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Not only is Julia Gillard being attacked by the Opposition and the media, she is also being undermined by her own so-called supporters, says Victoria Rollison.
I LIKE TO imagine our present political landscape as it will look in fifty years’ time, perhaps on Wikipedia (the future version of our history books).
I can imagine my grandchildren asking me how, perhaps, the best progressive Prime Minister we ever had was forced out of the job. If she was achieving so much, they’ll ask, why didn’t people support her? I will then have to explain to these innocent little children that it was a crazy time back in the 2010′s. Even those who supported her didn’t support her. It was madness. It was maddening. And it was outrageously ridiculous.
Here’s an example of the madness: Mike Carlton’s article in the Sydney Morning Herald the Saturday before last. He started off the article by saying:
Time to face facts. Time to pull the pin. Julia Gillard is leading the Australian Labor Party towards a catastrophic election defeat, probably the worst in its federal history. For the good of the party and the good of the country, she must quit the prime ministership or be prised out of it.
Mike Carlton
And he followed this statement with the cheek to say he had a ‘heavy heart’. The rest of his article explains how much he respects and admires Gillard, and outlines how much she has achieved, yet he ends it by again repeating that she must stand down. The first obvious point to make is, if this is someone who supports Gillard, imagine how someone who doesn’t support her would behave. But the aforementioned madness is this: it’s the likes of Carlton who are causing the wave of undermination (I just made that word up) which is causing Gillard’s problems!
He has another go at her in this article on Saturday, implying her problems lie in her communication skills. He’s obviously never watched her on Q&A. And obviously in Carlton’s mind, successful policy implementation is far less important than the quality of a sound bite.
Gillard’s problem is not her communication skills. Her problem is that the mainstream media have made up their minds that they will sell papers and increase ratings by encouraging ‘leadership tensions’, thereby painting Gillard as a failure. But it’s this constant barrage of inaccurate reportage of her ‘failure’ which is causing her failure (low opinion polls), which in turn feeds more media speculation that she won’t be Prime Minster in 6 months.
It’s like a Möbius strip that starts and ends in the same place, and appears to have two sides, but really only has one. Instead of having reports of her failings and successes, there is only one story. Her wins are losses, her losses are losses and, in the end, all you have are some outraged people on Twitter (like me) who feel powerless to end the madness!
Another example of the mainstream media’s magic trick of undermining Gillard in one sentence, while claiming she is being undermined in another, was Leigh Sales’ 7:30 interview of Bill Shorten on Monday night and her interview of our Prime Minister on Wednesday night.
Bill Shorten was on the show to talk about the Temby Report on the Health Services Union and the Melbourne by-election
Predictably, Sales quickly went off topic and quizzed Shorten on the strength of Gillard’s leadership. Like a terrier shaking a wet sock, Sales fired off the following questions, completely ignoring Shorten’s attempts to get the interview away from this much travelled path:
“Do you think that it’s a truism that populism matters in politics and that leaders who remain unpopular long enough will eventually stop leading their parties?”
“There are many members of the Labor caucus who are nervous that if Labor’s position under Julia Gillard doesn’t improve that they’ll be out of jobs when they lose their seats at the next election…”
“So why shouldn’t they change leaders then?”
“How would you describe your relationship with Kevin Rudd currently?”
“Did you have talks with him when you were in Washington?”
And so on and so forth. Even when Shorten made the point that the only people asking him questions about Gillard’s leadership are journalists, Sales still didn’t back off and, frankly, embarrassed herself and her profession in the process.
This display was made even worse by a spectacularly ironic question in Sales’ interview with Gillard on Wednesday night. The interview was supposedly about the COAG meeting that day and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. But Sales couldn’t help herself, asking a question which is in the running for the most disrespectful ever asked of a Prime Minister in this country:
“Prime Minister, how does the real Julia feel about these constant leadership mutterings? It would drive anyone up the wall.”
