The final sitting day in the parliament yesterday provided a timely reminder that Labor has a long and illustrious history of finding itself in golden situations only to totally stuff them up.
Forget the next three years, Bill Shorten and Labor could turn the dumpster fire that is Canberra at present into an inferno that could engulf it and everyone in the general vicinity in less than 12 weeks.
In other, brighter circumstances it might be the kind of efficient service delivery the punters expect from government.
Presuming Shorten and Labor win the next election (and that requires a sizeable leap of faith if not logic after yesterday’s shenanigans), one can only speculate what disasters will come its way in government. My best guess is Shorten will do a Nick Greiner, establish a federal anti-corruption commission only to find multiple members of his cabinet and ultimately himself, ensnared in it, providing an alternative meaning to the term “conviction politicians”.
In what stands as an extraordinary political achievement, Labor managed to disappoint everyone across the political spectrum yesterday — people who vote Labor, people who don’t and people who were thinking of voting Labor but now probably won’t.
It was as if the tactics committee met, handed Shorten a ball-peen hammer and told him to belt himself over the head with it, on the basis that it would feel better when he stopped.
The telecommunications access and assistance bill became law yesterday, passing through the Senate 44 votes to 12, after being waved through the House with bipartisan support.
It is, of course, a bill of the government’s making. It is a disaster, created by legal minds with little or no apparent expertise in technology. The problems with it are numerous but the biggest lies in the fact the law would require technology companies to target a single device or small number of devices, but only in a way that does not introduce a “systemic weakness” that impacts all users.
The techs I have spoken to say this is all but impossible and may lead to tech companies feeling obliged to leave the country rather than run afoul of this putrescent law. One of our most prolific and profitable industry sectors may leave our shores in droves. Well done, everyone. Throw another log on the dumpster fire.
The other major problem with the bill is it is yet another intrusion into the privacy of the citizenry. Predictably the response from the government and the opposition is of the tedious, “if you done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about” kind.
Labor’s favourite urger on Twitter, member for Gellibrand, Tim Watts, lectured a clearly unnerved Twitterdom on Tuesday night in an effort to bring some calm. “Wait and see our amendments,” the young MP promised. In the end Labor dropped its amendments altogether and waved the bill through.
It is a dreadful piece of law and by Labor’s own admission will need to be amended early next year, leading to the obvious question, and one that remains unanswered, why wave it through the lower house at all?
Timidity and cowardice
The old maxim that any day when the political debate turns to border security is a bad day for Labor seems to have Bill Shorten and his front bench spooked.
Labor is everywhere and nowhere on this issue. Jelly nailed to a wall.
Timidity and political cowardice are never far away with this mob.
The day started with Prime Minister Morrison facing a humiliating defeat in the parliament, with Labor and the Greens supporting a crossbench bill which would leave the decision on refugee repatriation to Australia entirely in the hands of those with medical expertise. Instead it was Shorten and Labor who were left pink-faced in embarrassment as the bill was filibustered to within an inch of its life in the Senate.
Everything Labor sought to achieve did not happen and everything it did not want to happen came to pass.
News reports today indicating Labor has softened its policy stance on refugee policy lends strength to the prevailing view that Labor is soft on border control while Shorten et al have simultaneously upset Labor voters who were hoping for a more humane policy response.
Faced with the prospect of multiple triumphs in the parliament in the morning session, all Shorten could do was lament the scoreboard at the end of the day. Win-win had become lose-lose.
As the House adjourned for the Christmas break, it was difficult to determine who felt more relieved — Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten. The only good news for both men is the parliament will sit so rarely in the New Year, they may as well call in the caterers and hire out both chambers for weddings, parties, anything. Maybe a funeral or two.
The focus in recent times has naturally been on the Morrison government and its travails. There appears to be no way out for the government, that is until we pause and turn our gaze to Bill Shorten and the Labor opposition.
And when we do, we are drawn to the conclusion that it would be madness to underestimate Labor’s capacity for political self-harm.
This column was first published in The Australian on 7 December 2018.
Good article. There is no doubt in my mind that Shorten and Labor are more than capable of disintegrating. Full of hubris and haste they are a good chance to implode if Morrison puts the blowtorch or wedge on them.
Anyone know whether what I read on the other side regarding the house of reps election being allowed to be called as late as November?
