Category Archives: Politics – Australian

Waste not, want not is not a socialist slogan

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This is from the comments thread at Tim Blair. The point being made was that the money wasted paying Soupstain and Triggs is mere chicken feed compared with the amount of money being wasted on maintaining the desal plant in NSW which is $500,000 a day. Hence this comment:

“Yet still it costs around $500,000 per day to keep this monument to climate panic in functioning order.”

Victoria would love to have this problem…….our mighty desal plant costs us $1.7M per day (yep you read that right) to produce……nothing.

Did Tim say leftists are good with OPM.

Which then led to this comment which really does make you even more angry:

If their Premier could just cancel a freeway then he can just cancel the de-sal plant payment’ ………………….Oh, wait.

Maybe they can pump it into the Murray so they don’t have to keep stealing water from the farmers.

If these voters on the left truly understood how their lives are being blighted by the governments they elect we really would have a revolution. They are lucky to get back ten cents on the dollar, but the ten cents is visible and the dollar is made up of the goods and services they will never enjoy because the economies in which we live are so badly mismanaged.

A stunning tribute to Bill Leak from another cartoonist

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This is Zeg at Quadrant on Line. Beautifully drawn and very much to the point. Here is the text:

Bill Leak was forced to move his home and family to a secret location after being marked for death by Islamic fascists — real fascists, mind you, not the sort the sniveling Left perceives at every word of disagreement. He should have been able to count on the full weight and support of every government agency and bureaucrat. Instead, while the Prime Minister declined to utter four short words, ‘Je suis Bill Leak’, he was abandoned to the torments of the shameless Gillian Triggs and her posse of tax-funded thugs. What’s the difference between ISIS and the HRC? The former is open and honest in its vindictive contempt for all who will not toe the line.

The Prime Minister is missing in action in every encounter and not just here. Since no one else has mentioned it in a post today, the loss in WA is where the Feds are heading under its ineffectual low-energy non-leader. If the Coalition go to the election in the present configuration, they really are beneath contempt since they are destined to lose unless they finally work out a plan to reinvigorate themselves.

How fortunate we are to have The Australian

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I would just like to put in a word for The Australian in the midst of our mourning the passing of Bill Leak. He was the bravest cartoonist in the world but he could only have reached his audience because we are fortunate in having the bravest newspaper in the world here in Australia.

There are parts of its editorial line I may not agree with but I am a subscriber because it is only in The Australian that we can even hope to hear our side put into the public space.

They will not find another cartoonist like Bill Leak, and that is our eternal loss. But we still have the paper who was brave enough to run those editorial page cartoons, and for this we are truly blessed.

Bill Leak 1956-2017

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This is a terrible tragedy. Australia’s bravest, most forthright political cartoonist has passed away. From The Australian:

The Australian’s editorial cartoonist Bill Leak has died in hospital of a suspected heart attack. He was 61.

Editor in Chief Paul Whittaker announced the news to staff today, describing Leak as “a giant in his field of cartooning and portraiture and a towering figure for more than two decades” at the newspaper and said he was “simply irreplaceable”.

“We will miss him dreadfully and our hearts go out to his wife Goong, his stepdaughter Tasha and his sons Johannes and Jasper,” Whittaker said.

“I know that many people at The Australian will be inconsolable over this tragic loss of such a good man.”

Leak died this morning in Gosford Hospital.

He won nine Walkley awards and 19 Stanley awards for his work, and was twice awarded News Corp’s cartoonist of the year.

I met him just the other week at the launching of our collective book on Righting the Australian Economy for which he had drawn the cover. What I had not known was that he had been moved by the Federal Police to a safe location after one of his cartoons had drawn the wrong kind of attention. This is a terrible loss, and sincerest condolences to his wife and children.

The wages of ignorance

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I have been following this business about wages with no little amazement. Here is the story that sums it up but it was in all the papers today:

A demoralised government put in a dismal performance in parliament today. In Question Time and the debate that followed, Malcolm Turnbull was constantly on the defensive on an issue that is a gift for Bill Shorten — pay cuts for workers.

There was a time when I was Chief Economist for the Chamber of Commerce that a decision like this would have been recognised by a Coalition Government as a reprieve for the economy and very good news for workers. Naturally, the Labor side would have talked about workers losing pay etc, but the government would have stood there with small business and the unemployed, reminding everyone that economic growth and higher wages can only come from a stronger economy. So let’s look at some more of this story and then come back to the issues again.

