billy was not up to leading beginning in 2013 and the feeling was repeated at every gaffe and lost opportunity.
We have individual electorates with preferential voting so the total number of first preferences is irrelevant. eg nt, act and tas about 35k+1 elect their representative but it takes nearly double for the rest of you.
I cannot understand your avoidance of criticising the part the loonies played but concentrated your bile to palmer a rich businessman protecting his interests now and in future just like the franking recipients cunningly and disingenuously letting soon to retire ie over 50s believe labor would impinge on their retirement.
2 how true but why was labor not busting its guts and bellowing its message on the shows that people watch creating questions that the controversy hungry idiots like simple sam or the today girls would ask.
3 polls how did keating win???
4 many many many times over the last 6 years has idiots like me sent messages to every labor pollie in my sphere plus torpid tanya and baby billy pointing out EVERY rabbottian on my facebook absolutely fervently believe labor destroys the economy with its waste. NOT one has any idea of the GFC only of pink batts if labor doesn’t address this they will not win EVER.
I have often been shocked by your words like not seeing Aborigines till shiny black Africans immigrants when the bomber from my end of Australia is shiny black but I didn’t think you stupid or gutless as to leave out the loonies part in labor’s loss.
Anthony Green’s immoral compass that ignores the extremists but one and people like me come out as a labor green voter. Just because green is to lazy to separate out the right of politics he gives credence to a fringe mob who plagiarises labor policies and adds a loonie bit here an extreme bit there’
The major reason why we lost is firmly in the repeated use of labor and the greens by the sheep on every media outlet on every day for 6 years, at every bbq bleat labor and the greens. How dinatali got equal status on qanda when phon and the nats were left out is due to the ABC and slimy anthony green
Bob brown cut off his nose to save face in 2009 releasing the rabbott without reason but this time his senility was easily manipulated by the diludbransimkims into a disastrous, for labor(6-23), incursion into Adani country to put $millions into the loonie coffers from the extra support for the southern loonies.
Will labor realise the loonies are a millstone, cut the cord by by keeping to labor basics principle of worker protection and social progression. Keep the franking principle??
wam, instead of ceasing to read your comment at the first bit of muddle, this time I struggled through your confused and confusing rant to the end, but still have little idea of what you mean… though I do note that once again you sneer at the Greens without any clear reason to do so.
[shakes head]
“…once again you sneer at the Greens without any clear reason to do so.”
Strange, isn’t it.
The Greens vote increased substantially in rural QLD generally, so their ideologies must have struck a chord even amongst the most tribal of rednecks.
Sneering at the Greens is merely a deflection from the ALPs failure to connect with its main cohort – the poor, the poorly educated, and the senseless sheeple who have no ability to reasearch and analyse for themselves.
The more intelligent of their acolytes are a minority – just as they are across the rest of society.
Like you, I’ve given up trying to make sense of wam’s rambles.
I will be taking time off from commenting on this site and others of the kind for a while; until I can get my cynicism levels down to where I can write without feeling that I am wasting good, productive time “shouting at the clouds”.
See youse all later.
Miriam I have followed Wam and his great teachings for some time now. Wam has his own special short hand or code and must be read with flow though; he just wants you to work a little harder. It has taken me many years now to decipher the Great MAStER wAM.
I now bow to MaSTEr WAm.
No idea if I am a loonie, a narrow nose or whatever wam calls his nonsense, but I too will give up if the moderator does not do his or her job.
I would try to make sense of the ramblings of ‘warm”but sadly it is in the main incoherent nonsense. I have given up and skip its posts.
Holy crap! Talk about putting career bank robbers in charge of the banks –
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/scott-morrison-announces-his-cabinet-today-a-week-after-shock-election-victory/news-story/1e6c024ddb56fdb3488c8fcba9670730
Peter F – I can’t agree that the LNP are better money managers at all! Clearly from Kevin Rudd to the end of Julia Gillard, the ALP managed the economy extremely well – so that Gillard handed over a balanced set of books, and our economy was number 1 in the world! Howard did leave a huge surplus for the GFC, but he didn’t do anything with it other than hand out tax cuts – he missed such an opportunity to create infrastructure.
The reason the ALP avoided the damage of the GFC for Australia was due to using Howards surplus to get money into the economy and being spent. The current government were give an approx $170b deficit, but have let it bloom to about $350b now. There is little chance of a surplus in the next 12 months now – in spite of them telling us we are ‘back in the black now’ – a prediction for what they hope will be the case at the end of June 2020!
Peter F, I disagree, I think the LNP are the worst financial managers Australia has ever seen and their record shows it. Even though they are good at giving themselves backhanders they are so inept they don’t even hide it well.
sorry miriam i am enthusiastic passionate labor(since the late 40s), 1960s greenie and Mundey supporter without the skill to write.
This election got your mob of extremists $9m for the party. So do you agree that a disaster for labor was success for the greens. I distrust narrow nose to such an extent that I consider the brown stunt to be a deliberate ploy for cash. Good luck to him all parties need cash and principles.
Labor will not be successful unless it addresses the lie that scummo’s coalition is a better economic manager than anyone in labor. That is the perception in the media and is believed in a large part of society. When something is believed it is the TRUTH.
