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The national sideshow starring Australia’s three amigo independents - Tony Windsor, Rob “let’s all get along” Oakeshott and Bob “your force from the North” Katter - continued yesterday as the trio of potential deal-makers requested to scrutinize Treasury costings of both the major parties.
Julia Gillard, described by Tony Wright in The Sydney Morning Herald as “drowning but still waving,” was more than happy to oblige and quickly gave the amigos’ request an A-OK, willing them to join her in a round of “dear little buttercup, with the sweetest smile…”
But cranky pants “stop the boats” Abbott, on the other hand, wasn’t having a bar of it. He refused point black and - says Peter Hartcher - “folded his arms and jammed his fingers in his ears.”
At this point in time, you’d think both leaders would be prepared to bend over backwards and throw in a few cartwheels to cater for the men who, now with unprecedented power, are capable of selecting which party can form a minority government.
This makes Abbott’s refusal to comply all the more curious. Why not cater to the three amigo’s whims? Why not throw in a few foot rubs too? Has Abbott got something to hide? Is he concealing some streak-marked economic underwear tucked inside the budgies?
Here’s how the pundits reported it.
The Australian
Dennis Shanahan: Forget three amigos, let’s go back to polls
Abbott’s refusal last night to pander to the demand of the three independents to break the caretaker convention is right but will be used against him by an increasingly desperate government.
Tony Abbott under pressure to give into independents’ demand
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has agreed but Mr Abbott has refused, instead insisting they rely on modelling from a private accounting firm. Mr Katter said Mr Abbott’s “intransigence” on this issue would make it harder for the independents to support him becoming prime minister.
ABC News
Abbott’s hidden costings a ‘bad look’
However Mr Abbott says Treasury should not be providing that advice on the Coalition’s plans, and says the Opposition instead wants to hand in its own costings analysis. Kennedy MP Mr Katter told ABC TV’s Lateline that Mr Abbott’s refusal makes it look as though he has something to hide.
Sydney Morning Herald
Peter Hartcher: Gillard’s flexibility makes her difficult to reject
Is Abbott frightened or cocky? Is he determined to hide the truth of the Coalition’s budget arithmetic from public view? Or just very confident that he will ultimately win the support of the three independents in any case? In either case, it is a bad look. He just made it harder for the independents to agree to support an Abbott government.
Phillip Coorey: The seven steps to power
Under pressure last night, Mr Abbott in effect discredited the Charter of Budget Honesty by saying Treasury was incapable of costing opposition promises.
Tony Wright: Abbott’s refusal on costings does not stack up
Tony Abbott knew that if he agreed for Treasury’s costing of his policies to be made public, he ran the strong risk the verdict would be in line with Labor’s estimate - that the policies blow out the budget bottom line by $5 billion over the next four years - rather than the Coalition’s claim that they would improve it by $11 billion.
The Age
Michelle Grattan: Abbott refuses key demand
Opposing the independents’ call for official costing of his policies, Mr Abbott said that, instead, he would make all shadow ministers available to discuss policies, as well as the accounting firm WHK Howarth, which the Coalition used during the election campaign.
Grogs Gamut
Election 2010: Extra Time (or, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Independents
Abbott not wanting the Treasury to go through his costings at his point is a bit like me saying the ATO won’t be able to understand my tax return with the same depth as does my private accountant, so just trust me on what I say I am due as a refund. Sorry, but that dog won’t hunt.
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46 Comments
I turned on the radio this morning in the middle of a discussion about how poorly he came across on television last night.
They said he looked sweaty and twitchy, and questioned the wisdom of putting himself under such close public scrutiny when he was clearly having difficulty coping
I thought they were going a bit far when they said that his behaviour should scare young people, but then realised they were talking about the Ben Cousins doco
This just goes to show that the fruit loop is now worse than unelectable - the man is simply irrational.
