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 
Tobe,
Fair enough
Having a few probs with the comments time stamp,sorry
must say i only read a couple of lines of mss summers . i clicked on a link from somwhere.but
did not hold my attention,
left right out will be thinking of you,, i find googled maps very good under these circumstances
i was thinking our sons pharmacy was in the middle of all this but it was 2 k away
the google map helped me understand where things as the crow flies is very different to being on the road and going to a place,
so i shall look up shoalhaven bay
then dissapear for the night
thanks every one for not deserting
denese (my say)
Poor Tassie. How are you faring?
The Hobart Mercury is a digrace, as is the ABC. But, Melbourne’s The Age is just as pathetic. I’ve been searching all day for links to what is happening in Tassie, but The Age is treating it as a minor story. What a disgrace.
Just because there are no confirmed “deaths” the Tassie bushfires are relegated to a minor spot (on their webpage, at least).
Tells, the story though, doesn’t it. Just how far a decent broadsheet has moved into tabloid territory.
Does it now only cater for the known tragic effect on our lives? Where death of a loved one is number 1?
And moving house is number 2?
Personally, I hope all your family is safe, and all Taswegians are safe too.
I have family living in the Tassie north, near Devonport. Hope they’re safe too.
But, denese (my say) just like Qlders during 2010-11 and Victorians during Feb 2009, Taswegians will show the same commumity spirit. After all, we’re all Australians.
And good on Giddings for returning from Scotland to take the helm, and PMJG for waiting for her return before arriving in Tassie to take all the kudos.
CTar1,
No idea. If he’s approx 52 and used to live in Duffy Street, Ainslie next to the Smiths, then yes.
fiona – I’ve got no idea where he lives. But Lyndall would fit in as a younger sister well.
Bleached blond hair, red nosed and hairy legged – a then Uni student.
C@tmomma,
Now, when has moi ever been anything other than completely and utterly charmante to toi?
*smooge*
Anyway, I wouldn’t mind extra ice at the moment …
Hey bartender, I’ll have a glass of crushed ice, then top it up with some Bailey’s, thanks.
Great suggestion by Ian, and I am pleased you took it up Joe6pack. Mind you it took me an hour or so to realize that it would have followed on from Joe6pack. 🙂
Love the new site and will be patient for either post numbers or time stamp to find my last post so I don’t miss what anyone is saying. I want to read everyone’s comment. 🙂
Checked all the news coverage tonight, they all did Julia proud. She has certainly grown into a confident and self assured Prime Minister. I noticed everyone around her were smiling, and people wanting to give her a hug.
Everyone have a good night. For all those that are in fire areas, please take care.
fiona – OH and I spent a very, very hot 2 weeks at Ainslie baseball ground in the late 70s when our son played State Jnr baseball for SA. It was sweltering so the nortier parents spent most non baseball moments quaffing whatever around the swimming pool at the Hotel. A great way to defeat hot Canberra days and nights.
I think they poured us onto the plane back to Adelaide 🙂
BB
[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.]
You’ve done a fantastic job. And it looks mighty professional. I wasn’t criticising you at all. But as lead dog-whistler-extraordinaire, I thought Rupe deserved a thumb-nail at least.
Ever since I was forced to sing alto in “Puppet on a String” (Sandie Shaw) and our netball coach’s choreography, I’ve looked out for the Puller Of Strings, and in Australia it is Rupe, followed by Packer’s legacy.
What hope have we got?
BH,
Those were the days!
Okay, I must sign off for the night: doctor and moving abode tomorrow.
Sleep well, and everyone in an at-risk area stay safe.
fiona – ‘and used to live in Duffy Street, Ainslie next to the Smiths’
Allan and Jaws? Get stuffed or I’ll roll out a whole Ainslie football team.
Bushfire/J6P/Fiona/C@tmomma…
Thrilled to bits you’ve taken up my suggestion of naming your blog ‘The Pub’
Hope everyone enjoys the convivial atmosphere and stimulating conversation …the drinks are on me!! 🙂
Well, I’ve been missing in action since last Thursday.
Brief summary:
Friday, in the Latrobe Valley, temperatures were at 40+ degrees (melting point as far as I was concerned). Prior to the top temperature being reached, postcode 3825 had a power outage.
Apparently there was a small grassfire at Trafalgar East, but otherwise no known reason for the outage. By mid-afternoon power was restored, but something had happened to our phone lines during the outage.
