LOL.....except that it's no laughing matter when dishonest, dishonourable, or corrupt politicians are retained by their party, and in some cases even allowed to go higher up the ladder.
Maybe I'll start a thread titled 'Political Boofheads' where we can name and shame corrupt and dishonourable politicians.
If they were approached beforehand to appear on the program (it would be extraodrinary if otherwise), they obviously declined and the ABC took sufficient exception to that to put a mic and camera under their noses anyway.Probably too much to hope for, but for once they did not spare the government in their approach.
I don't know whether they were invited to appear on the programme (you'd imagine so) but they were invited to comment and declined.
S retreats go, they come no bigger than Kevin Rudd's delaying of his once cherished emissions trading scheme - one of the most spectacular backdowns by a prime minister in decades.
If you want an equivalent, think of Gough Whitlam delaying Medibank, Paul Keating deferring the float, Bob Hawke folding on the abolition of the tariff or John Howard surrendering on his GST.
There will be many words written about Rudd's retreat but it is simply crystallised: he is a prime minister without the courage to champion the policy that defined him.
Deferring the ETS to 2013 almost certainly means Rudd will ditch his double-dissolution option.
Rudd has decided to acquiesce in the disintegrated consensus for his ETS rather than seek to salvage his climate-change policy. It is a tactical choice to retreat, wait for a better domestic and global setting and seek, down the track, to rebuild political support. But for what? Maybe for his ETS or a different ETS or another policy. Nobody knows. But this choice, justified by prudence, will stamp Rudd's career and cast a permanent shadow over his credibility.
The time has come for a grand bargain between the past and the future. Each and every one of us here will be judged as individuals. For what we say. For what we do. And for what we fail to do.
Words without deeds are a dead letter. There have been millions of words spoken here, but as one of our colleagues said, it is time to stop talking and start working.
When you strip away all the political rhetoric, all the political excuses, there are two stark choices: action or inaction.
We choose action, and we do so because Australia's fundamental economic and environmental interests lie in action. Action now. Not action delayed.
Now the Liberals and Nationals have said wait for Copenhagen and for President Obama's scheme. What absolute political cowardice. What an absolute failure of leadership. What an absolute failure of logic.
The PM in Copenhagen on December 17 last year:
The PM on November 6 last year, at the Lowy Institute in Sydney:
What absolutely delicious irony!
The PM in Copenhagen on December 17 last year:
The PM on November 6 last year, at the Lowy Institute in Sydney:
What absolutely delicious irony!
Julia, can't wait for Rudd's next opinion poll rating. If he has not dropped at least 10 points, I will have lost faith in human nature to judge this megalomaniac Prime Minister of ours.
Libs have done nothing to prove any form of capable leadership though. I hope they have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes.
Yes, any future prospects the Libs have for ousting Rudd are now at the tipping point. As the biblical Saul said:
"God has delivered him into my hands"
If Abbott can't grasp this opportunity to highlight Rudd's failures and cowardice and gain the upper hand, he will go down in history with Rudd as a failure too.
Unfortunately I don't think he has the capacity. Imagine what a Howard or a Keating could have done with all these free kicks.
Calliope, Abbott really does not have to do much at this stage; Rudd is shooting himself in the both feet and with holes in them he won't be able to walk on water; he will just sink to the bottom.
Timing is everything in politics and IMHO Abbott will be more agressive closer to election time. If he goes too early on his policies, electors tend to forget and will only remember the last minute spin and propaganda from Rudd. The unions have gone too early on their Work Choices scare campaign which may be forgotten come election time. If you want to be a devil, you have to think like a devil.
I like how they blame (what happened to stopping the blame game) the libs for shutting them down in the senate.
It mite take me a while but im sure somewhere i can find the 2 voting records that will clearly show all Labor senators voting for it...and pretty much everyone else voting against.
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