Do we really want this guy as PM? I mean, really?
The Coalition seems to have a healthy self-destruct instinct which it must have inherited from the shambolic disaster that was Rudd-Gillard-Rudd.
But let’s look at the achievements of the Coalition government so far: it has removed the pointless and futile carbon tax, removed the mining tax (which raised no revenue) and has effectively stopped the thousands of illegal immigrants arriving by boat, many of whom were dying needlessly at sea thanks to Labor’s politically-correct multiculti-gone-mad open borders policy.
Tony Abbott and the government should be emphasising the dire state of our debt position, which is costing the economy billions in interest alone each year, and pointing out every single day that it is Labor, the authors of the mess, that are preventing the action necessary to start clearing it up.
But despite the worst Labor government in living memory, a Galaxy poll at the end of January showed 44% thought Bill Shorten would make the better prime minister, compared to 29% for Abbott, and the Coalition trailing Labor 43-57 on a two-party preferred basis.
Can Australian memories be that bad? Are we all suffering from mass dementia? How can people be seriously considering re-electing Labor barely 18 months after turfing them out at the federal election?
How can Coalition backbenchers seriously consider dumping the sitting prime minister, when during Labor’s administration they criticised Labor for the chaos and lack of stability caused by dumping Rudd?
Yes, Abbott has an image and communication problem, and seems incapable of sticking the knife into Labor about the damage it is wreaking on our economy. Yes, there is clearly a governance issue in the PM’s office, and the Chief of Staff is becoming the story, which is never a good look.
Yes, polls are looking bad right now, but that is partly due to the fact that people have become too comfortable with a culture of government hand-outs and benefits. Australia lived beyond its means for the six years of Labor incompetence, and naturally it is difficult when belts have to be tightened. But governments should not chase populism, they should put the interests of the country’s future first, even if that is initially unpopular with the electorate.
Otherwise, in late 2016, we will be plunged back into the nightmare of a Labor government, with hundreds of boats arriving every month, government spending and taxes going through the roof, borrowing escalating, and, most crucially from this blog’s point of view, the return of a pointless, ineffective tax on carbon dioxide, which as we all know, will cause huge damage to our economy, and make no difference whatsoever to the climate.
Australian Climate Madness 
Who is it who gets polled? I have never been polled. Perhaps its the first time voters being polled…We have a new generation of ideologists who will be soon voting for the first time.
I used to vote in Eden-Monaro and was polled about five times a year. Then, a few elections ago, I was redistributed into Hume and have never been polled since.
Still, it makes sense.
I trust that Tony Abbott will take the bit between the teeth and take it up to Labor. “Electricity Bill” is getting away with cheap shots at the P.M. for a mess that he and Labor created in the first place. Labor and Green politicians are incompetent, they could not manage a chook raffle without raiding the pot for their mad spiky haired titless hermaphrodite set. Do not look at the Queensland election as a guide to anything, the Premier was as popular as a mad Muslim in a chocolate shop.
Campbell Newman never stopped. He was everywhere and worked very hard, though you would never know it.
What he did for Queensland in three short years, is amazing.
His visionary BaT project, with the Brisbane City Council, was finally going to give Brisbane a bus and rail system that integrated various areas across the Brisbane River.
This underground and under-river project allowed for rail and bus to use the same tunnel, with a visionary adjunct to possibly add a vehicular network in the future.
This has now been scrapped by the new Labor government and a new proposal, costing millions and millions in unnecessary professional and legal fees, will be drawn up.
This whole saga started with Beattie scrapping all plans left by the previous National Party government in Qld. Got scrapped by Bligh who started the whole planning and drawing of a new plan all over again, but which would not have worked and was inefficient.
Years and years of useless spending of taxpayer’s money, mostly by Labor, for nothing.
However, the media will now only report good things. And trivial things. And the debt burfen for Qlders will rise once again. But hey, who cares? It’s all Tony Abbott’s fault!
Popularity has nothing to do with governing except if you are a Labor politician; then the media will always leave you alone to do nothing… and they’ll love you for it.
Well Simon, this time next week we will probably have the most politically dangerous man in the country in charge – we will need sites like this one more than ever – dark days ahead I am afraid – but please don’t give up.
Simon and Gary and similar; you are the guys that have being backstabbing Abbot – with your silly phony ‘global” warmings and phony ”global” ice ages and phony ”global” cycles… There will never be another Abbot; because politicians see how he was treated by the media – because of the pagan ”skeptic’s” advisers…
If you read ALL 5 posts on my ”homepage” you can kick a stink and help Tony, to get on the front foot! Otherwise, as I said before: Shorten and Turnbul will be sending dog catchers, to collect ”skeptics” like you guys. You are on the side of the truth – Warmist cannot have one single proof of global warming; because isn’t one, and never will be! They only prosper and flourish on the ”skeptic’s pagan beliefs”… Think about it, when you go to bed!!! Start from the first, and read every post on my homepage; if you have stomach for the truth, AND will to win and see one day the leading Warmist in jail!
