Tonight I have been out doing things rather art related (yeah I do try every now and then to do things in keeping with my day job), and so I don’t have time to do a full post on the glories of today (give me a break it’s 10:15pm already!).
In Question time the big deal of the day was that four Lib MPs, Dutton and Greg Hunt among them, and three ALP MPs got kicked in the first 20 minutes. Those numbers would have come in handy when Chris Pyne was “named” later in the session. The Opposition lost the vote to stop him being suspended for 24 hours by one vote. Silly boys and girls really.
Even more silly was the Opposition’s tactics. They had a gallery full of anti-tax, carbon price hating pensioners, and so they asked four questions on the issue before turning to asylum seekers!
Why on this day of all days would they do that? Maybe this pic of a sign taken by Latika Bourke at the event gives a hint:
or perhaps this one:
or this one:
It’s pretty obvious the rally was just a One Nation-redux, and with that kind of audience in the gallery it seemed odd that Abbott didn’t even move a censure motion on Gillard – because let’s face it he would have got lots of applause and cheers from his beloved clime change deniers, that would have played well on TV.
Instead what we see of Abbott is this:
Now look I don’t care too much about the signs – sure you don’t want to be on the side with the people holding the signs with “bitch” on it, or wearing t-shirts with Hitler – but it’s a free country, so long as the worst they can do is badly written signs with poor grammar, then fine. However, that doesn’t mean you need to associate yourself with them – especially if you are the Leader of the Opposition and it means you will be seen there talking in front of those signs.
Where the hell were his advisors? Let Bronwyn Bishop and the equally clueless Sophie Mirabella attend. Heck let Warren Truss and Barnaby Joyce do it – they’re talking to their own flock. But for a guy who in the latest Newspoll has a dissatisfaction rating of 54%, the way to win back the moderate supporters is not done by standing on a stage being framed by a sign saying “JuLiar is Bob Browns BITCH”
When I saw it I thought the same thing Richard Farmer mentioned in today’s Crikey – it reminded me of John Hewson attending rallies in the 1993 election yelling “Labor’s got to go”. As Graham Richardson described it – not only was it stupid, it was stupid often. It will be interesting to see if Abbott goes for the often bit as well.
And lastly, why is he standing next to Bishop and Mirabella? Where were his real deputies – Julie Bishop and Joe Hockey? Where was Malcolm Turnbull? My guess is they saw who organised the rally, saw who supported the rally (such as , and saw the signs at the rally, and made damn sure no TV camera would see them there.
Mom?? Yeah in Australia we say Mum, but I guess if you really want to seem like the real Tea Party you need to adopt Americanisms as well.
But look, if your “mom” is cold, get her to put on a jumper, that should keep her warm at a rally on a coolish day in Canberra.
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