A Game of Magic Cup

The Liberals have played 'Magic Cup' with the 'Mug' Punter

 

Yes. Labor really annoyed me when they deposed a sitting Prime Minister.  And then they did it a second time.

Ropable, I was. Still am.

I consider my politics to be just left of centre (prudent, but not a fanatic), but because of their twice deposing of a sitting prime minister, and also because of the Green's more humane asylum seeker policy (and strong climate policy), I was considering voting the latter (they have been quite transparent) and perhaps preference Labor, or, believe it or not, the PUP.

Sound ridiculous?

So fed up was I that I was considering a vote for Clive Palmer (mind you, you could do worse in this election – how dull would it have been without him). But this is no laughing matter – this is our future.

And here’s the rub…

Aware of Labor heartland disaffection, the Liberals are using this as leverage to wager an increasingly right-wing agenda; but doing so covertly and under the cover of darkness and with sleight-of-hand -- in effect taking the punter for a ride. They are treating us like mugs. I can just picture them sniggering amongst themselves and it goads me no end. Yes, I am bloody furious.

One thing is for certain, tomorrow we will all be voting for a politician. And it is an unfortunate reality of modern (and perhaps ancient also) democratic elections that populism wins. Perhaps ultimately elections are popularity contests - after all, politics is populism personified. However, the hope is that they are popularity contests with (some) substance.

We have had a Federal Labor government for six years now; the last three albeit a minority one. Paradoxically, this minority government has been incredibly productive -- because of the Greens and Independents and despite an often unfairly extremely-stifling opposition.

Tony Abbott clearly tried to destroy the last Parliament, and now he is about to be rewarded for that. For three years the Opposition leader has been leading an “opposition on everything”. Perhaps, and unfortunately in my opinion, many Australians agree with him – e.g. Asylum Seekers debate. So much so in-fact that re-instated Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s priority upon his return was to appease public sentiment (and in my opinion xenophobia) in this regard. But I digress…

We all know why Labor has ticked us off – infighting and the treating of the highest office of the nation (and by association, us) with contempt. That aside, Labor’s record is actually quite good. Indeed, of the two major parties Labor’s values (currently at least) best reflect the average Australian.

But beyond that, Labor has stronger credentials:

• Rudd is far safer a leader on the world stage in a time when arguably we are heading toward a Middle East, and in-turn perhaps global, conflict
• Tony Abbott is prone to embarrassing and awkward gaffes - Australians like their politics to be "set-and-forget" not set-and-regret
• Labor’s team is more talented
• Labor’s legislative and economic record in the last six years is not immodest; rather good, actually
• I am not advocating for larger and larger debt, but under Labor and in the context of the GFC, our public debt is not that large
• Labor has shown us, warts and all, what they are made of – but the LNP is running cloak and dagger under the cover of darkness, vis-à-vis their ‘eleventh-hour’ and ‘at the dead-of-night’ announcements:
• Cut to Indigenous legal aid
• Cut to Foreign Aid – the argument that we should not borrow money to donate doesn’t cut it for one of the richest countries in the world - I have a home loan but that doesn’t stop me from giving to charity!
• Cyber-filtering
• Child-care
• The Liberals are chuffed at the prospect of inheriting an economy that is the envy of the world and yet only one major newspaper has the gumption to say so

• Climate change needs to be treated as a serious threat – pricing carbon is clearly the best way to go but Tony is again being difficult just to prove his point of stopping boats, taxes and everything and keeping big business on side – but the risks of not pricing carbon are too great, and we risk lagging instead of leading the world

I am not being alarmist. I am not being clever. I am not being party political. But we should think before we throw out the baby with the bath water.

And, to rub salt into the wound the coalition are being sneaky and evasive.

Yes. After three long years of Abbott's destructive and toxic agenda -- admittedly aided by Labor's ‘internals’ -- Australians are looking for some candour and transparency.

But over my dead body will I vote for Tony’s sleight-of-hand: after promising "costings" with plenty of time, then releasing a diluted and tepid version of them a full 36 hours before polls open, only to say "this is not the first word, this is the final word". What kind of mugs do they think we are? They are pulling a fast one, are doing it with a smile, and we’re meant to say “thank you very much” and vote for them.

The Emperor has no clothes. And his vice is a trembling, babbling mess. Abbott is a false Messiah.

So Labor passed us off as mugs by playing musical chairs with the high office of Prime Minister, and now the Libs are passing us off as mugs also.

Abbott and Co. can smell sweet victory. But much as I don’t want a country run by Unions, I sure as Hades don’t want a government in cahoots with business. At least with Kevin we are getting a Labor man who is NOT a Union puppet.

And although a tendency to verbosity, at least Kevin is up-beat; but when I hear Tony speak I just want to slash my wrists in a fit of despair. I know we should stick to policy and not personality, and perhaps it's part of being in opposition, but I don't think I could stand three years (and the rest) of Tony Abbott as Prime-Minister. I really don't.

Oh. And one more thing: No commentator, professional or otherwise, mentioned the possibility that Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson and Finance Department Secretary David Tune may have had one eye on the polls and the other on their own jobs, when they declared that neither had examined the opposition's policies. Essentially all they said was that unless all of the policy specifications were identical, the financial implications of said policy could vary markedly (thanks for clearing that up).

But it was reported as unprecedented and most significant! Pfft - it really was neither. All they did was say what we already knew but did so to ensure they kept their soon-to-be boss, a Liberal government according to the polls, on side! And as I recall a similar thing happened when Keating was Prime Minister. Make no mistake, the reportage in this campaign has been, at times, woeful if not deceitful.

But, because the Liberals were playing everything so close to their chest (actually, they were being too cute by half), Labor had to substantiate their own argument -- which they did and qualified it suitably at the time. Yet, all reports, including this one by Mark Kenny, suggested that these bureaucrats had essentially 'torpedoed' Kevin Rudd's claim of a $10 billion hole in opposition costings. Blah! Concern for their own jobs was, I would have thought, worthy of mention as a possible explanation for their launching the so-called 'torpedo'. But no reporter did.

Go on: Pick a cup.