tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post3766067742426439346..comments2023-12-06T00:23:28.790+11:00Comments on Press gallery reform: Playing Canberra gamesAndrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-496161565420881492015-09-27T23:37:12.373+10:002015-09-27T23:37:12.373+10:00My fear as well, although seismic forces may make ...My fear as well, although seismic forces may make that nigh impossible, even for this confabulating, crash-test-dummy Gallery.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02223918415478756719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-27427863042427182842015-09-21T11:40:36.265+10:002015-09-21T11:40:36.265+10:00Not so much 'haters' - just responsible pa...Not so much 'haters' - just responsible participants in political society, who saw a national train wreck for what it was. "Haters' is just more divisive hyperbole, the likes of which the Abbott administration lived upon as its daily creed and cover.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-15396196776864276752015-09-21T11:36:41.068+10:002015-09-21T11:36:41.068+10:00Abbott and bulk of his vast chosen cabinet simply ...Abbott and bulk of his vast chosen cabinet simply were the playing out of ambitious mediocrity. No one pointed this out in their party or the media. Sadly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-19284272166539679202015-09-21T09:45:40.282+10:002015-09-21T09:45:40.282+10:00The polling said that the majority of people wante...The polling said that the majority of people wanted the Coalition out, and the vast majority disliked Abbott (even many people who would still vote for the Coalition), so in this case at least commenters here represent the majority.<br /><br />The fact that the electorate wanted the ALP gone at the last election doesn't magically transform Abbott into a good prime minister - it doesn't even mean the majority really wanted Abbott in 2013, they just wanted the ALP less at the time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-71758650698102974882015-09-21T05:02:22.070+10:002015-09-21T05:02:22.070+10:00You sound very unhappy Jack.
I would like to know ...You sound very unhappy Jack.<br />I would like to know why Abbott impressed you so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-65066923202019001512015-09-20T18:39:06.701+10:002015-09-20T18:39:06.701+10:00Reading all the gleefully negative comments from t...Reading all the gleefully negative comments from the Abbott haters in this post, it makes me wonder if they realise he was a leader that won government by a huge margin at the last election, when Labor were thrown out.<br />One would be forgiven for thinking the people who are commenting here, actually represented the majority of Australians.<br />They don't.HappyJackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09072924134833557696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-5095261122246590752015-09-19T20:07:52.022+10:002015-09-19T20:07:52.022+10:00Or are emotionally stunted creeps Anon.
No thanks...Or are emotionally stunted creeps Anon.<br /><br />No thanks we're so over career politicians<br /><br />It's interesting Tim Wilson visited a Brighton school in Melbourne recently? <br /><br />He does the same things to middle aged middle class women...<br /><br />Watch The Drum and body language between some of the panelists<br /><br />It's hilarious yet sad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-52862031365531525032015-09-19T06:33:43.053+10:002015-09-19T06:33:43.053+10:00Andrew, a penny has dropped.
