Much has been said, and reported on the early days of the new Albanese Labor Government. No one can deny the new government has not been quick off the mark in taking action from day one. There has been a flurry of activity from Labor, not just from Albanese, but from his ministers as well. My question is; Where is the Opposition? After the 2019 election Labor quickly settled on Albanese as leader, and just as quickly took the fight to the Morrison government. Unfortunately after the May 2022 election and the appointment of Peter Dutton as Opposition leader he and others on the conservative side immediately took long holidays. or went into hibernation. So far "those opposite" have did little or nothing to take the fight to the government. Take for instance the '43% Climate Target Bill', if it was not for the Greens and teal independents to fight for minor amendments the bill would have simply passed without much scrutiny. Other than a "no" vote bar one, the Coalition offered nothing. So far Dutton has been ineffectual, and his front bench lacklustre. If it was a football match, one would say the Opposition has let the Government in for a couple of easy tries in the first 10 minutes. Me thinks Captain Pete might be pulled out of the game before half time, due to poor performance.

That's just so typical of the non-contributors' mentality, opposition for opposition's sake !

Dear Paul,

The past government was devoid of vision, planning and awareness. When Morrison was asked about priorities he responded, 'jobs, jobs & more jobs.' As though there were no other concerns. Of course when it was suggested that the minimum wage that would only affect the the lowest paid workers be raised he raised the spectre of inflation. It became clear that 'jobs, jobs and more jobs' should be at starvation wages. This, as expressed by Morrison, were the priorities of government. Dutton now leads the opposition. Is it fair to expect more from him? A party that stood for nothing except seeing that fat cats maintain their girth is now in the political wilderness. That seems to be where they belong.

Yes. It seems as though the Opposition intends to be weak, with idiots like Senator Birmingham still thinking that the Coalition has to out-idiot the Socialists on weather voodoo to regain office. The twat should be on the bottom of the ticket at the next election. The Laughable Liberals got rid of Amanda Stoker (an actual asset to them) that way; Birmingham now needs to be given the bums rush, quick smart.

Dutton looks like being a fizzer, a la Perrottet in NSW, who was supposed to be 'real' conservative. "Questioning" the Socialists on emissions and details of the racists Voice when he should be opposing both things vigorously.

Dutton will find himself renamed as Dud 'un.

You must be pretty pleased to see the Liberals folding, Paul. Looks like I'll be going back to 'none of these' at the next election. Australia is well and truly rooted.

ttbn,
Agree %100
I am so disappointed with myself having thought Morrison would turn out alright, I copped personal set-backs from Morrison's Govt & manned by a Labor cronies Public service !
I think that both sides are suffering from Australian education-indoctrinated politicians.

Indyvidual

Yes mate. It's certainly disappointing, and I feel disenfranchised more than ever. I got laughed at by our pal Paul for voting One Nation and UAP this time, but I don't think I'll even bother doing that again; with the unwillingness of the average Australian voter to take politics and the country's future seriously - to try something different - it's a waste of time.

I think the penalty for not voting and being responsible for the same idiots year after year is only $20. But it might still be worthwhile voting in the Senate.

One commentator this morning said that the new bunch of ratbags posing as representatives of the people have already cheapened the Parliament. The not so new Thorpe woman. Monique Ryan barking, "Put ya masks on"! across the chamber. Pocock bringing in his own hand-signaller to deaf people for his speech. How many deaf people attend Parliament to 'listen' to speeches? Wouldn't those at home have captions on their TVs?

Then there was a baby brought in!

And, shock horror, one new MP wasn’t wearing a tie. And some idiot wanted to debate the dress code until shut down by the Speaker.

And this is the best we have in the country to vote for? No thanks.

"Oh! the pain of it all", says one old bloke to another down at The Shady Pines Retirement Home for Old Farts ...."I voted for Corny Banana back in 19, and he let me down, then I voted for the Horrible Hanson in 22, she failed me as well, I even through in a vote for bloody Fat Clive, helped him out with his 80 million as well, another no result, where is that fat b@#$%!&d NOW!...Be a good chap and pass me another "Doze Ezy', me thinks its time for me nana nap!"