Leigh Sales on 7.30
Do you know what drives your viewers up the wall, Sales? You and your journalist colleagues constantly undermining Gillard’s success with unwavering dedication to the cause of ‘leadership tensions’, however inaccurate and disproved the reality of these tensions actually are. You might think you’re getting away with this now, but history will show differently. We’ll look back at this period not with a distaste for our Prime Minister, or a longing to have been represented by someone other than her. We’ll look back with the memory of inept journalists and their obsession with opinion poll sideshows, gossip and innuendo in the place of facts, positivity and truthful reporting about, perhaps, the best Prime Minister this country has ever had.
And sadly, we’ll also look back at supporters of progressive policy who also undermined Gillard’s success by desperately searching for a silver bullet to beat Tony Abbott when, really, if we all united in our support for her, she would beat him easily. It’s madness people! Madness!
(You can read more by Victoria Rollison on her blog http://victoriarollison.com.)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
34 Comments
End of a long day. Finally got a chance to respond to MarilynS's comments on my post at @independentaus http://t.co/gKDAOjDL
Yeah Victoria, trying desparately to flog refugees off to anywhere but here, jailing Indonesian children in maximum security prisons in breach of the law, jailing 3336 refugee children and 6 of them for life – really fucking progressive. Takes us progressively back to the dark days of turning away Jewish refugees doesn’t it?
Keeping the rotten intervention and theft of aboriginal lands going for 10 more long years, punishing single mothers with financial cuts, keeping soldiers in Afghanistan achieving nothing.
REally progressive Victoria.
The only policy of her own is breaking the law, the rest is down to Rudd’s vision and Australians know it.
She is not a leader dear, she is a follower of the redneck vote down into the gutter.
All big mouths and all a joke call themselves reporters.
Carlton, Sales, Grattan, Scott, Cassidy, And more all totally against a Labor Govt proof is in their actions and comments.
Well just to let you all know all of you bias media including Murdoch & Fairfax all decent people hate your guts and all say piss off.
Prime Minister Gillard will win the next election because the battlers will not take no shit anymore from any of you puppets.
Marilyn, it is about time you stopped posting until you can actually say something that comes at least a little close to an intelligent comment. Also the use of abusive language just highlights your lack of ability to argue an intelligent case. The only person who will take Australia back to the dark ages is your hero Abbott. He has no policies and certainly no vision for an Australia that will succeed in the 21st Century.
Well said Victoria….I completely agree but I would add to that mix, the clear and unmistakable stink of misogyny. Has any other PM been so discourteously spoken of in public?
I have become increasingly alarmed as the impartial ABC has morphed into a right leaning ABC. Sure they have a reputation as left leaning, hence Abbott’s refusal to appear in any interview on ABC, but the reality is that the ABC has followed the media pack to a place that is increasingly becoming out of touch with reality, and is manufacturing news at the expense of truth and balance.
My hero Abbott? Good god. What a cretinous assertion. My problem is that Gillard and Abbott are cut from the same racist cloth.
Would not register a vote for either of them.
I find it amazing that so many racists still infest the ALP but perhaps I shouldn’t considering they authored the white Australia policy and refugee prisons.
I have just Registered to Post a Comment on this website as I find it is such a breath of fresh air from The Drum Website.
But I have noticed Marlyn S spoils it, especially with her disgusting swearing.
Finally, she is getting mixed up with who is very deep in the gutter.
Leigh Sales is a bloody disgrace, she is rude and harangues her subjects if they are from the ALP but grovels when they are Liebral. I,m so jack of the ABC these days, they are taking their cue from murdochs lick spittle rather than actually reporting events.
As for the rest,Grattan et al, everday I thank Gaiafor IA for their fearless and factual approach.
MarilynS
Please for once face facts. For better or for worse we have a ‘two party system’. We need to make intelligent non-emotional choices. Sitting on the sidelines, for whatever reason, will most likely get the no-policy LNP, the monk and his incompetent sycophants elected. Is that really in the national interest, I ask you?
I will not be bullied into voting for any party with a racist who wants to break the law at the head of it.
