Abbott brings back the dead in reshuffle
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The Opposition has taken a dramatic lurch to the right with the announcement of one of the most conservative frontbenches since the 1980s battles between Liberal moderates and conservatives. Right-wingers Kevin Andrews, Bronwyn Bishop, Cory Bernardi, Barnaby Joyce, Sophie Mirabella, Connie Fierravanti-Wells and Philip Ruddock have been promoted, making the new coalition line-up the most socially conservative in a generation. Eric Abetz has also been promoted into the key industrial relations portfolio, a clear sign that labour market deregulation is now back on the agenda for the Opposition. There were some minor wins for party moderates. The party’s most talented backbencher, South Australian Simon Birmingham, has at last won a parliamentary secretaryship, working with Greg Hunt on climate change. The impressive Scott Morrison has been moved into Immigration, in a continuation of the strategy of using a moderate to front a hardline policy. Marise Payne, long a target of the NSW right of her party, has received a shadow ministry, for COAG. Sussan Ley moves into the shadow treasurership and Gary Humphries also gets a shadow parliamentary secretaryship. But these have been balanced by promotions of right-wingers, including Corey Bernardi from SA, who becomes Abbott’s parliamentary secretary, and Connie Fierravanti-Wells, who becomes shadow for ageing. However, several Turnbull supporters have been punished: Ian Macfarlane has been demoted to Infrastructure and Water (which will grieve him, as he has a passion for resources issues); Sharman Stone has been demoted to Early Childhood Education and Childcare and the Status of Women, and Steve Ciobo has been given Tourism, Youth and Sport. The most remarkable promotions, however, are the two most expected: Barnaby Joyce’s elevation to Finance and the return of the apparently unkillable Bronwyn Bishop, who takes the peculiar portfolio of “seniors”, on the basis, Abbott said at his press conference, that she is “one of them”. The handing of a senior economic portfolio to a National is unheard of since the 1970s when the Country Party occupied a far greater proportion of coalition seats than the rump they currently form. According to Abbott, Joyce has been given the portfolio because he is an accountant. He will surely come to rue this decision. Joyce is an economic illiterate and irrationalist, who has promoted causes such as a Sinophobic investment policy, geographically discriminatory tax policies and bans on competition when small business might be harmed. He has also repeatedly demonstrated in his campaign against the government’s CPRS that he doesn’t understand what a tax is. At least it will makes Lindsay Tanner’s question time answers more fun. And then there’s Bishop, who will bring the tell-tale scent of kerosene to any interaction with seniors groups. Hunt will now have sole responsibility for “climate action”, presumably a denialist version of “climate change”, although Minchin, as shadow for Resources and Energy and Regent of the Abbott leadership, remains the one in charge on that issue. In the event of an Abbott election victory, this line-up would almost certainly drive action on abortion and other social policy touchstones in government. Eric Abetz tried to stop Medicare funding for abortions in the last term of the Howard government. Hardline Catholic Kevin Andrews first came to prominence striking down the Northern Territory’s euthanasia laws. Barnaby Joyce, another Catholic, has described abortion as “carnage” and has said he wants sexual assault victims to take a resulting pregnancy full-term. Bronwyn Bishop, Phillip Ruddock and Sophie Mirabella all voted in support of retaining the ban on RU-486. The demotion of Sharman Stone and the departure of Helen Coonan for the backbench (whether forced or, as she says, not) weakens the presence of moderate Liberal women on the frontbench, although Julie Bishop remains in place. Abbott described his frontbench as a “campaigning” one, evidently more intended to attack the government that run policy. That’s clear from the economic line-up that, centred on Joe Hockey and Barnaby Joyce, is perhaps the weakest since the early Labor Opposition years in the 1990s. The handing of Communications to Tony Smith is also inexplicable — Paul Fletcher was and is the stand-out candidate for such a role, but this was not a reshuffle for moderates. At his first press conference as leader, Abbott promised all shades of opinion would be represented on his frontbench. They are, but it is dominated by denialists and right-wingers, and simply doesn’t look competitive with the government. |
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Crikey's Guide to Julia Gillard
101 Comments
Putting Joyce into Finance is a big mistake. There is a reason why accountants are not allowed to give investment advice; they incorporate two different skill sets.
Big mistake for Abbott on this one…Lindsay Tanner and Wayne Swan will run rings around him. Disappointing.
Don’t we already have these in the form of remote zone rebates?
Great read, Bernard. The economics team looks as competent as Gough’s. If Malcom got a third party together, with a prominent economist on board, that would be very interesting…watching the LNP fall in a heap. Just imagine either Barnaby or Joe answering questions during an election campaign (just like JWH did last time when interviewed by Tracey Grimshaw)…what fun and laughter!
Oh, and I am most annoyed at the removal of Macfarlane from Resources.
The link to the anti-abortion discussion is important. It is worth looking at the Catch The Fire website.
http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/2009/11/19/update-on-climate-change-legislation-act-now/
This Church ran a massive email campaign to Liberal Senators in the weeks leading up to the vote on the CPRS. This is part of the so-called ‘base’ that people refer to.
Check out their views, both on their website and externally, and see whether this Church represents mainstream views.
This is hysterical. The Libs are going the way of the dodo. Tanner will eat Joyce alive – can’t wait.
What a Xmas gift for Kevin Rudd! Andrews, Ruddock and Bronwyn Bishop are has-beens with the appeal of rat poison to swinging voters. Joyce is Emo-man mark II with an inflated idea of his own importance. Abetz in industrial relations is the fox in charge of the chicken coop. Malcolm, we’re already nostalgic for you!
