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 
Ah, jaycee
comic relief from pillitics *wiping tears of laughter*
psst – how does one pronounce Thebarton? I’ve never been game to try it in company.
There is a mainish road running from Maroubra to Port Botany called Beauchamp Road. Locals and strangers alike pronounce it as “beech – am” but we all know it should be “bow – shom”.
Whatever it is, I’m glad I’m not walking along it. Over 40 at the minute and as soon as Mrs O appears, we will be heading for Maroubra Beach and then that other Rex – the one at Pagewood.
Bloody hell!..Kezza2’s got me on about town pronunciations and now BB. has you all prescribing nefarious medications!….what we all need is a darn good whipping!…YES!..down with us all to George’s office!…..He’ll save us.
janice,
I think Bushfire Bill is beyond the lying on the floor pulling his knees up to his chest trick. Sounds a bit too far gone for that. 🙂
jaycee,
This is THE PUB, and we’re here to help! 😀
Kezza2…”th’ebbert’n”……
“Lucas heights, which may have been in Tony’s general area,”
Not even close. Lucas Heights is down south, past Sutherland. TA is at Davidson, on the North shore (St Ives/Frenches Forest area)
Hey BB. I believe Talk Turkey over at The Political Sword is au fait with a certain herbacious remedy for all ills….perhaps a little “parlor chat” will suffice for pain relief!!
Roy Orbison
Maybe it’s a pidgin English direction. As in, Beach? Am thataway.
On patricawa’s email subject (and I trust I’m not choking the conversation with trivia?)…a couple of years ago at the height of ‘cold-calling” selling phone deals, a person of obvious sub-continent dialect calls me…I asked where he was calling from and he says ; “I am calling you from (pause) New South Wales sir”…..’O, right!..how long you been there”….”I was born here sir”…”I ask because I know that part of the country pretty good…what town?”….(a much longer pause while he consults his ‘Calcutta Curry and Cartographie Co.’ map )……………” Birron Bay”………? (click).
But they’re getting more savvy…a couple of days ago I had a bloke with an asiatic dialect call and anounce without prompting that ..: “Hello, my name is Frank Murphy!”…….”O, right!…and tell me Frank..What part of Ireland do your family hail from?”
Thats ISP sorry 🙂
BB,
I am hopeless at medical advice. I can’t even watch medical shows on TV.
Patriciawa,
Ignore the email, but log on to your Bigpond account and check if it’s all O.K. Definitelly DO NOT use the “click here” links provided by the email.
Simon Cullen on twitter
Peter Slipper allegedly used taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers to visit Canberra wineries, according to docs released by the Mags Court today
C@tmomma, most roads in Australia need additional work to them. The Gateway is now at least a 4 lane road from Logan (ish) up to it’s end at Bracken Ridge. It gets slow during peak hours and if any accidents occur from all the rubber neckers slowing down to see what happened. Of course there has been no details of the work that actually needs doing.
But I thought that Robb had already said that they will not have the readies to fund any of the Federal LNP’s infrastructure commitments.
Further
According to police, the trips allegedly occurred in 2010 – well before Mr Slipper was made Speaker.
HI all,
There may be some small interruptions/changes while I try and figure out the time stamp business.
hopefully won’t take to long
Watching the Qbn RFS twitter feed – thing are busy.
Go get ’em, Rummel!
Kezza, Drik Drik is about 1/2 way between Mount Gambier and Portland. Like most towns out there, takes up a lot of area, but has a population of next to nothing.
On the Tony Abbott fire service thing, I always thought he lived in inner north Sydney, which despite not knowing much about Sydney, would hardly be a fire prone area. It feels and awful lot like a stunt, but I guess so long as it gets people aware its not so bad.
C@t, You may be right but these were exercises I’ve been doing to help myself for some 30 odd years of dealing with my crumbling spine – I went through 3 laminectomys over a period of 10 years (3 lumbar levels involved) and my neurologist had me doing the exercises from post op No.1.
I didn’t think it would hurt to pass on what has worked for me and, in fact, kept me out of a wheelchair all these years. 🙂
BB
Three exercises that help:
1. Lie on your back and relax. Use your hands and arms only to pull your bent knees up to your chest but only until it just starts to hurt, then drop away and repeat ten times. Just until it starts to hurt, but no more.
