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Turnbull Solves Bullying By Writing To Every School Principal And Telling Them It Shouldn’t Be Happening!

You’ve got to hand it to people who’ve worked their way to the top in private industry…

Well, you don’t really have to do that, because if you don’t hand it to them, they’ll find some way to take it anyway…

But I digress. I was interested to see that Malcolm has decided to solve bullying in schools the same way he solved the energy “crisis”. You tell them that you’re in charge and that you’d like them to fix it. And if they don’t fix it, you’ll be cross.

That seemed to me to be the NEG in a nutshell. You remember the NEG? The National Energy Guarantee? Turnbull told us that he’d called all the parties together and after a jolly good lunch, he’s informed them that they better ensure that we have cheap, reliable energy sometime after the next election, or else. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you but when my mother said: “Or else!”, I was never game to find out what “or else” meant so I expect that the people sucking millions of dollars out of the system would be the same sort of men I was when I was a child. No, not greedy and spoilt. Geez. I meant, easily intimidated by an authority figure!

Whatever, I don’t understand energy or I’d have more of it, and I’d go to the gym at least once in my life.

I’m not concerned with the NEG at the moment, I’m more intrigued by the idea that Malcolm thinks that writing to the school principals about bullying is a good idea. I mean, does he imagine a scenario like this?

Principal (to his or her staff, after receiving the letter) – Fellow educators, I just received a letter from our illustrious leader. He thinks it would be a good idea if we made an effort to stop bullying.

Teacher 1 – Wow, what a great idea!

Teacher 2 – Yes, I never thought of doing anything about that poor boy who was being kicked by the older boys. I just thought it could be a learning experience for him.

Principal – Not just that, but he wants to stop online bullying too.

Teacher 2 – How does he want us to to tackle that?

Principal – He’s got that all solved with the NBN. By the time, the nasty comments have uploaded, the child will be a grown-up and less vulnerable to the bullying.

Teacher 3 – So are we getting extra training or support on how to do this?

Principal – Of course not. Surely now that you’ve been told to stop kids bullying other kids that should be enough.

Teacher 3 – Yes, of course, silly me. Just Malcolm saying it should be enough.

Teacher 4 – There’s something I don’t understand though.

Principal – Yes?

Teacher 4 – Well, given the fact that Turnbull thinks Michaelia Cash was justified in threatening to repeat rumours because she was being bullied by Doug Cameron, why doesn’t he just write to Bill Shorten and ask him to stop it.

Principal – Now, now, that’s asking me to make a political statement and we all know that principals are just here to make miracles happen when politicians decide that they should.

Teacher 4 – Oh yes, silly me. So it’s an assembly tomorrow where we tell the kids that henceforth, there’ll be no bullying.

Principal – Not just that. I’ll be reading Mr Turnbull’s letter to them. That should be more than enough. I really don’t know why we haven’t thought of stopping bullying before. Thank goodness we have a man like Turnbull to show us the way!

Mm, yeah… Well, I could be wrong, but I think that the money spent on postage could have been better spent somehow…

Unless the idea is to improve Australia Post’s profit before selling it off.

19 comments

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  1. Jaquix

    I would think hardworking principals all over Australia would be enraged by a bully and bully protector like Turnbull wasting money on a letter telling them to stop bullying! Especially when he’s cut funding to their public schools and given it to private schools!

  2. Matters Not

    Re:

    that the money spent on postage could have been better spent somehow

    Indeed! Must admit when I heard about his missive I just shook my head. Can’t think of any teacher I know who wouldn’t feel an urgent need to laugh then vomit. At one level, I am appalled at their ignorance about an issue that’s been central to teachers’ concerns for decades.

    But at a deeper and more significant political level, I’m glad that they are so … (pick your pejorative).

    I think it’s called a lack of judgement – something Turnbull’s noted for.

  3. Glenn Barry

    Great article, I actually though this was a spoof, something in the style of he onion, but nope he REALLY went and DID THIS

    Has he seen the behaviour of MP’s during question time? None of their behaviour have characteristics of bullying?

    MN, it’s not only his total lack of judgement, it’s the complete lack of self awareness that generates the hypocrisy…

  4. Wam

    Will billy and tanya support such a pleading epistle and deal with the cameron’s union style bullying?

    I am sure michaelia and the fixer will co-sign (or even tangent?) such a list of the words from a PM?

    Great article, Rossleigh, but to a simpleton, like me, bullying is violence and that is a criminal offence.

    There is no escape from identification online, for a bully and prosecution should be automatic.

