Australian Politics Forum - Are the chickens going to roost?

John Smith

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Are the chickens going to roost?
Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 5:06pm

The return of Ashbygate is not something Malcolm Turnbull should take lightly, and he will need to take a brutally dispassionate look at the actions some of his senior MPs took during the saga, writes Paula Matthewson.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull heads back to Parliament today, refocusing on domestic political issues after a whirlwind overseas tour that took in five nations and meetings with world leaders.

As he canvasses the news of the day, the PM won't be particularly happy to see certain media organisations agitating for greater religious profiling of the 12,000 Syrian refugees being vetted for resettlement in Australia, in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.

Turnbull will be relieved to note the absence of at least one messy political issue from the front pages - an issue that, if handled poorly, could be as damaging for Turnbull as "Choppergate" was for his predecessor.

"Ashbygate" is the highly unoriginal moniker given to the tawdry political saga that involved former staffer James Ashby and his one-time employer, the previous Liberal MP for Fisher and then independent speaker, Peter Slipper.

John Howard cut a swathe through his ministry to keep good faith with the voting public when it was discovered that some ministers had misused their entitlements. In contrast, Abbott resisted booting speaker Bronwyn Bishop until it was too late, even though her use of entitlements was not in keeping with community expectations.

PM Turnbull will no doubt be looking to find a happy medium between the two responses. He won't want to be unnecessarily punitive, but equally he cannot afford to simply take Brough and co. at their word.

Whatever the reason for its resurgence, the revival of Ashbygate is not something Turnbull should take lightly. The PM needs to take a brutally dispassionate look at the evidence that could be levelled against Brough, Roy and Pyne, and make a clear-headed decision - does the political cost of keeping them outweigh the cost cutting them loose?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-23/matthewson-the-revival-of-ashbygate-threat...

what will he do?

My opinion is he'll do nothing until he's forced to act.

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Our esteemed leader:
I hope that bitch who was running their brothels for them gets raped with a cactus.

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Bam

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Re: Are the chickens going to roost?
Reply #1 - Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 5:14pm

The Ashby saga is a festering abscess for this government. The best way to treat an abscess is to lance it and let it drain. So too is it best for Turnbull to lance the Ashby abscess, get it out into the open and deal with it.

It won't work to hope that it goes away or for the compliant media to cover it up. This will test Turnbull. Will he do the right thing?

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You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to hold opinions that you can defend through sound, reasoned argument.

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BatteriesNotIncluded

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Re: Are the chickens going to roost?
Reply #2 - Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 5:44pm

Bam wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 5:14pm:

The Ashby saga is a festering abscess for this government. The best way to treat an abscess is to lance it and let it drain. So too is it best for Turnbull to lance the Ashby abscess, get it out into the open and deal with it.

It won't work to hope that it goes away or for the compliant media to cover it up. This will test Turnbull. Will he do the right thing?

it's a timing problem... Roll Eyes

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*Sure....they're anti competitive as any subsidised job is. It wouldn't be there without the tax payer. Very damned difficult for a brainwashed collectivist to understand that I know.... (swaggy) *

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John Smith Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 76899 Gender:	Re: Are the chickens going to roost? Reply #3 - Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 8:57pm BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 5:44pm: it's a timing problem.. labor is better of letting it slide for a few more months, then make an issue of it once the election is called.
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Kytro Gold Member Offline Blasphemy: a victimless crime Posts: 3409 Adelaide Gender:	Re: Are the chickens going to roost? Reply #4 - Nov 24^th, 2015 at 9:10am It's not going to matter. Turnbull is going to simply wait until the police finish the investigation, then act if required. Abbott couldn't help letting himself get drawn in.
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Jovial Monk Gold Member Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 49044 Gender:	Re: Are the chickens going to roost? Reply #5 - Nov 24^th, 2015 at 9:33am Kytro wrote on Nov 24^th, 2015 at 9:10am: It's not going to matter. Turnbull is going to simply wait until the police finish the investigation, then act if required. Abbott couldn't help letting himself get drawn in. Dunno if that is possible, two of his front bench are involved.
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Kytro

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Re: Are the chickens going to roost?
Reply #6 - Nov 24^th, 2015 at 10:13am

Jovial Monk wrote on Nov 24^th, 2015 at 9:33am:

Kytro wrote on Nov 24^th, 2015 at 9:10am:

It's not going to matter.

Turnbull is going to simply wait until the police finish the investigation, then act if required. Abbott couldn't help letting himself get drawn in.

Dunno if that is possible, two of his front bench are involved.

It is possible, and rather straightforward. At this point there is just an investigation, and little more fact. Until the investigation is complete he can simply ignore the issue by referring to the investigation.

If it becomes too problematic, he can suspend them, but I don't think it will come to that.

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Dnarever

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Re: Are the chickens going to roost?
Reply #7 - Nov 24^th, 2015 at 10:40am

Kytro wrote on Nov 24^th, 2015 at 9:10am:

It's not going to matter.

Turnbull is going to simply wait until the police finish the investigation, then act if required. Abbott couldn't help letting himself get drawn in.

Abbott would have been a silent partner from the beginning. The Liberals would not have been doing it without him on board or they would have all lost their jobs in the fall out yet Abbott took a huge hit to protect them all.

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BatteriesNotIncluded

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Re: Are the chickens going to roost?
Reply #8 - Nov 24^th, 2015 at 1:42pm

John Smith wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 8:57pm:

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2015 at 5:44pm:

it's a timing problem..

labor is better of letting it slide for a few more months, then make an issue of it once the election is called.

True, but then again everyone can hear the election drums already as the issue of whether to hand down a third budget or not has been a more or less consistent backdrop for a fair whack of time now...

Grin

Hockey as a joke is still quite raw for the libbo shills and then the memories of slaves-have-no-choices combined with mal-net start circling round the old membrane and the libbo shills all know it!

This issue is manna from heaven and Shorten could choose to simply unbalance Turnbull now and leave him festering over what the rest of our society celebrate as Christmas Wink

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*Sure....they're anti competitive as any subsidised job is. It wouldn't be there without the tax payer. Very damned difficult for a brainwashed collectivist to understand that I know.... (swaggy) *

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