The Liberal party cannot win. No matter what they do they are gone.
They are a zombie government. Dead but still alive.

If they keep Abbott nothing will change and eventually we will be back here again. Think Hawke - Keating, Howard - Peacock. The polls will continue to head south as Australians reject Abbott and his policies of bash the weak and defenseless and the leadership talk will always be there until Abbott eventually goes.

If they dump him he wont retire or go gracefully. He will rage from the backbenches, bringing all the malice and spite he has used on his opponents down on the heads of those that he thinks betrayed him. He will make Rudd look like a choirboy. He will destroy any chance the liberals have of winning the next four or five elections.

The only way out of this farce is to call an election, get rid of the dead wood, tea party, fascist faction of the lieberal party and while in opposition have a bit more respect, be a bit more bipartisan and seek to really do what is right for ALL Australians. Not just the ones who voted for you, or donated to your campaign or supported you with their newspapers. Most of all stop lieing to the Australian people.

Oh and give up the slogans, the blue ties and the cigars. They have made you lot a laughing stock.

And the laughing goes right around the world, and beyond.

Today Australia takes part in what has become a tradition; lie telling has been a favorite of politicians especially to get the public on their side. Julie has pledged allegiance to the PM. Does this rule her out of contention, or is it a lie.

Turnbull is saying nothing, and keeping his head down. Hockey knows his number is up if there is a spill. Can the coalition push the reset button, and get off of Tony’s back and let him get on with his path of destruction. Will Turnbull be the elected man, to govern AU, that means the Pm’s office will be vacated as well, it’s been hard to know who is the real PM.

Why can’t they just get on with business without causing all of this disruption. Why are they not satisfied with what they have. Maybe there are some backbenchers that need a good boxing around the ears. NSW is feeling the effects of all of this, which may very well be the third state to fall in less than 12 months. Something is not quite right , entrails are all over the floor of parliament.

Zombie government?

No thanks, we've already got one.

A zombie govt; whatever it is lets us hope it is fixed soon. The clock is ticking. 30 seconds to midnight.

Backbenchers don’t see their employment going past the next election, so a change can do no harm as far as they are concerned. And given Abbott’s track record to date they can be confident of an upswing, even if bugs bunny were to lead the LNP.

When Turnbull is reinstated it won’t please the [liberal commo hardliners] but the party would be far better off. I suppose the liber’s are happy with the spill looking almost certain to go ahead early next week. They seem thin on the ground at the moment.

A media scrum will be the order of the day, Parliament resumes on Monday but the axing doesn’t happen till Tuesday. That is going to put parliament in turmoil on their first day back.

The problem is that in this day and age political parties are irrelevant and activism impossible because of the internet, if voting wasn't compulsory very few people would bother with it.

I'm sure that Queenslanders, Victorians,
and many others around the country
would strongly disagree.

"Why can’t they just get on with business without causing all of this disruption. Why are they not satisfied with what they have."

That does not sell papers.
Its very hard to those of us not close to the action to tell how much of the reported issues are real and how much are beatup but I get the impression that they become self fulfilling in time anyway.

Abbott claims that he does not want the mess that was Labor but appears by his own unwillingness to listen to be recreating the same problem. It seems to me that many of the issues Abbott is referring to were the result of a self centered person who was desperate to cling to power (or regain it) regardless of the consequences to his party and the country. Someone who thought clinging to power when it was clear that most had lost confidence in him equates to Leading.

If Abbott does not want to be like Labor he could try putting the nation and party ahead of his own thirst for power instead of recreating those same choices.

R0bert

Foxy,
With two major parties who are incapable of governing due to the makeup of the senate and minor parties which have no broad base of support it's fair to say that politics is irrelevant.
I'm struggling to identify one pro-active step take by the coalition so far apart from re-committing troops the the Iraqi quagmire.

His own worst enemy is Abbott. The all mighty power of parliament. Blame the senate for not passing unrealistic Abbotisms. This man has shown us what not to do in record time, and unprecedented manner. He can say the same thing in multiple ways, several times, and still say nothing with any meaning.

Hopefully we can move on, and salvage the nation. NSW elections coming up and Abbott is again swinging the tide of the voting public. Declare the PM position vacant in the interests of AU.
Turnbull will again rise, to the occasion and rid us of the barnacle that has become a plague.

The last straw was the PPL, shows how badly thought out this term of 16 months was. The community are clambering for a change, and hopefully a govt; that works as a team.

mikk>> get rid of the dead wood, tea party, fascist faction of the lieberal party.<<

I agree Mikk.......so who tells the Parliamentary Labor Party that the Union deadwood journey men have to go?

