Australia - you're standing in it
possibly
but too much 'baggage' to get the gig
scott morrison is a good leader, yet he has to be dragged kicking and screaming to virtually every positive move he's made, wow
a general comment on the cesspit of parliament: i work in an office with 0.00 alcohol allowed in your system & random drug testing, surely this should be a minimum standard for workers & pollies in parliament house too? a lot of the bullshit would surely go by the wayside should this be introduced & hell, maybe our useless overlords might even start to make better decisions if they're not sozzled half the time
there's a few I could suggest, not necessarily in labor, but they all have 'issues'
labor need to bring back some of the old guard
Im not referring to beazeley when I say that, but atm, he's looking truly 'presidential'
i think gillard with a clean run at it would have been a great pm
^^^Aye.
The most industrious PM in Australia's history based on legislation passed, and she did it running into a strong headwind:
- Minority government.
- Abbott the Wrecker in opposition.
- And she was, gulp, a woman.
I’d agree with FR, also might throw Penny Wong in there too. Pretty easy really.
Edit: Gillard, great PM. Scotty doesn’t even compare.
When John Gorton was Australia's PM he used to be up at 4am every day and get in a full days work by 9am. He did this because he was usually drunk by about 10am most days.
Gillard was good and would have been great too, I really liked her, but they got rid of her those old Labor lads. They Shortened circuited her as his eye was on the prize one day.
So its Gillard who isn't here or Morrison who is. That's about the best we have seen regarding "care for their country" in a while sadly. Added bonus though is you get a free Frydenburg with a Morrison and he would make a good PM too.
Bishop was good too but also gone.
Agree re: Gillard. Did a great job, would have continued to do a great job.
From the Liberals - I reckon Julie Bishop would have been much more effective than Abbott and Morrison. Honestly can't think of anyone else from that side of the fence who is PM material.
Frydenberg (Mr NEG) all smirk no substance.
Gillard yes
Wong yes
Maybe next Labor leader will be Jim Charmers, let’s see
"a general comment on the cesspit of parliament: i work in an office with 0.00 alcohol allowed in your system & random drug testing, surely this should be a minimum standard for workers & pollies in parliament house too? a lot of the bullshit would surely go by the wayside should this be introduced & hell, maybe our useless overlords might even start to make better decisions if they're not sozzled half the time"
sounds perfectly reasonable...
a recent news,com article re. cashless welfare cards was chock full of comments saying... 'if it's good enough for us, it should be for them...' ...blah blah blah...
which is a bit simplistic and pathetic from my perspective... but with 0.00 just about in at most workplaces now, and the points you raise, plus the scandals currently unfolding, I wholeheartedly agree
It's time!
"From the Liberals - I reckon Julie Bishop would have been much more effective than Abbott and Morrison. Honestly can't think of anyone else from that side of the fence who is PM material."
yep
"I’d agree with FR, also might throw Penny Wong in there too. Pretty easy really."
and yep, even with 'the china issue', she's still one of my picks
and linda burney, she seems a little immature politically, ...but I think that may be just what we need...
and jaquie lambe of course...
bypass the whole tedious corrupt process and parachute her directly into the chair
...with either party in their current forms of patheticness...
(open the floodgates of belittling and derision)
(the incredibly tedious predictable, totally out of touch and pompous, mind numbingly boringly repetitive floodgates of belittling and derision...)
I hate to say it, but if labor don't do something significant soon, ...seriously shake shit up... replace someone or something... even with scotty's current marketing problem, they haven't got a hope in hell at the next election
it's like they are in self destruct mode, just don't give a shit, or are a deer in the head lights stunned and just watching the impending train wreck approach...
it's so fucking obvious what's needed to displace scotty, and scotty and co. give them so so much material...
but nothing
its like labor do not even exist
Some good suggestions, the only real alternatives not being available and the others would have folded under the pressure of the last two years and that was my point.....
Who was the best for the day,...With Morrison we got his Frydenburg and the two of them kept us from disaster and worked well with all the states regardless of their status. Morrison would not have done it without the other and there is a lesson there about teams. They worked well together and our country will be OK because of it. Give thanks for now and vote for the best people on the day Lib or Labor or whoever in the future.
Speaking of Jacuie Lambie...
Writing for Crikey about yet another rort from the LNP.
Every year the federal government gives out tens of thousands of contracts to private businesses through a busted process which goes on behind closed doors.
The contracts provide plenty of jobs, but the government doesn’t advertise more than half of them publicly. In 2019-20, $1.5 billion of your cash was splashed around the private sector under the table.
But the government doesn’t seem worried about it.
If your car broke down, you’d take it to a mechanic. If that mechanic quoted you $10,000 to fix a flat tyre, you’d go to a different mechanic. But the government says no worries — it’s more than happy to be ripped off. What’s going on?