The ABC’s Antony Greens explains all in the linked article, Milton. Cheers
https://tinyurl.com/y8lxlh4k
Thanks Hank.
I say Milton, as you are obviously a man of letters, you would no doubt be aware that the word “hubris” in ancient Greek has a strong sexual attachment. So I therefore thought your intimation that Labor had a good chance of being stuffed, provided they are sufficiently and appropriately wedged, was a good one.
You’re hubris in the head Carl
The biggest monumental stuff-up Labor is guilty of is not using its success during the GFC to bed down its economic credentials and do away with the perpetual myth that the Liberals are the best economic managers. A total lie. They can only govern when times are good. Labor should have built on this….There are 34 wealthy, developed economies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Of these, 32 went into recession during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and 2009. Australia and Poland were the exceptions. Abbott in 2013 inherited a government with the third lowest debt in the world, unemployment as low as 4.1 in 2009 under Labor, soon escalating to 6.3% under Hockey and Abbott with no World Recession to contend with. Abbott also inherited record low interest rates, record low inflation, a AAA credit rating from ALL international rating agencies-a rating Costello never achieved. The Rudd stimulus, on Treasury advice and supported by the Business Council, saved us from recession (not the pizzling $20billion amount Howard left out of a $334billion revenue windfall) and avoided the loss of 200,000 jobs and in fact created 900,000 new jobs. As Keating has said, Labor has received no credit for this from the Liberals or the media to this day.
You are aware dear fellow that ScoMo will announce a Budget Surplus this coming April, the first in 10 years my good man. Cheers
And it will be fake news.
Will pretty well match all the news that came out from the Rudd – Gilliard years TV.
Yeah, that wasn’t smart. But you tell me how they can come up with a budget surplus six months from now JS?
No idea TV – we will have to wait and see
I have commented upon this ‘phantom’ surplus….where have you been Blow…..here is just part of what i wrote ….There is no guarantee Fraudenberg will deliver a budget surplus: The final budget outcome for 2018-19 will not be known until late September 2019, some 4 months after the election. Wouldn’t it be nasty if Labor did what Hockey did in 2014……extend the debt ceiling to make the deficit look much worse than it really is.
No the trainee treasurer and the pastor pm will shout out an expected Surplus in 2020. You continue to refuse to acknowledge that Debt has More than Doubled under the coalition even as the PM and the coalition shout out that 80% of their agenda has passed the senate.
Labor, of course, does have some good potential Leaders imho, Mr. Insider, such as Tanya Plibersek seen here very recently in this very short clip giving the Opposition some “stick”. Many say Albanese another but I am not sure he would garner Public Appeal at a National level.
The Big Question I suppose is are we attracting the right People into Parliament, very much a “fishbowl” World?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUHCwrM845A
Been watching the excellent series on SBS at the moment – Civilisations.
The artefacts of erstwhile civilisations explored and explained. Who were they, why and how did they come to an end?
Which got me thinking. Maybe we are at the beginning of the end for our civilisation? In s thousand years or so what will they be saying about our demise and what we were all about?
Our astute Mr. Baptiste is right across this matter, Boadicea and from what he has told us we are all stuffed within 5 years. Start building an Ark as we are to expect lots of heavy rain he says and who is to say he is wrong! Cheers
You’re right on that Henry.
“who is to say he is wrong”?
Due to man-made AGW we are, even now, facing a huge increase of extreme weather events & the severity of these disasters has become the ‘new normal’ around the globe.
If our leaders sit on their hands & continue to deny the existence of climate change then the catastrophic results will be on them. Dinosaurs they are.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-02-18/climate-change-will-accelerate-extreme-weather-events-coming-years
Not too sure about the increase in extreme weather events Bella. There is a lot in the literature to say that there has nor been an increase.
However, the cost for each event is rising because there are more people and infrastructure where these events occur.
eg in early last century, Mackay was flattened but there was not much there. If it happened today, the cost would be in the billions.
Miami and the Gold Coast are a disaster waiting to happen.
About every 50 years or so, a cyclone wanders down the QLD coast and stops off the Gold Coast. Last time it happened, narrow neck was nearly washed away.
