The Tumbril of State rattles on . . .
If you’re a regular reader of, or contributor to The AIMN, right now you’re probably warming your tootsies by the Yuletide log of Schardenfreude as the Coalition reels in disarray.
The polls are plummeting, the back-bench is in foment while the front
bench are preening and fighting amongst themselves like Kilkenny cats.
The latest move of a cabinet re-shuffle in a desperate attempt to
shore up what Fairfax’s Mark Kenny refers to as “an improvement to the
team and hope for 2015″, is simply rearranging the deck-chairs on the
Titanic.
The Coalition’s efforts to resurrect a Frankenstein’s monster of
neo-liberalism from the Reagan-Thatcher-Howard era and present it to the
electorate as the Fairie Queen of free trade have failed so miserably
that the public has long since stopped listening, nor is it likely to
regain interest.
Since election, the ongoing debacles ranging from Australia’s
relations with Asia to the ruling by the High Court that funding school
chaplains was unconstitutional, the Coalition’s performance has become a
gospel to incompetence.
Ironically, the conformation of this came from the very heart of the
machine which had given Abbott such a smooth ride to PM – the mainstream
media.
When an info-tainment lightweight like Karl Stefanovic told Tony
Abbott that; “No-ones buying what your selling!” and Minister for
Education Christopher Pyne, to “man up and call a double dissolution”,
and when Jones and Bolt chimed in, it was clear that the tide has
irrevocably turned for the government.
For the Coalition, the Sylph of the mainstream media has turned to
Succubus, feeding and profiting from the government’s torment.
Even the most ardent of Abbott admirer’s in the blogosphere seem to have turned their back on him.
No amount of ministerial re-shuffles or assurances from the Treasurer
that fairness will be central to political debate about tax and
federation reform or workforce participation will regain a shred of public confidence.
Moreover, the Senate, the Fort Zinderneuf of Australian democracy has
in the main managed to hold out against the assaults by Tony’s tribe of
Tuareg’s, leaving the government ineffectual and crippled by its own
ideology.
The power brokers in the Coalition are now faced with the unpalatable
choice of either leaving Abbott as leader in the hope that the cabinet
re-shuffle will give the appearance of a ‘Re-booted’ government and
subsequently claw back enough lift in the polls to carry through and
save the party from total annihilation at the next election, or to
replace Abbott with Bishop in an attempt to restore party unity, cross
their fingers and hope for the best.
In light of the latest assurances from the suppository of all
knowledge that he counted abolishing the carbon tax as an achievement
not only for his government but also for himself in his role as Minister
of Women; “who many of us know, are particularly focused on the household budget”,
it’s a fairly safe bet that any efforts to preserve party unity in the
mind of the public will be sacrificed for the more important goal of
winning a second term, and therefore it’s likely that the leadership
spill will occur before the end of April 2015.
For LNP, the Ship of State has become Tony’s tumbril bearing the party to its inexorable fate.
Ross Sharp wrote
recently that no more needed to be written to convince the average voter
that; “This government is shit!” and he was right.
Rather than chronicle the ‘sorrows from the bosom of the earth’
wrought by this government of poltroons, let us collectively and
individually, writers and readers, gather our brickbats and our barbs,
our jibes and our jeers, and seek firstly to ensure that the tumbril
bearing Tony and the Tories does not escape its electoral fate.
Secondly, let us try to bring forth new and logical arguments for
seeking change in the areas of addressing the massive challenge of
global warming, abandoning the ‘supply side’ economic theory which has
contributed greatly to its acceleration, and an intelligent (dare one
say visionary?) foreign policy platform for the Asian Century.
Finally, every writer wants to be read. Bloggers perhaps more so (the
Devil drives!). As someone once remarked; comments and ‘likes’ to a
blogger are as coins to a busker. It may only be a small contribution
(good or bad) and you certainly can’t feed yourself from it but
nonetheless it provides nourishment for the soul.
As the AIMN approaches its 6 millionth visitor, I can only say that
not only is it a remarkable achievement but also offer my
congratulations to Michael and Carol Taylor and the rest of the hard
working staff at AIMN and my heart felt thanks for the opportunity to
proffer my cap to a larger audience.
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