Unless you have been living under a rock, you would know that the LNP coalition had a leadership spill that resulted in the retention of Tony Abbott as leader and Prime Minister.
There are numerous commentary pieces speculating that this is just the beginning of the end of the reign (pun totally intended) of Tony Abbott.
But what does this mean?
Ultimately, it means that Tony Abbott continues to lead the government and passing LNP policies for the betterment of Australia...........wait, what? Honestly, it means, he will likely continue his grandstanding theatrics blaming the Labor government for his woes and whining about the fact that Australians don't like his budget.
This game of point the finger is old, it is done and it is so blatantly wrong that it makes me physically react when people repeat the pathetic one sentence slogans dribbled by LNP cronies during the 2013 hate campaign.
There are so many armchair economists that eat up the nonsense fed by the Murdoch press without a thought to common sense or the basics of economics.
Let us look at the Global Financial Crisis as one example. The LNP grandstand about debt and deficit and draw out the drama of "debt crisis" more than a stare down in the Bold and the Beautiful.
Any LNP voters out there, stop reading now because your strongly held views are going to be outraged at what I have to say.
We did not have a debt crisis, nor did the Abbott government inherit a debt crisis. We are a globalised and developed economy that was facing certain recession, along with the rest of the world, in a GLOBAL crisis. This GLOBAL crisis ought to have had us plunging into recession like other nations given our interdependent economies.
But that did not happen. Why?
Because the economists working for the Labor government at the time, devised a stimulus package to stimulate an economy in danger. There are many that criticise the means, method and manner the stimulus package was distributed, but the fact remains - using sound economic principles, the Labor government managed to avoid our economy delving into a recession by stimulating the economy.
You don't need to take my word for it if you are hell bent on ignoring facts. How about Nobel Prize laureate and Professor at New York's Columbia University and one of the top economists of the world, Joseph Stiglitz, who commended the Labor government's efforts to stimulate the economy and said:
"Australia's stimulus, as rolled out during the GFC was among the best designed in the world."So the hate smear campaign of the Abbott lead coalition, is simply that, a hate campaign. This hate and exploitation of privately owned media assets (which are monopolised by a right wing nut job) to feed fear, lies and hate to the Australian public is not honourable, it is not statesman-like and it is certainly not befitting a public servant who's duty is to serve the public at large.
Instead, we have a political leader who is a corporate puppet. He heeds to advice and develops policies to please the few who control the big business in Australia and this is not in the best interests of this nation.
There are countless Australians that are exasperated with the state of Australian politics and on a daily basis I hear and read varying comments of the same theme:
They are all the same.
Why bother, they all lie.
I completely understand this sentiment because, well, look at where we are and who we have leading us. Look at the numerous ICAC enquiries and the cover ups. Look at the exorbitant expense claims. Look at the advertising campaigns costing millions upon millions of dollars. Look at the corporate prioritisation and cronyism. All funded by tax payers.
Modern politics is not democracy. Democracy has been forgotten.
I know that we (well definitely not me personally) elected his government, but I refuse the believe that if Australians were not bombarded with hate campaigns and lies, that they would have elected such a spiteful and deceptive character.
The Australian political landscape needs to have a shake up. Things need to change and there needs to be a re-balance of power with the privately owned media within Australia so that there is not an abuse of such power as has been occurring for a number of years with the LNP benefiting.
There needs to be greater honesty with the policies that each party intends to introduce, slogans simply do not cut it.
I have taken the liberty of providing some summary points of the major political parties and the major portfolio areas, so you can think about where you are aligned and dig a little deeper if necessary before the next election.
Health
Liberal / National Coalition consider the health care system is unsustainable and seek to gradually introduce the American model. They seek to start this by shelving the Labor plan to introduce basic dentistry into the scheme and even went so far as to introduce policies such as the $7 co-payment and the underhanded cutting of the medical practitioner rebate, thus making practitioners be the bad guy by increasing their fees.
