tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post6890176160082439479..comments2023-12-06T00:23:28.790+11:00Comments on Press gallery reform: Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-13288242219905430932011-06-04T19:29:15.083+10:002011-06-04T19:29:15.083+10:00You'd hope someone like Sinodinos might, rubig...You'd hope someone like Sinodinos might, rubiginosa, but clearly not. Hints at a wider malaise.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-85577121751611068192011-06-04T18:21:06.063+10:002011-06-04T18:21:06.063+10:00Ever since some journalists started asking pointed...<i><br />Ever since some journalists started asking pointed questions about what the Liberals might propose, rather than simply what they oppose, questions about promises and what the Liberals might do to address those issues have made Abbott and others uncomfortable. Such a turnaround should have been expected by seasoned professionals such as Abbott and those around him, and they should have serious, sensible and appealling policies ready. They didn't, and still don't.<br /></i><br />Who can convince Abbott this is the trajectory?rubiginosahttp://twitter.com/#!/rubiginosanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-89568882860553363832011-06-04T15:32:45.257+10:002011-06-04T15:32:45.257+10:00Fiona: nothing wrong with cheering for your side, ...Fiona: nothing wrong with cheering for your side, but Sinodinos is being dishonest - and worse, wistful - in promoting his side ahead of the others.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-85186979714425188832011-06-04T13:06:00.547+10:002011-06-04T13:06:00.547+10:00Thanks very much Lachlan.
I'm trying to imagi...Thanks very much Lachlan.<br /><br />I'm trying to imagine how Billy Hughes would have reacted to Karl Bitar telling him that conscription was a dud with the focus groups, and lobbying on behalf of Cobb & Co to restrict the uptake of the combustion engine.<br /><br />From what I've read so far Tanner's book is telling but hastily written. <br /><br />I think there has to be a broader focus on public policy, with politicians only able to play a role within that process rather than the role that hogs all the limelight. It's a work in progress.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-55496025987485642332011-06-04T11:30:03.597+10:002011-06-04T11:30:03.597+10:00Another shining piece Andrew.
To Anonymous: I can...Another shining piece Andrew.<br /><br />To Anonymous: I can say as someone who has spent no small time dealing with a large number of the people that are now ALP Federal MPs, including few cabinet ministers, that their knowledge - both collectively and individually - of history is disturbingly absent.<br /><br />In the late eighties I recall one current Cabinet Minister asking me, in a perplexed tone, as to why the ALP had "thrown away" government in 1917. Another who looked at me blankly when I mentioned HV "Doc" Evatt.<br /><br />This is the symptom of the deeper disease, which is the self-obsession and vanity that drives these people, which blinds them to all matters that act as a distraction from their own personal glory. Like a corporate sponsor of professional sport, the past is simply another angle by which to monetarize the present. You and I, however, may think of it as history.<br /><br />There is nothing wrong with ego, as Skyhooks pointed out, but when it comes in public polity at the exclusion of decent policy it is bloody dangerous. Showbusiness for ugly people indeed.<br /><br />As Exhibit A I would point to the current Minister for Immigration, but there are others. The intellectual capacity of the Communications Minister is also a salutary point.<br /><br />We are poorly served by the quality of elected representatives. The good Mr. Elder does a wonderful job (along with Mr Densmore) in revealing the role and shortcomings of the Fourth Estate in all this. But we must also look at a situation where the major two and a half parties are completely trapped in a permanent present tense, devoid of any context of history and absent of any imagination of a future beyond glib motherhood statements.<br /><br />I'm yet to read Tanner's book, but if he exposes this then it could well be the most important book on Australian politics since Murray's 'The Split'. If he doesn't then I suppose someone will have to pen the very book that is needed to lance the boil disfiguring the face of Australian politics. Good public policy demands it.Lachlan Ridgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-65088071000152230572011-06-04T00:04:28.918+10:002011-06-04T00:04:28.918+10:00Anonymous @ 7, I know nuffink about the wondrous w...Anonymous @ 7, I know nuffink about the wondrous ways of the ALP, but it strikes me that your eminently sane approach has been trumped by F@#*us Groops.