The edifice crumbles…

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Tony Abbott and his government were elected to restore “sanity” and “trust” to governance in Australia. But national affairs are becoming more insane by the moment. And trust is thin on the ground.

Abbott Fear

Abbott got in because, when he was asked whether he’d tip everything that Labor achieved upside-down, he said he wouldn’t. There were so many unity tickets you’d have thought it was a scalpers’ convention.

He lied about it all, pure and simple. He knew he was lying.

True, the punters were in a mind to at least try to believe him, because of the Rudd termite nest set up inside the Gillard government, but they were worried about Abbott’s soundness on a personal level. The polls all showed they didn’t particularly trust him, as if they knew he’d try to swindle them out of their vote, like a cheap back lane card sharp.

Then there was the interview with Kerry O’Brien, where Abbott himself warned the punters not to believe his own words.

So Abbott, confronted with understandable public scepticism, not only repeated the promises at every opportunity, but he reinforced them by giving a blanket guarantee to keep ALL his promises, a sort of meta promise. Could a man who made such an issue of confidence and trust (as Abbott did) possibly be untrustworthy?

Of course he can.

Liars lie. And they lie about being a liar.

It’s an age-old logical conundrum called “The Liar Paradox”.

In doing this Abbott set his own benchmarks impossibly high, especially for a man like him, who has a reputation for shrugging off commitments and loyalties like a snake sheds its skin.

Eventually the public twigs to this, and that’s what we’re seeing now in polling everywhere. The government has lost its lead, and then some, between the 2013 election and today. It is just not supposed to happen that way.

The Coalition is going into a horror Budget with no set plan, no real policies and no clue as to how they’re going to pull it off except by frightening the bejesus out of everyone. They’re even putting up a plan to tax their way to prosperity, although I’ve lost count of the number of times they told us that idea just never worked.

They’re setting out to scare people, keep them stressed, and to incite fear and loathing in the community by pitting one demographic against the other.

Throw in the absolutist, Bunyip Tea Party nonsense emanating from the Commission Of Audit, and you have the recipe for a perfect political storm.

It’s a relentlessly negative, bleakly depressing strategy, and the voters aren’t buying it. They’re sick of national struggle and being part of a community in a state of perpetual ennui. Labor was comprehensively voted out of office 8 months ago. Labor is no longer the government. The public wants to know where the new Golden Age that Abbott promised has disappeared to. This Golden Age was perhaps the biggest lie of all, given the petty ideological obsessions of the man who said he would deliver it.

It may suit Abbott’s purposes, and his natural style, to have the entire nation on the back foot – that worked well enough for the boxing blue, the self-described “Whirling Dervish” – but it doesn’t cut it for the ordinary punters. A Prime Minister is supposed to raise peoples’ expectations, not king hit them while they’re not looking.

Ultimately voters want to be “relaxed and comfortable”, not having to endure ever more national emergencies, existential threats, working until they drop, less pay for longer hours. We’re not living in an ant colony. We’re a society of human beings. Just because there are some fanatical workaholics in that society doesn’t mean we all have to be part of the Great Machine. Civilization requires time to ponder greater mysteries than how we can afford to educate our kids, or pay our bills.

Life is replete with con artists and the tricks they play, but as crazy and laughable as it may seem, some of the mugs who invest in their get-rich-quick schemes, horse racing software, Nigerian scams, Pea-and-Thimble games and dodgy miracle face creams, have no shame. They were promised something impossible, but that doesn’t deter them. They contact The Check Out, wanting their money back. This is when their anger outweighs their embarrassment.

Similarly, some of the voters, dupes for Abbott’s promises to keep promises, repeated ad infinitum, might not have any shame, either. He only needs a few per cent to return to their initial impression of him as an untrustworthy liar, and it’s all over for the Coalition. Eventually cognitive dissonance becomes simple recognition. And that’s when the electoral rot sets in. Abbott’s cronies and henchmen know this only too well: they invented the game.

Contrary to Julia Gillard’s hurried, half-baked promise not to introduce a Carbon Tax, Abbott turned his personal integrity into grand opera., the fulcrum of the nation by which he told us he was not only glad, but eager to be judged.

He contrasted himself against Labor, depicting himself as a beacon of maturity, diligence, hard work and propriety. The “adults” were going to be back in charge. You couldn’t tax your way to prosperity. They had hundreds of fully-costed and thought-out policies, ready to go at a heartbeat’s notice. His promise was sobriety and honesty. He repeated it so many times it became an over-arching promise in itself: the promise to keep his promises.

Then he started breaking them. Can he ever be trusted again after some of the weasel words that have come out of his mouth in vain attempts to justify his political anarchism?

First he tried parsing his own words, telling the punters that what they thought he promised, wasn’t what was in his own head as the promise he made.

Then he tried the “shock-horror” stuff… look, it’s a rat’s nest in here! Who knew?

Now he’s down to outright breach, simply because he’s changed his mind: the “That was then, this is now” gambit (a phrase Abbott has used himself, about his own changeability).

