‘Trick of the Trade’ – Some background
The comment “Just wish the Government would ignore Abbott, and move on” is superficially appealing, in normal circumstances. This sentiment ignores the reality of the Hung Parliament, the antics of the Opposition in general, and Abbott in particular. After the ‘Misogyny Speech’ he has delegated the ‘Dirt File work to Julie Bishop, in order to not reinforce his negatives with women.
Ever since his disastrous attempts to convince the non-aligned members to throw their support behind him (remember the lazy $1B he proposed for Hobart’s hospital to secure Andrew Wilkie’s vote) the Opposition has deliberately presented an unremittingly negative front.
The popular epithets of ‘Dr NO’, ‘tNOy’ etc have sprung unaided from the NON Main Stream Media (NON MSM or Fifth Estate) commentariat. The Opposition’s failed attempted Suspensions of Standing Orders (SSO’s), Matters of Public Importance (MPI’s) have resulted in Question Time in the House of Representatives (HoR) resembling an unsupervised children’s playground, rather than a forum of adults, elected to do serious and important work
The latest distraction, the so-called AWU affair from 1995 exemplifies the Opposition’s approach. and Abbott et al are simultaneously attempting to smear the PM and to vilify Unions in general, thus justifying Union bashing if they ever were returned to the Treasury benches (WorkChoices MKII). This bashing they justify partially because of the very successful ‘Your Rights at Work‘ campaign which undoubtedly assisted in the downfall of the Howard Government after 11+ years..
The Independent Australian has a piece on ‘Slatergate‘, as the AWU affair is now ridiculously dubbed by some in the blogosphere, is too little, too soon (Premature Obfuscation). It smacks of the Opposition running hard on a possibly negative story, very much too far out from the next election. Polling by econometrician/statistician Possum Commitatus (@pollytics) seems to bear this out.
The current Two Party Preferred (2PP) polling is very evenly balanced, but to quote old pollsters, ‘the trend is your friend’. Faced with a Government that is producing results, passing 449 Bills so far, and making policy announcements almost daily, eg
- Education – GONSKI
- National Disability Insurane Scheme – NDIS
- Water Sustainability – MDB and
- ASIAN CENTURY WHITE PAPER leaves
Abbott is left bewildered, bothered and bemused about his ‘To Do List’
What is Abbott doing? He is reduced to more and more desperate ‘look-over-there’ ‘stunts‘ , on this occasion, trucking down the Pacific Highway in the Big Rig. This faux activity is designed to hide from , and as a substitute for, real HARD alternate policy development. Also, it (conveniently) physically separates and insulates him from the MSM and questions regarding topical and related issues.
But Abbott was once ACTIVELY INVOLVED in his own ‘fund’. raising questions that require answers, (questions from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) he avoided answering until the ‘Statute of Limitations’ kicked in.Questions about this behaviour are now being asked by Margo Kingston and the Independent Australian.
Perhaps the purpose of his trucking stunt is to put as many road miles between himself and the MSM as he can, The MSM where some have belatedly come to the realisation that a working Democracy requires accountability of ALL parties.
We live in “Interesting Times”
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