Tony Abbott Sets Us Straight – ANZAC Day And Other Thoughts
A number of people have expressed confusion about the Right’s position on free speech. On the one hand, they argue that 18C is contrary to Australian values because, well, we should be allowed to say what we like and if people are offended bad luck, because that’s the price we all pay for the freedom we invaded Turkey to preserve back in WW1. However, on the other hand, whenever anybody says anything which offends them, there’s an immediate baying for blood. Gillian Triggs should resign. The ABC should be brought into line. Yassmin Abdel-Magied should stop talking and self-deport. (Is that a euphemism for “Go back where you came from”?)
Surely, some of you have said, if we all have the right to offend, then it works both ways. Surely, you can’t complain about political correctness stifling debate, then turn around and say that certain people shouldn’t be allowed to speak. No, no, say the opponents of 18C, we’re not saying that they shouldn’t have the right to speak; we’re simply saying that when they do we should be able to object because what they’re saying is wrong and contrary to Australian values. Surely, you then argue, the same applies to the Right! Surely, what they say should be subject to criticism and people should be able to say it’s wrong. No, no, say the conservatives, when we’re criticised it’s a stifling of free speech… Besides, we’re always right, so it’s completely different.
Well, Tony Abbott made a wonderful speech to the Harry Perkins institute of Medical Research on May 3rd, where he put together a marvellous collection of thought bubbles which demonstrated the sort of intellect that made him the sort of Prime Minister that managed to last a whole two years. He began by telling us that being on the backbench “you have the time to reflect, and the freedom to speak.”
Apparently then, the government is run by a group of ministers who not only have no time to reflect on what they’re doing, but even if they do, they don’t have any freedom to speak… Not only does this explain a plethora of this government’s actions, but it makes the fuss over 18C seem trivial, given that those in charge neither think, nor speak their mind.
Anyway, we could go on for days about the content of Abbott’s speech. We could speculate about what he meant by his assertion: “Believers or not, they know that Gospel values are the best way to live.” We could admire his tenacity about what he sees as his government’s crowning achievement when he reminds us: “The Abbott government stopped the boats because no self-respecting country can expose itself to peaceful invasion.” (Personally, I’d prefer a “peaceful invasion” to the more aggressive kind…) We could wonder – when he talks about intergenerational theft being as bad as parents living on their children’s credit card – what on earth children are doing with a credit card. And we could wonder whether he’s still talking about “Gospel values” when he tells us that his government did things “because they made economic sense but fundamentally we did them because they were morally right.”
However, I want to concentrate on the bit about the terrible ANZAC day tweet. As Abbott said, “The most talked about person in Australia over the past week or so has been Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Of course, she shouldn’t have tweeted ‘Lest we forget’ only to make a political point.” It’s disgraceful, isn’t it, that someone would use ANZAC Day to make a political point. Taking it down and apologising isn’t good enough. ANZAC Day should be about our soldiers, not politics.
And as Abbott went on to say, “At the Dawn Service I attended, the padre denounced political correctness as shutting the mouth, twisting the mind and warping the soul – to a ripple of applause from 15,000 people.”
Yes, that’s right. ANZAC Day is about the soldiers and denouncing political correctness. It shouldn’t be used to make political points. Unless you’re a padre with whom Abbott agrees. Then you manage a “ripple” of applause.
I guess the rest of the 15,000 were too stifled by political correctness to join in.
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124 comments
Login here Register hereThere was great comment on Akermans blog (yes I know) part of it went something like this:
Thought I’d check out what all the fuss was about Yasmin, The way people are carrying on I thought she’d posted a picture of herself masturbating on a war memorial in a nuns habit.
How that got past the moderators at the Telelaugh has got me beat.
Yeah, Tones always told “the gospel truth”. Then again, the bible probably had form on porkies*, so it exculpated Tones. Or perhaps he got an indulgence from George Pell. You know, when he wasn’t meeting him but was seen leaving George’s place but denied it. That was gospel too. Didn’t he hate being found out!? Tones and Jones. Tones is right up there with truthy priests who didn’t have children with them to be “suffered” (active, not passive). Really, all in all, what an outstanding guy Tones is. Fulsome praise indeed and I mean it! I also find it a bit inconsistent that he lervs the Royals to the point of prostration but is a tribal Catholic. Her Maj can’t and won’t go there. In fact, privately Her Maj might find Tones a bit suffocating. So it’s better he possibly prefers to have a distant superior. What would the earlier Catholics have made of his stance? A conundrum wrapped up in a maelstrom inside a cranium. If ever there was an ego looking for a sinecure, it’s Tones.
*Well it certainly mentioned swine. So there.
Tony just loves his gospel values, particularly 1 Timothy 2:11-15
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Dutton obviously can say and do whatever he likes.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied can’t say much at all, not even something kind, compassionate and inclusive.
Is it because one is a male, the other a female ?
Is it because one white, the other brown?
Is it Christian (?) versus Muslim?
Both are Australian citizens, yes…?
Strange, as Mal has just told us that Australia is an extremely well- functioning multi-cultural society, and that men and women are equal here.
( I learnt as a kid that lying is not a very Christian thing to do, looks like Dutton didn’t)
Alan, your reference to Her Maj prompts me to reflect upon something that I have wondered since Abbott announced that fateful Australia Day Honours List a couple of years back – What did Prince Philip say upon finding out he was to be “Sir Dooked”?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/04/prince-philip-most-famous-comments-and-clangers
Surely Tony you can see that you are a deluded, duplicitous and deranged loser and a danger to both yourself and your party.
Surely Tony you can see that you have no chance of returning to the leadership.
Surely Tony you can see than you are a hypocrite of the highest order.
Tony’s response: Don’t call me Shirley.
