The elevation of Peter Slipper to the position of speaker of The House is another sign of moral and political decay under the Gillard government. It is grubby politics at its worst. Here we have a Liberal with an appalling record of dirty, dishonest and shonky dealings, someone who was to have his preselection removed and who will - in all possibility - be facing serious charges in the not too distant future - being elevated to the third highest position in Australia after the Governor-General and the Prime Minister. The government's claim that Harry Jenkins resigned unexpectedly on the morning of the last sitting day of the year is laughable. Factional leader Graham Richardson said on Channel Seven that Labor had been working behind the scenes for months to bring this about. Even Harry Jenkins himself has admitted he was executed by giving a throat-cutting gesture to the cameras as he took his position on the back bench.
We all know why Gillard and Labor lobbied so hard for Slipper to get the job and why the previous Speaker Harry Jenkins was executed so ruthlessly. Gillard and Labor now have an extra vote in the House and the government has been able to step back from the abyss ever so slightly. One heart beat away from losing government is now two. As such the Gillard government will now go its full term until late 2013.
There is one bit of good news to come out of this. Andrew Wilkie and the other independents are now dead. The roosters have become feather dusters. Wilkie's poker machine reforms can now be safely dropped without any threats to the government's survival. Wilkie looked a forlorn and pathetic figure as he sobbed to the media saying the government should not burn the independents "because they might need us". No they don't. The government doesn't need them at all. Nevertheless it was disturbing to hear Gillard say that the government was committed to the poker machine reforms. She should listen to her MPs in marginal seats in NSW and Qld. The pokie reforms are electoral poison in the two biggest states and if they are implimented Labor will be annihilated at the next election in those two states alone.
The elevation of Peter Slipper is the latest in the catalog of shame for the Gillard government. We shouldn't really be surprised that it has come to this. It will be a long and hard road until we finally get our say at the ballot box.
Wednesday 30 November 2011
New Zealand leads the way
The conservative National Party led by John Key has won the New Zealand election with the biggest vote in 60 years. Unfortunately they will not gain an outright majority due to the MMP system of multiple member electorates. Nevertheless it is one in the eye for the Left who thought they had it in the bag due to John Key's pledge to privatise government businesses and assets.
We sometimes like to ridicule out cuzzies across the ditch, but the fact is that policies and political trends across the Tasman are inevitably adopted here in Australia shortly after their implimentation over there. New Zealand introduced the GST in 1986, we brought it in in 2000. NZ introduced an emissions trading scheme last year, we will have it next year. Similarly election victories across the Tasman are usually replicated here shortly after.
If I was Julia Gillard I would be very worried.
The latest Newspoll shows that while Gillard's personal popularity has improved due to the foreign affairs agenda of the past two months, there hasn't been any improvement in Labor's poll ratings. Tony Abbott is still on track to win the next election. There is still a yearning for change in this country as we drift further off the rails and deeper in debt.
In 1985 the Aussie bush band Bullamakanka released a song called New Zealand Leads the Way. The victory by John Key and the conservatives gives hope that Australia's agony will soon be coming to an end.
We sometimes like to ridicule out cuzzies across the ditch, but the fact is that policies and political trends across the Tasman are inevitably adopted here in Australia shortly after their implimentation over there. New Zealand introduced the GST in 1986, we brought it in in 2000. NZ introduced an emissions trading scheme last year, we will have it next year. Similarly election victories across the Tasman are usually replicated here shortly after.
If I was Julia Gillard I would be very worried.
The latest Newspoll shows that while Gillard's personal popularity has improved due to the foreign affairs agenda of the past two months, there hasn't been any improvement in Labor's poll ratings. Tony Abbott is still on track to win the next election. There is still a yearning for change in this country as we drift further off the rails and deeper in debt.
In 1985 the Aussie bush band Bullamakanka released a song called New Zealand Leads the Way. The victory by John Key and the conservatives gives hope that Australia's agony will soon be coming to an end.
