Whingeing with the stars.

bushfirebill Uncategorized

Whingeing Australian2

Mandy Vanstone is off and running in the New Year with a whinge about… whingeing.

“Australians used to joke about whingeing Poms but I fear we have adopted that rather unattractive trait as our own. True enough the federal Parliament, indeed most of the parliaments, did not cover themselves in glory in 2012. I am not defending that.

It is just interesting that so many people who are happy to put the boot into parliamentarians do not appear to have tried to excel in their own work. We have a new class of people who appear quite happy to just be critical of others for not meeting the excellence bar.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/stop-whingeing-and-get-up-early-to-beat-the-january-blues-20130106-2cb3k.html#ixzz2HESSRlyr “

Yes, it’s the old “Parliament is a disgrace” gambit, and no, Mandy doesn’t ascribe blame. She just has a whinge that the parliament is a joke. By parliament” she means Question Time.

But the truth comes out in her statement: “I am not defending that.”

Why would Mandy feel she owns some of the responsibility for the goings on in QT? She’s not a parliamentarian anymore, so it can’t be that.

But Mandy is still a Liberal, and it’s the Liberals who have gone out of their way to wreck QT and this parliament. No wonder she feels it necessary to – almost – apologize.

Pointless points of order (most of which are struck down); defiance of the Speaker resulting in record numbers of ejected members; heckling and all the rest of it are all played out to a bored Press Gallery, sitting in their reserved box seats like so many indolent Roman patricians, who maintain the fiction that QT is the most important gauge of governance… why?

Because they can. They have the privilege of the ringside seat, so they flog it for all it’s worth. What’s important – and pointedly, exclusive – to them, is what rates in parliamentary and political coverage.

So it’s all QT’s fault that the nation has turned into one whingeing, seething mass of dummy-spitters, says Mandy.

Wrong. It’s the trash-talk about everything – the economy, industrial relations, retail sales, and yes, parliament – that does it.

It is self-evident that a government concerned with re-election, running the country, keeping the economy on an even keel and passing its legislation through the parliament, would NOT wish to trash-talk its own efforts to maintain peace, order and good government (Can-Do Campbell, with his notable “Queensland is the new Greece” ejaculation, being the exception that proves the rule).

So who is doing all the wrecking?

It’s the side of politics that never has anything good to say, that puts out the message to do nothing – sit on your money – until they get into power, that makes up outright lies about the effect of the Carbon Tax, that threatens continuous elections just to restore us back to “Australia, circa 2007”, that says interest rates are always too low or too high, that tells us no matter how good this month’s figures are that next month’s will be the worst on record, that introduces scandal, smear and outright abuse of the Courts in shady efforts to alter the numbers in their favour, that plays with the lives of boat people just to score political points… in short, the side of politics that never stops whingeing and moaning… they are the ones to blame for the depths to which our nation has sunk.

Once upon a time there may have been a point to it. There was a chance that if they could king hit the government early, convince the independent members to switch sides or express “No Confidence” in the government, we might have had to go back to the people (who elected the hung parliament, after all) and sort it all out. That option expired by about mid 2011.

After that it was just a mindless pursuit of bad polls for the government so that their captive journo mates could write up the next election as a lay-down misere. If the result was so certain then there’s no need to talk about government policy because the government won’t be around long enough to carry it out. There would be no need to talk about Opposition policy because Oppositions don’t “do” policy until the campaign. With no need to consider either government or Opposition policy, we could get down to The Vibe, such an easy ride for all concerned.

  • Writing about The Vibe means you can just spew out whatever comes first into your empty head and pass it off as critical analysis.

  • Writing about The Vibe means you can run the next election endlessly, day after day, week after week, quoting the same polling numbers each time, saying there’s no hope for the Prime Minister.

  • Writing about The Vibe means you can fill columns with you personal political biases, your likes and dislikes, and get it into the newspapers.

  • Writing about The Vibe permits you to dismiss the government and to treat the Opposition as the government-in-waiting, or even the co-government, even though the Opposition has never won a substantive vote or passed a serious motion in the House for the entire time since 2010.

