If I were Steve Fielding, I’d vote for every government bill that comes before the Senate, because I’d be scared witless of a double dissolution. No one’s gonna preference you this time round, dude. And all the silly stunts in the world won’t save you.
Anyway, I’d have thought that generally Family First would oppose going topless in public.
By the way, Malcolm Turnbull has denied that it’s opposition policy to call for an increase in the aged pension. I guess that they’ll just have to drown their sorrows in alcopops, while Brendan parks his Tarago next to their gutters at 3am and comes in to console these “everyday Australians”.
Seriously, though, isn’t anyone able to comprehend that the Henry Inquiry will probably recommend a change to indexation of pensions, which will do far more to provide a decent standard of living for retired and older citizens than some John Howard one off cheque in the mail for a few hundred bucks? Isn’t it more sensible to allocate an actual utilities allowance – which is a budget announcement? How short sighted has the culture of entitlement become? Perhaps some of Fielding’s flock could ask some of the struggling Abbotts on 120k or 150k a year for charity. But, then, I guess they’re doing it so tough they I imagine they’d be unable to help. Must be difficult to pay that tithe to your local Evangelical church without upper class welfare.
Phwwwoaar! Lock up your aunties!
At least Senator Andrew Bartlett has the good sense to keep his shirt on when he goes mingling at Mardi Gras parades.
Stephen Fielding is clearly throwing down the stunt gauntlet to incoming rival Nick Xenophon. But Xenophon is the stuntmaster, and will be unable to resist the temptation to top Fielding’s effort.
I predict a Full Monty by Xmas.
And whose preferences put Fetus First in parliament in the first place? Mmmmm? Um ah.
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Just sayin’.
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That said the Religious Right are not going away. They are going to be around. Maybe out of sight but you won’t be able to ignore them. A bit like chiggers.
I wonder what Fielding would’ve done had Bob Brown turned up shirtless to protest the ill treatment of pensioners in the budget.
I’m more perplexed trying to work out the thinking behind the stunt – I mean, Xenophon’s usually have some kind of link to whatever it is he’s protesting about (as all good stunts do).
Taking off your top to make the point that pensioners need more money? WTF?
Does he think that they’re going to say,”I’m going to vote for that nice Mr Fielding. He’s prepared to take his top off for pensioners.”
or
“Anyone who looks so weedy’s got my vote.”
Or that someone in federal Parliament’s going to sit up and say,”Oh, cripes, we’ve got this one wrong. Fielding’s been forced to go topless.”
Having 150 pensioners sitting on Flinders St eating dogfood might have made a relevant point.
Sockpuppetry @ 5.
mckenzie, I think the link might have been something to do with the gummint taking “the shirts off their backs”.
Now had all the pensioners decided to protest in similar fashion…no, some things are too horrible to contemplate. Let us never speak of it again.
The disrobing thing is a riff on the (successful) taxi protest of the other week, where the cabbies also famously took off their shirts.
And some of the protesters did get their kit partially off, in fact they started it. Twas on the news.
He’d do what he always does when he see Bob Brown. He’d go home into his private room. Take out one of his favourite cats o’ nine tails and proceed to draw blood crying out: Satan get thee behind me. Lord save me from these thoughts. These thoughts!!!!
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Hubba hubba.
Would loved to have been there. Find the deafening silence on both sides of politics on Disability Support Pension disquieting. Though we did get an increase in phone allowance for the internet and the utilities allowance which Howard wouldn’t have given us. And Rudd should increase the DSP back to the level of the aged pension for all disability pensioners. I might add I was not affected by that cut, as I was “grandfathered” whatever that means.
“I might add I was not affected by that cut, as I was “grandfathered” whatever that means.”
Paul, maybe it means the opposite to “motherfxxxed”?
Now that was a word I first came across in James Balwin’s Blues for Mr. Charley.
Back on topic – suspect the much-heralded arrival of Xenophon + stunts has inspired Fielding to heights of imitation. The day before yesterday it was a very small shopping trolling and a mindless spech about toilet paper.
Paul @ 9
I thought the internet payment and the increase in utilities allowance were both “me too” copies of Howard promises. Certainly the other related measure – changing the indexation of pensions – is a “me too” moment.
I’m, not sure the Gov’t would see clear to moving people with a partial capacity for work back to DSP. However, there might be more mileage in getting them put up to the higher newstart rate rather than the lower “discount” rate they ended up with.
