I’m so tired…

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With the news that Nikki Savva’s husband, Vincent Woolcock, is working for the PM’s office, it’s starting to look like a typical Turnbull black op is underway.

It’s nasty. It’s vicious. It’s over the top. Quite Turnbullistic.

Abbott Savva

Not that Abbott doesn’t deserve some payback for all the trouble and misery he’s caused.

But whatever the reason, and whatever the truth about Abbott and Credlin (and I’m still waiting for some insider, pundit or Possessor Of The Savvy – where are you, Laurie Oakes? – to put on the record a denial that something sticky was going on) the Liberal Party has turned into a soap opera.

It’s got everything: betrayal, sex, money, beautiful people (well…), power, and greed.

Or perhaps The Munsters Ministers? 

This is what you get when you put a wrecker in charge. It’s a classic Frankenstein’s Monster scenario: when the Beast gets tired of chowing down on villagers, it just burns down the village. Wreckers wreck. It’s in their nature.

Scorpion and frog

Putting Abbott in charge of a party was bad enough. But putting him in charge of a nation? Then cutting him loose? We got “dead” and “buried”, sure, but someone forgot  “cremated”. When you’re dealing with someone who’s so good at coming back from the dead, that’s a serious omission. Pretty soon the public will adding 2+2 on the politics and the party that put him there.

Abbott Credlin Bride of Frankenstein

It was entertaining to see Laura Tingle call the ex-PM “an oaf”, on Insiders Sunday morning.  The Insiders un-loaded, big time today, but where was an assessment this blunt just a few months ago? They even had Nikki on to spruik her book. Gone were the “Prime Ministerial At Last” declarations and the “Bill Shorten is a nerd” jokes. Without the slightest whit of self-reflection it was declared that Tony Abbott had been all bad, all the time. If you ever doubted the Theory Of Evolution, Insiders today was a quintessential example of Darwinian adaptation.

The pushback against Abbott is on the way. The Turnbull forces are hoping they can warn Tony off. They can’t. Tony only listens to himself. If anything is the hallmark of Abbott’s career it’s that, and an inability to toe the party line. When you’re against everything, you stand out, be it in the party room, the cement factory or the seminary. Tony doesn’t like being told what to think. Tell him the subject of the day and he’ll find a way to take the contrary view. It’s his best bet to be different.

Turnbull is similar, but slightly more suave about it. But even with Turnbull the cat gets strangled, the rival is pilloried, the enemy is disgraced. His anger management problem isn’t smaller than Abbott’s, just different.

Right now the Liberal Party has two leaders. Neither will give in. The problem is that neither of them are leaders. The nation can only stand by, watching this farce unfold and for the spoils to sift through the cracks.

(Hint: when things descend to the level of sex-scandal, and you’ve sooled the Feds onto your rival, there’s only one way down.)

Abbott Turnbull Torches

615 thoughts on “I’m so tired…”

  1. Weatherzone still predicting 60% chance of 1-5mm. rain…wtf…..they sure didn’t see this lot coming!..been here ten years and never seen this much rain overnight…Had to dig the horses out this morning!

  3. The boats have stopped?

    Australian Border Force denies asylum seeker boat scuttled after reports six men taken aboard ship

    The Australian Border Force (ABF) has denied sinking an asylum seeker boat earlier this week.

    A group of six Bangladeshi men was taken aboard an Australian ship on Monday, Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.

    “Based on testimony from the captain and the crew, there were six foreign people on the boat,” Indonesian police official Teddy JS Marbun told AAP.

    The news agency said the asylum seekers and two Indonesian crew members were taken aboard the ABF ship before the Indonesian vessel was scuttled.

    “They claimed that their documents, including their passports, were drowned along with the boat, which was drowned by the Australians,” said Mr Marbun, the East Nusa Tenggara water police director.

    Mr Marbun said the Australian officials then sought an Indonesian fishing boat in the area to return the group to East Nusa Tenggara province.

    “Up to now, they’re all still under investigation,” he said.