....."When you voted in 19 and 22, what century was that, old cock?"
....."Not sure, I think it was the nineteenth, Jesus, pass me those 'Doze Ezy's, I sure need a bottle, you're as useless as the rest of em".

Is this the best we have?

Is a very relevant question indeed regarding
our political parties and their leaders.

The voters have made their feelings loud and clear
at the last election. We can only hope that things will
be different with this new mob. They've certainly hit the
ground running and have already managed to pass a bill
that they'd promised.

But looking at is this the best we have?

What about Pauline Hanson angrily storming out of the
Senate during the opening acknowledgement of country
paying respect to elders past and present by interjecting
and yelling -

"No, I won't and never will!" before storming out of the
chamber in a huff.

Is this the best we have?

Seriously?

Oink, Oink!

Paul

You really are a deeply unpleasant person. Or you are mentally disturbed. Or you are drunk all the time. But, I suppose you've got what it takes to be a Green.

Well all politicians are the same and are at their best when going on holiday where they do not disturb our lives, so why shouldn't the rest of them take holidays too?!

The main entertainment in Afghanistan is to watch rooster fights, while in Australia they use humans instead, paying huge salaries and other perks to see them cursing and abusing each other in parliament. Suddenly the losing team has gone off the field and some spectators feel bored, empty and cheated for seeing no blood...

They can all do us a favour by savings on power bills in Parliament House!

Dear Paul,

There are too many people boiling with hate and resentment.
It is alarming. I was so pleased when our current PM
said he was prepared to negotiate - to do what was right
for the country. I'm hoping that he will get support from
the other politicians and all of them will unite and together
will be able to achieve a great deal for the good of
us all.

It should not matter who thinks up good ideas - if they are
good ideas - they should be supported regardless of who
suggested them. That's how politics should work.

In reverse,

Yuyutsu, Just as not all plumbers are the same. I've known many politicians from both sides, state and federal, and they are not all the same, they are not a homogeneous lot, we should not be so cynical towards them. There are many genuine people who enter politics for the right reasons.

ttbn, steady on old chap, you're not happy. Nothing is so serious that a bit of humour won't fix. I know as an old conservative you're rather dour when it comes to politics, as most true conservatives are, and as Andrew Peacock would say in his sternest of voice; "This..is..a..very..serious..MATTER!" so Andy thought. There are big issues afoot in little old Australia, not the least the one the opposition has already got its teeth into, I expect an announcement on the matter from Constable Clod any day now, all is explained in the following link;

http://thetierack.com.au/

Foxy, The Horrible Hanson is in a world of her own, best to leave her there.

Dear Paul,

You're right, the woman can't possibly realize how ugly
her behaviour is. She is to be pitied.

Hi Foxy,

In a true democracy an effective opposition is almost as necessary as an effective government. What I've seen so far is the government is making all the running, and the supposed opposition is looking less than mediocre. Will Dutton be hamstrung on many issues, due to internal factionalism within the Coalition parties. If it continues, and I expect it will, Dutton will be lucky to last 18 months.

Whenever a party, long in power, loses power they always take a while to recalibrate. The party will have internal reviews as to the cause of the loss and a full re-evaluation of past policies.

With a large percentage of Reps and Senators gone, the dynamics of the party room will have changed and that will also take time to bed down.

Its not the roll of the opposition to fix government policy. The Labs have had years to work out what they'd do in government, yet Paul seems upset that the Libs aren't helping the Labs get it right.

The first year of a new government is almost always theirs's. The opposition is best to just keep their head down and start to work on policies and philosophies they will adopt once the inevitable honeymoon period passes.

Again, it is my hope that the Libs will realise that they need to return to core values and jettison the Turnbull/Morrison era. But we'll wait to see.

