We pretty much have a Constitutional crisis happening here in Australia, though no-one really wants to call it, as, well, we are all lazy and it serves just about everyone’s interest to keep the sideshow rolling.
- Government don’t want to lose power, obviously, and judging by the big bikkies Turnbull forked out to keep his job, the Coalition can’t afford, literally, to fight an election.
- The Opposition love the free kick watching the Government implode, without them doing squat.
- Media have been in Scoopageddon since mid June and it doesn’t look like ending any time soon.
- Experts in every field from political history to constitutional law are having field day, people are suddenly interested in their knowledge and of course they get to debate niche topics.
- Citizens in general, up until recently, didn’t care too much as didn’t affect them, as long as they are not forced to participate in another election circus.
But… it has rolled on a bit too long.
Punters are starting to notice and not just the #Auspol social media types. Lounges across the nation are seeing the nightly news with mention of yet another potential dual citizen, after being assured by PM this is sorted now, and saying “another bloody one”.
Admittedly, most segments of media have done a pretty good job of helping the Government with damage control, I mean, just look at the punters in New England, judging by many of their comments, you would think poor Barnaby Joyce is a victim of some silly glitch in paperwork. “Poor bugger, we all have kiwi mates or relatives, easy mistake”. He is getting the rock star treatment, we see him on the telly every night campaigning and unless you are in New England, would think no-one is standing against him, coz you never see or hear any other candidates name. Ponder this:
Do you think both media and punters in New England would be so blasé if the dual citizenship was NOT Kiwi? Was say, China, Russia or our modern times bogey man of choice, an Islamic state?
I’m guessing if Joyce (and others) were dual citizens of nations that were not our “mates”, the narrative would be very different. Pretty sure media would suddenly be letting us know:
- It is actually against the law to sign a false candidate declaration and asking if these people were going to be charged by the AEC?
- That the constitution has provisions to fine, per day, MPs found by the High Court to be ineligible to sit in Government and how much were these people going to be charged?
- Of course, we would also be kindly informed exactly how much we had paid the MPs, how much they had cost the taxpayer and demands to have that money repaid.
The above can still happen, in fact should happen. The only reason why punters are not demanding it is because they don’t know about it. #CitizenshipX is being presented as inconvenient, procedural glitches, not actually breaking the law, be it through ignorance, laziness or arrogance.
Punters are starting to wake up though. “Another bloody one” is starting to become “Bloody Hell, these mongrels couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery”. Or worse, for the Government, they are being laughed at.
Social media in particular is not the government’s friend in this case.
Conservative types are getting embarrassed about the chaos. That rubbish is the form of the commie ALP not Liberals or Nationals and they are getting a bit sick of having to defend a PM and MPs who have assured them on multiple occasions that all is good, when in fact, another dual is just around the corner.
More progressive types are crowing, as the Greens might have kicked this off back in June with Scott Ludlam stepping down, but instead of looking incompetent, they now look like they have integrity and the only ones who have respect for the Constitution as they didn’t blame their mum’s or had dragged kicking and screaming to the High Court. They apologised for stuffing up and immediately resigned. Now they get to sit back watching those who trashed them. Senator James Paterson’s offering has to be political tweet of the year, it just keeps giving LOL!
this one aged like a fine wine, didn't it james https://t.co/BEHxlcgPLN
— Scott Ludlam 🌈 (@Scottludlam) October 27, 2017
It goes without saying that ALP supporters are sharing each new #CitizenshipX revelation with glee, as so far, they have remained untouched.
Then there are the #Auspol fans who have been pretty dirty about this issue from the start and their anger just ramps up another notch with each MP who is pinged. I would fit squarely in this group.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, well, I’ll be honest… We can justify our vocal anger in as many ways as possible to make ourselves feel better, “respect the Constitution”, “Rule of Law” etc., but at it’s base, we are being vindictive. It’s not attractive, but I know I am. People like myself see a Government that has exploited racism in Australia for base political means and now, trying to sell to their ‘nationalistic’ base that it is actually ok that they are not all dinky di Aussies.
This Government has used and abused Asylum Seekers, or as they like to say “Illegal boat people” – regardless of how many times they are told it is NOT illegal to seek asylum - who don’t belong in this nation, yet now want us to turn a blind eye to “illegal” Parliamentarians?
Read the stories on #NotMyDebt. Some will make you cry. People are being sent robodebts from up to 7 years ago, with the onus on them to prove that debt is not theirs, battling with Centrelink, being treated like criminals, made to jump through hoops, no sympathy, just life made worse with repayment plans they can’t afford putting already vulnerable people in many cases in a worse position.
But the Government wants us ‘understand’ an MP could have made a mistake? Well bugger off! There is no leniency or understanding for citizens who make a mistake at Centrelink?
Add to this, ‘Cashless Welfare Cards’ foisted on these people with no consultation, just a decision they can’t be trusted with Government money and my personal favourite, ‘drug testing’ is “a policy based on love”, yeah, I shit you not, PM Turnbull actually said that. Not much detail of course on how the Government will help any pinged by these drug tests, just trust them…
In fact there is very little understanding or leniency for citizens when dealing with any Government department. No-one ever says at the ATO or Centrelink, “gee, it is easy to tick that box and claim something that didn’t belong to you, not a problem, we’ll just wipe that debt, have a nice day”?
People like me, and I’m not alone, are sick to death of “rule of law” being strictly applied to us, but an optional extra to Government MP’s. I’d love a buck for every time we heard “Rule of Law” screeched by Government MPs and Senators both in and out of Parliament. Hell, these tossers actually manufactured a dodgy Double Dissolution based on “Rule of Law” on building sites, which of course, like most things this Government does when they try to be too smart by half, backfired on them with a worse Senate and the return of Pauline Hanson.