To change a truth is probably too difficult to achieve without attacking frydenberg personally and trashing the rabbott’s memory(will he join sky???)labor doesn’t have the nastiness of the rabbott but I remember Albo’s NO! NO! NO! SO HE MAY BE ABLE TO .
So they will need to find a rudd hawke or whitlam by 2025 to knock over a tired scummo.
ps i hope that is bullshit because I cry when I write my truth.
Thanks for your comment and I am sorry to think that some here have never spoken to a phon or anning supporter.of which there are 259167 in Qld which is comparable with the greens 217697.
It would be sad to scrub me for annoying josephus possibly a euphemism for a christian like narrow nose is an euphemism for the greens leader.
Michael and Carol,
As I write what I feel to ease the myriad of thoughts, possible outcome and causes and rarely set out to annoy anyone.
If you have advice then let me know by email.
Adrianne Haddow re:
Really? Perhaps you have a link? Or maybe some evidence? Better still – some dollar amounts that the Electoral Commission is unaware of? And the owners of Indue (Queensland Credit Unions) are also unaware of? Secret payments that Labor would welcome for an expose. As would the appropriate legal authorities. And so on.
This may come as a shock, but one can make a much more solid case that it’s the ALP that really benefits from INDUE given that its current Chairman’s been heavily mixed up in the labour movement (including the ALP)since about 1985, has been General Secretary of the ACTU Queensland, was sacked by Campbell Newman from …
But I know that when fake news takes root, it won’t be eradicated.
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=2236231&privcapId=37798134&previousCapId=11365458&previousTitle=Bradken%20Limited
Watched a number of tapes today re Trump – where he was confronted with a number of his ‘untruths’ and his defence was – but people say that or many people believe that. Apparently it’s the new standard of proof. If some people say it, then it must be true. Hilarious!
BTW, don’t bother responding, urban myths and their spread are a source of much amusement.
wam, all is good. Nothing to concern yourself about.
Morrison and the LNP are rotten to the core and re-elected.
They have taken thousands of jobs and removed support from Australian industry.
They have also then refused all welfare to those who have nothing to live on.
They have taken Newstart off people who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses and refused them a Disability benefit.
They are going to put all pensioners, even AGED care pensioners onto cashless welfare cards. For God’s sake every person should be able to have a birthday bottle of wine for fck’s sake.
At the same time, the LNP have given themselves massive CASH salary increases.
At the same time, Morrison boasts continually of his ‘faith’ and his ‘service’ – no doubt he mean also to widows and the poor. God loves liars and charlatans – not.
There’s only one reply to that kind of behaviour.
Matters Not, I will respond.
Thank you for your correction and pointing out my gullibility regarding fake news.
I had read several articles regarding the indue card from several different publications so perhaps the information I have gleaned is fake news, but unlike you, I do not save them to provide gotcha moments on a blog. One of those articles was published here on the AIMN.
I do appreciate your superior knowledge, your concern that people’s opinions are not backed up with a bibliography, or do not reflect your opinions.
I hang my head in deference.
Whichever way you cut it, your mansplaining is irksome. This is the second time you have challenged the veracity of my opinion, and pointed out that I should not indulge in conspiracy speculation, so I will just bow out and leave comments to people like you who are so certain of their sources.
The content of this article and many others over the past week have pointed out many things that Labour should’ve and yet didn’t do. If Bill really was thinking “what more can I do?”, then he wouldn’t have been in the pub the night before the election socialising like a victor
@Jean, @ Colin. I should have made it more obvious: I was attempting to say that the coalition are ONLY good managers for the wealthy. I am fully aware that the official statistics give the lie to their claims.
We have all been so spooked by their dishonesty, that a tongue in cheek comment is easily misconstrued. 🙂
wam, I’m not a Greens member. I’m a progressive. That is, I support most of the Greens’ policies and many of Labor’s policies, as well as all the policies of the Reason Party, the Pirate Party, and a few other small parties. I don’t go in for tribalism.
It makes it extremely difficult to read your comments when you substitute code names (which you seem to consider insults) for particular people or groups. If you want people to read your comments then please make it easier for them to understand who or what you’re referring to.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the sciences and it always annoyed me that so many scientists and technologists love acronyms so much that they pepper their speech and writing with them, to the point of becoming completely impenetrable for people outside their field. If I feel the need to use an abbreviation I try to always put it in parentheses after my first use of the full name so that my reader doesn’t come to a screeching halt, scratching their head, wondering what the hell that abbreviation could mean. Please, if you must use weird insulting names for people or groups, then at least explain who you mean the first time it appears in your comment… though I’d argue that using such insults depreciate the value of your comments, making them look childish and robbing you of the point you want to make.
One of the best bits of advice I ever received was from the writer, Harry Harrison, whose writing I’d long admired. He said that he always read aloud anything he’d written. That showed him where his sentences didn’t work and where his punctuation was broken. I’ve adopted that in my own writing. It sure helps.
For the record, I don’t think you should be banned. One of the good things about The AIMN is the variety of opinions. That’s a healthy thing.