The government looks frozen in the headlights as this dire political threat approaches. Unions are mobilising with a potent message to ordinary workers — whether there are 700,000 or 285,000 hurt by the cuts.

This was a shared humiliation for the Coalition. Barnaby Joyce was difficult to understand, despite his volume. Julie Bishop offered a mundane answer about strong exports from Western Australia, doing nothing to turn pressure back on Labor. Scott Morrison went through the economic growth figures but barely stirred the backbench.

Turnbull had no answer on penalty rates other than to attack Shorten’s history at the AWU. The Prime Minister seemed to be losing his voice as he ploughed on through Question Time and the suspension motion. He was also losing traction.

And the Coalition backbench did nothing to help. Staring at their mobile phone screens or their paperwork, MPs and ministers barely offered a murmur of support. There were no cheers, no interjections. It was a huge contrast with the Labor benches, where MPs are fired up over penalty rates.

In the month of the GFC the unemployment rate was recorded at 3.9%, which I always remember since it was the first time I had seen it fall below four in all the years I had been in Australia (the number has since been revised to 4.2%). The latest unemployment rate is much higher, at 5.7%, and real earnings are falling. A fall in penalty rates is an unmitigated good thing for the economy. It might end up being a minor retreat for a relative handful of employees but looking at the larger story, it is all to the good. It will make our industry stronger, create more jobs, and add to future prosperity. If nothing else, it is a decision that not only can be defended, it ought to have been.

The long faces on the Liberal side is the most comprehensive sign that these people have more than lost their way. They have no idea this side of the next Newspoll which way is up, with the Prime Minister the worst of the lot. They stand for nothing and most definitely do not stand for private sector growth. This is a decision that they ought to have embraced and welcomed, not run from. That they have no idea why living standards are falling – to them it’s in spite of the NBN and not because of it – tells me how far out in the economic wilderness they are.

Say if Abbott had stayed PM

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This is Faye Busch on Malcolm Turnbull in a Catallaxy thread.

Say if Abbott had stayed PM and Turnbull was still digging holes for the NBN.
None of this would have happened.
No near-death election.
No Photios’ toxic spread.
No splintering of the party.
No need for new party.
No rise and rise and rise of Shorten.
No wasted valuable time.
No ignoring Brexit and Trump.
No endless advice to the Prime Minister on how to run the country.
No hollow pretense.
No blaming the Conservatives for the mess.
Ad infinitum.

There is no doubt Tony would have won the last election with more than a one-seat majority. And beyond all that, what has Malcolm done that Tony would not have been able to, or what would Tony have done that Malcolm is pleased to have prevented? Such an egotistical non-entity who will be remembered just as we think of him today. History will never redeem his reputation.

How is it playing out in the US?

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I sent my article “How is it Playing out in Australia?” to Powerline which has reprinted it here with the following text:

Writing from down under, Steve Kates responds to the question “How is it playing out in Australia?” Not surprisingly, Professor Kates provides a perspective that is nowhere to be found in the news up here: “For [Australian Prime Minister] Malcolm [Turnbull] apparently to have tried to push Trump, by telling him that as a fellow businessman that a deal is a deal, must rank as politically incompetent as anything I have ever seen. That Trump now thinks of Malcolm as a flea-weight no-account fool only means he has the same assessment of the PM as the rest of us.” Professor Kates has pulled the top comments from an inaccessible article in The Australian to elaborate.

Professor Kates notes in an email message to us that the comments on his post at Catallaxy Files are all of a piece and adds: “I just think it might be interesting and valuable if the underlying sentiment in Australia was more widely understood, especially in America.” Indeed, and the same may well be true of the underlying sentiment in the United States as well.

PAUL ADDS: It seems that if anyone was “badgering” during this phone call, it was the Australian PM as he tried to get Trump to say he would comply with Obama’s deal.

It was then listed at Lucianne.com and now Sarah Hoyt has put it up at Instapundit. That Malcolm Turnbull leads the conservative party in Australia is a disgrace, but at least there is now a possibility that the White House will have a better understanding of the lay of the land down under. Let me quote BJ from the Instapundit comments thread:

Turnbull is a leftie buffoon and an embarrassment to Australia. Please don’t judge us by the actions of this usurper, who brought down an elected Prime Minister who was a true conservative, and then alienated and drove away the conservative voter base to the point that he barely survived the last election. Most conservatives in Australia can’t stand Turnbull, and he is almost single-handedly responsible for the rise of a number of new conservative parties who are soaking up the real conservative vote. If Turnbull was in the USA he would be a Democrat for certain.

