I did have a lend of C J Morgan who had already replied in jest to the thread topic. Maybe that should be 'p*ss-take', to be in keeping with modern parlance.

Re Hockey, I haven't seen anything to convince me that Joe isn't just being a politician and they all have ambition. However times have changed when a Coalition heavyweight can come out direct and say something that could be construed as criticism of organised religion.

What commentators haven't picked up is that Catholicism and dare I say it the creeping conversion of some in the Anglican church to conservative Catholicism (eg priests and Mass) was the main target of Hockey's remarks. Resentment of the influence of Rome runs deep in the Liberal Party and there are some good reasons for that. It certainly isn't a 'best fit' with liberal philosophy and ideology.

Hopefully Joe Hockey's article heralds deep soul searching in the Party and results in some real change. That is what should come first and at some stage in the process the most suitable leader will become obvious. What is not needed is another 'strong' leader, rhetoric in the place of liberal ideology and automatons occupying the front bench.

Cornflower- I'm afraid the closest thing to "soul searching" in the Liberal Party will be a group discussion on how to market themselves as 'moderates'- to just the right amount to hopefully not alienate either the secular or religious.

That's pretty much the only thing they know how to- or care to do- market themselves.

What King Hazza said. It was, after all, the same point that I made in my first comment in the thread. That's what scares me about Hockey - voters might actually like him, unlike the rest of the Liberal front bench.

So Cornflower was just taking the piss? How very droll.

Good to see her posting on topic, though.

I'm with Cornflower on this. And I have the honour to live in the man's constituency.

>>I haven't seen anything to convince me that Joe isn't just being a politician and they all have ambition.<<

That's all he is, in a nutshell.

He's a politician, doing what politicians do to ensure that they remain firmly immersed in the gravy train.

As an individual, he's a lightweight. As a politician, he has more political savvy than many, and probably has a source of good political advice somewhere.

His self-promotion on Sunrise alongside Kevvy was a masterstroke. As was his Sunrise-driven Kokoda project. His grasp of the political demotic is his most valuable asset. This piece of pseudo-religious fluff is straight out of the "pre-election public ingratiation" handbook.

His ministerial and shadow-ministerial stints do not survive scrutiny. As Minister for Small Business and Tourism, his achievements on behalf of small business were undetectable, while his activities for Tourism involved a great deal of travel to new hotels and resorts.

Tough gig.

He was made uncomfortably aware of his limitations in 2008, engineering a move out of the shadow Health portfolio when it became clear that he was totally outgunned in parliament by Nicola Roxon.

He might be just politically smart enough to time his run for the leadership so that the mud of losing next year won't stick. But don't expect anything from him that involves effort, or putting his values on the line, or standing up for the people he is supposed to represent. His public persona is pure, unadulterated political expediency.

But apparently that's exactly what we have come to expect of our politicians.

It will be enough for Joe to qualify for the extra benefits of being an ex-opposition leader. He needs a straight man beside (preferably in front of) him to perform.

An effective opposition is essential for good government. 'Effective' meaning one that has talented people who are willing to represent all of the community. The Liberals need to be very careful, the old days of sledging opponents as socialists and communists (ala Nick Minchin) are past and while that might have appealed to the WW2 generation, it simply does not wash today.

Rudd cleverly cut the ground away from under their feet on their (superficial) image of being good money managers by appointing Costello to a post.


C J Morgan,

Never fear, that secret watermelon business is safe with me.

No-one will ever know that the Greens have feet of clay (about as close as any of them will ever come to the land), accusing others of hypocrisy while nominating He Whose Name is Never to be Said on OLO (HWNNSO) for the Brisbane seat. Lock up your flagons and the womenfolk can fend for themselves, eh?

*As Minister for Small Business and Tourism, his achievements on behalf of small business were undetectable, while his activities for Tourism involved a great deal of travel to new hotels and resorts.*

Pericles, I will have to disagree with you on that one.

Politicians dreaming up a way to "help" an industry, are commonly
a recipee for disaster. The best that they can do is cut red tape
and let business do what it does best.

So I don't judge politicians by how much they "do". Very often,
doing nothing, is in fact their best course of action.

I guess I've just seen too much well meant Govt assistance thrown
at industry, most of it wasted, even if the intentions were well
meant.