It’s official. The Liberal Party is a shambles, a great hulking wreck smashed on the rocks of factionalism and personality conflicts so vicious and ugly they can only be resolved by pistols at dawn at twenty paces.
Turnbull et al are applying thick coats of paste and unrolling the flock wallpaper madly trying to cover over the yawning chasms that now appear in the Liberal Party’s broad church. One false move and the whole edifice will come crashing down.
Rather than dwell on the controversies du jour, be they same sex marriage, the Finkel Report or whatever ghastly turn of events arises to once again divide the Liberal Party on ideological grounds, it would serve our understanding better to go back to the genesis of this conflict and bask in the idiocy of its creators, the political geniuses who rolled a first term prime minister but failed to contemplate what was to be done with him once he had been vanquished.
Full column here.
Abbott as Rudd, even from here i can’t see that.
he could and should tidy his approach up a bit, and Turnbull should have put him back in Cabinet but I don’t think his behaviour goes close to that of Rudd.
The response is the same and it is basic human nature. Revenge, mate. that is what it is all about.
Yes great over the wall Jack. I dunno why the Looters wanna bite the hand that has fed them so well. In particular the Mad Monk. The cruel thing is that Abbott would rather destroy his own party, put Labor in govt just to ensure T.Bull does not attain the Holy Grail. Everything Abbott ever got was from the Looters yet he is doing all he can to destroy them. As anti-Looter as I am it is not fair and I do not like sitting on the sideline watching such shit when they should be governing.
That said, here is a good example of the difference between The Looters and Labor. Was listening to a audio of a poor bastard closing his factory and putting off 30 staff because his electricity prices have tripled (yes, under the Looters who scared the shit out of us with a piss poor carbon tax that added bugger all to power prices). As I listened I reversed the positions. What would the Looters have done? Abbott, Dutts or T.Bull would have been in front of that factory screaming about how Labor caused it all, flags everywhere, every news camera and radio station that could be secured…..but….Labor? Not a peep. Not a sound, no fronting the plastics factory.
Bassy
Where was that factory?
Was it the one in SA where I put the link up in the last blog.
If it is, it was in SA and the closure was directly attributable to SA’s crazy energy policy or lack of it..
It is all Labor’s doing and Labor has been strangely quiet on the whole affair..
JS Rubbish. the AEMO reports show the failing is he National Electricity Market and the Federal government allowing it to become a cartel. You need help. Prices have Doubled since the removal of the ETS. There is NO gas shortage, the issue is purely a failure of the NEM set up. Renewables make energy Cheaper. Stop lying and accept the facts.
It was absolutely nothing to do with SA renewable energy problem.It was to do with energy prices tripling under this government and since the carbon tax was abolished. Yes doubled everywhere else but tripled in his case.In fact he mentioned how his prices had gone up so much IN THE LAST 2 years.Prices in EA used to be the lowest but due to privatisation by Liberal govts, the surge in the gas price the loss of 26 towers due to a freak storm things have changed.Never forget what Abboot lied about to win an election….power prices will be 550dollars a year cheaper under the Looters for every household and gas prifes will be 8% cheaper……even out of office he is still lying
Bassy,
Where was the factory?
Stop dodging the issue.
Is that 20 paces thingy the old Battlelines? HAHAHAHAHA As our esteemed contributor would say. Give em heaps. Where is DOB these days?
Good stuff JTI. As we wander around this brown land of ours I have been struck by how little politics is discussed when chatting to locals and other travellers. What has interested me today though is after leaving Toowoomba, a town that has the dubious claim to fame of not having a clue who set fire to the local mosque (twice) and not really making a huge effort to rebuild it, we have arrived in Kingaroy.
I hope some Queenslanders can satisfy my curiosity as to why there is no Joh Bjelke park, or statue or even a sign to proudly state that this is where he hailed from. There is a Petersen Drive, hidden out near the airport, but that seems to be it. Nor is here any mention of Flo!!
I mean driving through Narromine there was a statue of Glenn McGrath. I think Matthew Hayden came from Kingaroy as well.
I am deeply disappointed. that they do not have The Big Peanut, like The Big Pineapple in Nambour, or The Big Merino in Goulburn.
Cause he was a crook and as bent as.
The only reason why he did not end up in the slammer was because the jury was rigged at his trial.