Not sure what items of clothing have to come off to secure that though.
I thought that double dissolutions make it much easier for minorities to get in as the quota is halved. And would labor/lib really preference each other before family first?
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. He is really not so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one shuts one’s eyes, and does not look at him.
My wallpaper religon and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go. We have really everything in common with America’s Gileadists nowadays… except, of course, language. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. The only thing you never regret as you age is yr mistakes.
Spog@ 14,
Only aged pensioners received the utilities allowance under Howard, mate. And since you are not a doctor how the hell do you define partial disability – you can sit down for half an hour without pain? Give me a break.
Everyone:
The Rudd government certainly do need strong criticism for their stuff-ups and their omissions so far …. but other pensioners around me are mystified by this demonstration; everyone would have liked a bit more in the Budget, of course, but nothing worth demonstrating over.
The Channel 9 depiction of it hit new lows in political image manipulation and hysteria generation. No, I won’t bother putting in a complaint to the broadcasting watch-puppy; even out here in the Bush, I get more than enough junk-mail with adding a stock-standard reply letter to the pile..
The Govt has forgotten, conveniently, that the age pensioners today, were the builders of yesterday by their taxes, having children, working or course, and when they reach retirement age they are really thrown onto the scrap heap. What the Govt should do is give the age pension to all. This way the Govt could save an enormous amount of money by cutting Centrelink down, use the staff for more useful purposes, say in the families division. Let the pensioners enjoy their lives. How long will they live to after the pension, well, a long time it is hoped, but that is not always the case. Aged pensioners would be healthier, happier, and mentally a lot healthier too. Of course there will always be the greedy, so a cut-off monetary figure would be needed for sure. Cut out the assets test, no one should know your business, and one can’t eat a Ming Vase, or nice table.
“What the Govt should do is give the age pension to all. This way the Govt could save an enormous amount of money by cutting Centrelink down, use the staff for more useful purposes, say in the families division.”
Nice theory, but it winds up costing a lot more – sacking Centrelink staff wouldn’t come close to offseting the cost of giving the pension to everyone.
Hey Paul @ 16, how about you actually read what I wrote.
I didn’t say Howard paid those things, I indicated he made them an election promise, which Rudd copied.
And as for those who the Government (not me) characterises as having a partial capacity for work, I was kind of agreeing with your sentiment that they should get more money. I just thought there was more chance of getting the higher NSA rate than a complete undoing of the welfare to work changes.
At the risk of being seen as a killjoy, the case for increasing the age pension is actually pretty weak because there’s a lot of other things you’d spend that sort of money on first if you wanted to help poor people.
The fact is that all serious studies of poverty in Australia find that, for a variety of reasons, it is relatively rare amongst the elderly. Current policy (both pension and superannuation) is likely to make it even rarer in the long run. The typical poor person in Oz is young and single, generally either with kids or a disability.
“Oh well, so many Liberal women to thump, so little booze.”
Spoken like a man whose time is nearly up, no longer gives a crap, and no longer feels thr need to say the right thing. Rather like Peter Costello, vis a vis Micelle Grattan.
Must be very liberating.
Spiros, you don’t really think that was Andrew Bartlett do you?
Hey there Derrida!
I still have you on a mailing list for a spreadsheet. If you still want it at whatever email address you now have, let me know.
Cheers
Spog
“Would do anything for re-election”
After looking at the piccie of, steve in the field, shouldn’t the headline be..
“Would do anything for a real exection?”
…just askin’.
I note on Today Tonight’s story that the “Struggling Pensioners” were shown driving a 4 wheel drive, and in the next shot were seen looking for specials in the grocery catalogues, which made their argument for an increase suffer in the credability stakes.
Kim, I’d appreciate it if you could change the name attached to comment 5 to reflect the fact that it is malicious impersonation.
And Spiros, the fact that I don’t need to worry about winning votes any more doesn’t mean I’ve turned into an obnoxious idiot. I might be slightly freer to say what i think, but I’ve always tried to “say the right thing” and say things that accurately reflect what i think and believe – which apart from anything else, shows why comment 5 is fraudulent, as I’ve never “thumped” or hit anyone, male of female, Liberal or otherwise.
I have sworn at people, which I wouldn’t recommend as a publicity option, (especially for Steve Fielding, although it seems to work for Gordon Ramsey quite well).