Well bit silly for her to say what she did, Lest We Forget Syria….geezus half the cities she visited recently on a speaking tour were Gulf States who are funding the war!! So it wasnt intelligent, it wasnt compassionate, it was political, thats why it comes off as ignorance.
Yes it has to do with her Muslim heritage. No it has nothing to do with female or colour of her skin. It has to do with her sensationalist comments that she made. She is friends/did speaking spots with VanBadham. She’s always trying to cause a ruckus and then play the victim etc and then milk it so wouldnt surprise me if there was a play/advice there to draw attention to her own profile.
Has nothing to do with PC, has to do with respect and any other day would have been fine to say what she said. She would have known that too. It means nothing when you say it without baiting half a country.
No, really, the man is demented.
THE ANZAC LEGEND: WILL AUSTRALIANS FINALLY LEARN THEIR TRUE HISTORY?
“One hundred years after the bloodbath of the Gallipoli landing, the mythology of the ‘Anzac legend’ peddled by the Anglophile establishment, that ‘they died for our freedom’, should outrage any Australian with half a brain,” said CEC founder and leader Craig Isherwood today. “We must honour the poor Anzacs who suffered the horrors of war and died miserable deaths for no reason other than to serve the goals of the British Empire. We must do so by recognising the truth of the system that plunged them to their deaths, or often into a life of misery for those who survived, and by swearing to ourselves to reject that imperial system once and for all.”
The reality to which Mr Isherwood refers is that that Empire launched World War I in pursuit of the geopolitical strategy designed by King Edward VII—to break up a world that had increasingly adopted the “American System” methods of directing credit towards national economic development, as exemplified by US President Abraham Lincoln’s victory over the British-backed Confederacy in the US Civil War (1861–65), and his building of the US Transcontinental Railroad to “preserve the Union”, even as the Civil War raged.[ http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2013/eirv40n46-20131122/26-33_4046.pdf ] That method of directing credit towards building national sovereignty has been adopted by the BRICS alliance today[ http://cecaust.com.au/2015conference/panel_01/02_russia/20150328_toloraya.html ] in opposition to the same free trade, slavery and speculation-centred empire of the City of London/Wall Street that Lincoln had defeated.
The painful truth is that the British used Australia, that they chewed us up and spat us out and set our nation back for decades. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. As a proportion of its fighting force of men who entered the battlefields of WWI, Australia’s army suffered more deaths, and more hospitalisations for wounding, for illness and for injury than any of the armies of Britain, Germany, France, Canada or the United States. More than half of those Australian soldiers who survived were discharged as medically unfit. Of those not discharged medically unfit, 60 per cent applied for pension assistance in the post-war period; so four out of five surviving servicemen were damaged or disabled in some way. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/why-the-numbers-of-our-wwi-dead-are-wrong-20140430-zr0v5.html
World War I was the British Empire’s reaction to Germany’s American-inspired late-19th-century explosion of economic growth and its collaboration with Eurasian nations through railway corridors such as the Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway and Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway, both of which had been modelled upon Lincoln’s Transcontinental Railroad. These railways, and the intercontinental trade and economic growth they engendered, threatened to make Britain’s monopoly on maritime transport obsolete, thus ending its Imperial power.
King Edward VII over several years played a calculated game of “divide and conquer” throughout Eurasia, including setting his nephews, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, at one another’s throats. In early August 1914, Wilhelm belatedly realised what had happened, describing it as “the real naked situation slowly and cleverly set going by Edward VII and … finally brought to a conclusion by George V”, and lamenting that Edward VII, who had died in 1910, “is stronger after his death than am I who am still alive!” (Click here for extensive documentation on the British-led conspiracy that sparked WWI. http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1996/eirv23n17-19960419/eirv23n17-19960419_042-the_triple_entente_the_british_l.pdf )
What “freedoms” were we fighting for on behalf of the British Empire?
Was it the freedom of the ruling oligarchy to cull the “inferior races”? Notably, King Edward VII in 1909 had knighted Francis Galton, who founded the “science” of eugenics, the same that Adolf Hitler would soon adopt with such murderous consequences.
Was it freedom for British drug-pushers, exemplified in the 19th-century Opium Wars against China? These were organised through the British East India Company, and as the century wore on, the vast revenues from Britain’s trade in opium—the single most profitable item in international trade at mid-century—flowed largely through the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the latter still a kingpin in the world drug trade to this day.
Was it the freedom of the British nobility to exploit slave labour? The British Empire only adopted the “anti-slavery” fraud of East India Company frontman and opium addict William Wilberforce in order to free up more ships for the far more lucrative international drug trade. And despite The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, slavery still continued in several British colonies well into the 20th century. As late as 1924 British colonial officials reported that there were 219,275 slaves in Sierra Leone, 15 per cent of the total population. British slavery also existed under the guise of “forced labour” and “indentured labour”. Millions of Indians were shipped to British colonies around the world as indentured labourers until 1917. Conditions on board these overcrowded ships were miserable and with inadequate food and fresh water. Frequent outbreaks of such diseases as cholera, typhoid, dysentery and measles led to high mortality rates on some of the journeys. Labourers were often sent to sugar plantations where conditions differed little from those of slaves of previous generations, while forced labour in the 20th century was commonplace in British colonies such as Kenya, Tanganyika and Nigeria. Given our convict past, Australians of all people should be aware of British brutality. Not to mention that, with eugenics as their policy, the British and their Australian toadies considered Aboriginal Australians sub-human—they did not get equal voting rights until 1965. (See Aboriginal “land rights”: Prince Philip’s racist plot to splinter Australia for more on this subject.)