I agree with Scott
Disappointing that Joyce has the finance job
From a presentation I went to a few years ago he has little idea of the Stock Exchange and what it does
Unbelievable - fancy bringing back the ghosts from the past! This is the scariest line up in history - even scarier than the Howard years - if that’s possible. Labor will win in a landslide!!!! Even Liberals will be voting for Labor or the Greens with this line up….
I thought Ruddock was dead? No? And Bronnie? More kerosene dear? Kevin Andrews on welfare? Well dear me.
And Cory Bernardi is one of the nastiest pieces of work I have seen in decades, pure Minchin clone only worse.
He told Adelaide radio over and over that Afghan refugees were sucking up champers in luxury hotels in Indonesia while waiting for their cruise liners to come here.
I hope Morrison bothers to read the refugee convention though. He would be the first liberal to do so since Fraser I reckon.
It says “everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution in other countries” and it does not say “but not in Austraya”.
2 things.
McFarlane, ex-RET has been moved to water and infrastructure “which will grieve him, as he has a passion for resources issues”. If that’s the case, he needs to harden up; a lot of people would argue that water is the most important resource management issue we face. I’m one of those people.
The other:
Barnaby “wants sexual assault victims to take a resulting pregnancy full-term”. If this is fair dinkum, I’m beyond disgusted. I can see the argument from ‘pro-lifers’ that every life is sacred, but this stance is exactly the opposite of that. Requiring that someone takes an assault pregnancy full term constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Imagine having to care for the product of something deeply disturbing, but that also carries the genes of your attacker. Barnaby has the cart before the horse if he thinks this is reasonable.
On first read of this lineup am appalled….
Oh, I thought “Avalanche” Abbott (“one vote is a landslide”) was announcing the caste of this year’s Xmas pantomime!
But it’s his front bench!
Too funny.
JoeK- Is the Liberal party seriously influenced by “Catch the Fire”?
That is dead scary- I do not want a lunatic right fringe to have any influence in Australia… let alone run it.
And Greg Hunt? The Libs are sacrificing their only climate talent on the altar of the climate deniers. I guess he is a big boy- he could sit it out on the back bench.
Abbott’s choice of bringing people back from the dead is a clever marketing stunt based on the current popularity of Zombie movies.
I’m still trying to work out why Bernard Keane has such an ingrained vitriolic hatred of Tony Abbott that’s run through everything he’s written on Abbott since last Tuesday. What he’s been writing is not co much unbalanced as unhinged.
Considering the Zombie we have as a Prime Minister currently what’s the issue? Lost tribes in the peruvian jungle knew Abbott would cop flak no matter who he put on his front bench.
This is rubbish Bernard, you don’t even get the facts right.
“The handing of a senior economic portfolio to a National is unheard of since the 1970s when the Country Party occupied a far greater proportion of coalition seats than the rump they currently form.”
John Stone was shadow finance minister in the late 1980s.
Was there a more reactionary, connservative front bench than this only a generation ago? I don’t think so. This one really takes the cake. Living memory I think is more correct.
What, no room for Pol Pot, Franco and Genghis Khan?!?
Someone wrote last week that the lunatics have taken over the asylum… more like the zombies have taken over the mortuary!
People skills indeed!
Did you hear the one about the Abbott and the Bishop who were newly appointed to lead the Broad Church?
Their congregation of worshippers sacrificed themselves on the alter of ideological purity.
Not fair to describe the Kruddster as a Zombie, JOHNFROMPLANETEARTH - you of all people should recognise an alien ‘life’ form when you see one. If being an accountant from St George is a qualification for a Finance Minister, I look forward to Bronny being incarcerated in a kerosene bathing facility so she can better represent her portfolio.
Seems to me that Abbott is simply being true to his colours. The electorate now has a pretty clear choice.
Just as a matter of interest, Hospitals are in a mess, boat people pouring in over our borders, the biggest Federal and State debt in Australia’s history……..is there any journalist, and I mean any journalist in Australia who is examining the governments performance? That’s right, the Labor party is the government, not the Liberals !!!
Casper, it’s pretty simple. Journalists are spending a lot of time writing about the Liberals because the Liberals have a great knack of making themselves newsworthy.
As for “boat people pouring in over our borders”, that’s simply false, as is your rather silly claim that we have “the biggest federal and state debt in Australia’s history”. Which I guess explains why you’re not a journalist.
I hope this won’t set back Emperor Ruddock’s plans to construct a new and even more devastating death star…
@Casper:
You need to learn to read and listen better. I can list 4 or 5 things that Rudd has been hit with on a consistent basis from what you may call centre-left journos:
1) His ability to sound intelligible while actually saying unintelligible, lexicon-deforming gibberish.
His failure to set out his long term goal, and what he stands for, beyond the Monthly essays and revolutionary platitudes.
2) His failures on Grocery- and Fuel- watch. Which I think most people would know was going to be a non-core promise.
3) His failure to elucidate what the ETS will actually cost for businesses and consumers, and why it will cost however much, and the reason for it costing however much.
4) His failure to set out a plan for Hospitals.
5) His indecisiveness and obfuscation of the Asylum Seekers issue (this is a universal criticism from left, centre, and right leaning journos).
6) His micro-managing of the media.
7) His failure on the National Broadband Network.
9) His boundless jet-setting.
He gets hit with all these things from all sides. But all journos, no matter what clothe they are made from, tend towards the issue of the day so you won`t hear them all at once. I read Fairfax, News Ltd, and Online media, as well as TV and Radio, while some voices our more loudly critical, the others are still critical, they just speak in my hushed tones at certain times.