Everyone seems to want government funded welfare freebies, instead of being responsible. Any Government that wants a responsible community will lose office.

The vote has been taken in the Party Room and the Centurion goes forth to battle with 40% of his Legionaries hating his guts.

Quo vadis?

Dear Is Mise,

Quo vadis? (Where are you going?)

"Romam vado iterum cricifigi."
(To Rome, to be cricified again).

My word that was close.
Imagine if Turnbull had been elected leader?
There would have been a good chance of a Liberal Nazi Party being returned to power at the next election.
Now with Abort there is no chance.
Sigh.... just have to wait a bit longer for common sense to prevail.

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the
University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always
Temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
Form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until
The time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
Gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
Always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from
The public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
Collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
Dictatorship."
So boys and girls where are we now?
Personally I think we need to campaign against the ABC as we get four ABC journo's interviewing each other about political leadership and if that is the best they can offer the chop is indeed needed.

But a minister who voted against the spill told Fairfax Media the result was "unbelievable" given that he had "32-35 frontbenchers locked in".

"You can't have 39 people, nearly all backbenchers, vote against you and say there is no problem."

Asked about the possibility of another spill motion, the minister said that "nothing should happen for a very long time in my view", admitted it was "not over" but said that a couple of "hot heads" were talking about a second spill sooner than that.

Now here is a snippet from Mikk.
If they dump him he wont retire or go gracefully.
He will rage from the backbenches, bringing all the malice and spite
he has used on his opponents down on the heads of those that he thinks betrayed him.

Now Mikk has no idea if Abbott would have reacted like this.
It is just biased slander.
However it is typical of the Greens & Labour commentary about Tony Abbott
since he became opposition leader.
It has been coming from those sources for a long time and when said
over & over & over again becomes ingrained.

I suspect it was a deliberate policy after the 2007 election.
So while I am unhappy with both parties & the greens it is true that
I have in recent times voted liberal as the least worse.
I believe their policies are more realistic especially when our
financial situation is becoming more Greek like.
In fact I saw an analysis that stated that our situation is worse than Greece.
Its loans are at a lower interest rate and a much longer term.

Australia is at risk of being ungovernable in that there are more
beneficories on the government teat than taxpayers.
Therefore the government cannot cutback without a ton of abuse at budget time.
This why the Labour party made such a thing about cutbackes at the
last budget.

Watch for a repeat performance at the next budget.

from 579
The community are clambering for a change, and hopefully a govt; that works as a team.

See another assertion off the top of someones head.

The community are clambering for a change, and hopefully a govt; that works as a team. Abbott has fallen into his own trap.

Bazz The latest mistake Abbott has made is have a spill vote. He now knows his position is untenable. With the insiders voting as a block, the vote against Abbott was huge.
Where to now, a very unstable govt; it’s not good knowing 40% of known voters are against you.
35 members voting as a block is short-time face-saving.

579:
He now knows his position is untenable.

See, how does he know what Abbott knows ?
I presume you think you know everything that has gone on in the background.

It is these blatant off the top of their heads statements based on
nothing that has become such a problem.
It is not just on here that you see this practise, it is in the papers,
TV and radio also.

Come off the grass 570. The Labor leader was only elected, against the majority, because the union heavies bullied him through.

If anyone's position is untenable it has to be Shorten. He not only was not the majority choice, but is a total failure, coming across as a wooden indian, with someone pulling his strings to get any movement at all.

Talk about glass houses & stones.

You people must walk around with a peg on your nose.

Bazz
Are you saying Abbott is not aware of his now known position that his back bench has no confidence in him.

An extreme govt; that is that far to the right, is dangerous. Abbott’s budget tells you that, let alone the lies that put this man in power. Put that together with incompetence, backflips, and living in the past. This govt; has lost the confidence of his political party and the community of AU.

This nation is not being governed, it is in limbo. The LNP are preoccupied with themselves. If you think that Abbott can change his ways, well I don’t think he can.

If the LNP continue with their budgetary path it should be put to an election. What we voted for and what we got were two entirely different policy.

It has not changed its leader, but business groups and unions are calling on the Federal Government to change direction and soon.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said it wants to see the Government work as a team to deal with the economy.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is asking the Government to come up with what it calls a solid plan for jobs and growth.

When all else fails you do the right thing.

Bazz, Hasbeen,

Abbott's goose is well and truly cooked.

He survived today...but ultimately he's goner.

Just saying....

Abort is going to change his ways and also create 60 knights all from his round table.

Just to jog some memories ...

