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.
it is a bit of a mystery to me why Glen Maxwell doesn’t get a make or break stint.
Is he such a complete goose that he can’t be picked? is it an england and KP thing?
I think he’s one of our best cricketers so it is a mystery. The powers that be tell us there is nothing in the way he presents himself that is a problem. He batted at no.7 in the ODI yesterday. He should be at 5. Australia had a rare win due largely to having India 3/4 with Richardson and Behrendorff starring with the ball. Without those early breakthroughs I doubt 288 would have been enough. The top 6 with the exception of Finch all knock the ball around. A quick look at strike rates for the top 6 has Finch ahead on 88 with the others all lurking around in the 70s. There’s no balance in that batting line up. Personally, I can’t see a lot of point of having Khawaja in the side. His fielding alone is not at the level required for international cricket. It’s a confusing time in Australian cricket and maybe that confusion has seeped through to selection.
Your depth of knowledge suggests you’ve played the game at a high level Jack. Shield player in your youth?
Grade player in Melb. Went back to the parks in my early 20s. Not good enough for first class cricket.
Langer says he has made it crystal clear to Maxwell what he has to do to play test cricket. Maybe if he made it clear to us as well?
Round one is called “What’s in a name?” 5 points for a correct answer:
Brothers Krunal and Hardik Pandya are Indian cricketers. Which of them is the misogynist?
Well that explains things. Slipper has relocated to Hobart and has been accepted at the bar. Practising down at Salamanca chambers I believe.
He has also been appointed Honorary Brazilian consul! 😳
I would have thought that Tassie was a bit too chilly for Brazilian’s Boa. I’ve heard that J Lambie doesn’t sport one. She may be more green than she lets on. Personally I prefer the hirsute. It’s only natural. And now that you’ve raised the subject of porn, why is it that flics with Japanese actors engaged in the cut and thrust pixelate the male’s member?
Not surprising that the Saudi asylum seeker went to Canada. No wonder Marise Payne dashed off to Bangkok to chat to the UNHCR.
Because if she had come to Australia they would have had no further justification to keep asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru.
Heeding your warning Jack so I won’t go into details about today’s travels; it would be a long post. Some seeds for a search – Auschwitz of the East, Pingfang, Unit 731, Area 100, Kharbarovsk War Crimes Trials. US actions after the war are nearly as sickening as what I found out today in Pingfang, about 10 miles from Harbin. Apart from the ice sculptures, I came to see if I could find out where all the plastic in the Amur Rivr is coming from. Didn’t take long; it’s the 4th most polluted river on earth. Also had ambitions of ice fishing for Kaaluga, world’s largest freshwater fish but it is listed as critically endangered and is now protected. It’s a sturgeon, and was fished to near extinctipn for its roe (caviar). Can reach 18′ and over 1000kg. They eat a year’s supply of salmon in a few weeks, so they are hungry and easy to catch in winter. Harbin is more Russian than Chinese. Onion dome churches all about. A refuge for Russian aristocrats during the 1920’s. Hope this didn’t run too long; I had no idea about the Japanese atrocities in Manchuria. Some Aussie POW’s were victims too.
Just a grab bag of conveniently selected one liners with no context, authentication or meaningful relevance. This is the reality Carl, you can twit and nit pick about “mistakes” “errors” ad infinitum ad nauseum .
THIS WE DO KNOW! That is how much heat is being absorbed by the oceans. Find someone other than the cleaner to state clearly, with evidence, that this is not happening.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/how_long_can_oceans_continue_to_absorb_earths_excess_heat
There’s no need to to get yourself into such a lather me old mate over such minor matters as differing points of view. I might also add, that for a chap such as yourself, to be so immersed in the prospect of conspiracy theories attaching to many of the past and present historical events, I’m surprised you haven’t considered the AGW caper may well turn out to be the grand-daddy of them all. Especially given the moolah that’s been sloshing around in every nook and cranny for the past couple of decades. Seemingly designed to scare the bejesus out of the rustic gentle folk who may not have the time, energy or wit as to twig re the inconsistencies, errors, extended fore warnings, etc, that doom is nigh.