Casper… how can you possibly say that “boat people are pouring in over our borders”? What do you think is the number that constitues “pouring in”? Another 54? The last 70? Maybe the 100 before that. We allow about 100,000 migrants in a year give or take (probably a bit less with the recession). And our refugee intake is not usually 3% of that. If we got 7000 asylum seekers in a year (like I believe the biggest year of boat people ever was in the late 1990’s) then that would only be about 7% of immigrant intake for a whole year. Be careful not to believe the crap that some media tries to sell the population! Think soberly about it. You can not possibly call it “pouring in over our borders”!
Then think about issues like compassion. Assisting the most desparate in times of great trouble. Helping out the under-dog. Doing the right thing. Shit… it use to be “Australian” to help those in need. Now we want to sink the boats (or “turn them around”) that carry families here out of war torn or poverty stricken situations.
On a different note: Catch the Fire ministries is a small speck on the religious landscape. Thankfully most Christians are nothing like them. But extreme minorities can be vocal and if the Liberals are lining themselves up with them, it will only hurt the Liberals all the more.
I presume Casper the return of the diabolical tyrants Ruddock and Andrews has the blood surging through your veins as you relive the days of barbed and electrified wire, enclosing desperate asylum seekers, seperated from their families, treated no better than animals. The sad case of Dr Haneef perhaps brings on for you the thrill of a man locked up for no reason, then lied about by a Minister of the Crown, who brought disgrace upon this country through false accusations and had him thrown out of this country. These are two of Abbotts recruits to bring about the new order. And you mke the absurd accusation boat people are pouring over our borders, 2 and a 1/2 thousand is hardly a pouring of asylum seekers (not boat people). God help us if you are the start of the emergence of Abbotts followers.
I don’t thing the majority of voters in Australia gives a damn about who is on the shadow ministry.
I don’t think that the majority of voters could tell you who are the actual goverment ministers either.
The fact that a small number of us take notice is not indicative of the population as a whole: a population that is politically ignorant to a surprisingly high level. Just ask people how the preference system works; or ask anyone you meet to name the ministers or shadow ministers.
But then again, the single fact that the shadow team is extremely conservative - that might be enough for the general voter to get their head around. It is simple to understand. Not too much detail. No names to remember. If they get it in their heads that the line up one the whole is very conservative, and conservative old-fashioned religious way to a large degree… that might be enough to turn them off voting for them. Hmm. Time will tell.
Slightly off-topic, but Casper made me think: why do we demonise Sri Lankans trying to escape a harsh regime, want to turn their boats back or just sink em, but open our hearts to two conjoined twins from Bangladesh?
Ian: don’t worry… we will grow to hate or fear the Bangladesh girls as well. Especially if they grow up Muslim. And if one day those same two girls are fleeing a poverty or war torn or natural disaster affected home land, and end up in a boat to Australia - then we will forget that we ever loved them as infants, and many will just want to be rid of them and their children.
(I say this cynically of course, but with considerable sorrow, knowing it contains some truth.)
Now will all those people who took me to task for being an alarmist about the Catholic influence in a Parliamentary Party swallow their words?
For it is back to the Middle Ages you born again fools.
Is this sight entirely frequented by only Labor suporters? Whats the point? Bernard Keane you are so biased whats the point again? The only people who are going to be reading your comentary are Rudd/Labor friends? I won’t be back, I only registered to get a comment through but I’m fairly sure reading the pro Rudd anti Abbott comments this certainly won’t make it through. As I understand it you should have a fairly neutral view and let the readers of both sides leave their comments for others to review. The comments left here are not a fair reflection of what people out here have to say. This sight should be called something like ” CRIKEY for Labor Suporters” or “Crikey we all hate Liberals”
People are fed up with spin and that’s why this is going to be such an interesting contest. Abbott is relentless and already you sense that Rudd is ducking and weaving, declining Abbott’s invitation to debate.
Now, he excuses himself by suggesting that Abbott has no policy, but any public speaker with ability would relish the opportunity to demonstrate just that, in debate. How absurd saying I wont debate you until you have a policy. Its like an army telling their opponents we wont attack until you’re ready.
This is a Herd of Dinosaurs, not a Shadow Cabinet.
Doesn’t it occur to anyone that Abbott is surrounding himself with fellow Catholics. Which would be the main reason for allowing a National Party member, Barnaby Joyce in to head up finance.
I can see thirteen Catholics without even looking them up. A greater range of mediocre mediocrities has seldom to be named in Oz history. When one considers they had to be Catholics to get the job the whole thing does little for the catholics, and a damn sight less for the so-called Liberal Party.
The new shadow cabinet is like the roll call for the Voyage of the Damned. All of the old lags have been dragged up from the hold just in time to be smashed against the ruddy rocks. Election night next year be a sorry sight with many ex-Liberal members in a state of shocked disbelief (“I knew it was going to be bad but I never thought it would be this bad” will be the general refrain).
Abbott will be reviled in the party as the architect of the worst defeat ever and will be under huge pressure to leave the parliament. Kevin Andrews will step up to the plate claiming that the loss was because they were not hardline conservative enough but he will be defeated in the leadership ballot by Turnbull who will treat the party like a failed corporation that has to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Bernard, you are as far to the left as Andrew Bolt is to the right. Although the main differences between the two of you are his opinions are based on at least ‘some’ fact and his blog gets 1 million hits + a month. Do you? No because no-one apart from a few crikey lefties cares what you think. Judging by the type of responses here, this site is becoming more extreme left by the day. Does it all make you feel better and make you smile to see others sharing your same leftist views in the same place? Sorry be ruin the party but the Liberals were in power for 10 yrs and really only lost as the voters got sick of Howard, not for the reasons listed above. Don’t confuse the issues it just makes you look ignorant.