  • Writing about the vibe means you can then blame the government for all this, or at worst, not have to blame the Opposition.

Unfortunately, writing about The Vibe has a downside for it purveyors. Your readers lose faith in you, they stop buying your newspaper, you go broke. As for the wrecker-politicians, their approval ratings tank to almost unprecedented levels. The Economy sags due to low confidence levels. The nation stagnates.

The critical 5% of punters who make up the difference between a vibrant economy and one in the doldrums are too miserable to get out of bed in the morning – Mandy uses this exact “Get out of bed scenario”. They don’t go shopping, or get to work. What should have been an optimistic, energetic place to live becomes a dull ache somewhere in the backs of people’s minds.

Funnily enough, I agree with Mandy, at least half agree with her.

There does need to be a resurgence of confidence and a cessation of whingeing. But it has to come from a recognition of the causes of the nation’s ennui. Australia needs to get a grip on itself and recognize that its salvation is in its own hands.

Confidence is highly under-rated as an economic output. We talk of prices and supply, taxation and industrial relations, market forces and government stimulus, but rarely do we consider confidence as anything more than some kind of waffly feel-good/feel-bad indicator, a product of an economy.

Confidence is not just a product of an economy, it is also equally its driving force. None of the other indicators matter unless the punters have enough confidence to literally get out of bed in the morning and believe their efforts will make a difference, and that their participation in the economy and society will benefit them, their families and ultimately, their society.

When conservative politicians continually trash-talk the economy for no good reason other than political advantage, a spike in the polls, a quip they can make about Pink Batts on Q&A, and when this results in too many people taking them at their word and staying in bed, the consequences can be serious indeed. We’re seeing that now.

A media that’s suffering decline seeks to spread its own misery to the rest of the country. Conservative – Liberal and National in particular – politicians continue a bad habit of negativity whose chance of success expired years ago. Economists, congenitally conditioned to never saying “Bet the house on this” take the easy option and tell their clients and readers, “Put you money under the bed, and then lie in that bed and stay put.” Here’s why: no economist ever got sued for advising their client to be cautious, even stupidly cautious.

Sound familiar?

Our economy is among the best in the world, our dollar is a reserve currency, our life style is rated No. 1, our debt is low, interest rates, taxes and unemployment ditto, we are on the Security Council doing good work around the world, our Treasurer wins prizes for his accomplishments, our Prime Minister is lauded all over as a Boadecia-like figure in the cause of women’s rights, big initiatives – the NDIS, Health and Education reforms, the NBN, anti-tobacco measures and many more – are either in train, or planned in a professional manner with proper consultation and hard bargaining… yet we are told we may as well stay in bed because Craig Thomson looks like he may have used hookers ten years ago, or the PM had a shoe malfunction, or her arse is too big.

Sound familiar?

The commentators are continually wrong about almost everything. Their predictions are laughable, and their errors are grievous. The government will fall, Rudd will come back, the states will never agree, the money can’t be found.

Sound familiar?

It’s not just Question Time or the parliament. It’s a national malaise, infectious and malignant, spread by political and business forces that have a vested political interest in maintaining their cosy pasts, to the detriment of their own present and future self-interests.

Working an extra hour and a half a day – Mandy’s suggestion – should not be the cause of recovery from this illness, it should be the result of it. But it can only become a reality if the conservative political forces that have so far been spreading it start helping to clean it up.

And to do that we first have to face the reality of where this disease is coming from, keep the carriers and spreaders of it from office, and drive a stake through the cesspits they have in place of human hearts.

663 thoughts on “Whingeing with the stars.”

  2. It’s hard to explain because when I try to explain the tags, your browser will interperit as HTML and not display it properly.

    trying again…. “” Bold “” Bold off

  3. markjs1,
    …but U still not getting Gordons Gin …my pension won’t stretch that far 😀

    But it’s my birthday in a couple of weeks! You always buy the barmaid a drink for her birthday! 😉

  6. [b] Bold [/b] bold off

    Now replace all the left brackets with a “less than” symbol (the v that points left) and replace all the right brackets with a “greater than” symbol (v points right)

    Bold bold off

  7. C@t

    Never insult the barmaid, you never know what you’ll get in your next drink!