    But ABF chief Roman Quaedvlieg denied the scuttling claim on Twitter, saying the boat sank because it was unseaworthy

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-09/abf-denies-sinking-indonesian-asylum-seeker-boat/7232010

    I’d take the word of the Indonesian officials over the lies of Herr Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer Quaedvlieg any day.

  5. Bugger me!…The OH. is there working the rowing machine like blazes!…Tel you what, you could release4 her off the east coast in a kayak and she’d make Vanuatu by sunset!

  9. Tony is giving a brilliant expose of just about everything that is wrong with Your Government. Brilliant!

  12. Says telling anyone where they should allocate second preferences is an insult.

    Absolutely!

    ABC24 cuts. Bastards!

  21. Good on Tony Windsor…..maybe he will inspire others to stand up and be counted.

    Gigilene , you are right, Barnaby is only a barnyard turkey in Gina’s chook run and it would be just so delicious if Windsor beats the socks off him.

  22. Windsor’s presser still; going – A-PAC has it and Sky news is running it on their main channel.

  25. Lovely people, the Nauruans. Don’t the dumb fracks realise the only thing keeping their miserable lump of rock viable is the bribe money Australia pours into the place? Without those refugees they would have to relocate to somewhere else, they would be refugees themselves.

    Nauru refugee wounded in vicious machete attack
    http://www.refugeeaction.org.au/?p=4764

    An island with an area of 21 square kms, and the police took and hour and a half to respond.

  28. Wouldn’t it be absolutely amazing to see a repeat of the 2007 election with the LNP losing government this election but with a slight twist in the tale in having the Deputy PM instead of the PM lose his seat this time.

    Go Tony Windsor you champion and good luck.

  30. gigilene,

    Are you inferring that it’s quite likely that LNP underpants (especially Barnarby’s) are going to have to be soaked in buckets of hot water liberally dosed up with napysan! 😉

  33. Independent? The IPA? Really?

    The Weekly Beast: rightwing Institute of Public Affairs gets a say on ABC

    An independent editorial review of the ABC’s business coverage has invited rightwing thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs to put in a submission on what it thinks is wrong with Aunty’s attitude to the corporate sector. It is the first time reviewers have called for submissions from outside parties, and it is perhaps somewhat surprising they’ve asked an outfit that believes the ABC should be privatised to have an input

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/10/the-weekly-beast-rightwing-institute-of-public-affairs-gets-a-say-on-abc?CMP=soc_567

    • What part of “public broadcaster” does the ABC board not understand?

  35. Just got back home from a bit of break with the OH. Things had been a bit hectic and a bit stressful of late so we decided to just disappear for a little while and spend some time together working out which direction we wanted to take in certain matters. It was worth it and everybody including the ungrateful mutts are a lot more relaxed and happy. Funny how dogs can tell when things are not right and when you are stressed they seem to become on edge as well.

    On matters political I hope the little grub is pre selected to contest the seat of Brisbane.

    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-relishing-prospect-of-a-campbell-newman-comeback-in-the-federal-seat-of-brisbane-20160309-gnf0pq.html

    I think he would get his arse kicked. T Gambaro had a fairly big personal following and could quite easily become a labor seat no matter whom the libs pick to stand, but seeing him lose again would be excellent.

    Also some Lib Shrill named Paul Murray from Sky is in town interviewing locals about Clive. Apparently he is broadcasting from somewhere in Coolum tonight.

  36. Been sitting around this arvo’ (I’m a retiree now, y’know) thinking that what the left needs is an arm that’s not afraid of a bit of “biffo”..What we need is another Norm Gallagher and his BLF. boys…THEY weren’t afraid of a bit of biffo!..THEY wore that Eureka flag with pride…Yes..that’s what we need on the left.

    Ahh..them’s were the days..I miss ol’ Norm and his boys…

  37. Jaycee,

    If you’d suggested Jack Mundey I would have agreed completely. But not Norm.

    • Yes, well, Fiona..y’know he wasn’t a pretty sight…not like one of your flash Sydney Swell Unionists…but he packed a whallop did Norm and his boys…they were serious business they were..