It clink-clanked to t...Andrew, a penny has dropped.<br />It clink-clanked to the floor this morn when I saw a short video on line of TA greeting former classmates at Kirribilli arriving for their 40th school anniversary.<br />I suddenly realised why Abbott is beloved by right-wing columnists of a certain age.<br />IMO Abbott is a boy at heart. That can be an attractive trait but not in a PM.<br />I reckon Abbott's enthusiasm, hi-jinks etc etc makes them feel young again. Virile. Full of hope and dash. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-17802670372214487832015-09-18T23:19:10.097+10:002015-09-18T23:19:10.097+10:00More importantly what about his gay sister Christi...More importantly what about his gay sister Christine Forster...?<br /><br />What a weird sister to have your d....head brother screw you for his own political ambitions..<br /><br />I know many in the glbti community who despise her faux sincerity of playing identity politics as a gay liberal<br /><br />I have no sympathy for this disfunctional family and their princess daughters<br /><br />Do Victorians get their money for that dodgy scholarship eh Franny Abbott? ?<br /><br />Ridiculous sense of entitlement that's passed to the next generation.<br /><br />Speaks volumes how nasty these Ugly Anglo Aussies really are...off with their headsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-24149327675366313752015-09-18T22:02:45.646+10:002015-09-18T22:02:45.646+10:00I wouldn't underestimate Bill Shorten, he is a...I wouldn't underestimate Bill Shorten, he is an incredibly organised, strategic thinker. Labor are concentrating on the political fundamentals - developing policy and getting ready to govern. Question time makes good political theater but a government is made or destroyed in the party room. Howard understood this, he unified and managed his party room brilliantly. Without Howard behind them both Abbott and Turnbull are hollow men, both political babes in the woods. <br /><br />I get the feeling from reading between the lines of Niki Savva's partisan hackery that the Liberal party hard heads have given up on Abbott & Turnbull. If Turnbull can win the election, well and good, they'll shaft him within 18 months and install Scott Morrison - he is the anointed heir. ScoMo's probably the only Liberal in parliament presently with the political skill and intelligence to unite the party, but they don't want to waste him in an election campaign he could well lose. The press gallery can write off Shorten but he is a formidable political opponent. Turnbull is so far up his own brilliance he can't believe anybody could be smarter than him. But it's game on for Shorten, as he told the party room when Abbott was deposed one down and one to goElizabethhttp://www.thebackyardlemontree.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-58667927813654256422015-09-18T19:39:47.528+10:002015-09-18T19:39:47.528+10:00Murphy should have been awake to Abbott years ago....Murphy should have been awake to Abbott years ago.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-21252966124470816632015-09-18T19:38:03.749+10:002015-09-18T19:38:03.749+10:00If you go back through this blog you'll see th...If you go back through this blog you'll see that I was always sure that an Abbott government would be a disaster, and that journalists who blithely took him at his words were derelict in their duty. The media then went through this pantomime about being shocked, who could have foreseen it, etc. I agree with you about Taylor but the rest of them have let us down.<br /><br />The setting for 'Skippy' was "Waratah National Park", and yes they did use a fair bit of footage from Kuring-gai. Is it true that they carved Waratah Wildlife Park out of the NP?Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-88864614569932543082015-09-18T18:56:13.296+10:002015-09-18T18:56:13.296+10:00I had a takedown half prepared, until I realised t...I had a takedown half prepared, until I realised that Sheridan is a man whose time has passed. He's watching himself become D D McNicoll and there's nothing he can do. <br /><br />As a foreign policy journalist his skills do not extend beyond snagging a lunch date with Richard Armitage. When the Oz does serious foreign policy pieces, Rowan Callick does it or they wheel in someone from a thinktank. <br /><br />His friendship with Abbott was everything, and now it's nothing. To borrow from Clive Palmer: goodbye, Greg Sheridan, goodbye.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-31248666232902466022015-09-18T18:48:00.819+10:002015-09-18T18:48:00.819+10:00I think it will have to wait until Labor gets back...I think it will have to wait until Labor gets back in, unless he drops off like a suffused leech in the meantime.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-26074294218973778732015-09-18T16:55:28.476+10:002015-09-18T16:55:28.476+10:00The one redeeming feature of the last government i...The one redeeming feature of the last government is that we finally got to see what a DLP administration would have looked like.