This is universally understood on the right side of politics in Australia. We have our own LINOs, Liberals in Name Only. I tend to think that sitting in Parliament all day long listening to leftist arguments weakens the fibre of those who we send to represent us. Everyone has a sentimentality that will let them down and open themselves up to arguments about hurt and harm, and that is a good thing. But not to be able to go past the first moment and see how this kind of sentimentality plays out in the longer run is a stupidity that may yet be the end of us.

We are all one election away from a Venezuelan future

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I sent my article “How’s it Playing out in Australia?” to Powerline which has reprinted it here with the following text:

Writing from down under, Steve Kates responds to the question “How is it playing out in Australia?” Not surprisingly, Professor Kates provides a perspective that is nowhere to be found in the news up here: “For [Australian Prime Minister] Malcolm [Turnbull] apparently to have tried to push Trump, by telling him that as a fellow businessman that a deal is a deal, must rank as politically incompetent as anything I have ever seen. That Trump now thinks of Malcolm as a flea-weight no-account fool only means he has the same assessment of the PM as the rest of us.” Professor Kates has pulled the top comments from an inaccessible article in The Australian to elaborate.

Professor Kates notes in an email message to us that the comments on his post at Catallaxy Files are all of a piece and adds: “I just think it might be interesting and valuable if the underlying sentiment in Australia was more widely understood, especially in America.” Indeed, and the same may well be true of the underlying sentiment in the United States as well.

PAUL ADDS: It seems that if anyone was “badgering” during this phone call, it was the Australian PM as he tried to get Trump to say he would comply with Obama’s deal.

All of our countries are one election away from a Venezuelan future. The left is bereft of any idea how things work, and their numbers continue to grow. I was reminded how hard it is to keep things on the productive straight and narrow by these headlines today at Drudge:

BUSH JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN
MIDDLE EAST CITIZENS RUSH IN
IMMIGRATION ORDERS UNRAVEL:
TRUMP SLAMS DECISION…
VOWS FIGHT…
JUDGE USED BROAD POWER…
COURT SHOWDOWN…
AIRLINES RESUME FLIGHTS…
‘HOMELAND’ NOT FLAGGING…
STATE DEPT REVERSES VISA BAN…

One judge and the entire policy of the American government unravels. It’s just time that more refugees were settled in Washington and the ACT.

“How is it playing out in Australia?”

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That one’s from Canada, and this is from an old mate in the US: “What does the Australian press have to say about this?” These were their entire messages.

What “it” and “this” are no one needed to tell me. But truly how stupid do you have to be to have made an arrangement with Obama after the election to send boat people from Nauru and Manus to the US? If Malcolm believed he was going to get points for having stood up to the US against Trump, as clueless as I have always thought him, he has plumbed levels of stupidity and political incompetence until now unimaginable. From The Australian:

Australia’s alliance with the US has hit its lowest point in decades, in a clash over a divisive refugee deal that led Donald Trump to ­berate Malcolm Turnbull in priv­ate before staging a public retreat from the agreement.

This morning the President has said he loves Australia and will “respect” the deal, but that nations are taking advantage of the US. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said his boss was “unbelievably disappointed” about the “horrible deal” and that refugees will only be allowed in the US if they pass extreme vetting. But Mr Trump’s top officials have tried to smooth over the rift, holding a meeting with ambassador Joe Hockey.

For Malcolm apparently to have tried to push Trump, by telling him that as a fellow businessman that a deal is a deal, must rank as politically incompetent as anything I have ever seen. That Trump now thinks of Malcolm as a flea-weight no-account fool only means he has the same assessment of the PM as the rest of us.

UPDATE WITH COMMENTS ON THE ARTICLE FROM THE OZ: There are now 830 comments on the linked article, and these are the top 22 in order from the list ordered according to “Top Comments” and there was no need to stop there.

1) Chronology is important here.

