from Crikey …..

Abbott does a runner from any sense in parliament

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

CRAIG THOMSON, TONY ABBOTT

Run, Abbott, run.

The spectacle of the leader of the opposition and alternative prime minister attempting to flee the House of Representatives chamber this morning, even to the extent of hammering on the doors to be let out, adds a particularly undignified note to the farce which the Craig Thomson affair has become. Only, in this case it is one that is entirely of Abbott's making.

The opposition has been unable to get its story straight on this idea of a "tainted vote" - it was happy to accept the vote of Senator Mary Jo Fisher, who unlike Thomson was actually charged with an offence and found guilty of it last year. Fisher also continued to sit in the Liberal Party room. Joe Hockey at his recent budget reply speech (remember the budget?) didn't rule out accepting the vote of Thomson. Now the opposition leadership team is bolting for the exits and pounding on doors.

Abbott decried Thomson walking across the aisle as a government stunt, despite Thomson voting against a motion to silence Joe Hockey. Instead, it is the opposition itself that has consistently relied on stunts in relation to Thomson: George Brandis (oops, almost forgot the "SC"), self-appointed Rortfinder-General of the parliament, dispatching letters offering his jurisprudential expertise to police on what they should be doing; Abbott theatrically declaring sympathy for Thomson and imploring him to leave politics for his own sake; Eric "Godwin Grech" Abetz yesterday declaring another "smoking gun" in Estimates that proved anything but.

There are great benefits for the opposition in driving Thomson from politics of course, and in creating a constant atmosphere of mayhem. But too often it appears to have let any sense of good judgment and an understanding that in politics what goes around comes around be overridden by Abbott's conviction that just a little more chaos, just one more aggressive stunt will get him into the Lodge - not in 2013, but now.

In doing so he has not merely raised further questions about his own judgment but littered parliament with political precedents for future oppositions to use against him should he become prime minister. And now he has readily sacrified his own dignity in that cause as well.

The government, the labour movement and most of all Thomson himself have all been badly damaged by this affair. But Abbott has done himself and his party no favours either.

Cooler heads should have prevailed among the opposition. But Abbott, it is clearer than ever, is no cool head.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says posters that depict him as racist, homophobic and sexist are "tacky and not funny".

The posters, displayed inside the Sydney electorate office of Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, carry the slogans: "I'm threatened by boats and gays. Gays on boats are my worst nightmare" and also "Note to Ladies: Make me a sandwich".
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop told parliament yesterday she was outraged by the posters and called for Ms Plibersek to apologise.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/ministers-gays-on-boats-poster-upsets-abbott-20120601-1zlac.html#ixzz1wUnHo9Px
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Despite most of the members of parliament, grovelling to honorably stay above thou's arse, decry the satire, these posters actually depict Abbott's hypocrisy very well when he himself stands in front of posters saying "ditch the bitch" or something like it.... Hypocrisy of the highest order... 

 

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Having spent months inciting a people's revolt, Tony Abbott needs to take responsibility for the revolting tactics of his ''revolutionaries''.

Like many Australians, I was stunned to see the Leader of the Opposition and his some of his frontbench colleagues standing in front of a placard referring to the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, as ''Bob Brown's bitch''.  It defies belief that none of them read this sign before standing in front of it.

However, Mr Abbott's response to the abusive chants of ''ditch the bitch'' from protesters was far more disturbing. Rather than seeking to calm the crowd or reminding them that this language was inappropriate, Mr Abbott seemed to be lapping it up.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/blogs/gengreens/unbecoming-mr-abbott-20110328-1cd3k.html#ixzz1wUyxVypT

 

 

I hurried to correct the obvious mistakes in the photograph above to post the "photograph" below on 24 March 2011:

 

And dear Tanya, please let the satirists do the job...

Having theses funny posters in your office only bring you down to his gutter level... You are better than that...

from blogotariat...

 

Meanwhile, pretty miss Burke is feeling like abusing herself:

Deputy Speaker Anna Burke says parliamentary standards are probably the lowest they have been in her 14 years in politics.

Ms Burke is standing in for Speaker Peter Slipper and says the mood in the House of Representatives chamber over the past few weeks has been incredibly intense.

"The personal vitriol that I think you're hearing, I don't think I've heard over those 14 years ... that ferocity that's gone on for the last three weeks I've been in the chair," she said.

Ms Burke says the poor behaviour has also been reflected in her constituency.

"That level of intensity and civility from constituents has gone up, the nastiness in emails, the tone of them is certainly there," she said.

"If I said to somebody some of the stuff constituents write to me, you know, 'This woman's terrible, she's unkind and demeaning, how dare she' ... I cop it day in, day out."

Former Democrats leader Natasha Stott-Despoja has told ABC News Breakfast she cannot recall the level of nastiness reaching current levels before.

"I've been out of Parliament for almost four years now and I can't remember comparable scenes. I was in almost 13 years," she said.

"Even visiting recently, I was shocked by the venom of some of the discussions in the place. Really sad I think."

Former Howard government foreign minister Alexander Downer disagreed, saying the level of negativity is being overstated.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-01/deputy-speaker-decries-parliamentary-standards/4046096?WT.svl=news1

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Sure Mr Clowner... Most of the abuses come from your side of politics — Tony Abbott's Liberals (conservatives) all trying to unsettle the Labor government which for my money is doing a decent enough job on most issues apart from Assange and Israel...

And in regard to insults and so forth in the Canberranean cave of parliament, Miss Burke, you are obviously too young to remember the seventies' doozies, the eighties' drinking contests and the nineties' punch-ups... 

Lived experience is a strong antidote to whipped-up fear. Peter Lewis and Jackie Woods say that for the first time since the Government's carbon price was announced, support for the scheme has moved into positive territory.

Thank goodness for 'peaceful invasions' and 'slush funds'. Things would be looking thin for an Opposition with many months to fill before the next federal election and a public less and less convinced that the python squeeze is going to be fatal after all.

Turns out that python might just be giving us a cuddle.

Carbon pricing has been the relentless political story of the past two years, with Abbott's ability to neatly package the government's scheme as both 'a great big new tax' and a 'big lie' putting a stranglehold on support for the reform.

Since the deal with the Greens was announced in February 2011, support has hovered in the mid to high 30s, while opposition climbed from the high 40s to low 50s.

But lived experience is a strong antidote to whipped-up fear; and for the first time since the scheme was announced, this week's Essential Report shows support for it has moved into positive territory.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4393018.html?WT.svl=theDrum