February in Australia and the political year has truly kicked off in excellent style after 6 weeks off during the end-of-year festive season.
With only a couple of days since federal politicians returned to Parliament for the start of the sitting year, so far we’ve seen a deluge of hot air and rubbish from the Tories, especially Tony “The Monk” Abbott and even Joe “The Tutu” Hockey who look to be attempting to make mileage from speaking about things from the top of their heads. Barnaby Joyce, the crazy accountant-turned-Senator from Queensland, sounds more like a shrill commentator on the sidelines of a footy match than providing any coherent dissection of the government’s “financial management”.
And that was only in the first 36 hours!
Tony Abbott. Credit:dimensional dan/flickr
Much of this is being fuelled by speculation of an election to be held at some time this year. Pundits like Antony Green, Possum Pollytics and The Tally Room, are hinting at a general election to be held in August or early September. Though I tend to agree with their respective assessments on a likely date for a general election, I don’t believe a double dissolution is likely as it could lead to a more diverse Senate, making Government negotiations more complicated. But with the year full of elections (3 state elections as well as federal), political parties, hacks, MPs, pundits, commentators and wonks in general are getting a touch of election fever.
We’ve seen it already with Abbott repeatedly “challenging” Rudd to an early election with their shifting position on climate change and the government’s CPRS. Tony Abbott has certainly been bitten hard by the election bug, which was particularly evident as he (along with Warren Truss and Greg Hunt) announced the Coalition’s latest policy on climate change this week. It was an attempt to gain some credibility in the climate change debate and yet descended into farce as the three men attempted to address questions and “speak to different elements” of the policy.
However, Abbott doesn’t seem to mind. In fact he probably doesn’t really care either on this issue or most others. He is entirely poll driven. Like a dog with a bone, he’s almost frothing at the mouth for the election. As one watches his bizarre antics during debates and more so during Question Time, you begin to question whether he has any substance or if he is really, in the true sense of the phrase, full of piss and wind? With the selection of Barnaby “Back Down” Joyce to be the Opposition Finance spokesperson it beggars belief as to how this could be a good move on the part of the Opposition. It also makes one begin to wonder how long it will take Abbott, and the parliamentary bruvvers, to tire of having to constantly reel in “Back Down.”
Abbott might be in full election mode and prepared to stoop even lower in his Orwellian efforts to spin nothing into something. The name given to the Liberals’ climate change policy clearly demonstrates that Abbott is in full election mode and dragging Hockey and all his other shadow ministers along for the ride. It is tempting to say, as recent polls have suggested, that Abbott is narrowing the gap but I don’t agree with this line of argument. First and foremost is that Abbott is still largely untested in the wider community instead favouring safe havens to conduct his outings and press gatherings. The polls to me suggest Australians are playing a wait-and-see game; unwilling to outright disapprove and cautious about his performance as “the Alternative Leader”.
However there is definitely something amiss in the Liberal Party. Could it really be that Howard continues to call the shots? One can only imagine that Abbott would crave time with his former master – I mean mentor…oops – and lap up his words of advice and wisdom. (I’m reminded of the conversion of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the force.)
Rudd would be wise to ride out the Abbott show because without Costello, Abbott is just not that good. He will blow out of steam sooner rather than later and be shown up as having little to no policies or a handle on them. The poll driven attempt by the Liberals signals more desperation than confidence and could prove dangerous as they try to plan out their overall election campaign strategy. They have a lot to lose at the next election and their “Abbott strategy” may just back fire come polling day.
Tell us your angle and then vote in the poll!
Alex Schlotzer is a straight talker when it comes to politics and loves to vent his spleen. Actively involved in Australian and international politics with a keen understanding of the dynamics of the political machine, Alex has a prolific online presence and has been a cyber activist for over 15 years. Regional editor of theangle.org, he can also be found at his blog and his exciting online project Australian Politics TV.
[polldaddy poll=2693502]
Share on Facebook
Matt, I couldn't agree more with your assessment of Rudd. And yes it is quite easy to tell what side of the political fence I sit on. While the Prime Minister has been a let down and so far hasn't delivered on many of Labor's policy commitments, Abbott continues to make policy on the run. There has been inconsistent announcements, one week he's banging on about Labor's big fat tax and a couple of weeks later Abbott's proposing his own big fat tax. He is also making policies which he hasn't put past his own party room, something he claimed was a big problem for Turnbull.
I remain convinced of my position that Abbott is doing nothing more than shooting from the hip and hoping something sticks instead of doing the hard work of developing coherent policies.
It's quite clear what side of the political fence you sit on Alex, in fact this whole publication stinks of leftist opinion. You talk of all the bluster from Tony Abbott and that he's not concerned about policy. Well all we've seen from our current Prime Minister is a couple of apologies and wanton, almost criminal pissing of Australian tax dollars and a once budget surplus against policies on the run. This Prime Minister is more concerned with writing children s books than he is running the country. And lets not talk about Peter Garrett the late fake minister for environment and his tragic Insulation scheme which is going to cost a further $2b to the Australian budget to fix. Now we have small toilet sized buildings being build in schools whether they need them or not at a cost of 5 to 6 times their true value. This site does not offer balanced opinion, it is merely another platform for Labor propaganda. Nice try ladies and gentlemen.
[...] here: Election Fever and Abbott's Angle | theangle.org Share and [...]