What history blames on incompetence, especially the bloody fiasco of Gallipoli, actually exemplified the oligarchical mindset personified by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, who regarded the wasteful, criminal loss of life as the highest honour to which His Majesty’s subjects could aspire. When the disaster of Gallipoli was so manifest that in November 1915 even Lord Kitchener withdrew his support and advised Churchill that the campaign should be abandoned, Churchill protested to Parliament, “But it seems to me that if there were any operations in the history of the world which, having begun, it was worthwhile to carry through with the utmost vigour and fury, with a consistent flow of reinforcements, and an utter disregard of life, it was [Gallipoli].” (Emphasis added.) Not surprisingly, Churchill was one of the major backers of the British Empire’s eugenics doctrine, and famously said Australians descended from “bad stock”.
It is time that we Australians learn from history. The British Empire is once again pushing for a world war, as exemplified in the ravings of both Prince Charles and Prime Minister David Cameron that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “new Hitler”.
Instead of once again falling for British imperial schemes of divide-and-conquer and even world war, Australia must today join the emerging BRICS alliance http://cecaust.com.au/brics/ for a just new world economic order. We should adopt the “win-win” orientation proposed by China’s President Xi Jinping of global economic development instead of the free trade and globalisation nightmare of the City of London and its Wall Street and IMF puppets, which has now brought the world to the brink of a new global financial collapse http://cecaust.com.au/2015conference/panel_02/01_paul_gallagher/20150328_gallagher.html even far worse than that of 2007–08.
“it works both ways”
The hard part is allowing the “Other Bloke” so to do.
I am a great believer of this,
Mark Needham
Malcolm have to go, he is not good for our country. We should be lucky to have Tony back as our Prime minister
violetta, I agree with you Tony Abbott must be returned as Prime Minister. And as soon as possible. We need to get lucky again.
If Malcolm Turnbull stays Bill Shorten might become Prime Minister.
I too would like to see Tony back as PM (until the next election, and not after).
His last effort was a real hoot.
Michael, I disagree, who else can replace Malcolm? Bill Shorten!!
Good old Tony – for many he’s just the gift that keeps on giving!
When it comes to cognitive dissonance, he makes Trump look like an amateur.
violetta, I am sure you realise that the party leader is just the spokesperson for the party in Australia so I am unsure as to why you want a different spokesman for Coalition policy or why you attach such significance to Bill Shorten. Do you have a comment about policy or just personality?
RonaldR, thanks for some reality. Reminds me why I have growing unease as the buildup for Anzac hysteria grows.
Showing respect is one thing. Have no concerns with that. The patriotism being built up around wars fought does.
Populations are sent to war by politicians and Kings Wars are not made by the people.
Kaye Lee Tony was good as our Prime minister, also as human being, I don’t know why you have a dislike of Tony?
Alan Baird @`1.14pm encapsulates Rabid’s total perverseness.
Rabid for some totally unfathomable reason, has managed to manipulate people for 60 years.
Ok, the first 20 were when he was his mummy and daddy’s only son so therefore preferentially treated as many sons are, especially backdating to the ’50s.
However, in the decades after that, I find it incrementally difficult to understand why anybody with guts or brains didn’t step in and say, “Tony, you’re an obstruction to common decency and thus should not exist, but since you do, shut the f*ck up unless directly spoken to and then, you’re only permitted limited and regulated answers.”
Jennifer Meyer-Smith you are one very cranky and unhappy lady, using word f—-, re: Tony, your opinion won’t matter, so many people like him and respect him, he was one of our best Prime minister. Try to write something nice instead and not a gutter talk for an older lady!
Violetta, that is a shocking revelation.
Jennifer Meyer-Smith, what have you to say for yourself?
I would like to say sorry, violetta, coz I’m truly quite a nice person when not riled but sadly I’m not sorry coz for one thing I’m not that old, thank you very much and for the other thing, Tony is a moron.
………………………………………………….
Perhaps both you and Paul would like to add your own personal observations on why Rabid should be removed from public office and discussion.
violetta – keep going! Tony must be returned to be the Prime Minister. Australia’s future depends on it.
I’ve been arguing exactly that in all forums and at every opportunity since he lost the job.
He has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. There must be justice!
I meet Tony, he did so much for our country, as I mentioned before, you sound bitter and unhappy about something, I think Tony is not your problem something else is bothering you at the moment. Word moron is not nice, he was our Prime minister and he is very caring human being. You can say what ever you like, I think you should focus on something positive for a change.
violetta, yes. He did so much to our country. Perhaps this is why JMS and others are “bitter and unhappy”.
You needn’t worry though.
I am not bitter and twisted, I passed that point a while ago.
Now i live in a sort of soft, mauve, mute psychotic haze. Can’t talk too long though- the footsteps tell me “they” are coming with the water hose, that straight jacket and more largactyl.
For you Violetta
Why did Abbott get the Arse?
Was it justice, was it Karma?
Was it Murdoch, was it Palmer?
Was it lying and conceit?
Was it backbenchers fear of defeat?
Was it Mathias and Joe’s cigars?
Was it because we’ve stopped making cars?
Was it climate change denial?
Was it putting Julia on trial?
Was it the daughter’s scholarship prize?
Was it debt and deficit lies?
Was it removing the Carbon Tax?
Was it trying to give the RET the axe?
Was it cutting Foreign aid?
Was it being so retrograde?
Was it the Minister for Women joke?
Was it all the promises broke?
Was it Brandis’s bigots rights?
Was it prancing around in lycra tights?
Was it cutting the SBS and the ABC?
Was it costing more for university?
Was it imposing a GP tax?
Was it the disregard of facts?
Was it the ridiculous Dames and Knights?
Was it the threats and talk of fights?
Was it Joe’s “lifters and leaners”?
Was it cutting the pay of parliament’s cleaners?
Was it punishing pensioners and the unemployed?
Was it the total moral void?