1. 10 months out from US presidential election, Turnbull visits US. He meets Hillary and snubs Trump.
2. In the weeks leading up to US presidential election, Turnbull does a deal with a dead duck President.
3. Turnbull and Obama agree to not announce it (hide the deal) until the US presedential election is over. They both want Hillary to get up, and the deal would be excellent ammunition for Trump in a campaign dominated by illegal immigration.
4. Trump wins. Turnbull panics.
5. Turnbull has to call Greg Norman to find out how to get in touch with Trump.
6. Turnbull announces deal publicly 5 days later, and before he has spoken to Trump about it.
7. Trump understandably gives him a smack down on the phone.
8. Turnbull spins the phone call, and in desperation to announce something good in his otherwise failing Prime Ministership, announces the deal as done.
9. Trump is annoyed that Turnbull couldn’t keep quiet. Trump has been placed in a contradictory position that could damage him politically.
10. Trump gives Turnbull a smack down on Twitter, and leaks the phone call to return the favour.

The problem exists because of Turnbull, and Turnbull alone.
– At no point has Turnbulll invested in a personal relationship with Trump. Mostly because he exists in the same elitist bubble as people who predicted a thumping Hillary win.
– He did a sneaky deal with left wingers and helped hide it from voters in the US.
– He then tried to pump his own political fortunes up and didn’t care about the damage it might do to Trump.

Turnbull has to go. He is damaging the Liberal party and the nation.

2) I feel sympathy for Trump. Why should he in the American interest accept these illegal boat people who came to this country largely for economic opportunism, they have rampaged, trashed Manus island, we won’t take them, so why should Trump call on the American taxpayer to live in America?

3) Greg Sheridan in his column today notes, Trump’s reluctance to commit to actual numbers to be resettled in the US from Manus Island or Nauru is no different from Obama’s. The Obama administration gave Turnbull an “announceable”, a media event, a virtual solution to the resettlement issue which itself did not guarantee that the US would take a single person unless it was satisfied through its own vetting procedures.

Trump is right to ask “why”? What’s in it for America? He should take all the time he needs to scrutinise this “virtual solution”.

4) Australia just keeps creating more problems for itself, by not enforcing its border laws on illegal immigrants. If they have been vetted and found to be unsuitable they should be deported.

5) This was a deal cooked up by Turnbull and Obama in the interim period between Trump winning the US election and actually taking up Office. It was very similar to Gillard’s NDIS policy, made just before she went out the door, a little bomblet if you like, to tickle up the new lot when they get in. Gillard was never going to have to take responsibility for the NDIS much like Obama with the refugee deal. What Turnbull didn’t reckon on was how Trump was going to react to what he knew was a stitch up. You are the one who blew it Malcolm, you knew Obama was gone, why did you make this deal with a bloke who was literally gone? Also, where the hell us Bishop in all this? Attending gala functions???? That will help!

6) Aubsolutely. Why Turnbull would do a deal with a outgoing President, knowing full well the incoming President’s attitude to illegal immigration, is anybodies guess. You don’t have to be real smart to work out Obama left it as a time bomb, why didn’t Turnbull recognise that? So the new President gets a call from a PM who arrogantly ignored him, as a Clinton Supporter, and on Trump’s win, asks Australia to ” stay calm” and then expects Trump to be jolly and happy about piling a bunch of economic refugees Australia does not want, into the US? Turnbull once more has shown his inability to judge the scene, and his arrogance in not being able to get it. How embarrassing for our country.

7) Of course this is a super Dumb deal. If Trump takes refugees then its a Green light to refugees to flee to Australia in hope of to getting to USA . If Trump vets and refuses to take them then nobody else in the world will take. Turnbull actions during President Elect period, fully knowing Trump stance on refugees showed no respect to incoming new President Trump and has turned a good relation to a shaky relationship. It is Turnbull who is sneaky and tricky , his Obama deal during President Elect period was poor timing, disrespectful to an incoming President and whatever the outcome not in the interest of Australia in any way.

8) This agreement was made after Trump was elected. Obama signed off on it to cause trouble for Trump. For such a highly intelligent person, couldn’t Turnbull see how this would affect Australia once Trump took charge.

9) I think Obama agreeing to the deal was a practical joke aimed at his successor, and it has worked. Turnbull thinks he was clever to get it through but he was a stooge in a practical joke.

10) I’m embarrassed as an Australian because it seems to me that Turnbull took an opportunity to offload the costly and potentially dangerous fallout from the ALP/Greens’ huge mistake onto a friendly neighbour by cynically enabling Obama’s typically unpatriotic, petulant lefty ploy to leave a landline for Trump. Like any good neighbour, Trump has to accept the steaming bucket of poop because it would be rude not to. Too clever by half, Turnbull. Did I mention that I feel embarrassed? Ashamed might be a more apt description.