I am way too old.
I also live in a liberal party seat so what would you suggest?
In fact my retiring liberal member is a true liberal who took in Afghan and other refugees when Ruddock said they should be trampled all over.
I cannot abide liars and hypocrites and I cannot abide human rights abusers pandering to the lowest common denominator.
Apart from maybe Rudd and his backers, who are the main ones pushing for a leadership change?
Abbott
The media
Both are enemies of Labor. Labor should not accede to their wishes.
The media are whining like babies because they think Gillard is going to regulate them.
I would like them regulated so they can only publish proven facts instead of blithering garbage.
I remarked to a friend that not since the Vietnam war rah rah period, which politicised me – and rightly so – have I seen the presentation of just half of the political argument for such a protracted period: one where not only News but Fairfax as well have rounded on the PM in such a ruthless fashion.
Coorey and Grattan, in their commentary on the moderately positive Neilson Poll this morning couldn’t help but make the take-home message one where the PM was, in Peter Costello’s vivid but revolting phrase ‘a carcase waiting to be cut down’.
So full marks to Tim with the long Thai-sounding name for his SMH commentary, giving chapter and verse on what an Abbott Prime Ministership might actually look like.
Thinking about politics isn’t a pastime for a large percentage of the OZ public. They need to be encouraged to do it on a regular basis. They have to reflect on what the current pretenders would actually bring to our way of life.
Thanks Victoria for putting the case succinctly.
I was disappointed at Mike Carlton who makes such sense 99% of the time and can see thru the bullsh*t dished out by the MSM.
The shocking demolition of Julia Gillard (and one should put aside whatever their thoughts are about her and her policies for a time)is an attack on democracy because it’s media driven by hacks desperate to stir the pot.
Mike does himself a disservice by getting into bed with The Parrot and oafs like Ray Hadley. To do so means the media have won and principal goes out the door.
I also do not trust the polls and believe the next election will not be the walkover predicted.
You go Victoria and everyone out there IA land! We all have to do our best – keep talking to waverers, write to papers, ring up the ABC (one of the main offenders), write to the ABC board and send encouraging messages to members of the minority government. Despite the polls, I constantly hear people saying they don’t know what they’ll do if Abbott gets in. I tell them they will be punished like the voters in Vic, NSW and Queensland – especially if they’re are teachers, police and public servants.
Well said Victoria, also agree with Oscar’s comment on Mike Carlton.
I am also sick of Lee Sales pathetic and nasty “interviews”. But then she is following the current ABC style that is also used by the incompetent cringing Chris Uhlmann; Emma Albarici; Tony Jones and Barrie Cassidy. This appears to be a style that is now enforced by the ABC News service on Radio and TV. They are not interested in the answers or engaging in discussion when they “interview”, they only want to push their own opinions and provoke some response that can be used to create “news”. They have destroyed the journalism and objectivity of ABC News services and integrity of the 7:30 report. Q&A and Insiders are just garbage programs now.
Looks like the only true journalism these days is on Independent Australia.
MarylinS, your post shows you should stick to supporting the Alan Jones and Ray Hadley programs. More your style.
Dear MarilynS
Thank you for proving the point I make in my post. It’s a simple point really. If you attack Gillard, you are supporting Tony Abbott. Your hysteria about a single policy you disagree with seems to be more important to you than supporting a leader who is our only chance to ensure Abbott is never PM. I don’t care who your local Liberal member is. Fact is, if you’re not helping support a successful and progressive PM, you’re not helping!
Thanks everyone else for your comments!
Cheers
Victoria
Thanks for the article.
I had noticed that as soon as the Government started governing, Leadership speculation or polling (or rather what reads like push polling) is splattered all over the media to hide the fact.
I think the MSM is rather disappointed with the Ashby and Jackson conspiracies, since they are only lightly reported. Oh for the days when they flayed Slipper and Thomson…when unsubstatiaed rumour could fill column inches for weeks.