A retrial was not worth it because he was terribly sick and, I think, died soon after.
Russ Hinze is the one who conveniently carked it before his trial. Joh lived until 2005.
You are correct Rhys – the reason was that he was deemed to be to old. The rest is correct though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh_Bjelke-Petersen
On his trial
“The jury could not agree on a verdict. In 1992 it was revealed that the jury foreman, Luke Shaw, was a member of the Young Nationals and was identified with the “Friends of Joh” movement. A special prosecutor announced in 1992 there would be no retrial because Bjelke-Petersen, then aged 81, was too old. Developer Sng Swee Lee refused to return from Singapore for a retrial. Bjelke-Petersen said his defence costs sent him broke.”
Maybe they should have the big scone.
The big peanut would attract too many slurs on the good people of Kingaroy.
Some joker will remove the S and it will be The Big Cone., JS. Actually not a bad idea and a surefire winner.
Penny, As I recall there was a small caravan/shoppe on the roadside that sold Kingaroy peanuts in very small brown paper bags.
Particularly clever if you think about it.
Says it all really.
Enjoy your travels, Bella
JS I did see reference to Joh on the back of the door in the women’s toilet in the cp we were staying would you believe. It was beautifully written and started with the quote “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, then went on to relate the events that led to Joh’s downfall.
Bella, I did see the peanut caravan, but did not stop, to my regret.
Milton, It wasn’t until we drove past the burnt out mosque a couple of times, that I thought to Google what had happened, the article wasn’t very complimentary to Toowoomba residents.
I am enjoying my travels, the weather is gorgeous in Queensland, let’s hope it stays that way.
If one lived in QLD during Joe’s tenure, toilet doors were about the only medium where one was safe to protest.
A lot of unsolved, or dubiously solved, fires and crimes in qld, Penny. We’re not Bob Crusoe in that dept. I reckon nsw and vic would (to our shame!) beat us in that state of origin caper.
And who should be making a huge effort to rebuild the mosque? If there have been 2 fires i’d have a wild guess that insurance people and the rest are doing their usual crap.
Anywho, get into those Kingaroy nuts, Penny. Tres $$$$ but lovely.
By goodness I had lots of stress free fun, frivolity, illegal activity under Joh’s regime. Safer then, and the cabbies were up to speed!
Gawd almighty, it’s not as if there’s any shortage of big peanuts in Queensland. Take George Christensen just for one, probably the biggest peanut in the Milky Way.
Penny,
If you and yours are heading to see Dwight give me a yell. Love to catch up for a coffee. JTI has the e-mail address.
Hi Penny, you’re doing a lot of travelling this year, good onya and hope you are enjoying it. Best statistic I ever heard about Toowoomba was it produced more material & video entries for Australia’s Funniest Home Videos than any other town in Australia by far, says it all really.
I thought a memorial to Joh should reflect what a police state it was at the time with him and the Minister for Everything, Russ Hinze at the helm. Kuranda could be one place, remember the t-shirts with the target & “Don’t jog in the Fog” on the back.
When it’s foggy up here in Kuranda
Best you hide under the verandah
‘Cause some boys in blue
Without further ado
Will make you look like a colander.
Or something like that with apologies to the author.
Cedar Bay might be another possible memorial spot, good place for a statue, lots of birdlife would be good too.
The term ‘Don’t jog in the fog’ is still used today in Qld Police circles Mack.
Really TG? Very catchy line I must admit.
Agreed. Stupid twice, and by different parties. Obviously, as you suggest, the libs were more stupid as they had a front row seat at the original.
Anywho, bring Tony back, he’s learnt his lesson and Malcolm has got what he always wanted.
Truth be told where else could Abbott go, except as a General in the army reserve.
He’s learnt his lesson? do you live in a parallel universe or something.
There’s something really excruciating about watching a man fight for his own relevence Milton. It’s way past time for Abbott to leave the building & put his feet up. The silly goat won’t win this. 🐐🐐
Excruciating in a good or bad way, Bella? I bet there a few enjoying this. Still I can’t see Abbott going anywhere, unless he gets kicked out of his seat.
Tracy – I wouldn’t say parallel!
Excruciating in a cringeworthy, embarrassing way Milt. The man is on the backbench now & he can’t cope with the demotion.
