Australian Politics Forum
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl
Political Parties >> Liberal Party >> Ironman Abbott the best to govern
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1283691685

Message started by sprintcyclist on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:01pm

Title: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by sprintcyclist on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:01pm



Quote:
AUSTRALIA is more likely to have stable government from an alliance of 76 broadly like-minded MPs than from a rainbow coalition of fractured Laborites, Greens and country conservatives.
Australia is far more likely to get a fresh start from a new government than from a Labor Party that's humble only because it has no choice. Why would the country independents throw a lifeline to a seriously bad government that's just got worse since it executed a democratically elected prime minister?

For all her undoubted political skills, Julia Gillard's actual decisions - to subcontract climate change policy to an unelected assembly, to resurrect a previously promised and dumped railway, and to export the boat people problem to an unwilling East Timor (as well as the disastrous school halls program) - suggest that she would be a worse prime minister than Kevin Rudd.

Nine weeks ago, on the prime minister's own assessment, the government had lost its way. Two weeks ago, it lost its majority and its legitimacy but it still has not lost office and might actually cling to power through ruthless exploitation of incumbency.

Independent and minor party MPs have every right to make their own assessment of the respective merits of the caretaker government and opposition.

Still, if they decide to back Labor - or decide not to decide (which amounts to the same thing) - they will be endorsing factional warlordism, the political execution of an elected prime minister, and the kind of incompetence that produced the roof batts tragedy, the school hall rip-offs and a $43 billion commitment to turning back the clock on telecommunications without even a business plan to justify it.

So far, the caretaker prime minister has won the support of one Green MP and one former Green who is now an independent. The Greens have already changed Labor's climate policy from a 150 person citizens' assembly with no predetermined outcome to a parliamentary committee dedicated to setting a carbon price.
If Labor's mining tax is to pass the Senate, it will have to satisfy the Greens who want it to be much heavier. A mining tax and a carbon tax will be a double whammy hit on the mining industry. A carbon tax will impose big new costs on farmers who are already struggling with low prices and high production costs.

Then there's the Greens' commitment to reducing irrigation and turning at least 30 per cent of Australia's coastal waters into marine parks.

A Labor/Green alliance spells doom for regional Australia's economic base. The slightest move towards Green defence and foreign policies would put the American alliance at risk.

By cutting funding for independent schools, abolishing the private health insurance rebate, and ending offshore processing of illegal boat people it would damage the social fabric too. The prime minister's claim that Labor's policies won't be hostage to the Greens is inconsistent with her promise to give the Greens more access to ministers and public servants than she has afforded to Labor MPs.

Fourteen million Australians have given the Coalition the most seats and the most votes but the election now turns on the decision of just three country independent MPs.

They can opt for the Labor Party, in defiance of the expressed political preference and the economic interests of their own electorates. Or they can opt for the Coalition and form the most country-oriented national government since World War Two. Six members of the Coalition shadow cabinet live in regional areas. No Labor cabinet ministers do. Not one.
If the Gillard government limps on, the waste will continue, the debt will mount, the new taxes will accumulate and the boats will just keep coming. There have been seven boats in the fortnight since the election. International investors will continue to worry about sovereign risk.

The soap opera of leak and counter leak between the supporters of Gillard and Rudd will resume. Buying off potential critics and surrendering to the unions will be the only policy agenda. A government addicted to spin and spending will continue to be all announcement and no delivery because there can be no new politics from an old government.

The alternative under the Coalition is no new taxes, an end to wasteful spending programmes, faster repayment of debt, and strong action to protect our borders. It's genuine parliamentary reform with a parliamentary budget office.

A Coalition government means more spending on economically responsible regional programmes, a standing Green Army to help with landcare projects, a climate change policy that boosts agricultural productivity, a Murray Darling plan which will guarantee food security as well as better environmental flows, locally-run hospitals and schools, and a new compact with indigenous Australia to deliver jobs as well as constitutional recognition.