Politicians do not generally have much life experience. Beyond turning a sod here and there for the cameras, their well-moisturised hands are accustomed to the pen, not the wrench. This might explain why they are so loose with your money. But that doesn’t just fail the pub test, it disqualifies them from setting it.
The government leaves the business of building our nation to private businesses. And what a gigantic business it is. A lot of money is spent through a public tender process but any project worth less than $80,000 can be awarded to anyone — without scrutiny.
In the past four years there were three times as many contracts between $78,000 and $80,000 — the threshold — than there were between $80,000 and $82,000. Coincidence? Come on. It’s like when something at the supermarket costs $9.99 as if we don’t notice it costs $10.
That’s not the only bit of wool they’re pulling over our eyes either. A contract that goes over budget and requires more taxpayer dollars on top is allowed to raid the public purse with no consequence.
So here we have another classic rort — and this one harms small businesses. They need all the work they can get while the country plays a never-ending game of wheel-of-fortune with the coronavirus.
A government contract could keep a small business going. Missing out might be the difference between staying open or closing their doors. When the government picks who gets the job without advertising it, small businesses don’t get a chance to shoot their shot.
The way the government spends money needs to be held to a standard. It bought the Leppington Triangle lot for the Western Sydney airport for about $30 million, when it was worth only $3 million. It saw no problem with that until the Australian National Audit Office made the rest of us aware. And then the government was as shocked as we were! Give me a break.
The government reckons it has money to fritter away on this rubbish but it will chase people to the ends of the earth over $500 its robodebt algorithm incorrectly guessed they owed.
Here are some solutions for how to stop this crap.
One: lower the tender limit so more businesses can compete and there’s more transparency. Make it so the government can’t rip us off for more than a few bucks at a time. Make it not worth it to even bother.
Two: get a decent cop on the beat to enforce the current standards. No more $79,999 contracts being tendered in the dark.
Three: if the costs blow out, that’s on the company, not the taxpayer.
Small contracts under the tendering threshold come in drips and drabs. They may not be as scandalous as buying a ridiculously overpriced bit of land near an airport, but $30 million is a drop in the ocean compared with the $1.5 billion free-for-all spent on untendered contracts in the last year alone.
She's making a lot of sense there Stu...
One thought on all that:
"If the costs blow out, that's on the company, not the taxpayer" - might need to be a bit more nuance there. Sure, a lot of mobs play the under-quote-then-hit-em-with-vari's-to-make-a-profit game, but there is such a thing as reasonable variations that come up due to unforeseen(/unforeseeable) circumstances. So a blanket ban on variations (as that quote seems to be calling for?) probably isn't tenable. Better to drop the tender limit (as she says), and be more thorough at writing tender docs and vetting and reviewing submissions - and then be tougher at holding tenderers to what they signed up for and not let them get away with frivolous vari's.
Back to Optimist's original question i.e who would do a better job than Morrison.
Let me rephrase the question this way .....
If you were picking your ideal political team who amongst all the elected parliamentarians would you pick?
So my question acknowledges the importance of the leader but equally places rightful importance on the quality of the team below her/him.
I'll throw my hat in the ring by saying with a high portion of Morrison's ministers currently in witness protection and/or known to be error prone I'm saying 8 or possibly more of my top ten would be Labor members.
that's what I like about her... I don't love her every move with stars in eyes as one would portray me to be, in a constant tedious attempt to delegitimise me, ...again... and her...
but I like that she has seen the scams and corruption of process from within, and is willing to call it out, be it the rorts like above or 'the silent invasion'...
she's loud and unforgiving, without appearing to be totally unbefriendable like some of the lnp strong women
and it appears she cannot be bought, which instantly elevates her above a conservative 80% of the alp, and all of the lnp...
Betoota mining a rich vein with Porter:
Lambie and Sally McManus (ACTU) make so much sense when they speak
https://twitter.com/sallymcmanus?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Stoked to see Guy would be voting for Jim Charmers....I actually didn't think he would get a single vote but there you go.
You like Chalmers do you Optimist?
Google what the definition of a good leader is and you get this.
“A great leader possesses a clear vision, is courageous, has integrity, honesty, humility and clear focus. Great leaders help people reach their goals, are not afraid to hire people that might be better than them and take pride in the accomplishments of those they help along the way.”
Can't say I can think of many political leaders locally, nationally or internationally that fit that bill nowadays.
They are all a bunch of self serving monkeys with their hands stuck in the peanut jar.
Throw William Bourke in the mix for shits and gigs.
"William wants to ensure that we fulfil our primary moral responsibility to pass on an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable Australia to our children and grandchildren.
