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Tony Abbot's Strange Week

The fellow wandered into another PR bungle this week  with Kerry OBrien and his explication upon what constitutes "acceptable" lies, as his on camera ineptitude continued to hem him in as to his telling of his story, why he feels he is entitled to lie when others are not.

So much has been written across Aus media, that I can add nothing beyond a couple of impressions.

 Firstly, Abbot is again magnified in his clumsiness; in his becoming the "issue" instead of Rudd, who was himself again recently snookered by O'Brien by the following factor,  the awkward political peripatations of the sylph-like Joe Hockey.

Scales fell away, as to the latter, after his performance earlier in the week, on Q & A. Reminds the writer of one of these dead fish you keep seeing washed up on teev news from the gulf oil spill.

Not for nothing have these two been depicted as clowns by cartoonists for the big dailies, as the week has worked into the weekend.

 Abbot is probably influenced by Catholic theology and conservative Catholic ideology.  And ultimately the Plato of the "Republic "dialogue.  He really is infused with the idea that he is a uniquely self operative "special". The dangerous part in him resides in his vanity, which offers him up to himself in this idealised form, but may be an example of a Hitlerite type personality, under situations of extreme stress. Which is not to say he is any worse than the rest, as you can be sure he'd tell you himself.

 Rudd could be on the way to a ton, to use an old Howard cricket-ism, but with the coalition bowling so inept and easy dropped catches at slip, Rudd and Gillard look well set,  unless they run each other out. Neither  are political angels, at least to their PR people, would like to see them more highly regarded by the electorate, for the Oppositions ineptitude leaves suspect government, governance, issues and policy left unscrutinised while the kiddies play their games. 

 At least Rudd has not yet seemed to lose his marbles yet. But Abbot worries me. He's like Snoopy on top of his Kennel ready for another duel with a mythical Red Baron; he seems still, at fifty odd years of age a bit of a kid- reality never ended up seeping through.

He doesn't take drugs, yet seems to live in a fantasy world.

 As for Hockey, words fail me...

So what's it really all about.  We know Rudd could have pulled a double dissolution and formed up an informal coalition with the Greens to govern after an Abbot defeat already, but why not?

 Because the ALP wants power free of the moral, scientific and development constraints that might come with giving the Greens BoP.

 Shabby and the Abbotists know they can't move from the Right without losing Hansonist support to Populist Labor, these already loathe their harsh employment and social policies. 

A good result instead going to the Greens is not a bad plan B, given likely trimming of Labor's majority next election. Whilst Gillard, Tanner, Swan, Rudd and others just ease away at the fear of "extreme" Tony, they can reinforce the impression that they are at least rational if not altogether loveable and after all, negotiated the Global Slump seemingly well enough. So much goes unscrutinised while the coalition remains in its moribund state; it is a disgrace and should be voted out next election, en masse, along with the more corrupt or useless elements within Labor.

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 Jay, I think they are

 Jay, I think they are taking a punt on China, therefore America. Demand will keep resources exports up. What comes back to us goes on imports from East Asia, plus heavy or/and complex equipment we may choose to buy from Europe or the USA, which helps keep these economies ticking over as well, as well as maintaining infrastructure here.

 We must seem an economic oasis in a desert of failed states and economies, world wide, but should recall two other issues, consequently. First the sobering reality that our position is built on good fortune as to resources as much as anything intrinisically "good" in "Australia" or Australians as people. We are not exceptional; our luck is.

 Resources will of course be expected to help in the clawing back of demand for energy and power, but in the meantime consumers will probably start to feel the effects of having to pay more for basics like water and energy.

 As we have see recently, the politics of development is heavy duty, perhaps the core ground over which the next election is fought. Feeds into things like urban development, population growth, immigration and so forth. With the amount of money involved there is a bit of a jostle between different cliques of vested interests, for me the Labor formation is marginally preferable the Coalitions, with big mining.

Jostle is evidence of complex negotiation, so there is actually a process going on to find out what mining and resources can actually afford, obviously a bit more, but how much?

 There will be room for whatever adjustments economics  and sense suggest, hopefully these will be made if necessary, without Andrew Bolt type blither about "backflips", this is the real world, not a pancake kitchen.

Sustaining Luck

I agree with you, Paul. We need to turn our 'luck' into something sustainable.

My response was a public servant responding to real issues with simplistic put-downs. 