Thursday 17 November 2011
Gillard's revival and the lessons of history
The Canberra Press Gallery are rejoicing over what seems to be a turnaround in the fortunes of Julia Gillard and Labor. There have been several complimentary pieces and the consensus is that the next election is not cut and dried and that Gillard and Labor may very well win. Gillard is experiencing her second wind. A week is a long time in politics, and Tony Abbott's absence from Australia has been a major political blunder with the government hitting the ground running with nobody being able to respond. It is a very different political landscape now than earlier this year when Gillard couldn't put a foot right.
Both the major opinion polls have painted a different picture of the extent of Gillard's revival. The Herald Neilsen Poll has the opposition ten points in front on a two party preferred basis, while Newspoll has them much closer. Nevertheless, it appears that the 20 point margin earlier this year has disappeared.
Observers of political history in Australia have seen this trend before. It happened with Fraser in the late 1970s, Hawke in the mid 1980s, as well as Keating and Howard. That trend is a government and prime minister experiencing a first round of unpopularity and poor opinion polls, then recovering and winning an election, sometimes more than one election. During 1979 the Fraser government's polling was diabolical but Fraser went on to win the 1980 election. The Hawke government was politically dead in 1986 but recovered during the first part of 1987 to win two more elections. The Keating government was extremely unpopular in 1992 but recovered to win the 1993 election. Similarly John Howard's government was gone in late 2000 and early 2001 due to the backlash over the introduction of the GST, but they staged a major turnaround to win two more elections. And it wasn't due to the Tampa sailing in and the so-called demonising of asylum seekers as the Left has tried to claim over the years, the shift in opinion began months before that. Now it has happened to Gillard. For some reason the public feels guilty if a government and prime minister experience poor polling the first time around and changes their opinion. It is only when the second wave of unpopularity happens that a government loses an election.
As things have transpired, Gillard has benefitted from two things which have coincided - the foreign affairs agenda currently being played out and the timing - Gillard hosting the Queen and Obama, the APEC meeting in Hawaii, Princess Mary arriving next week and the approaching Christmas/New Year break when Australia goes to the beach and politics takes a break. Gillard has been looking like an international stateswoman with domestic politics (including the carbon tax) being put on the back burner. At the same time the opposition has been left floundering with their leader far from home and receiving almost zero coverage. It is alarming how the opposition has been left virtually mute whilst Abbott has been overseas. Even the coverage of Abbott in Afghanistan hasn't boosted his stocks as he has been seen as simply following in Gillard's footsteps - Gillard visited the troops a week earlier. He needs to come home, get back into the Budgy Smugglers and get back on TV again.
In this environment the opposition should be riding high. The Qantas dispute and the Spanish Inquisition CEO Allan Joyce was subjected to by former union thugs at the Senate hearing should have been devastating for the government. Instead it seems to have had the opposite effect. Similarly the carbon tax seems to have run out of steam, despite the issue still dominating talkback radio.
All of this has been manna from Heaven for Gillard. The challenge to her leadership has been put on hold indefinitely and Labor has been able to regroup and recover. People are now talking about Labor ditching The Greens and being able to go it alone again. The only thing that might harm Labor in the next month or so is the national conference in December, but there are signs that the expected tanties might not happen and secret deals are being done behind the scenes to ensure a smooth event. Gillard will get her way on selling uranium to India, and the gay marriage issue will go nowhere even if the party changes its policy to supporting it. The opposition opposes gay marriage and Labor members will be given a conscience vote with the Catholic Right ensuring the Marriage Act won't be changed when it comes to a vote in the parliament. Like euthanasia, gay marriage will remain illegal in this country despite widespread public support.
All in all it appears that politics has been transformed, and next year will be a whole new ball game. The challenge for the opposition is whether they will be able to get on top again in time for the next election. The Gillard/Brown government isn't a total write-off yet - they still have an outside chance of winning - and whether we have a fresh start or continue the political and economic malaise under Labor is now in the lap of the gods.