And please Jim Reiher, don’t talk down to Liberal voters as though those to the left are intellectually superior. It just makes you look desperate to convince yourself you are of some importance to society.
No the Liberals probably won’t win the next election but its almost impossible for a Government to loose its first re-election. The one after though? I am looking forward to that !
Venise, I mentioned last week when Abbott got the leadership, beware the influence of Pell. He has Abbott beaded. The rosary is well and truely around his neck and Pell will pull him along as he sees fit. There are other influences who will be chortling in their altar vino.Lets start with Opus Dei, that should be sinister enough for anyone. Will they influence Abbott? You can bet your sweet pontificate they will.
It does seem such a long time ago that we were all about to be consumed by a ‘financial tsunami’ ( quote Costello quickly leaving the room ) - but hey.. only 12 months. Apparently the Government’s actions had nothing to do with avoiding the social tragedies that currently beset US and Europe. Must have been all spin.
For reasons only known to the rancorous right, Abbott really gets them aroused - up there with Viagra. He’s virile, thrusting and charm-laden sent to smite the feeble ‘public servant’ and his too-clever-by half minions, with their big headed policies and programs. Their global talk and their smug attitudes … and that class traitor Turnbull, he’s the worst !!! Give it to ‘em Phil and Bronny and Count Kev .. Abbott’s done more for re-animation of dead tissue than anyone since Frankenstein. I cannot wait for Joyce to take office - but apparently he’s OK because he’s an accountant !!! Has anyone actually listened to him discuss economics ? He claims that he would avoid any long term debt and always keep balanced books “like all prudent households” - has he ever taken out a 30-year $300,000 home loan ? That’s the basis of the Aussie way of life !!!
And David Sanderson, seriously mate. “I knew it was going to be bad but I never thought it would be this bad” will be the general refrain”
It wouldn’t have made a difference what names came up in his cabinet, your response would have been the same. You have strong and well thought out views and I respect you for that, but you can’t be too extreme as it just makes you look like you’ll oppose anything that the Liberals do. As a result people will ignore your posts like I have begun to do. I am happy to read educated, and reasonable opposing views on all issues, but you go too far.
David, Making statements like “Turnbull who will treat the party like a failed corporation that has to be rebuilt from the ground up”, why? Because he is rich and has business sense? Is that opinion based on anything he has said or done? Or because of his financial position? Do all those who have been successful in business treat everything as a business? Please provide some basis for your arguments in future.
Before I go, obviously anyone with a different view than that of “Crikey” or their readers have decided not to register and leave comments. Good Luck Bernard and your anti Liberal commentary, sad for journalism I say. You must be losing readers by the day with Abbott in control of the Opposition, makes your job a little harder doesn’t it. No more Turnbull to pull apart, but then reading other sites, Turnbull is the flavour of the month for Labor suporters.
other than being an attack dog, I am not sure what value Abbott will get by pitching Joyce against Tanner, Tanner is much more balanced in his approach and generally a solid performer.
Abbott would get more value in pitching an economic illiterate Vs economic illiterate in Joyce Vs Swann.
@Andrew G:
Cry more dude. Seriously, you spend 4 or 5 paragraphs whinging about the plight of the Liberal supporters on this forum, yet you haven`t ante-d up in defence of the new shadowy cabinet.
Barnaby Joyce should not have been given finance. Macfarlane should not have been demoted or side-shifted to something he isn`t passionate about. I fail to see what Sophie Mirabella has done in parliament to warrant getting her portfolio. Eric Abetz is one of the least capable parliamentarians around, droning through on sheer monotony alone.
I have voted the ALP in every election (10 overall state/federal). I was happy to see Howard go, only to be replaced with Howard the Younger. I would`ve voted for Turnbull and the Libs for the first time at the next election. He would`ve had a pretty dynamic, innovative, and pragmatic team, with the likes of Macfarlane, Hunt, Morrison, and Fletcher in key portfolios. Abbott`s cabinet looks about as fresh as a day old imago. I don`t particularly warm to Rudd or his style of management or his reactive moralistic crusades but I will not vote for the hard-conservatism that Abbott has put in place.
I mean Mirabella, Bishop, Ruddock, Andrews, Abetz, Minchin, and Joyce c`mon, they are hacks, and haven`t a fresh idea between them.
Andrew G, there is no pretence that I am analysing anything in my last post - instead I am just giving my impression of the end-point of the Abbott-disaster.
As a Liberal supporter do you genuinely feel any optimism about the next election?
Do you think that Abbott is the right man for the times?
Do you think there is any chance that Barnaby Joyce in shadow Finance will be anything other than incredibly incompetent, destroying the last shreds of Coalition credibility as economic managers?
The Duke suggests that Joyce be appointed shadow Treasurer. Surely shome mishtake, old boy.
Surfer - are you Tony Abbott?
Malcolm Farr had an interesting article in Sydney Daily Telegraph, yesterday I think, about The Third Question: Something about a pollie in a new role can bluster or apply witicisms to the first question on a policy area, even a second question a bit, but if they can’t explain real substance of a policy position by the third question they are written off as a light weight.
I seem to recall Mark Latham made a success of his first phase as leader. But crashed and burned badly according to his own side. Can we assume this is Mr Abbott’s future too?
If the funk he was in after 2007 was so deep, a serious loss next year will destroy the guy. And because he is a loud mouth they crack the worst.
They’ve just written their political suicide note.
no David, I am saying that I think Wayne Swann is as much an economic illiterate as Barnaby Joyce. In fact, why Tanner is not treasurer is mystifying.