Abbott has my support 100%. If Talkbull somehow gets elected leader, I have no idea who to vote for at the next elections. Pauline Hanson an One Nation I guess.
Alas that’s only possible if they have a candidate in your electorate, and in any case, the likelihood of a subsequent preference distribution effectively disenfranchises you anyway. We are stuffed every which way.
I will never vote for the LNP if Malcolm Turncoat is leader. I’m never voting ALP again either. I would have voted for Scott Morrison in a heart beat. It appears we may have to go through another 3 years of Labor incompetence before we can get a Liberal leader with a bit of mongrel.
Michael, in 3 years from now – new young voters, brainwashed in the phony global warming; will be voting – Abbott is the last honest person – stop dreaming…
You people thought that: by repeating for billionth times: ”airport heat, what about LIA, vineyards in England and Vikings on Greenland” -> the Warmist will admit that they are wrong AND give up all those billions and power over the people and end up in jail for lying?!?!?!… Skeptics spooking the people that: the earth’s temp goes up and down at the drop of a hat… Don’t you see that: for most of the ”skeptics” every day is global warming / every day is global cooling (look at their ”global” temp charts)?! People on the street think: if it can happen, ”better be safe than sorry = support the Warmist” can’t blame them for that. Did you ask yourself: -”how the hell you can prove that is not going to be any global warming in 100y, by all those ”localized” warmings / coolings in the past; presented as ”global”
I have proven beyond any reasonable doubt that: ”in 100y global warming is ZERO!”
Because of that; I get more insults from ”skeptics” than from the Warmist! It’s because: Warmist are inventing the lies, so: they know that is no global warming – on the other hand: the only true believers in the phony ”global” warmings, are the ”skeptics” What are you ”skeptical” about, guys?!
ALL lies that Plimer presented in his book are concocted by Warmist OR would have being Warmist, if they were still alive!!! Those lies are ”The Skeptic’s Bible”………….
We need a leader alright. We need a leader that has some vision for the future. He needs to tell us where he would like to see our country in the future. He needs to explain why the emperor of climate change has no clothes. Surely we have enough evidence now to put a clear case that co2 is not causing climate change. That would really take some intestinal fortitude to take on the ABC and the MSM. Unfortunately if we cannot do this now we will have a new binding agreement at the end of the year, and a new Labour govt. In 18 months time.
Ross, most of the ”leaders” are solicitors, not in science!…
Tony Abbot has being told, same as most ”skeptics” – ”airport heat, what about LIA, vikings on Greenland” – how can he defend crap like that, against ABC&SBS and most of the academia?! Lawyers can ”defend and explain” BUT: real / solid proofs – not: what about Santa, what about Rudolf?…
1] when the Warmist succeed to con the skeptics that: ”climatic changes and the phony global warmings” are one and the same thing => they won the biggest battle…
b] ask any skeptic, to explain: ”what is the climate” for him? He wouldn’t know what ”climate” is. For all of them: climate is something that comes from IPCC and from Met office… Not one D/H can explain that: inland Australia is different climate than on the coast, AND WHY…c] not one of them can see that: where Australian deserts are and dry rivers – on same latitude in Brazil is rainforest and tributaries that are supplying water in Amazon; even though Simpson desert has less CO2 than Amazon basin! When I say: there isn’t any ”global” warming – ”phony skeptics” are abusing me… Abbott doesn’t stand a chance, with ”advisers” like that – if not next week; he will be out one day… Turnbull is more to the left on many issues than Shorten. maybe nationals will pull out, if Turnbull is liberal leader…?
Let’s remember that all media in Australia is left-wing and anti-Establishment, hence it is no surprise that if some reporter thinks there ought to be in-fighting, there there will be, even if it kills them.
Apparently, because we have recently had a teeny-weeny interest rate rise, it proves that the removal of the Carbon Tax has not worked…and some doodle-brain thinks we should re-introduce it. Go figure!
I think the constant assault is because the government is doing so well and could easily win the next election, which it must not be allowed to do, according to the glitterati in the media, ‘our’ ABC and SBS.
Tony Abbott has a vision for the future: it is to reduce the enormous debt that every man, woman child carries with them and then economic prosperity is a given. Surely, economic prosperity, something which Labor is unable to ever deliver, is visionary in and of itself. After all, Merkle is being hailed a hero for bringing her country’s economy back from the brink.
If you watch the tiny bit of the Parliamentary sessions that the ABC concedes to now transmit, the House is constantly reminded of Labor’s debt and the steps taken to combat it. This never makes to the front pages, or any pages for that matter, of any newspaper. We are therefore led to believe that the government is not being pro-active.