Was it the embarrassing G20 address?
Was it the ongoing budget mess?
Was it the book-launch travel rort?
Was it knighting the Queen’s consort?
Was it use of the sham inquiry stunt?
Was it the weasel words of Hunt?
Was it the 800 Million given to News?
Was it longer unemployment queues?
Was it a budget most unfair?
Was it too much body hair?
Was it nobbling the NBN?
Was it lying again and again?
Was it exploiting terrorist threats?
Was it job applications of Eric Abetz?
Was it the sex worker wink?
Was it being too slow to think?
Was it Joe’s “poor people don’t drive”
Was it the polls taking a dive?
Was it the surprises and constant excuses?
Was it asylum seeker abuses?
Was it the work of Peta and the IPA?
Was it repeating slogans day after day?
Was it the dog whistle of “Team Australia”?
Was it the pungent smell of failure?
Was it wimping Putin’s shirt front?
Was it because Christopher Pyne is a pain?
Was it Arthur’s memory at ICAC?
Was it giving Mr Burns the sack?
Was it ever declining polls?
Was it funding Internet trolls?
Was it Newman’s election loss?
Was it the submarine double cross?
Was it saying the “Adults are in charge”?
Was it making the deficit more large?
Was it the whole damn useless crew?
Was it the ties of bogus blue?
Was it the hubris and the swagger?
Was it Malcolm and Julie’s dagger?
Was it saying he would change?
Was it becoming even more deranged?
Was it eating an onion raw?
Was it the data-retention law?
Was it exploiting Dr Karl?
Was it frequent smirking snarls?
Was it the daughter’s low rent at Kirribilli?
Was it “Fixer” Pyne being silly?
Was it acting like a bar room yob?
Was it offering Bjorn Lomborg a job?
Was it saying “I suppose we must grieve”
Was it the constant attempts to deceive?
Was it ditching his gold plated PPL mess?
Was it then making Labor’s PPL less?
Was it saying the deficit is no longer trouble?
Was it increasing your own deficit double?
Was it a second budget based on deception?
Was it threatening to call an early election?
Was it trying to get Gillian Triggs out?
Was it Dutton acting like a Brussel sprout?
Was it “get a good job that pays good money”
Was it laughing at things that just weren’t funny?
Was it all the talk of double dipping?
Was it cabinet leaks a constant dripping?
Was it denying marriage equality?
Was it Brandis reading poetry ?
Was it paying people smugglers to turn around?
Was it the dead cat bounce the polls have found?
Was it saying how much he hated wind farms?
Was it lying each day without any qualms?
Was it Brandis controlling the Arts?
Was it the emission of smelly brain farts?
Was it the false outrage at QandA?
Was it telling ministers to stay away?
Was it Bishop’s ride in a chopper?
Was it cos Abbott did nothing to stop her?
Was it Shorten’s conference revival?
Was it party room fears for their own survival?
Was it because we never got the 550 bucks?
Was it that increasing the GST sucks?
Was it Dyson being a party pooper?
Was it trying to nobble industry super?
Was it wanting to bomb in Syria?
Was it the Border Force hysteria?
Was it saying that Nazis are better than ISIS?
Was it trying to score from the refugee crisis?
Was it jobs threatened with China free trade?
Was it leaving 7:30 viewers dismayed?
Was it rumours of a cabinet reshuffle?
Was it the Dutton sick joke kerfuffle?
Was it putting a creationist nutter in Canning?
Was it jumping the shark more often than Fanning?
Was it using a slogan six words long?
Was it getting everything consistently wrong?
Was it all the renewed challenge talking?
Was it a minister saying he’s a dead man walking?
Was it cos Turnbull and Morrison colluded?
Was it because he was incompetent and deluded?
Why did Abbott get the shove?
The answer is, all of the above.
I totally disagree Graeme! He was a good Prime minister also good human being. Nobody is perfect. Also he can’t be responsible for other people’s mistakes. He was elected by Australian people. Malcolm the falcon wasn’t. He took job from Tony. Okay.
Graeme Henchel is my most valuable witness for the prosecution, violetta …
… and I rest my case.
“He was elected by Australian people. Malcolm the falcon wasn’t. He took job from Tony”
It seems Violetta is unaware of the 2016 election.
Or perhaps she’s disputing it!
I do have mind of my own to make my own opinion not Graeme! I repeat we would be lucky if Tony is our Prime minister.
Rossleigh yes, he was elected last year by Australian people, just scraped through! He took job from Tony in 2015.
I’m impressed violetta. You are a rare find: someone who still supports Rabid.
Not need use words like Rabid. Just remember that is your opinion, not everybody else, thank God for that. Won’t matter what you write, I like him very much, he was our best Prime minister. Try to be more positive and not so negative re: Tony!
I find that less offensive than this:
violetta, I went to university with Tony Abbott. I knew him well in those days. He was an anachronistic bully boy with an overinflated idea about his abilities then and he has only gotten worse. He has never been successful at anything except scamming everything he can from the public purse eg being gifted a Rhodes scholarship (for which he was ineligible due to not being an Australian citizen) above far more qualified candidates and the $60,000 scholarship gifted to his daughter (with NO other candidates) by a private college who wanted accreditation which Tony duly delivered. He is a liar and a cheat and a very mediocre man. It’s all about the photo ops and ‘manus manum lavat’ for Tony.
It’s interesting that Violetta has spruiking Tony as the best PM we’ve had without listing a single achievement.
But hey, she LIKES him, so that’s what counts.
Yes, I do. Are we lucky that we don’t share your opinion about Tony. Some of us think he is a hard working and good human being.
Violetta – everyone deserves a second chance. Bring back Tony for his second chance. Then Australia can have a second chance as well.
Nothing could be fairer. A fair GO for Tony.