The voting pubic has no interest that the man who wants the Seat of Fisher (Mal Brough) met (a number of times) with Mr Ashby. That Mr Brough, texted, emailed and received images of the diary of the Member for Fisher, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I am so glad that the MSM can immediately see that there is nothing of interest over here….
Likewise it is irrelevant that Campbell Newman (Premier Qld) is breaking promises so fast I cannot keep up. (87 at the last count I saw), that Barry O’Farrell (Premier NSW) managed to break 100 promises in 100 days. We are only supposed to worry about ‘no carbon tax’, any lies by Lib, Nat or LNP, cannot ipso facto (latin for ‘of the fact’) cannot be either a lie or a political problem.
Thank god for the internet and for Independant Australia: without these, I might have believed the MSM…..
Don’t be tough on MaralynS- she’s passionate about how refugees are treated and rightly so.
It’s one of Howard’s most horrible legacies continued by the Coalition, It’s Labor’s one big mistake themselves to be boxed in by Abbott. They should have taken a principled stand from day one. They had nothing to lose.
“… But Sales couldn’t help herself, asking a question which is in the running for the most disrespectful ever asked of a Prime Minister in this country”
Chris Uhlmann (same program earlier in the year) was much more disrespectful. Following public outcry, he was moved back to local stories.
This indicates that the faceless men/women who produce the show are responsible for this rubbish. Sales and Uhlmann are just talking heads.
Victoria, very succinct article. Just shows how the Press or MSM or whatever you call it are onto the attack.
Strip away all the hatred of julia Gillard and her government and find a pretty goofd outfit. Who spent some money to save hundreds of thousands of jobs. America looks like it is going into its second recession. Britain has been in its second or is still in it. We are sailing along just very well economically thanks.
What bad memories some of us have. Lets talk about lies. We must go to war in Iraq because they have weapons of mass destruction.
The only people who had the mass destruction were the Iraquis who had their country trashed by George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard. The coalition of the willing.
Not only was this an outrageous lie, it was a concocted one, not casual at all.
How much did it cost Australians.
1/ The lives of soldiers
2/ A huge amt of money
3/ The boat people.
4/ Trashed Australia’s reputation as a “fair” country.
No lie – no war no 1-4 and there is a 5 Political hiatus.
Just the thing the press and the Coalition want.
So the complaints about lies and waste of money are just Humbug by the Liberals.
In Victoria we have a nice Liberal Premier. In NSW they have one too and then there is Campbell Newman.
They have al broken Promises. They all have told lies.
They don’t care about the Public.
They don’t care about Disability (Bailleau, OFarrell and Newman at Coag last week refusing to come to the party.) Pure Politics.
They don’t care About Health (Bailleau promise to make the Nurses in Vic the highest paid in Australia gone to God)
They don’t care about Education. Christopher Pyne has said that Gonski won’t be supported and Ted Bailleau ripped $300 million out of Tafe in May.
Doubtless there are things they do care about but they focus on small sections of Society. The people who have money and want more.
The attacks on Julia Gillard are just a smoke screen for the real and scary ambitions of the Liberal Party.
MarilynS talks about racists. The majotiry of Australians are racist. In their own countries the majority of people are racist. The Catholics against the protestants, The Shiaa’s against the Sunnis, The Hindus against whoever. Its in the blood.
The media is struggling to sell papers. They have a huge competitor. The internet. They haven’t a clue what to do with it. So they concoct things. Take the heady mix of politics and you have a winner. The punter loves a scandal, so lets help the scandals along. Add a bit of sex aka Peter Slipper, add a bit of crime laced with sex aka Craig Thomson. You have two scandals which also play against the Labor party. Perfect.
Politics is really a breat gamble. The odds on politics are in the newspapers. The polls tell the story. Rubbish. the polls tell the story of a tiny proportion of Australian voters, up to 2500. The result depends on whether the poll is constructed fairly (the questions) if it is taken (who is asked) fairly and how it is eveluated. If all this is done (fairly) it gives an indication as to how people might vote at that period of time. However when it really comes down to it the election campaign is where the contenders are found out.