Let’s not forget that after Kevin Rudd was elected, the only news the papers were publishing was of he and his wife having coffee at some cafe or other. And we weren’t often reminded of Australia’s escalating debt during his, and Julia Gillard’s, tenure…just as we are not often reminded of Tony Abbott’s massive debt reduction in his short tenure.
You said about Kevin Rudd and his wife having coffee at a cafe’ being reported at lot. I heard that when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister the media (TV) were spending a lot of time reporting on her eating meat pies from a shop. Journalists sometimes spend a lot of time reporting very trivial unimportant things. They do not want us to think about important issues.
I think you are thinking of BILL Shorten having to apologise to Melbourne pie shop owner Annie Huang after he swore at her.
With a few notable journalistic exceptions (two of whom unjustly lost their jobs) the media was generally adamant that Gillard’s shit didn’t stink.
Precisely Helen. Thinking laterally has now been excluded from any education system… and it shows.
So Teflon Tony is going to shake all this off and together with luminaries such as Hockey, Pyne, Andrews and Abetz lead the Libs to victory in 2016. Ha!
On the other hand their seem to be a few Libs with brains such as Dr Jensen, that seem to know a bit about climate, politics, and self preservation.
These Ministers are incredibly hard-working and diligent people, dlb, and if you cannot see that then you are either deliberately obtuse or entirely dense.
People are not intelligent enough to understand and appraise information that is conveyed to them. For some reason, most Australians believe implicitly everything that is told to them by the media. No need to use logic or reason, or common sense even.
Every time I see a politician talking about the climate, I become a bit skeptic: what does he want? Is he realy interested in the climate? Usually, they have a hidden agenda, which is, often, more important than their public one. They are looking for ways to suggest more taxes, but do taxes solve our warming problem? The lack of taxes got us to this “boiling point” of climate?
If you look at http://www.1ocean-1climate.com, there are some higlights of major events in the past 150 that could have triggered the climatic changes that happened then.
Politicians keep commenting on how ‘savvy’ the Australian electorate is…..nonsense
they are a clueless bunch who do not understand anything about government unless it is all about benefits.
First of all, the Coalition is communicating every day about the dire straits Labor left us in and how quickly simple economic measures have brought us back from the brink of economic destruction. The media simply refuse to convey the Governments message in any way, shape, colour or form, and, or talk over anything the Prime Minister, Treasurer or any other Minister conveys.
For example, three days ago the Prime Minister together with other ministers, made the announcement with regards to the Joint Coalition with various European countries to send troops to Iraq against ISIS – the image was shown but the voice of the PM was muted and the newsreader led us to believe that the announcement was that there would be no leadership spill. Two entirely different premises. Furthermore, an important and strategic international agreement to sent our troops to war against terrorism was never conveyed to the Australian people. Had I not had a Facebook page that sends me regular updates of the Government’s announcements, I would not be aware of this and have the impression that there is only continuous in-fighting in the government, which is just not true, but the average Joe-blow wouldn’t be any the wiser.
Parliament Question Time is also a major source of real news for me and here the message of the economic madness that Labor left us with is clearly emphasized.
Unfortunately, the media never convey any of these messages to the general public.
Tony Abbott continually sticks the knife into Labor and he is articulate and incisive, but once again, these messages are never shown in any news segment and, or, are muted and talked over by the reporter or news reader. But, conversely, any response from the Opposition is allowed full coverage, and no irritating talk-over or muting technique is employed.
There is no governance issue in the Prime Minister’s Office. None. This is simply a smoke-screen by the media, particularly the ABC; and we know that the mainstream media follows everything the ABC dredges, as if it were gospel.
This is the first government that has had a female as a Chief-of-Staff. You would think the leftie idiots would be over the moon about this great leap forward of women, by women, for women. But no! She is ridiculed and made to look silly. The Labor left-wing “illiterati” cannot stand it! She must be brought down! If they could, they would imply a relationship between the Prime Minister and his Chief-of-Staff that didn’t exist. It was okay for Junie Morosi and Jim Cairns (the Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government) to be romantically linked and have a sexual relationship, but having a female Chief-of-Staff in a Coalition government sends the leftie dearies into apoplexy.
It is a difficult battle to fight when nearly every news agency is against you, and employs techniques designed to diminish any real intellectual involvement by the public. It’s a ploy that works, judging by the stupid comments by Labor jackasses.
well said Louisadownunder, support you 100% in this argument. When the Abbot Bashing Channell puts a spent Labor politician in to shreik about the Liberal Party, it is totally biased and this is what the ABC does with their Labor and Green hacks. Its all “Union 101” bull at the best.