I remember reading Gorgeous Dunny and, I think, lizzie, suffering the same problem, but the phones in our street were not re-connected until today. Ah bliss, being able to access online commentary (but thankfully, while internet access was out, we still had radio).
I’ve been silently wishing you all the best over the past few days. And catching up today has been amazing. So many good wishes, so much news I’ve missed out on, but this blog has allowed me to form opinions, to access them, and then to say what I think.
Thanks Joe6Pack, BB, C@tmomma, and Fiona for all your good work.
2gravel
” Great suggestion by Ian, and I am pleased you took it up Joe6pack.”
Love to be able to take credit , but it belongs to markjs1. BTW is anyone else having trouble with the videos? All I get is a black space.
Hey, The Pub. I love it!!
BB:
I read Vanstone’s article earlier and thought it was quite reasonable considering some of the pro-Lib stuff we usually see in Fairfax op-ed pages.
it is still hot around here. i am hoping we are spared tasmania’s fires.
Time stamps will have to wait until tommorow now unless one of you can come up with the solution.
OH is in the pool and I think I may just jump in as well.:-D
Night all
markjs1,
…the drinks are on me!! 🙂
I’ll have a G&T thanks. That’s Gin, Gordons Gin. 😀
I think this post should stay up for the duration tomorrow, because I believe I will be doing a lot of Whingeing. 😉
Puffytmd,
I think the fire situation is contingent on either dry lightning or unmonitored arsonists. 🙂
Puffy, C@t:
A fire in Tas was reportedly started by some idiot who left a camp fire to smoulder out. I heard on the news the police are intending charging the person.
If we’re ordering drinks, I’ll have my usual heart starter of eight schooners of New. Then I’ll get serious.
Actually I won’t have anything. Haven’t had a drink since last Wednesday night in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I got the worst case of food poisoning I just about ever had. Was laid up thinking about a name to compete with Delhi Belly and Bali Belly but the best I could come up with was Cambodia Immodia. Doubt it will catch on. Nevertheless, it had both ends going full bore and if nothing else, it’s a good way to drop five or six kilos. In five or six hours. Couldn’t eat a crumb for nearly two days and managed to throw up a malaria tablet while I was at it.
Disturbingly, the establishment I had the offending meal (the beer was fine) was in PUB STREET! However, more disturbing to me was the habit of young children thrusting babies in your face while demanding “Milk, not money”. I was happy to oblige for the milk but the kid would not settle for anything less than a $22 jar of formula. Which of course gets sold back to the shop owner who is, of course, the leader of the scam. All very sad. I was told it is very prevalent. Happily, all the babies I saw (at least five different scam artists) looked happy and fat. A lot of poverty in this country but at least things appear to be on the up.
The good news from Cambodia is that Australians in general are well thought of as generous and helpful. Our government is also popular as we have provided great examples of practical help such as a bridge across the Mekong and building schools. I wonder how long this will last once Fuck-knuckle gets his grubby mitts on the controls. I’m sure that foreign aid will be one of the first targets – pretty much a given as it is basically Tea Party policy – and we know old Eleventy has some vexing sums on his mind, ie, trying to reduce $110B worth of promises to nothing. Targetting helpless third world children will make his accounts financially happy and and this political urgers idealogically delirious.
While on the subject of Eleventy Joe, he should get to Cambodia post haste. KFC is everywhere and if he wants to mount a leadership campaign, Fatty O’Barrell style by dropping some avoir dupois, then he should head straight for Molly Malones, Pub St, Siem Reap and order the Irish Stew. In his case, order two and he’ll be all prick and ribs and ready for office lickety split!
An update on the Peter Slipper matter:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/mp-peter-slipper-faces-car-travel-charges-20130107-2cciu.html
Apparently he has been charged because he broke a little known rule that says you can’t take a Comm Car out of the ACT. So he did, 3 times, and it has been calculated to have ‘lost’ the Commonwealth money by doing so.
I wonder if he was the only MP to have ever broken this rule?
C@tmomma …
Only the best (& most expensive! 😦 ) for you … 🙂
Markjs1 :$ Sorry, but it still applies, great suggestion.
Awww Ian, sorry, I was so pleased to see you here that I must have had you on my mind. Anyways, it’s the sort of suggestion that you would make, isn’t it. 😉
Andrew Elder @awelder
Hadn’t really thought of @jacquelinemaley as the new Koutsoukis, but it makes sense: via @BushfireBill https://pbxmastragics.com/2013/01/05/six-years-on-and-nothings-changed/ … (ping @GreenJ)
Well done BB. Heaps of tweeps are sharing your post around. I’m assuming the #bushfirebill hashtag has disappeared because you are now on twitter in person.
