“Jesus I am sick of this rabble of a government of ours – if it is not making an ass of itself in its handling of relations with our biggest trading partner it is attacking the little bloke’s Super – all of this is inspired by the twisted ideology of the IPA and the ASPI that leads it to think that we will all go to Heaven in the long run if we just follow Donald Trump and stamp out Communism and foreigners in general and anyone who does not contribute funds to the Liberal Party”
That is taken verbatim from the comments section of either The Age or The Guardian, on December 15, 2020. I can’t re-find the article it commented on, but I thought it might be interesting to fact-check the comment. It is, without doubt, one pithy statement of despair.
… if it is not making an ass of itself …
So far Scott Morrison has managed to dig, deeper and deeper, the hole he started back in April 2020, and is covered here Morrison, China and Aged Care. In short, he went out, on his own, repeating Donald Trump’s deranged accusation that China had manufactured the coronavirus in a laboratory. He then called for an enquiry into China, and the World Health Organization (WHO), because Donald Trump didn’t like them that day.
He has continued to challenge China at every step, as Australia, which has an economy less than one quarter the size of the Chinese economy, struggles to repair the damage caused by Morrison’s lickspittle approach to foreign affairs. China has decided to wage an informal trade war with Australia.
Some of the products affected include barley, beef, wine, coal and cotton. Each one of those industries is suffering hardship, due to a shocking drought, bushfires, a global pandemic which caused at least a global recession, and mass unemployment. But never fear – our anti-Communist warrior steps up the rhetoric, demands apologies over cartoons printed in China, takes them to the World Trade Organization (WTO) court because other coal is even worse than ours. His Trade Minister cannot get through on the phone to even discuss the dispute. Result – factual.
… attacking the little bloke’s Super
There are some really stupid policies which defy reason. While Morrison was throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at the likes of Solomon Lew and Anthony Pratt, he allowed his unaccountably innumerate Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to allow Australians to prematurely raid their Superannuation balances. This is known as the ‘let them eat cake’ response to hardship, and it showed the utter contempt that this rabble of a Government feels for its citizens. Let them eat crumbs when they retire, from people sitting on 15.4% superannuation benefits while gutting the country. Good work if you can get it!
They then decided that they would not allow the already legislated rise in the Superannuation Guarantee from 9.5%, arguing that it would hold back wages growth. As Paul Keating explained, that amounts to about $8 a week, which in some parts of the country means two coffees.
Their next step is classical double-think. They want to allow the retail super funds to continue to underperform, while raking off millions in profits, from fees for underperforming. Remember the Banking Royal Commission. Well, they don’t.
And in a government which describes itself as pro-market, they want to hobble the industry super funds, with specious enquiries, led by such intellectual titans as Tim Wilson and James Paterson. These two were produced by the twerp factory, otherwise known as the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), which specialises in turning out otherwise unemployable spivs in shiny suits, who constantly whine about organisations such as the ABC and the Industry super funds, which out-perform their market-based competitors every day of the week.
So, allowing the disadvantaged to access their super early, reducing the Super Guarantee, setting the Italian greyhounds onto the Industry super funds really DOES amount to attacking the little bloke’s super, so the result of the fact check – Correct.
… twisted ideology of the IPA and the ASPI
Many current members of the Liberal Government are also members of the IPA. Here is a roll-call. Abetz, Birmingham, Cash, Christensen, Cormann, Evans, Fletcher, Frydenberg, Hawke, Hunt, McGrath, Morrison, Paterson, Porter, Roberts, Ryan, Stoker, Dean Smith, Tony Smith, Tehan, Tudge, and Tim Wilson. All are affiliates of the Global Atlas Network, supported by right-wing loonies who hail from the U.S.A.
That would be where they get the passion for no minimum wage, and no health care. Past members include Abbott, Howard, and let us always remember that one can be a member of any number of cults at the same time. Scott Morrison is also a current member of the IPA. To read up on their policies, start here IPA is wrecking our democracy
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is a think tank, based in Canberra. It appears to be funded by several foreign countries, with an anti-China thread running through its fabric. It is also funded by arms manufacturers, and there seems to be a bit of old-fashioned anti-Communism thrown in.