Both the major opinion polls have painted a different picture of the extent of Gillard's revival. The Herald Neilsen Poll has the opposition ten points in front on a two party preferred basis, while Newspoll has them much closer. Nevertheless, it appears that the 20 point margin earlier this year has disappeared.
Observers of political history in Australia have seen this trend before. It happened with Fraser in the late 1970s, Hawke in the mid 1980s, as well as Keating and Howard. That trend is a government and prime minister experiencing a first round of unpopularity and poor opinion polls, then recovering and winning an election, sometimes more than one election. During 1979 the Fraser government's polling was diabolical but Fraser went on to win the 1980 election. The Hawke government was politically dead in 1986 but recovered during the first part of 1987 to win two more elections. The Keating government was extremely unpopular in 1992 but recovered to win the 1993 election. Similarly John Howard's government was gone in late 2000 and early 2001 due to the backlash over the introduction of the GST, but they staged a major turnaround to win two more elections. And it wasn't due to the Tampa sailing in and the so-called demonising of asylum seekers as the Left has tried to claim over the years, the shift in opinion began months before that. Now it has happened to Gillard. For some reason the public feels guilty if a government and prime minister experience poor polling the first time around and changes their opinion. It is only when the second wave of unpopularity happens that a government loses an election.
As things have transpired, Gillard has benefitted from two things which have coincided - the foreign affairs agenda currently being played out and the timing - Gillard hosting the Queen and Obama, the APEC meeting in Hawaii, Princess Mary arriving next week and the approaching Christmas/New Year break when Australia goes to the beach and politics takes a break. Gillard has been looking like an international stateswoman with domestic politics (including the carbon tax) being put on the back burner. At the same time the opposition has been left floundering with their leader far from home and receiving almost zero coverage. It is alarming how the opposition has been left virtually mute whilst Abbott has been overseas. Even the coverage of Abbott in Afghanistan hasn't boosted his stocks as he has been seen as simply following in Gillard's footsteps - Gillard visited the troops a week earlier. He needs to come home, get back into the Budgy Smugglers and get back on TV again.
In this environment the opposition should be riding high. The Qantas dispute and the Spanish Inquisition CEO Allan Joyce was subjected to by former union thugs at the Senate hearing should have been devastating for the government. Instead it seems to have had the opposite effect. Similarly the carbon tax seems to have run out of steam, despite the issue still dominating talkback radio.
All of this has been manna from Heaven for Gillard. The challenge to her leadership has been put on hold indefinitely and Labor has been able to regroup and recover. People are now talking about Labor ditching The Greens and being able to go it alone again. The only thing that might harm Labor in the next month or so is the national conference in December, but there are signs that the expected tanties might not happen and secret deals are being done behind the scenes to ensure a smooth event. Gillard will get her way on selling uranium to India, and the gay marriage issue will go nowhere even if the party changes its policy to supporting it. The opposition opposes gay marriage and Labor members will be given a conscience vote with the Catholic Right ensuring the Marriage Act won't be changed when it comes to a vote in the parliament. Like euthanasia, gay marriage will remain illegal in this country despite widespread public support.
All in all it appears that politics has been transformed, and next year will be a whole new ball game. The challenge for the opposition is whether they will be able to get on top again in time for the next election. The Gillard/Brown government isn't a total write-off yet - they still have an outside chance of winning - and whether we have a fresh start or continue the political and economic malaise under Labor is now in the lap of the gods.
Friday 11 November 2011
Carbon tax will destroy this country
Just about everything has already been said about the Brown/Gillard government's carbon tax. We all know it is the brainchild of The Greens, and Gillard has been shanghaied into bringing it in by Bobby Brown and co, but it is instructive and disillusional to see the air of defeatism surrounding the tax and how most people are already planning how they'll just have to suffer it and cut back on the necessities of life once it comes in and the bills start escalating.