I don’t think you’re real, violetta. You sure you’re not just a troll here to annoy and feign support for Rabid?
Next time you want to get a pseudonym, please feel free to choose a less pretty name to spoil.
Maybe choose Rabid, Muck, Snotty, Duddon, Bananababy, Bitchop, Cackling Cash instead.
Kaye Lee Thank you for your insight re: Tony. I know Tony and his family, we meet on few occasions. Won’t matter what you think of him I still think he is a good,honest human being.
Yes, Kaye Lee, thank you for your insight. ?
violetta, can you tell me one policy that Tony implemented that you think was good? And would an honest man promise the Australian people there would be no cuts to health or education and then cut $80 billion as soon as he is elected? No cuts to the ABC and then do the exact opposite. Is that your idea of honesty?
It has been suggested that Abbott should be made Governor General but wouldn’t that give the Australian Republican Movement an enormous boost ?
Jennifer Myer-Smith I am very sorry for you, that is my name. My God Jennifer you are one very angry, unhappy lady, using very rude words not very lady like at all! I like Tony and nothing you can do to change my mind. You should get a life and stop using very rude words! Not nice for a mature older woman!
violetta is clearly a troll. She’s doesn’t to name an Abbott policy that she likes – not even stopping the boats to keeps those foreigners out – and she just keeps posting that she likes Tony as though that’s a reason that he was a great PM.
I mean, I like my dog but that doesn’t mean, she’d be a great leader.
Although, she’d probably be better than Abbott.
And Jennifer Meyer-Smith (with the “e”), if it helps, I don’t think of you as “mature” at all. 😀
Kaye Lee you must be a big fan of ABC! So far I am concern ABC is not objective re: news. Also how many other politicians in the past did much worst then Tony? Lets be objective!
Matters Not thank you, I am glad that somebody else share my opinion.
So how did you feel when Tony said about a soldier’s death “Shit happens” or when he said “climate change is crap” or when he said to Nicola Roxon “that’s bullshit”.
“If Nicola is upset by strong language she is not capable of being health minister,” said Abbott. “If she can’t handle that, she’s being quite precious. I don’t think I need to add another apology.”
Why thanks so much, Rossleigh!
violetta, get out while the going is good.
I see you can’t come up with any policies that you thought were good. It’s ill-informed people like you that have gotten this country into the state it is in. How do you decide who to vote for? The one with the nicest smile? The one with the prettiest hairdo? Do you even care about policies?
And I think you just verballed Matters Not.
Kaye, the entire conversation Abbott had with a CO – which was eavesdropped upon, went along the lines of how events in conflict can turn very quickly. After Abbott declared “shit happens”, the CO said “It certainly does”.
It’s clear that Abbott is a much better person than the sad commenters here.
Kaye/Rossleigh, I’ve been asking Abbott lovers the same question since 2013 and I’m yet to hear one valid reason – ONE REASON – why Tony Abbott was a good prime minister. You sometimes hear “he stopped the boats” (questionable) and “he axed the carbon tax” (costing everybody – including the Abbott lovers – more), but you never hear anything else. We can expect nothing from violetta.
How anyone can pretend that axing the carbon tax was a good idea is beyond me. In one fell swoop he put a $10 billion hole in the budget, caused emissions to rise for the first time in a decade, made us lose out on billions in investment in renewable energy, stopped research and development of sustainable practice – and our electricity prices are higher than ever. Added to that, employment in mining and manufacturing has declined rapidly ever since. Oh yes, well done you. But he got to ditch the witch aka Bob Brown’s bitch. A charming man.
While everyone is so into leaderships and you all seem political tragics could anyone tell me when the Queensland State election is likely to be held as I went to an event this morning and It seemed to me like the Katter Party and the Greens are in election mode as they were handing out anti Palaszczuk leaflets,and one said the election could be as early as July.Sadly no One Nation were there as they probably would have known,Also does IMN hand out prizes for who can think of the childish stupid names you call Turnbulls government members.Not very grown up people and half of the names are just plain stupid. And you want to be taken seriously?
Rabid, Muck, Snotty, Duddon, Bananababy, Bitchop, Cackling Cash surely you don’t think this is sensible adult behaviour?
Violetta, why so defensive about liking Tony. We live in a democratic country, that is your right. I wonder why you believe others care who you like.
I don’t like the man. That is my prerogative.
I usually believe in giving people second or even more chances. We all make mistakes.
With Tony it would be dangerous for the country to do so.
So you’re assuming that disliking Tony Abbott makes us sad.
How odd.
“I give you all this assurance – we will not let you down. A good government is one that governs for all Australians, including those who haven’t voted for it. A good government is one with a duty to help everyone to maximise his or her potential, indigenous people, people with disabilities, and our forgotten families, as well as those who Menzies described as ‘lifters, not leaners’. We will not leave anyone behind.”
Then proceeded to leave whole swaths of Australian people behind whilst benefiting the wealthy and himself.
“Let me just say of this government that it’s broken promises; that’s bad.”
“I think that what we want are governments and prime ministers who tell the truth and this prime minister just has not told the truth.”
“It’s my job between now and polling day to remind the Australian people just what a hopeless, unreliable, untrustworthy, dishonest, deceptive Government this has been. It just doesn’t get democracy.”
“A fake. An absolute fake, from start to finish.”
“This government is built on a lie. This is a thoroughly dishonourable and deceitful government and it deserves to be exposed as such.”
“Look, if I tell the kind of massive fibs that this government has told, I would deserve the most condign electoral punishment.”
“We’ve seen scare after scare, lie after lie, from the Labor Party, and look, sometimes it takes people a little while to sift the truth from the lies that have been heaped upon it by the Labor Party.”
