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Vote for Tony

By opposing same sex marriage, Tony Abbott has reinforced the notion that homosexuality is “queer” – that members of the LGBTI community are a threat to our society.

By indefinitely incarcerating asylum seekers in offshore detention camps he has reinforced the idea that refugees are not victims but criminals who pose another threat to our society.

By labelling us as lifters or leaners he has reinforced the perception that those on welfare are bludgers, scamming the system because they are too lazy to get a well-paying job.

By calling women who receive maternity leave from their employer “double-dippers” who are committing fraud, he has failed to appreciate the disadvantage women face in the workplace and denied them their workplace entitlements.

By saying he wants Sydney house prices to go up – if people are buying them they must be affordable – he shows an unbelievable ignorance of the housing affordability crisis.

By his perpetual dog-whistling about imminent terror threats from an apocalyptic death cult, as well as brief flirtations with banning cultural dress, he has alienated the Muslim community and made them the target of suspicion and abuse.

By ignoring all scientific evidence about climate change and the dangers of burning more coal, he has destroyed the renewable energy industry and damaged the global effort to avoid catastrophic weather events.

By proposing the deregulation of university fees, despite receiving the benefits of a free education and several of his ministers campaigning against fees when student politicians, he is potentially saddling our children with a huge debt before they even begin their working lives thus precluding large numbers from even considering a tertiary education.

By dismantling FttP NBN, he has made Australia an information backwater, ranked 44th and falling for internet speed. While the rest of the world moves to fibre, we are paying a fortune for Telstra’s copper network.

By stripping people of their citizenship, he is breaking up Australian families and leaving people homeless.

By demonising unions he has robbed workers of their collective voice in preparation for the resurrection of workchoices and the demise of penalty rates.

By slashing over $500 million from Indigenous funding, combined with intemperate comments about uninhabited Australia and lifestyle choices, he has shown a blatant disregard for our First People, their culture, the crisis of Aboriginal incarceration, and our failure in closing the gap.

By defunding NGOs, charities and community groups, he has caused the closure of refuges, crime prevention and mentoring programs, and domestic violence support groups.

By introducing metadata retention and criminal charges for disclosure, he has sanctioned spying on all citizens and overridden the public’s right to know what is done in our name.

By refusing to release government advice and modelling, he is robbing us of the chance to make informed decisions.

By slashing funding to the States he is making it basically inevitable that the GST will go up, greatly increasing the cost of living.

By freezing the indexation on Medicare payments, he will force doctors to make up the lost revenue – a co-payment by stealth. He has also almost entirely dismantled Australia’s national preventive health system.

By slashing funding to the CSIRO and other research bodies, he has caused many promising programs to be abandoned and we are losing our brightest researchers to other more enlightened countries who understand the value of their work.

By being unwilling to undertake economic reform, he has overseen a deterioration in all economic parameters with no upturn in sight.

By insisting on captain’s picks, usually advising his colleagues via the Murdoch press, he has alienated his Cabinet, his party room, the Parliament and the people.

By abrogating our global responsibilities towards asylum seekers and credible action on climate change, combined with gaffes too numerous to mention, he has trashed our international reputation.

But hey, he gave up billions in revenue from the carbon and mining taxes and stopped talking about the boats. And IS haven’t invaded us yet. Surely that’s enough reason to want him as our leader?

 

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48 comments

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  1. David Stephens

    right on sister

  2. roaminruin

    I hate him more than you do.

  3. stephentardrew

    We have lost our moral compass and how the hell we get it back is worrying.

    This is a slippery slide into dystopian madness where immorality becomes amorality.

    Next amorality becomes the immoral norm.

    This is a highway to hell.

    Australia you are on road to a cruel and unjust future in which you will eventually be its victim.

    Try reading some history.

  4. Mark Needham

    Good afternoon Kaye Lee,
    Most impressed with your article.
    You didn’t miss much.
    Mark Needham

  5. Bilal

    Get prepared for Scott “Concentration Camps” Morrison as Dear Leader.

  6. Matters Not

    While Morrison is now the ‘man’ for the ‘right’ faction in the Liberal Party, the electorate thinks otherwise. Sure he’s preparing the ground with ‘spreads’ in ‘women’s’ magazines but for the electorate he’s still ‘poison’.

  7. kerri

    Another great article Kaye Lee!

