I think it’s really a second-order issue whether or not Tony Abbott failed to consult his colleagues adequately on his proposal to cut Australian aid to Indonesian schools.
You might remember that these are the ones we started funding to provide an alternative to the fundamentalist madrassas from which Jemaah Islamiya are alleged to recruit their footsoldiers. You might also remember that Indonesia is our most significant near neighbour, one with whom relations have severe ups and downs, and the one with whom friendly relations are essential if Teh Boats Are To Be Stopped.
As such, on the face of it, unilaterally canceling that foreign aid would be a colossal foreign policy misjudgment – and, indeed, it seems that many of Abbott’s colleagues agree that it’s an awful idea.
I know I’m not likely to get much disagreement here, but, really, what does this say about Tony Abbott’s suitability to be Prime MInister?
According to the SMH, the cut was prompted by a widely spread email that sounds typical of the sheer meanness and contempt for facts of the hard right. Truly there are a lot of arseholes about, and they do have influence – on which see this typically humorous and insightful post by Daniel Davies.
Abbott’s Indo gaffe hasn’t changed my mind about Abbott’s suitability as a PM.
Paul Burns on a recent post commented that Abbott’s policies did not have to make sense. The only thing he concentrates on is winning an election. I think the announcements in the last few days are another example of this. When looking for cuts to make it was matter of casting around for policies that would affect the least number of voters. Foreign aid is an easy one.
I wonder if he tried to placate Ms Bishop by telling her “dont worry we wont be implementing this, its only for the punters”.
He normally gets away with this clap trap because the fourth estate fails to expose the nonsense. It is interesting that in this instance there does appear to be a bit of blow back by quite a few, not least some of his own colleagues. It must be a surprise, we can only hope that it continues.
Robert, as you’re well aware, the suitability to be PM depends on having kids (but not being a primary carer) and not having pendulous earlobes. Whether your policies are sensible or totally batshit is not something our media are really interested in, unless it creates exciting party room / parliamentary kerfuffles.
Sorry, forgot to close the [/sarcasm] tag
Don’t forget the embargo on large noses and arses and poor dress sense, Helen.
If there’s an embargo on large noses then Abbott is toast himself.
Like Katz, I like to think that I’m fair-minded enough that Abbott’s recent performance hasn’t changed my prior assessment of his suitability to be PM.
… and the sluggos prolly impact on his dress sense, come to that.
Still, he’s not a woman, so it’s OK.
Not sure if this is getting slightly off post but if some could enlighten me. I am confused about who the libs want to take baseball bat to. Crazy Eric came out yesterday and said he knew who it was and he would get em. Then there was some statements from Malcolm about how brave Julie was, which implied Tony was about to kneecap her. Today Tony says he luvs em all. I am totally confused.
Grog had a chuckle at the idea of Eric Abetz getting indignant at leakers, what with the Gordon Gretch fiasco (which never got satisfactorily resolved).
He seems to have decided to cut a programme that PREVENTS TERRORISM and various other forms of nutty behaviour that scares the shit out of the mortgagees in the Western suburbs. In his eagerness to get Gillard and in his pursuit of untruth to achieve the same, he gas forgotten the cardinal rule of Opposition – Don’t scare the horses. Tony, the horses have been frightened.
And a bit of a reality check here. btw. Abbott’s not in Government. He’s not likely to be till after the next election unless Gillard does something incredibly stupid (which is not beyond the realms of possibility)because the Independents think he’s incompetent.
All this garbage he’s going on about is shadow-boxing. Unless he can get Fielding and Xenophon to co-operate (again not beyond the realms of possibility, since they’re two of the greatest dorks to ever sit in the Senate). He is trying to pretend to govern, He’ll get a reality check soon enough, one way or another.
Fielding, yes, a genuine Pat Field who hopefully has discredited his xtian right backers for a while. Your comments are a bit hard on Xenophon though, Paul – he’s been pretty sensible given his mildly conservative outlook and the platform he was elected on. There are much worse senators currently sitting in both major parties.
dd @ 14,
I might have him wrong but Xenophon seems to me a lot of the time to be a contrarian obstructionist for the sake of being a contrarian obstructionist.