<br /><br />Which are indeed an embarrassment, and high time that they were taken to the guillotine and dealt with.<br /><br />Now, that was a slight distraction from what I really wanted to write about. Andrew, has it occurred to you that Sinodinos is doing a brill impersonation of Monty Python's Black Knight?Fionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-74486098894536427752011-06-03T21:22:38.756+10:002011-06-03T21:22:38.756+10:00Australians did not sign up to several wars worryi...<i>Australians did not sign up to several wars worrying about free rides, they fought for what was right. So it is with climate change: do the right thing, work with others who do the right thing, and eventually the recalcitrants will come around. The idea that we should sit around until the last possible moment isn't just unsustainable, it goes against the very grain of our national character and out history.</i><br /><br />You know what? I'm really surprised Gillard et al haven't used this line of reasoning loudly and publicly. It's so bloody true and resonates a lot more than mealy mouthed bits about how Europe already has an ETS etc etc. Are we a nation of bludgers that (despite having the highest per capita emissions) will hold back and wait until others take all the risks, do all the hard yards, then, and only then, when we're sure we're nice and comfy, then we'll take a baby step forward and do something. It's an embarrassment, and I'm surprised the ALP haven't done what you have and pointed to history to show that this is a really pissweak approach to take.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-32932233738408819892011-06-03T19:46:13.103+10:002011-06-03T19:46:13.103+10:00Thank you all.
HS, can I direct you to my convers...Thank you all.<br /><br />HS, can I direct you to my conversation with Peter on this blog (a while ago now, but should still show up on searches). He is the classic academic, projecting his words out there without much clue as to how others will receive and act upon them. David Clarke had to have a win and Phelpsy is it, really.<br /><br />PeterH - it is as far as I'm concerned but others will face adjustment difficulties. As to who's the future - in the olden days Liberals were a lot more open with their thoughts than they are now, so who knows?Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-69009528919116252142011-06-03T10:01:59.870+10:002011-06-03T10:01:59.870+10:00Great piece Andrew, again, but do you think Howard...Great piece Andrew, again, but do you think Howardism is really only a crust that can be scraped off? <br />I still think it is the core of the current parliamentary party, and it will be a few election losses before new blood can be elected into seats let alone into government.<br />Leaving aside the matter of potential leader for the moment, who do you think is likely to form the core group of an electable liberal government?PeterHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-40214421359202169862011-06-03T09:22:01.160+10:002011-06-03T09:22:01.160+10:00To show just how much the NSW Branch of the Libera...To show just how much the NSW Branch of the Liberal Party, which includes the Howard Consigliore Sinodinos, have lost the plot, they placed Dr Peter Phelps bum on a Legislative Council seat.<br />I rest my case, yer Honour.Hillbilly Skeletonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-19171483631993003342011-06-03T08:36:29.705+10:002011-06-03T08:36:29.705+10:00Thank-you for that analysis, Andrew.
I read that a...Thank-you for that analysis, Andrew.<br />I read that article and knew that it deserved a full deconstruction but didn't know where to start or how to control my anger.NormanKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00239931507788126902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-69633638127995175852011-06-03T03:03:34.973+10:002011-06-03T03:03:34.973+10:00thank you for this. wonderfully enjoyable defenes...thank you for this. wonderfully enjoyable defenestration.Gordicansnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-47209906933523218392011-06-02T23:04:30.251+10:002011-06-02T23:04:30.251+10:00A superb analysis, Andrew, but I am not sure if th...A superb analysis, Andrew, but I am not sure if the dropkicks are up to understanding, let alone appreciating, it.<br /><br />As to your response on the last thread, I'm not sure whether to say "Reowwww!", or simply to purr complacently.Fionanoreply@blogger.com