You know what I get sick of?
I am sick of hearing people complain about the need for a progressive government with big bold ideas, a solid direction, and the courage to lead us. Hearing this moaning shits me to tears.
What really irks me about this pissing and moaning is that we actually had that government, and instead of appreciating it, we held it up for ridicule. When I say “we” I mean the bulk of Australia led on by a main stream media with their own motives.
“What we need is the next Snowy Mountains Scheme” we keep hearing from a country yearning for a big infrastructure project.
Well we had it.
It was called the National Broadband Network, the information super-highway that was going to revolutionise the way be looked at health services, education services and the way we did business. However one of the side effects of the NBN was that it was going hurt Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel business so News Ltd and the Coalition went to war against it.
What was the Coalition response?
Too expensive, a Rolls Royce, more than we need, blah blah blah… Now we have a half-arsed lame solution through a prehistoric thinking government that relies on outdated copper technology and will cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain.
If Labor had the Snowy Mountains Scheme as policy now the Coalition would have their spin doctors assuring the public the same power could be generated by bringing cheap labour in on 457 visas and having them peddle exercise bikes to generate power.
It was not just the NBN, there was also the BER scheme. Building the education pumped much-needed funds into an area so badly neglected during the Howard years, or as those in the educational industry refer to them the “Dark Days”. Australia’s educational standard had dropped out of the world’s top 10 during those bleak days when previously under the Hawke/Keating government Australia had been a top 5 performer.
Instead of receiving credit for giving schools valuable resources and keeping unemployment levels at record lows through the boost to the building industry, the government faced a barrage of attacks over a tiny percentage of projects that were over-quoted.
Climb aboard Abbott’s answer to the Snowy River Scheme
People also crave a government who would take the lead on important issues such as climate change, yet when Julia Gillard finally put a price on carbon as she had promised to all her campaign look at the result. Sexist slogans and pathetic campaigns fuelled by the climate change denying shock-jocks and right-wing commentator nut-jobs with their tin foil hats and flat-earth logic.
The mix up between a carbon price and a carbon tax gave Tony Abbott the opportunity to brand Gillard a liar. This is despite Gillard promising to put a price on carbon prior to the election, and actually stating that she would consider an election win as a “mandate” to price carbon.
This now seems quite ironic given we have seen that Abbott slings more bullshit than someone in a stockyard with a shovel.
But you know what? We let him get away with his hypocrisy with our defeatist attitude, and as a result we now have a government full of climate change deniers that think coal is the way forward, and that giving out taxpayer cash to the big polluters is a good idea.
If we could just give these guys mountains of cash…
We yearn for a government that is willing to stand up and fight for our benefit and stare down opponents fearlessly no matter how big they are.
Not that long ago that’s actually what we had.
We had a government that was willing to stand up to some of the world’s wealthiest drug barons and slug them right in the kisser.
When we had a Labor government we had an Attorney General in Nicola Roxon that was willing in a world first to take on Big Tobacco with a push for plain packaging for tobacco products. The idea of this was to take the glamour out of their branding and hopefully slow down the rate of young smokers picking up the addiction.
And guess what? Roxon won. Australia blazing a trail forward for others to follow.
We also had a government willing to tackle the sexual abuse of children, particularly by members of the clergy, setting up a Royal Commission into the sexual abuse of children. This was despite the best efforts of Tony Abbott as opposition leader seeking to protect the church whose clergy was abusing children on a scale that could be considered industrial and then attempting to conceal the crimes.
A government that takes on the tobacco giants and the child abusers, seeking to protect societies most vulnerable and takes drastic action to protect our health, that doesn’t sound so bad.
Now we have an Attorney General in George Brandis who thinks his time is best devoted to seeking extra rights for bigots to offend minority groups.
However we also need a government that can manage money, which is apparently where Labor fall a bit flat… Or so some would have us believe.
Australia so skilfully negotiated a path through the Global Financial Crisis that we were the envy of the Western World.
Yes having a surplus to work with was advantageous I’m sure, however during the mining boom that preceded the Labor government a chimpanzee with a copy of MYOB could have been Treasurer and achieved a surplus.
I guess that is why when giving out awards, the highly regarded Euromoney didn’t give a “Best Previous Government Award” to the Howard Government, instead giving a “Finance Minister Of The Year” award to Labors Wayne Swan, making him the “World’s Best Treasurer” that year.