In regards to the topic of the post, I think this sort of stunt is lame, but it is very difficult for people from smaller parties, so i have some sympathy. I don’t think this sort of stuff (or his dressing up as drink bottles, etc) will help Steve Fielding much, but it is hard work getting signifincant media coverage regardless of how meritorious your views are, so it is tempting to try stunts (or photo ops). Plenty of major party people do them too, but the stunts of minor party people often get a bit more out there, as there is usually a higher bar to get coverage.
I’ve done a couple myself over the years, and in hindsight usually wished I hadn’t (a bungee jump I did in 2004 comes to mind, even though it was about the only TV coverage i got during the entire election campaign (the absence of coverage being the reaosn I decided I should give it a go).
It’s probably a bit like charisma – some people have ‘it’ and some people don’t, and some people seem to be able to get away with stunts and others don’t.
For reasons I don’t really understand, Nick Xenophon gets away with doing things which would make other people just look stupid. Peter Beattie seemed to emerge with his credibility unscathed from stunts which would make it hard for others to ever be taken seriously again.
I remember former National Party Senator Bill O’Chee did a full page newspaper advert in the 1998 campaign featuring a photo of him with his shirt off – something about ‘being willing to take his shirt off for Qld’ (intending to suggest he was a hard worker). He wasn’t re-elected.
There was also the Springborg photo op a few years ago where he was ironing his shirt wearing a singlet. I think that was the last election campaign where he didn’t do very well.
I remember another stunt in Melbourne a couple of years ago where a group of women wore bras outside their shirts – I can’t remember what the protest was about, although I remember one of the women was Kerry Armstrong.
So what you’re saying is that minor parties should get more airtime and the majors should be forced into more silly stunts by the vast Stalinist Bureau of Crap Media Stunts, isn’t it, Andrew?
I await Fielding’s inevitable photo-op in budgie smugglers a la Debnam/Bracks with a certain schadenfreudistic apprehension.
‘Red Ted’ enlivened the last Victorian election by stripping off on every possible occasion – one journalists even commented uneasily that he seemed to make a point of letting journos watch him shower naked (after one of those cross bay swim things).
I also had a refined snigger (I don’t do the unrefined type) about Natasha Stott Despoja doing a policy launch in a swimsuit and then getting all upset about the sexist media wanting photos of her doing the policy launch in a swimsuit.
Semi nudity seems to be one of the tricks desperate politicians resort to – expect to see a full page ‘Playboy’ spread of Pauline Hansen next time she needs a little more electoral cash.
[Semi nudity seems to be one of the tricks desperate politicians resort to - expect to see a full page ‘Playboy’ spread of Pauline Hansen next time she needs a little more electoral cash.
]
Well Italy did have Ciccolina, a porn starlet in the parliament in the mid 80’s there was another one at the last election, whose name escapes me.
“expect to see a full page ‘Playboy’ spread of Pauline Hansen next time she needs a little more electoral cash.”
As long as they stick the staples right over her gob.
Kim, Fielding would luuuurve a double dissolution. Quota 7.7%. He’ll probably break 3% this time with sitting senator profile (Vic was one of the few places FF went up this time. With prefs from DLP, CDP etc he’ll be well past 5%. If that puts him ahead of the 6th (or on current polling 5th) Liberal he’s home. Plus there is a fair chance he will get ALP prefs again – it certainly looked like they were flirting with doing it again in 07.
His problem is if there is no double d. A rising Green vote, which one would expect after 3 years of Labor would see them close to quota, and he’ll have a hell of a time pushing stopping the higher of Labor and Liberal getting 3.
I’d bet you the ALP won’t preference him again, Feral. And the FF vote in Victoria last time was 2.5%. NOt a huge base for him to start off with. DLP 1%.
