We need a COVID-19 Unity Cabinet now!
We all know, and can see on a growing daily basis, how thin and fragile the fabric of our society really is.
COVID-19 is testing our ability as a people to pull together. It is testing our sense of community. It is testing our notion of the Fair Go for everyone. It is testing our nerve as a nation.
The economic ramifications of COVID-19 are immense, they are unprecedented. Totally uncharted waters. Recession. Unemployment. Fear.
Now is not the time for political/ideological divides. Now is not the time for political ego. Now is not the time to throw blame. Now is not the time for could have, or should have. Now is not the time for point scoring.
Now is the time for Unity.
The sight of older and infirm people being pushed aside by the frenzied rush of others to seek advantage is a political, moral, and societal wake up call for all of us.
Now is the time for the leaders of the ALP, the Coalition, and the Greens to stand together on the one podium. Now is the time for all of them to speak with one voice.
Our nation needs calming. Our nation needs leadership. The spiralling levels of anxiety and fear need immediate dampening. The stimulus packages need to be well thought out and delivered quickly.
I believe that a temporary COVID-19 Emergency Cabinet needs to be formed to guide our nation through this crisis over the next six months. An Emergency Cabinet consisting of the best minds that the Coalition, the ALP, and the Greens, can come up with. We need unity at this time, we do not need division. Political allegiances need to be pushed aside by all for the welfare of all.
The policies that are being rolled out now are affecting all of us, and they will affect all of us for quite a long time, but those policies are coming out of only one side of the political divide. These policies should be coming out of the minds of the best and brightest on either side of the political divide.
Now is not the time for politics as usual. Now is the time for a very different, and urgent, approach.
Morrison, Albanese, and Bandt need to quickly sit down together. They need to forge common cause, they need to get over their differences, they need to get out there now, together, and guide and lead our nation. In the face of this crisis they need to drop the political ‘need to win’. They need to become Leaders.
All three should stand together and deliver addresses to the nation. All three should be involved in emergency planning sessions. All three should be exposed to the immediacy of COVID-19 updates from our best medical experts. All three should roundtable with experts on policies designed to bulwark, and as best as it can be done given the circumstances, limit the undoubted damage that our economy is about to suffer.
We remain a democracy of sorts. There is plenty of time for political argy-bargy and point scoring to return before the next election comes around. But now is not the time for that. Right now we need unity.
Right now we need a combined form of leadership to guide and protect our nation.
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New England Cocky -
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whatever -
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blair -
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Merkin Whatsit -
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Pagnol
Return to home pageUhm ….. I suspect on no firsthand knowledge that Smirkie Sacked from Marketing may have been himself infected with COVID-19. I base this speculation on my personal assessment of his performance on television this last weekend (150320) and the possibility that he, and other Cabinet members may have been infected by Benito Duddo, who told untruths about his alleged testing, prognosis and treatment.
Then add Smirkie passing up publicity opportunities to Mick Muck, the least charismatic politician in all levels of government in Australia, and returning the Belgian Bullsh#tter to the airwaves to bore us all with his circumloquacious gobbledygook.
Watch this space, it may get interesting.
Meanwhile NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Adern demonstrates how politicians should act in a national emergency.
https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-outstrips-australia-uk-and-us-with-12-billion-coronavirus-package-for-business-and-people-in-isolation-133789?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%2018%202020%20-%201565614975&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%2018%202020%20-%201565614975+CID_1550158df967d0b00a774fa311ba95a3&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=New%20Zealand%20outstrips%20Australia%20UK%20and%20US%20with%2012%20billion%20coronavirus%20package%20for%20business%20and%20people%20in%20isolation
The expectation that our #CrimeMinisterMorrison would work with anyone is a pie in the sky notion. There is no way our current pack of village idiots would allow anyone into their secretive circle of lies & obfuscation. These clowns do NOT want to do anything at all, and allow CV19 to run its course. They know their backers have the money to seek good medical treatment, that’s all that counts. The rest of use can root our boots as far as they are concerned. with all us older people wiped out they’ll save billions in pensions and medical expenses for the elderly. The AMA have already said they will treat the young before the elderly, and that stinks!! ScumMo, by his silence agrees, so us old farts are screwed from both ends.
It’s like a doctor giving you a prostate exam with a hand on both your shoulders, just bend over and smile.
Jesus wept, we’re being screwed by a hopeless gov, with the end result approved by the AMA, screw the elderly!!!
A Unity cabinet would presumably be selected by the PM. No thank you! There are too many of his crazed cronies in there already. I think the ‘Invisible Friend’ adherents have done enough damage already. And if the ‘INVISIBLE FRIEND’ is real, then the virus is his fault, because he made the little flucker.
God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform…
Bloody oath it does!
We’d get one if we had a Labor government. Menzies was part of the War Cabinet. We’ll never get a Unity Cabinet from a LNP government. People who are born to rule do not make concessions to riff raff.
