tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post1753124604746323874..comments2023-12-06T00:23:28.790+11:00Comments on Press gallery reform: Friends on the other sideAndrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-73539144025926955842015-08-21T05:42:24.281+10:002015-08-21T05:42:24.281+10:00You mentioned "Abbott cipher" Chris Uhlm...You mentioned "Abbott cipher" Chris Uhlmann. I have been sputtering and fuming about this second-rater for some time. If this chump is the ABC's senior political correspondent, what does it say about ABC's journalistic depth? Those who are served up to us as political commentators - inexperienced non entities like Jane Norman, and Eliza Birello, or never has-beens like the all-froth-no-substance and immensely smug Annabel Crabb - reveal the total inadequacy of the once reliable ABC. We are being sold short by the ABC - just how did this state of affairs come about? vadinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-17438886219688457142015-08-17T11:23:00.454+10:002015-08-17T11:23:00.454+10:00That is the dilemma, ain't it? They all know ...That is the dilemma, ain't it? They all know that the ALP and even the press gallery will have an absolute field day, an entire field WEEK, with a first-term PM getting it in the neck. All the old quotes about leadership chaos will already be queued up on stand-by.<br /><br />The question for the party caucus is at what point "getting rid of Abbott" a big enough plus to outweigh the "we just did what we spent 5 years lambasting Labor for doing" minus.<br /><br />They also need a contender to decide that moving is an advantage for them personally, and not just for the party. That is easier than it sounds. All of them will take being PM now, for 12 months, with an electoral loss they can blame on Abbott, over an uncertain future. That is actually an argument for the contenders moving sooner rather than later. The earlier you move, the longer you get to be PM and the more chance you have to bury his mistakes and try to present a clean slate to the voters. ESPECIALLY if you're Malcolm Turnbull and the hell you're going to sit through 3 years of opposition to a first term government in the hope of winning back the Lodge- it's now or never for Malcolm.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-44499040923240159112015-08-14T22:46:50.506+10:002015-08-14T22:46:50.506+10:00The dilemma for Morrison and his supporters is tha...The dilemma for Morrison and his supporters is that IMHO Tony Abbott will never concede the leadership and the Prime Ministership mid-term. The LNP will not remove a sitting PM, not after Rudd/Gillard/Rudd, and Abbott reminds them of it regularly.<br />They cannot afford to wait another 12 months as the government is already terminal in voters minds. Even an extreme bad result in the Canning by-election, ie a loss to Labor, would not be enough to remove Abbott, and any moves against him will continually come up against the obstacle of the fear and loathing caused by the removal of a sitting PM.<br />An irresistible force is being applied to an immovable object.<br />I think the LNP will cling to Abbott in the hope he will lift them in the election campaign, and in the desperate hope some Labor scandal, some national security emergency will pull the public behind them.<br />Does Morrison think he could successfully remove Tony Abbott and replace him, hold the party together afterwards and then go on to beat Shorten in 12 months? I doubt it, but he is delusional.stuart e ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11793460753629787896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-34605181692609460692015-08-14T16:09:01.427+10:002015-08-14T16:09:01.427+10:00Dorothy Parker Loon Pond comes close, but from a m...Dorothy Parker Loon Pond comes close, but from a more comedic angle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-15526917687223496232015-08-14T15:13:05.020+10:002015-08-14T15:13:05.020+10:00underestimate Abbott's penchant for a fight &a...underestimate Abbott's penchant for a fight & also the gullibility of your average punter at your peril. voters bought the three word slogans and scare campaign last time and may well do so again. and Abbott (the PM of the Opposition) is a very skilled politician, strong on politics but no idea on policy..I wouldn't pop the bubbly just yet I'm afraid. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-91497609618720901662015-08-13T18:17:39.448+10:002015-08-13T18:17:39.448+10:00Jeez this blog is always the smartest writing on A...Jeez this blog is always the smartest writing on Australian politics...anywhere. There is nobody else with either the political intelligence or the guts to come close to this stuff. All power to you Andrew, always a great read.Zane Trowhttp://zanetrow.