Humble servant of the Nation

The real question is should governments govern?

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When the time comes for me to scratch away at the voluntary postal plebiscite, I will be voting no. And I say so presuming the question is “Do you approve of the Coalition government spending $122 million of taxpayers’ money to save it from itself?”

Really, that is the question. Or it should be.

The Turnbull government is acting against its own interests. This nationwide opinion poll runs contrary to everything the Liberal Party believes in. Even the party’s manifesto says so. Not that they call it that in order to avoid any ideological misapprehensions. They deign it a platform and in that document, replete with more motherhood statements than a 10 minute harangue from Mia Freedman, there sits this rather incriminating phrase: “…that government exists to serve people and not the reverse.”

But here we are engaging in an unproductive and divisive exercise for no good reason other than the Coalition government will erupt into terminal brawling unless the people bail them out for a couple of months before the next round of fussin’ and feudin’ begins.

Full column here.

224 Comments

  • Huger Unson says:

    Killable’s final par in his Intro to ‘Moments of Truth’ (2005).
    In short, it’s a pretty crook show. Honestly, if you weren’t financing its production with your own money, and if the cast and crew didn’t hold the country’s and your destiny in their hands, you wouldn’t watch it.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    “Lobster with a Mobster”, Mr Insider, and we thought US politics was wild. Go hard Matthew Guy, “I know nuffink”, he said.

    • The Outsider says:

      The family went to the Lobster Cave last year for my parents’ wedding anniversary. The fact that the cistern seemed to rattle a little should have tipped me off that it was a mobster haunt.

  • Trivalve says:

    Chelsea in the relegation zone I see Milton…

    Meanwhile, the AFL’s wooden spoon side puts 142 on the Suns! And it’s not the weekend’s high score! (close mind you). Re the Suns I reckon I’d keep Rocket and get a new team.

    • Milton says:

      Geez you’re quick off the mark, Trivalve. Burnley will be in the top 4 this season. Not sure about L’pool as they struggled with Watford. How you going in Tracy’s tipping comp??

    • Tracy says:

      Dunno what’s gone wrong with my AFL tipping in the last three or so weeks, seem to be back to my old self……bit bloody late.
      Good to see Chelski got off to a fine start😈

      • Milton says:

        Good God, Tracy “back to your old self” just when you were starting to be likeable! (I still can’t do emoticons!!).
        good work with the 9 btw.
        and piss off about Chelsea – it’s week one ffs….

        • Trivalve says:

          Sets the tone for the season, don’t it…

          • Milton says:

            Mourinho had a bad start to a season and was gone by about week 8!
            Anywho, it’s nice to see Tracy and yourself have found something to cheer about. Enjoy whilst you can!
            Yikes, Chelsea play spurs next week.

  • Dismayed says:

    Hey JTI did Carlton have anyone else beside Kennedy to offer back then? wouldn’t he straighten up the young Carlton giants?

  • Dismayed says:

    For those love clean football you would be hard pressed to see better than this.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJIl_E2VB9M
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR0Qv0NsWKk

    • Trivalve says:

      The disparagement from the leaguies used to be ‘aerial ping pong’. A couple of weeks back I saw someone describe aussie rules as ‘a bunch of seagulls fighting over a chip’. Sadly it rang true.

    • BASSMAN says:

      Is this what you call ‘football’? It is Catching, Dropping and Kicking….Aussie Rules I think they call it but wait…THERE ARE NO RULES! They just run around and kick. If there ARE any rules they ignore them. A bloke can tear along the sideline foot in foot out close enough is good enough, no halting things. No rules! There are 36 football codes in the world 35 have an offside rule….there is only ONE code with no offside rule…Yep go Australian mate go Ozzie Rules. Run where U please! The best of it all though is the scoring system. 2 big poles in the middle and 2 small ones on the outside. If ya go for goal you get it….you beaudy 6 points.

      Far too bloody many when compares with what a league player has to do for a pizzling 2 points or a 1 point field goal. But wait….if ya miss…ah well we’ll give ya a point for trying! And check how wide the posts are…bloody hell Thurston could do it kicking backwards. No other sport in the world gives you points for ‘having a go’. Joking of course. Rules is killing Union and League. The game is better promoted and much better run but like Gridiron I don’t understand it.

      • Dismayed says:

        Rugby league? Run into the wall, go back 10 yards and run into the wall again. The scoring system has to be kept simple due to the concussion of everyone playing the game.