When they are asked real questions and the real evaluation of the last government is hopefully given.
Under Labor we have
a) Low inflation
b) Huge infrastructure investment
c) Exrtremely low debt as a proportion of GDP
d) Most of all policies which advantage all Australians.
The papres might say different but that is the truth.
The sleeping Giant is Workchoices. In a recent Victorian Government (Liberal Government) submission (dec 2011) to Fair work Australia they advocated Workchoices under anew name. They called it flexibility.
Abbott has just started talking about Flexibility. Read Workchoices under a different name.
What did Abbott say “I will be the workers best friend” BULLSHIT.
Their are three media outlets.
News limited. A neo Liberal organisation.
Fairfax. Once a balanced comentator now a player and hence useless as a News service. and
The Australian Broadcasting corporation. A previously left wing organisation which has morphed into a clone (should be clown) of the Liberal party.
The only way to get the “Drum” is to read the original reports yourself. Read Gonski, read the productivity Commission report on the NDIS and then read the responses to the reports.
It is only by this manner that one can make a judgement about the facts of a matter. Then you can see who are the real liars.
The facts about the MSM are that they cannot be relied upon to state the facts objectively about issues which affect the public. Or even about issues which really don’t affect the public really.
If you want to read about Climate change read the reports. They give the facts done by scientific method and peer reviewed by people who know.
If you want to read the facts about Australia’s economy then read the ABS statistics and then make up your mind who is telling the truth about the economy.
The truth is the MSM is a waste of time and it is the puppet of the Liberal Party. Sales and Uhlmann are just two of the bit players.
You can’t say anything you want when you sell a product but you can when you sell a political Brand.
Its time for politicians to be governed by an Act of parliament called the political Practices act. The main clause would be misleading and deceptive conduct.
Such an act should also apply to the Media. Anything said should be factual and backed up by sound analysis and a reference to where they got the info from. (a credible source). There should be no stories starting with “A source form the xyz party….” They should be named.
This is the only way we could deal in reality.
A quick eaample. Since 2010 election Christopher Pyne and Barnaby Joyce have claimed that the Coalition got more votes than Labor.
What do they mean? Primary votes or preferenced votes.
The only one that matters is the 2 party preferred vote because whoever gets over the line there most times has the most seats and can form Govt. Last time they each got the same amount of seats and formed Govt through deals with the independents and Greens, forming a majority. That is the way that Govt was formed.
Tony Abbott seems to think that he was robbed. In fact he was, by a better negotiator. Since then he has tried his hardest (and still trying) to unseat Labor. Using any lie or concoction to unseat them.
The (misinformation) lie told by Joyce and Pyne caqn be disproved on the Australian Electoral website. Labor actually got 30,000+ more votes than the Coalition. puts a different perspective on the argument. Doesn’t it?
I wrote to the ABC QandA and told them as well as the other ABC programs those two appear on. not one commentator has picked them up on their misinformation.
Next time Christopher Pyne opens his mouth and quotes a figure then check up on it. a very good chance it will be mis information.
Its time for each individual Australian to check out what the politicians say by looking up the facts. Don’t believe the main stream Media.
Thank you Independent Australia for being a beacon for thinking people to read some actual analysis and not just ideological blurb.
I agree with others commenting here that MarilynS (Shepherd) has become a serial pest of the IA website; is offensive, abusive, & basically just repeats the same old ignorant tripe over & over endlessly; no matter what the topic. I hope IA at some point will consider moderating her endless trolling.
With regards to Julia Gillard; whilst a clearly biased media, & the most incredibly poor standards of journalism ever, have had a huge impact on her popularity as PM; it’s pretty obvious that there are some in her own party and/or staff, who are traitorous & quite prepared to destroy their own party in government, so long as they can bring her down. Many of the leaks to journalists of leadership speculation, & of anything negative that can be dug up on whatever she says or does in her duties, have clearly come from people she has around her, who she appears to trust. It would be interesting to review phone records for all members of parliament, & all staffers, to find out just who are the moles busily working at trying to destroy her, whilst pretending to be supporting her. They need to be rousted before she can get some clean air. The division & bitterness in the Labor party are not only destroying the party itself, but are damaging to the country as well. These divisions have given Tony Abbott the most ridiculously easy dream ride as opposition leader, & are likely to carry him right to the lodge.