Said of the previous government and PM, then went on to break many promises and lie once in government. He also lied constantly when in opposition, something that he not only admitted to when in opposition, but his personal adviser has recently admitted to.
…and so many more statements of projection they fill tomes of web pages.
But this is the doozy he hangs himself with:
“It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards.”
There’s no misconstruing this, “…an absolute principle.” Not a guiding principal or a personal principal, but an absolute one of democracy. Yet the very moment he was elected he threw that absolute principal of democracy out the door and did nearly everything the opposite of what he said before the election.
Helen,
oh dear, have I rattled your chain too?
What are your thoughts on the Turnbull Federal LNP and Palaszczuk Queesland Labor governments’ support for the Adani mine even when there is growing community opposition to it on environmental and clean energy industry grounds?
Even the banks are against it because it doesn’t even make financial sense when China and India alone are demonstrating their growing interest for sustainable clean energy.
Once again I enter the discussion late – which is deliberate of course and has nothing to do with chronic illness.
Anyway. I got this far and Violetta STILL hasn’t provided a shred of evidence for her claim that Tony Abbott was Australia’s best PM. That’s a really big claim to make, given evidence to the complete opposite is so very easy to find.
Even John Howard did one good thing (buy back guns, for those born after last century).
I never voted for Howard, but I can list his single greatest moment in leadership.
Therefore, Violetta, please help me.
You only have to list one thing, one positive action that was good for ALL Australians, that Tony Abbott did in his whole 2 years of leadership.
Just one,
Thank you.
Poor poor Jennifer there she goes again fighting with everybody! I feel so sorry for you. Not finesse just gutter talk. I am not defensive, I like and respect our former Prime minister. How about if you are politician I am sure we would find lots and lots stuff wrong with you. Okay Ms perfect!
diannaart stop the boats to save people lives and also keep our borders safe.
florence ne Fedup I like your comment. Nobody is perfect and Tony should have one more choice in my opinion. i like Tony and that is my prerogative to. At least you don’t write nasty gutter talk as Jeniffer you sound a very nice calm person.
Actually, I gave you that one about stopping the boats, violetta. So you’ll have to come up with one of your own. Copying is cheating you know.
violetta.
1. Tony Abbott stopped the boats – well if you call having our navy intercept, turn around boats or take those refugees on boats and place them in indefinite detention – that is the ones who were lucky enough not to drown BEFORE encountering our Navy. I guess you could call that “stopping boats”. But doesn’t fill criteria of One Good Thing for all Australians. People drowned, they still do – but now it is all about Operational Matters” we are not told anything.
2. Tony “keeps our borders safe”. How?
Thank you
So you think indefinitely incarcerating the victims of war, who come to us seeking our help, on disease ridden islands where they are attacked both by the guards and the locals is good policy? He could have just shot them. It would have been cheaper and probably kinder than the torture they are enduring. Keep our borders safe from what? Migrants? Traumatised children?
Moving on:
I’ve dedicated this one to violetta.
“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw
Rossleigh Thank you. I like your comments.
I find the idea of Tony being hardworking an interesting one. Depends what you consider work I suppose. Personally I don’t think flying around the country to have your photo taken so you can charge your travel and accommodation to the citizen’s purse before attending a private party constitutes hard work. There are countless photos of Tony with a shovel in his hand but he admitted he doesn’t read reports and he finds economics boring. The last time Tony was in Opposition he wrote a book. Amazing how such a hardworking politician and volunteer could find the time. I understand he is writing another now.
(Sternly) I think some of you have been naughty and not believed violetta.
havanliedown will think some are being unkindly. What do others think?
Vi,
perhaps you would like to answer the question I asked Helen, who’s gone strangely silent.
The Abbott/Turnip (oops Turnbull) Government continues to threaten the Great Barrier Reef because of their overlords’ obsession with coal. Care to venture your thoughts?
Don’t you find that obscene or are your alleged sensitive feelings only hurt by a few expletives?
@Jennifer
Take a ticket and get in line…
Violetta has yet to explain how Tony Abbott “keeps our borders safe”. Although if he’s writing another book, he may have to delegate border safety to that nice young spud… wotsisname? Dudley. Yeah, him keeping all Australia’s borders (that’s 35,877 km or 59,736 km including islands where we dump people who did not conveniently drown before we ‘saved’ them for detention on those islands…. sorry rambling a bit)
Anyway, keeping 35,877 miles of coast safe is no mean feat – which is why I am really impressed that Tony used to keep it safe, until Border Control in those snappy black uniforms… now if Violetta could explain how Tony does it, I mean did it, I am prepared to ignore the fact she stole this achievement from Rossleigh’s article – just this one time, okay?
Vi is not playing ball any more. I must have been put in the naughty corner for using a naughty word and being inconveniently angry! Oops.
Ok, ok diannaart, your question goes first but what if s/he’s run away? What then?
No. the red budgie smugglers show how dinkum Abbott was about border protection.
Jennifer
I believe in Violetta – she is deeply sincere and genuine and just needs a little encouragement to explain how Tony Abbott keeps our borders safe.
…and, no, PW, the safety of our beaches do not depend upon Tony’s speedos… well, I’m fairly certain they don’t… This is why I need Violetta’s help…
Jennifer Meyer-Smith [perhaps you would like to answer the question I asked Helen, who’s gone strangely silent.]
I have a job,children and a new baby so I hardly have time loiter around here all day like some.Work is a prettyproductive thing that maybe you should try it may take away some of the anger.It is obvious you aren’t a QLDer who will be employed if Adani goes ahead and I don’t know too many who live here and oppose the mine
Old birds are supposed to have some dignity you know
Violetta, sorry the boats were stopped or stopping when Abbott became PM. If Abbott didn’t block all Labor tried, they would have stopped a year or so earlier. It is a crime that Abbott and later Turnbull didn’t put all the Houston plan into operation.