I think most people agree that Climate Change is happening – two reasons Natural Cycles and emissions. The latter is where we can take insurance policies out but the obvious way, Nuclear, is taboo. Many experts agree that 100% solar is not feasible so we stuff around with gas and “clean” coal.
Nobody is prepared to compromise on anything anymore.
Brilliant post JS.
Brilliant perhaps in it’s own way for it’s own purposes but seriously uninformed. We know how much extra heat above pre industrial levels is being sequestered in the oceans, ie the water is warmer. How the hell would that not cause a change in weather events?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-and-extreme-weather/
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/trends-in-extreme-weather-events-since-1900–an-enduring-conundrum-for-wise-policy-advice-2167-0587-1000155.php?aid=69558
I rest my case
And may your case rest in peace. I refer you to the link I provided. Your witness is of dubious character.
McPherson says ten. I hope for twenty, but it is looking unlikely. The very rich and their servants may live on Henry, billions being spent on biosphere research, under the cover for R&D for a Mars landing. Very funny.
You said 5 two years ago.
I said long protracted periods of rain, weeks in duration in five years. And I believe I said that about a year ago. We are seeing deluges of “biblical proportions” reportedly occurring around the world already.
And that is not the same thing as virtual human extinction.
Try some enquiry of your own, find out how much extra heat has been sequestered in our oceans in just the last year. I’m serious, just try and find out a few things by research, it wont kill you.
I used to used excerpts from this book in a research methods class: http://sultanaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Motel-of-the-Mysteries-Macaulay.pdf
When I read archeologist interpreting their finds I always recall it.
Are you sure you are an academic Dwight? Did an archaeologist discover you in a cave somewhere or maybe you’re just an invention too?
They will be saying “once the monkeys got electricity it was inevitable.”
It’s called the monkey trap Boadicea. A nut is placed in a jar with an opening just big enough for the monkey to put it’s empty hand in, once the monkey has grasped the nut it cannot get it back out of the hole unless it lets go of the nut.
For whatever evolutionary flaw the monkey cannot bring itself to make the sacrifice and will stay in that position trying to resolve the dilemma in a winning way till the trap owner or a predator comes along and kills it.
Or to quote Albert Einstein, regarded by many as an insightful man “There are only two things that are infinite, humanity stupidity and the universe and I am not certain about the latter.”
Never mind the opposition. it was not the opposition that delayed parliament all day, it was the government who was prepared to pass NO legislation at all. why don’t the media call out the Blatant lies of the coalition and the trainee treasurer who is approaching morrison like heights for mendacity.
“Australia is a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) NOT the G7, but the average growth of those 36 wealthy, developed economies is 2.94%. So claiming Australia’s 2.77% is higher is a blatant porky pie and a shameful one.” “The budget which concludes on 30 June next year will show a deficit of about $14.5 billion. The only thing that will happen next April is that Frydenberg will predict a surplus which might arrive in June 2020. Or might not.” The list goes on and on and on and on.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/first-they-damage-the-economy-then-they-fudge-the-figures,12183
Be alert but not alarmed my fellow Liberals for out great asset Bill Shorten will surely come to our aide.
Now that’s an intriguing post. I’ll bite, who is your aide?
Excellent summary, Jack.
I hope the Bill gets thrown out. Even if the technical issues are sorted – and that’s a big if – it’s unclear how the measures will reduce terrorist events, if the past is anything to go by.
Ben Franklin had it right: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Vell now, your name is going on zer list.
Oh, it will reduce terrorist events alright , when they redefine what constitutes a terrorist event.
TO,
I can guarantee you the legislation is needed. Terrorists, pedophiles and organised crime all hde behind encryption.
You’re spot on Razor. And have you noticed that some on here blunder around in oblivious procrastination.
Or is it a case of having bones in cupboards?
While others snipe endlessly, Carl.
Yairs, snipe in a blundering oblivious pompous self righteous manner. It’s that extra ozone at the littoral that does it.
Yeah, they need to go get a warrant.
They do TO, they do…..
So do banks and every other user of digital media that has valuable Personal information. this is weakening the Nations ability to prevent cyber attacks not strengthening it. this is about Authoritarians holding the Nation to ransom your claims continually prove that. As you have admitted a massive conflict of interest your comments are not worth the keys they are typed on. No surprises.
That’s a bullshit comment even for you. This is in no way making us more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Great to see you supporting the big corporates in Silicon Valley!