He won’t submit his policies for costing even AFTER the election because they might be leaked - presumably giving the Labor party an advantage. But the campaigning is over now, and the votes are already in - so how could it possibly matter?
He doesn’t trust the Treasury. But this is the Treasury that would have prime responsibility for financial management of his policies. How could he possibly expect to govern without consulting Treasury? Disband the whole department and outsource it to “Hogwarts - Accounting-R-Us?”
He thinks the Public Service won’t understand his policies. Does he have such a low opinion of the intellect of our Public Service? But these are the people he would have been relying on in government to implement his policies!
I now know how Alice felt like when she fell through the Looking Glass! The inside of Tony Abbott’s head must be a very confusing place indeed.
Frankly I am shocked (not)
An increasingly desperate right-wing noise machine led by an increasingly deranged Dennis Shanahan want to plunge the country back into the endless banality and ongoing uncertainty of another election - simply because they can’t get the result they want without exposing the fact that the coalition lied about their costings to the Australian people.
I guess we shouldn’t be overly harsh on poor Tony. After all, how can we expect someone to behave rationally when he actually believes the voices in his head belongs to some mythical Sky Fairy who not only created Tony in his own image, and but with the divine intention of his one day becoming Prime Minister of this country
Having grown up up in a Catholic family, I also understand perfectly why Tony Abbott believes it’s ok for him to lie compulsively and without compunction.
I just don’t happen to think that it’s in the best interests of this country and suspect that even Bob Katter find some common ground with me on that one
Alice through the Looking Glass?, Oscar
I thought we had already established it was the Mad Katter’s Tea Party,
with Mr Rabbit as the March Hare,
Julie Bishop as Alice in Blunderland,
and Joe as the Dormouse, asleep at the Treasury
off with their heads
Some predictions for the immediate future:
1. Gillard will announce that she does not want to lead a (slightly) left of centre government but wants to govern straight down the middle with an emphasis on building consensus. She will try to define as much Labor policy as possible as middle ground but will make modifications to meet that middle ground promise.
2. She will promise a government that is more actively listening to citizens. A new office (perhaps within the PM’s department) will be set up to actively canvass citizen’s ideas for better government. It will have its own website for discussion of these ideas.
3. A new plan and authority for regional development and infrastructure will be announced.
4. Rudd will be made Minister for Bob Katter. Seriously though he may be given a co-ordinating/liaison role with the independents.
What do you think?
Looks like Tony is gradually losing the Nice-Tony mask as it becomes increasingly clear that power is slipping away from him. It’ll get quite grisly before it’s over….
You have to love the irony of Tony Abbott accusing Julia Gillard of “trashing the Westminster system of government” simply because she is agreeing to work openly, honestly and constructively with the independents to form a stable government.
Only in that bizarre parallel universe in which Tony Abbott seems to exist most of the time could greater fiscal transparency on the part of government be seen as such a bad thing.
Sadder still is the knowledge that the coalition’s focus groups have obviously already told them that this kind of message might have currency with the bogans of Western Sydney
There’s obviously some rubbery assumptions in the Coalition’s figures which they’ve known from day three (I suspect someone [Joe?] made a blunder on day one and it was too late to fix politically when it was picked up a few days later) which is preventing them from being put before Treasury.
As for the question “Why not cater to the three amigo’s whims?” the answer is simple. Does anyone believe that if the three Amigo’s side with Labor, that they have any chance of holding on to their seats at the next election? More to the point, what kind of policy is actually going to be passed by Parliament with any sort of Government made out of this agreement? Katter is dead-set against a mining tax, Windsor wants harder greenhouse gas targets than even Labor and Oakeshott wants fluffy bunnies and flowers on everyone’s desk for huggles - and 3/4 of them want onshore processing of asylum seekers (something both major parties don’t want to go anywhere near).
These guys talk “stability” but the only thing stable about any Government that involves them (be it Coalition or Labor) will be its constant instability on every issue. A Government with 4 guaranteed years of “doing nothing” is not a Government that has high chances of winning the next election.