I am not a troll, I do not write tripe and unlike many I do my research and know what I am talking about.
I first met Gillard more than 10 years ago on a number of occasions and know precisely what she is like.
I do not want a Liberal government, have had them most of my almost 60 years and do not like them.
However, I am not some partisan hack for the ALP and will point out again that Gillard should be able to get Rudd’s plans passed quite easily without further negotiation because they are the plans agreed to in advance by the Independents and Greens and Gillard has the friendliest senate in decades for reform agendas.
What I cannot and will not abide is Gillard pretending she can break the law for political gain.
I agree that there are racists in every country, but when shia’s from Afghanistan who have been subjected to genocide for over 150 years are forced to run for their lives do we have to be just as vile to them?
Pakistan is currently forcing out 3 million refugees and they have to go somewhere, the few thousand who arrive here from our wars are jailed and Gillard wants to let them get here, steal everything they have left and ship them to some other place without even a hearing.
The court found that to be illegal, the European courts have found it to be illegal and Italy is paying compensation to some of the victims.
So why do Australia’s scabby major parties and even scabbier media and bloviators think this is a good thing?
If Gillard can’t be bothered with the law then she is no leader at all.
I mean, look at who we are in bed with.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32025.htm
And as the rest of the world is still trying to bring the Sri Lankan criminals to courts for war crimes Gillard declares Jaffna and other areas safe.
Safe? The kids are still learning twice a day about the many different types of bombs laying around, there are no homes, 135,000 people are still displaced, journalists are being murdered and women raped, tamils are being hounded daily and disappeared while Britain has halted all deportations to Sri Lanka because there is evidence of torture of those returned.
Australia though will do anything to get rid of asylum seekers.
MarylinS can defend herself eloquently in print.Let’s not let IA become just an echo chamber.
There is much I am furious about Labor and mainly because they shifted so far to the right. It’s like Fairfax trying to emulate News Corp. All they do is lose all sides.
Labor edging right was controllable under a tough Hawke or Keating but it was like letting the genie out of the bottle dabbling with the dark side,
Sadly we are now at a very crucial point. An Abbott government is a frightening thought although I still do not see that in his future. I’m glad I am old though.
I agree with you Oscar Jones, we should support Marilyn S in her quest for fairness for refugees. But we also need to acknowledge that under the Labor government both public discourse and refugee policy settings have become fairer and more rational than they ever were under Howard. Contrast ‘illegals,’ ‘queue jumpers’ and ‘we shall decide who comes to this country’ with Labor politicians consistently pushing the line that Australians don’t want ‘people’ to die on the open seas.
The use of the word ‘people’ invokes the idea of ‘just like you and me’. Identifying with others is the opposite to demonizing them, the dark art perfected by the Libs. And no one, not even Marilyn, could argue that large numbers of refugees are being treated as badly now, as they were under Howard’s nightmarish regime of indefinite detention and TVP’s.
Congratulations Victoria on a wonderful article. It expresses my thoughts and feelings exactly.
Regarding Lee Sales, I was shocked to see her interview with Clive Palmer a couple of weeks ago. She addressed him as Sir, much to my disgust. How could she have ever thought that was appropriate? Especially in contrast to the hectoring rudeness she shows in interviews with the PM and government Ministers.
How do you think this comment would have gone down in
Australia if it had been expressed by Julia Gillard in the US?
Abbott’s peculiar take on the issue of heads of state may have left some Americans scratching their heads.
“Witnesses will attest that Abbott demonstrated his ‘diplomatic’ skills, when he noted that he viewed the US President as his president, just as he knows his Queen is their Queen. Check with other attendees if you want, but its true.”