The whole basis of the carbon tax is a myth, and it is a credit to the climate change brigade how they've been able to sell the idea that imposing a new tax will somehow lower the temperature and be the new panacea in the fight against climate change. It isn't of course, but the voices of rationality and cool-headed realism are being drowned out by the shrillness of The Greens and their fellow travellers on the Left who have been able to scream the loudest and ultimately set the agenda on this issue.
Already jobs are being lost as a result of the Carbon Tax. Coogee Chemicals have abandoned plans for expansion and creating new jobs (many of them in Gillard's own electorate) because of the uncertainty and increased costs of doing business in this country due to the tax. Like many other businesses they are seriously contemplating relocating lock, stock and barrel to China or other countries which have ruled out introducing a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
The smiles on the faces of The Greens after the Senate vote said it all. A party with just one member in the Lower House has managed to cause the biggest economic unheaval in this country's history. Labor has been delusional and whistling in the dark in the face of having their platform and policies hijacked by a dangerous minority outside the party. Penny Wong actually said during the Senate debate that "this is Labor legislation". If you believe that, I have a Harbour Bridge to sell you.
Is the carbon tax hurting the Gillard government? Well, it appears not. The latest Newspoll confirms the swing back to Labor/The Greens which began earlier this year. It states that if an election were held today, Tony Abbott and the Libs/Nats would just scrape in. If the trend continues, Gillard will be in front in just two months time. Now this is just extraordinary. Not content with wasting taxpayers' money a few months back with a propaganda campaign selling the carbon tax, more propaganda is on the way, meaning hopes of ditching Gillard and Labor are fading.
Tony Abbott disappointed many and gave ammunition to Labor by flying to London on the eve of the Senate vote for a Conservative conference. The task of responding to the passage of the tax was largely left to Barnaby Joyce. Nevertheless the message was loud and clear. Every powerpoint in Australia has become a branch of the Tax Office. We are facing a cost of living holocaust. And all for nothing.
The fight against the carbon tax isn't over. The bills haven't started coming in yet, and when they do the impact will be horrendous. We will all suffer in order to pander to Green fantasies and perpetuate a philosophy which is now being rejected all over the world. Hopefully Australians will come to their senses by the time of the next election and we can set about wiping out all trace of this temporary aberration in our country's history.
The whole basis of the carbon tax is a myth, and it is a credit to the climate change brigade how they've been able to sell the idea that imposing a new tax will somehow lower the temperature and be the new panacea in the fight against climate change. It isn't of course, but the voices of rationality and cool-headed realism are being drowned out by the shrillness of The Greens and their fellow travellers on the Left who have been able to scream the loudest and ultimately set the agenda on this issue.
Already jobs are being lost as a result of the Carbon Tax. Coogee Chemicals have abandoned plans for expansion and creating new jobs (many of them in Gillard's own electorate) because of the uncertainty and increased costs of doing business in this country due to the tax. Like many other businesses they are seriously contemplating relocating lock, stock and barrel to China or other countries which have ruled out introducing a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
The smiles on the faces of The Greens after the Senate vote said it all. A party with just one member in the Lower House has managed to cause the biggest economic unheaval in this country's history. Labor has been delusional and whistling in the dark in the face of having their platform and policies hijacked by a dangerous minority outside the party. Penny Wong actually said during the Senate debate that "this is Labor legislation". If you believe that, I have a Harbour Bridge to sell you.
Is the carbon tax hurting the Gillard government? Well, it appears not. The latest Newspoll confirms the swing back to Labor/The Greens which began earlier this year. It states that if an election were held today, Tony Abbott and the Libs/Nats would just scrape in. If the trend continues, Gillard will be in front in just two months time. Now this is just extraordinary. Not content with wasting taxpayers' money a few months back with a propaganda campaign selling the carbon tax, more propaganda is on the way, meaning hopes of ditching Gillard and Labor are fading.
Tony Abbott disappointed many and gave ammunition to Labor by flying to London on the eve of the Senate vote for a Conservative conference. The task of responding to the passage of the tax was largely left to Barnaby Joyce. Nevertheless the message was loud and clear. Every powerpoint in Australia has become a branch of the Tax Office. We are facing a cost of living holocaust. And all for nothing.