2. Lie on your back with knees bent and heels against your bum. Swing your knees gently from side to side, but only until it starts to hurt, then swing the other way. Repeat 10 times. You’ll find that you can stretch different parts of your back by raising or lowering your knees/feet.
3. Lie on your stomach and pretend your bellybutton is stuck to the floor. Relax. Do ‘sooky’ pushups from the waist up, only until it hurts, then drop away and repeat ten times.
ONLY UNTIL THE EDGE OF THE PAIN – NO MORE!
The pain is coming from muscle spasm. If you can relax the muscles they won’t spasm and the pain will ease, although a bad back is like having a pet crocodile – you know it’s going to bite you, you just never know when ….
The more you do the exercises, the better it will get, although if the pain is chronic, you MUST see your Medic.
Lotsa luck.
halloweenjack1,
But I thought that Robb had already said that they will not have the readies to fund any of the Federal LNP’s infrastructure commitments.
I think Truss put the kybosh of Abbott’s ‘Bob the Builder’ moment as well, just the other week, as Truss would be Transport Minister should we be blighted by an Abbott Government.
Thereore, the only question ever to be asked of Abbott for the rest of the year should be, “How will you pay for it, Mr Abbott?” And if he tries to make some sort of slippery reply about ‘Consolidated Revenue’, he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with that either.
janice,
I agree with you, it’s just that Bushfire needs to get some pharmaceutical help to relax the grip the muscles have on his Sciatic Nerve. I think Muttley McGee has got it right.
!. Go to Dr for Muscle Relaxant medication.
2. Employ exercises as you and he have described.
🙂
Love the new look and the timestamps!
Yay, dates and times are back. Thank you.
victoria
I wish they’d make up their bloody minds about what Slipper has been summonsed for. Hire car usage in Jan, March and June was reported first. Then trips not allowed outside the ACT.
Now, visiting wineries in Canberra. That’s in the ACT, isn’t it?
Any idea on how to access the Mag Court docs so that we can see for ourselves, instead of relying on inaccurate sources in the msm?
Got Time Stamps! 🙂
kezza2,
I’m just supposing Slipper visited Wineries OUTSIDE the ACT in his Comm Car.
Patricia
It is a scam do not answer or reply. Just delete it.
OK go with this for a while see how you like it as I try to work out some other stuff.
Running trucks is soo much easier
Greyhound
(is that you, Gorgeous Dunny?)
Thanks for that. I did look up the name, and its origin is Aboriginal meaning “stoney stoney” – the usual double-up in Aboriginal languages to denote plurals or “many” or “lots of”
So, I’m guessing lots of stone fences as elsewhere in the western district?
I live near the infamous Woy Woy, or many waters. 🙂
https://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.rfs.nsw.gov.au%2Ffeeds%2FmajorIncidents.xml&sll=-33.796924,150.922433&sspn=1.739179,2.469177&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=-32.75825,146.7235&spn=7.2915,13.2388
Corbie Hill grass fire – That’s 3 klms s-w of a friends place (on the Kamarah road). All crops now off and fortunately the fire is going s-w towards the lake.
Geoffrey would have been a bit excited about his sheep.
Dog knows what would have started that – the Barellan-Narrandera Rd is about deserted as it gets.
6Pack – We’ve got timestamps.
Well done!
vic & C@t
The intrepid Steve Lewis was trying to ping Slipper for visiting wineries during his trip to New Zealand.
Slipper obviously has a deep and abiding interest in the study of vinification. Someone’s gotta do it.
Re the CommCar. For some reason I checked Malcolm Turnbull’s financials. And sometimes he flew to Canberra but there was never a return flight to Sydney. But then the Comm Car details (round the same dates) threw up massive sums, like $300-$400 or so, I’m guessing a drive from Canberra to Sydney? (I’ll check later for the actual sums and dates, got one too many tabs open at the moment, am testing fate for a chrome crash).
Now, I know my geography isn’t that great, but I’m pretty sure that Sydney is outside the ACT. So, it can’t be Comm Car usage that’s the problem.
Or Malcolm’s in hot water too. hehe
It’s fun to get a new look every now and again 🙂
Time stamps are good, To nitpick I like the user info in the left margin… and alternating colour for each post… and perhaps a shrubbery… but don’t let it do your head in 😀
BB
I have a spondilolisthesis …… it (not “me”, unfortunately) is 26 years old, and my history is replete with many incapacitations. My L5 has moved 50% forward and doesn’t sit flush on S1. This catches / pinches the sciatic nerve.