He makes it up as he goes along. The only narrative is chaos. Thought bubble after thought bubble pop out of his brain and even his own ministers don’t know what’s coming down the Abbott pipeline anymore. He’s the bull who’s loose in his own china shop.

And he’s only just beginning to flex his muscles. They haven’t even gotten to their first Budget yet and it’s already utter confusion out there.

“Sometimes it’s better to seek forgiveness than ask permission”…

… only gets you so far. Just about everything Abbott is doing is more like the former, and less like the latter. He’s embarrassing his own people with his brain farts, and they have to clean up after him, making like they agree with him (which, for the most part, they don’t). One day they’ll get sick of making excuses for Abbott and throw him out altogether, or else the people will (with the rest of his party along with him… that’s the scary part for career politicians).

The Insiders this morning asked why he seemed to be in so much of a hurry.

It’s a combination of his natural style, which is to pick as many fights as he can, as often as he can, and a haunting ghost in his head that whispers to him that he can’t keep on fooling all the people all the time. His days are numbered, so he may as well go the whole hog.

Abbott’s entire career has been based on surviving the day. Thus, a three-year term of government must seem like an eternity to him. I don’t think he can really grasp how long a period “three years” is. He is acting as he has always acted, as if there’s no tomorrow. His classic style is to go for a knockout in the first round, to throw a haymaker at his opponent, even as he shakes their hand, except the Australian people are not supposed to be his opponents.

The ultimate victory of the alleyway spiv is to fleece his victims of their money and then disappear, chuckling to himself that there’s a sucker born every minute.

It’s a good way to get through the day, but it’s no way to run a country.

561 thoughts on “The edifice crumbles…”

  1. Leone. In your calculations regarding the direction of the economy over the next couple of years, you need to start factoring in the strong likelihood of an El Nino from this coming summer, bringing drought to eastern Australia and setting off bleats from the agriculture industries for payments for “unforeseen adverse circumstances”.

  2. With Fairfax journos on strike it will make for a very lean Dawn Patrol tomorrow morning!

  4. BK

    Plenty of picking in the land of the free though. This morning I read of protests in the US from some parents whose teen kids had to read some book for their literature class. The book was about a bullied teen who went to school and shot and killed 9 students and a teacher , wounding 9 others. Horrific eh ? Except their objection was all about the “pornography” on one page where some sexual activity was described amongst two of the students. What a wacko world they live in.

  6. Speaking of sexual activity and school students, I heard a story about an event that occurred a couple of days ago.
    Ah spring is in the air ( although it’s autumn and damned cold ). But maybe a warm spot out of the cold wind led to what turned out to be an embarrassing encounter.
    A young couple were into it under the school Principals window. They thought they were being discreet because they looked up and could only see these black windows. They couldn’t see anyone through that dark glass. The problem of course was that it was reflective film. They couldn’t see in but the Principal could see out.
    Much to their distress apparently they were still coupled when the parents arrived after a call from the principal

  7. I’m doing the ‘Service’ thing on my indulgence E series Merc V8 at the moment. Not un-expectantly the costs mount as it came with no Service Book. Jurgin the mechanic has just called by for $1,100 in cash for ‘parts’. A full service is needed so I have point ‘1’ to start from. All filters, transmission oil change, engine oil change etc.

    Some parts also required for both front power windows.

    I was somewhat taken aback this morning by this.

    And then did a bit of research – Miss Germany requires 16 Spark Plugs – 2 for each cylinder. The decent Bosch Platinum Iridium plugs that are recommended cost $30 each – $500 flashes by … just on those. I doubt that they’ll need replacing in the next decade with the number of kilometers I rack up.

    I think if the Service cost under $2,500 I’ll be lucky.

    Because it’s a joy to drive and I expected this sort of stuff I can live with it.

  9. There’s a lot of bull in HoJo. Should be an even contest.

  10. CTar1

    So ya seen any decent Brumby games lately ? 😉 All hail the McCaw

  14. Not everyone at Fairfax, BB

    Fairfax Media has threatened to sack journalists who have gone on strike in protest at the company’s plans to make 80 journalists redundant.

    An email to all staff from Allen Williams, managing director of Australian Publishing Media, said the strike was “unlawful” and, if journalists went on strike, the company would “consider disciplinary action … which may include the possibility of termination of your employment”.

    Williams said there was “no difference between participating in an unlawful strike and simply not attending work without a proper reason”.

    More than 600 staff from the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age have gone on strike for 24 hours after Fairfax Media management announced another 80 jobs were to be cut without any consultation.

    Staff at the Newcastle Herald, Illawarra Mercury, the Canberra Times and some at the Financial Review also walked out, while the journalists at the online Brisbane Times said they would not make their copy available to the print mastheads.