A Labor Party that was unstable and incompetent when it had a parliamentary majority will go from bad to worse if it has to function as a minority government.
The Coalition is best placed to provide effective government for the next three years and to protect voters from a premature return to the polls.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/why-im-the-one-to-govern/story-e6frezz0-1225914207324

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Imperium on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:03pm
I don't think he is going to win =(

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by longweekend58 on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:10pm

aikmann4 wrote on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:03pm:
I don't think he is going to win =(


I remain totally convinced that Abbott wil win. Mad as he is, Katter has major disagreements with virtually the entire labor platform. Windsor, for all his bluff and bad attitude knows that supporting labor wil end his political career. and if he supports labor that govt might only last a few months before a new election.

No, while the 3 stooges dont like the coalition they truly hate labor. And remember, the reason they became independants was not because they had center-based political leanings. they became independants because they could not play well with others. And now we are seeing why. They are unreasonable and virtually impossible to deal with.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Ernie on Sep 6th, 2010 at 6:14am
What are the biggest impediments to Abbott winning?

The NBN

Health

Abbott's ridiculous refusal to live by the Charter for Budget Honesty (which his party created) without which deception, the coalition would not have got this close to government

The shenanigans of Heffernan et al

The fact that the senate will be controlled by Labor & the Greens

The realistic analysis that Labor have NOT done badly as a government in the larger scheme of things (except insulation and BER)

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by aussiefree2ride on Sep 6th, 2010 at 6:27am

Please delete wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 6:14am:
What are the biggest impediments to Abbott winning?

The NBN

Health

Abbott's ridiculous refusal to live by the Charter for Budget Honesty (which his party created) without which deception, the coalition would not have got this close to government

The shenanigans of Heffernan et al

The fact that the senate will be controlled by Labor & the Greens

The realistic analysis that Labor have NOT done badly as a government in the larger scheme of things (except insulation and BER)



and green loans
and the stimulus vote bribes packages
and the backstabing of K07
and the sly way the PM speaks

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Amadd on Sep 6th, 2010 at 6:33am

Quote:
Abbott's ridiculous refusal to live by the Charter for Budget Honesty (which his party created) without which deception, the coalition would not have got this close to government


Yep. What would be the point of the independents demanding a treasury audit and then saying,"That's OK, we just want to make sure that you're a liar before we vote for you"?
They have to look after their own credibility.


Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by sprintcyclist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:08am
aussie
Quote:
Ernie wrote on Today at 6:14am:
What are the biggest impediments to Abbott winning?

The NBN

Health

Abbott's ridiculous refusal to live by the Charter for Budget Honesty (which his party created) without which deception, the coalition would not have got this close to government

The shenanigans of Heffernan et al

The fact that the senate will be controlled by Labor & the Greens

The realistic analysis that Labor have NOT done badly as a government in the larger scheme of things (except insulation and BER)



and green loans
and the stimulus vote bribes packages
and the backstabing of K07
and the sly way the PM speaks


The ETS, nbn costing, copenhagan, stop whales being hunted, grocerywatch, fuelwatch .......
......... anything they succeed at ??

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by codswal on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:14am
tell you what I havent one bit of faith in the three amigos, none whatsoever..and these 3 will be holding the reigns of govt and the Green holding the power in the senate.. how many of us voted for either of them????.. so much for democracy, I think we just killed it.

to watch our govt.. and guess what Labor is still the govt even if it is only in caretaker mode... fawning over these guys that cant even agree amongst themselves.. makes me shake my head in wonder..I am in awe of the fact they dont agree with each other.. yet we expect them to agree with the chosen govt...... if it wasnt so tragic it would be laughable.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by skippy. on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:20am

Quote:
and the sly way the PM speaks


I cant believe retards like this are entitled to vote.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by mantra on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:23am

codswal wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:14am:
tell you what I havent one bit of faith in the three amigos, none whatsoever..and these 3 will be holding the reigns of govt and the Green holding the power in the senate.. how many of us voted for either of them????.. so much for democracy, I think we just killed it.

to watch our govt.. and guess what Labor is still the govt even if it is only in caretaker mode... fawning over these guys that cant even agree amongst themselves.. makes me shake my head in wonder..I am in awe of the fact they dont agree with each other.. yet we expect them to agree with the chosen govt...... if it wasnt so tragic it would be laughable.