The fight against the carbon tax isn't over. The bills haven't started coming in yet, and when they do the impact will be horrendous. We will all suffer in order to pander to Green fantasies and perpetuate a philosophy which is now being rejected all over the world. Hopefully Australians will come to their senses by the time of the next election and we can set about wiping out all trace of this temporary aberration in our country's history.
Thursday 3 November 2011
Can't take criticism? Shoot the messenger!
The Daily Telegraph this morning reports the latest moves in dumping Gillard as prime minister and reinstalling Kevin Rudd as Labor leader. It's on, and Gillard is not expected to see the month out.
Oh, it's been delicious watching various Labor luminaries squirming today, lashing out and confirming all our worst impressions of the party. They've been manufacturing excuses, denying everything and throwing up smokescreens. The only thing they haven't done is fall back to their default position of trying to blame Tony Abbott.
It's been great theatre, but of main concern are the attempts to blame the News Ltd papers for daring to report the truth. "Da Mair-doch Prairse as er disgrairse!" moaned glorified pommy shop steward Senator Doug Cameron in that tortured, grating, whining accent of his. Well, the only one who is a "disgrairse" is Cameron himself, coming from a militant union, crawling up to Labor faction leaders, getting the numbers and being given a lifetime sinecure in the Senate where he can just sit on his arse doing nothing and pocketing millions in salary and superannuation.
The Murdoch newspapers are the great satan according to the Labor party because they have dared to scrutinise the Labor government, unlike the unquestioning cheer squad in the Fairfax broadsheets which are undoubtedly the worst newspapers in the western world. Labor ministers and The Greens pounced with glee on the News of the World phone hacking scandal, trying to link News Ltd papers here with the problems in the UK despite the fact that News Australia is virtually autonomous with its own directors and senior management.
The hypocrisy of the Labor party concerning News is breathtaking. They conveniently forget that the reason why News controls 70% of newspapers in this country is because of the Labor party itself. Paul Keating in 1986 changed the media ownership laws to enable News to take over the Herald and Weekly Times because HWT's papers had always been arch conservative. "At least Rupert's flexible. His papers have occasionally supported us" said one Labor member at the time. Similarly, Bob Brown from The Greens was happy when The Australian opposed the Franklin River dam project in 1982/83, but as soon as they put The Greens under scrutiny they are "the hate media" and Brown forces the government to set up a media enquiry with the ultimate aim of breaking up News Ltd and forcing them to sell their newspapers.
Meanwhile we can all ponder just how low the Labor party has sunk. A disunited rabble unfit for government at any level, rancid and rotting in the midday sun. Putting Kevin Rudd in charge again will be an act of desperation. The only good thing to come from it will be the smashing of the alliance with The Greens and the hope that at the next election Labor will join the Libs and Nats in refusing to give their preferences to The Greens.
Gillard is now dead meat and Rudd will be an interim leader handling the transition to the opposition benches. Hopefully the voters will have finally learned their lesson and will keep Labor out of government for at least a generation.
Oh, it's been delicious watching various Labor luminaries squirming today, lashing out and confirming all our worst impressions of the party. They've been manufacturing excuses, denying everything and throwing up smokescreens. The only thing they haven't done is fall back to their default position of trying to blame Tony Abbott.
It's been great theatre, but of main concern are the attempts to blame the News Ltd papers for daring to report the truth. "Da Mair-doch Prairse as er disgrairse!" moaned glorified pommy shop steward Senator Doug Cameron in that tortured, grating, whining accent of his. Well, the only one who is a "disgrairse" is Cameron himself, coming from a militant union, crawling up to Labor faction leaders, getting the numbers and being given a lifetime sinecure in the Senate where he can just sit on his arse doing nothing and pocketing millions in salary and superannuation.
