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Who wants to negotiate?

By Ian Smith

It is almost certain that the party we elect in the House of Reps on Saturday will not control the Senate, and maybe never will.

Over the last three years Abbott and Turnbull have proved they have had zero ability to pass their three budgets, which shows that their skills are virtually non-existent in negotiating with a Senate, hostile or not. Here’s a recent example.

Many people believe they both ‘suffer’ from a higher level of egotism than most and their negotiating skills may have suffered because of it. So how on earth does that provide Australia with a stable government for a stable future going forward if either one were to again lead the country? People need to pause and think about that for a moment.

Howard and Gillard both showed willingness and very good abilities in negotiating in their respective terms. Bill Shorten during his time as a union representative developed a reputation as a great negotiator by both the workforce and the many companies he dealt with on behalf of his members.

Despite the ignominy of having to appear at Tony Abbott’s inquisition in front of His Excellency, the right Honourable Dyson Heydon, which failed to deliver the expected ‘guilty’ verdict, he was highly regarded by both sides of the fence as being an exceptional negotiator.

I believe Bill needs to drop his “go back to the polls” if we have a hung parliament (a stance he took eight weeks ago) as this will not provide any stability. Any thinking and independently informed person who can’t see the merit in this is sadly missing the reality of what we are facing.

I believe the failure of the last three years of a government, being torn apart from the extreme right-wing Abbott faction needs a term or two on the other side of the House until they can produce a personality with fewer egos and with much better negotiating skills to run as their leader. Many sense up-coming turmoil with their Coalition partners on a few contentious issues also, so they will need to be resolved as well.

I find it incredulous that not one of the brilliant minds in our mainstream media hasn’t floated this scenario.

 

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14 comments

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  1. Freethinker

    It will be near impossible for a Coalition government to negotiate because their policies are extreme and complete opposed to the ideology of the other senators.
    Bill have show little political maturity in saying that their policies will be not negotiable.
    The ALP and the Coalition will not have control of the senate for many elections to come and perhaps never again.

  2. wam

    dear oh dear what loonie drivel? Labor under gillard formed a workable minor government and the same can happen under shorten.
    The independents can force an election on vote of no confidence or if either party side with them to create a trigger but the unrepresentative swill on their own are powerless in a house of timewasting.Xs, twits and hacks. Remember Harradine?
    Great to see the ABC still pushing green’s poor approximation of a compass that has clearly ignored the 3rd largest party in Australia.

  3. Glenn K

    our political system fails if a single party controls the House of Reps and the Senate. Fails completely, and a pox on all those pollies who insist our system only works if control of both rests with one party (I mean you Malcoom!). The Senate is a house of review and the closest we have to proportional representation. It did it’s job very well in the past 3 yrs. Well may it continue to do so.

  4. keerti

    While the libs and their friends the nancy nationals love to whine about the “hostile senates” they need to recognise that the senate is as legitimate as the lower house, that it was designed to keep a check on the lower house and that since federation there has only been a lower house friendly senate for 14% of the time. They should learn to live with the fact , learn to repect, learn to negotiate and stop their bloody whining.

  5. etnorb

    Great video, great advice too! It is obvious that the Libs/Nats do not tolerate that a Senate may be controlled by Labor/& or Independents. However, the Senate is definitely “needed”, & if it is “controlled” by Labor or Independents, then if the Libs get re-elected (heaven help Australia!), then they may have to present policies & Bills etc to the Senate that are not “controversial” or not in the best interest of the general public, in order for the Senate to function properly, & enable the Senate to discuss etc adequately the business of being the “House of Review”.

  6. jimhaz

    [that it was designed to keep a check on the lower house and that since federation there has only been a lower house friendly senate for 14% of the time]

    Thank god. it was only the weirdo independents that partly saved us from the insanity of the Abbott crew in the 2014 budget that Morrison will be resurrecting come Monday (the current LNP electoral budget depends on similar unfair and graft* to private industry policies).

    (*such as the idea of 40 applications per month of unemployed, which was purely designed to provide more administration based ”makework” so that private CES agencies could claim so much more in fees)

  7. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    I heard Bill being grilled today about whether he would negotiate with whoever to help get or block important bills across parliament. However, Bill assumed the question was relating to a ‘coalition’ agreement which he refuted would happen.

    That was very poor show on the day before the official polls, Bill!

    You should be condoning the legitimacy of a working Alliance with the Greens and other respectable crossbenchers.

    Labor has wantonly wasted 8 weeks of bridge building with all the new true Progressive micro parties and especially the Greens.

    Even if it has happened behind closed doors, that is still abysmal because we, the public, should know this is happening, so we know that the ALLiance will meet our diverse interests in the community of 99%.

    I agree with jimhaz’s final paragraph in brackets. This is an example of how the public needs to feel somebody is looking out for them.

  8. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Good luck to all my comrades, who want to see an end to this LNP Degenerate regime, which has set out to destroy everything Aussies hold dear.

    May we see a great shift forwards tomorrow against this debauched LNP regime AND neoliberalism.

    GO The ALLiance!

  9. cornlegend

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith
    Bill has to convince the 91.5% out there that there would be no deals not placate the 8.5% who vote Green

  10. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    I know that cornlegend, but Bill needs to state it in an inclusive manner that does NOT count out the necessity and sensibility of such an ALLiance.

  11. cornlegend

    He was saying what 91.5% wanted to hear, that’s inclusive.
    Not that it will matter, Turnbull back by 8 I reckon

  12. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    It matters for 2018 (coz Turnbull regime won’t last the distance) if you are right.

    But I still hope for the best.

    McMillan, prove your credentials and intelligence tomorrow.

    I’ll be handing out for the Greens proudly!

  13. cornlegend

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith
    What happened to the “one in each hand” or was that just spin?

  14. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    The “one in each hand” has been happening under the eyes of the Labor, Greens and Australian Progressives forces.

    No Spin from me unless I give you a cordial warning.

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