This same Government has put in place laws that allow the Government to hoover up data, without a warrant. Yet at the same time want us to give them the benefit of ‘innocent until proven guilty’?
So many of them take the piss out of their entitlements. Every now and then one of them gets pinged, like Bishop and her chopper. Yet what happens? Nothing! If that was you or I in the workplace we would be given a ‘warning’, if not sacked. But again, not the Government, it’s complicated, just pay it back and say sorry, maybe get a demotion until the heat is off, who cares you have abused taxpayer money and trust?
The PM thundered at us just recently about the “onus is on the accuser…”, yet this same Government wants to implement laws to hold people longer, in some cases kids, with no charge. No “onus” on them before someone is tossed in the slammer on suspicion?
I won’t even start on the super powers that the likes of ASIO have been given by this Government, which treat all citizens as suspects, with the Government assuring us “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”. Again, something the Government doesn’t apply to themselves.
Even when the PM has finally been dragged kicking and screaming to address the very loud calls for an audit of MP’s he has still dodgied it up as a delaying tactic to get him through the killing season. In a nutshell, he is giving all in Parliament a 2nd chance to fix up their declarations. Coz obviously people who make laws and pass legislation were too stupid to fill out a simple form right the first time?
How many at Centrelink would love a second chance to fix up something they may have gotten wrong at Centrelink back in the day and paid dearly for it? I also put it to you, applying for a benefit – any sort of benefit – is a shit load more onerous than filling out the candidate declaration.
We are also supposed to be impressed that any MPs or Senators who don’t comply will be in “contempt of Parliament”, which is a “very very serious issue” the Government cheerleaders in media assure us. Yeah right, so serious that no-one is EVER charged with it, the Government always lets them off. Every. Single. Time. Fun Fact for you:
‘Contempt of Parliament’ should be serious, it should result in a fine or imprisonment. Guess what? The Senate has NEVER imposed a penalty, ever! The last time the House of Representative imposed a penalty was imprisonment for contempt, ONCE, back in 1955.
‘Contempt of Parliament’ is a serious thing? Bullshit!
I could carry on listing all the things this Government in particular has done which puts them above the law, which gives them considerations and leniency that the common citizen is just not afforded but hey, knock yourself out in the comments below or on twitter.
So yeah, I am being vindictive. I wan't a witch hunt and I want this Government to burn at the stake!
I’m sick of citizens being treated as suspects, guilty before proven innocent by laws this government has enacted.
I’m sick of citizens being fined or penalised for making honest mistakes or being hounded to repay debts they may not even owe, with the onus on them to try to prove that debt is not correct by a Government who actually doxes a citizen should they have the temerity to speak up to the media about it.
I’m sick of Government who expects all of us to follow the rule of law but doesn’t do it themselves, they weasel out at every opportunity using expensive lawyers that, to add insult to injury, we are paying for!
Finally, what really really shits me to tears is this Prime Minster standing there saying we have to trust him, trust in the integrity of individual members of Parliament to do the right thing when they have lied to us, time and time again. How many times have we been told since June all Coalition members have complied with s44i of the Constitution? Joyce ‘assured us’ he was fine, gone! After the High Court punted 5 of them, they ‘assured us’ everyone else was fine, then Parry suddenly remembers his UK dad? Then the PM comes out just on Friday, assuring us his director has told him all MPs are compliant, not even 2 bloody hours later we have Alexander and his UK dad. FFS! Just this morning, after 'assurances she is legit & no rights to Greek citizenship', we have news of Banks brother's Greek citizenship?
I have not even gotten into Gillespie, who has been referred to High Court or O’Sullivan who for some reason has not been referred as yet under different aspects of s44 of the constitution. Pretty sure when it comes to ‘profiting from the Crown’ (s44iv & s44v) you will find others as well if we got a few forensic accountants onto it?
Seriously, if this Government was your kid and they had lied to you this many times you would be confiscating their mobile phone and grounding them until they were 21.
So yeah, considering their ‘form’ I do want the 'national witch-hunt' PM Turnbull ranted about. I want every bloody one of them put under the microscope. I want every single one of them to finally experience what punters experience when dealing with the Government, total unbending compliance where mistakes or ignorance of the law is punished and actually has real world consequences.
Yeah, I know that makes me a horrible person. I’m sure with a bit of effort I can research and find legitimate justification for pushing this #CitizenshipX issue, but you know what? I can’t be bothered. I don’t even want to pretend. I’m just sick to death of entitled politicians, particularly Government politicians being above the law, whilst lecturing us about ‘rule of law’. They are just taking the piss now and I want to see them taken down a peg a two.
Hell, I’ll double down. Considering the only consequence of these ‘law makers’ ignoring the law seems to be maybe losing your job for a short period of time, I hope the Government has to have a series of by-elections, I hope the situations continues to spiral as I can already see the less forgiving tone in both the Press Gallery and the electorate in general. I hope this Government ends up failing sensationally and going down in history as an absolute disgrace, shaming all of them involved.
I’ll sit back with a wine and revel in it as I’m furious, I’m over the hypocrisy. I don’t trust their integrity, I don’t trust they have Australia’s best interest at heart, only their own, and I’m not alone!
regards,
a pissed off punter
Noely
PS. You know what really infuriates me, I know for a fact there are a number of MPs and Senators in Government who are there for the right reasons, really do give a rats about the people they represent and these jokers in Government are just dragging them down reinforcing the public’s (pretty much well founded) perception that politicians can’t be trusted and they just don’t deserve to be lumped in that same swamp.