The Murdoch newspapers are the great satan according to the Labor party because they have dared to scrutinise the Labor government, unlike the unquestioning cheer squad in the Fairfax broadsheets which are undoubtedly the worst newspapers in the western world. Labor ministers and The Greens pounced with glee on the News of the World phone hacking scandal, trying to link News Ltd papers here with the problems in the UK despite the fact that News Australia is virtually autonomous with its own directors and senior management.
The hypocrisy of the Labor party concerning News is breathtaking. They conveniently forget that the reason why News controls 70% of newspapers in this country is because of the Labor party itself. Paul Keating in 1986 changed the media ownership laws to enable News to take over the Herald and Weekly Times because HWT's papers had always been arch conservative. "At least Rupert's flexible. His papers have occasionally supported us" said one Labor member at the time. Similarly, Bob Brown from The Greens was happy when The Australian opposed the Franklin River dam project in 1982/83, but as soon as they put The Greens under scrutiny they are "the hate media" and Brown forces the government to set up a media enquiry with the ultimate aim of breaking up News Ltd and forcing them to sell their newspapers.
Meanwhile we can all ponder just how low the Labor party has sunk. A disunited rabble unfit for government at any level, rancid and rotting in the midday sun. Putting Kevin Rudd in charge again will be an act of desperation. The only good thing to come from it will be the smashing of the alliance with The Greens and the hope that at the next election Labor will join the Libs and Nats in refusing to give their preferences to The Greens.
Gillard is now dead meat and Rudd will be an interim leader handling the transition to the opposition benches. Hopefully the voters will have finally learned their lesson and will keep Labor out of government for at least a generation.
Tuesday 1 November 2011
Gillard's foreign foray falls in a heap
Julia Gillard is licking her wounds after a disastrous few days where she was brought back to earth with a thud following her disastrous handling of the Qantas dispute. She swanned around at the CHOGM meeting in Perth trying to reinvent herself as an international statesman, wagging her finger at Europe and having her ego massaged by foreign leaders. It was all going well, the puppy dog reporters were all going along with it heaping praise on her, filing acres of coverage about nothing in particular, then reality intervened. You can't keep up a facade forever.
Biased Labor supporter Laurie Oakes writes a column in the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph which really should be headlined "Labor Party advertisement". In this column, the head of the Canberra cheer squad for Gillard usually puts forward the current strategy the Press Gallery will be using to boost Gillard and Labor/The Greens. On Saturday he said that CHOGM would be a circuit breaker and revive Gillard's fortunes. The vuvuzela had sounded, the call went out.
The reporters were dutifully following the directive from His Master's Voice, heaping praise on Gillard, saying nice things about her and CHOGM, pushing the new foreign Julia and going along with her desire to divert attention away from her domestic political failings by swanning around with foreign dignitaries. Everything else was put on hold, Canberra and the rest of the country was a world away. Then Alan Joyce grounded the Qantas fleet.
The Gillard government had stuck its head in the sand over the Qantas dispute. Too gutless to intervene, scared stiff of their union mates, letting it just roll on and do untold damage to Qantas and the reputation of Australia, it dragged on for months. All along the government had the power under the Fair Work Act to intervene and bring it to an end, but they refused. Tony Sheldon from the Transport Workers Union is in line to be the next ALP president, and Gillard and the rest didn't want to do anything that might offend the new boss. While Gillard was in CHOGM fantasy land over the weekend - supping champagne, eating lobster, dressing up in silly clothes and watching Foxtel in luxury hotel rooms - Alan Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet. He had no choice. It was the only way he could get action from the federal government, and he forced their hand to send the dispute to Fair Work Australia. Despite being top-heavy with union officials, Fair Work Australia brought the strike action to an end and gave the parties 21 days to come to a resolution. Something that should have been done right from the start.