For the last 12 years I have been going to an old sports masseur once each month and as a result the worst I have had over that time is soreness, rather than incapacitation.
Believe me, I am well aware of the sciatic nerve rampant ….. pains through the hip, gonads, thigh, calf and ultimately a heel that feels like someone drove a 6″ nail into it. So you have my huge sympathy.
Don’t be too quick to dismiss anti inflammatories. Even when the “pinch” releases, (and sometimes this is quite soon) the nerve often takes 3 or 4 or 5 days to calm down.
For what it’s worth, a few very gentle, half push ups (keep hips and lower body on the ground) was the advice I got from a neuro specialist to release the pinch, but admittedly that was 20 years ago and other methods might now be preferred.
Valium, voltaren, scotch and any illicit “herbs” you can get your hands on would also help!!!
Grrr. “testing” = “tempting”
jaycee
thanks for the guide to saying of Thebarton. Makes sense.
Kezza, no, I’m just a lurker. I checked the location a few days ago because I couldn’t think of where it was, and we live very close to where the Black Saturday fires went. I have friends originally from around Heywood and Casterton, though.
Joe6pack
Well done, you are doing an excellent job with this site. It is just perfect on my computer so you won’t hear any complaints from me. Now about this truck driving stuff…….I hope it won’t interfere with your blogging. 🙂
Oooooh, time stamps and a new look. Cool!
Quick gripe about the time stamps. Can the date format be changed from American style easily?
BB
Three exercises that help:
1. Lie on your back and relax. Use your hands and arms only to pull your bent knees up to your chest but only until it just starts to hurt, then drop away and repeat ten times. Just until it starts to hurt, but no more.
2. Lie on your back with knees bent and heels against your bum. Swing your knees gently from side to side, but only until it starts to hurt, then swing the other way. Repeat 10 times. You’ll find that you can stretch different parts of your back by raising or lowering your knees/feet.
3. Lie on your stomach and pretend your bellybutton is stuck to the floor. Relax. Do ‘sooky’ pushups from the waist up, only until it hurts, then drop away and repeat ten times.
Muttley, they sound more like a little routine I save up for my visits to A Touch Of Class! Except at ATOC, a chandelier comes into it somewhere along the line.
But seriously youse folks… thanks for all the suggestions.
Re. the exercises: I DO do most of them or at least similar. The one where you lie on your back and draw your left knee towards your right shoulder helps me get to sleep. The endorphin rush when you finally relax last for several minutes of bliss. I can see why people take heroin to make the pain go away.
There’s another one whereI sit down with my left leg crossed over my right, except I’m not sitting down…I’m propping myself up against a wall and letting my right foot take the weight. The piriformis muscles in the left side of your bum stretch and that also gives instant relief.
Mine has been diagnosed as a piriformis problem. The sciatic nerve passes UNDER the piriformis muscle in one-in-17 human beings, leading to a tendency to pinch the nerve between the muscle and the hip. The piriformis in turn is spasming because of a lower back degeneration. I am unfortunately one of those one-in-17 people with the nerve passing on the painful side of the piriformis.
As C@tmomma correctly said, it’s not an inflammation problem. Anti-inflammatories have little or no effect until the healing process is well under way. Ony then do they take the edge off it, allowing me to function pretty normally. Using the muscle pain-free at this stage aids in the recovery. I think a lot of favouring painful muscles helps the condition prolong. Once you can walk normally recovery is swift.
Last time I had this it lasted for 8 weeks – awful at the start, not so bad later on.
Osteoopathy/chiropractic does not really help, other than to provide momentary relief, for maybe an hour or so. Too expensive to keep that up every couple of days.
I may give in and get some Neurophen Plus (with codeine).I usually don’t like those kinds of opiate drugs because they bog up my digestion (won’t go into any more detail on that!). But maybe for a day or so I can put up with that “full” feeling, if it gets rid of the pain.
Found some prescription codeine in the cupboard given to me after jaw surgery once. Am tempted to take two and bliss out.
Doctors… today… in this heat? Don’t wanna know about that option right now.
Again, thanks again for all the suggestions!
Re date stamp format
Dashboard > Settings > General > Date Format might help
Just got a phishing email saying “the postmaster couldn’t deliver your email to Microsoft”… I haven’t sent an email to Microsoft, so I won’t be looking at those attachments.