    Sadly that would require some definition of bullying which would expose the cabalistic nature of bullies and would spoil both the diverting letter from trumballs and the newspaper selling hype.

  5. Kaye Lee

    Would it be too much to expect our politicians to set an ethical standard for the rest of the community? Their own behaviour amounts to the most heinous bullying.

    And isn’t this the crowd who screamed blue murder about the Safe Schools program which pretty much every school said was working well as another tool in the anti-bullying campaign?

    Practise what you preach.

  6. helvityni

    Instead of wasting tax-payers money on stamps and stationary, I have found a better way of stopping bullying at schools and on internet, let all kids watch Mal at question time, and learn from him how not to behave ….

    Bullied Kid : ‘ I have watched it many times, when mum keeps me home to avoid bullying. Mum sent a letter to Malcolm to say that he has to stop bullying Bill… Mum, MUUM….maybe Mal is just trying to tell us : don’t do what I DO, just do what I SAY…He’s just like Dad who says that YOU are making a sissy of me. Mum, what’s a sissy….? What’s a girrly man…? MUUM, come here, one of the women ,behind Mal, is shouting all the time, I’m scared….’

  7. Kaye Lee

    Ah yes helvityni, I’d forgotten about Mathias Corman calling Bill Shorten an “economic girlie man” who was “too weak to repair the budget mess Labor left behind.”

    So how’s that going for you, you big strong hunk of a manly man?

  8. Phil

    Michaelia Cash – how the hell did such a tragic failure rise to a position of power?

  9. helvityni

    Mathias: Being big hunk of a manly man is so rewarding, you got to an acting PM ahead of Bishop when Mal goes to visit Trump, of course Julie is only a woman…

    I’m also a safe bet, because I only talk about Leibor’s bad behaviour, it’s simple I just repeat the same sentence on and on….we are not interested in the polls…..

  10. Wun Farlung

    Call me naive if I am, I was under the impression that the Safe Schools programme was initiated to address the issue of bullying by giving students an understanding of differences in people

  11. Tony Tyles

    helvityni, says it all “let all kids watch Mal at question time, and learn from him how not to behave”.
    Psychology lecturers have material to analyse for a long time into the future. Top of the Nation bully boys and girls – aggressive in posture, shouting at and shouting down, caustic and trite diatribes, “wisdom” in proportion to loudness, debates that are never debates, day in day out. It’s rubbish.
    But what to do practically? How can anti-bullying processes be applied in Question Time? They too full of themselves to even realise they are bullying one another and setting a negative example. The Press is hopeless, they will never be of help. So what to do?

  12. jimhaz

    More attention needs to be given to the bullying that occurs via Shockjocks or even the manner of the modern Gotcha interview such as performed by Leigh Sales. Bad examples.

  13. Jon Chesterson

    I think Turnbull should be writing to Australian private schools like Sydney Grammar… the true source, scourge and origin of our bubonic plutocracy

  14. Freethinker

    Kronomex, what upsetting me more is that come with that proposed policy just 10 hours or so before close all the advertising.
    They have plenty time to change that laws during their tile in office and have not done it so like all the other promises about health and housing.

  15. Pierre Wilkinson

    Principal – He’s got that all solved with the NBN. By the time, the nasty comments have uploaded, the child will be a grown-up and less vulnerable to the bullying.
    so true, I know people who want to go back to ADSL after trialing NBN.

  16. Kronomex

    Test.
    That was weird, this time it posted but the previous attempts failed for some reason.

    Anyway –

    Further to the election tomorrow in Tasmania: Hodgman and his Liberal cronies are a bunch of pissant wankers –

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/02/tasmanian-premier-defends-selective-announcement-of-gun-law-plans

    “Hodgman told the ABC the government would always work “with any group that had an interest or an issue, and make sure we get the balance right and the policy right”.” Simply put, “We’ll suck up to and part our cheeks to anyone who we think will give us more votes to keep us in power.”

    All I can think of is a line from The Naked Vicar Show, “Here in Tasmania we done a real good thing.”

  17. Kronomex

    Further to previous comment: for some reason I can’t get at the AIM site at all in Tasmania at the moment but I can access it via Tor (which is how I posted this and the other comment). I have no idea whether it’s some sort of problem at my end or something a little murkier. It’s frustrating the hell out of me so I think I’ll leave for the moment and go to bed, read a bit more of Rusty Puppy (Hap and Leonard novel) by Joe R. Lansdale and see what happens when I wake up.

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