May 21, 2009 • 8:01 am 0
Germaine Greer will speak at the Sydney Writers Festival tonight. Here’s a handy tip for those reactionary commentators, bloggers and letter-writers: anything she has to say about Australia is automatically dismissible and lacking in all credibility because she doesn’t actually live here. QED.
Oh, and she also likes younger men! Take that Germaine!
Filed under: Australian values, History, Humour, Media, Politics
May 16, 2009 • 8:42 am 2
Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull had an opportunity to score some political points on the Rudd Government’s 2009 Budget but decided to do a Nelson instead by announcing a tobaco tax policy stunt without consulting the Party room. Consequently, the media attention has been shifted from the Government to the Opposition, but not in a good way.
Bronwyn Bishop immediately declares that the tobacco tax is not a good idea. And it wasn’t a good idea, for it raised the contradiction in Turnbull’s stance of blocking the alcopop tax – a revenue-raising strategy that also discourages teenage binge drinking while reducing the cost on public health in the long term. Turnbull is offering a tax on the poor (the majority of tobacco users) to subsidise private health insurance for the wealthy. He then spent the day after his Budget Reply defending his tobacco tax, fending off questions about increasing tax on all alcohol products and his commitment to maintaining Medicare after suggesting that every Australian should have private health insurance! Way to put pressure on the Government Budget Big Spending!
On the other hand, maybe the whole thing was an elaborate strategy to enable Turnbull to back-flip on the alcopops tax and thus reduce the risk of a double dissolution, which no doubt has many back benchers gravely concerned for their parliamentary future. Brilliant! But it leaves the Opposition looking weak, divided, hypocritical and the electorate still confused about what they actually stand for.
Enter the cavalry! The only Liberal giving any idea what the Opposition stands for is former PM John Howard – Work Choices, a payroll tax holiday, more money to the States and less to individuals (well at least the non-wealthy ones). Well that’s cleared that up, then.
This is what happens when a party is internally divided and can’t come up with a policy platform – and ‘we would be tougher’ is not a policy – it’s an attitude that many interpret as screwing the less well off.
Well done Malcolm on a great week, and good luck with winning government in 2010!
The Force may not be with you.
Filed under: Economics, Howardians, Humour, Politics, Malcolm Turnbull
May 6, 2009 • 6:35 pm 0
Fresh from her nomination to the list of Howardian Dead Wood, Bronwyn Bishop, has lashed out at her leader, Malcolm Turnbull. “Malcolm seems to have been strong at the beginning but now he has gone soft.”
Exposing the division within the Coalition over how confrontational the Opposition should be, she said that “quite clearly, people aren’t seeing us as sufficiently strong”.
Um… just saying ‘NO!’ all the time is not a sign of strength.
“I would normally not respond at all to anonymous nonsense but a lot of people have been saying that they are not sure what the Liberals stand for – that we have backed off on policies we believed in before,” Mrs Bishop said.
I think she’s on to something here. Other than a persistent belief that they were born-to-rule, what do the Liberals believe in? Where are the alternative policies? Could it be that they are so hopelessly internally divided that they don’t actually know what to believe in – being too busy maneuvering against each other to have time for policy development?
Once touted as a future Australian Margaret Thatcher, Bronwyn wants to bring back the old policies. Small problem with that – they got them soundly thrown out of office.
Now where’s that chainsaw?
Filed under: Howardians, Politics, Bronwyn Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull
May 5, 2009 • 6:03 pm 1
The pressure on Malcolm Turnbuill to come to the table on the carbon emissions trading scheme begins in earnest.
The head of gas and petrol producer Shell Australia has called on the Opposition to support the Government’s revised emissions trading scheme.
Shell urges Turnbull to pass climate scheme – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
OK, we all understand that Malcolm is not happy with it, so maybe it’s about time he told us exactly what he is not happy with and what his alternative is. The trouble is, I don’t think the Liberals actually know what their policy is. They’ve milked it for all the politics they can get, but the ball is back in their court. If The Liberals don’t come up with something soon, they’ll continue to look like a pathetically disorganised and opportunistic rabble. I doubt Turnbull has the balls for a double dissolution, so he needs to do something, and fast.
So how about it Malcolm?
Filed under: Politics, ETS, MalcolmTurnbull
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