As for conflicts of interest, I’ll take it you will stop commenting on energy policy as you are involved in the field.
You can guarantee until you’re blue in the face, Razor. This is a bid for more control over citizens with little in the way of demonstrable benefits. I’d like to see a cost benefit analysis for this “essential” legislation. Labor are just as bad as the Coalition on this one.
Furthermore, Razor, if it’s important enough let ’em get a warrant.
TO,
The powers you are talking about require a Judge or a member of the AAT tribunal to access.
We need warrants now to monitor unencrypted conversations. NOTHING has changed except a great little earner for some big corporates is coming to a close.
Anyone using encryption for non criminal persons is fine unless a judge signs a warrant. Why would they do that!
You’re smarter than this.
OT – but it is Christmas after all!
WISS and BASSY: Yes, Straddie is lovely – just a bit too hot for my liking so I don’t go up often. But I am up there for the Christmas week.
Bassy, my son-in-law is a talented muso in his spare time (Environmental Scientist in his real job). He plays a lot here and there – and I’m sure they must have seen you do your thing at the pub! They have lived in Dunwich for the last 12 years or so – and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Although I wish they would come down here 🙁
Stuck here for Christmas, but might head to the Whitsunday’s after the New Year for a long-delayed catch-up with the Missus. I’d be happy for any beach right now.
You might be able to find a white beach TV to compensate for not having a white xmas
Indeed Jack. In a way it was quite refreshing to see Morrisson beat Shorten at his own game!
Stay tuned, Boadicea, I am not a huge fan of either but less a fan of Bill. He has the capacity I do believe to turn certain victory into a defeat. Time will tell. Cheers P.S. Andrew Bolt with the “Bolt Report’ on Sky at night has a standing invitation for Bill to go on the show and waiting for him is a top class bottle of Scotch Whiskey. I note a lot of Labor people do go on the show and are treated very respectfully by the astute Andrew.
Great read Mr Insider. The sad thing for Labor it finds itself in a potentially Election Winning situation led by a potentially Election Losing Leader in Bill Shorten.
A Christmas/Holidays reset followed by the start of a fresh New Year 2019 thence a most generous April Budget could, just could, put ScoMo and the Team back into the race for May.
For them of course is the fact it gives Shorten nearly 6 months to snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory and he can do it, “Pink Batteries etc”.
Against them they have the continuing white anting of ex ousted PM Malcolm Turnbull who seems dead set on destroying this current Government and with it the Liberal Party.
The clever Chinese say “may you live in interesting times” and we sure do!
I may eat these words .
The Libs have as much chance of winning as the Aussies have in the cricket in Adelaide.
If Marsh brings us home, I will have to eat a few more words.
Never over till the “fat lady” sings JS and she hasn’t left for the “stadium” as yet. Howard was written off twice and rose like Lazarus to win. Cheers
Yes Henry, the caveat is that people have learned what a devious and useless PM Howard was and may well be circumspect and suspicious of a repeat dose in the machinations of Morrison.
Howard may have “queered the pitch” for Morrison ( No that has nothing to do with cricket) but on the other hand the punters have even shorter than their usual short memories when the wind is put up them.
Give em heaps Henry.
Well… based on that the election will be close,Marsh will play in Perth and I. ….
I thought a 15 run lead in the first innings was trivial until the last hour.
It is quite unfair to claim that Malcolm Turnbull seems dead set on destroying this current Government and with it the Liberal Party. It is a noble ambition indeed to destroy this current government but I am certain that Turnbull is correct in believing it is the only way the Liberal Party can be saved.
I doubt this note will come to the attention of Mr Malcolm Turnbull but I wish him steadfast courage and determination in exorcising the evil spirits that have possessed the Liberal Party.
I personally have made voodoo dolls in the image of the dastardly plotters who seized control of the party and shall be giving them a jolly good going over with needles in the coming months.
There you go I just bashed the head of a senior minister with my emptied coffee mug. Gosh, that felt good.
Give ’em heaps Henry. The anticipation of your crescendo of bizarre observations in the lead up to the election has rekindled my will to live.
Bless you, Mr. Baptiste your posts always a joy. I do love to back winners so for that reason have always stayed out of joining ANY Political Party and shall keep doing so. Cheers