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.
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.
THE PUB 
Boys!….I like it…..pour me another one…WAIT!..’ave one yerself!…………ooooooooooo!!didn’t touch the sides..am going to enjoy this!
is the pub open
i bought my tasmanian wine and all so some riccadonna
yum
Bushfire Bill,
This is the offending comment directed towards William that I think patriciawa was referring to:
Tobe: January 7, 2013 at 12:46 am (Edit) …
William passed that comment as a “fair cop” I believe, right here on PBX.
Say..did you notice that piece by Ms. Summers over on t’ Drum?…I may be thin-skinned, but i thought she was taking an extra swing at social media while she was at it!
Good response by G. Bludger!
I got a couple of quick jabs in meself!
Nice one Joe…”The Pub”. Like it.
CTar1
Do me a favor and put up a you tube video
fiona
Don’t call me “norty” when I point out the idiocy of Credlin baring her soul to the media. It was nothing more than a stunt to blame feminism.
I’m pretty sick of the Virginia Hausegger’s of this world blaming feminism for their lack of fertility.
Where was Credlin in 2002 (at age 31) when Hausegger wrote her seminal piece? If Credlin was so keen on procreating, then why accept the job as Abbott’s COS in 2009? (She was 38 then, the same age as I was when I gave birth to my second child – and I worked every day of that pregnancy, in fact, rang my workplace to tell them I couldn’t come in because . . . as I held a squarking babe to the phone, they understood).
Credlin wouldn’t have missed Hausegger’s article. She was educated, smart and intelligent. In fact, when she’d succeeded at getting two LOTOs sacked, she was going to pursue a legal career. Not a sniff of a baby in sight.
Maybe she’s a Labor stooge. Why would TA want to take on such a failure? Why would TA or Margie want one of their daughters to publicise the bimbo-ness of nabbing a wealthy gambling bugger? Does TA need a hand financially?
Anne Summers should have seen through this BS. George Bludgers pic was no more disparaging than my comment. You put yourself out there in the media, and you’re fair game. Not the way it should be, but that’s the way it is.
I don’t see PMJG complaining. Although there’s been reams written about THAT SPEECH as if it was a contemporary female nag. And as if it was the summation of her PMship – extrapolated as if she said the same day in, day out. She hasn’t.
It’s just another big FAIL for TA.
I’m afraid it’s just another wake up call to NOT do a Hausegger.
Women need to have children as early as possible. Don’t shrug it off, girls, do it as soon as possible. If Hausseger hasn’t warned you, then maybe you’ll take heed of Credlin, even though she’s decided to take another year off trying to conceive.
Lemon, lime and bitters for me please.
I like the idea of complimentry blogs within the Fifth Estate…I can’t believe media savvy posters like those on this site and PB. would bother seeking to offend…after all we’re like a couple of brigades of the social media underground fighting a common foe!……..TO ARMS!!…”Venceremos” (or something like that!)
joe6pack,
Yay! ‘The Pub’.
Only problems I can see are that I think the theme needs to be a bit more colourful or visual than plain grey.
Bushfire would probably be the best one to design it. Or maybe there is an ‘Off the Shelf’ one of an old pub?
Also, I don’t think we need to be able to Edit everyone’s posts. 😀
Plus I find the font a bit small and not comfortable to read.
And there are no time stamps.
That is all. 😀
BB – I am in fear.
I also have an original Mirage III gun shot photo of the Gordon below Franklin …
Lock the doors!
Lemon, lime and bitters for me please.
Me too! (Damn Zero BAL 😉 ).
CTar1,
Knowing her, she’d heartily approve.
“William passed that comment as a “fair cop” I believe, right here on PBX.”
No I didn’t. I was referring to his subsequent, much milder comment.
Oh, btw, when I had my second child, at 38, I did so because I didn’t want “all my eggs in one basket” so to speak.
I don’t have a problem with GeorgeBludger’s take on Credlin. At all.
Is it just me or do we not have either post numbers or date and time of posts?
WB.
Removed .
Rules are rules
BB: William passed that comment as a “fair cop” I believe, right here on PBX.
Yes, exactly, however patriciawa may have found it, personally, offensive when directed towards William.