@The Duke:
I agree, it is criminal that Tanner isn`t treasurer. To Swann`s credit, at least he is relying on Treasury and not his imagination.
Rollo - infact, I think Swan is the weakest link in the whole of the ALP front bench. We need an innovative treasurer, not some puppet to the IMF, World Bank or whatever other source that he uses and quotes verbatim.
Swan can’t think for himself and is a poor speaker which is why the ALP actually shield him from media exposure. Banks don’t rate him and business don’t respect him.
‘……….Liberals were in power for 10 yrs and really only lost as the voters got sick of Howard, not for the reasons listed above. Don’t confuse the issues it just makes you look ignorant.’ (Quote: ANDREW G).
Now that’s just silly, Andy. The reason that voters ‘got sick of Howard’ WAS for ‘the reasons listed above’. Sick enough to lose him his safe Liberal seat.
Still, I agree with this: don’t confuse the issues it just makes you look ignorant.
(I’m off to swish me red flag, an shine up me ‘comrades forever’ badge).
This is fantastic. When KRudd hits the DD button next year, I reckon he’ll now get a senate for the first time in ALP history. Can it get any better; I agree with the mad monk, definitely not a government in exile, he’s setting up the coalition to be an opposition, for a very long time.
“Joyce has been given the portfolio because he is an accountant…”
So Abbott doesn’t know what an accountant is? WTF? Of everything in the article - although the Bronywn is old so she gets the oldsters is up there - this is the revealer that Abbott is, quite simply, an idiot.
I wonder why The Australian voters went to the trouble to vote the Liberal Party out of power only to see them present us with an even more retrograde lot of people in an attempt to get us to vote for them at the next election?
Fortunately I’ve never been a Coalition voter but today’s little effort by Tony Abbott makes me wish I was a Liberal voter just so as I could change my vote in a fit of fury.
The ghosts of the evil ‘Call me Bob’ Santamaria must be splitting their sides on this call.
I remember Bronwyn Bishop beign incredibly patronising to the elderly in nursing homes whenever she went in for a rubber chicken dinner with them. She preferred to spend her time swanning around with her Ritchie Rich mates in her north shore stomping ground much more tho, given a choice.
Abbott on Lateline tonight was an interesting watch.
They guy eschews detail with a “Tony, I’m a politician”.
He may be spoiling for a fight as he says, but he’ll be murdered in the ring of parliament if he’s held to spell anything out.
Ordinarily I don’t believe a word the bloke says on anything because, like Howard, he’s a practised liar, but I got the impression watching him tonight that he was genuinely surprised to have won the leadership ballot as he has been saying since it happened.
He sums up his future roughly as this: “if I win the election I’ll be considered a political genius; if I lose then I expect to become political roadkill sometime afterwards.”
I’m betting on the roadkill.
If there is a pathway of 1 to 10 (10 being when the Liberals will be back on track with policies and fresh faces who have a handle on Australia in 2010) then they are currently on 3 maybe 2 (again).
I wish them all the best though, Liberal and Labor (and similiar in other western democracies) do a good job of ensuring only two of them get to compete in the electoral process, effectively managing to shut out any 3rd or 4th opposition to their two party/take turns “democratic” rule.
Now we are down to one, we really do need at least two…..
Abetz is the biggest mistake. He is more reactionary than conservative.
He is closely associated with the ‘catch the fire ministry’ and openly attacks moderate churches who enter the politcal debate.
I just found this old article.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/senator-hits-out-at-heads-of-church/2005/08/28/1125167554276.html
‘Lindsay Tanner and Wayne Swan will run rings around him. ‘
‘Tanner will eat Joyce alive – can’t wait.’
Joyce is in the Senate, at least for the time being.
Whoever is the Government’s Treasury/Finance spokesperson will have the demolition job.
He has had a fairly easy run so far.
Perhaps one of the scariest line ups in history second in line only to Bush’s neocon inner circle (Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Armytage, Fleischer). Since Bush’s inner sanctum have been relegated to the dustbin of history, so should this ridiculously narrow/extremist frontbench. My greatest fear however, is not the lineup itself per se (although Minchin for Resources , Andrews for Families and Joyce for Finance is rather comical in a horror movie kind of way)- it’s the Australian fringe right wing voter that will feel vindicated by such a line up. All this group needs is to exploit another Tampa, another 9/11, another human and environmental tragedy to swoop at ignorant/phobic voters who want to see a return to the hardline policies of the past. So all in all…..dont fear Abbott’s front bench- fear the stupid/ignorant/frightened/skeptic/xenophobic/ insular/voter who will exercise their ignorance and fears by voting for them at the next election.
Andrew G- if you consider this site driven by a bunch of “lefties” then you my friend have the problem not us. I’m sure since you share the name, you assume Andrew Bolt bases his provocative assertions on facts…but hate to break the news to you…they are only facts because you see them that way. You are exactly the type of voter Tony and his mates are after and no matter what people tell you to the contrary, you are incapable of listening to any views other than those that sit with your conservative beliefs and values. So yes,….lefties are capable of questioning, arguing, and disputing “facts” as you lay them bare..whilst those on the right are happy to sit in an ignorant bubble because it suits their narrow insular views. The very nature of the word conservative (to conserve) is itself…opposed to change. How can you ever progress if your views remain so staunchly rigid?
Arnold - I believe Senator Conroy has the responsibility for Treasury/Finance in the Senate. However the previous Shadow Finance Minister was Helen Coonan, also a Senator, so the workload is unlikely to change that much (as it stands he gets more questions about finance than about his own portfolio).