As I said before the election, the economic winds are not favourable to the new government. For the time being they can blame it all on the Libs and that'll hold. But in a year? The RBA are increasingly talking down the economic fortunes of the country. All the feel good stuff about hearing Voices and 43% and the like will be forgotten when inflation gets to 8% and real wages fall by 5% and unemployment starts rising and mortgage rates get to 5% and recession beckons.

Then we'll talk about where the opposition is.

Dear Paul,

«There are many genuine people who enter politics for the right reasons.»

Indeed - they remain genuine until they actually get elected and corrupted.

They all essentially believe in the same - in the rule and control of the state over the good people of the land. They also believe in one big Australia stretching 1000's of kilometers, this whole continent helplessly ruled by bureaucrats from the village of Canberra. And they believe that what they cannot get by agreement, they will obtain by threats and force, through their police.

When John Woodley was a senator representing the Australian Democrats I was an advisor to him on military affairs. To the best of my knowledge he was neither corrupt nor power hungry. He served his term, was well-informed and seemed to perform to the best of his ability. He earned his stipend.

Dear Paul,

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald confirms what
many of us already know. That Peter Dutton's going to have
to heal not only a divided party and a divided Coalition
but he's also going to have to create a new persona for
himself as the leader of the party for the Australian
public.

Can he do all this? He's the first Queenslander to lead
the party and the first leader since 1995 not from Sydney.
We're told that in the Liberal Party if the leader is not
from the right they struggle. (Malcolm Turnbull, John
Hewson). At least Dutton's got that going for him.
Also our PM has said that he got along better with Dutton
than Scott Morrison.

Dutton's got a monumental task ahead of him. To reset the
public's perception of him (Can he soften his image?)
and unite the party at the same time?

We're told that Dutton's going to have to decide which
of the government's agenda to support and which to
oppose.

His party's approach to Labor's climate policy will be
interesting.

We all know that the domestic and global economic conditions
are going to be difficult for the government for the next
3 years - but according to the article the odds are
against Peter Dutton winning the Prime Ministership in 2025.

http://smh.com.au/politics/federal/odds-against-remade-dutton-as-coalition-faces-three-difficult-years-20220526-p5aous.html

Hi Foxy,

"Peter Dutton's going to have to heal not only a divided party and a divided Coalition but he's also going to have to create a new persona for himself as the leader of the party for the Australian public."

We must not forget Dutton was one of the main agitators within the Liberal Party that undermined Turnbull's leadership, giving us Morrison. He may attempt to create a new persona as a moderate, but it will be a false persona, the guy has always presented as an arch-conservative favouring division over consensus. Not an ideal leader, and certainly not PM material.

The people we vote for aren't the ones in charge.

I always find it amusing when left-whingers talk about what the coalition needs to do.

The reason Turnbull was dumped was that he was a narcissist steering the party to a heavy defeat in 2019. Morrison turned this around saving Aus from the smug Shorten.

Abbott was considered a joke when he took control of the coalition, but quickly brought Krudd to his knees and then eviscerated Juliar finally winning in 2013 in a landslide. Dutton is made of the same stuff and is smart enough to hold Labor's feet to the fire. That Labor has already ditched some of its promises gives him a decent stick to beat Labor with already.

Before the weak opposition, we had the secret government of Morrison. Morrison couldn't trust the fools and half-wits he had for ministers, so he secretly had the GG make his minister for everything.

Paul,

Just when I thought that there couldn't be anyone stupid enough to fall for Albozo's fatuous beat-up, there you are.

According to the Governor General, swearing in for responsibility for multiple ministries is neither illegal nor even unusual.

This would enable the PM to step in if a minister was unable to perform his duties for illness or vacation, such as during a pandemic.

Now the liar is parroting Labor talking points.

SM,

I didn't think that a believer in "Westminster Democracy" with its traditions and principles would so easily accept the trashing of that system. Morrison secretly set himself up as a de-facto dictator assuming secret ministerial powers for himself, without informing the Australian people. Many on the conservative side of politics, including Bridget McKenzie and others, were forthright in their condemnation of Morrison's actions.