Peter King on another discussion posted that
when former PM Julia Gillard staved off a
challenge winning 72 to 31 - Mr Abbott
"shrilled" that she was "illegitimate" and
should stand aside as she had last the support
of her party.

But as King points out when Abbott wins 61 to 39
it is a "firm confirmation of his leadership
and full steam ahead for good governance."

The audacity (and hypocrisy) of the man is mind-blowing.
It appears that all he thinks about is himself.
He appears to be hell-bent on destroying the Liberal
Party. The Party would have a chance of survival
under new leadership - but with this man it is doomed.

JBowyer.
Democracy is rule from the street or rule by the mob, we're getting closer to that but we're nowhere near Greece or Spain yet, when we've got something like Syriza or Podemos on one side and a Jobbik or Svoboda lookalike on the other then we'll talk about looting the treasuries and grainstores.

Foxy this time;
He appears to be hell-bent on destroying the Liberal
Party.

At least she added "appears".

579;
This nation is not being governed, it is in limbo.

My comment; could this be because Dr No keeps knocking back bills, no
pun intended, in the senate ?

Robert le Page;
There would have been a good chance of a Liberal Nazi Party being
returned to power at the next election.

More meaningless waffle.

Dear Bazz,

That's the sad thing.

"Meaningless waffle" was what got this current
government elected.

Remember Mr Abbott's
accusations about the former PM Julia Gillard
"lying" regarding the carbon tax. Well how many
lies has he been guilty of?

"Meaningless waffle" - prior to
the election, and since.

Will Australian voters really allow this man to
continue treating them as mugs.

I very much doubt it!

For those that think that Tony is living in the past; think again. Australia was a growing and prosperous nation in the past with less welfare and National debt. Perhaps we should learn some lessons from the past.

Bazz,

"More meaningless waffle."

Funny you should mention that...have you been listening to Abbott on 7:30?

"Waffle, waffle, consultative & collegial..yada, yada, waffle....It's all Labor's fault.....yada waffle...yada..."

Fascinating, I tells ya!

It's been pointed out that if cabinet stuck to voting down a spill then two-thirds of the back-bench must have voted against the Mad Monk for a 61-39 result. Two-thirds!

What resounding confidence. I predicted his demise but there are battles and there are wars. Abbott won the battle, but for how long can cabinet unity be maintained with today's numbers? The NSW election and the budget are the next tests, with accompanying polls.

Day two of good governance. That does not say much for the last 16 months, does it. Can Abbott change or do we get more of the same.

After yesterdays spill vote which was Abbott’s choice, has now opened facts and figures to both parliament and his own party. Everybody will now want Abbott to come up with action to follow his words.

The 7.30 last night he gave 15 seconds of airtime to a family package, other than that he reiterated the past. He has promised to change his ways, is this at all possible.

Now, this is a zombie and a factional one too,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf4nlIEHfaU

Soon later, without a tinge of conscience he dumped on "Whatever she says" Gillard, making a virtue out of his treachery again,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpoR6FthsYQ

the former Rudd/Gillard/Rudd backers certainly know nothing of the word shame. Their abbottphobia must be driving them to the edge of insanity.

You got that wrong Runner.

They didn't need driving, & they were already way over the edge, but of course, they still have their hand out.

Tony’s near death experience has left him on life support. They have to come up with reasonable policy now to appease the backbench, or else it will be on again.

Another sticking point, his office staffer has got to go. To many feathers have been ruffled, by unelected personnel.

New policy should be an interest to everyone, hopefully they can manage fair policy. Shorten will no doubt be looking for answers today, to stave off another no confidence vote. It,s not unreasonable to want answers and not waffle. All remains to be seen if they are good enough

579,

Why are you are ignoring badass factional zombie, L'il Willie Shorten?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf4nlIEHfaU

[see here, onthebeach, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 8:03:50 AM]

Shorten isn't the only badass factional zombie in the opposition The front bench of the previous Labor government had heaps of them and many are still there in the parliament.

Good Lord, remember the foul public roasting of their own Kevin707? Then they had the complete gall to put him back after gutting him, calling him dysfunctional, questioning his mental health and worse.

Dear 579,

Don't take any notice of some people's attempts
in trying to
divert the failings of this current
government. Their history of failings goes way,
way back:

http://ramblingsdc.net/Australia/FailAust.html

Never mind everyone,

521 days into the Abbott Govt - it's about become "Good Government"

Which of course leads us to the conclusion - it's been crappy government up till now.