While I was catching up, I noticed BB did a decisive excoriation on Jacqueline Maley for her 10-pt prediction regarding the election year and was concerned it was leaning too far in favour of Cosby Texor’s ideal message.
When Alan Jones monstered J Maley in Canberra we were on her side. So, what changed?
According to the article, Lara Pearce also had a hand in it.
Lara Pearce is a 20-year-old Sydney University student.
My bias is that SU is a hotbed of Young Libs. But, as I said, I’m biased.
Immediately prior to Pearce’s stint at Fairfax, she was interned for a month at 2GB.
Worse, she’s a member of EU, not the European Union, hell no, but a member of Evangelicals Union at SU.
These folk are Christian fundamentalists, whose criteria for membership is absolute belief in biblical instruction.
I wondered how she could be party to lies as an EU person while helping Maley with her article, but she managed it.
Is this a portent of the way Fairfax is going?
The good news from Cambodia is that Australians in general are well thought of as generous and helpful.
That was my experience travelling through SE Asia a few years ago. Americans OTOH, not so much. We had a Canadian in our group and she was forever having to explain to people that, no, she was not American but Canadian.
Roy Orbison
While I was offline, I finished reading Harpo Marx’s autobiography. I wondered how we’d cope with his references to women – broads and dames! 😆
Then I started reading a book by Roy Whitecross regarding his experiences on the Thai-Burma railway. And then how his regiment was sent to work in the mines in Japan (as POWs). So circumspect, so laid-back, his descriptions of their treatment at the hands of the Japanese is hard to bear.
I’m only half-way through the recount. Sounds as if nothing has changed regarding Dehli Belly et al.
i hope everyone in Tasmania is found safe.
So the Australian Open has begun, and with the predictable absence of any Australian in the tournament beyond the 3rd round, let’s remember the words of a Tennis Whinger from last year:
Alexander says Australia’s sporting dominance on the tennis court has been undone by relentless social and urban changes since the 1950s. Gone are the days when there seemed to be a tennis court in every neighbourhood. “I always maintain that our performance is absolutely in line with the loss of courts, which leads to a loss of participation, which leads to a loss of kids playing competitively,”
And:
“Even funding for the highly regarded Active After-school Communities program has steadily declined over recent years and now only receives a budgetary commitment for the upcoming year.”
Whinge, whinge, whinge.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/tennis/judgment-day-for-australian-tennis/story-fnbe6xeb-1226429234072
Roy Orbison,
I see you made the mistake of ordering the Bacteria Stew in Cambodia. And now you’re back for the hottest NSW day in yonks.
I wouldn’t go wasting my money buying any Lotto tickets if I was you, you’re not going to win! 😀
Just noticed that when I read this blog on Firefox I am missing the time stamps.
However, if I log on with my Android device and it gives me the mobile version of WordPress, the time stamps are there.
Don’t know if this gives you some idea where to look to change the settings, but it might help.
I have actually just signed up for a free WordPress account myself so I will have a bit of a look “behind the scenes” tomorrow.
Now, if anyone is interested in a deconstruction of the myth that has been successfully peddled by the Cons by which they compare National Budgets with Household Budgets, and make all sorts of spurious assertions as a consequence, then this article is for you:
http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/01/busting-the-federal-budget-is-just-like-a-family-budget-myth.html
It also busts ‘Eleventy’s’ ‘Entitlement Mentality’ myth wide open & explores just who really are the ones who believe they are ‘Entitled’.
Thanks for the tip a1m7, but it goes straight over my head! Maybe the others will be able to do more with it. 🙂
ABC misreporting Peter Slipper is to be charged with misusing Cabcharge vouchers. No he’s not!
😡
Confessions,
I’m not entirely sure that is right about the Americans in SE Asia. They were generally well spoken of and in Cambodia in particular they are very appreciative of the help they get with the “American Highway”- the road to Sihounakville (the beach).
In Vietnam, it is similar but they make no bones about what they think of the Americans in regard to the way they conducted their war. Don’t know if you have ever been to HCMC but if you have, you have probably been to the War Remnants Museum. It has some of the most confronting images I have ever seen, especially the Agent Orange section. Utterly horrifying. Same with Cu Chi. They are pretty hard on the American GIs in their commentary but seemed to be particurly friendly with the present day US tourists. They like to make jokes about how we white devils can’t fit into the tunnels although it is amazing that anyone could.
