Humble servant of the Nation

Bill Shorten the political contortionist

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Let’s face it, Bill Shorten is the only reason Coalition MPs still get out of bed every morning. Without him, they’d be stuck in the foetal position, rocking gently from side to the side, sucking their thumbs.

If we thought the Turnbull government was a broken husk of a government, we’d be right but in the past six months with the intensity building feverishly over the last fortnight, Bill Shorten has reminded us all that Labor, too, is a shambles, caught in a web of its own making.

A brief history of Shorten’s position on the $16.5 billion Adani mine in North Queensland reveals he’s done more revolutions than Che Guevara. Six months ago Shorten gave the mine the thumbs up. Then he dragged out the party line that he supported the Adani mine provided it “stacked up economically and environmentally.” That was two weeks ago. After a whirlwind trip of the Great Barrier Reef, courtesy of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Shorten had a trademark change of heart, followed by another. Last week he threatened to put the kibosh on the mine entirely. This week he says he no longer supports the mine but will reluctantly let it go ahead.

I’m getting vertigo just thinking about it.

Full column here.

485 Comments

    • Bella says:

      In the era of catastrophic climate change, trees are the most important crop we have. I was of the understanding that the court ruled those new NSW land-clearing laws invalid Dismayed. Looks like the NSW Premier is as environmentally ignorant as the the QLD Premier but the biggest losers will again be our already devastated koala habitats.
      Why is it that against all the evidence, our species continues to wreck the joint? Nobody actually cares anymore.

      • Razor says:

        Bella,
        Could you give me an example of this ‘catastrophic climate change’?

        • Bella says:

          No Razor, cos if you have to ask, you’re a lost cause. I do like you though so may I suggest you could put down the Oz for a sec & google “catastrophic climate change” yourself.
          Maybe start with the Arctic…..😕

      • wraith says:

        Have you met the average idiot Australian? All they care about is money and self interest. If their job is but raping this country, well by god, they will rape it, and get good money for it.

        Humanity is vile Bella. No, they dont care. They never have cared, the evidence for that is written all over history, and all over the planet itself this very day. If there ever was a stupider, more self absorbed, ignorant, willfully destructive beast that ever walked this planet, it would be a revelation to me. India. If India doesnt open their eyes to what happens when you just go for it, nothing will.

        Willfully ignorant idiots. Stupid to the core. And us, yes us, Australians lead the world in just being pigs. I understand why you grieve, I really do Bella.
        .
        We utterly deserve to have a plague of unstoppable power wipe a good four fifths of our population out, maybe more, for the reset button to hit, and save the planet. Wont happen though. That’s sad.
        Hugs Bella.

        • Bella says:

          I’ll have what she’s having…❤
          That post is exactly how I feel.
          You are my absolute favourite here wraith & you have been for years. Keep punching girlfriend!

          I do find it certifiably insane that people would rather die rich than take care of the only planet we’ve got & think nothing of wiping out many other species in their blind persuit of the almighty $s.
          Hugs & respect, Bella 🐬

          • Penny says:

            I agree Bella, always livens the blog up when Wraith joins us. I agree with you both though, the greed and corruption involved in the chase of the $ is quite obscene. I have been reading some interesting reports about a company that our own MT was heavily involved in, which razed the forests in the Solomon Islands. He of course then sold his share to a Malaysian company ( you know those ones involved in Palm Oil production). That deal alone made him millions. Nothing wrong with being rich, but it’s how the money is made that is sometimes the most worrying. My once held quite positive perception of our PM has now reached an all time low

            • Bella says:

              For a guy who once described the forests as “the lungs of the world”, Turncoat was chairman of that company when they clear-felled the most extensive area of tropical rainforest ever seen in any country.

              The bottom line is that MT is just a rich, old anti-environment liar who’ll always be driven by profits.
              Conservation? Never.
              I’m with you Penny & the worst, most pathetic thing about his ascension to the current job is that he had to pay the Fibs to get it. How degrading for a man to know he is ‘owned’ by the drongos of the far right. 😝
              My best regards Penny.

          • wraith says:

            You too Bella. Living out here, I am seeing the results of the changes. Its not good.
            But the blind must have the money.

        • Razor says:

          Wraith,
          Self-loathing is the new black. Get over it. Life’s good.

        • Carl on the Coast says:

          Wraith says: “Willfully ignorant idiots. Stupid to the core. And us, yes us, Australians lead the world in just being pigs.”

          You’d better read George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” before you make such derogatory statements. Shame on you Wraith, and you being a country girl and all.

          • wraith says:

            Ive read “Animal Farm”, think it was in about Grade 8 in school. I’ll put you down for ‘head in the trough never thinking it will come to them’. No?

            • Carl on the Coast says:

              I insist you give the pigs a break Wraith. You should know better. I have it on very good authority that pigs are the smartest, cleanest, domestic animals known. 🐖😉

              • Carl on the Coast says:

                I say Wraith, I’ve been giving some further thought to your appraisal of the “average idiot Australian”. What you appear to be postulating is that its the ovary lottery that largely determines one’s future life.

                The possible veracity of your claim is enough to buffet one off one’s social axis, Wraith!

  • BASSMAN says:

    Loved this…..”The modern conservative politician is engaged in one of the oldest exercises in
    moral philosophy…the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

    • Carl on the Coast says:

      GROAN!