  38. Tony Windsor – the man who worked out Abbott 4 years before Australia and his own party.

  39. A bit of info’ …:

    ” Gallagher was raised in Melbourne and joined the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) in 1951. By 1970, he was elected as the BLF’s Victorian State Secretary and radically improved pay and conditions on building sites. His militant leadership style initially united union factions but later alienated the union from employers as well as the Victorian Labor Government and other union leaders.

    He was also a high-profile member of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist).

    “Our union had a long history of concern for the environment. The Sydney union in the early seventies raised the question of the name ‘green ban’. We were a bit old fashioned. We still call them ‘black bans’. For instance, we were involved in the conservation issues as far back as 1940 when they were going to build a small goods factory opposite the Royal Melbourne Hospital. We put a black ban on it, said that it would destroy the environment of that area. It would have had an effect on the patients of the Royal Melbourne Hospital.” said Norm Gallagher in an interview.[4]

    As Secretary of the union, Gallagher also acted to preserve the distinct Melbourne boulevards such as Royal Parade from development[4] and many historic buildings from destruction including the Regent Theatre and the City Baths.[5] A BLF black ban also protected the historic Bakery Hill site in Ballarat, where huge mass meetings were held in 1854 during the Eureka rebellion, from development.[6]”….(wiki’)

  40. jaycee423
    As an old “BLF” man myself I agree! Norm might have been a bit crooked but he did look after us.

    • Norm was as “crooked” as he needed to be to keep those criminal building co. bosses in their place.

  41. Another solid Union bloke..: John Cummmins..

    ” He began working in the building industry in 1972, immediately joining the BLF, where he remained an active and influential member until it amalgamated with the CFMEU in 1994.

    Cummins worked as a labourer and a scaffolder on some prominent jobs in Melbourne, including Collins Place and the West Gate Bridge, where he became a union activist, chairing BLF site meetings.

    His determination and considerable skills came to the notice of the BLF’s secretary, Norm Gallagher, who offered him his first job as an organiser in Melbourne. His next stint was in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where in 1980 he succeeded Jim Bacon, the Melbourne-born former premier of Tasmania.

    His wife, Dianne, and young son, Mick, made the move to the remote area with him. It was a wild time in the west during the previous big minerals boom. In terms of industrial relations, it meant the calm, self-reliant young organiser was put under extreme pressure, but he thrived on the challenge and became a popular and effective organiser.

    A favourite piece of advice, “Stop sooking. You’re only as good as your last blue”, was made in jest, but his work exemplified the truth contained in the maxim.”

    I was working in the Pilbara about that time..I remember those strikes…I remember at the height of conflict some union chaps had absailed from the roof and painted in HUGE letters : “Hammersley Sucks” ..which the management took offence to and ordered men up to paint it out with silver paint…which they did..straight on top of the other letters!…So that the the original statement shone in the bright sunlight louder than ever!

  42. http://mumbrella.com.au/john-lehmann-named-editor-of-the-australian-352304

    https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2008/march/1268869044/gideon-haigh/packed-it

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/10/the-weekly-beast-rightwing-institute-of-public-affairs-gets-a-say-on-abc

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/education-minister-simon-birmingham-revives-university-fee-deregulation-spectre/news-story/a244fb842ecd1e905336a45823c7a2b3 no paywall

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/100k-degrees-still-on-the-table-kim-carr/news-story/0c569c6313b2148ba5ac09914a0bb179 related short article, also free

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-10/australian-singer-jon-english-dies-at-age-66/7235366

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/jon-english-career–from-judas-in-jc-superstar-to-pirates-and-all-together-now/news-story/8ea1a6ee2e906811b1f6be49bc6671d4 free article, AAP

  43. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/no-can-do-campbell-newman-rules-out-federal-bid-20160310-gnfwwm.html

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/08/whole-of-europe-risks-spinning-into-crisis-if-leaders-mishandle/

  44. I get the feeling that when the election is called, the Press Gallery are going to say that Turnbull has been a bit of a disappointment as PM, but that he needs to keep doing it until he gets it right. Their recommendation will be to vote him back in and hope for improvement.

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