The next step was to find a regional solution, working with all in this region.
Instead Abbott spent his time becoming enemy of the leaders.
We now have Dutton who refuses to do anything. He has the belief if nothing is done, they will return home. Problem solved.
No, Abbott did nothing to stop the boats. Did plenty to encourage them to come. Blocking all Labor attempted. Out on the back of that truck, gloating when a boat arrived. Cheering the smugglers on.
This is the only thing he prevented Gillard from getting passed. Even this he needed help of the Greens.
Helen,
why do you think the banks are against the Adani mine? Could it be that it’s not a viable business model going into the near future?
Why do you think supporters of renewable energy technologies are opposed? Could it be that there are far more jobs on offer to Renewable Energy Technologies, not to mention a cleaner environment for your children and new baby.
Your passive aggressiveness, ageist put downs and presumptious thoughts of higher wisdom when it comes to the juggling act of providing for a young family and being part of community discussion, don’t win you any favours
Paul please don’t worry on my behalf, so much disrespect for our former Prime minister, Tony is strong and he won’t take any crap from some unhappy and bitter people
violetta, do you know Annie Barrie of Kiama?
Tony may be strong in the physical sense – there is a conviction for destruction of public property from our uni days to prove it – but he is an emotional weakling. He is not confident enough to listen to others. He cannot handle criticism or questioning which was part of his downfall – Credlin ran the show like a despot which, by her own admission, she had to because Abbott wasn’t up to the job. Tony must have the security of the past, of his 50s attitudes about women and his “gospel values” and the firm belief that it’s every man for himself in wealth creation. He also must have an audience and this has been the case all of his life (well certainly since I first met him when we were at school). His mother even filled out his citizenship papers for him which I don’t think is legal as he was an adult…well in age anyway. Tony is just a spoilt kid in need, but totally undeserving, of attention.
If Tony’s mummy filled out his citizenship papers for him, I wonder if that has any impact on the accusation that he has not properly renounced his British citizenship thus making him ineligible to be either an MP or PM?
I can remember seeing the PM Tones having a meeting with Obama. On the cringeworthy scale it was 10/10. Tony was trying to either reinvent the australian crawl or give new meaning to the word crawler.
JMS,
Tony Magrathea is still pursuing it.
http://tonymagrathea.blogspot.com.au/
Violetta “Tony is strong and he won’t take any crap from some unhappy and bitter people”
By that do you mean the Liberals who decided that he couldn’t win an election and replaced him with Malcolm?
And yet, he’s stayed in the party and not quit to join Cory Bernardi’s “Australia First” just like “America First” party!
If Tony left the Libs then he wouldn’t have the staff necessary to do all the work for him so he can get on with writing his book. His preferred route is to be such a PITA that he gets the salary increase that goes with being a Minister to shut him up – writing is such hard work.
as violetta is suggesting – if you want a far. far better Australia then Tony should be returned as Prime Minister.
Violetta can see it! I can see it! And if the wider electorate are afforded another opportunity with Tony as PM, I feel confident that they will see it as well and want a far, far better Australia, particulraly in the longer term Tony should be returned as soon as possible!
As Violetta argues – Tony is a brave man. That’s why we should applaud Tony when he moves quickly to move a vote of no confidence in Turnbull. Just imagine how much better off Australia will be.
Think strategically!
MN, if you’re wondering why your comment didn’t appear ’tis because our spam filter has been doing some very odd things over the last hour, like catching comments that aren’t spam and letting through comments that are.
It picked on one of your comments.
Same thing happened to you, Jennifer.
We can’t do anything about it (other than check manually as often as we can) until the bug is fixed by the spam filter developers.
MN,
we can see the wisdom of your words and in another way, violetta can see similarity with what she is saying.
Well done for seeing how valuable Tony Abbott would be to return to the PMship for the immediate better future of Australia!
Abbott loves strategies provided by clever people and so do we.
MT – It matters not. Just ensure that Violetta’s comments get a full airing. She must be encouraged.
diannart, 5.55. It perturbs me that you have reached such an impasse. We are lucky with violetta, but there is a long queue. Show resolution and your epiphany will eventually come.
Interesting, the Kaye Lee Magrathea link.
You used to call me: Cory Bernardi accuses media of ignoring him…
This is probably what would happen to the Tones if he left the libs.
PW
Impasse? Cease your worry, dear. The ball is clearly in Violetta’s court. She has yet to explain how Tony Abbott has made our borders safe… and I asked so politely. If courtesy does not inspire anyone to reply, there is little I can do.
Perhaps Matters Not can persuade Violetta to present a cogent comment (or two), nothing is impossible.
Regards
Kaye, about Tony Magrathea’s link …
About four years ago Tony sent me some info about Abbott’s immigration details and a link to the government site where we could see it for ourselves. Carol had a look and took down a few details. The next day we went back into the site but first looked at Julia Gillard’s as a comparison before again looking at Abbott’s. But less than 24 hours since our first look, access was denied to Abbott’s records. Somebody had put a block on it.
And in regards to Tony’s FOI request about Abbott’s citizenship, it was denied, we were told, by none other than Peta Credlin.
Listen to the phone call….
I don’t know why but Violetta seems familiar. I don’t know what she is on about. That is if she is a she.
Why is she working so hard to get us to agree with her. She is entitled to her view. We to ours.
florence nee Fedup
I am she not he if you are wondering. I have my point of view re: Tony and won’t change. What is wrong with that?
@violetta
How can I explain my disappointment. I asked you “How does Tony Abbott keep our borders safe”? as you claimed, yet you have not taken the time to provide any form of explanation, which I was looking forward to reading, particularly as Tony Abbott is on the back bench now and other people, like Dutton, gets to say who comes to our shores and their condition, or something like that.
