o sung wu,

"The lady to whom you refer, Peta CREDLIN, I gather she's on the PM's staff ?..."

Peta Credlin is Abbott's Chief of Staff and permanent programmer and minder. You'd be battling to find him at any public function, formal or informal, without her in attendance...I mean "every time".

The only time she and her puppet strings are packed away is for major formal occasions , whereupon they drag Margie out and prop her up beside her husband.

Credlin is often to be seen in the House of Reps sitting close to elected govt members and overseeing their conduct, giving advice during sessions.
All in all, she's Abbott's puppet master and in effect running the country in an unelected capacity.

Really, I'm getting beyond caring (would you believe:)
I'd actually welcome a "Liberal govt"...I'm just not welcoming this bunch of extreme right-wing Tea Partiers. It's interesting that such a radical collection of right-wingers goes down so well on OLO (I shouldn't be surprised, of course)

Btw, o sung wu, I'm not really appreciating the disingenuous tone creeping into your dialogue such as:

"POIROT, I'm very sorry, that I either confound you, with my rank stupidity,"

"I not sure I'm reasonable, perhaps I'm just plain stupid, I really don't know ?"

Shades of Loudmouth and his much employed and sarcastically delivered faux self-deprecation.

I'm not interested in playing psychological games with you.

Poirot,

I fear you accuse o sung wu unfairly, by suggesting there is some underlying guile in his manner of expressing his opinion on this subject.

Not all can be as erudite or as bold as your good self in evaluating what for many of us is clouded in much misinformation and much precipitous (and possibly mischievous) conjecture.

I find no evidence of any guile in o sung wu's posts; but very much on the contrary, I find him thoughtful, respectful and informative.
I am quite satisfied his intentions are entirely honest and founded on a very high level of integrity.
To suggest otherwise, dear Poirot, does not reflect kindly on your powers of perception - IMHO (such as this may be worth).

Also Poirot, elsewhere you have indicated how you and your family undertake some volunteering. Tony Abbott also volunteers - as a lifesaver and firefighter, and in support of some other worthy causes - yet you give him no credit, as a caring individual.
'Blinkers'? Or, some far more serious deep-seated misgivings?
Can you really be so certain, Poirot, of Tony's 'underlying' motivations and intentions? (New-age crystal ball, maybe?)

o sung wu,

Thank you for your honesty and integrity. It is most refreshing on this often boisterous and argumentative forum.

Hi there SALTPETRE...

Shades of the police force I fear ! No matter what, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't ! I try not to give offence to anybody, seems that whether I do or I don't, I give offence anyway !

Thank you also for your very kind words SALTPETRE, I appreciate them immensely, though undeserving unfortunately ! I don't know, perhaps it's time I left certain Topics well alone in future ? Or perhaps I should simply put on some body-armour and set forth with some palpable aggression ?

Again, thank you SALTPETRE I really appreciate your support.

o sung wu,

My apologies.

As you are no doubt aware, I usually give as good as get around here. My usual modus operandi is to reply in kind. However, you appealed to me as someone with whom I could exchange respectful interaction. You are neither stupid or wanting in any way regarding your rhetoric or your powers of reasoning. Forgive me if I misread your self-deprecation as something other than genuine - as I mentioned, I've had experience on OLO with some who merely feign such humility for the purposes of sarcasm....obviously not your aim at all.

Once again, I apologise if I read you wrong.

.....

Saltpetre,

It remains to be seen as to whether I judge Mr Abbott too harshly. His trail of broken promises and unheralded "surprises" display a man who has had no compunction in misrepresenting his govt's intentions prior to the election.

Regarding his charitable and volunteer activities: It's well known that he is the "only" politician who claims expenses for the Pollie Pedal.

Here's a comprehensive review of some of his expense claims for that and other purposes.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-10/green-why-the-expenses-scandal-still-has-legs/5013230

Not too much to be proud of there.

Not to overlook his firefighting-cum-photo ops.

Regarding his much vaunted volunteer activities at Aboriginal communities - here it's revealed that his time at communities is much less than we have been led to believe - and his tax payer funded charter flights only add insult to his supposed "volunteering" - eg. a one night volunteering trip charging the tax payer $32,545.00 in charter flights.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-costly-indigenous-community-volunteering,5628

One last thing. Today Mr Abbot released a few words on the passing of Neville Wran
http://www.scribd.com/doc/219283105/14-04-21-Neville-Wran

The stilted script could have been written by an 8 year old, it is so sparce and lacking sincerity. It was pathetic, especially considering the effusive praise he heaped on Barry O'Farrell in the wake of his resigning in disgrace.

Fair enough, if you think a man like Abbott is someone to look up to.

We obviously have very different ideas as to what constitutes an honourable leader.

OSW, "I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't"

There are things you can do that won't damn you. Language such as "broken promises allegedly made" indicates a choice to be blind. What is "alleged" about the promises?

Saying,

"Well, I suppose he and Joe Hockey had to 'wing it' a bit during the campaign, without knowing the precise details of the Labour government's overall commitments ? Regrettably, some of those promises were made, without first fully understanding or being aware, of the exact 'state of the books' as it were ? Consequently, some of those promises may need to be modified, even broken !",

ignores provisions put in place by Peter Costello so the state of the books was fully known when promises were made. The circumstances framing the upcoming budget are confected in relation the the state of the books at the last election.

woohoo, the lefties are getting snakey again.