Sign In
0 Items (
Search
Comments (22)
We all know that history is written by the victor and, in the case of Tony Abbott’s ouster, that victor appears to be media, which did more than any to tear him down and is now busy re-writing the story of Abbott’s mere two years in power.
Here’s what Turnbull said in 2015, the infamous quote seeing much repetition on this day of his thirthieth adverse Newspoll:
“The one thing that is clear about our current situation is the trajectory. We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row. It is clear that the people have made up their mind about Mr Abbott’s leadership.”
It was and remains an unequivocal statement, one that leaves no room to plead for a thirty-first chance at redemption. Replace ‘Abbott’ with ‘Turnbull’ and the switch of proper nouns in no way invalidates the sentiment of that appraisal. But the Turnbull cheer squad, and the Prime Minister himself, is now saying that the Newspoll angle wasn’t really at the heart of the defenestration of a sitting PM who had delivered a landslide victory barely two years earlier. No, none of that. In a blur of spin, the line today is that Abbott failed ‘to provide economic leadership’. This from the man who has done nothing to hobble the runaway cost of electricity, seems entirely unconcerned about the damage being inflicted and can only suggests that pumping water uphill at enormous cost will set everything to rights.
At the same time Turnbull uttered the quote above, he also said something nowhere near as widely being reported today:
“Now if we continue with Mr Abbott as Prime Minister, it is clear enough what will happen. He will cease to be Prime Minister and he’ll be succeeded by Mr Shorten. Surely one of the most important foundations of our prosperity, to know that he is utterly unfit to be Prime Minister of this country and yet so he will be if we do not make a change.”
Again, while one can replace ‘Abbott’ with ‘Turnbull’ without the slightest verbal legerdemain, the narrative parrotted by many of the same pundits who professed to recognise the magnificent potential of Turnbull, is that Abbott was a poor PM whose only achievement, the only one they are prepared to grudgingly acknowledge, was that he stopped the boats.
Unlike others who today have contributed to Quadrant Online’s package of essays on Turnbull’s rendezvous with the embarrassment of his own rhetoric, I have advocated for Abbott’s return. That may or may not happen — indeed, Abbott may not even wish to return as PM — but regardless of his ambitions or lack of them, his legacy is strong and worth preserving. This is particularly so since, in their indecent haste to excuse a clay-footed idol’s hypocritical refusal to live by the standard he himself set, I expect Abbott’s detractors on the opinion pages will whip themselves into a froth of invective hanging on the belittling of his achievements.
And they were substantial achievements. Let me enumerate:
|
|||
|
|||
A dinosaur.
A ‘dinosaur’ who values integrity.
But a dinosaur nevertheless. One who behaves like a parrot; notgunna snipe, notgunna snipe.
Really? or are you calling him a dinosaur because he *has* integrity?
As the dinosaurs lasted 181 million years, calling someone a dinosaur is not an insult, but an indication of staying power.
I’m afraid your idea of ‘integrity’ and mine are nothing the same. For me ‘integrity’ means keeping your word and not breaking promises. That’s one of the most basic.
A Rex Tyrannosaurus, tied down by Lilliputian Labor lites within his own party (excuse the mixed metaphor, but I can’t think of anything that could tie down a Rex T in the Mesozoic era) but perhaps the only one who could currently perform a ‘piledriver’ (see wrestling) on Shorten and the Labor Party.
While Malcolm would attempt to waffle an advantageous position, Abbott would introduce a bit of mongrel. While Paine and Pyne would quail in fright, like twin bunnies in caught in the headlights, Tony would revel in affray. But muddle-headed Malcolm feels the need to keep this Rex T muzzled and chained on the backbench for fear he might be a little too successful in taking the fight to a far from convincing opposition. That’s hubris for you.
Your forgot, in your list, signed up to Paris Agreement!! Yeah, that list of wrongs is pretty significant.
Abbott did not sign up to Paris. Turnbull did. Abbott may have contemplated doing so at one time but whether he would finally have done so, given that Trump signalled he was going to pull out, we will never know. Abbott my have seen that as an opportunity to renege on Paris.
Jody got that Paris thingy wrong, again.
And show us an example if Abbott snipping.
He didn’t, what he did do is put forward alternative policies and ideas, which is an accepted part of being on the backbench.
Turnbull did that from inside cabinet, which we all know was disloyal and just plain nasty.
Josh Frydenberg has just acknowledged in the National Press Club Address that the Paris Agreement was signed under the Abbott Prime Ministership. You are making things up.