The current governent might be fawning over them - but they aren't threatening them, which unfortunately the Coalition is being an indication of what they will get under an Abbott government.

They are being pandered to by Gillard, but isn't that the sensible way rather than bully, harass and intimidate them? People want a sensible leader.



Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by pansi1951 on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:26am
cods<<how many of us voted for either of them????..>>
.............................................................................

Anyone that didn't vote for the two major parties or invalid, I guess.

This is a fantastic result, at last we have the closest thing to a democracy that we've had for a long long time. The old parties are on the way out at last.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by sprintcyclist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:34am
mantra


Quote:
.......The current governent might be fawning over them - but they aren't threatening them, which unfortunately the Coalition is being an indication of what they will get under an Abbott government.

They are being pandered to by Gillard, but isn't that the sensible way rather than bully, harass and intimidate them? People want a sensible leader..........


julia is rolling over ASAP, as her and dudd have before.
Her rolling over is a terrible indication of the sort of pm she might be.

abbott's moves have been legal and correct.


skippy - due to the biased nature of the modding here, I cannnot reply to your taunts against us rightys.
I have been warned about using the term "retard" here, as a few posters have children who are "challenged".
But you being a lefty can say whatever you want.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Ernie on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:37am
"skippy - due to the biased nature of the modding here, I cannnot reply to your taunts against us rightys."

Then go somewhere else. Easy.

I recently had an argument with a mod - it was easier to resolve than any dispute I've EVER had with another poster.


Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by skippy. on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:45am
Sprint when you stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop the constant whining and howling maybe you can move on.
As for using retard as a word, as I said anyone who would say such stupid things as lonersweekend is a true retard, he'd already know it.
now when you stop all your bitching you might realise that everyone here is moderated sprint, mozz wont let me call mellie a liar, even though I think she lies in every post she makes, but I'm allowed to say that she doesn't tell the truth, or that she is not honest in her writing, so stop all your bitching and pretending you're hard done by.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Equitist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:59am

Surely, Abbott's 'open letter' for the Independents, as quoted in the OP, provides ample evidence of why Abbott lacks the necessary qualities to be PM!?

As pointed out on Insiders yesterday, Abbott hasn't figured out who his main audience is. He has continued campaigning, to the lowest common denominator layperson in the electorate, with petty fearmongering and irrelevant emotive arguments; rather than appeal to the intelligent and savvy politicians that the 3 Independents are!

Apparently, he hasn't been able to co-erce them directly, so he's trying to incite electoral pressure...

Abbott is an habitually-impatient agitator and antagonist - he doesn't get the nuances of pragmatic negotiation and win/win consensus...

This is juvenile stuff, which we expect of egocentric school kids - not the mature statesmanship that we demand of our national leaders...

It is also a sign of what the Independents could expect from Abbott & Co - regardless of whether or not they choose to facilitate the formation of a Coalition Govt...

Ironically, the broader electorate gets this - that is why Abbott has always had such low approval ratings, high disapproval ratings and has never come within cooee of Gillard (nor Rudd) as preferred PM!

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Vanessa on Sep 6th, 2010 at 9:05am

aikmann4 wrote on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:03pm:
I don't think he is going to win =(


I admit, I am starting to get my hopes up! It is starting to look less likely he will win.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Dnarever on Sep 6th, 2010 at 9:17am
You could possibly build an argument suggesting that the Liberals may be a superior option in some areas however Tony was always a poor option for the nation’s leadership.

The man who was hidden in the 2007 election campaign because he had been unstable and probably the worst performing minister of that poor performing government.

The man on record as having an ultra conservative position way out of step with the community on a huge range of subjects.

The man who openly advised us to not believe what he is saying.

The guy who was overturned on RU485 by everyone left, right and centre.

The fella who cost us millions with his anti abortion advice line which had no impact.

Best to govern not even funny my advice in that circumstance : " be afraid very afraid".

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Dnarever on Sep 6th, 2010 at 9:25am

longweekend58 wrote on Sep 5th, 2010 at 11:10pm:
Windsor, for all his bluff and bad attitude knows that supporting labor wil end his political career. and if he supports labor that govt might only last a few months before a new election.