If Abbot is so bothered by the 70,000-odd abortions in Australia each year, presumably because he see abortion as killing a living person, how come he doesn’t seem to give a toss if the Liberal Party’s inaction on climate change will likely kill millions of living people — - wouldn’t be because they are mostly poor and coloured, would it? It begs the question whether Abbot would condone abortion of fetuses of black parents without enough money to make a donation to the Liberal Party!!
75,000 abortions/year id the recognised lowest end of respectable estimates ehich rang to 140,000
The fact that there are no accurate figures or estimates is an indictment in itself of our ‘centre’ left culture.
Presumably the aptly titled Will Robinson thinks a pregnancy cull rate of 25 - 50% reflects well on our society?
Well those aborted foetuses/’potential’ human lives will certainly never get to vote will they Danger?
*Crickets* again.
Why do my posts always stop the conversation dead?
Maybe I should change my nom de plume to ‘Too Close to the Bone’?
Indeed the new line-up is most all Neo-Con, but I don’t see that as placing them on the outer.
Thatcher dictated for a long time/the RumsCheneBush Junta was reelected/ the Howard Regime did more than ten minutes.
There are many who relish this type of dictatorial bullying style of ‘Government’ that quite blatantly favours the adroit and powerful.
Don’t underestimate this new group;-they’ve already demonstrated how they operate. There are very many who will support them,-that WILL increase. Hopefully not enough to get them over the line sooner. But later??
JAMESK
Next thing you will be telling us is that every sperm counts too?
I hope you don”t masturbate, remember god is watching!
What worries me about this shift to the right of the Coalition is that it will shift debate on every single political issue in that direction. In a country with a decent media this wouldn’t automatically happen, and extreme policies would be attacked and derided.
Sadly, in Australia, journos (present company excepted!), especially those on tv and radio, more and more often query politicians and comment on their policies on the basis of how those policies compare with the other major party, how they sit with the electorate, and who is currently winning the ‘Canberra footy match’ rather than on whether the policies are actually any good and whether they’ll be effective according to the evidence of experts. The ABC’s spurious obsession with balance is one reason for this. Mad Barnaby is getting interviews left, right and centre that don’t challenge him enough on his extreme views.
But I think this return to the Howard era illustrates something else — that the right are willing to be attack dogs and bovva boys, and at least show their true colours. Because of the ascendancy of economic rationalism, progressives, both in parliaments and NGOs, have this policy of quietitude and not scaring the horses. It’s clearly not working. The only way to shift debates to the left is to be willing to state what you believe in, and why. If the ALP had done this, we wouldn’t have a prime minister who spends billions but changes nothing, and our asylum seeker policy, for example, wouldn’t be both cruel and dumb. In the main the Greens have good policies but they need to sell them to the electorate in between elections, eg distributing information brochures that counter some of the dirt.
JAMESK: Of course — I didn’t think of that — Tony Abbot only hates abortion because the aborted are, after all, potential Liberal voters!
You write — and Abbot et al talk — as if the status of fetuses as human beings has been elucidated beyond dispute. And this is the whole problem with people like Abbot. Nobody has ever been able to demonstrate as an established fact, beyond dispute, that fetuses are fully human, but they think so and want to force everyone else to concur. But Abbot doesn’t want to concur with action on climate, even though the majority want it. This is one of many things that makes Abbot a hypocrite.
The whole abortion conundrum is that we don’t — and haven’t been given to — understand our own ontology and metaphysical structure. We’re just having stabs in the dark. Women’s own bodies destroy their unfertilised ova every month in a most undivine way, and most men shoot millions of sperm into oblivion every other day, and if we try to refrain from the urge to facilitate this, our bodies will dismantle and re-absorb sperm cells or unceremoniously soil our sheets with them. So there’s nothing special about sperm or ova before conception.
The crux is whether something special happens at conception, sometime during gestation, or on drawing the first breath at birth to make a pair, or bunch, of cells something of more value than the clumps of cells that get shat out with our turds every day. If a fetus is just a large bunch of cells, then killing it is of no more significance than killing a living apricot by plucking it from the tree and eating it, or, if the human vessel is of no more worth than any other animal, even killing one after birth is no more of a crime than knocking a baby quail on the head and roasting with brioche herb stuffing, baby Cos hearts and peas (yum!).
Nobody has ever been able to demonstrate the humanity of fetuses as an established fact beyond dispute, and when that’s the case, in a civilised society every one should have the right to hold their opinion without having another forced on them. There should be a law allowing anyone not supporting this view to be aborted no matter what their age.
Light a candle JamesK don’t curse the darkness. Perhaps you could suggest a ‘far right’ way of collecting such a statistic. You could also consult with the ‘centre left’ AMA about there views on endless bureaucratic reporting. As an apparent champion of individual rights would you care to comment on why a woman should be forced to tell a (centre right) state collection agency such private information.
AHA I knew it the K man is a crypto-socialist. How else could he decry the lack of a centralised data-base of every medical procedure performed in Australia. A Hawkeite (happy birthday Bob) in Rand’s clothing. Welcome out of the closet comrade K!
If two bacteria join you have a multicellular organism,yet there is no misty-eyed debate about its preservation!
If a virus uses a cell for replication does it not have rights in this universe?
The science is clear, the church is confused!
@Justin Larkin:
Hear, hear. Bet you the dude can/will not answer. He couldn`t answer how a woman unknown to him having an abortion affects him personally when I asked. Like Bernie Goldberg saying on Fox News stating Democrats would be far more likely to abort a feotus with Downs Syndrome. Because, obviously they ask women in America having abortions questions like:
Q: Do you vote Democrat/Republican/Independent?
A: Democrat.
Q: Oh, you must be here to abort you down syndrome feotus?
