Whole forests have been felled in regard to press gallery reporting of the shuffle, though I have to say I am really disappointed. I know it was only finalised yesterday afternoon, but even many journalists I really like have neither answered nor asked a lot of the questions I have in regard to our shiny new future under PM Turnbull and his ‘21st Century Cabinet’.
It is kind of ironic that Politicians always whine about gossip – that is not flattering to them – as just “Canberra Insider rubbish”. Normally they are incorrect, we do need to know what sort of people these MP’s who are supposed to representing us. They don’t ask us every time they vote on an issue, so we really do need to get at least the vibe of the person to have some sort of confidence in them. Yet, the odd thing is, with this reshuffle all we have been told really is ‘insider gossip’?
I have questions about this new Prime Minister and his Ministry and they are not being answered. You know... The REALITY of these changes.
The Ministry alone:
- For starters, just how many people does he have with pretty titles now? Seems a shitload to me and for the party of “Small Government” doesn’t this seem a tad hypocritical?
- How much is this costing us with this many people on higher pay packets?
- How does this compare to previous Governments Ministries in numbers & cost?
- The girls? We are being told that Mr Turnbull has brought back the ladies? Compared to Tony Abbott and his dark ages cabinet maybe, though 24% is not exactly being an equal opportunity employer?
Specific Ministries:
- Mr Turnbull has tossed a few more in, why? E.g. Mal Brough is now “Minister for Defence Materiel and Science”? What even is ‘Defence Materiel’? Why is it tacked on with Science instead of being part of the Defence Ministers responsibilities?
- Yet NDIS, which is a massive National undertaking has no special Minister?
- Resources, Energy and Northern Australia? HAHA This one is not even pretending that Northern Australia is not only about mining? Under Mr Abbott I expected no less, but geez thought Mr Turnbull was savvy enough to at least 'pretend' the interest in Northern Australia was about advancing the area, not just digging it up for Liberal & National donors?
- I could really carry on here, though it seems to me there is a lot more ‘business’ and a lot less ‘citizen interest’ going on here?
OK we all know that due to the insidious party political system, the people who should get good jobs often don’t, so many Ministers per state, per faction, per Liberals, per Nationals etc. Pretty much a full on quota system, except of course for the laydeez, they have to be on merit UGH! But even here there are some really odd choices. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see the back of Abbott & co, though there could have been a few more that went with them...
Ministers themselves:
- Dutton still has his job? How? He has failed massively and quite frankly been an embarrassment. He failed to take any responsibility for #BorderFarce, then doubled down with his insensitive and racist remarks under the stealth mic, which he did a Sorry Not Sorry for – finally. He should have been gone.
- Bruce Billson is gone? When most Abbott Ministers seemed to be intent on destroying their portfolio’s, the Small Business Minister was actually a shining a light. He really did seem to advocate for Small Business. Hell, in a Party that is pretty much a defacto political arm of Big Business he actually supported an “effects test” which Small Business really needs to survive against the big boys (reminder: Small Business actually employs more people nationwide than any other sector). Yet, he has been replaced with Kelly O’Dwyer? A woman who’s only real work experience outside of Government is as an Executive with National Australia Bank? Yeah, that is really in the best interest of Small Business?
- Hunt kept environment? Even though he stuffed up the paperwork & pissed off Adani by causing them to lose their court case. Not a little mistake, so why does he deserve to keep his job?
- Brandis... Hell, would take too many pages to list why he should have gone though I suppose at least taking Arts off him was a silver lining.
- Heaps more I could question, but will leave to you to do that.
Giving water to the Nationals? Remember that saying, something about a fox in the henhouse... Enuff said. :(
Windows 2008 good enuf for new Comms Minister Fifield @YaThinkN The obsolescence kinda matches his bosses's hand designed NBN @MinhKular
— Perorationer (@Perorationer) September 21, 2015
Actually the Bruce Billson / Kelly O’Dwyer reporting is a good example of the Insider gossip vs Real information that punters need to know. Billson being an advocated for Small Business is obviously a lot less interesting than “Billson gives Malcolm the shits” and I’m sure that Ms O’Dwyer is a competent woman, we are always being told she is a “Liberal rising star” – bit like the “Outstanding Candidate Hastie” ARGH! Kill me now... – and she may actually be as she seems to have risen rather quickly, BUT what does she know about Small Business that makes her better for this role than Bruce Billson?
I could go on and on regarding our brave new Australia, and please, feel free to let me know in the comments what peeves you about the new Cabinet or what you like about the new Cabinet. Though I will finish on our glossy new Prime Minister:
“The man who dimmed the lights for most of the nation campaigns on making our future bright”
Am I the only person who sees the irony of the new ‘no slogan’ Prime Minister flogging “future”, “21st Century cabinet”, “innovative”, hell, every trendy modern phrase he can use to infer that we are going places, YET, this is the man who has pretty much singlehandedly decimated the vehicle that would have allowed ALL Australians to advance into the future and be productive, the NBN? The ALP really stuffed around and got off track but did not actually try to demolish a piece of infrastructure that would have allowed Australians to be part of Mr Turnbull’s innovative future? I know most Journalists run squealing from anything IT related but cmon, surely even the most IT averse can see the irony here?
We have an election within 12 months and I hate to actually agree with any politicians, but we really do need to know the ‘reality’ of the policies from both parties. Don’t get me wrong, a bit of fun with pollie stuff-ups is always enjoyable, intrigue is not bad either, BUT can we also have some ‘real’ information from them, not just a political d*ck measuring contests, but how policies actually will affect punters in ‘reality’?
Just a thought...
Cheers,
Noely
PS. If we have to gossip... With Andrews publicly going rogue in his surreal press conference yesterday and Bernardi being feral, egged on by far right mates like Bolt, wonder what the odds are of a "Christians United" or "Australian Conservatives" party being formed as a break away from the Liberals? Now that would be fun to watch? ;-)
