''Some people are freelancing...They do not speak for the Coalition. They don't even speak for the National Party or the Liberal Party,'' a frustrated Mr Hockey said this week, pointedly adding that frontbenchers had a ''responsibility'' to be part of the team.
But Mr Abbott today said Mr Joyce was ''a local'' who lived very near to Cubbie Station.
''I can understand why Barnaby and local people feel strongly about this,'' Mr Abbott said.
One senior Liberal said there was a lot of frustration about the special rules for Mr Joyce.

''Everyone is talking about it..no one can understand how he gets away with it. But he always does.''
''Tony seems to treat Barnaby with kid gloves,'' said another.

One senior Liberal insisted Mr Abbott had ''repeatedly'' spoken to Mr Joyce, ''but he just ignores him.''
Asked if Mr Abbott had tried to pull Mr Joyce into line his spokesman said the Coalition leader ''talked to his colleagues all of the time''.
Normal rules of shadow cabinet solidarity rules still apply to other Coalition frontbenchers. Malcolm Turnbull, for instance, was condemned for even implicit criticism of the opposition's climate change policy. Several frontbenchers will be forced to vote against the gay marriage bills currently before the Parliament, and against their privately-held views, because Mr Abbott has refused a conscience vote.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/solidarity-rule-doesnt-apply-to-joyce-angry-coalition-mps-20120905-25dx7.html#ixzz25ZGbcoAA

Former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull has taken a swipe at his own party's tactics in Question Time, saying Australians have come to see the Federal Parliament as "nothing more than a forum for abuse, catcalling and spin".

Mr Turnbull made the comments in a wide-ranging speech on "Republican virtues" at the University of Western Australia last night.

He said the Opposition's questions for the past two years have been almost entirely focused on people smuggling and the carbon tax, and questioned whether they were the only important issues facing Australia.

"If you love your country, have an interest in politics or policy, and care deeply about our nation’s future, there is nothing more certain to arouse your fury and invite your contempt than listening to an entire House of Representatives Question Time," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-06/turnbull-takes-a-swipe-at-coalition-tactics/4245598?WT.svl=news0

About time... Kick Abbott in the budgies, Malcolm... see toon from top down... And don't forget that Abbott is a committed Royalist — a catholic swearing allegiance to the anglican queen... Go figure...

Hi Gus.

Whilst the majority of Australians would doubtless share Malcolm Turnbull’s view that there is a ‘deficit of trust’ in Australian public life, his call for the modification of our political system to mirror that of the UK is hardly the solution.

Only this week, the Independent published a report from the organisation, YouGov, on the rise in disillusionment of the British electorate & the corresponding collapse in public trust, occasioned by the chronic propensity of politicians to lie, deceive, cheat, obfuscate & double-deal.

What Malcolm & his ilk on all sides of politics can’t accept is that the problem is not the design of ‘the system’ but rather the attitudes & behaviour of its operators.

As long as we let our leaders believe that being clever is better than being good & that the only real concern that anyone should have about committing a crime is to ensure that they don’t get caught, we will all be accomplices to, as well as victims of, their crimes.

Cheers,

John.

Yes John...

I blame the Merde-och press and Tony Abbott for everything that rots...

It's too late for me to enter politics and between you, me and an Obeid lamppost, I've made too many mistakes while being too human at times... Or was I being silly, idiotic or sociopathic? I know that all sides of politics have rotters and clowns in them but I prefer to point the finger at the really really rotten clowns... Meanwhile I hope that pigs can fly the day politicians become "good" and be accepted as such by a rotten media... The art of politics is not very scientific and relies on various amount of bullshit in order to achieve something... Back to where I started:

I blame the Merde-och press and Tony Abbott for everything that rots...

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I misunderstood Malcolm, poor baby:

In his lecture delivered last night, Malcolm Turnbull does not single out Tony Abbott for criticism. Indeed, at one stage he praised Abbott's determination to "make very few promises before the next election and only to make ones he knows he can keep", and contrasts this with Julia Gillard's broken promise on the carbon tax.

As somebody who attends every question time, anecdotally, it is safe to say that at least 80 per cent, even more, of opposition questions over the past 18 months would have been on the carbon tax 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-plague-on-both-sides-of-the-house-20120906-25fqs.html#ixzz25eQ8A2PT

I still blame the Merde-och press and Tony Abbott for everything that rots...