A: Too right, we Democrat women love aborting feotuses. It`s right up there with smoking crack and having sex with lesbo, commie, unpatriotic, pinot grigio drinkers.
@DANGER WILL ROBINSON
You say: “Nobody has ever been able to demonstrate the humanity of fetuses as an established fact beyond dispute”
Are you seriously attempting to equate the intentional kill of a foetus, identifiably human with a brain, heart and senses that demonstrably function with the death of millions of cells in your body hourly by a natural process of apoptosis? Or even with completely natural attrition rate (compared to their evident purpose) of sperm and ovum cells?
Ok ………….let’s allow tgat silliness thru’ to the keeper.
So……. whilst we consider “our own ontology and metaphysical structure” let’s not even question the killing of half of ‘em?
Is that it?
Are you seriously that intellectually shallow?
@ the Other Clowns
Thanks to Bob Hawke (I’m actually a fan of of Hawkey and Keating) we know precisely how many cardiac operations and appedicectomies are carried out in the country each year.
Mind you the USA is centre-right and they also know those stats.
The US, however in contrast, also knows in fine detail the stats on abortion rates.
Thanks for the link blue_green…was very interested in this comment from Abetz he suggested the media should be asking atheist politicians: “How does your status as a member of the Godless-left impact your decision-making in public life?”…what a stupid ignorant narrow load of crap, the words speak for themselves and sum the fool Abetz up perfectly. No doubt he will continue to preach his right wing religious lunacy and keep reminding the electorate why he and his lot should stay where they are, in a bubble.
@JamesK
You still haven`t answered the questions put to you: why should a woman feel obligated to give details like this to a central data collection agency? and, how does a woman, unknown to you, having an abortion affect you personally?
Can you answer those questions?
I also think the notion (of banning abortions) absurd as a way of fixing the problem. A woman does not get an abortion because they are happy and in control of their lives. Banning abortion does nothing for the root causes of the ‘problem’. Anyone genuinely serious about limitting abortions should advocate voluntary education, birth control and counselling.
I also like the way the Right rally around abortion; but also are totally in favour of killing people overseas with explosives.
@JAMESK
‘So……. whilst we consider “our own ontology and metaphysical structure” let’s not even question the killing of half of ‘em? ‘Are you seriously that intellectually shallow?
No, I’m far more intellectually shallower than that. If some other being or beings is/are responsible for the existence of human beings, they don’t mind killing off 100% of them by any use-by date that happens to take their fancy.
I’m just saying that an ovum is just a cell, a sperm is just a cell, and if a conceptus is anything more than two cells fused, how does it happen and what’s your evidence? The only thing that can be demonstrated to happen from here to birth is cell division (and, yes, apoptosis). So when and how does this cell mass become a muderable human being?
It can’t be demonstrated scientifically, so it’s a matter of faith. And in matters of faith, one person or group should not be allowed to force their views on others. History is littered with more corpses of formerly living humans than all the aborted fetuses in history put together, who were killed (murdered) over issues of faith and religious bigotry.
At bottom, the real problem is not with abortion and the conundrum about when human life begins, but that the human body is over-rated because much of humanity has lost the original universal Indigenous knowledge that we live numerous lives, not just one. My view concurs wiht the traditional Indigenous one — that the human container is just a terminatable vehicle that even ‘god’ throws out in the trash. It’s the cumulative experience (like learning to accept difference and to respect the rights of others to believe what feels true to them) that is important, not the containers.
If a woman doesn’t want to sponsor an incarnation at a particular time or under particular circumstances, no problem — there’s an infinite supply of containers and about 5 billion Earth-years to go till the Sun implodes, so if there’s some kind of soul or spirit looking for a vehicle, it can move on to another one.
I believe this as strongly as Abbot believes abortion is murder. The difference is that I also believe that he should be allowed to hold that view, but he is not willling to extend the same privelege to me.
Sorry Danger!…….. I meant Rollo/Danger
@EVAN BEAVER
Right on! Women get abortions because they get pregant when they don’t want to. Often this is because they are young, precocious, uneducated and promiscuous.
It happens more in what we euphemistically call ‘lower-socioenconomic groups/areas’ — areas where the rich don’t live, areas where low-middle-income people battle on against successive Liberal governments supported and run by wealthy money-grubbers who perpetuate the lower-socioenconomic groups/areas by making life difficult for them financially. The majority soothe the hopelessness with alcohol and other recreational drugs and, after young people have had a few/toke/snort etc, well …
If Abbot wants to reduce abortion rates, he needs to go the root, and make life easier for low-middle-income people by creating a 0% tax bracket for the lowest 20% of workers, and introducing a foreign company tax of 0.05% — which would more than make up the deficit.
If the new Liberal team is so bad, why aren’t you Lefties jumping for joy?
I mean, if they are that bad, then Labor will win handsomely, won’t they? And you can have your ETS and new Trade Union resurgence and your arts funding and your boat people and loads of taxpayer dollars for whatever is the cause du jour.
But of course, that’s not what you really believe.
No, you know full well that out there in the suburbs - the suburbs you deride from the vantage point of your inner-city coffee shops - the majority of Australians are conservatives at heart. You know they are. Real social and fiscal conservatives. You know that they will like what they see in the Liberal team. You know they’ll like their conservative policies.
The Howard Battlers haven’t gone away. The ones who booted Keating out are still around - a little bit older, a little bit more conservative. The ones who shocked you in 1999 at the Referendum and in the 2001 Federal election. Yes, they are still there, waiting to be listened to. Waiting to be taken seriously.
Waiting, in their modest but air conditioned houses in places like Asquith and Chadstone, to have somebody who’ll speak for them.
