tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post7136302823167326100..comments2023-12-06T00:23:28.790+11:00Comments on Press gallery reform: The shadow of BIll ShortenAndrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-62577739640691333192015-07-06T18:13:40.639+10:002015-07-06T18:13:40.639+10:00I don't think even Gillard could keep us safe ...I don't think even Gillard could keep us safe from Rudd.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-45345470623309493782015-07-06T16:59:13.203+10:002015-07-06T16:59:13.203+10:00It doesn't matter how sound Shorten is when we...It doesn't matter how sound Shorten is when we have the loons in the mainstream media bleating about him all day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-51957308953209287262015-07-06T16:56:37.855+10:002015-07-06T16:56:37.855+10:00Reminds me of a time when I was at school. Being ...Reminds me of a time when I was at school. Being musically trained, I kept a harmony part while all the others merged into the melody. I fought a losing battle, and often felt quite silly being the only one singing the harmony. In fact I was the only one singing it right!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-15861021654288528012015-07-05T20:29:45.497+10:002015-07-05T20:29:45.497+10:00I think the expectation has now been set that oppo...I think the expectation has now been set that opposition leaders are meant to be drooling psychopaths, and on that account Shorten has been disappointing. He's the least entertaining opposition leader since Hewson - no, that's not fair, since Nelson maybe. <br /><br />He will probably make a good PM, but I find him dull, and an opposition leader don't think that he's attacked the foolishness and dishonesty that masquerades as government nearly enough - because he can't. <br /><br />Not only has he been terminally damaged by Mcauliffe, but - IF- if he stayed loyal to Gillard he would be able to prosecute the case that he was part of a government that has an incredible legislative record, that fought on three fronts for survival, but he didn't, he wimped it and for that I think he's listless crap. He can't stand up to Abbott because he doesn't have the right to - he was part of the narrative of dysfunction, rather than standing up for something that was actually good and worthwhile for this country. <br /><br />Fuck him. ('Albo' seriously? - he would be a terrible PM). Combet would have been a brilliant true Labor PM - but he's gone, and that's a great pity. <br />The sad thing is that Shorten might win - just, or Tony will and that will be an unmitigated disaster - Plibersek maybe - dunno - but it won’t happen. <br /><br />The Tony government should lose in a landslide of biblical proportions, but they won’t. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-62952237861220360292015-07-05T12:05:41.432+10:002015-07-05T12:05:41.432+10:00Sad to say, if the press gallery had done their jo...Sad to say, if the press gallery had done their job with Abbott we probably wouldn't have had The Knifing(tm), Gillard would have taken over peacefully-ish (as far as you ever could with Rudd on the other end of the see-saw) and would now be into her second term after winning easily in 2013, and Abbott would be selling what passes for his soul doing political commentary (a-la Richo, who is, astonishingly, cheapened by that comparison - Richo had some brains at least, even if he sold his integrity long ages ago).<br /><br />I'd probably have an NBN connection by now, too.<br /><br />But that's all fantasy land, and the here and now is one where Shorten is probably the best hope for bringing things back to sanity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-88442861315503097272015-07-05T11:23:51.652+10:002015-07-05T11:23:51.652+10:00Yes, I remember following the FoFA progress under ...Yes, I remember following the FoFA progress under Shorten. Unappreciated, or forgotten, by most after the ructions and loss of government.<br />The exquisite 'karma moment', of course, was when $inodino$ the Slasher was all set to swing the wrecking ball on it when, lo and behold, he was found to be unconscionably corrupt.<br />I still chuckle quietly at that. And where would we be without people like Jeff Morris who are prepared to put all on the line in blowing the whistle. But I bet he sleeps well.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02223918415478756719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-90349550111579279852015-07-05T00:09:04.672+10:002015-07-05T00:09:04.672+10:00So, is it time to replace Bill Shorten as leader w...So, is it time to replace Bill Shorten as leader with someone that has some grasp of left wing Labor policies?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-65844403291126805122015-07-04T23:00:19.544+10:002015-07-04T23:00:19.544+10:00Lovin' the 'stable door swinging' anal...Lovin' the 'stable door swinging' analogy. They really are, most of them, really that stupid.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02223918415478756719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-91985855760040322332015-07-04T20:53:34.151+10:002015-07-04T20:53:34.151+10:00Finally someone who cuts through the silly and laz...Finally someone who cuts through the silly and lazy dismissing of Shorten. Imagine if for just one second this press gallery had scrutinized Abbott in the way they are drilling Shorten. We wouldn't now be in this god-awful mess. <br />Abbott and his government have failed, and that failure only gets worse the longer they are allowed to loiter in power.<br />We now have no choice but to give Shorten a go in the top seat and hope he can at least repair/ negotiate a way out of the quagmire we are stuck in now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-16709998002729027572015-07-04T13:46:54.385+10:002015-07-04T13:46:54.385+10:00Andrew, years ago I read a long profile on Bill Sh...Andrew, years ago I read a long profile on Bill Shorten in one of the weekend mags.<br /><br />The author quoted a number of people who spoke highly about Shorten's ability to achieve consensus without bullying, even in the most difficult circumstances. The fact that he appears to have united the ALP bears testament to that.<br /><br />Despite the fact that the ALP, both before and under Shorten, has been too ready to back Howard and Abbott on matters of security and asylum seekers, I have always found Shorten's measured, lucid responses to indicate the presence of the kind of intelligence and character one expects in a leader.<br /><br />I hope I am not wrong.<br /><br />The misnamed Liberal party is far too radical for me and the language of the leader is coarse and brutal.<br /><br />In my opinion exceptional leaders should appeal to our better side and not play upon our weaknesses and fears.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-83545554846679482642015-07-04T10:44:34.760+10:002015-07-04T10:44:34.760+10:00Thanks for clearing things up Andrew.