Other than that I can’t come up with another potentially offensive comment, and I have trawled back through this morning’s posts.
msadventure2
working on it
Aha! I was correct. 🙂
C@T it was on the earlier post
If you haven’t seen it, BB, this is where ‘The P.U.B.’ came from:
* Name: My suggestion is The Pub (The Progressives United Blog) ….For me the name encapsulates a relaxed atmosphere where peeps can discuss a range of political issues in comfort & in the knowledge that our ‘land-lords’ will keep us in order….
Also allows ‘tweeters’ to invite ‘followers’ to join in the discussion via links to ‘The Pub’ and any interesting posts therein…
Kinda cool, huh?
Ian/macca51 hilariously followed it up with this:
macca51 permalink
Markjs1
Inspired name and I would hope from your keypad to the ears of the moderation Gods’.
I have just spent a pleasant afternoon in the saloon bar of Joe sixpacks’ friendly pub.
Having cold beer listening to the recitations of Bushfire Bill. You know him. He’s the bloke, with the reserved stool, down the other end of the bar. Sometimes he just sits and thinks, t’other times he sits’n’speaks. But most times he sits, thinks and speaks and most of us listen. Mind you, we don’t always agree with what he’s said, but we listen. When, on occasion, the bar supervisor..C@t Momma joins in the atmosphere becomes jovial. What with the gentle click/clacking of pool balls from the game between Puffy and Mari, the satisfying thunk of yet another dart, thrown by Victoria, hitting a bullseye. Leroy Lynch bursting in every so often and updating us on both race results and formguide. Denese hustling around replacing coasters, scolding at the spilt drinks and delivering the odd clip around the ear to those who swear too much and too loudly. It’s been good.
I think I’ll hang out for a while.
😀
fiona
[Knowing her, she’d heartily approve.]
(My grandfather was a french polisher/cabinet maker so I can recognise a good bit of furniture.)
Pat Brazil got Kenneth Bailey’s set.
The Crown Solicitor and an obscure Deputy Secretary (Lindsay Curtis – Lyndall’s father and singularly the person responsible for whatever Administrative Law we have) flipped a coin (not on the desk) to decide who got the gear.
I hope both sets still survive.
Oy, barmaid – a half of bitters and soda please and no bloody lemon.
Tomorrow, after I’ve seen the quack, I may have a small tincture (btw, no oxycontin since last Thursday).
David,
Greg Hunt, in the immortal words of Paul Keating:
A shiver looking for a spine to run up.
And, my say is commenting here, but like you, and with all our different account names, commenting as ‘denese’. She really is a sweetie, isn’t she? 🙂
Well great Denese (mysay) is here excellent. Miss my days at PB’s chatting with her, she always saw the good side of me 🙂 Thats the only site I have ever been banned from and I am a prolific poster. Anyway good to be here.
Posh Nosh, anyone?
Joe – Great name for the site. Suits the style perfectly.
Well, you did want a vid …
fiona,
You have to be nice to your barmaid here, or I’ll pour the beers with no head and fill up the glasses of the Bitters & Soda with too much ice! 😀
CTar1,
Lindsay Curtis used to keep me awake in my early childhood typing up his law essays (he was a patent attorney first, and then read law) – his study would have been about 6 metres from my bedroom.
I can remember Lindsay and my father trying to get a snake out from under our house, in about 1959.
And it was Christopher Curtis’s fault that I broke my (left) arm – Lyndall must have been a baby then.
BB
Where is Rupe in your collage? Perhaps you can exchange the anti-CP due in the RH top with the director of News Ltd news.
(I note that today, or yesterday, good old Rupe directed his troops by proxy to start in on any Renewable Energy Infrastructure as worthless. I look forward to Oz feature writers telling us over and over again that Green Energy is a waste of money.)
Jeez, Rupe’s good on twitter.
The site just went all peculiar on me…wouldn’t let me let me log in. Though now apparently resolved.
joe6p,
I wanted to ask, did you just turf BillBowe?
due = dude
Hey, where’s the numbers? Or the times? So that a particular post can be identified.
And, yes, the new set-up looks fabulous.
Kezza,
I was giggling about your Safe Injecting Rooms comment. I certainly don’t disagree with your critique of Ms Credlin and her ilk blaming feminism.
HSO
Nope I did delete an offensive comment from tobe
fiona – Lindsay was an impenetrable person. Always difficult to know if he agreed with you or not.
6Pack – What U-Tubes are you after: Smart girls in Atkinson’s do desert?
re Peter Slipper’s trips in 2010 – were they before or after the election. If before, didn’t one T. Abbott enthusiastically endorse Slipper’s candidacy for Fisher?