So ask yourself: if the Liberals are now so bad, why are you so sad?
Dear Peter Phelps,
I liked you better on Stingers.
Regards,
Rollo.
Peter Phelps,they are not ‘boat people’ they are ‘asylum seekers’. But of course by calling them boat people it makes them in your eyes even less deserving of this countries consideration and protection. You ask why so sad. It makes me sad to see the mongrels in the Opposition who will attempt to return to the days of Howard, Ruddock and Andrews. They are well on the way.
Peter Phelps, we have been jumping for joy. Are you jumping for joy about the Liberal’s prospects at the next election?
Enjoyed the speech by the way. Positively Churchillian. I love the way you move me baby.
@DANGER WILL ROBINSON
Hmm, I think there is much more evidence that, at least at a late stage, that an unborn baby is human than there is that “we live numerous lives, not just one”. Though, I do see that you were not making a case for evidence or even logic here.
And I am not so sure how consistent you would be with this. If you had a female friend who had a miscarriage or a still-born baby, I doubt even you would say, ‘Brighten up, sister, after all the “human container is just a terminatable vehicle that even ‘god’ throws out in the trash … there’s an infinite supply of containers and about 5 billion Earth-years to go till the Sun implodes, so if [your] soul or spirit [is[ looking for a vehicle, it can move on to another one!”’ I can’t really see you making the grade as a hospital counsellor.
If a baby can survive outside of the womb, then that seems one good case for the unborn, at least at a late stage, being at the very least provisionally human.
There is a strange double standard when an unwanted pregnancy is “foetus” but when it is welcomed it is a “baby”. But is intrinsic worth simply the product of maternal intent? And … no, I don’t like Catholicism or Tony Abbott. And I don’t want to establish a theocracy. I am pro-choice. But I think most pro-choice women and men would want, in the best of worlds, for abortion to be safe, legal and rare (to quote the Clintons). And to make it rare, there is nothing wrong with counting the number of abortions to see if one’s policies are accomplishing this.
Nice article thanks, informative and an enjoyable read. I suppose the one good thing about the return of the right wing living dead is it will stop all that “Tweedledum, Tweedledee” media talk come election time over the similarities of the party’s positions.
No it’ll be the pinkos against the trogs, the way the Good Lord intended
JAMESK
It does not matter when a fetus is deemed to become a person, because that is not a consideration.
Let us face the facts.
A baby is carried by a woman and the woman decides whether to carry the child to term or not. It is her right, and her right alone, to decide what happens. No-one has the right to force her to carry the child or to force her to abort it. The mother decides if the child lives or dies. World-wide, millions of women make that decision every day.
It is a power women hold, and one men greatly fear. Their child’s survival depends on the decision of the woman carrying it. This must be one of the greatest feelings of powerlessness a man can face. Hence the restriction of abortion and the fanatical fight against it by misogynist organisations like the Catholic Church.
Peter Phelps most of us lefties recognise that a healthy democracy requires an effective oposition. The selection of Abbott as leader and the elevation of Bronnie B, Barnaby “Joh Junior” Joyce and other from the hard right to shadow cabinet has made the coalition electoral poison and as such lessens our democracy.
@Puff.
Asylum seekers, boat people - whatever. Poll after poll shows that Australians do not like ‘refugees’ arriving in boats. Pretty simple.
Atleast the oppositions cabinet is more well known than Stalin, Gillard and the ummmm errrrrr the treasurers name? escapes me now, I’m sure it will pop into my mind when I next visit the latrine.
The lefties will hate and scream rape with this new team. They are so predictable, its boring.
JamesK, about the difference in Australia/US transparency, has that been a factor in the assassinations of doctors by pro-life activists over there?
No. But they now know the rate has been decreasing for the last 5 years
@Peter Phelps, personally I get a chuckle every morning from the prospect of Turnbull on the back bench plotting, plotting, plotting. The best thing for Australian politics since Keating did the same. As for the front bench Holy Incompetence Batman!! As if Barnaby Joyce’s (dubious) attractiveness to the moonbat right neutered because he now has to toe the line was a big enough mistake we have the dog returning to its vomit with Ruddock, Andrews and both Bishops. And what Match-ups. The prospect of Andrews up againts Gillard, Oh the humanity.
My Chuckle growls and grows to a guffaw.
It’s going to be a blood bath and I’m going to enjoy every second.
James Mac, Let not the effects of the most recent injection of pituitary extract into the far right dismay you. The 2013 election with Turnbull out thinking and out manouvering Rudd will be one of the best campaigns we’ve seen since 1993. Gillard will then take over the ALP and thngs will get back to a policy debate intead of the shameless populism we’ve seen.
The Thriller zombie photo is perfect. But it actually makes Abbott look cooler than he’s ever looked before.
SBH - maybe. Turnbull’s got big problems though. He doesn’t know how to communicate with ordinary people, what he says is often too complex. The papers could have interpreted into English for him (as they have been perfectly willing to do for Rudd), but he never established a good relationship with them. Dennis Shanahan hates his guts and uses the Murdoch flagship to twist everything Turnbull says.
And the conservatives see him as a closet leftie. It’s all very well for some here to laugh at Peter Phelps with the latte-sipper cliches and the ominous “out there in the suburbs” to the backing of the Jaws theme. But he’s right. Rudd has convinced Australians to believe in Father Christmas for now. As with Whitlam, they will wake up from it. And when they do they’ll be angry.
This time, they won’t be looking for a Fraser who stands back and lets the country grow the way it wants to. They’ll be looking for a conservative, who asserts control on the same scale that Rudd does, just with a different set of values - conservative rather than (what passes for) “leftie” ones.