Pingback: We need a COVID-19 Unity Cabinet now! #newsoz.org #auspol - News Oz
Always interesting comments on this site.
Right now though I’ve just got back from Coles Coolum Beach. Went in there at 7 am because of their ‘early hours for oldies’ effort which allows us rickety ones to have a bit of a fair stab at picking up something/anything without the risk of us being barrelled aside by the ‘I want it all, and I want all of it now’ crowd. With hope in my heart I sidled up to the Meat Section. It was totally empty. Not even the scent of a gram of mince. Heartsunk I was.
An older woman and I stood there for a moment staring at the absolutely bare shelves. We made eye contact. We both burst out laughing. See you tomorrow we said. Hope reigns supreme! .
Paul Smith
The Labor/Labour Party’s traditional weakness is it’s tendency to do the decent thing, to play the game. It’s a fault that no Conservative/Republican/LNP Coalition could ever be accused of.
I’d hoped the innate ‘ruth’ of the ALP was extinguished when Gough got shafted by Betty Battenberg under instructions from the lessees of Pine Gap, but I don’t think it was.
By the way, when English people call someone a ‘Berk’, it’s actually extremely rude rhyming slang.
It’s a play on words – there is a Fox Hunt at Berkeley.
The famous Berkeley Hunt.
Our own dear LNP is chock full of them.
@ KD
we too ventured to our local woolies at 7am, 30….40 folks there, we were all told 1 pac toilet rolls, 2 of any same items throughout store. Everyone came out happy, no shoving, no nothing, pity the youngers could’nt see manners.
I wonder if there will be any restrictions placed on the telling of huge porkies by our head BERK?
If the non governing parties are left out, and things go wrong, economically or other, they have handed a big stick for the opposition for many elections to come!
This is the Party of SportsRorts (and DroughtRorts), they have always had this whispering dialogue with their local voters about how much money is wasted on Aborigines and Dole Bludgers and so it is justifiable to scam Federal money for the locals’ Sportsgrounds and such.
And now these spivs are in charge of a national medical emergency?
We would be better off with the Orson Welles character from ‘The Third Man’ in charge. He was a Black Market dealer in dodgy medical supplies in Post-War Vienna.
*“Beware of misinformation online.
Morrison said he is fed up with misinformation spreading about the coronavirus virus and COVID-19.”*
So I guess it’s still OK for Alan Jones to keep spewing out his crap on the airwaves then.
“An Emergency Cabinet consisting of the best minds that the Coalition, the ALP, and the Greens, can come up with.”
Haha, yeah, good luck with that!
Win Jeavons,
I agree. However, I think Labor would be foolish to accept an invitation to join. It’s too late. The grubbermint have left all the decisions until (for example) Mr Morrison could watch his beloved Sharks just one more time before doing what he should have done 2 weeks ago.
How good would it be to completely cock up something, then invite some sucker in to share the blame? I think Labor’s best tactic would be to pat them on the head if they do something well and offer a mentoring “do you really think that’s a good idea, Prime Minister?” gentle slap on the wrist whm the one inevidible cock up occurs.7
Win Jeavons,
I agree.
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall of Labor’s war room at present. What to do?
I’m hoping that they are talking about a gentle, quiet but persistent reminder for the next two years that the Prime Minister has been slow to introduce the necessary protections and is therefore responsible for all these unnecessary deaths – we all remember his postponing urgent restrictions at a time when every day counted because he wanted to watch his “beloved Sharks” play on Sunday.
I’m hoping that, contrary to the ideals of this posting, they seriously consider NOT entering into a “war cabinet” when the war could already have been lost. How good would it be to have a sucker to come in to share the blame? It’d be a miracle!
I’m hoping that whenever a TV camera or radio microphone is shoved up an opposition spokesperson’s nose and the Prime Minister is the topic, the phrases “sports rort” and “unnecessary deaths” are occasionally slipped in.
Geoff Andrews
The LNP has no conscience about deaths during its terms of government that is ‘on water’ information. Only the ALP causes deaths. See the pink batts affair, where the LNPs beloved ‘battlers’, ie, people who threw off the shackles of employers and became employees themselves, sending inexperienced kids into roofs and not telling them about electricity plus, of course, there were more pink batts deaths under Howard than during the ALP
Interregnum.
But Murdoch never mentioned that.
Never forget – the Murdoch Press told us Dutton was ‘actually a lovely bloke’ when they thought they’d succeeding in pushing his barrow into the Lodge.
The concealment of news by Newscorp is equaled by its twisting of what it DOES print.
Everyone just STOP HOARDING – Australia normally would export 77% of it’s agri-produce. There is clearly enough food.
There may be shortages of some none essential products primarily food processed overseas, but all basics are available inside Australia.
Now Australia stop behaving like scared weird little guys.