I agree that some ” would be enjoying this” but not me mate..I clung to the blessed relief of never having to hear him blather through a simple sentence ever again so this ongoing debarcle leaves me cold.
Abbott didn’t transfer from opposition behaviour to being in power, he became PM because he wasn’t Rudd or Gillard, he’d sold his arse to be PM but he couldn’t cut it and to this day both he and Credlin refuse to see that any of his disfunctional ministry was their own doing.
If he had any courage of his convictions (and he hasn’t) he’d trot over to Bernardi’s’ party, but they aren’t the best of pals anymore and he wouldn’t be the big chief or challenge Turnbull for the leadership
Think everyone knew he wouldn’t go quietly but I have to question the mental state of a bloke who seems to feel he can bring a government down and everyone’s going to rush to him to put it all back together again………not going to happen.
Abbott certainly appears to be unstable in a ‘vengeance is mine’ kind of way. I can’t imagine he will suddenly halt his retaliation until he gets what he believes he’s entitled to reclaim.
I have to wonder who’s been in his ear (aside from Credlin) reving his ego & his ambition enough for him to reach this point?
TA was always, to be kind, lost as PM but this snide criticism of his own party & now setting out ‘his battlelines’ has gone way beyond sniping.
Yep:-Bi Polar
I’m of the belief that Abbott will be PM again, Tracy and within the next 10 yrs. Politics, and public service, is what he does. His biggest mistake when PM was to have Hockey as Treasurer and not Turnbull.
He was a shocker of a PM, the electorate wouldn’t have him especially after the destructive path he seems hell bent on.
Rudd brought Gillard down but Abbott is going to bring the Liberal party down, he’ll be able to chew on that while he feeds the pigeons on that park bench in Manly.
Good to see that the Hillsborough families are a step closer to hopefully some justice.
What happens with Pell remains to be seen
Abbott divides and creates community disharmony. He is NOT a leader he is destructive. He stated he wanted more Battlelines drawn up. That is not acting in the National interest but in the interest of a minority group of outdated selfish conservatives.
bonza stuff this……awesome
I read your entire column, Mr Insider, and have to say agree with every word you said. The Federal Liberals are a “steaming wreck” and PM Turnbull must take a heap of the blame as it was he who squealed “Look at Moy” ala Kath and Kim, as he told us he knew better. Sadly I gave him his chance but it became obvious so early he knew nothing. Abbott , despised by all and sundry, clocked 30 Negative Newspolls, a record that Turnbull, now at 15 himself is fast catching. We are seeing now on Turnbull’s face the “pollies plastic grin” as he tries to spin his way out of trouble, today “reopening” the Snowy Hydro Scheme or ordering a Meat Pie, not sure what he was trying to do, who cares! Goodbye Malcolm and the Liberals, thanks for coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDZWXEheA0w
MT looked good, HB, until it became evident that he was beholden to the extreme right. That’s when it all started to fall apart. He should have gone straight to an election .
Am in 100% agreement with all that Boadicea. The rot started to set in about 3-4 months after the “coup”. Amazingly before that he would have won an election handsomely and maybe stamped his authority instead of treading water and as you say, beholding to the extreme right, which has cost him dearly. Sadly for him too he is hopelessly out of touch with the average Aussie imho. Cheers.
to see the extreme right re elected
I’m reading Frank Rich’s http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/frank-rich-nixon-trump-and-how-a-presidency-ends.html
No matter what success he achieved, as Drew wrote, Nixon “never lost his resentments” or “his desire for revenge.”
That’s a strong hint to the kind of human nature that would drive Abbott in another leadership role. Deadly, dangerous, self-destructive.
Anyway, if Abbott is still learning the craft of tribalised politics he should look at PNG. (They are wonderful people!) Look at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-28/papua-new-guinea-election-chaos-as-violence-erupts-photos/8658764. No, not the burnt ballot boxes, not the wigs, not the police beating the mobs with batons, not the soldiers with serious long-arms, but those rainbow coloured umbrellas!
It really irritates me when the pollies refer to questions about internal disunity as “beltway issues” and that voters do not want to hear politicians talking about themselves. That later bit many be true but what deeply concerns voters is is the government competent and able to govern or are they just a bunch backstabbing rabble. That impression is fatal and it did for Rudd Glliard Rudd. Try and pretend that it is not important is nonsense, they know it, we know it and they know that we do; hence the smokescreen…