But for you to infer that my earlier explicit note to TV re details of AGW “scientists” referenced in one of your own links, as a “grab bag”; or simply simply put, a miscellaneous collection of things, some of which may not be very attractive or useful, is bordering on blasphemy. Or at the very least, complete disrespect for the folk involved.
Nevertheless, may I offer a hint me old mate – washing one’s mouth out may be the order of the day.
Further to my earlier comment JB, how dare you imply that “cleaners” are not capable or worthy of discussing/comprehending the perplexities of climate science. Many eminent and intellectual post-war folk of all persuasions and certitudes re-booted their new life in this country after initially occupying the role of “cleaners”.
Is that a touch of class consciousness I detect lurking in the bottom of your Marxist knapsack me old mate?
Just the natural cycle, not climate change or anything spooky like that, you should stop trying to scare people.
Bert, I recommend a book by Brian M. Fagan, the Mohammed Ali of paleo-climatologists, titled ‘The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilisations.’ Detailed scientific explanations of the Ice Ages and inter glacials of the last 5 million years, all 32 of them, and their effect on humans since they the year zot. Ice ages occur at regular intervals. as do interglacial warmings. The first 4 chapters are amazing. Using real science, he describes the cycles of glaciations that occur every 21,000 years, and the inter glacial warmings that last 8,000 years, natural phenomena that occur due to the earth’s orbit, axial movements, magnetic variations, precedence and continental drift affecting ocean currents. Peer reviewed science, not Mung Bean waffle. May be available on line as a pdf.
No wonder we are doomed. Is it the universal use of alcohol in our society, something in the water?
Just do one thing, all of you waffling nongs, compare the precisely concurrent rise in the increased use in fossil fuel from the beginning of the industrial revolution with the rise in atmospheric concentrations of C02. No bells faintly ringing? No of course not.
Goodness, Mr. Insider you have copped a bit of a flogging re your new Blog on Trumps Wall in the Oz, unfairly I think as it is an Opinion Piece as are our Blogs. Cheers
Goodness.
The comments getting more blunt and brutal, Mr. Insider. Hope you post that Blog here and am sure you will meet with a much more considered response from your dedicated Bloggers who appreciate your work. Cheers
🙂
$35G’s? Make him pay every cent back I say.
Mathias Conmann what’s the next fraud?
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/10697652
I believe he’s going to Uluru with Tony Burke and his kids, then nipping off to Ceduna for a spot of whale watching with SHY and her daughter.
Did you notice how the opposition haven’t really jumped on this Bella?
Bill and Chloe spent a few bob of the taxpayer’s hard earned traveling to and having a geek at the Sydney G & L Mardi Gras too.
Oh! They will. When tis the season.
Yet another far right party applies for registration. Fanning this time. The centre right has all but disappeared and I can’t see them coming back for some time. If Labor gets itself into the centre disillusioned voters will drift to them. I still put this disintegration of the right side of politics squarely down to Abbott. He will go down in the history books – perhaps not as the saviour he imagined himself to be though.
Absolutely Boadicea! Credit to Tony , he has done a magnificent job. Anyone who didnt see that coming must have been off with the faeries. The Mad Monk was born 500 years too late.
“D’Arcy Short’s non-selection bewilders me. He has scored 536 runs at an average of 76 in domestic 50-over cricket over the past two years ( he averaged 80 this season alone), yet he gets binned? Not only that, his left-hand leg-spin has been encouraging, with 12 wickets at 29.” Stats dont matter if you are not a brown nosing lickspittle you do not get a gig. Chris Lynn, Darcy Short, Ben McDermott , Moises Henriques Jake Weatherald and another couple all averaged well over 50 in the Domestic 50 over competition. None are in the Australian ODI squad.
Wade