However, we not only avoided the recession so many other Western Nations suffered, through Labor Party initiatives we managed record low unemployment, and even made changes to the tax-free threshold to take tens of thousands out of the tax system, many of these students, the same ones Abbott wants to take overtime and shift allowances away from.
Now we have a government with a budget deficit that is spiralling out of control and is far worse than it ever was under the former Labor government. The path towards a surplus this Coalition government fantasizes about is now so distant in the future that Dr Who couldn’t find it with a supercharged Tardis.
Lost while looking for the path to Joe Hockey’s surplus…
The point is we had a good government. Of course they were not perfect, no government ever is, and yes the Rudd/Gillard years were plagued with damaging infighting.
However what we have now is a government that is known for its backwards agenda on environmental issues, hideously unfair budget, and a frighteningly long list of broken promises.
In Tony Abbott we have an allegedly misogynistic leader who appoints himself as Minister for Women and then appoints one woman to his cabinet, only appointing a second after a former male Minister has so badly screwed up the health portfolio that a woman is needed to take the heat.
A government that has chosen to attack Medicare, something that the vast majority of Australians hold as sacred.
A government that treats pensioners and those with disabilities as a burden and seeks to cut their income despite promises to the contrary.
A government that wastes millions of taxpayer dollars on a Royal Commission set up in a bid to weaken the union movement just before the government goes after workers with attacks on penalty rates, wages and working conditions and entitlements, seeking to bring back the WorkChoices Abbott told us was “dead buried and cremated”.
A government that has seen its Assistant Treasurer forced to stand down over corruption allegations, while a string of its members including Ministers, the Attorney General and the Prime Minister himself are exposed for alleged travel expense rorts whilst they were in opposition.
A leader so out of touch with reality he chooses to award a Knighthood to a foreign Prince on the Australia Day weekend.
I wonder if Australia had its time again if we would treat Kevin Rudd and particularly Julia Gillard differently.
It’s like the song says, “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”.
We are certainly feeling the pain now and I suspect and fear worse may be still to come. Who would have thought that the country could look back on those tumultuous Gillard and Rudd years and think of them as the good ol’ days?
Maybe next time we have a Labor government with a progressive agenda we won’t be so easily duped by an opposition with the media in it’s pocket.
There that’s my dummy spit done with, I feel better now.
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I blame Rudd.
Rudd 1. Murdoch 2. Rest of the media 3.
The old saying goes ,you don’t know what you have until it’s gone ,really applies here,
Sure Gillard had faults ,but they were nothing compared to Abbott,
The Abbott government has done so much damage to Australia ,it is going to take years to recover,they are still living in the Howard era ,you only have to look at their policies ,and i really hope they suffer the same fate as Howard ;only sooner
You said exactly what I’ve been thinking & said it very well. Thanks. Sharing.
Well said!
excellent article … very nice rant .. as for who is to blame .. we have all been absent at the wheel .. democracy is not about voting every 3 years democracy is about being involved at its core … the greatest percentage of Australians have absented themselves from the process either through apathy or a lack of education … Party memberships for all parties are at seriously low levels, so basically we have vested interested writing agenda whilst the many people sit on the sideline whinging about their government … this is a democracy We the people are the government, we just need to get involved and hold them all to account !!!
Great article Wixxy. You’ve succinctly summed up the contrasts between the two governments and given me more ammunition with which to stun those few acquaintances who still view the Gillard years with a jaundiced eye. Thank you.
The horror- the horror – the horrid Howard years have desensitised us into thinking that mediocrity
is adequate –but the bar of mediocrity – this time around- has been set at a level where village
idiots are accepted as wise.
Too bloody right Peter – Don’t forget Julia gave us the NDIS too and somehow (with a minority government) managed to pass an extraordinary number of socially important changes through a hostile parliament, under constant pressure from the opposition and an openly manipulated media.
I think most people nowadays are basically ignorant, self-absorbed, stupid and above all – selfish.
They all want world class infrastructure, services and protections, like:
– gleaming multi-lane highways devoid of cars
– super-fast high-speed railways
– cheap and easily accessible public transport
– investment in giant solar farms generating electricity from the sun
– the fastest internet connections enabling them to work from anywhere
– the most successful science organisations and programs in the world
– the finest hospitals offering the latest medical advances
– safe, secure streets free from crime, alcohol, drugs, guns or any terrorist threat
– the best schools and universities with free education for all…
But they don’t want to pay for any of it.