  8. Jollyjumbuck

    I despise Abbott as most people in the country do but will you please except the fact that not everyone agrees with SSM. It seems that most people’s messages are for the legality and recognition of SSM. It is inevitable seeing as other countries are adopting these policies but there are just as many who find these act as immoral and a breakdown of family values and beliefs. Federal elections should be based on all political issues that are good for the country and it’s people not just for who agrees that SSM should be legalised.

  9. jimhaz

    Kaye’s post is the sort of speech the ALP needs to make (next year) and put as an ad into the Newscorp papers.

  10. Kaye Lee

    People have no right to impose their religious beliefs on others. We live in a secular society where discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal regardless of others moral judgements.

  11. Harquebus

    Relax Kaye Lee, heaven awaits.

    In my opinion, this is the result of indoctrinated faith based thinking based on belief rather than an educated logical way of thinking based on facts.
    Religions can not survive unless they prey on kids which, is why they do it. Child abuse.

  12. Paolo Soprani

    I am really struggling to know what all the fuss over same sex marriage is all about! You would have to be pretty small minded and bigoted to even contemplate making it either controversial or a big deal. If for example I wanted to marry my car I fail to see what business it is of anybody’s, let alone being prevented by them from doing so. Oh wait…

  13. Klaus

    Strong Stuff. And all 100% correct. This guy is a walking disaster and Australia is falling behind science, openness, friendliness etc…. Having migrated from Germany some 30 years ago, gone back to Germany for 5 years and now back here, I am shocked out of my wits how much freedom is lost in such a short time. We have 2 Professors in solar Energy in Berlin, who did research in Australia but were defunded by the Howard government. This is mega crap and the MSM doesn’t say a word. Tragic for all Australians.

  14. Anomander

    No doubt he is hoping and praying for a terrorist incident, because he desperately needs to show himself as a commander in chief combatting a threat.

    On every other level he is a petulant, over-indulged child.

  15. Blinkyewok

    Kaye, I agree with everything you said about the nope dope. Surely the LNP won’t risk going to next election with him still PM. Morrison would be just as nasty but smarter at hiding it. Therefore the best chance of dumping the LNP govt would be leaving Abbott where he is until the election.

  16. Anomander

    @kaye, as always, eloquently and comprehensively stated.

    @jollyjumbuck, I’m interested to know, in what way do you consider SSM correlates to a breakdown of family values and acts of immorality?

    @stephentardrew, a lovely summation.

  17. Kaye Lee

    “Australia’s “pathetic” 2030 emissions reduction target shows the country has opted out of the global effort to limit warming, according to the head of the British government’s climate change advisory body.

    Lord Deben, previously a minister in the government of Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, said Australia’s 26% to 28% reduction in emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels was “simply not enough”.

    “Australia is fundamentally out of step and this decision puts Australia among the ‘don’t cares’ of the international community,” said Deben, who is the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change.

    “Global warming won’t wait for Mr Abbott and his government. Mr Abbott’s hubris is staggering.” ”

    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/12/tony-abbotts-hubris-is-staggering-uks-climate-adviser-on-emissions-target?CMP=share_btn_fb

  18. Lee

    “It is inevitable seeing as other countries are adopting these policies but there are just as many who find these act as immoral and a breakdown of family values and beliefs. ”

    Jollyjumbuck, I saw an article on Facebook this morning about a Jehovah’s Witness who had sex with his 4 daughters. Perhaps you could explain how same sex marriage was responsible for that.

  19. Sir ScotchMistery

    How about ASIO and the AFP do another Hilton. The last one they did sure was good for the security agencies.

    War on drugs, war on terror, war on domestic violence… oh wait, no they have started that one have they, nor the war on priests and their chums bonking kids either.

    At that jumbuck chappie, most thinking people realise that the fact that some folk don’t agree with same sex marriage is their right, and between you and me, I fought and died in the war on stuff to allow them to have the opinion and to express the opinion. But it isn’t my opinion. That means, my opinion is different which is also okay.

    Can you please tell us what difference it would make to those who disagree, if the law on equality were presented and passed? That’s the point. It would make no effing difference at all to them, but to those who want to marry their mate of 40 years, or 40 weeks, why should that be illegal? None of your type ever elucidate the reasons. Mostly because you don’t have any IMHO.

    And BTW, coming in here telling us you hate Rabbott as much as the rest of us, isn’t actually much different to saying “I’m not a racist, but….(fill in story about first people)…” as you did last week.

    @Blinkyewok absolutely, positively correct, but the LNP don’t have the stones, as a group to get rid of him.