It seems so easy to name a source that suggests this or that across the income spectrum.There are bound to be retired pensioners not doing well at all,because the universe they live in,is of different ages and incomes,and even vehicles! As a DSP or Special B P. that works,I find the latest attack on the unemployed,so very Liberal in Statement that Ludwig,must of been rehearsing every Liberal word on unemployed for years until today.So 11 years of Howard,then before that,and then before that.It seems more than coincidental,the troopers of Centrelink are going after the cheats,whilst Rome burns around the $150,000 mark.Labor is doing the same repair job the Libs did under Howard,the Pincer or Scorpio tail job.Whistling in the dog of jealousy and loathing,to secure the moral high ground.Who the hell is bloody Ludwig,and what does he know about trying to stay honest on the Dole!? From last night they decided to start insulting people.. Labor,after a harrowing moral week for them,where any thinking person could conclude from any income source,that if,all the necessities of this land and how to prioritise them was to pick on who,as starters, ‘Libertarian Left’, what sort of scumbag Christian would dog themself with a line like that!? The same scumbag torturer we have in the U.S.A. where Cheney rejected the idea of car-pooling as a way of being environmentally aware and practical.People here seem reluctant to see what sort of conniving idiot Rudd is.Just take a look at N.S.W. and Iemma,and there isnt much to see.Anyone can be the Libertarian Left,jump in a car together,crack some dirty jokes,and ,be concerned about how Police have beer bottles thrown at them,and in N.S.W. have a Minister like Campbell. War!
The real Andrew Bartlett did a bit of work on this dd scenario a while back and did not give steve much of a chance in vic. Trouble was, 2 ff cockroaches were likely to slip through other state door cracks.
Waaay too early to be guessing what parties might do with their preferences next election. How Fielding and the Greens will behave in balance of power situations after July is totally unknown, and that may influence Labor’s preference decisions next time (although as I’ve said before, the immediate impact on the chances of winning House of Reps seats is by far the main factor in determining major party preference decisions). I’d tend to agree its more likely that Labor will put Greens ahead of Fielding in Vic, but Feral S is right in saying that Lib preferences may be the ones that matter next time, and Feral S is also right that a double dissolution would give Fielding & FF a better chance of election.
However it also means an early election (and thus earlier extinction if unsuccessful). If the 2007 election had been a double-d, FF would still have not won in Victoria (but might have been in the mix in SA and maybe one other state).
Leinad – I’m not sure if that’s what I’m saying. People can do stunts if they like – major or minor parties. I’d prefer a slightly more discerning media coverage, and a willingness to ignore empty photo ops from all quarters. But the media have to sell papers/get ratings too, and I accept that earnest dissertations of solid policy solutions is never going to grab the interest of most people, so I don’t expect things to change.
Most stunts are harmless (incl the one that’s the subject of this post), and the people doing them have to weigh up for themselves whether they think they’ll do themselves more harm than good.
Although I do wish the media wouldn’t let party leaders get away with empty photo ops done SOLELY for the TV news shots during election campaigns using the excuse of releasing a dot point style policy.
(Thanks also Kim – or whoever does these things – for deleting (the original) comment 5. (although I did only ask for a change to the commentors’ name – makes some of the following comments appear a bit odd deleting the whole thing – not least Sam C’s at the (new) 5). I’ll be fielding slurs and cheap shots on that thing for the rest of my life I imagine, so the more times I can actually have a mildy correct version of reality appear on the ever-Googleable intertubes, the better.
Derrida @22:
I don’t have an opinion one way or the other on the thrust of your argument, but whenever I read the words “The fact is that all serious studies of ….. in Australia find that… I automatically translate it into “All the studies in Australia with which I agree find that…
David [20]:
Oh no it doesn’t.
A narrower example would be with Veterans’ Affairs pensions – where by putting ALL war veterans on a form of income support, such as Service Pension modified so as to allow some real and unpunished participation in the workforce, would actually save money for the economy as a whole. For a start, the Rorts-for-Rich-Doctors system of determining pensions would vanish [and help ease the doctor shortage] and highly-trained public service and statutory authority personnel would be released for more productive duties in places where they are desperately needed …. and that is only one of the huge savings that would be made by having a fairer, simpler and more efficient system.
Andrew Bartlett [the real one - on 28]:
This is why I am disgusted at calling Australia a “democracy” [wtf??] while we have an oligopoly news media that resembles that of a dictatorship …. I’ve been in a few and that is no exaggeration. Democracy cannot function without the free flow of public information. We are fed a diet of infotainment and advertorials and whatever “news” manages to slip through is so filtered that it deserves an evaluation of C3 or lower.
Why the hell should our elected decision-makers have to perform monkey-tricks just to have an issue brought before more than a few dozen citizens? While at the same time, the “news” media is chock-a-block full of the stupid antics of useless bimbos and dimwit ‘celebrities’ that we don’t want to hear about.