Watching the scenes in parliament, and listening to the pathetic performances from Gillard, Combet and the other Labor/union stooges, you cannot help but shake your head in bewilderment. Despite this being a political disaster and an embarrassment of unprecedented proportions, Gillard and the rest actually tried to blame Tony Abbott - yet again. Gillard put on her typical mad harridan, shrew-like performance in parliament screaming that Abbott was "Mr WorkChoices". It was comical, a stunning exposition of a leader woefully out of touch with reality and flailing about like a beached whale. Further embarrassment was caused by Gillard's revelation on TV that she refused to impliment section 371 of the Fair Work Act to bring the dispute to an end because "it had never been used before and might create legal problems". So there you have it. Gillard refused to bring in a law she helped draft - the replacement for WorkChoices - because she was too scared it might not stand up if challenged in the courts. So why did she bring it in in the first place? This is absolutely comical, but oh so typical of Labor and their amateurism and incompetence.
This whole disaster should be a salutory lesson to Gillard and the Press Gallery about the futility of trying to create silly diversions to try and cover up Gillard and the government's failings. You can't get away with it forever, over the barbecues in the western suburbs the punters don't give a fig about African dictators or any other nonsense. They just want an end of it. Gillard is now on borrowed time, and the sooner this failed farce of a government is swept from office the better off we will all be.
Biased Labor supporter Laurie Oakes writes a column in the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph which really should be headlined "Labor Party advertisement". In this column, the head of the Canberra cheer squad for Gillard usually puts forward the current strategy the Press Gallery will be using to boost Gillard and Labor/The Greens. On Saturday he said that CHOGM would be a circuit breaker and revive Gillard's fortunes. The vuvuzela had sounded, the call went out.
The reporters were dutifully following the directive from His Master's Voice, heaping praise on Gillard, saying nice things about her and CHOGM, pushing the new foreign Julia and going along with her desire to divert attention away from her domestic political failings by swanning around with foreign dignitaries. Everything else was put on hold, Canberra and the rest of the country was a world away. Then Alan Joyce grounded the Qantas fleet.
The Gillard government had stuck its head in the sand over the Qantas dispute. Too gutless to intervene, scared stiff of their union mates, letting it just roll on and do untold damage to Qantas and the reputation of Australia, it dragged on for months. All along the government had the power under the Fair Work Act to intervene and bring it to an end, but they refused. Tony Sheldon from the Transport Workers Union is in line to be the next ALP president, and Gillard and the rest didn't want to do anything that might offend the new boss. While Gillard was in CHOGM fantasy land over the weekend - supping champagne, eating lobster, dressing up in silly clothes and watching Foxtel in luxury hotel rooms - Alan Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet. He had no choice. It was the only way he could get action from the federal government, and he forced their hand to send the dispute to Fair Work Australia. Despite being top-heavy with union officials, Fair Work Australia brought the strike action to an end and gave the parties 21 days to come to a resolution. Something that should have been done right from the start.
Watching the scenes in parliament, and listening to the pathetic performances from Gillard, Combet and the other Labor/union stooges, you cannot help but shake your head in bewilderment. Despite this being a political disaster and an embarrassment of unprecedented proportions, Gillard and the rest actually tried to blame Tony Abbott - yet again. Gillard put on her typical mad harridan, shrew-like performance in parliament screaming that Abbott was "Mr WorkChoices". It was comical, a stunning exposition of a leader woefully out of touch with reality and flailing about like a beached whale. Further embarrassment was caused by Gillard's revelation on TV that she refused to impliment section 371 of the Fair Work Act to bring the dispute to an end because "it had never been used before and might create legal problems". So there you have it. Gillard refused to bring in a law she helped draft - the replacement for WorkChoices - because she was too scared it might not stand up if challenged in the courts. So why did she bring it in in the first place? This is absolutely comical, but oh so typical of Labor and their amateurism and incompetence.
This whole disaster should be a salutory lesson to Gillard and the Press Gallery about the futility of trying to create silly diversions to try and cover up Gillard and the government's failings. You can't get away with it forever, over the barbecues in the western suburbs the punters don't give a fig about African dictators or any other nonsense. They just want an end of it. Gillard is now on borrowed time, and the sooner this failed farce of a government is swept from office the better off we will all be.
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