Tony “Stop the Boats” Abbott will be able to romp home in 2013 on that slogan alone. “If you’d voted Coalition - you Western Sydney voters - we’d have stopped the boats already!” is an easier argment to make from opposition than from a position of hamstrung Government. The independents will then be punished severely in their own electorates simply because people only love an independent when they remain independent.
Can some right wing supporter please explain to me why as a voting member of the public the results of treasury modelling should not be shown to me?
The obvious conclusion from this is that the parties can lie with impunity before an election about the cost of their promises. That descends into a he said she said argument that cannot be decided on facts. IF one side has lied to the Australian people about finances before they are elected why should anyone support them? And IF one side has not lied but simply miscalculated their costings what sort of other blunders would they make in government?
And I think He refused point black should be point blank. Is your editor on holls crikey?
John64
fluffy bunnies and flowers on everyone’s desk for huggles is that in any way adding to sensible debate?
And most of the rest is load of baloney.
Not many boats arriving in the independents electorates and hows tones cred on the boat phone? All independent voters want is what is best for their own electorates, if they were worried about the phoney boat people beat up then they would have already thrown their vote in to the xenophobia party’s camp.
The electoral count plods on but with interesting progress: it looks like Labor will hold both Brisbane and Corangamite giving them 73 seats with Coalition strictly 71 but in terms of votes of confidence, make that 72 with the WA-Nat.
The Melbourne Green Adam Bandt has always declared he would not vote down Labor so that gives Labor a secure 74 which means they only need 2 of the 4 independents (3 amigos plus Wilkie). This is what is required — ie. a bit of breathing room so the unpredictable Katter and Wilkie cannot hold out for crazy demands. It is to be seen if the 3 amigos can really form a strong bloc; I don’t think so.
No wonder Tony Abbott looked like a deer in the headlights last night. Since Sunday he has known he has not achieved the necessary to pull it off; and that probably also accounts for the return of old Tony since Sunday. No real point.
TwoBob: I was talking about Western Sydney (in seats like Lindsay) where polling shows “boat people” is a hot issue with voters. If it wasn’t an issue, boat people never would’ve been raised in the first place. Ever. The fact remains it polls as a significant issue that voters in key marginal seats believe needs to be addressed - like that or not.
That the independent’s seats are seen as conservative is a separate issue - arguing against that however you want is like wondering why Tony Abbott had a swing towards him in his own electorate. I mean, he’s a conservative misogynist right-wing fear-mongering dinosaur who no-one in their right mind would ever for, right?
This will come as a shock but not everyone agrees on every issue. There is a reason Julia Gillard is talking about an offshore processing centre too - and not about processing them in Australia. Likewise the debate about a “sustainable” Australia.
As for “adding to sensible debate” I’ll throw back at you your own words of “phoney boat people beat up” and “the xenophobia party’s camp”. Sensible much?
All the above notwithstanding, I’d wager good money that Tony is PM this time next month if Labor + Green are no more than 73 seats…
When asked why he had not raised his paid parental leave plan with cabinet I understand Tony said something along the lines of “sometimes it is better to seek forgiveness after the event”.
This pretty well sums up his attitude to promises / costings before the election. Now he is finding himself in a bit of corner as the forgiveness may have to be sought before the prize is awarded.
Does not fit the plan.
Re-election means nothing if the result means they have to sit on the side line again. The 3 bush independents knows that it’s an opportunity which won’t be repeated, and they’ll milk it for all its worth.
Abbott wants a new election, so he does not want the the glaring holes in his budget shoved in his face during a re-election campaign. He will eventually be forced to relent, so the refusal was a political miscalculation. If he wants to be PM of a minority government, he’ll have to re-learn his ‘People Skill’. The 3 bush independents are from the ‘old school’ of politics where personal relationship and massaging of egos matters.