You say you approve of Tony Abbott and won’t change? Well I approve of dark chocolate and and can write an entire novella on why, yet you just refuse to provide any sort of reason for your admiration of this person (Tony Abbott).
In conclusion, I must agree with other commentators here that you are merely posting on AIMN in order to derail rather than contribute to discussion.
At least I can glean a little bit of an understanding into your fandom for Tony
1. You have not done any research into his time in office
2. You believe anything positive about Tony and reject all negatives even…
3. to the point of insulting others who disagree with you.
Make the best of your life, such as it is.
🙁
violetta there is nothing wrong with people having opinions. All people have them. Indeed it would be a very strange world if people didn’t have opinions. In my world, I try to base my opinions of some facts. I feel sure you do the same.
I am also very confident you can provide some facts to support your opinion of Tony – so just provide some. I am sure you can.
Interesting. Thought I had put up a response to Magrathea re Abbott’s selectivity as to his dual citizenship, but must have gone some where else. Fascinating dog and bone call to this controlly Dianna character in Abbott’ s office.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people voted for policies rather than people they “like”. It is obvious that violetta is totally uninterested in policies, and therein lies the problem with democracy. Ill-informed people choose someone they “like” which is why politicians now employ armies of spin doctors rather than being advised by policy experts. Rather than leading, they respond to polls about what people “like”.
That will just feed violetta’s ego more. S/he now likely thinks s/he is part of an elite few who have the capacity to call pollies like Rabid to heel.
Wouldn’t be hard, violetta, coz Rabid will happily comply.
Kaye Lee, exactly. Dumbed down politics is politics done at an infantile level.
Ideas,the priority of evidence and fact, techniques of reasoning involving objectivity and detachment are the enemies of the “New” journalism and politics; false consciousness leading to a fall.
Certainly ‘uninterested’ and not ‘disinterested’. Not even part of a class in itself – let alone part of a class for itself.
No wonder they want to keep kids out of higher study.
There’s a good article in The Saturday Paper on this very topic.
Violetta do you read what people write. I have said on more one occasion you are entitled to believe what you like.
All I have said is I don’t agree with you. I am not iterested in changing your or anyone elses mind.
That should be end of the mastter.
FnF,
‘violetta’ if s/he really cares about the grim consequences of her/his vote, won’t care about your genuine comment.
violetta is a distraction.
As I type, 4 Corners is exploring that very issue. We reward people who give us bullshit and punish those who tell the truth.
While ‘democracy’ might be the better of the political options, it certainly has many miles to go.
re the Energy crisis and the need for action read West.
Actually Media Watch was even better. The full and bleak cynicism involved in the Fairfax destruction was breathtaking..we could talk of criminality within Fairfax management, not just incompetence.
To do with Fairfax execs paid through share options, and what sends share prices high or low.
Nauseating, straight out of “Wall St”. down to the US hedge fund grouping now becoming involved.
Yes PW, in anger, I just turned off the TV when on Q&A. The MMT advocates must be in a state of depression – as am I. The discussion was all so superficial. No insight. No ‘commentators’ with any depth.
But I am very conscious that I am just one citizen voter among many.
Presume you mean MMT in the economic sense rather than media sense and think I understand your point .
Gave up on QA not because I dislike Virginia Trioli but because Guthrie’s programming games have gone beyond shitting me off at them.
Is ‘violetta’ of ‘Sydney’? The ‘derailing’ style does seem familiar 😉
On behalf of myself and Matters Not,
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4665341.htm
You wont see it get the attention other less substantial stories get, but..
Bacchus, are you an old Ellis fan?
Violetta what are your views on man made climate change?
Bacchus, I thought she might be the reincarnation of Annie Barrie of Kiama. Do you remember her? Nobody has seen her since the November 2007 election. Until now, maybe.
Annie Barrie was last seen waving and cheering as John Howard, her hero, passed by. It was only a short time later that she realised she was in fact waving him goodbye. Wrote some words LOL.
As I recall, she reappeared in a male guise but only for a brief time.
She is probable still in mourning and therefore giving this site a bye.
paul walter & MT, Four Corners was excellent, but Q&A was boooring…when I saw Ms Trioli I almost turned the TV off.
I should have, the comedian was getting restless too, it was an endurance test, Tehan the Tedious went on, on, on…….
Violetta is also tedious, Don’t feed her , if you don’t want her to stay…
MN, she came back as someone else – a man, I recall – but as soon as she was outed she disappeared again.
Was it Neil of Sydney ?
No, Neil rerpeats same topic over and over. Suggestion. Keep asking her view on many topics. I note, don’t expect any answers.
Hello helvityni, Violetta is not TEDIOUS, she is switch on, lucky for me that is your opinion,not everybody else!!
Maybe or maybe not “TEDIOUS”, but certainly slow to respond!
Violetta, I deduce, is an 89 year old sausage engineer, with a master’s degree in Psychic Sausagery. A male, 196cm high and wide, he is an almost perfect square. (When 86, Violetta spent some time in Egypt where he inspected something he called ‘triangulated sausages’.) On his return to Australia, he met an A Abbott at a barbeque, and he noted that this smiling man loved sausages. They conversed, and Mr Abbott ‘happened to mention’ that he was the Prime Minister. “Oh? What’s this newfangled Prygh Mincer do?” Violetta can’t quite remember his answer, as he was experiencing a strange ecstasy while T A answered. Since that day, Violetta has been convinced that T A is deeply involved in meat mincing. A uniquely creative involvement! Quite by chance, Violetta found himself involved in this page, and was horrified when he realised that many unsausaged people were writing rude things about a fellow he admired, and….