I think you will find that the vast majority of Lib/Nat supporters in his electorate voted for the Nat option. Most of his vote is actually middle to left and for him to support the Liberals would definatly be the end of him politically.

He got 71% of the vote including green preferences I doubt that 10 conservative voters would impact that position greatly.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Ernie on Sep 6th, 2010 at 9:31am
And Windsor has already announced his desire to retire, so I don't think he'd mind overly much if this is his last term

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Equitist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:19am

Here's an extract from Laura Tingle's article: -

http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/liars_and_clunkheads_fail_budget_N34GyIaJiG6fPHVUnZ6iXI?hl


Quote:
Liars and clunkheads fail budget test

PUBLISHED : 03 Sep 2010 12:05:00 | UPDATED: 03 Sep 2010 06:49:06

There are two possible
explanations for how an
opposition presenting itself as
an alternative government could end
up with an $11 billion hole in the
cost of its election commitments.

One is that they are liars, the other
is that they are clunkheads. Actually,
there is a third explanation: they are
liars and clunkheads.

But whatever the combination,
they are not fit to govern.

Going back to the federal election
in 1987, the cost of election promises
has always been hotly disputed.

Labor‘s chance of winning the
2004 election, for example, was
derailed by AMA claims that its
Medicare Gold policy would cost
$2.9 billion more than it said.

But what has occurred in
Canberra this week is in another
sphere altogether.

Treasury and the Department of
Finance, when finally given the
chance to scrutinise the Coalition's
policies, have not just found huge
discrepancies in the costings of
individual policies, but what can
onlybe described as a systematic
exercise in creative accounting.

The picture that emerges from the
econocrats' report is that the
opposition very purposely created a
dodgy set of numbers which were
never expected to withstand any
scrutiny and would require the
intervention of the Australian
Securities and Investments
Commission if it was a company.

The opposition simply hoped it
could bluff its way into office by
refusing to allow the figures to be
scrutinised before polling day...


Habitual 'liars and clunkheads' cannot be trusted to run our nation!

Forget confected contentions over 'legitimacy' - they have demonstrated zero integrity!

Next...

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Equitist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:32am


Please delete wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 9:31am:
And Windsor has already announced his desire to retire, so I don't think he'd mind overly much if this is his last term


Indeed, he's not a young man - and neither is Katter!

Neither are likely to care too much whether or not they are personally re-elected. However, they both have unfinished business in their elecotrates and the next 3 years will give them the opportunity to fulful their original political goals i.e. to create a lasting legacy...

Oakeshott is younger and has the potential of a much longer political career ahead of him, should he want it - but he is also facing the once-in-a-career opportunity to implement altruisic changes - and he would have 3 whole years to demonstrate to his electorate why he chose to go one way or the other...

Thing is, the rabid rabble that is the Abbott Coalition, have already telegraphed their intention to self-servingly subvert our democratic processes - particularly their agenda force another election...

By contrast, the Gillard Labs have demonstrated both the integrity of Statespersonship and a willingness to negotiate to form a stable consensus Minority Govt...

The shifty Libs are foolishly making it very difficult for the conservative-leaning Independents to go with them - FACT!


Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by sprintcyclist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:38am





Quote:
........Now the three rural independents are saying they want a commitment to clean up the way Parliament conducts itself before making their decision. Their focus is on the abuse of question time. This column has raged no fewer than three times this year against the way question time has been debased. And who were the people who prostituted the process? Those of the Rudd-Gillard government.

Since Labor came to power in 2007, question time has blown out by 50 per cent while the time given to answering real questions has shrunk to less than 30 per cent of the time allotted. Arrogant ministers have set new lows in dissembling, diverting and droning.......
............ In the Senate vote in Bob Katter's north Queensland electorate of Kennedy, the Liberal National Party of Queensland crushed the ALP, winning a primary vote of 42.1 per cent to Labor's 26.5 per cent. When the primary votes of the conservative parties (Coalition, the anti-Green Fishing and Lifestyle Party, Family First, One Nation, Australia First and the Christian Democrats) were combined, it came to just under 60 per cent, close to double the combined vote of Labor and the Greens', 32.6 per cent. This is an anti-Labor landslide.