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/07/fairfax-media-threatens-striking-journalists-with-the-sack

  15. BB – If you’re ‘good’ can you do the other half of the car service for me?

  16. CTar1

    As sincerely as a kiwi can, when it comes to cheering for Aussie teams, I hope the Brumbles end up on top of the local league. As for the sparkplugs. I’d be checking if they were actually in need of replacement or they were replaced because the mechanic was “just following orders” from the Merc manual.

    At the very least keep the reject ones. Members of the platinum family of the periodic table are going to appreciate in value , $20 a gram at the moment 🙂

  17. http://www.news.com.au/national/police-investigating-the-bondi-fight-between-james-packer-and-david-gyngell-want-to-interview-the-pair/story-e6frfkp9-1226908783173

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/07/competition-chief-pulls-out-liberal-fundraiser

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/07/fairfax-media-threatens-striking-journalists-with-the-sack

    http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5576-roy-morgan-new-zealand-voting-intention-may-7-2014-201405070619

    http://markskulley.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/fairfax-management-wheres-the-positive-vision/

  18. kk – Jergin comes recommended and seems honest.

    But still it’s a Mechanic at ‘the end of the Universe’ experience getting this bit done.

    After I’ll know ‘what’ is needing to be done.

  19. CTar1

    With a name like that it sounds like he is from der fatherland . So he may indeed be da man when it comes to looking after German cars.

  20. kk

    I’ve got two stuffed window mechanisms and a selection of used spark plugs to peruse at my leisure.

    🙂 I wonder how quick she’ll go after a service!

    Bottle Shop and back in record time is possible.

  21. If you’re going to the Bottle-O on Belconnen Way Miss G won’t be stretched.

  25. Tlbd – Yep the Belco Way one.

    Very much trusted nephew still can’t work out why I’m quicker up and back than he is from my place. He tries my car with it locked in manual (slap the stick on the side to change up or down).

    I’m not an every day visitor but do know one of the owners well so I can go in and flip a very limited card with an attached post-it with the required numbers on it to someone I recognise at the cash register.

    So on the way out I flash a bottle past, grab my card and am gone.

    He still hasn’t worked out that it’s all in the turn around speed.

    😀

  26. CTar1

    After a proper Teutonic tune up I’m sure the bottle shop run will be uber efficient.

  27. kk – 6 for the price of 2?

    😆 I’d refuse as I limit what’s in the house lest I drink it.

  29. Jaeger

    Nephew and his OH have just sunk $70,000 on a Prado Turbo Diesel. 4 and a half kids … it’s huge.

    My E Series is fairly big but their thing is something Lindsay Fox could make use of.

    50% of the UK vehicle market is now Diesel. The London air has never been dirtier.

  34. jaycee
    Many, many years ago I was a one sixth owner of a Zeta. We bought it for 10 pounds as a bit of a lark. What a classic!

  37. gigilene,

    PRIME Minister Tony Abbott’s daughter Frances has been snapped with her new boyfriend Lindsay Smith for the second time this week — this time with a cigarette in-hand.

    Papa won’t be happy. Hasn’t he said he feels threatened by fags?

  38. I knew Lightburn made cement mixers and washing machines, but I’d never heard of the Zeta until now. It sounds like they used the cement mixer motor.

  39. Anyway, here’s to the discomfiture of the mainstream media commentariat. Betcha they didn’t think they’d have to be writing all this “Aw shucks, Tones is a great bloke. Givvim a chance willyuz?” so soon.
    Finally lost it with 7.30 tonight (don’t watch it much at all anymore, Ferguson’s good but not the rest) & rang to (politely) request that the ABC just once play Julia Gillard’s “carbon tax” sentence in its entirety. Told them I realised such a good job’d been done of hiding the second part that it’d be hard to find, but said words to the effect that I thought the ABC might still have a teensy copy somewheres. But not holding my breath.

  40. leone
    They used a 325cc Villiers engine. In order to reverse one had to stop the motor and turn the key which reversed the rotation direction of the crankshaft. This had the added benefit of providing one with four reverse gears. I must say the handling at 70 kph going backwards wasn’t all too flash!
    Another feature was the fuel gauge – a length of clear PVC flxible tubing connected to the fuel in the tank and routed vertically into the dash.

  44. BSA Bob
    Last week I took a top of the range diesel Hyundai Santa Fe for a road test. It was quite impressive.

  45. Some of those old Pommy 2 stroke engines came with a trap. If the engine kicked back while running & caught again it could restart in the reverse direction. More than one Bantam owner dropped the clutch at the lights only to reverse into the vehicle behind him. It seems to’ve been an amusing, if it wasn’t you, but rare phenomenon.

  48. BK
    Sounds like a nightmare. Stopping to get into reverse! What did the ‘sports’ model have? The washing machine engine?

  49. leone
    The sports had the same engine. I remember the dealer had a test track on his car yard on Adelaide’s West Terrace where we could put them through their “paces”.

  50. Abbott’s “signature maxim” that no country has ever taxed itself into wealth (or wtte.) seems to neglect his religion’s head office..: The Vatican….it has got most of it’s wealth through a “God Tax”.

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