The Weird World Of Abbott’s Australia
While Googling Tony Abbott – now there’s something I wouldn’t have
imagined myself doing twenty five years ago – I came across an
interesting quote that I thought was refreshingly honest:
“It’s my job between now and polling day to remind the
Australian people just what a hopeless, unreliable, untrustworthy,
dishonest, deceptive Government this has been. It just doesn’t get
democracy.”
Unfortunately, on closer examination, I discovered that the quote was from the Alan Jones program,
and it was made in July, 2010. Unfortunate, because I thought this
might be the beginning of a more honest approach by the government,
where they actually admit that the Budget would be back in surplus if we
simply went back to the tax rates of 2007. You know, back when John
Howard was in charge, before Labor slashed our taxes.
Still, we are getting rid of that great big tax on everything, so
that should help the Budget bottom line. I did hear a couple of Liberal
politicians express the view that balancing the Budget would be a lot
easier with the Carbon Tax gone. I wonder if they realise that the
government doesn’t actually have to pay the Carbon Tax and that it
receives the revenue. In fact, according to Liberal pamphlets, it
receives an enormous amount of revenue from this source. But hey, let’s
abolish this “King Kong” of taxes (to quote Mr Abbott again) and make
pensioners pay to visit the doctor.
Yes, I’m being emotive. After all, some of these pensioners would
still be working once the pension age goes to seventy. As Mr Abbott said
just last week:
“We think this is right and proper and we think older
people should be economic contributors, not just social and
cultural contributors.”
But back to the Carbon Tax. In reporting Clive Palmer’s decision to
back its abolition, the Herald-Sun – in a straight news story, under the
Headline “The Weird Al and Clive Show” – began with: “Climate change scaremonger Al Gore and big polluter
Clive Palmer combined in a bizarre press conference as Mr Palmer
revealed revealed he would back the Government’s bid to abolish the
carbon tax – with conditions.” (Emphasis added.)
For some reason, we were treated to a list of Mr Palmer’s assets, as
well as being told that Mr Gore used the phrase “climate crisis” three
times in his “3min 30sec speech” (sic).
Mm, I’m waiting for the article that begins “Budget Crisis
Scaremonger Joe Hockey” or when the phrase “Big Polluter” is applied to a
member of one of Tony’s advisory groups.
The article went on to suggest that journalists were wondering
whether Mr Gore had been paid to attend. However, it left me wondering,
whether the writer of the article, Ellen Whinnett, was paid to put such a
slant on it, or whether writing such tabloid rubbish is consistent with
her principles.
More articles by Rossleigh:
Some things’ll Never Change. Unless We Decide to Change Them.
We Need to Talk About Tony!
Abbott Government Declares Unity Ticket With Obama on Climate Change!
Abbott’s Groan-Up Government!
No comments:
Post a Comment