One good thing about this part of the world was that I didn’t see a single bogan – Australian, US or European. Strangely, the worst behaved were the Chinese. No queue short enough for them and never enough food at the buffets. Strange days indeed, mama…
margo kingston @margokingston1
SLIPPER SUMMONS UNUSUAL: My sources say that usually pollies who exceed their cab entitlement are asked to repay (cont) http://tl.gd/kkqg22
RO:
It was in Vietnam and Laos that our Canadian traveller experienced the worst discrimination. She was the girlfriend of a mate, so we couldn’t just recommend she ‘go over there for a bit’.
I went to that museum in HCMC, and walked out in tears because of the images, even though I’m sure they deliberately chose the most confronting to display. Also visited a limb amputee clinic in Laos, just out of Vientianne. Again, the stuff I saw, and the stuff they are STILL dealing with was incredibly disturbing.
Decades after the Vietnam War FFS. It’s heartbreaking.
It’s one thing to try to protect your journalist mate on the hunt for a story.
It’s another to publish lies about him/her.
After Justice Rares effectively called Steve Lewis a liar, what happened? The Smithers did nothing.
Only one journo backed TA.. The others tried to tell us Lewis was just after a story.
Samantha Maiden said she asked Lewis about that “We’ll get him” text, and Steve Lewis told Sam Maiden it was about the driver, AND she believed him. Incredulous Sam!
Not one other journo believes that
In fact, like Rares, we all know the “we’ll get him” text message refers to Slipper.
It is well known that the Sunshine Coast Daily had been waging a war against Slipper prior to the last election. Steve Lewis didn’t commence his vendetta against Peter Slipper until Slipper was made Deputy Speaker.
It doesn’t take too much imagination to understand why Slipper was made Deputy Speaker, especially not a would-be political analyst after the election of a hung parliament. It was obvious to Steve Lewis that Slipper’s defection from the LNP would be sooner rather than later. And Lewis was there to apply pressure and to make sure of it. And, blow me down, the defection happened.
When the Ashby news broke, there was Steve Lewis bragging on radio that he’d been in touch with Ashby for quite awhile, but he also bragged about his vendetta against Slipper.
So, who was Steve Lewis working for, Rupe?
Well said confessions. I remember feeling the same, even more so in parts of Cambodia.
This moderator is going to bed. 🙂
Play nice guys!
C@t:
You are missed at PB.
confessions,
C@t:
You are missed at PB.
Only by briefly. 😉
C@t:
Not just by briefly, but me as well.
When Alan Jones monstered J Maley in Canberra we were on her side. So, what changed?
Actually, it was when I saw Maley interviewed about the Jones matter at the Convoy rally, on the evening after it happened, that I started to distrust her.
She seemed quite upset that she had annoyed Jones, and not at all upset that he had monstered her. I can remember the impression I got that she was somewhat sympathetic to the Convoy, or at least the sentiments or organizers behind it, and that she seemed perturbed Jones hadn’t picked up on that.
What do you mean, “only” by me! Happy New Year, C@tmomma. So glad to “almost” see you. I hope you don’t melt in the heat.
Kezza wrote:
Only one journo backed TA.. The others tried to tell us Lewis was just after a story.
It was, in fact, Mr Justice Rares himself who specifically ruled that Lewis was in the clear because he was just “a journalist doing his job”.
I was quite surprised at this, because Rares was implying that the theft of confidential diaries and conniving with Slipper’s enemies to being him down – including publishing material found to be unsubstantiated and an abuse of process – was somehow “normal” and excusable in pursuit of a story.
In fact there was no story, because the facts just weren’t there. If that’s being a “Good journalist” I think we have a few problems in the offing when Lewis really lets rip some day in the future.
On the other hand, there was no evidence led showing a pattern of behaviour regarding Lewis and the government – Godwin Grech and Lewis’ role in it come to mind immediately. There are MANY other examples. There WAS some evidence that LEwis was particularly interested in Slipper (and no in a nice way) but Rares thought this was somehow, OK.
I am in no doubt that Lewis is biased and is out to shovel as much muck onto the government as he can get away with, to the point of peddling falsities, like the Grech emails and certain other things like highly dubious state government reports on Climate Change, but of course one of this was “in evidence”and so it was irrelevant to the specific Ashby-Slipper case.
To my mind, it was one the anomalies of Rares’ judgement that he was quite generously disposed towards Lewis, and gave him the benefit of many doubts.