In Tony Windsor's electorate of New England, the Coalition won 44 per cent of the primary Senate vote, massively ahead of Labor's 28.8 per cent. The combined Senate vote of the conservative parties in New England was 55.2 per cent, massively ahead of the 35.9 per cent for Labor and the Greens.

Again, in Rob Oakeshott's seat of Lyne on the NSW north coast, the Coalition won 45.75 per cent of the Senate primary vote to Labor's 30.3 per cent, another anti-Labor landslide. Combined, the conservative parties' Senate vote in Lyne was 53.65 per cent to Labor and the Greens' combined 38.5 per cent.

The anti-Labor vote in these electorates was crushing. The spread in the primary Senate vote between the conservative parties and the Labor-Greens alliance was more than 20 per cent, 56.1 per cent to 35.7 per cent, which is huge in electoral terms.

It echoed the miserable vote for Labor in the lower house contests, and the fact that all three independents originally came from the Coalition side of politics............


http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/animosity-may-contort-electors-will-20100905-14vy1.html


Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by nichy on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:48am
Kingmakers could switch sides to break dead heat
By online political correspondent Emma Rodgers

Posted 16 minutes ago


Key independents say they may be forced to switch their support on which party to back in minority government if it looks as if the numbers will fall in a dead heat.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/nsw/

Surely this makes farcical situation even more of a farce,  no matter which way it goes.    If they believe that one side will be more stable than the other,  surely they should not abandon their principles simply to make up numbers.  If the don't reach GENUINE consensus then surely it should be back to the Australian people ?

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Equitist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:53am


Sprintcyclist wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:38am:





Quote:
[quote]........Now the three rural independents are saying they want a commitment to clean up the way Parliament conducts itself before making their decision. Their focus is on the abuse of question time. This column has raged no fewer than three times this year against the way question time has been debased. And who were the people who prostituted the process? Those of the Rudd-Gillard government.

Since Labor came to power in 2007, question time has blown out by 50 per cent while the time given to answering real questions has shrunk to less than 30 per cent of the time allotted. Arrogant ministers have set new lows in dissembling, diverting and droning.......
............ In the Senate vote in Bob Katter's north Queensland electorate of Kennedy , the Liberal National Party of Queensland crushed the ALP, winning a primary vote of 42.1 per cent to Labor's 26.5 per cent. When the primary votes of the conservative parties (Coalition, the anti-Green Fishing and Lifestyle Party, Family First, One Nation, Australia First and the Christian Democrats) were combined, it came to just under 60 per cent, close to double the combined vote of Labor and the Greens', 32.6 per cent. This is an anti-Labor landslide.

In Tony Windsor's electorate of New England, the Coalition won 44 per cent of the primary Senate vote, massively ahead of Labor's 28.8 per cent. The combined Senate vote of the conservative parties in New England was 55.2 per cent, massively ahead of the 35.9 per cent for Labor and the Greens.

Again, in Rob Oakeshott's seat of Lyne on the NSW north coast, the Coalition won 45.75 per cent of the Senate primary vote to Labor's 30.3 per cent, another anti-Labor landslide. Combined, the conservative parties' Senate vote in Lyne was 53.65 per cent to Labor and the Greens' combined 38.5 per cent.

The anti-Labor vote in these electorates was crushing. The spread in the primary Senate vote between the conservative parties and the Labor-Greens alliance was more than 20 per cent, 56.1 per cent to 35.7 per cent, which is huge in electoral terms.

It echoed the miserable vote for Labor in the lower house contests, and the fact that all three independents originally came from the Coalition side of politics............


http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/animosity-may-contort-electors-will-20100905-14vy1.html

[/quote]

Fascinating, that right whingers should now be focusing on the national primary vote in the HoR and the Senate vote in the electorates of the 3 Independents alone...

Just goes to show that statistics can be selectively-mixed and manipulated to confect any number of untenable conclusions...

Besides, the Libs don't want to form Minority Govt: they want to force us back to the polls - cos they're arrogant and reckless enough to risk an all or nothing win/lose...


Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by nichy on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:00am

nichy wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:48am:
Kingmakers could switch sides to break dead heat
By online political correspondent Emma Rodgers

Posted 16 minutes ago


Key independents say they may be forced to switch their support on which party to back in minority government if it looks as if the numbers will fall in a dead heat.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/nsw/

Surely this makes farcical situation even more of a farce,  no matter which way it goes.    If they believe that one side will be more stable than the other,  surely they should not abandon their principles simply to make up numbers.  If the don't reach GENUINE consensus then surely it should be back to the Australian people ?


Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by nichy on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:03am
full

State of the Parties
76 seats required for victory

91.8% counted.
Updated Mon Sep 6 10:34AM
Party % Vote Swing Won Predict
Labor 38.0 -5.4         72  
Coalition 43.7 +1.6   73  
Greens 11.7 +3.9       1  
Others 6.6 -0.1          4  

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Equitist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:11am

LOL...speaking of selectivity...let's re-insert the pieces of this article that SC didn't like: -


Sprintcyclist wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 10:38am:
Animosity may contort electors' will

September 6, 2010

The federal election had not even concluded when opinion polls were already informing us what the voters believed should happen to break the deadlock. First came polls saying the three rural independents who hold the balance of power should help the opposition form a new government. Now come polls saying they should allow the Labor government to hold power.

This incessant, intrusive, compulsive meddling by the news media, via their opinion polls and obsession with leadership struggles, has helped create eight federal leadership failures in eight years, during a period of sustained economic prosperity - mostly with no input from voters. This is gratuitous instability.


Now the three rural independents are saying they want a commitment to clean up the way Parliament conducts itself before making their decision. Their focus is on the abuse of question time. This column has raged no fewer than three times this year against the way question time has been debased. And who were the people who prostituted the process? Those of the Rudd-Gillard government.

Since Labor came to power in 2007, question time has blown out by 50 per cent while the time given to answering real questions has shrunk to less than 30 per cent of the time allotted. Arrogant ministers have set new lows in dissembling, diverting and droning.......

The debasement process has been abetted by the opposition's Christopher Pyne, one of the most irritating MPs ever to utter the words ''point of order''.

If Tony Abbott cannot see that he has to delete Pyne for the good working of the Parliament, and delete the liability known as Joe Hockey from the key role of shadow treasurer, he does not deserve to be prime minister.

But who does? When it comes to forming the next government, the only vote that matters is the majority in the House of Representatives, however it is cobbled together. But when it comes to expressing the will of the people, the only poll that matters is the election itself. In the electorates of the three rural independents, voters gave an unambiguous, emphatic message: Labor must go.

Each of them won a very strong personal vote, giving them the right to behave independently and, as it turned out, the luck of the draw as kingmakers. The average primary vote for Labor in these three electorates was 13.9 per cent, a failure reinforced by the Senate voting in these electorates.

No amount of spin, bluster, wishful thinking and logical headstanding can explain away the following numbers.


In the Senate vote in Bob Katter's north Queensland........
........

[...this section deleted due to OzPol character limits...]

.........It echoed the miserable vote for Labor in the lower house contests, and the fact that all three independents originally came from the Coalition side of politics.

Yet it is these three electorates that are on the brink of handing power back to the Labor government, which has forged an alliance with the Greens. And the most important priorities for the Greens, especially for Adam Bandt, the new member of the House of Representatives, are to impose a higher price on carbon, abolish mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and gain recognition for same-sex marriage.

Irony, irony, irony, thy name is Katter, Windsor and Oakeshott.

If they do hand power to Labor, the only thing that will account for this bizarre contortion of electoral intentions into parliamentary outcomes is the depth of animosities within the political civil war in rural Australia.

Rural and regional Australia is represented by a three-ring circus of Nationals, rural Liberals, and independents who are all at one another's throats.

Since the end of the Country Party, rural Australia has been unable to form a single bloc able to exercise the balance of power ruthlessly.