    • Jean Baptiste says:

      Jesus wept.

    • Bella says:

      “There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.” Benjamin Disraeli
      Or this gem Bassy
      “People that elect corrupt politicians are not victims..but accomplices.”
      George Orwell

      • BASSMAN says:

        The best I have heard was the Looters re fugees when the journalist wrote that they actually ENJOYED
        inflicting misery on hapless refugees. That has really stuck in my craw.

        • Razor says:

          Absolute rubbish! Who was the journalist and where is the article or is another urban myth?

        • Carl on the Coast says:

          You’ve either embellished that or you believe everything you read BASSY. As Dismayed says- “no surprises”.

          • BASSMAN says:

            “A former senior public servant described a conversation he had years ago with another agency head, who was bemoaning the harshness of the Howard government line on asylum seekers. Labor would do it no differently, the first man said. The other replied, “Yes, but the Coalition enjoys it!”

            This taken from the column he wrote. He would not have included it if he did not believe it.

            • Carl on the Coast says:

              Just as I thought, the old “he said, she said” caper. Hardly enough to hang your hat on BASSY.

            • Carl on the Coast says:

              I say Wraith, I’ve been giving some further thought to your appraisal of the “average idiot Australian”. What you appear to be postulating is that its the ovary lottery that largely determines one’s future life.

              The possible veracity of your claim is enough to buffet one off one’s social axis, Wraith!

            • Milton says:

              “He would not have included it if he did not believe it.”
              There’s that IQ of yours at work again, Bassy!

              On more important matters, who’s the better guitarist, Glenn Campbell or Roy Clark?

  • Tracy says:

    There is a Funnel web in my laundry, it shot across the floor and where I thought it had gone it hasn’t.
    There is also a pile of washing on the floor ready to go in the machine, guess I’ll need the gardening gloves.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    Mike Bowers talks pictures with Mark Humphries of SBS Viceland’s The Feed, Mr Insider, always a fav segment of mine and we see you on it from time to time too.
    http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/talking-pictures/9536448

    • Jack The Insider says:

      I’m on next week by the way.

      • Henry Blofeld says:

        Woot shall be watching Mr Insider. Cheers

      • Bella says:

        I loved you on that “yeah, nah” piece JTI.
        You should drag out that bandana more often! 👍
        And before I forget, I sincerely hope everything goes well for you in the hospital in April. Stay strong mate.
        We’ll all be waiting for you on the other side……how utterly depressing hey? 😘

    • Dwight says:

      Betty doesn’t do anything well. Her abuse of logic and the language of Shakespeare ought to be actionable.

      • Jean Baptiste says:

        Betty is brilliant. Her ability to annoy the authoritarians and form Nazis is divine. A national treasure.
        Stick it up their noses Betty.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    Who misses Anthony Ackroyd, aka Kevin Rudd? I do, you bastard Jooooooolia for knocking Anthony ooops mean Kevin off.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOSPCrToRM

  • BASSMAN says:

    Trump has extracted some kind of ‘security’ concession bribe in exchange for not throwing us under his trade war bus. Ever since WWII, Australian governments of both sides have carefully kept our US trade deals entirely separate from ANZUS and our defence agreements. One should not affect the other. Trumper is now trying to blackmail us. In reality, the US tariff exemption means absolutely zero for the Australian economy. Zilch. The import rules in the US for Australian steel and aluminium are unchanged – ie, Australia is still exempt from the tariff – that’s all. There is no benefit things are just the same as they were BEFORE the tariff. Oh and Howard’s ‘free trade agreement’ with the USA was always a con job. Actually we would have been better off WITH the tariff…why? The cost of us joining Trump in Afghanistan/Syria/Iraq/The South China Sea and any wars Trump declares will be billions and billions more than the few bucks Bluescope Steel would have lost. If Trump gets nasty we could easily use Darwin and Pine Gap as our insurance.

    • Henry Blofeld says:

      May I be bold and cheeky enough to ask you dear BASSMAN which political Party you vote for as could not find one listed that would fit your views. You do seem a wee left of the Greens dear friend, not that that is a crime. Cheers

  • Milton says:

    Will we be getting a few roo’s loose in the green paddock soon?

  • Rhys Needham says:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the ALP ‘policy’ is to let the Carmichael mine collapse of its own accord and walk both sides of the street in the meantime and mollify everyone as best they can without having to commit.

    • Trivalve says:

      Could be Rhys. And it just might.

    • Razor says:

      From the comments they have already made Rhys they’re going to have trouble in regional Qld anyway. They need those seats to win government. A heap of votes in seats they already hold won’t matter much.

      • Dwight says:

        They don’t have any seats up here, but if they think they can turn Capricornia or Dawson, they’re dreaming.

      • Dismayed says:

        If they have no seats in FN Qld it is no big deal. They will pick up 2 seats in WA a couple in Vic. and that will be enough to remove the worst government in this nations history. We can only hope after watching the hysterical dishonesty of the coalition today.

    • Boadicea says:

      Could well turn out that way, Rhys. He’s just got to get through to the Batman by-election in one piece.
      His problem might be that everyone, well most everyone I should think, has seen through his duplicity on the issue – and he hasn’t come out of it smelling of roses.

      • Dwight says:

        “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” – Groucho Marx

        Suits Bill to a T.

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