  • Dismayed says:

    The junkie monkeys had J. Hird who was probably the most protected player to ever play the game. They now have the son of the Swans Bloods player Anthony Daniher the young Joe 6’7 Daniher seems to the next honorary of the mantel. Regardless of what happens next week . I do not think the Crows will win on that one day in September. JTI I know you like the upside of the Carlton Giants but gee the BBFFC have a good young list.

    • Penny says:

      Not sure I know what you’re getting at with that post Dismayed.

      • Dismayed says:

        Essendon = druggies. Hird was a protected species on the field ( yes he was courageous also) it appears young Joe also gets a very very good run from the umpires. I don’t think Crows will win the Premiership and I think Brisbane have a lot of upside with their young squad.

  • The Outsider says:

    The good news is that Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Edgar Winter are playing in Toronto on 2 September. The bad news is that I didn’t know about it until now and I’ll have to miss the concert, even though I’ll be in Toronto on 29 and 30 August.

    Boo hoo. I would have loved to have gone to this one.

    • Trivalve says:

      Alice is coming to Australia TO. Deep Purple – no John Lord. meh.

      • BASSMAN says:

        No Ritchie Blackmore either…but if they use Steve Morse…well he is a Guitar God.

      • Rhys Needham says:

        Ritchie Blackmore is also persona non grata from what I’m aware as well.

        • The Outsider says:

          It doesn’t seem as bad to miss the concert sans Blackmore. Still, a bit of unfortunate timing, particularly when the cost of tickets is pretty reasonable, starting at $45 ( the CAD is currently the same as the AUD). This reminds of the time I worked on secondment in Canada and was paid in AUD, when the AUD was 65 cents Canadian!! How things have changed.

    • Milton says:

      Alice wouldn’t need the scary make-up now and probably has a blue rinse. But it would be a sight to savour though witnessing him and his fans belting out “Department of youth”!

  • Not Finished Yet says:

    SSM is a symptom. Even Turnbull vs Abbott is a symptom. The real issue is that the Libs are no longer one disparate group of people combined within a broad church but two desperate groups of people separated by a broad aisle.

  • Lou oTOD says:

    On the question of who should be governing, make the debacle that Australian Rugby Union has become an example. Pulverised into extermination, the Western Force were done for well before the arbitrator, or is that traitor, got involved. Then Pulver with blood on his hands resigns, probably at the behest of the chairman who stays on.

    The Rebels back room deal handing ownership back to the VRU, and thus preventing their execution, was clearly done with the ARU in cahoots. Grubby if not corrupt.

    Stay tuned for a gunfight at OK Corral if Twiggy decides to appeal to the Supreme Court.

    How grown well educated men can preside over the destruction of a sporting code like this is beyond me.

    • Trivalve says:

      We never should have had 5 teams. Melbourne and Perth both mistakes for mine, but I’m not enamoured of evangelical missions into enemy territory at the best of times. Let’s not even go to Japan. Argentina maybe…

      • Gryzly says:

        I called the slow death of Rugby 10 years ago and those with the blind faith in the game said I was made. Their first and biggest mistake was believing that turning professional meant paying players and nothing more. The game was and is still run by amateurs.

        How can a national team not have a change of sponsorship in years? Is there no-one interested. How can have a national game have so little media coverage? How can a national competition sit back and watch the talented juniors coaxed away to League and Rules and not put a decent junior program in place. How can you expect to retain the next batch of elite players when a national rep. gets paid less than a first year AFL player.

        Only with the head in the sand attitude of the governing body and supporters who rely on the old maxim of “it’s the game they play in heaven”. Well 3 cheers for that, the game is just about dead,

        • jack says:

          yep, said much the same. they have pissed at least 50 mil up against the wall since 2003.

          not only have they destroyed a a good business, i.e. the super rugby franchise, they have not learned a thing about developing grass roots rugby.

          the AFLAuskick programme has been blowing them out of the water for fifteen years.

          at least here in HK rugby has learnt that and have a junior rugby programme that more or less replicates Auskick,

          result rugby booming

          simple enough to get it right.

          • Jack The Insider says:

            It’s the development aspect that is so disappointing. Ten or more years ago they were urged to play weight levels in juniors rather than age levels but have failed to do anything about it. Mums do not want their lads playing against 100kg monsters in the U14s. That’s just one thing but oh so easy to fix.

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