The animosities within these three rings are encapsulated on Bob Katter's website where, with typical colour, he singles out his former party for contempt: ''The National Party rolled over and accepted the deregulation of the wool industry, the egg, the maize, the dairy, the sugar … Having supinely succumbed to the dismemberment of their own heartland policies, their only choice was to tell us, a la Monty Python, 'that the parrot was not dead'.''

Such animosities within rural politics could turn Abbott's improbable run for the prime ministership into a dead parrot.



Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Soren on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:11am
TED MACK: People forget that these three are probably three of the most experienced members of parliament that they are so they didn't come down in the last shower and they certainly don't need any advice from me.

What I suspect that they will do however, I think they will back the Gillard Government. Now that sounds a bit unusual because they are sitting in National Party seats but the point is, if there is a Liberal/National government formed, then that government will do its best to get those three out of office because they think that those seats belong to them, whereas if Labor is in government, they know that they can never win those three seats so they have a vested interest in keeping those three seats, those three independents in power.
So I think those independents and their residents will get a lot more money spent on them than they would if there was a National Party government. I think that is probably the logic that they'll follow as well because they didn't come down in the last shower.
...
SABRA LANE: Do you care to forecast what will happen for the major party that misses out this week?

TED MACK: Well, they will be the most angry Opposition you can get, I would think.

SABRA LANE: Will they be out to seek revenge?

TED MACK: Of course they will. Of course they will.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Equitist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:21am


Soren wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:11am:
TED MACK: People forget that these three are probably three of the most experienced members of parliament that they are so they didn't come down in the last shower and they certainly don't need any advice from me.

What I suspect that they will do however, I think they will back the Gillard Government. Now that sounds a bit unusual because they are sitting in National Party seats but the point is, if there is a Liberal/National government formed, then that government will do its best to get those three out of office because they think that those seats belong to them, whereas if Labor is in government, they know that they can never win those three seats so they have a vested interest in keeping those three seats, those three independents in power.
So I think those independents and their residents will get a lot more money spent on them than they would if there was a National Party government. I think that is probably the logic that they'll follow as well because they didn't come down in the last shower.
...
SABRA LANE: Do you care to forecast what will happen for the major party that misses out this week?

TED MACK: Well, they will be the most angry Opposition you can get, I would think.

SABRA LANE: Will they be out to seek revenge?

TED MACK: Of course they will. Of course they will.


Yup, the Libs cannot be trusted to act out of good will - regardless of whether the Independents support them - and these savvy Indpendents know it!

By contrast, the Independents won't feel threatened by the Labs - and their electorates will doubtless benefit from this once-off 3 year opportunity to secure long-overdue changes in rural and regional Australia...

As for the rest of us, we'll hopefully be able to take comfort in the knowledge that the rabid Libs remain in the policy wilderness for a while longer...

But, after the initial implosion, would the remnant Libs have enough insight to reflect upon the folly of their history of negative, draconian and divisive politics - and appreciate the patent unsuitability of Abbott at the helm of the Party, much less the nation!?

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Soren on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:47am

Equitist wrote on Sep 6th, 2010 at 11:21am:
As for the rest of us, we'll hopefully be able to take comfort in the knowledge that the rabid Libs remain in the policy wilderness for a while longer...



Your parrotting of the same old same old is touching.

If by wilderness you mean getting rid of Mr 70% and completely destabilising Labor within the space of 9 months - that's the wilderness for me! The Labor/Green/Independent alliance will be the coup de grace.  

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by Verge on Sep 6th, 2010 at 12:07pm
Im far from confident of a coalition government.

I am however confident that the ALP and greens wont be able to work together, and am more confident again that the Greens and the independents really wont be able to work together.  Katter is anti mining tax, and will oppose.  ALP a pro mining tax and will approve.  Greens wants a higher mining tax and will oppose the ALP's.

Its gonna be messy.

Title: Re: Ironman Abbott the best to govern
Post by sprintcyclist on Sep 6th, 2010 at 12:27pm

the milky bar kid, mr 70% was ok as long as the preteens were screeching "Kev '07" to further inflate his fragile ego.

once ironman abbott got there and said "NO", 70%er cried

Australian Politics Forum » Powered by YaBB 2.5.2!
YaBB Forum Software © 2000-2024. All Rights Reserved.