    Thanks for the clarification.

    I was struggling with the idea of either 6Pack or BB topless.

  8. Bushfire Bill,
    I always predicted a return to hot, dry weather, plus natural disasters like these fires and the awful heatwaves will have a salutary effect on the opinions of many re. Global Warming.

    I remember it well. Though you didn’t have to convince me of the real and present danger of Global Warming. I just had to look overseas when things weren’t happening here.

    You know what I reckon now? There’s going to be a whinge start up that the Clean Energy Future package didn’t go far enough! 🙂

    Also, I might add, while we are talking action on Climate Change, a big fat Congratulations! to South Australia for approving the construction of the biggest Wind Farm in the country today!

    I am reminded of that lovely cartoon I saw a couple of days ago which had a person living near a Coal-Fired Power Station belching out it’s CO2, and one living near a Nuclear Power Station Melting Down, such as in Fukushima, and both said nothing, but the person who lived near a Wind Farm was screeching, “I can hear them!!!” 😀

  9. This very cold Coopers Green is going down a treat. Bit panicked, for a while, I was but the smoke has gone away now. Love this pub, so much agro at the other one up the road. Well done Joe & team.

  10. Channel 7 News went very GW. Had a guy saying a single heat wave doesn’t make for GW but…

    Sorry c@t, I got a bit tangled up there in HTML. It seems Square brackets don’t work.

    testing bq shorthand
    testing q shorthand

  11. 199 wind turbines for South Australia …we’re already generating > 25% of our electricity with wind ….& some suggest we’re a ‘hick’ state 😉

  12. Love the new format. And now there’s a date and time!

    It’s looking really great now.

  13. CTar1,
    I was struggling with the idea of either 6Pack or BB topless.

    Blue Singlets, or ‘Wife Beaters’, are the closest we get to allowing men to go topless here.

    And if you want a Skimpy Barmaid, you are coming to the wrong PUB. I CAN”T do ‘Skimpy’, and definitely not ‘Topless’. 😀

    Though I do come from a long line of barmaids! Well, actually, it’s a short line but it goes all the way back to Colonial days. 🙂

  14. C@t:

    How have you coped with today’s heat? Are there any bushfires near where you are?

  15. I think the best thing to do as this is just the very basic “free” wordpress server is to upgrade to to the premium.
    Might make things a bit more user friendly

  16. markjs1,
    >25% must be a record for the country! Imagine what it will be once the new lot of Wind Turbines are put in!

    Also I am really waiting with baited breath for the Geothermal Energy Industry to take off in SA. I haven’t heard much about it recently, so I hope it’s still going strong.

  17. Rummel’s pack haven’t tweeted for a couple of hours so either things are good or things are very bad out at Bungo.

  18. j6p:

    What would be really good is if the header (down to the orange line across the screen) stayed at the top as you scrolled down. You’d always have your header name and missive at the top of the screen that way.

  19. .Might make things a bit more user friendly.

    J6P, this site is a lot more user-friendly than PB, and is fine as it is.

    Let’s know if you need a hand.

    Onya.

  23. Stephen Koukoulas ‏@TheKouk
    Hold on to your hats: Youth unemployment rate in Greece, a stonking 57.6%; 56.5% in Spain.

    Frightening.

  24. confessions,
    I’m OK! We just went in to ‘Emergency Lockdown’ procedure.
    This involved placing extra drinks in our Brushed Aluminium bottles into the fridge, putting Electrolyte Replacement drinks in the freezer, freezing Apple Juice, keeping all the windows, doors and curtains closed-which we really hate doing because we are on an acreage with no neighbours for a couple of hundred meters either way around us, and then they are mostly behind bush, so we normally just have the house wide open every day to enjoy our surrounds.

    Nope, not today, though.