The Labor party are strong opposition to the proposed LNP changes. The LNP have provided data in support of Medicare retention, in fact, they propose to expand the scope of Medicare to provide great access to health and basic dental services for all Australians, especially the most vulnerable.
The Greens party consider that Medicare ought to be expanded and are also strong opposition to the LNP cuts to Medicare and the health portfolio generally. The Greens have been very vocal about the detriment of health cuts to Australians.
Education
The Liberal / National Coalition seek to make cuts to education and also deregulate university fees which will widen the gap of who can and cannot afford higher education.
The Labor and Greens oppose these changes and are strong advocates for the importance of education and the Gillard Government's Gonski reforms.
Welfare
Once again the LNP are seeking to make cuts and are ever suspicious of Australians. There is no dollar figure put to the public as yet.
Both Labor and the Greens consider reform is required to address any wastage, however, both parties disagree with cuts to the most vulnerable members of society.
There are social implications to cutting welfare including but not limited to, the rise of the homeless population, the rise of domestic violence, increased incidence of drug use and a rise in crime levels.
Science/Climate
LNP - denial of climate change and suspicious of science.
Labor is pragmatic about climate change and seeks to make corporate Australia respond and address the issue by reducing emissions through the Carbon tax. Labor also saw the value in CSIRO and other organisations aimed at the betterment of society through science.
The Greens are passionate about the climate and its impact on the Australian environmental landscape, the Greens have strong proposals for addressing climate change which need to be given some thought.
Immigration/Human Rights
Tony Abbott refers to refugees as "illegal immigrants" - enough said. Has unleashed his attack dog (Morrison) to cause as much suffering and grief upon these people who are fleeing war zones, oppression and persecution.
Labor, not much better sadly. Bowing down to community fear and prejudice by enacting policies for offshore detention and processing.
The Greens have immense humanity and are the only political advocates for these vulnerable people who want nothing more than to rest their head at night safely and know that their family is also resting their heads safely. Sarah Hanson-Young should be commended for her dogged determination in standing up for the vulnerable.
Indigenous People
Tony Abbott is the Minister for Indigenous Affairs - this is not even close to being acceptable. One of his first decisions was to cut $600 million from grass roots programs aimed at empowering and equalising Indigenous Australians.
Labor gave us the apology and disappointingly little else, but I do believe that if given more time, they would have made more difference in this area. I am certain there is plenty more to see in this space because young Labor has some very passionate Indigenous advisers.
The Greens are the political party that understands the interrelationship of the environment and Indigenous people. The Greens have strong policies for Indigenous Affairs that ought to be considered by the government.
Australians, on the whole, pride themselves on their "fair dinkum" qualities, their mateship, and their "fair go for everyone" attitudes, until that everyone is someone of colour, someone of a specific religion or sexual orientation.
Australians need to get real, get informed and live up to the standards we so proudly announce on days such as Australia Day, ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day.
To the politicians and public servants working for political parties, enough is enough. We do not care who started the finger pointing or who gave you a noogie. What we care about is what you stand for; your policies, not your slogans. We do not want to have to choose "best of a bad bunch" when voting. We would like Australia to become a true democracy again where we can feel the importance of our vote and hold our heads high that the leader of this nation is a leader of integrity.
Stop disappointing us. Stop pointing fingers. Stop thinking of the nation as a business - it is a nation of humans, not numbers.
Start working hard. Start earning your keep. Start conducting yourselves with integrity. Start being collegiate with one another and working towards the betterment of the nation together.
Consider it co-parenting a nation. When two people who hate each other parent a child, the child ends up damaged. Likewise for a nation. When two major political parties spray hate and vitriol constantly - the nation becomes damaged.
Grow up. Understand the grave importance of your role and show the Australian public some damn appreciation by introducing policies that seek to build not tear down. Yes Tony, Joe, Julie, Chris and Scott - I am talking to you, and I am not alone!
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