PS. love the new name. I’ll have a lager please.
Very curt manners whoever that man is who interviewed the PM on 730 Report.
O.K., joe6p, understand now.
Now is there going to be some caucusing/voting about what this site is going to be called? I’m attracted to the P.U.B. idea, I gotta say and could I have sparkling shiraz with that, please?
TLBD, I did so enjoy the Posh Nosh vid, very funny.
Kezza2,
BB
Where is Rupe in your collage? Perhaps you can exchange the anti-CP due in the RH top with the director of News Ltd news.
(I note that today, or yesterday, good old Rupe directed his troops by proxy to start in on any Renewable Energy Infrastructure as worthless. I look forward to Oz feature writers telling us over and over again that Green Energy is a waste of money.)
Jeez, Rupe’s good on twitter.
Geez Murdoch makes me sick!
Why does he think anyone in this country gives a shit what his opinion is on any subject?
I mean he gave up his citizenship of this country solely in order to turn his billions into squillions.
His tweets show a complete lack of shame, who can forget his tweet following the first news of the slipper/ ashby affair along the lines of how unsavoury it all was and there should be an election immediately.
Talk about the hide of an elephant.
He reminds me of a nastier and uglier real life version of Monty Burns, which I guess makes the groveling press gallery a bunch of Smithers’.
Where is Rupe in your collage?
I thought of putting him in, but as the post was about whingers, I left him out. Also he’s not Australian. They’re my excuses anyway.
Each photo took about 10 minutes to find and edit, and there are 15 of them… time was also a factor, as well as making it look relatively professional.
Woops forgot to say thanks C@tmomma for the info, cheers
Just watched 7.30, Ben Knight is very good. Unfortunately I am located in the Shoalhaven and tomorrow sounds ominous .I have been lurking here and have loved the work of the class acts of PB, congrats.
Joe6Pack,
A couple of possibilities:
Exterior (specially for you)
Interior (specially for my hostess for the next fortnight).
david you didnt recognise me,,,,, i am hereeeeeeeer
now i am not saying this becauce it was about our tragic fire situtation,
can i say if tonights 7.30 was conducted in that manner and especially by the gentleman who is
the presenter, was on every night i may , just may watch 7.30 again,
where not the stories amazing, can say i ve been in all those areas, we love our state and walk where we can, well not as much as we did but we drive a lot, nothing for us to set off at 7 am come back midnight having been to every little beach and inlet we can find, and repeating the trip many times going to the same places, it looks different every time depending on the weather.
its our tourist season, i am very sad for people who are losing income, and of course for those who have lost their homes.
but we will all pull together well we already are, as you would of noticed
the pm was so well received you would of noticed as she walked a long,
she is so sincere and it shows
i think she is a bit like a guardian angel
You are very special yourself Denese, stay safe. Your sincerity re the PM is awesum, many many many agree
My offensive comment said pretty much the same thing as the milder version. 🙂 Since it has been bought up again I will allow myself to cross-comment.
I wish William well, he has provided me much entertainment and insight over the years. But I do have doubts about some of his moderation decisions.
Most obvious is that Shows On is allowed to be continuously boring. Does William really think that 1000 repetitions of some Hansard joke in various states of CAP LOCK attracts people to his site? Or that the morose wailings of the perpetual victim Bemused makes for an attractive an engaging read?
End cross-commentary.
i can here the helicopters over head , heading back to fire regions,
the smoke has lifted , as it was quite windy this afternoon and the temp has dropped
riffraff
[He reminds me of a nastier and uglier real life version of Monty Burns, which I guess makes the groveling press gallery a bunch of Smithers’]
Yes, well done, that’s what the PG is, the Smithers.
Just like Sam Maiden yesterday trying to rewrite history, telling everyone who’d listen that TA had been misrepresented, EXCEPT he hadn’t been. He’s said those truly remarkable offensive remarks about women and reproduction.
Rupe’s tweets tell his minions what to write.
Of course, we all remember Rupe’s feeble attempts at twittering, like “Australia needs an election MOW’ and instantaneously all the News Ltd papers carry the anti-Labor message to a new height.
Leave us alone Rupert. You played your cards too early. And piss off Smithers, your time is up.
The New Media has overtaken you.
fiona – Chris Curtis the property guy? Get stuffed!