No, he’s concerned about bias within Treasury. He knows that someone in there is batting for Labor. He is right to be cautious.
Well, Centrebet has them at $1.87 each. You won’t get a closer match than this one. Sit back and enjoy. Man, this is going to be good.
I will argue based upon the numbers that the boat people issue is a beat up designed specificly to appeal to the most xenophobic of our society. I will argue it until the cows come home but I do concede that ignorance has made it into an issue.
And what has changed in western sydney since the election? Why would they change? I would wager that those who think it is an important issue have no idea at all of the numbers as a proportion of annual immigrants into our country.
Also I note that your only argument appeared to be against the independents holding onto power in the next election. Nowhere in your post are mentioned seats in western sydney so please do try to include such relevant points next time you post otherwise you look like a dill when trying to defend them.
I am a dill apologies offered
Abbott has just returned to type.Looks like Murdoch is pushing for a new election as well. I hope the Tories do force the people to an unwanted election - it will be a disaster for them.
Oh, really. Like the last election was going to be? Underestimating Tony Abbott is all too easy.
Well, to be fair I could have made that clearer.
We should thank those voters who brought this scenario about. It’s reveling much about many people and none so more than the donkeys in the media.
If I wanted to read their rambling I’d actually buy the publications but I guess this round-up gives one a chance to comment.
The insanity has really kicked in with News Ltd silly reporting of a so-called poll of voters in the electorates of the independents stating they should form government with the Coalition.
Apart from ignoring the wishes of half the electorate, for a media organisation to publish this guff seriously (with headlines falsely implying something else) shows up what a useless bunch of t**ts the are.
Phoney and the fibs made 38 billion (at last count) of promises. Figures can lie and liars can figure.
Anything he offers in addition to this huge bill to the independents has no show of passing muster.
Labor’s health, education and NBN alone are already in the system and costed by treasury. If there was any diddling the coalition’s Godwin Gretch spies will blow the whistle.
David Sanderson’s predictions might all come true but this one
3. A new plan and authority for regional development and infrastructure will be announced.
should be in concrete.
It says a lot that the Howard Government stacked the managers of the Regional Develop monies with their stooges but did nothing to help areas like the independents’ electorates to survive as Bob Katter explained.
The coalition bleat that they paid of Labor’s debt but any debt owed was more than paid off by the sales of Telstra shares, our gold bullion and other commonwealth assets.
So where did the 400 billion mining boom revenue go?
Now that’s waste.
That is an image I didn’t need.
Perhaps Abbott ought to consult his mate Godwin Grech.
Well he does want to leave skidmarks on repaying the debt.
Grech is long gone.
Whats wrong with another election ?
or do you want Bob Katter and the others calling the tune.
Have the guts to let the people be more focused this time around and lets get a clear winner.
The Liberals have made up their mind and Abbot isn’t able to budget. LOL
“Can’t we just keep having elections until the Liberals win?” - Glenn
But not forgotten.
Indeed.
1. Quickly. The margin of error in these polls works out at +/- 7% we just had polls on Saturday that have a margin of error 2-3 orders of magnitude smaller (roughly +/-0.004%) saying they strongly preferred someone not committed to supporting a coaltion government or its policies. I know what I think is more reliable. (Hint: MOE = 1/sqrt sample size) Each of these Indies scored between 62% and 71% 2PP.
2. These polls were taken before all votes were counted
3. The Indies are supposed to reconcile the interests of the nation as a whole with the policies they took to the people. All of them favoured NBN. 2/3 favoured the mining tax and a price on carbon.
If there was one message from the weeken’d’s vote it is that people don;t like to see pollies simply polwatching — something the Australian seems to have missed. That they are impugning the vote in under a week simply adds a new level of offensiveness to what News Limited has done.
The people have handed the politicians a parliament and it is not up to the pollies to second guess what might be wanted every second Saturday. It is up to them to make it work.