BTW; If I'm not mistaken, Morrison was elected as the representative of the people of Cook at the recent Federal Election. He's failing to do what he was elected to do, saying; "Since leaving the job I haven’t engaged in any day-to day-politics.” The bloke is failing in his duty to his constituents, and should get out. No doubt Morrison is cooling his heels in parliament, whilst setting himself up for some plumb job from a grateful benefactor from his time in office

Paul,

Once again you are spouting drivel. Everything Morrison did was by the book and he has trashed nothing. Considering that there are more portfolios than ministers, being sworn into multiple portfolios is standard practice. Also, the PM has authority over all his ministers, his word is Law and that applies to Albozo too.

To prevent yourself from looking like a complete idiot again, you should think before posting bollocks.

Hey Indyvidual,

That's just so typical of the non-contributors' mentality, opposition for opposition's sake !

I've always argued that democracy is flawed.
To demonstrate just how flawed it is...

If the leader of one of the parties were to stand at the podium and announce a bill that formally recognised the sky as being blue,

Then the leader of the other party would be obliged to stand up and oppose it, instead arguing that the sky was actually some other colour.

Both sides would argue over it for weeks, the issue would become hamstrung, and nothing of use would be achieved.
Their job is not to come up with good policies for the betterment of our nation,
- It seems as though their jobs are to simply argue amongst themselves.

In this context, they actually make autocratic leaders who do achieve things for their nation look genuinely appealing.

SM,

You obviously have no understanding of the Westminster system of government. You are clueless concerning open government, ministerial responsibility, the cabinet decision making process, and the responsibilities of the PM. We have a Prime Minister, not a Trump like President that you of the far right believe we should be embracing. Morrison was acting more like the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, than the PM of a open democratic society such as Australia.

Even Dud Dutton is trying to distance himself from the Morrison debacle, others on that side of politics have be far more scathing in their comments, eg Barnyard Joy and what he has said! Admittedly Joyce and Morrison are bitter enemies in and out of government.

Paul,

Lying again I see. Firstly I have never supported Trump, only trashed the lies that you and others from the far left whinge were repeating.

And from your post, you clearly are completely clueless on how Parliament works and in spite of all your bleating, you have completely failed to show anything that Morrison did wrong.

Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews (Liberal Party) has called on Morrison to resign from parliament over his secret power grab, and trashing of Westminster convention. Morrison has admitted his extraordinary move to jointly appoint himself to several ministries in secret was "unnecessary", and has apologised for his mistakes.

The Trumpsters of the far right see nothing wrong with Morrison's Hitler like action in ceasing power for himself.

Paul,

What's your fetish with Nazis? Do you dress up in leathers and goose-step around?

Note that Morrison set himself up with additional powers in the heat of a pandemic. That no one else knew of them shows clearly that he never actually used them and that they were entirely a precaution.

If you are looking for a tyrant in Aus, look no further than Dan Andrews. Adam (bum) bandit looks more like an emaciated Pol Pot.

P.S. How are your convicted paedo comrades?

SM

"that he never actually used them and that they were entirely a precaution." That is a fabrication by a Trumpster!

Fuhrer Morrison acting secretly as de facto resources minister overrode the then actual resources minister Keith Pitt on decision making concerning the Pep-11 gas-drilling permit. Morrison took control of Pitt’s portfolio, as he secretly did with four others.

"What's your fetish with Nazis? Do you dress up in leathers and goose-step around?

No, I leave that to Trumpsters such as yourself, and you as a Liberal Party member at monthly branch meetings.

I assume you are back from your Christchurch pilgrimage, which you said you made, did you catch up with your old friend from Australia while thence?

BTW; I'm glad you and that new postie 'The Voice Of Reason' are hitting it off so well, like two peas in a pod. You two remind me of Hitler and Stalin, once chums, then the big falling out.

Pauliar,

A PM has the power to override a minister on a decision with or without any new powers. So once again you are making up crap as you go along.