The Paris Agreement was ‘adopted by consensus’ on 10 Nov 2015, it was signed by Greg Hunt on 23 Apr 2016 and was ratified by Turnbull on 10 Nov 2016. All events took place after Abbott was ousted. I stand by my statement.
Sorry, ratified by Turnbull on 12 Dec 2016
Abbott started the ball rolling and you just cannot worm your way out of that. He carries the can because he had the opportunity to knock it stone dead and chose not to do it. Remember 18C? The list is long. And it’s so sad that you don’t get any of it.
Josh Frydenberg is a weak, two face….well…..Turnbullian politician. Whilst driving to work today, I heard that he told Alan Jones at his house (Frydenbergs) that he believed that AGW was a scam! Funny that…given a choice between “truth” and a “title”, the title wins out. Frydenberg, Morrison and Bishop are duds and any one of them with the hand on the tiller will guarantee the shipwrecking course that Turnbull has charted.
One final matter – Turnbull invests in a fund that short sells Australian stocks. It certainly may not be illegal but come on – the Prime Minister of Australia bets on Australian companies failing!? Legal yes but is it ethical, good and in the national interest? Why is he any different to that silly Al Magied girl or the Greens? At least Labor is about Australian Jobs….
The many public noises this goose makes about Australia are the noises made by a sounding gong and a clashing cymbal. His actions speak much louder than his words. His heart’s desire is that Australian public companies fail so that he personally profits!!! So much for Aussie businesses and Aussie workers. The man is a curse and a blight on national life, making dishonesty, disloyalty, two facedness and bone laziness when it comes to public service (see NBN) the new norm. The sooner he is gone, the better off the nation will be! As they say, the fish rots (stinks!) from the head…Frydenberg is just another stinking part of the fish!
Jody,
As you are an unbiased open-minded person about Abbott & MAGA TRump can you list the three greatest achievements of each?
I can wait …
Not long now Jody.
Peter Dutton will be the next Australian PM.
Tony Abbott will be his deputy and Foreign Minister
I will win my bet re aTrump and Abbott if ever Tony is acting PM in the absence of the Nats leader.
Good chance of winning as Dutton with conservative Ministers will adopt Abbott and Trump policies.
Australia under non Managrial Elites will dump your leftie mates and their attitudes. And Shorten won’t be an Australian PM.
Disappointed, Jody?
Not disappointed; highly skeptical of anything you say.
Why?
I’m usually right.
It is your judgement that is most often wrong.
As it is here again with your skeptical view of my views.
To me Jody, integrity is maintaining an attitude of doing the fair and right thing, maintaining such in times of trial and/ or adversity and not changing basic beliefs and truths.
You managerial elites only want to see happen that which is in only your interest.
You have few basic truths and have no conception of what is fair or in the interests of those not in the managerial class.
You also make wild unsupported assertions.
Still waiting for that example of Tony snipping.
Jody,
Remember we had a bet that Trump would be gone by the end of 2017? Should I send you my bank account details so you can pay up?
Terrible layout for printing.
I like to print off an hour or so of reading matter from newspapers, magazines, blogs… and sit down on the veranda with a wine/beer and cashews rather than in front of a monitor, but this spat out 34 pages!
It’s a given that ministers will support the current leader. It doesn’t matter that Malcolm Turnbull, Christopher Pyne and the other ‘progressive’ plotters abandoned such a principle, it matters now and we have to accept that. The backbench is another matter and the push for change must now be viewed to include one or two Labor terms of office, before we can see a return to a ‘conservative centre’.
Turnbull himself, courtesy of his extraordinary hubris, has revealed the dissension literally tearing a once great party apart. It has become a truism that people have given up on it, simply because the party faithful no longer mattered a fig.
Everybody is missing something very important about Malcolm Turnbull. They are expecting him to behave like a Prime Minister. He sees himself as Australia’s answer to a monarch and his role is largely ceremonial. Commentators and the public keep expecting him to be prime ministerial any day now, and this is becoming embarrassing. They don’t understand that Turnbull’s view of himself is out of step with public expectations of the role of a Prime Minister. The ceremonial ‘monarch’ presents speeches, takes selfies, goes on trips overseas, rubs shoulders with famous people, opens games etc. You are all talking at cross purposes expecting him to be otherwise. Are there some important cues you’ve missed? Andrew Peacock would have been exactly the same: “he would have proved most royal had he been put on” (Hamlet).