  20. pudden'head

    Kaye, When did Mr.Abbott ever give any impression that he would be guided by legalities other than when he manoeuvred his various opponents to the courts? I would like to know Pauline Hanson and Peter Slippers’ opinions on our glorious leaders penchant for hobbling or taking revenge on his opponents through the legal halls. Strangely he failed to live up to reputation when our beloved ex Speaker exceeded the boundaries surrounding travel expenses. Should the LNP be reelected with that man at its front the courts will possibly be filled with the myriad who have opposed him along the way.

  21. Kaye Lee

    Sir SM,

    The only thing opponents come up with is concern about children. Countless studies have shown that children of same sex relationships score better on health and well-being than their peers. Households are generally more harmonious with the workload shared more evenly rather than on gender based divisions. The one place where children with same sex parents scored worse was in being bullied and victimised. In countries where same sex marriage is legal and accepted this bullying goes away. This is yet another form of not-so-subtle child abuse by Captain Abbott and his merry band of bigots.

  22. Kaye Lee

    pudden’head,

    In the unlikely event that Abbott should be re-elected I think we should up the crowd-funding for some court challenges of our own.

  23. Kaye Lee

    Rather than going to the expense of a plebiscite (which does not have any legal force) we could make the election a plebescite by making every candidate publically declare their stance on SSM. If we must have a formal plebiscite then it should be asked at election time rather than delaying further.

  24. Peter F

    @jollyjumbuck “Federal elections should be based on all political issues that are good for the country and it’s people not just for who agrees that SSM should be legalised.”

    I see this slightly differently. Same sex relationships are now legal in this country. Marriage is a different matter, in that some heterosexual people choose to be married and some don’t. it is not a question of making SSM legal, but making it available to ALL who would like to enter into marriage. This would not have presented such a problem if Howard had not changed the Marriage Act to include the words ‘between a man and a woman’.

    SSM is not for me, but I am quite prepared to allow that it might be right for others. I believe it is a question of equal opportunity. I cannot see how the existing community attitude to marriage places it in such a position as to be sacrosanct.

  25. mars08

    Frankly I don’t believe that Abbott opposes SSM on moral grounds. The bloke is an empty vessel… he has few, if any strong beliefs.

    Tony Abbott is concerned with power and control. I think his stand on this subject is simply about retaining power.

    Sure, polls show that a MAJORITY of citizens support SSM, but how is that majority distributed? If we look at voters, we would find that a MAJORITY do not vote for the Coalition. Abbott is just out to ensure he secures the votes in those electorates that will keep him in power at the next election.

  26. Peter F

    @paolo Soprani. You might have to wait until you car is old enough. Mins is only fifteen. At least it doesn’t smoke. While this is said in jest, as I took your comment to be, it is an answer to those who suggest that SSM will lead to people marrying their dog/horse/ etc.

  27. paul walter

    Yes, Mars that is the whole of it in a nutshell..lacks the mentality, no ability to introspect, no empathy. So are a number of his colleagues.

    The Klan would be too Trot for them.

  28. corvus boreus

    jollyjumbuck,
    It is too bad that you are so fixated with your own prejudicial objections to the idea of consenting adults of the same sex being allowed to marry that you failed to notice that 20 other electoral issues were raised in this article.
    Nor was SSM mentioned in any of the comments until your post.
    Are you morbidly obsessed with the subject?

  29. Kaye Lee

    As far as I am aware, marriage participants have to give informed consent and sign something so that kind of wipes out those of you with a car/horse fetish.

  30. Sir ScotchMistery

    OMG can we please point out that not everyone is in favour of Sir ScotchMistery so I don’t get calls from right wing nut jobs asking me out. Again. Tomorrow.

    Dance card is full.

  31. keerti

    Why the obsession with SSM? Surely this is not a matter for a plebisite. There are far more important issues facing us, as Kaye Lee has so eloquently pointed out. Whether a few people marry or not will have little or no effect on most of the population, but abutt’s continueing assault on the people of australia will.

  32. Sir ScotchMistery

    @Kaye Lee, I had the great pleasure of spending a couple of hours last week at Love in Brisbane where the speaker wth the most to say was the 10 year old daughter of 2 mums. She spoke for about 20 minutes and ended up with a well-deserved standing ovation.

    Kids of same sex couples have little to worry about with a spokesperson like Taea. It would be good to see the occasional product of hetero-union with the same capacity to hold an audience of 200 in utter silence for 20 minutes.

