Oz Election Thread #6 - Abbott's LNP

I've been thinking about this. How does Hockey figure he can claim this AND claim we're beset by 'leaners' - are we over taxed or are we having our way paid for us by others?

Signs of mutiny on the Good Ship Abbott
Opinion
By Paula Matthewson (former Howard staffer)

Updated yesterday at 8:59amMon 19 Jan 2015, 8:59am

We've known for some time that the Good Ship Abbott was in trouble, and with MPs now seemingly jostling for position could it be a case of man overboard? Paula Matthewson writes.

That sound you hear is the whisper of Liberal Party MPs carefully shuffling around a Prime Minister who's taken on water and is listing dangerously.

They're hoping to avoid being dragged down with him into the dark waters of electoral opprobrium and are eyeing those who hope to replace the PM as potential lifeboats.

We've known for some time that the Good Ship Abbott was in trouble, partly because it was constructed using shonky policies and shattered expectations, but also because it was steered with the reckless abandon that comes from political hubris mixed with a misguided sense of entitlement.

The summer break provided an opportunity to put the ship in dry dock, replace the defective policies and adjust the political navigation system. At least that was the point of Tony Abbott's "reset" press conference and the ministry reshuffle conducted late last year.

However, it would appear that no such reset actually took place. Instead Abbott pressed on, continuing to make poor political decisions like the no-media visit to Iraq while bushfires raged in three Australian states, and even worse policy decisions like the unannounced $20 cut to the Medicare rebate.

Now a leak about the Medicare cut from the Cabinet's expenditure review committee over the weekend suggests hope is fading fast for HMAS Abbott to be successfully refloated, and that the decks are being cleared for a regime change.

Ministers are already jostling to be in the new leadership line-up, and the weekend's leak flags that Joe Hockey, the one-time heir-apparent but now only the beleaguered Treasurer, wants to be back in contention. It would also appear Hockey is unafraid to tarnish the PM's reputation while seeking to rehabilitate his own.

According to a newspaper report of the leak, Hockey and then health minister Peter Dutton "opposed the move during a 'heated' exchange with the Prime Minister" but the PM insisted on the $20 cut the Medicare rebate for short GP consults, which apparently were "developed by the Prime Minister's Office and then costed by the Department of Finance and Health".

This isn't the first time efforts have been made to shift responsibility for the budget from Hockey to Abbott, particularly by drawing attention to the PM's insistence on chairing every meeting of the Expenditure Review Committee as it put the budget together.

Rest of story piece here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-19/matthewson-signs-of-mutiny-on-the-good-ship-abbott/6024180

From Twitter



A lot of the tweeters are saying Abbott has a daughter working for BMW - is that true? JFC!

Tory Abbott copping it from all sides



And Rupert tweeting that he should sack Peta Credlin. I don't suppose Tory will call Rupert sexist - like he did the opposition for making noise about her influence.

I don't even think it's a 'palace pleaser' . I expect they're aware of the response Abbott's had and they're feeling a bit awkward about it.

Well, we Queenslanders go to the polls on Saturday in a dry run of the next federal election.

I did not know that option preferential voting destroyed preferences. I always number every box anyway but am thinking about going to local polling station and urging everyone to number every box.

WOW!

Well done Queensland!!!!!!!

You're welcome.


Let's hope Campbell continues to preempt Abbott's footsteps.

Can't believe BlahGee got back in.

The whole Sunshine coast region, while experiencing a similar swing, retains an LNP footprint.

Praise the three-headed sphinx that the people's stalwart Peter Wellington (indy for Nicklin since forever) held his seat.

Was always good to hear his tirades against the schoolboy AG tyrant.

Still can't believe he got back in. Was totally invisible in the leadup.

Still gathering my thoughts about the QLD result and the implications for the Feds - but am amazed by Brandis denying it means anything federally. In QLD the polls were fairly even and the LNP had a massive majority. At the Federal level Abbott has followed Newman's blueprint - and they are massively behind in the polls from a starting position that is much weaker than the LNP in QLD.

Anyway - the commentary continues....

Although I have to say our fed rep (Liberal) Warren Entsch was laughable on #insiders.

a) he lambasted the ALP for campaigning on "We're not the LNP" - whose fault is it if that works?
b) that he thought people were duped by the small parties (KAP, PUP, Greens). But had nothing to say about our ability to see through the blanket support of News Ltd for the LNP

A little side story on the Queensland election and the impact of social media (electronic graffiti ;-) and citizen action

When Campbell Newman called the Queensland election with just three weeks notice it didn't leave our movement with much time to react. But in true GetUp style, more than 600 people stepped up, and by the time polls opened in Queensland on Saturday we all couldn't have been more ready.

So much was at stake.

Campbell Newman's neo-liberal agenda was stark: sell off public assets to fund infrastructure for Indian mining magnate Guatam Adani's plans to build a mega coal mine; bulldoze a turtle breeding weltand; and start industrial dredging in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

By Friday we had 150,000 'How-to-Vote for the Reef' cards based on each party's commitments, ready to be handed out by a staggering 600 GetUp member volunteers.

Due to the strength of our numbers, Labor responded with solid Reef protection policies. And we'll be holding them to those commitments.

The LNP responded with a dirty and desperate attempt to silence us and cling to power: an injunction against the 'How-to-Vote' cards in the Supreme Court. In record time GetUp members funded a crack team of lawyers to respond, and the Judge effectively threw the LNP's claims out of court.

What we've shown each other is that when we believe in our ability to create real change, against the odds, we can win. And it doesn't end in Queensland.

The Abbott Government still have plans to allow dumping and dredging in the Great Barrier Reef and its wetlands and Adani and other mining giants won't back down either.

Are you ready to take this on? Our movement achieves amazing things when we get prepared, work together, and engage expert support from lawyers, strategists and creatives.

Can you become a Core Member by making a small regular weekly donation, so we're prepared for the next big fight?

What odds that Abbott's British citizenship issues pop up. A way to get the leader out without Labor's "infighting"?

I'd say it's pretty long odds - Gillard was born in Britain too and it never really came up (probably because Abbott was in the same boat).

Is it just me or is Shorten pretty unimpressive? He ignored the first question Barrie Cassidy asked him on Insiders and went to into a pre-rehearsed skit (like Abbott did in questions at the NPC). He also clearly been working on his speech 'impediment' he was so 'real' back at the Tassie mining disaster and now it's all gone.

His only real talent seems to be keeping his head down while the LNP blows its own brains out.

I prefere listening to Albo and Swanny. (And Penny of course) . Plibersek has gone off the radar too.

Also - heard that Bishop met up for a private meeting with Rupert Murdoch last time she was in New York.

Won't discuss the meeting's contents. Won't assure Abbott she won't mount a challenge. A veritable consipiracy mill of circumstances.

Birthplace wasn't the issue. Dual nationality makes one ineligible to hold office.