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-75348694106680626032015-08-12T18:33:17.233+10:002015-08-12T18:33:17.233+10:00I agree Marilyn.I agree Marilyn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-29737351944365169692015-08-12T11:13:37.980+10:002015-08-12T11:13:37.980+10:00But who to leak against? Who does Bronny blame? ...But who to leak against? Who does Bronny blame? It'd be pretty harsh on poor old Tony Abbigot to blame him. Tony Smith, on the other hand, had better hope he has no bodies buried in places that Bronny knows about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-69354675548246515502015-08-12T09:30:09.977+10:002015-08-12T09:30:09.977+10:00"Abbott will be gone after the Canning byelec..."Abbott will be gone after the Canning byelection. Pyne has passed none of his much-touted reforms and will be gone at the next election."<br /><br />A double prediction! You beauty! Stopped clocks and all that ...<br /><br />It is amazing that the people Abbott has surrounded himself with as his support base, people who like him yearn for a return to supposedly simpler times in the past, are so out of touch with modern Australia that they guarantee his political death. <br /><br />Equally incredible is the way Abbott's words are the polar opposite of reality. The latest example came this morning when asked why anyone would support this dreadful government. He replied: 'stability, competence and political integrity'. The mind boggles.<br /><br />Again, this is nothing new, Abbott has always done this ie identify a weakness and simply state that the opposite is true. 'We mean what we say and we say what we mean' is another example. He's been doing it his whole life, he's the Humpty Dumpty of Australian politics, yet journalists continue to let him get away with it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-45474720042020868572015-08-11T22:54:24.895+10:002015-08-11T22:54:24.895+10:00Well, she's of an age.Well, she's of an age.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-61482283281050713972015-08-11T16:56:18.561+10:002015-08-11T16:56:18.561+10:00Are we on the cusp of a 'wither goest' the...Are we on the cusp of a 'wither goest' the Liberal party moment?<br /><br />It will be hard to pull off a leadership change with all those trumpeting egos and ideological die-hards becoming mightily aggrieved.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-60709156191050703292015-08-11T16:47:37.056+10:002015-08-11T16:47:37.056+10:00Great read. The thing about the LNP cabinet is the...Great read. The thing about the LNP cabinet is the sheer load of dead wood laying around. Randall's recent passing (RIP) and Bishops' career wreckage, have highlighted simultaneously, the LNP senior ranks as padded out with pointless careerists, given a last gasp by Abbott, most of whom have lingered around Canberra for decades with nay a piece of policy attached to their name. It is rare that I find myself in agreement with Howard, having spent my youth underwhelmed by his years, but at least Howard was cluey enough to recognise Pyne as an overly smug accident waiting to happen and likewise Bishop as pure dead weight on his cabinet. Abbott's judgement, as ever, failed to note those most obvious assessments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-18866980038973025302015-08-11T16:20:52.658+10:002015-08-11T16:20:52.658+10:00Scott Morrison is evil, the notion of this happy c...Scott Morrison is evil, the notion of this happy clapping moronic lunatic being PM is too much to bear.<br /><br />He should be in prison.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-13469173405286472762015-08-11T15:09:53.888+10:002015-08-11T15:09:53.888+10:00Yes, it's not the Moderates.. bang on. It'...Yes, it's not the Moderates.. bang on. It's the mob who are (were?) riding the same RightLines Coach who are squealing about the driver, 'Doofs' Abbott. He's run it up a side road, which, alas, has become an unsealed one; this big diesel's wheels are spinning in the dirt. <br /><br />And Gray Connolly; still calling out the resplendent nature of the Emperor's attire. Geez, I thought they'd all have stopped drinking it by now. Seems not.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02223918415478756719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-7199915973477993102015-08-11T14:32:59.212+10:002015-08-11T14:32:59.212+10:00It's hard to shake the feeling that the electo...It's hard to shake the feeling that the electorate (and press gallery) have finally decided that Abbott isn't up to it. Do you think he is gone now, Andrew? My guess would be that he will be rolled, and the only question is when. Canning by-election is September 19th at the earliest.Swollendanubenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-18907845233532948692015-08-11T09:54:24.940+10:002015-08-11T09:54:24.940+10:00I reckon Bishop will be as disruptive as she can f...I reckon Bishop will be as disruptive as she can from the back bench. She'll probably leak (anonymously) like a sieve.David Irving (no relation)https://www.blogger.com/profile/05728918405973140125noreply@blogger.com