  33. guest

    I am looking forward to the time when history records the kinds of comments made in this article and by many others in aimn. It will be a big encyclopedia of stupidity, incompetence and vandalism. People in the future will wonder how this man ever became leader of the country. It will be very embarrassing for a long time.

  34. tet02

    @keerti, exactly I too worry about the time and energy taken up with issues like choppergate, entitlements, and SSM that, while important and they certainly need to be addressed, shouldn’t be taking up literally months of political toing and froing. Why the government is willing to skirt around the two serious issues of global population sustainability and climate change can only be because they have no idea on a policy to deal with either of the two inflating elephants in the room that’s getting smaller and smaller.

  35. keerti

    Or they are actually much more adept at shifting attention from the important to the relatively trivial than we realise.

  36. Mick

    Great Article about a horrible man. Very easy to read, understand and it gets the message across well even for people like myself who aren’t big readers. Problem is that most Liberal / NSDAP voters would go into complete denial mode if they read it. They would simply label it as leftist / unionist dribble. I find Liberal voters to be very selfish or very stupid with the very selfish being the rich ones and the very stupid buying into the “stop the boats, any Muslim must be an ISIS terrorist, anyone unemployed must be a bludger, union members are all thugs” rhetoric and diatribe.
    I find concerning that we are being led down the failed path of the American system where the rich are getting even more control of the funds and everyone else will have to fight for scraps.

  37. Eva

    Perfect summary of everything that is wrong with this Government and Abbott.

  38. Anomander

    @tet02, it’s called distraction and one of the weapons employed by politicians and the media.

    Paul Keating was the progenitor and perfector of the art of distraction – every time an issue surfaced that was damaging to the government, out of left-field would come a call for a new flag or a new national anthem. This got passions riled and discussions would ensure that would alleviate pressure on the government.

    But Tony certainly isn’t Keating – he simply doesn’t have the subtlety or nous to truly master the deflection. Instead his pugilist training comes to the fore – he bludgeons and batters away believing he can accomplish through force.

    And it isn’t the government creating these tactical distractions, the government has launched so many brute force attacks on such a wide range of issues, they have fomented widespread discontent across vast swathes of the community, seeing attrocities committed in our name, services diminished, institutions dismantled and our rights and freedoms under relentless attack.

    It is the people themselves who are standing-up and demanding action now on many of these issues, forcing the government to continually fight a series of rear-guard actions. While they are fighting these skirmishes they are struggling to deliver a cohesive message, which makes them appear even more incompetent.

    These issues are important because they are easy wins for the government. Passing legislation to approve SSM would be easily achieved, and they would win enormous support from the community, but they are too fearful of a minority of fundamentalist conservatives in several marginal seats, hoping their inaction will be enough to maintain power at the next election.

    All too late. They have disenfranchised too large a percentage of the electorate to be re-elected, so they are now spoiling. Trying to dismantle as much of previous governments’ legacies and to supplant their IPA driven agenda, before it comes crashing to an end.

  39. DJ

    Very afraid of Morrison now, very afraid. I don’t think enough people know him well enough to know how truly dangerous he is.

  40. Kaye Lee

    I was disgusted to read about the analysis of marginal seats being used in the discussion about SSM. Rather than considering the proposal on its merits they have looked at how it might affect their re-election in a few specific marginal seats, an analysis no doubt paid for by us. Is this how all policy is to be decided in modern politics?

    And I agree about Morrison. he is a very dangerous man. Read the story of how he destroyed Michael Towke to gain preselection

    http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/nasty-saga-you-nearly-missed-20091025-hem5.html