    Though I must admit, when the temperature finally ‘decreased’ from 41C to just 37C, we opened the house up again! And I finally hung out the washing.
    And, just as well I did because when I went out to the clothes line I came across our baby Bush Turkey, who has just joined us in this world, literally flat out on the ground looking like she was about to expire! because she appears to have just collapsed in the sun. She wasn’t in the shade!

    So I got my son to get a bowl of water for her, which she wasn’t much interested in, but also a slice of multigrain and seed bread soaked in water. Which she gobbled up and which literally seemed to bring her back to life. Thank goodness. 🙂

    Though I imagine Bushfire ‘Wires’ Bill will no doubt pick me up on the flaws in my methodology. 😉

  25. Yes, I hope Rummel is OK out there. So much for a quiet time at the Station watching the Cricket! I suppose the Gods saw that the cricket was over.

  27. 6Pack

    always 18

    I’m very glad of that.

    Old farts like me can’t afford to have to rush in at this time of day. 😀

  28. Why the Mammamia Crowd are suspicious of Tony Abbott

    The day Tony Abbott was elected leader of the opposition, I was quite irate. Seared in my mind was his interference in the issue of the introduction of abortion drug RU486 into Australia when he was health minister. Back then, women from all sides of politics – including the coalition – banded together to overturn any personal power he was able to wield in his role as health minister and ensure it remained a medical issue.

    Rightfully. As it always should have been.

    But it was an alarming episode that alerted voters to the potential for personal views to impede public policy.

    http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/this-is-why-the-mamamia-crowd-are-suspicious-of-tony-abbott/#comment-1484080

    Not a bad read, but some of the comments from the Liberati are the usual pap.

  30. PolAnimalAus

    Saw the pic of your cute SilkyJack.
    Very much more the colouring of the pic of the puppy I posted than my tan, almost brindle, and white Ginnie.

    Their little faces are so adorable, they just melt your heart.
    Love ’em to bits.

  31. markjs1
    January 8, 2013 at 7:49 pm

    I think the state of renewable energy here in Victoria is a bit of a disgrace, especially after the Baillieu Gov’t put up more hurdles with regards to wind turbines.

    However, I would like to know what on earth happened to that proposed massive solar plant near Mildura. I vaguely recall something related to one of the investors getting hit hard by the GFC, but haven’t heard if there’s anything being done to revive it.

  34. kezza2,
    Did you catch that lady on the ABC News being evacuated from her farm near Cowra with her Ute full of Red Cloud Kelpies? They all looked the same! They were gorgeous though. 🙂

  37. kezza2,
    What I found vomit-inducing tonight on The Drum was when they were discussing Peta Credlin’s foray into Marie Clare and every bleedin’ Sunday paper in the land to talk about her IVF experiences.

    Cassandra Wilkinson, whom I thought was married to a Labor politician, actually said that Peta was ‘brave’ for coming out in public the way she did!

    What do you do when you have apologists like that for Credlin in the media?

  42. C@tmomma

    I don’t have telly. Well, actually I have a telly but the roof aerial is broken. So I will definitely have to catch the news on iview. It’s probably up now. Will have to close all tabs to watch it.

    PolAnimalAus

    You poor thing. Pets (and I dislike that word) make our lives so much more worth living and without our realising they’ve snuck completely into our hearts. I don’t know what to say. I’ve been in the fortunate position that I’ve never had to make a decision to have one of my beloved dogs put down. I can imagine it’s devastating and would add so much more to your painful grief.

  43. C@t:

    Truly ghastly conditions!

    Glad you survived, better conditions tomorrow I believe.

  44. The Guardian also has a bushfire story.

    Neither mentions Tones thanking JG for going to Tasmania.

  45. C@tmomma

    Didn’t catch The Drum. So, thanks for sticking your fingers down my throat.

    Women seem to be in a bit of a tricky position about Credlin’s IVF. Can’t go in too hard. Although I liked Mia Freedman’s skirting of the issue and went for the “So, what, he let her use the fridge. What was he gunna say, “get an esky” jugular.

    Actually, victoria missed The Drum and was asking for a rundown, more on the Slipper/Ashby stuff though than the Credders and Abbott show faux compassion circus.

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