Fox,

That is the sort of 'independent source' you value above your despised 'MSMs'? LOL

'521 days into the Abbott Govt - it's about become "Good Government"'

It rivals the Real Julia! Ah those adults, I think I prefer the kids.

One can only hope the real Tony is unleashed from behind Peta Credlin's skirt. Or is that a misogynist thing to say? I wonder if she will be sacrificed in the next spill motion.

I know I have plugged these guys enough, but this is a good one.

http://www.theshovel.com.au/2015/02/09/bill-shorten-slams-incompetent-government-task-of-unseating-a-prime-minister/

otb,

Most people in this modern age use whatever
alternative media provides alternative
information to the MSM - whether its -
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogs, et cetera.
I seem to recall you using Youtube.

No second prizes today. Abbott admits his budget was grossly unfair, and says he will do better.

Tony has listened and learned, it remains to be seen what he has heard and what he has learned. Confusion over submarines contract the minister in charge and Abbott on different pages. Has there been lies told, that is the question.

You know, you never get a second chance to ask your uncle to your wedding. You've got to go through life having not asked your uncle to come to the wedding. Now, this is something that they [Australian shipbuilders] want to be involved in."

The subs are probably wrapped up in the jap free trade agreement.

579,

Not that leftist 'Progressives' Kevin707 or ex-Pm Julia Whatshername could ever admit fault, eh what?

What about the colossal stuff-up and horrific consequences of overturning John Howard's working Pacific Solution? Julia's treacherous sidekicks, the truly lunar Greens protest party still haven't seen the light.

Julia Whatshername (y'know, the one with the humble $2mil bungalow in SA) is busily papering over the cracks and rewriting history, so no likelihood of any personal insight or apologies there.

Most thinking people actually want and demand a government that is responsive during its term. -In fact the very opposite of the leftist 'Progressives' who presume to always know what is best for others, are never bothered to ask and do their deals behind closed doors.

Houellie,

That is a goodie...saw it on twitter but didn't get round to reading it.

Otb,

I see you agree with the PM and the Treasurer....the Govt's woeful performance is all Labor's fault.

The actual question regarding SA subs is what did tricky Tony promise to the relevant Senator when he was swanning around trying to whip up support in the lead-up to the spill motion.

They're nothing if not entertaining.....

Dear Poirot,

I wouldn't describe Mr Abbott and his front-bench
as being "entertaining," a few other adjectives
come to mind.

When former PM Julia Gillard staved off a challenge
winning 72 to 31 Mr Abbott ranted that she was
"illegitimate" and should stand aside as she had lost
the support of her party.

But now when Mr Abbott wins just 61 to 39
(and one informal) it is a "firm confirmation"
of his leadership and full steam ahead
for "good governance."

Julia Gillard was accused of "lying" about the carbon tax.
How many lies has Mr Abbott told - both prior, during,
and since, his election. Voters have lost
count - and they're still being lied to - especially the
recent debacle concerning the submarines.

It's time that this government realised they are in government
and not in opposition - and stopped lying to voters
and blaming Labor for everything.
It's time they stopped with the rhetoric and the slogans,
stopped all the pretense. Voters are no longer buying it.

The old anachronisms and tactics of the past no longer work.
Nobody likes or supports politicians who are deaf and
indifferent to voters concerns.

They also can't talk about the "age of entitlement" being over
for the rest of us - while they continue to grant tax
exemptions and subsidies to the rich, and make full use of
all the perks and benefits that they can. Milking the
"cash cow" for all its worth.

They talk about their "achievements" to date. What achievements?.
Banning the "carbon tax," that simply allows the big polluters to
continue polluting and does not allow us to invest in
renewable energy sources which would be good for the economy and
create jobs. Banning the "Mining tax" takes - much needed money
out of Treasury. "Stopping the boats?" The boats have not
been stopped. They've been merely diverted to off-shore
islands - and its costing us a fortune to pay these
foreign governments - to take care of this problem for us.

Australia deserves better than what it's currently getting!
Things must improve!

The AU ship is floundering along, we are going from confusion to another confusing statement. I am afraid we still have barnacles aboard. In fact we are infested with them.

I don’t think the sub; job has gained any ground at all. Hockey said months ago we don’t have time to waste. We have not yet started, they are still looking for a builder.
All Japan wants to do is build the shell, they won’t share technology. It is becoming clearer that Abbott changed the rules to get two backbenchers on side for the spill vote. How important is this, or has Abbott found something even more important to defend, his own ar3e. 25 Billion $ for two votes.

Disunity is death for any political party. There will be no peace while Hockey and Credlin are still there. The LNP are planning their own demise, all because they have the wrong leader