 

Australia running on high school economics?

The mining tax causes mines to pull back on production, which reduces exports, which causes the dollar to fall, which increases the cost of imports, which increases the prices we pay for things.

But then, I didn't study economics in high school. Nor am I the Secretary of the Treasury.  

 

Fraser quits Liberal Party

Maybe make that Tony's Strange Fortnight?

[Adelaidenow extract

Mr Fraser, the prime minister from 1975 to 1983, confirmed his decision to quit yesterday, saying the party was no longer a liberal party but a conservative party. 

 

Can't wait for The Abbot;'s comeback! 

Jay

Regardiing Parliamentiary behaviour, I couldn't agree more.  The late-night replays of parliament are like watching the proverbial car-crash.  State Parliament here isn't better.  If this is how democracy is being enacted in this country, the institution has some possibly life-threatening problems.

On a lighter note, I too enjoyed the level of discussion on Monday's Q & A. Nice  to know some people remember how it's supposed to be done.

Paul, I'm mindful of the yarn I know from a long time ago in Porttland.  The gist of it was that Fraser had his stockyard fences lowered to make his stock look larger.  Can you take Nareen out of the man?  Maybe, finally, Fraser has healed himself. 

Goodbye to all that..

You know, he looked so mellow and and at ease on QA the other night.

Fraser has come a long way from the furtive, hard-nosed character of the seventies.  He has acquired a palate for the the truth and seems to relish his media attention and with it, the priceless gift to speak as he genuinely feels about an issue.

 To me, he seems to have been of infinitely more use to Australia since, than he ever was as PM. 

 

Goodbye

Fraser is a silly old fart just like Whitlam, why can't they just fade away?

Bon voyage

I should be so silly at  eighty or ninety years of age, like Fraser and Whitlam.

If they are less sharp than when in their prime they have age as an excuse. Try to find as good an excuse for a long list of politicians supposedly at their best currently who come with with far worse drivel than the old hands ever could.

No doubt

Richard  Tonkin, no doubt you watched QA tonight. It was almost amusing to listen to Malcom Fraser's drolleries on both major political formations; almost because its a serious issue, as the imbecilic debate in parliament on the mining resorces rent tax today demonstrates public debate on a given issue will likely to remain hamstrung, dishonest and furtive.

 The 4 Corners report on Australian instigated bribery from management of a money printing company connected with the Reserve Bank, involving Asian countries, hardly encouraged much faith in the system of checks and balances and transperancy and accountability of process, or a modern government's response to revelations of scams or irregularities within a specific body.

What we are missing

I very much enjoyed the Q&A program. Both Fraser and Saul were so intelligent. Australia is really missing out by not demanding this depth of discussion from our politicians and media.

One looks at their behaviour in parliament  - the puerile point scoring and jeering. Do we really pay them for this? 

Feud, scheme, plot and stab

You know what gets on my tit, Jay and it arises from the same vicinity as your comment?

Like, we pay them good money to do a job and what do they ( opposition parties particularly ) do most of the time?

Feud, scheme, plot and stab  other people in different factions to their own ( if not their own! ) , fighting over what Don Dunstan, speaking of Labors at times pitiful state opposition of the nineties, described as "the spoils of defeat".

What can I say?

If your going to deal with these countries, them's the rules! If you want democracy you can only have what's available..  As my daughter would say, :Toughen up princess!"

Nothing short of a major overhaul is going to correct the stuff-ups.  Maybe the reason why it'll be The Depression We Had To Have- a Darwinistic natural abherration correction via the share market? 

What history demonstrates

Well.

What does history since 2007 demonstrate.  even centrist governments with heavy mandates for change dive for cover when it comes to meaningful policy responses to actual problems?

As for the Tory side of politics, all you have to do is look at the bellicose new Cameron government in Britain, the superstition and conspiracy theory driven right in the US, or Joe Hockey out for surgery in social services, locally.

 The new conservative political arrogance is indistinguishable from rising parallel corporate arrogance, as calls for horror budgets, censorship, the shrills of Goldman Sachs, the mining industry, hitech defence, fossil fuels, Murdoch, Halliburton, BP and so on demonstrate.

 This was truly a year when the balloon burst, as far as decency, fairness and honesty was concerned.

The man who'd rule Australia?

Am I Robinson Crusoe in wanting to be sure that Tony is NEVER in charge of this country? He scares me!

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