Maybe you should go and read something before you cock it up again.

As for airbus Albozo,

He starts his premiership with a 2-month world trip junket, comes back to Aus for a week or two then sods off on a private holiday.

So much for his promise to work hard. He has one job and can't even do that.

SM,

"A PM has the power to override a minister"

Like Sgt Schultz YOU KNOW NOTHING! Once more for the dummy. Under the Westminster system, Cabinet, and not the PM, has the right in some instances to approve a ministerial decision, sometimes the minister has the executive power to unilaterally make a decision. In the case of the 'Pep-11 gas-drilling permit' the minister (we assumed was Keith Pitt, how we got that wrong) had the power outside of Cabinet, and remote from the PM, to solely make the determination of yes or no to the granting of said permit. Secretly Fuhrer Morrison had his personal General Von Hindenburg (Hurley), representing the Wicked Witch of Windsor, an un-elected foreign monarch whose real name is Lizzy Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, appoint him co-minister. In that way Morrison was able to make a secret ministerial decision concerning the permit.

IS that clear?

The Voice Of Reason, if you're out there can you pop in and give SM a bit of a pep talk on this subject. He loves to hear from you, its so educational for him.

BTW; I believe during the Third Reich Fuhrer Hitler had to assume secret executive powers and override Reichsfuhrer Himmler, as poor old Heinrich was being too LIBERAL with the Jews. It was a time of crises, a big war was going on. Just like for Morrison there was a crises, Liberal held seats were in danger of being lost, and some nut job from the Nationals didn't care!

Pidiot,

PMs often make their "captains choices" If you don't know that you are as stupid political as all else.

SM,

Your Fuhrer made choices of racists and rednecks as Liberal party candidates in losing seats in NSW, as you call it "captains choices". Please explain under what authority did Herr Morrison make his call in the case of the 'Pep-11 gas-drilling permit'.

BTW; Herr Morrison has already admitted he made that decision not to grant the permit under the authority as a secret Minister for Resources. It had nothing to do with Covid, the bloke was trying to protect Liberal held seats, like North Sydney and Wentworth.

Paulnazi,

Is it true that the arch nazi of the greens party is not allowed near schools?

I believe that the Bandit is trying to create his own turd Reich.

Like an infected boil on the arse of the opposition leader, Morrison despite admitting his unconscionable conduct in office, and his now dereliction of duty towards the voters of Cook, Morrison wont resign, and the weak kneed-Dutton wont call for his resignation from Parliament.

I don't see the point of bringing this up now. Anyone with the slightest observational powers knew what Morrison was like from the moment he and Turnbull stabbed Abbott in the back.

All legal apparently. Just sneaky; but surely, nobody expects anything better from politicians?

More to the point, what's in it for Albanese. More revenge for being born on the wrong side of the tracks? Spite?

Morrison is going to face public humiliation. His wife and children are going to face public humiliation. That should be enough even for a small-minded, mean character like Albanese.

In future, what is left of the Liberal Party needs to be a lot more careful who it gives the top job to. And we all need to take note of what a presidential system of the sort the malcontents want with their mewling about making Australia a republic.

Morrison used his multiple powers only once: to cancel an important gas project to satisfy the Wet Left in the Liberal party, and to protect the seats of Lefties. It didn't work. The seats were lost.

Morrison was an authoritarian who held the Australian people in contempt. There are a lot more politicians with the same outlook in both major parties, and definitely in the Greens.

The Coalition will be impotent for the next 3 years. All they can hope for is the electorate getting sick of seeing Labor being jerked around by the Greens.

In the meantime, nobody is interested in Morrison, who is yesterday's man and got the boot, as he deserved; but Albanese feels the need to keep harping about him, undoubtedly to cover up his own incompetence so far on CPI, the economy in general, rising cost of electricity (that he was going to reduce), defence, and the sneaky details of his racist Voice travesty.