So, according to Michelle Grattan, Ms Bishop is pissed off with Tony for blabbing to Greg Sheridan that the aid cut plan to Indonesian schools was all her fault.
She wouldn’t go along with the African aid cuts which Greg thinks is a terrific idea (and since aid cuts had to made for the benefit of shock jocks, we can guess) therefore she must take the blame for the school cuts.
Tony is a manipulative creep on this as in most things.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/two-bad-blunders-ruin-one-very-brave-decision/story-e6frg6zo-1226002485193
Well, the Bishop/Abbott machinations are intriguing. especially when put in place along side the Andrew Robb machinations apparently against Abbott detailed in the Oz last week. IMHO opinion the idea is to get rid of Bishop and put Robb in where he can have a shot at the leadership when things go pear-shaped, which they will.
I have just ordered up big on Popcorn.
Hey PB
Don’t ya wish Wong had have stormed into Rudds office and given him a gob-full?
That would have been standing up for her portfolio.
Well, of course I do. But she didn’t, did she? I admire Bishop for sticking up for the foreign aid budget against the mean-minded munchkins of the Liberal Party party room, but even more interesting is why all this i going on right now and I think that at bottom its a complicated power play between Abbott and Robb. Which means Robb must have some pretty nasty designs in mind if his first step to the leadership is to remove Bishop from any position of power.
The question is, Why? Its not because she’s a woman. obviously, so I guess she must be on the more humane faction of the Libs and has to be got rid of so Robb can do bad things. Or vice versa.
My money is on Smokin Joe to be next coalition leader.
I notice he’s been very quiet.
But the “when” is the ?.
Trevor @ 3: “Paul Burns on a recent post commented that Abbott’s policies did not have to make sense. The only thing he concentrates on is winning an election.”
Er, and this is different from Julia Gillard precisely how?
Other of course than that she doesn’t even bother about winning elections; she merely shamelessly bribes the cross-benches when she doesn’t win.
Yes, Robert, I acknowledge that this does not address your valid point. I just think that a certain amount of the attention placed on “just bad policy” from Abbott, who is in no position to implement it, might be better spent on “just bad policy” from Gillard, who has a shitload of the stuff and is implementing it furiously if as always ineffectively even as we speak.
In regard to Indonesia, for example, do you think her total failure to apprise the Indonesian Government of her regional people smuggling solution – a solution which has unaccountably vanished fron the public arena, without anyone on LP apparently having, or at least admitted to having, noticed – was helpful to Australia’s foreign policy objectives? I wonder why this is not diligently discussed here?
I lie of course. This is not a point about which there is any need to wonder
As for the next opposition leader, my money is on Gillard
Sorry , Hockey then Gillard.
Paul, Annabel Crabb had an interesting take on this yesterday, or at least it gets interesting after all the stuff about Abbott and exercise. Apparently the journos are getting bombarded by crossfire whispering from inside the Liberal tent.
And this is worth a look if your tv is still not working and you still have some popcorn left, Paul. Particularly the comment by jj posted at 1:49 PM Today. I am not sure how it managed to slip through.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/in-fighting-libs-give-pm-a-free-pass/story-e6frg6zo-1226003955634
Paul Burns, these are very interesting times in the LIEberal party, indeed. I never knew Bishop had it in her, but well done to her. I agree with you wrt Xenophon,btw. Wankerphon would be a better name for him, imo.
Yeah, Joe2, God forbid Smuggles should take responsibility for anything he says or does. But I’m sure Emperor Rupert will make it all go away.
And of course Smuggles didn’t try bribery to get the Independents on side….oh wait a minute.
@21
Wozza, you’re getting lazier than ever, which is really saying something.
The East Timor non-solution promoted by Gillard, and Australian government asylum seeker policy in general, attracted plenty of ridicule and derision around these pages. There were four posts on it from four different contributors (Kim, tigtog, Brian and Robert Merkel) over four weeks in July 2010, when the smelly little incident to which you refer occured.
