Humble servant of the Nation

The lights are on in Canberra but nobody’s home

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You may be wondering, like I am, who is running the country.

It certainly isn’t the prime minister.

One could pose a forlorn argument that it is the executive, the cabinet calling the shots but that, too, doesn’t pass scrutiny. On Tuesday, Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull were strident in opposition of a Royal Commission into the banks. It would not happen they said. Not on their watch. The commitments lasted less than 48 hours.

Tuesday’s titans have once again become Friday’s flotsam.

So who is running the country?

Sam Dastyari thinks the Chinese might be in charge, if not today then at some point in the not too distant future. Wealthy Chinese businessmen with strong links to the Chinese government imagine Australians as their drinks waiters and golf caddies of the future so with a gleam in his eye, Shanghai Sam has got out of the blocks early.

“The Chinese integrity of its borders is a matter for China. Seven iron, Mr Huang?”

Full column here.

484 Comments

  • Trivalve says:

    Channel Nein commenterati keep telling us Pat Cummins could become an all=rounder. I reckon he already is.

  • Boadicea says:

    God it’s cold here. 10deg. Apparent 4. And snowing! What happened to Summer?

  • Failed Comic says:

    I think it was quite mean for our PM to suggest that Shanghai Sam could be under surveillance especially considering we are now entering the silly season. Imagine, every meeting, every Xmas function, some funny guy will demand Sam leave his phone at the door. No more spontaneous YouTube videos for Sam, just old school meetings in saunas. Ouch!

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    So who is this Meghan Markle who has won the heart of our gallant Prince Harry, Mr Insider? Well do hope this link below may clear up a lot of loose ends for the interested. What a thrill it would be to be in London next Spring for the Wedding. One may have to clear ones calendar unless it conflicts with POTUS Trump’s visit to Oz.
    https://tinyurl.com/ychcz3jm

  • jack says:

    watching the last half of the Rugby League World Cup in a pub last night, huge roar from the poms gathered around the cricket tele, high fives, blokes jumping off chairs etc,

    over the moon at getting Smith, it’s a pretty fair measure of his standing in the game, that he can produce that sort of reaction from English fans.

    one of whom said to me, sure he got forty, but not a hundred and forty.

  • Milton says:

    Very important for Marsh and Handscombe to bat in the daylight for a long time. Unfortunately to me the bom suggests pretty heavy rain for the first session. Seeing the new ball late last night looked an ominous prospect.

    Barnaby going from strength to strength. Maybe he should be running the country???

    • Jack The Insider says:

      Handscombe went in the first over. The second new ball is doing a bit.

      • Milton says:

        Marsh again the bulwark of our first innings. Nothing flash, but he’s there. If we get above 350 and get to bowl at the poms for a bit tonight we could have them out for under 200 and we’ll sow it up. Then some may say Root rooted them. Of course I may have to write a grovelling post asking for this missive tto be deleted.
        As I type a flash 4 by Marsh. 7/317

    • Trivalve says:

      Barnaby running the country? Whaddya think this is Milton, North Korea or summat?

  • Huger Unson says:

    Interesting dynamics around that Israeli missile assault near Damascus. Aromas, plenty, none of them pleasant.
    Should it escalate, I expect a fulsome gesture of the fist from Mr Turnbull.
    But, it will be a welcome diversion from dealing with perceptions of Beijing’s influences here.
    Have a shot, Jack, at the China “experience” (excluding yumchas) acquired by the entire Executive over the years. I guess no more than two weeks, in total, and not one Mandarin speaker within cooee (no translation for that, 抱歉).

    • Jack The Insider says:

      Vaguely apropos of your comment I am always amused to eat at a Thai restaurant where the patrons insist on using chopsticks. The Thais don’t use chopsticks but dutifully deliver the woodwork on request and are too polite to say anything.

  • wraith says:

    Wonder if Milton took a jumper to the cricket. Looks cold down in Adelaide.

    • Milton says:

      alas i’m not there wraith. at home looking after the chooks, cat and monitoring the eldest; a high school graduate planning/hoping to go to UQ next year. I consider him a reluctant uber! Anywho he survived schoolies – to my great relief, and has been accepted into the QAS.
      Seemingly un Adelaide summer weather. No takers from anyone to bring me back a pie floater.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    Go Kristina Keneally in Bennelong, Mr Insider, she’s coming back from a long spell, has galloped the track down and am tipping a first up win for her. Barnaby had no opposition at all was a one horse race but Bennelong a different kettle of fish.

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