11) Smart move now is for Turnbull to ring Trump and unilaterally revoke the deal. Why should we call on the US to bail us out of a relatively simple problem just because Turnbull can’t face up to The Greens and the rest of the open border mob? He’s putting the civil rights of 1250 detainees ahead of the security of the electorate. These are illegal immigrants, not refugees. If they don’t pass our security clearances, ship them back to their countries of origin. If the country of origin won’t take them, send them to the first country that gave them residency before they travelled onwards to Australia.

12) Just deport them. They flew into Indonesia then ditched their documentation before setting sail for Australia. They are criminals. What about the genuine refugees sitting in tents all over the world with no food or air conditioning.

13) Of course it’s a dumb deal for America. You have to wonder why Obama did it? What advantage is it to America?

14) This is not the first time Obama threw Australia under the bus for his own domestic political agenda. Remember his speech at University of QLD in 2014 with its thinly veiled castigation of the Abbott government for it’s stance on global warming while comparing it to the US’ achievements in carbon abatement? All conveniently neglecting to mention that a significant reason for the US’ carbon reduction was the use of coal seam gas obtained through hydraulic fracturing.

The goal was to use Australia as a whipping boy (wanting his daughters to be able to visit the barrier reef in the future) so he could prove his climate change credentials back home. But at the same time, he ruled out any show of political support for the efforts of the democratically elected government of his closest ally to do exactly what the US was doing…fracking!

15) It IS a stupid deal. It shows the Liberal Government caving in to the refugee industry. People on Nauru and Manus can go home or stay where they are.

16) Obama set this up as timebomb, and Turnbull walked into it. There is no point in blaming Trump, for the arrogance and stupidity of Obama and Turnbull, two men who knew well the attitude Trump has towards illegal refugees. Once more poor judgement from Turnbull, as Obama has the last laugh. We don’t want a bunch of economic refugees dumped on us, nor surprisingly does the US. Yet because of this deal by these two fools, they have to take them. Angry? Trump has every right to be outraged.

17) I would keep out of it Bill. Trump would make mincemeat of you. Even your Union thugs would look like choir girls, up against this bloke. Just sit back and watch the fun.

18) This is not about Trump. It is about Turnbull and Bishop with the connivence of Obama trying to pull a swifty after Trump was elected, and to leave a behind a hand grenade to embarrass him into accepting the refugees. Their arrogance is astounding.

Well, it back fired and will sound the end of Turnbull. He was less than honest with the people on reporting his conversation with Trump. This will force Corey Bernadi’s hand as the liberal/national coalition is domed. Pauling Hanson is now likely to win a majority in both Queensland and WA. People have had enough, one nation may not be the complete answer, but it is an answer. I feel extremly sorry for Peter Dutton in all this, the unsung hero of the government.

Its telling that Bishop has gone into hiding.

19) Never going to be easy in the first few months when you have to clean up Barack Obamas mess.Who would take 1250 people without passports…I agree with Trump it is a Bum deal. Turnbull is fortunate Trump has said he is prepared to proceed.

We should not forget Turnbull on his first visit to America laughed at the thought of Trump becoming President. Malcom met with Clinton and Rubio.

20) Oh get over it ! If we are so touchy that we can’t take a robust phone call from a new and besieged President over what is not an inconsiderable number of illegals, then it is we who need to toughen up. Political correctness is out and straight talking is in, and about time. At least Trump didn’t call Turnbull, barking mad, as Shorten called Trump. I would say that Turnbull was used by Obama to get one in on Trump, and Turnbull believed him.

21) Its all an act .
Donald Trump will Honour it as he knows a deal is a deal .
He doesn’t want to upset Australia so he is pretending to be outrage so it will look good domestically for him.
He has to look tough on refugees no matter where they come from

22) While the media choose to write negative articles about Trump, the real story in all of this is that Turnbull is so thoroughly out of his depth he is in danger of drowning. It was Turnbull who went to the US cozying up to Obama and Clinton (not even understanding the Trump just might win the election); it was Turnbull who did this deal with a President who was packing up to leave!

Who is the incompetent politician in this debacle – his name is Turnbull.