There’s a little box called ‘search’ on the LP home page, and if you’d bothered to search ‘East Timor’ for five seconds like I did, you’d have found them.
As usual, you prefer to attack a straw-LP than do anything remotely constructive, like discussing the topic.
Don’t you have anything better to do?
Yes, you do.
Please go and do it.
@Wozza’s ghost:
Since Tony Abbott didn’t win either, I wonder exactly what you would have had the polity do about the stand-off that was the hung parliament other than work to persuade the needed votes on the cross-benches?
Let’s not forget that Abbott was tossing “bribes” at the cross-benchers just as hard as he could too at the time. And that a sufficient majority of those votes wooed felt that Julia’s promises were more solid and reliable than Tony’s.
Jane @ 26: “And of course Smuggles didn’t try bribery to get the Independents on side….oh wait a minute.”
Exactly Jane. As I said, “and this differs from Duckbum exactly how?”
Well actually I said “Julia Gillard” but if you think that childish namecalling adds to either the argument or the fun, I’m happy to join in.
Now that we’ve agreed on the equivalance of the policy tomfoolery, how about you address the argument that the policy of the idiot in charge currently – you know,the one who is in a position actually to wreak damage with tomfool policy, and is doing so in spades – might be the better place to direct attention?
PC @ 24,
Wow. So that’s why the death stare. He’s in withdrawals. The complications within the Liberal Party, PC and joe2, are really quite remarkable. There seems to be an awful lot of people motivated purely by self-interest, positioning themselves for what they see is a more interesting future. Thats a pretty rare road. Self-interest is usually curbed by principle or perhaps made worse by passion. But in the Liberal Party distaste at Tony’s loony rightwingedness is probably not exactly at the level of passion. I haven’t tried to draw a flow chart of all the obvious connections, which is a good way to start to see your way around the ant-heap. But the idea that this current bout of self-absorption is all based on one of the Independents having a tizzy and putting them in government is more than a bit worrying, isn’t it? I mean, what if our newly bearded Oakeshott doesn’t spit the dummy? Then, the Libs are truly on the road to chaos.
Have added chocolate biscuits to the popcorn ’cause I know its getting serious.
Yeah, well you haven’t changed much about the rigour of your thought processes since we last crossed swords, have you Mercurius?
There were four threads on the regional people smuggling solution in July were there? Have you noticed that it’s now February 2011?
The proposal has not been withdrawn. The East Timor Deputy Prime Minister told Ms G what his Government thought of it again only two weeks ago, though I don’t suppose you noticed. So this festering sore, you tell me smugly, has been out there for seven months in Australia’s relations with Indonesia, East Timor and most of the rest of the region since LP last touched on it. Why, those are almost my own exact words, slightly elaborated.
But of course this is of no concern, not in comparison with a policy which is of no moment whatsoever, as the Indonesians are well aware, unless and until its proponent is in Governbment in three years time.
Wouldn’t call you lazy though Mercurius. Stupid, yes. Rip van Winkle letting the world go past for 7 months springs to mind as well. But active as all get out. Regrettably.
Wow, Wozza’s Ghost @ 31,
That’s one hell of a dummy spit. Best this year, I reckon, and we’ve had a few good ones already.
Wozza, you seem to be making the mistaken assumption that we’re the ABC.
We post on things when we get time and it takes our fancy.
In this case, I saw a piece of obviously shockingly bad policy from the Liberals that was somehow being treated as a sideshow.
When the stars align and I happen to see another piece of shockingly bad policy come from Julia Gillard and get treated as a sideshow, I might point it out. As I have done in the past, when such shockingly bad policy has come to my attention.
Or I might not. I might have a lecture to deliver that morning. Or hear the call of distant hills and decide to point a bicycle up them. Or any number of other reasons.
I thought the purpose of Tony’s pretend policies was that these were what he thought the government should be doing instead. Arguing that it doesn’t matter that they’re stupid because they’ll never be listened to, while realistic, does nothing for Tony’s credibility.