  41. Kyran

    And in breaking news;
    “Liberal MP and chairman of Federal Parliament’s intelligence and security committee Dan Tehan has argued the situation in Syria has escalated to a point where Australia must start bombing Islamic State targets in the country.”
    Translation – ASIO haven’t been able to find a ‘home grown’ threat (without the aid of concerned family and friend’s). A deranged individual and some troubled teenagers (struggling for self identity and capable of wielding a plastic sword) don’t quite cut it. The fools even called in camera crews to record their raids. There is no foundation for comment on federal parliament’s intelligence. Not without a microscope.
    In fierce rebuttal, the steely opposition have replied;
    “I think it’s extraordinary, frankly, that the Government sent out a backbencher to start floating ideas without any clear proposal, without any explanation to the Australian people of what the legal basis would be, what the mission would be, what success would look like, what our personnel would be expected to do, and how this would fit in with what the rest of the international community is doing.”
    Translation – the opposition have just worked out the government’s modus operandi. Government sends out a junior mp with a brain snap and waits to see how much blow back there is. Opposition strategy? Send out a senior mp with a WTF? Then wait and see how much blow back there is.
    Therefore, Reclaim voters, ignore Ms Lee’s article. All of the points she has raised are valid (patriarchal condescension) but we have more serious things to be concerned about. Her only reference to this really real threat, really, really real, is
    “By his perpetual dog-whistling about imminent terror threats from an apocalyptic death cult”
    Little johnnie did dog whistles, with weasel words. Our prime miniature uses a megaphone, knowing it will not just incite the dogs, but excite the dogs. Ms Lee’s comments are worthy of careful consideration (ie the backburner). Vote for tiny, cause we know what we need to be afraid of.
    Grateful, Ms Lee. Take care

  42. Douglas Evans

    Great piece. That’s an impressive list of ‘achievements’ from our appalling government. Did I miss it or did you forget their alienation of our indigenous community as a result of rejecting the suggestions of their representatives in respect of constitutional change? My only fear now is that Abbott will be replaced too soon by either (J) Bishop or Morrison (Turnbull seems not to have a chance) and the electorate will decide its all OK and doze off again.

  43. Kyran

    Has anyone else noticed how often the descriptive ‘worst minister ever’ has been used during this government’s tenure (you know, health, education, treasury, defence, prime, etc)?
    Over on the ABC site, Barrie Cassidy has an opinion piece today. I think it’s satire, as it is titled “Coalition is losing its advantage across the board”. “Is losing”? Seriously?
    I don’t think I’m alone in my experience of that dreadful feeling the day after the election results were announced. Like that misspent night of drunken debauchery in your youth, when you wake up the morning after, still in a drunken haze, thinking “What have I done?”
    A feeling unaltered by tiny’s assurance in February that ‘good government starts today’ or assuaged by my certainty I hadn’t voted for them.

    In the article, he cites Sally Young, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Melbourne, who “raised the question as to whether the Abbott government was the worst ever, that is, in terms of its effectiveness. She conceded her approach values quantity over quality and doesn’t measure how important the legislation was or its impact. However, based on legislation passed, the Abbott Government is the least efficient in 44 years.”

    History seems destined to record this government and its ministers, from the top down, with the descriptive ‘worst ever’. Take care

  44. Kaye Lee

    Speaking of worst ever,

    “The University of Canberra is preparing for legal action against the Commonwealth for what it argues is an unlawful cancellation of a $26 million federal grant to set up a Centre for Quality Teaching and Learning.

    But Education Minister Christopher Pyne has countered that the funding would have represented a clear waste of taxpayers’ money.

    The UC is also seeking the payment of $4.4 million in unpaid invoices it sent to the Commonwealth before it received official notification the centre had been axed.

    Education Department Secretary Lisa Paul said Mr Pyne was “committed to lifting the quality and status of the teaching profession as a whole” but would be assisted in his endeavours by a ministerial advisory group.”

    http://www.smh.com.au/act-news/university-of-canberra-taking-commonwealth-to-court-over-26-million-broken-promise-20150813-giy8r0.html#ixzz3ik9WvXkb

    So all of Pyne’s bs about improving teacher quality and training is thrown out the window because he wants to punish UC for speaking out against his higher education deregulation. Why have experts advising us when we have Commandant Credlin.

  45. randalstella

    Useful summary of the ongoing disaster elected by the voters.
    What would make it more useful is for one of the Labor stalwarts here to use it as a checklist, and itemise just what a Shorten Govt. would do about each matter. They seem to go shy at such opportunities.
    Rather that than another of those ranting ‘open letters’ that manage not to say what Labor will do.
    Any stream that includes Doug Evans is distinguished by his reason and commitment. Nice to see that he bothers still.

    P.S.: Pyne could be un-elected if voters got together. Will they?

  46. eli nes

    the universities have been rorting their entitlements for years enrolling students, with no chance of a job, into teaching and nursing degrees and dumbing down courses to keep poor students enrolled. This is in addition to the thousands of functionally illiterate and enumerate students being charged up to $96000 for certificates or diplomas,
    If I can hang on till a hundred, the poor women of Australia will owe more money to the government than the GDP and the tax revenue less the GST will barely pay the political pensions.

  47. John Lord

    Comprehensive.

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