Not that I t...Thanks for clearing things up Andrew.<br />Not that I take nuch notice of the mainstream media these days but I had wondered why they and Fairfax in particular is going after Bill Shorten at this particular time in the political cycle.<br />Nearly busted a gut with incredulous laughter when they got their knickers in a twist over the fact bustling billy told a porkie to Neil Mitchell.<br />Who is this Neil Mitchell anyway and who cares?<br />It's got to the stage now of a desperate lunge for the remote whenever that pathological lying PM gets his melon on the idiot box.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-56720043258230514502015-07-03T22:54:50.965+10:002015-07-03T22:54:50.965+10:00Which is all well and good, Andrew, however, what ...Which is all well and good, Andrew, however, what can you do about the fact that even so-called 'Labor people' have swallowed the Abbott government's spin, relayed as you have correctly pointed out by a compliant and complicit Press Gallery in Canberra, that Bill Shorten is all the negative things THEY want them to believe!?!<br /><br />For the life of me, and I have been watching the rise and rise of Bill Shorten from before his time as Secretary of the AWU, when he would go anywhere in this wide brown land to address a room full of gormless local ALP members just so he could start to get name and face recognition, and I just can't understand where this conception of him as wishy-washy comes from. What I have seen and heard has been a man who has the fire from the Light On the Hill burning bright within his soul. He seems to genuinely want to preserve a better future, for more Australians than Abbott, Hockey and company ever could bring themselves to do. Plus he also seems to be full of good ideas. Sound policy ideas. Let loose in portfolios in government he came up with FOFA and the NDIS. What's wrong with that!?! Aren't they the sort of ideas that you want from a potential Prime Minister? <br /><br /> He very easily could have gone over to the Liberal Party when he married up like Malcolm Turnbull did, however he deliberately chose not to.<br /><br />Apparently all that counts for nought with the media, an electorate who has been groomed to be contemptuous of his every misstep(whilst Abbott's contiguous line of missteps goes all the way back to his time in University and through his short and dysfunctional working life, to his time in Hewson's office and Howard's government), and the Albo Groupies worst of all, because they should know better. I should also add The Greens, I guess because they are the darlings of the Press Gallery also and unable to do any wrong from a Left of Centre perspective, except if you are a Murdoch media hack, and then they are the political devil spawn. Of course, they too would like nothing more than to profit as a result of Labor's artificially-manufactured misfortunes.<br /><br />So, therefore, I am led to despair at the fact that the electorate is, yet again, being groomed(and I use that word deliberately) by the Murdoch media and their lackey IPA government of Arch Conservative Antediluvian Reactionary Social Dinosaurs, to vote against their best interests. Not for a man who, whilst not perfect (and who ever is in the political realm?), does seem to have their best interests in his heart. <br /><br />Abbott doesn't even have a heart! Only a dried up old Communion wafer.Hillbilly Skeletonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-2802695068796665912015-07-03T22:10:05.707+10:002015-07-03T22:10:05.707+10:00So Shorten lied to Neil Mitchell about the leaders...So Shorten lied to Neil Mitchell about the leadership challenge,<br />a bit like "Brutus, are you going to assassinate Caesar?"<br />"Yes, of course, but don't print it in the Rome Herald Sun, OK".<br />The fact is, all politicians lie when it suits them, and sometimes the lies are understandable.Dave Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08613111054135459691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-74456394763886348312015-07-03T20:16:02.338+10:002015-07-03T20:16:02.338+10:00You want to be a journalist and you not joining th...You want to be a journalist and you not joining the "Get Shorten" campain?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-9402785863422318022015-07-03T19:16:36.069+10:002015-07-03T19:16:36.069+10:00Well said Andrew. I am astounded how many people, ...Well said Andrew. I am astounded how many people, even Labor partisans, keep being fooled by the media groupthink on Shorten.<br /><br />All the evidence you quote is in the public domain and openly accessible so no one has any excuse for not calling out the bullshit.<br /><br />By the way, I've met Shorten briefly and he struck me as smart and personable too.<br /><br />ajmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-70268030553452996032015-07-03T19:01:07.099+10:002015-07-03T19:01:07.099+10:00Thanks for that.
I'm not a fan of either the A...Thanks for that.<br />I'm not a fan of either the ALP or Shorten but watching the media, even [?] Crikey, fall into lock step about how Shorten 'can't cut through" and is declining in popularity [down to around where Abbott has been for the better part of several years] and the ALP needs a new leader - cos that will solve all the problems, whatever they are - such as being ahead in the polls maybe - and meanwhile Abbott does stupid and nasty thing number several hundred and lots is so manifestly just echoing a mindless narrative it has become boringly repetitive. <br /><br />Thanks for being out of step, you may be the only marcher in time with the real music.<br /><br />fredAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com