Fortunately the Timor solution is unlikely to be able to be implemented. It does nothing for the government’s credibility either except for that large chunk of the population who want a non solution to the problems of refugees which pretends to make them someone else’s problem. But as far as I can tell nothing much has changed with this dumb policy since July. If we’re lucky it will fade away like clash for clunkers.
Tony’s bad new policy is new. Julia’s is old news. If the Timor solution looks like getting up I’m sure there will be plenty of criticism here.
Paul, by my standards that was I assure you no dummy spit. Pure, reasoned discourse. And if history is any guide Mercurius will respond, unscarred (though perhaps uncognisant would be a better word), in at least equally robust vein.
However, you remind me that it is past my bedtime and I may be getting the teensiest bit grouchy, so I will give it up here.
Yeah, about 5.5/10 on the dummy spit. No really memorable flames, just a fairly workman-like pat-down.
Meanwhile, if the same stupid policy has been out there since July, pursuing the same stupid policy idea, it’s fairly safe to assume that whatever people said about it in July pertains today. I just noticed, with outrage, outrage I tell you!, that LP has published nothing at all recently on the Petrov Affair! You lazy cowards!
Folks, if you hadn’t noticed, Wozza’s only apparent interest in posting on LP is to critique LP — the substance of any individual issue in any given post is always just grist to that particular mill. Whatever a post is about, Wozza just can’t wait to point out how it’s more evidence of the stupidity/predictability/inferiority/insufficiency/it’s too purple! of LP.
He has bravely taken on the role of Chief Critic of this particular Off-Off-Off-Broadway show.
It’s funny how many regular commenters can’t stand LP!
/meta
Anyway, back OT, I’m sure that News Ltd and the ABC will run a slightly-edited version of whatever press statement Tony puts out next, and that will explain everything to Wozza’s satisfaction. Good times!
Merc,
Seriously.
I live in an almost totally non-confrontational environment so almost any confrontation shakes and shocks me.
Over on Saturday Salon, Christian put Bishop and Turnbull’s softening on same sex marrage into this awful political mix, correctly interpreting it as a possible move, another one, against Abbott’s hardline policies. My earlier thinking was that Robb was behind this destabilisation, but I could never see how that quite made sense. Now I’m wondering where Hockey, Bishop and Turnbull fit in this mix. Is this kerfuffle about foreign aid/gay marriage etc her last hurrah before she steps down willingly as deputy for Hockey with Malcolm once more taking top place? I seem to recall some time ago Bishop muttering something how she’d had enough of being deputy,and did not want to be leader. But my memory might be faulty.
In other words, is there one mighty plot afoot to unseat Tony, the like of which we haven’t seen since, well, Rudd?
Chocolate biscuits, popcorn and Coke!
Please show me where Smuggles gets a guernsey in the bribe offering team, Wozza. Your implication is that Gillard was the only one offering so-called bribes, which is patently untrue.
As it happened, she offered Wilkie less than Smuggles was chucking around, but he still thought she was a better bet. Possibly also influenced by the fact that Gillard’s “bribes” weren’t also accompanied by threats, Smuggles’ stock-in-trade. Wilkies’ past dealings with Smuggles would have been a guide to his decision making as well.
Obviously, Oakeshott and Windsor also thought that what was offered by Gillard was a much better deal for their electorates and the country than what was on offer from the opposition.
The other thing to consider is that the pretender to the PMs’ office still hasn’t come up with any decent policies that are properly costed and not full of $11bn holes. Even Emperor Rupert hasn’t been able to paper over those cracks!
Indeed, Wozza, Snuggles’ bribe was so bloody shameless it was the reason at least one of the Independents knocked him back.
Promise me one thing, Paul Burns – no red cordial…
Paul Burns @40, I think that was Andrew Wilkie. Offered a ludicrous sum for the Royal Hobart Hospital which probably confirmed for him that Smuggles is totally irresponsible with money and talks as his guts guides him. An opinion no doubt reinforced by the $11bn black hole shadow budget farce.
FR @41,
red cordial don’t affect grown-ups. Besides, I only give it to kids before I send them off somewhere else to be minded.