What a bunch of wimps.
Not an ounce of backbone
Merkin Whatsit,
No, no,no. It was Labor’s irresponsible, ill-considered, spontaneous, reckless release of money to a bunch of (I’ll bet) ex-unionists turned entrepreneurs with their snouts attached to the teat wot caused the trouble. That’s why
Labor admitted they were responsible: they apologized to the parents of the dead children!
They appeared not to have had the wit to point out that a bank that has financed the construction of a 30 story high rise is not responsible for any deaths that occur during its construction and that the registration & policing of the pink batt cowboys are State responsibilities. It’s as if a blizzard of media white noise drains them of logic.
Possibly delaying mass gatherings had more to do with the hillsong conference which culminated in a mass gathering of these delusional wankers last Sunday, to the dulcet tones of houston we have a problem.
Surely most of us realise by now that we are governed by, ruled by, at the mercy of complete and utter incompetence in all levels, all areas, all trades, every facet of our lives hostage to a bunch of disfunctional, highly educated idiots. None of these disgraceful examples of humanity could organise a pissup in brewery, a root in a brothel, organise their way out of a wet paper bag.
A coming together of best minds, yeah, good luck with that, if they exist, they won’t be found in the halls of parliament.
Keith, if you lot at Coolum can’t find toilet paper, try Noosa Wholesale, packs of 36, at least that was the case Friday, whilst the panic is slowly taking hold here, Valkyrieduk was able to get all essentials this morning.
At every step this government has been lacking and trying to do the usual catch up , they are still saying that crowds of up to 100 people in closed spaces and crowds of up to 500 people in open spaces are ok , they were informed by the World Health Organization 2 days ago that research has confirmed the virus can remain airborne for up to 3 hours , I can not fathom what they are thinking with their lack of action , Now GP’s have been restricted to only 20 swab kits per clinic to curtail the amount of testing done because the current system is over whelmed and can barely cope . I am waiting for someone to start legal action against the government because of it’s refusal to follow full safety measures
A good idea, spoiled by the simple fact that Scotty from Marketing has shown over many years in a range of workplaces that he is abjectly incapable of “working with” anyone unless, in his delightfully neurotic Trumpian way, he has total authority over them. When he is likely to be subjected to challenge or criticism (as happened in Tourism Australia when he was answerable to a Board and the Minister), or to have someone else make proposals that he really should be accepting, he goes into his Mr Shouty McShoutyface mode – complete with a marked rise in his belligerence (it is his default mode after all).
He can’t work with Albanese, because that would require him to acknowledge that Albanese, and Bandt as well, could make sensible contributions to the debate that he he is willing to implement. It can’t happen because Scotty from Marketing is not equipped to allow that to happen. His Christian values don’t extend to holding out an olive branch to his rivals – his twisted psyche requires that he maintains a hatred of his opponents. Moreover, it can’t happen because he is busy rebuilding his brand and he can’t let anyone else in on the action – it is for him and him alone.
Apparently we need a unity cabinet now!
Bullshit What the he’ll do you think Parliament is ?
We have a place of debate and a system of voting to get the best outcome. But we have an autocratic government who are deliberately stiffling debat, and pushing autocratic laws by using subterfuge.
What we need is a parliament to sit and keep sitting and stop allowing motions “not to be heard” and as a result gagging debate.
I have to admit I was taken aback when that marketing chap started on about his “war cabinet” because the leaders of other parties were not even mentioned. I am old enough to remember what a “war cabinet” means. I was sure that someone from the Labor Party would point out what it means. No. A journalist? No again. Thanks to all of the above for enabling me to see that it couldn’t happen in the conventional way because of all the stated reasons. And I can now see that Labor and the Greens have been given ample opportunity to remind all of us that this is an almighty stuff-up. If they do it politely and often, it just might carry over to the next election run-up.
Kieth. Your call for bipartisanship during this time of extreme challenge is to be commended. It should be thus among men and women of goodwill. Yours is the cry of those that want to see sense and cooperation reign. But there’s the rub. Where to find any men and women of goodwill among this lot who claim to be the government. I’m afraid your cry is falling on ears, closed tight against those cries. Ears that only want to hear what their own voices have to say and with souls empty of humanity. Dictatorship without opposition is the only form of combined govt they will ever accept.
Right up there with lord, today Keith.
You seem to have forgotten the other extremists and the third major party, but.
ps
Good one ray
albo could ask how much indue will skim off the stimulus but we churns say give the pricks the rabbott’s GFC support.
How can a government that is so reliant on fear mongering and divisiveness lead us in a “we’re all in it together” resistance effort against the effects of the virus? I was amused at the “war cabinet” references on the Insiders last Sunday 15/3. A “war cabinet” that at the time, and for the foreseeable future was made up of only Coalition politicians ( medical personnel excepted) with no Labor, Green or any other parliamentary reps.