“Why should I have to pay for that university and someone else’s education? – I started work at 15 and did good”
“Why should I have to pay for the ABC when I don’t watch any of their lefty bias?”
“Why should half of my hard earned wages go to pay for all those lazy dole bludgers?”
Yep, that’s the problem with most Australians – they want the best of everything but somebody else should be paying for it.
Gillard was an incredible threat to the Liberal agenda.
In a minority government, she was so effective at negotiating legislation that she got more passed in a fraction of a term than any of her predecessors did in full terms without the constraints of minority government.
She was a threat that had to be neutralised.
And jesus did they neutralise her. Rupert, Gina, Peta, and their lackeys Bolt, Jones, Devine, and Abbott ganked her hard – one woman was such a threat because of how effective she was that they had to mobilise to destroy her.
Makes a complete mockery of democracy. The planet would be far better off without the likes of the current LNP and their overlords Gina and Rupert.
“If Tony Abbot ends up the prime minister of Australia… I mean you have got to say ‘God Help Us…GOD HELP US’…truly an intellectual nobody. No policy ambition… I mean is that all there is?” (Paul Keating, 2010)
We were warned folks . . . .
There should be a walkley for “fucking nailed it”
Good article… and one does get the feeling that these Liarbril mongrels will go all out to destroy everything they can so it will never be replaced.
The electorate is incredibly stupid!
Hear! Hear! Well said!
This article would be better if it wasn’t so partisan against liberals.
What you’re saying is that “We mock the government” but that comes about because of the partisan politics.
There’s no moderate line anymore, it’s either “Let all the boats in” or “Send them to manus”.
I want neither! You know ? I’d like a reasonable process and a safe country, but I also think Manus is the biggest black stain on our nation ever.
Partisan politics is what is in the way of your next snowy mountains project and good government.
There is, as yet, a small but growing movement of small business’s escaping the heavily populated cities of China and setting themselves up in the smaller villages that have good access to the internet. With the improved access provided by a now reasonable rail/road network, reasonably priced and readily available labour and accommodation, and the internet access providing the backbone, this has saved more than a few villages from population loss and ultimate decline and decay.
A grand national project such as the NBN could have been the saviour of our country towns. Regretfully I fear that the decline of many of our small towns will accelerate as the opportunities for the youth diminish, and the centres fade away, becoming irrelevant.
The people blaming Rudd for the mess we have now are the worst of them all. We had it good under Rudd and just because Gillard and a few others didn’t get along with him they knifed him in the back. We have heard and read a LOT about how Rudd ALLEGEDLY undermined Gillard – but we have 100% evidence that Gillard KNIFED Rudd, was DISLOYAL to Rudd, LIED to Rudd and did everything she could to make sure Rudd LOST the 2013 election. C’mon – Rudd campaigned for the ALP and Gillard in 2010 but in 2013 Gillard went on holidays. I blame Gillard and the rightwing faction headed by Shorten, Arbib and Howes for the mess we have today. Rudd will be remembered as a great PM. Paul Keating, Senator John Faulkner and the GREAT Gough Whitlam all praised Rudd – and have NEVER said anything positive about Gillard. I trust and respect the opinions of Keating, Faulkner and Whitlam over Gillard, Swan, Roxon and Garrett any day.
Okay Peter. Sure Australia really, really, really screwed up when they ousted Labor. Some blame can be laid at the feed of the slime bucket faceless men in the party itself…but the massive majority of blame can be laid at the feet of the Murdoch Media and the bloviating Shock Jocks like Jones and Hadley. Unfortunately, there are people who still buy, read, and believe trash heaps like the Tele, the Australian, et al and have their radios tuned into simple minded loudmouths blasting to minds even more simple than their own…The fact that this kind of outrageous slander can be considered freedom of speech rather than slander is beyond me: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4872546-1×1-940×940.jpg
Funny, I feel the same way about Howard. Our small business was profitable, 10 employees, paid bonuses every 6 months, then Labor was voted into office.
Business deteriorated, staff were retrenched, bonuses stopped & profit gone & loans were required to stay afloat.
Abbott is not the answer, nor is Shorten. Hopefully another Howard is just around the corner.
Howard was fortunate enough to have more many than he knew what to do with care of a mining boom and no Global Financial Crisis, the GFC hit at almost the same moment as Labor came into office so your perils don’t surprise me depending on the industry you were in…