If we nationalized the news media, we could not possibly be worse off!
b.t.w., hadn’t noticed any change in the quality of your blogging at all since the election; did I miss something?
Nick Xenophon’s whole act is about media stunts, so I’m not sure it will get any better.
Maybe they can perform their arsehat stunts together and save us some pain?
I liked Shaun Carney’s piece in The Age which shows that stunts aren’t the preserve of minor parties – only those that no longer wish to be taken seriously as alternative governments.
Shouldn’t #5 be deleted as a bit of a defamatory slur? It’s clearly not Bartlett, and #6 simply pointing out it was a “sockpuppet” is probably not enough of a response.
PS I warned about this on Monday. I had so hoped he wouldn’t go through with it…
Spog@25,
Now that was one Howardian promise re disabled people I never heard during the election campaign. In fact, the only thing I remember Howard saying about welfare during the election campaign was a veiled threat in his policy speech to virtually dismantlke the entire welfare system. Which was his dream about welfare. To get this socialist albatross out of his budget.And out of Australia.
Regret misunderstanding.
Sorry, have been away from the computer and hadn’t seen #5. It’s been deleted.
“This is why I am disgusted at calling Australia a “democracy” [wtf??] while we have an oligopoly news media that resembles that of a dictatorship …. I’ve been in a few and that is no exaggeration. Democracy cannot function without the free flow of public information. We are fed a diet of infotainment and advertorials and whatever “news” manages to slip through is so filtered that it deserves an evaluation of C3 or lower.”
On “The Insiders”, today, the panel strongly agreed that something had actually been done for pensioners in the recent budget. Of course, it was Wayne Swann’s problem for not having “sold it”. No mention of the journalists role to “report it”.
Australian established media is dangerously crappy as you say, Graham Bell, @39.
Paul @ 43.
The Howard announcements copied by Rudd can be found here
Just so you know I wasn’t making it up!
Cheers
Well, that didn’t seem to work. This is the link:
http://www.liberal.org.au/about/documents/MoreSupportforPensioners.pdf
I think I read that the govt is going to do an overhaul of the welfare system which should result in a better outcome for pensioners. It’s apparently going to happen this year, so there should be some results next year.
Yep, it’s the Henry committee I mentioned in the post.
Amanda @ 7
those protesting taxi-drivers have got a lot to answer for!! They should be ashamed of theirselves. What have they unleashed?
Next Dr Nelson’ll bring cans of dogfood into the Chamber along with fizzy kiddy drinks and PINK champagne, or perhap some ciggie butts he found in some 3am gutter. Does he SNIFF the gutters? Are there QUOKKAS in the gutters? Is Ted Baillieu an evil Communist who lounges around at Portsea? These are the burning questions of our times; and the press is doing a superb job in laying it all before us for our sober judgement and due consideration.
What did PJK mean by “throwing the switch to vaudeville?
Everyone:
Slightly off-topic and onto the said purpose of the demonstration:
The Leonid Brezhnev Prize for Economic Excellence has to go to Treasury and to Social Security for their brilliant work in neglecting to tidy up their sloppy tax-collecting procedures but instead creating a labour shortage in some farming areas by cracking down on grey nomads earning a little money to pay for their caravan trips by picking fruit and vegetables. Bloody brilliant! It stands to reason, employing 457-visa workers to take their earnings out of Australia must boost the Australian economy, mustn’t it?
And what’s this I hear about Veterans’ Affairs cracking down on pensioners for doing too much volunteering? Quick Norm, get back onto the lounge, crack a tinny and switch the TV on …. they’re on to you!
Anyone having trouble making end meet while living on a pension might like to look at Lorikeet’s list at comment No.25 on Andrew Bartlett’s topic “‘average’ incomes” at http://andrewbartlett.com/blog/?p=2021#comments
spog@47,
You have achieved a memorable first. You got me to look at the Liberal Party’s website.
Okay. Thry made the promise. But, it was made by Howard so:
Was he telling the truth?
Was it a non-core promise?
Given Howard’s record of lying, why should I believe anything he said?
As I noted in my previous comment, he hinted at further far-reaching reform of the welfare system in his policy speech. With Howard that can have meant only one thing. Turning our welfare system into an American style welfare system, where many of us would have ended up homeless and dying on the street.
Paul @ 52
Just as long as you had a shower afterwards, your memorable first shouldn’t do too much damage.
Yes, thanks Kim.