I don’t much like Katter, but for better or worse, he was the choice made. Now that Abbott is being revealed as having gone to the polls with policy costings that no qualified independent person can believe, I think this underlines the real value of the Independents holding out for transparency. In effect, Abbott is saying that he wants to ignore treasury until some indeterminate time in the future, should he win. Maybe he plans to sack them all — so much for frank and fearless advice!
We’ve had the election. Now the Constitutional process is in play.
If you don’t like the process, change the Constitution … and good luck with that.
Abbott, having been bitten once already, has asked them to find the snake which is lying somewhere in the Treasury grass.
I think the Three Amigos have enough political nous to recognize stalling for the sake of it, regardless of the range of excuses being trotted out.
Troy, like most other wing nuts finds it very hard to be consistent when it comes to the relative value of leaks.
According to Troy, Toxic Tony and the right wing noise machine, leaks are a very good thing when Godwin Gretch is leaking to the Coalition but suddenly become the epitomy of evil when some other Treasury official leaks to the media to expose Coalition deceit.
But even more incredulous is that the Treasury never actually leaked anything prior to the election that wasn’t supposed to end up in the public domain before the election anyway.
The whole point of the Charter of budget honesty was to put in place a process whereby both parties figures would be submitted to Treasury prior to an election SPECIFICALLY so Treasury can then tell the public that whether said figures were accurate or not.
All that happened in this instance, was that someone in Treasury told someone in the media about the black hole in coalition figures a few days prior to the day which that information would have been released anyway, simply as a matter of course
What we also now know is that the Coalition never intended to submit their policies to their own Charter of budget honesty in the first place.
The West Australian accountancy firm has openly admitted that they were asked to start preparing these figures are the Coalition in June.
Long before any election was called, let alone before any so called leak gave them any reason to distrust Treasury
Toxic Tony and the Turramurra Tea Party simply could not be any more full of shit on this particular issue if they tried.
In fact, the only thing they have going for them right now is that the vast majority of swing voters in marginal seats are simply way too dim to understand they are being screwed
Julia gave professional folios to the independents whilst phooey spruiked at how he loves the bush and Bishop had a fixed smile to cover that she was out of her depth.
Phoney: “Deep down I’ve always been a country member”
“Oh yeah, we remember”, his reply.
An oldie, but a goldie.
4 hours ago I asked
Can some right wing supporter please explain to me why as a voting member of the public the results of treasury modelling should not be shown to me?
The deafening silence here must be taken as No, not one right wing supporter can.
That’s is fine because these things should be made public knowledge BEFORE we vote. Not to do so is dishonesty and yet still some people think they would be better off under a government that is for corporate interest well before public ones. That is logic for you!
TWOBOB, Nobody knows his reasons, except those who aren’t telling.
To speculate without knowledge might be a pretty good way of coming up with answers on the Left, but on the Right it’s not considered very useful.
FREECOUNTRY
Thanks for that, I have missed my morning laugh today but rest assured I pi**ed myself at your proposition. And I reiterate that these things should be made public knowledge BEFORE we vote. Not to do so is dishonest and what is a Charter of Budget Honesty, and why was it introduced?
I wait with bated breath for your next bout of insight freecountry.
Oh Free Country, were the difference so easily discerned.
Ahem as per my earlier posting above, The Age has just caught up with the obvious:
After Hasluck falling to Libs, amazingly it comes down to my own electorate of Brisbane where it is going up and down enough to make one seasick with Libs currently ahead. I suspect this one will be legally contested because the swings do not make a whole lot of sense and unless one streaks convincingly ahead it is going to remain too close to trust. Incidentally we got the Greens (Andrew Bartlett) to 21% so far.
The provision for allowing up to 13 days after close of polls for postal votes to dawdle in is not much fun at the moment.
TWOBOB, I’m really glad if I can make someone laugh. As for my “next bout of insight,” be careful what you wish for.