Once again this is a ridiculously aimless piece of writing. This could be separated into several articles but continually authors of this blog blend many themes and ideas into one: WHY?
This piece bemoans whinging, yet that in itself is whinging! Benign irony.
I am an ALP man through-and-through but I still do not condone blatant bias toward my party in an article – that is what this blog does.
A bit of context and opposing arguments would do you well. You say journos lose readers when they discuss the bullsh*t ‘vibe’ (I agree) – but a blog also looses readers when it masquerades as balanced in it’s commentary.
If C@tmomma’s still there, can she recommend anything to dull the pain from a pinched nerve leading to sciatica?
BB – my sister has tried a TENS machine for sciatica which worked for her.
.http://physioworks.com.au/treatments-1/tens-machines#.UOuzgYlesYJ
The local pharmacy will get one in for you if they are not in stock.
[Muttley, they sound more like a little routine I save up for my visits to A Touch Of Class! Except at ATOC, a chandelier comes into it somewhere along the line.]
THAT’S how you hurt your back!! : )
Whatever works for you, BB, and you have to find your own routine.
Sounds like you’re well on the way. Good Luck!
FWIW BB, I had a similar problem over 4 years ago, and literally couldn’t sit down for nearly 2 months. I had tried everything- physios, osteopaths, acupuncture, cortisone injections, and surgery was the next step. At the last moment before booking surgery, a friend recommended a chiropractor who I went to in desperation more than anything else. After intensive work for about six weeks, she basically solved the problem.
I still go back to her every 4-6 weeks for ‘maintenance’, but I swear she’s a bloody genius.
I guess it’s a matter of finding the right person for your situation, but don’t give up!
Hello to you all.
Hope you all had a great Christmas and New year.
I would think there would be a few pollies wondering about their travel just now.
Good work, joe6p, with the date stamps and formatting.
I’m going to be most interested in what the new polls of the year have on satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the LOTO.
If they don’t move, I’m going to be laughing like a drain and I’m betting they won’t move much.
Then what are Credlin et al. going to do?
Have him moving motions of appreciation in the HoR for the PM turning up to work?
This latest bizzo of him thanking her for visiting the Tas. fire damaged regions is just ridiculous.
Paul Sakkai wrote:
A bit of context and opposing arguments would do you well. You say journos lose readers when they discuss the bullsh*t ‘vibe’ (I agree) – but a blog also looses readers when it masquerades as balanced in it’s commentary.
Welcome Paul, I personally removed your comment from auto-moderation. So I guess that somewhat answers your accusation that I and we here are intolerant of criticism or “opposing arguments”.
I must stress, this blog is pretty obviously a Labor-orientated blog and is up-front about that.
As such it has no requirement or duty to run a “Balanced” editorial line, unlike newspapers which claim “balance” as their guiding principle.
I might add that we are not a public company, dedicated to maximising return for shareholders, of whatever political hue, and so can afford to alienate half our potential readership. If Liberal supporters don’t come here, then no-one whinges about that.
I don’t agree with you that the OP is “aimless”. It does weave together several themes, starting out as a critique of a particularly dishonest piece of writing by an ex-Howard government minister.
No, I wasn’t expecting her to be “balanced” either, but it does annoy me when people like Mandy Vanstone hint darkly at the farce parliament has become (as indeed it has) but stop short of admitting that it is their side which is the main offender.
I ask in the post: Why would a government wreck its own parliament and trash-talk its own economic credentials?
The answer, to me, is that it wouldn’t, especially the economic credentials.
I then go onto ask why, and hopefully provide some answers, the Opposition never has a good word to say for any economic metric or good news.
Joe Hockey’s famous, “Interest rates are too high/low” commentaries are a hilarious example of this. I’d go so far as to say that if Joe and his colleagues in the Coalition genuinely feel no confidence in the economy (which I doub, because they are always spruiking it overseas when they think no-one’s listening here in Australia), that even then they should “fake” confidence, or else say nothing at all. Going negative all the time tends to ruin confidence, which is what gets us out of bed in the mornings and keeps us going. But that’s if they are genuine in their gloom, which I doubt.
I’d be interested to know where you think the post becomes aimless?
An answer may be a little while coming as I am about to lie down and rest my bloody painful bad back. But if you DO post a reply, I promise to answer it honestly.