What Morrison did, although wrong but not unexpected from such a man, harmed nobody. What the Albanese Socialist regime is doing, and will continue to do, will harm everybody.

Paul,

Like a syphilitic pustule on the dong the best your fuhrer can achieve is to be a pain in the arse.

After the bandit's unconscionable conduct in office he hasn't resigned.

SM,

Its fortunate that Morrison, the minister for everything, was turfed out of office before he could launch a coup, and seize total power for himself. I sure all you Trumpster's would have been willing to march on Parliament House in Capitol Building style in support of your beloved leader.

Its worth looking into what part Morrison's personal Von Hindenburg Hurley played in this scandal of secret appointments. Seems the GG's public diary surprisingly does not list Hurley as making these appointments of Morrison, everything else is. The public have a right to know, what an un-elected official is up to. The plot thickens.

I'll tell you something about Trump.
You all remember when Trump got elected in 2016?
You remember the Christopher Steele dossier that claimed Trump went to Russia and got pee'd on by Russian prostitutes, which was all a lie?

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Pissgate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steele_dossier

- Well, it was actually a plan that never eventuated.
The plan was to get Trump to go over to Russia to build his Trump - Moscow hotel, and which point they planned to send prostitutes into his room and secretly film them with him to compromise him / or get dirt to stop him from winning the Presidency, but Trump didn't end up going to Moscow. What eventuated was the Deep State leaked the dossier to smear him with those allegations anyway.

http://twitter.com/RealGeorgeWebb1/status/1559935962586693635

And if you want to talk about 'weak opposition'
Why don't we all just face the facts that they're all weak leaders - ALL OF THEM

- Brought to you by UN agendas, climate change policies, identity politics, ethnicity quotas, Klaus Schwab's WEF Young Leaders group and his 'penetrate the cabinets' attitude, empowering women and minorities, empowering gay and trans, immigration quotas, indigenous empowerment, WHO mandates, compliance of big business and media, cancel culture, US overthrows and proxy wars etc..

Hi AC,

"they (Russians) planned to send prostitutes into his (Trump) room and secretly film them with him to compromise him / or get dirt to stop him from winning the Presidency."

I am shocked! The Russians are very ethical people, they wouldn't dream of such a thing. AND as for Mr Trump, he is a God fearing man, he wouldn't dream of sex outside of marriage, AND certainly not with prostitutes! Besides the Russians are so virtuous, no girl there would prostitute herself. AC you maybe confusing them with the ladies of the Moscow knitting circle, they were the ladies Vlad was sending around

I may not be too fond of the Greens Paul, but I do like your sense of humour.
- You don't realise it, but you often get a grin and a smile out of me.
I'm glad you bring this to the forum, rather than everything always being serious.

Pauliar,

As you are Trump fan No1 I am sure that you get off from watching his moves.

You alternate this between fawning over Hitler and goose-stepping in front of a mirror.

That's okay AC, each to his own, I have a couple of Labor mates in NSW, along with a couple of Liberal acquaintances as well, they're all okay by me.

Just of interest I read the Greens E-briefs from both federal and state MP's on the email, all are pro-active in their jobs, as one would expect. I would like to see ScumO's brief since being returned at the May election...." Hi constituents my report for the seat of COOK... I've had a holiday, been doing a bit of moonlighting, took Jan and girls out for a nosh up at Maccas, washed the dog, been to a few Sharky games, ah.. been to the temple of happy clappers half a dozen times....politics, well the bloody Labor mob has been bucketing on me for the past week, yes on me, little old backbencher Scotty. Parliament not sitting so I've got nowhere for doze, things are tough for your local MP P/S Does anyone in The Shire know where I can get a part time pizza delivery job that pays half a million a year?

Imagine if Scotty got a job at Goldman Sachs as Joshes assistant;

Josh; "Dumb S@#T sharpen me another pencil!"

Scotty; "Yes BOSS!"

Josh; "DON'T call me boss, I told you SFB, its Your Royal Highness!"

Scotty; "How I hate this job"