ASPI’s 2018-19 annual report stated that it received some funding from the Embassy of Japan and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia, as well as from state governments and defence companies, such as Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Thales Group, and Raytheon Technologies.[7][8]
Most of the policies of these two ‘think tanks’ appear to present at least a danger to Australians, and our peaceful pursuit of a good life. These ideas are mostly imported from the U.S. The Morrison Government is clearly captive to foreign influence, and it is unashamedly drawn to the American neoliberal experiment. The entire Government should be forced to register as an agent of foreign influence. Twisted ideology? – Correct
We will all go to Heaven in the long run …
… if we just follow Donald Trump and stamp out Communism and foreigners in general and anyone who does not contribute funds to the Liberal Party.
I don’t know about this last statement. Clearly Scott Morrison believes it. Fact check – inconclusive.
Mark Buckley is a writer based in regional Victoria. He has a particular interest in politics, history and ethics in public life. He blogs at www.askbucko.com
Comments
5 responses to “This rabble of a government”
Astute article Mark, and here are two more that bookend yours from a stable mate at MWM. It’s an entirely new series which commenced Boxing Day:
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/inside-australias-secret-rich-list/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/investigation-how-political-donations-protect-a-cosy-loophole-for-australias-plutocrats/
Mark’s remarks seem at first to be ‘tongue in cheek’ until you realize how accurate his analysis actually is. The LNP Government under Morrison seems to have totally lost the plot!What amazes me is that the Nationals are seeing their so called supporters base, the rural industries and farmers being destroyed in the illogical fight with China.
One lives in hope that 2021 will have to be an improvement on 2020, it could not get any worse? Could it???
One thing is for sure, Morrison absolutely believes in Corporate Socalism, no question about that at all.
So, until the Murdoch protection racket is negated by every means possible, and the fradulent IPA NFP (in name only – A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a non-business entity,[1] not-for-profit organization,[2] or nonprofit institution,[3] is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or
social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners” is the vehicle which Murdoch uses for his ‘business’ interests, and IMHO should have been closed down years ago.
Not so easy to do when musical chairs have been played by all and sundry with regulatory secondements into these very institutions which are meant to safeguard the public interest.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/10/27/scott-morrison-government-corruption/
One can guarantee there will be no Robodebt with Morrison’s corporate and billionaire welfare mates.
They often don’t even have to even fill in an application form to get millions, it’s happened several times with Murdoch alone. The best one is where they pay him repeatedly to push more women’s sport, then the ABC have to pay Foxtel to play the content. Australians pay twice, what a nice stitch up.
Meanwhile, Morrison parades as a Christian to gaslight us, and I’m damned if I can find any reference in the Bible that says: “Blessed are the rich”.
In the Gospels it actually says :
“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”. Funny that.
So he’s messing with our heads when he says what he follows is in any way related to the teachings of Jesus, unless you reverse everything the purported Jesus is claimed to have said.
I was recently watching an old video on Youtube of the late 1950s series called “The Adventures of Robin Hood”, after the well known character (myth or otherwise) who gained respect because took from the mean spirited rich to give to the tax ridden poor.
Here’s a quote below from Richard Green who played the part of Robin when he was talking to a man called Hawkins:
” These are strange times Hawkins, when the Sheriff protects those who steal, and brands as ‘thieves’ those who return the stolen goods”.
Yep, Morrison I thought.
A reverse Robin Hood and the opposite of anything Christian as well.
What a fake.
Sir,
Your contribution tells me how misguided the Australian government and its advisors have been in their anti-communist stand. It is simplistic and at times risible. It reminds me of a number of interviews by journalists of Singapore’s late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. I remember him stating that the best way that the West can help combat communism in the SEA region is to trade with them to improve their economies. What he said is as true today as when he said it in the 1970s. I could not race the source of his remarks but a speech by him to the Joint Meeting of the US Congress on the 9th of Oct. 1985, available from the Singapore Archives, expresses an almost similar idea:
“The success of the countries in East and Southeast Asia has caused much
of the Third World to rethink their policies. Once infatuated with socialist
economic policies of nationalisation and autarchy, Third World nations have now
come to see that stagnation and decay have followed these policies. More and
more Third World nations are seeking a better life for their peoples by opening
their doors to trade and investments.” (Lee Kuan Yew, 1985 from: https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/lky19851009.pdf)
The war in Vietnam has proven how futile it is to use military force against communism or autarky. Improving the lives of poor people has always been a better strategy. Even if we look at China over the last thirty years, we see that it has abandoned many of its previously extreme policies of disallowing private ownership of property or free movement of its people or free trade with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, under Trump, the US had abandoned the previous US governments’ positive engagement with the Asian region that was the subject of LKY praise and turned inwards to an America first policy.
Sincerely,
Teow Loon Ti