Informed and aware voters have a long policy wishlist only a “progressive” government is capable of implementing. It would be incongruous to expect any reforms in the public or national interest to occur under a “regressive” LNP government.
MarylinS
I have sympathy for your cause and empathize with your feelings. But what is not need right NOW are negative and unhelpful comments like this:
“She is not a leader dear, she is a follower of the redneck vote down into the gutter”.
I wish you would refrain from making these global disparaging statements. Cheers.
I can imagine the Chinese smiling politely at Abbott’s stern lecture to them and chortling later when he left the room (much as they did over Rupert Murdoch when they stiffed him for millions).
What do they care about land while they get what’s underneath courtesy of Gina & Clive?
To Marilyn S 30.7. from orderly. I am not against Refugees There about 100 million at least. All would like to come to Australia, What work is Julia going to give them. I am a Registered builder, retired. I could get cheap labor if I wanted it. Who will pay Aust wages [the best in the world] when there is an over supply of work force. Reality is that in this world more than 5 billion people are on less than $8 per day OR have to at the age of between 21 & 27, work as volunteers.
[NO PAY]
I will leave the answer up to someone else. Any comments on a new political party. under written contract, for the people by the people.
orderly1313: presumably as a builder the more citizens we get the better for your business.
Orderly1313.
So the refugee situation boils down to your lack of work…. I bet you have always been a Labor man.
The Australian people know a rotten fish when they smell one and Juliar is on the nose. At time rolls on the Alternative press, http://pickeringpost is exposing the underbelly of the Labor Party and the only news that tells why we are not being told everything that is happening.
And…. Tony Abbott is a lost cause. We now have a situation where politicians generally are thought of as overpaid hopeless individuals. Tony still lives in the dark ages where his fears for a supreme authority gives him a set of rules to live by….. Our political system strives for the vote of the simple minded and as a result we have politicians who simple minded policies to complex problems.. It’s like sitting down to watch TV, it’s mostly crap, but crap made for the majority who feed off it and get fed more crap by advertisers…
The fact that it is so important where a politicians name is on a ballot paper is an indication of the problems with our system of voting
Sorry ucdailoi but your link is a website that’s similar to Wixxy’s Mr Spineless website: heaps of allegations (all anti-Labor Party)with a theme that the allegations are most certainly true and they have the proof : and that proof is because no-one has ever been charged it’s because judges, police etc etc have all been bribed or neutered.
One example is the claim that police are investigating JG’s ex for a so-called union fraud in the 90s. They must be the Keystone Kops. Police never ever investigate an alleged fraud that distant. You would be lucky to get them to look into any matter over 5 years unless it’s murder or a sex assault. Try it sometime.
Plus their proof of that tale : sacked radio shock jock Smith told Alan Jones. Such reliable sources!. Not.
The claims Julia Gillard is on the nose is a fantasy. My work takes me amongst people from all walks of life: The PM is popular amongst women from all parts of society and particularly amongst the North Shore and East. Suburbs of Sydney. I assume that may go for other cities.
My best friends are all country people and Nat voters. Not one likes Abbott. They all want Turnbull as do many business people. None of that means they will vote Labor and switch long time loyalties but this endless claim that Julia Gillard is hated is part of the ‘illegitimacy’ of her government theme.
Now I’m really annoyed.
ucdailoi : you sent me to a website run by that racist scumbag Larry Pickering. Fuck off if you aren’t going to contribute sensible debate and fuck off posting links to nutters.
We get enough idiotic claptrap from drunks and sexual harassers like Smith and that turd Jones (I have my own experiences with that creep that date back before his fall from grace: he’s a mean son of a bitch who has gotten even more dangerous as his credibility falls)
(PS: at travel agent Warwick Vyner’s funeral on Friday Jones did an eulogy via satelite link-up: For the first time in public he wiped tears from his eyes-yet I asked around and not one person out of 12 could actually see the tears)