It is indeed the senate that is stopping this country from progressing after 6 years of decline under Labor - not because the Abbott governments policies are lousy but because of the hatred for him that emanates from so many in the senate and for the hatred they also have for their own country and people in not wishing to see our economy fixed and business thrive. #auspol #BSWNBPM #GreenLies #sameoldlabor #PUP -IT is easy to attack this stuttering Abbott Government. Just ask me: I’m a conservative and even I’ve joined the pack. How dare this Government break its promise to restore free speech? How can it still not have made one single cut to welfare spending? Why can’t it get its Budget through the Senate and get on with governing? Why let Clive Palmer, that great bag of wind, posture like a kingmaker? Business is growing restless, too. Real wages are actually falling and the deficit keeps growing, but where are the reforms to save us? Why this log jam? Andrew Liveris, the Dow Chemical Company chairman, protested last week: “Instead of working together, you just throw things at each other and yell at each other. That is really scary. I have never seen an Australia like that.” But wait. Let’s call things by their proper name. Look at the list of problems I’ve given. Every single one is caused, at least in part, by something not of the Government’s making. Every single one of those things the Government has dropped or failed to achieve is opposed by the Senate, where the Government is outvoted. We are blaming the Government for not doing what, in fact, the blockers in the Senate — reckless Labor, extremist Greens and irrational Palmer United senators — stop it from doing. Yes, we can criticise the Government for not being more deft. Why did Treasurer Joe Hockey wait months before negotiating seriously with crossbench senators over his Budget? Why did the Government propose unpopular cuts before properly explaining why they were needed? Why did Hockey get sucked into a stupid and unwinnable debate about whether his proposed 1c-a-litre rise in petrol excise was unfair to the poor, when the big question is how the hell we stop the whole country from getting poorer? And all that is true. But let us not excuse the real wreckers — the people who have most exposed this country to danger. The truth is this Budget never was the horror Labor claimed. In fact, government spending still goes up, and the books will not balance for years. We’re still spending borrowed money, and the next downturn could sink us. Yet in proposing even its pathetic restrictions to the massive spending Labor unleashed, the Government faces a Senate not just hostile but feral. It is a Senate dominated by politicians putting self-interest above the national interest, and opposing the very things many would privately admit need doing. Take Labor. It shamelessly opposes $5 billion in cuts to education and health programs that it itself promised in government. Take Palmer’s senators. Palmer in May claimed talk of a “Budget crisis” was “bulls--t” and a “fairytale”, but last week attacked Abbott for having “left the country at a time of critical economic crisis”. Yet despite now admitting there is indeed an economic crisis, Palmer still opposes every single cut the Budget proposes to welfare spending, and, instead, insists even more billions be spent on health. Or take the Greens. Despite demanding massive taxes on carbon dioxide to “stop” global warming, it spitefully refuses to pass the Government’s measly 1c hike in petrol excise — a carbon tax by another name. Or take the Motoring Enthusiasts senator, Ricky Muir. This petrolhead opposes a rise in petrol prices, yet suddenly reveals he’s actually a Green wanting to keep the futile renewable energy programs the Government planned to slash. Then, add this level of complexity to the Government’s task — its opponents in the Senate actually don’t want to make a deal, or haven’t yet figured what they want. Labor actually thinks the more chaos the better for its re-election chances, and the Greens are simply off the dial. Moreover, Palmer’s senators still don’t know what they’d like in exchange for their votes, making it impossible for the Government to offer them some trade-off. With no agenda of their own, Palmer’s team get their power just by saying “no”. And just to make the Government’s job even harder, the ABC has become more fiercely anti-Liberal than it was even under the Howard government. It is also now more dominant than ever, being the largest media organisation in the country by far, with twice as many Canberra journalists than any other outlet. So, yes, attack the Abbott Government for clumsiness, own goals, poor sales and the rest. But never forget what really stands between the Government and action. Between our busted finances and reform. That isn’t the Government. It is Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer. If you must be angry, start with them. heraldsun.au/news/opinion/senate-blockers-are-in-the-way/story-fni0ffxg-1227027263638
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 06:35:10 +0000
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