He is equally concerned about economic, environmental and social issues. Particular concerns include the decline of Australian manufacturing and economic diversity, the destruction of our natural and built environments, and the housing affordability crisis locking many out of the great Australian dream.
After hearing Labor's Kevin Rudd declare his support for "a big Australia" population of 40 million - and being shocked to discover that the Liberal and Greens parties also support rapid population growth - he decided it was time to get involved in politics and start a new centrist, mainstream political party that put sustainability at the heart of decision-making."
Fielding a member called Ronald McDonald I feel it's going to be an uphill battle for Sustainable Australia.
Yep if I was calling the shots I might have had to have been brutal about that call.
Actually, if I was old mate Ron, I would've changed my name by deed poll for the good of the party.
I think their heart is in the right place but it'll be a long slog, especially when people are very quick to tar them with the "xenophobe" brush.
No Stu Jim's not for me but I thought only his mum was going to vote for him and now with Guy Smiley he has two votes.
I think there is a great place for good Independents who can find a mate to work with as a sidekick or treasurer. A team if you like not just a single person. Show their offsider is with them from the start. If there were independents and close friend / future paid staffer with fully costed solutions and a great vision for the future why wouldn't you vote for them and get that nice balance of power happening. They would have to be squeaky clean and really smart though with a real good vision...Its why Morrison / Frydenburg are doing so well in most things, not all.... but most....two heads are always better than one.
I give up #optimistisspooninginfologicagain
Howard is the only person i can see who would do a better job than Scomo, Howard was a true leader in every sense, hence why he is our second longest serving PM and Aussies kept voting him back in.
Obviously few here would agree, but the great thing about a democracy is the majority rule and Australians views are much more diverse than a surf forum that doesn't reflect the bigger picture on how Australians think or vote. (and thank god for that)
An Independent named Julia Gillard with Julia Bishop as side kick and treasurer could do some serious cleansing in parliament and would be impartial too I reckon.
On the contrary, Stu. I think it displays a great deal of the vision towards the future that the party claims to possess.
Ronald McDonald is huge amongst the 4-12 year old demographic and they’re the voters of tomorrow. I reckon the party should double down on any potential confusion and offer a happy meal and plastic toy with any party membership signups.
"Howard is the only person i can see who would do a better job than Scomo,"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...... OMFG hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Indo has taken up comedy hahahahahahahahahahahahha... I got tears running down my face hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Julie Bishop appeared to be a good call till you realise how hard she fought to defend James Hardy from paying out obligations to asbestos victims and till you remember the $500K raised under the Julie Bishop Glorious Foundation from the Chinese....totally not compromised!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-14/julie-bishop-questioned-over-chin...
Howard's legacy...
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/australia-still-plagued-by-destructive-po...
Great an opinion piece.
Two can play that game
"John Howard: The greatest PM of our time"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-02/barnes-john-howard:-the-greatest-...
But like i said, second longest serving PM, Aussies kept voting him in.
HI Indo
You mean Teflon John!!
Whenever something went wrong Howard always had someone else cop the blame.
Its getting all too much
This having sex in Parliament House shitfuckary inside the LNP goes back to Howard ......
Stuck in the mire...
"Scott Morrison is the Homer Simpson of Andrew Bolts"
Yeah Indo, because that’s what the LNP have represented for so long now........diversity.
Been keeping a close eye on the news I see.
Hilarious
Scumo the accuser , got to wonder who’s feeding him information . https://fb.watch/4s0aZIU2fN/
Values, Australien Style.
.
Good one WOTL. Add the other rorts like in the Lambi article yesterday and I just don’t understand why the supporters of Morrison are happy to turn a blind eye to it all this corruption. Shouldn’t good governance be top of the list in running a democracy?
As for a man of the times, again turning a blind eye to his support for Clive Palmer suing WA (until advice suggested it might not be a good idea. Correct! Ha!) Sniping at Qld and Palaszczuk during the lock downs and election. Always the political agenda before anything else
Kind of ironic that a staffer jerking off over a desk gets the sack but ministers fucking over Australia stay in the job
and it’s a bright new Covid free day
Edited comment
It was on Instagram/ YouTube. If it’s acceptable for those puritans it’s alright by me. Can’t remember deleting it but I often make allowances for the more sensitive souls out there.
"Sheena Hewlett, a teacher and wife of a local councillor, said Mr Laming requested her teaching timetable from her school and in 2019 hid in bushes as well as took photos of her in a public park. She reported the incidents to the police."
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/pm-urged-to-act-after-laming-...
so it seems like it's almost a prerequisite to be an absolute creep if you want to be a liberal mp
but don't worry moronson gave him a good dressing down, ffs
The "I can't believe it's not politics" thread.