<br /><br />Puts all the last years Santamaria hagiography in perspective.Lachlan Ridgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-7843972785049831032015-09-18T15:06:11.533+10:002015-09-18T15:06:11.533+10:00I wouldn't be surprised if Abbott hangs around...I wouldn't be surprised if Abbott hangs around. He is an incredibly stubborn fellow, convinced of his righteousness, and he has seen three remarkable political comebacks: Howard, Rudd, and Turnbull. While Rudd II was just damage control, and Turnbull is untested as PM, Howard was very successful. Abbott is still the preferred choice of the Liberal right, even if the more sensible conservatives look to Morrison. If the Coalition loses the next election, they might want their trusty rottweiler on the attack again. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-38329816889003802602015-09-18T13:06:30.327+10:002015-09-18T13:06:30.327+10:00Thanks Andrew - this is the one must-read blog I&#...Thanks Andrew - this is the one must-read blog I'd been waiting on since Monday. Keep up the great work!Smithyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00100884388662580029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-14973942941301471572015-09-18T12:17:11.180+10:002015-09-18T12:17:11.180+10:00The destruction of the NBN isn't incompetence,...The destruction of the NBN isn't incompetence, it's business - knobble the competitor. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-87240562229270275672015-09-18T11:33:08.503+10:002015-09-18T11:33:08.503+10:00What happens to Tim Wilson and the Institute of Pu...What happens to Tim Wilson and the Institute of Public Affairs now?<br /><br />Their an ideological joke surely and must start their own Freedom Party somewhere. ..<br /><br />Thoughts Andrew?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-43235797206451652015-09-18T10:13:50.507+10:002015-09-18T10:13:50.507+10:00Andrew,
The only analysis of the whole thing worth...Andrew,<br />The only analysis of the whole thing worth reading. Well done. I'd be interested to hear your take on Sheridan's farewell love letter to Abbott. I am constantly gobsmacked as to how much idiots like him are out of touch with the views of mainstream Australia. He and so many of the Press Gallery bunnies need to be put out to pasture and shot!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-46040657095693869562015-09-18T10:01:26.369+10:002015-09-18T10:01:26.369+10:00Pugilist Abbott, who more than any politician turn...Pugilist Abbott, who more than any politician turned politics into an unedifying version of cage fighting went out crying about how uncivil it had all become, and then blamed that on the media?<br /><br />Here was a man who never once looked in a mirror, but lapped up the reflected glow of a parade of petty scribblers and powerful supporters like Murdoch to convince himself he was conservatism's great white hope.<br /><br />Andrew, you've been calling this guy out from day one, along with the scribblers and camp followers who've enabled this one dimensional clown all the way to the top.<br /><br />Well done, and thank you.chrispydognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-11970420748230450182015-09-18T09:40:48.240+10:002015-09-18T09:40:48.240+10:00Katharine Murphy called Abbott out six months ago ...Katharine Murphy called Abbott out six months ago with a strong piece about 'how the Abbott I knew' disappeared. But in general, all broadcast media bunnies [to coin a phrase?] have a contextual memory extending back to breakfast. Grumpy's Missushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14152059310894409576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-64888865356940202322015-09-18T08:49:55.118+10:002015-09-18T08:49:55.118+10:00He wrecked the NBN to show he could be a good boy ...He wrecked the NBN to show he could be a good boy to the powerbrokers - inside and outside the Liberal party. <br /><br />Now he gets to do what Malcolm does best, move on before the edifice collapses with him inside.<br /><br />Unfortunately, as PM -as Abbott and Rudd found, you can't leave the mess behind.Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-34556127279754122882015-09-18T07:26:57.910+10:002015-09-18T07:26:57.910+10:00thanks for this post as usual spot on danny jackso...thanks for this post as usual spot on danny jacksonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-33726555414509899502015-09-18T07:03:06.550+10:002015-09-18T07:03:06.550+10:00Interesting views - not sure what is meant by &quo...Interesting views - not sure what is meant by "the Abbott government was a fake government, and the press gallery covered up for it". I have never had any trouble finding out about the government's incompetence from the media - there are plenty of competent journalists (contrary to your slights against them) and other published sources e.g. Lenore Taylor, The Saturday Paper.<br /><br />Also 'Skippy' was made at Waratah Wildlife Park at Terrey Hills, not in Ku-ring-gai [Chase] National Park - no doubt some scenes e.g. helicopter footage were over the park. (I work for the National Parks & Wildlife Service).Brian Leahyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00681507315999757464noreply@blogger.com