I’m kind of glad that Abbott did not make the promises to the independents he would have to have made to get support. The letter to Oakeshott making fairly specific promises about roads, hospitals and a university camus is not the way I want our government to be run. I am sure Abbott would have made similar promises – I’m just glad he did not.
It all resembles some of the bad things about US politics – pork, earmarks and all. The US is trying to get rid of those, we are adding them.
The worst of the lot was the offer of a ministry to Oakeshott. He said that had nothing to do with the negotiations. Does he believe he was chosen for his great abilities and government experience?
I’ll bet Gillard is, after hearing his rambling speech yesterday, hoping she can get out of the offer. And of course, if he does go into the ministry and proves incompetent she won’t dare fire him.
As many have pointed out, any legislation will need to be negotiated with the independents and the Greens. None of them has undertaken to support the government on anything except supply and no confidence motions. But it’s probably worse – we’ll get horsetrading “I’ll support that if you do this..”
No good can come of any of this. But I am not sure it would have been much better under a Coalition government hobbled in the same way.
Yes we dodged a bullet when Abbott refused to be drawn into an auction with the ALP.
Rafe
8 Sep 10 at 12:31 pm
The Opposition will target the bejesus out of Minister Oakeshott. Expenditure, minutiae, old anti-Labor comments, letters from country constituents he isn’t helping/funding/saving/listening to etc. It will popcorn viewing.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 12:34 pm
I’m not sure he refused, Rafe. I seems he was outbid.
Ken n
8 Sep 10 at 12:39 pm
The hilarity begins:
Cracks emerge over mining tax.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 12:50 pm
Oakeshitt must be the most despised man in the country and perhaps even beating happy Hamilton to the title.
JC
8 Sep 10 at 12:52 pm
I would still have preferred Libs to win – they may have been hamstrung, with ALP will give too much. Katter was on Sunrise this morning, and said he thought the Coalition would have been more stable, since their weren’t as many interests to pander to.
Fleeced
8 Sep 10 at 1:23 pm
Yes, I’m sure Abbott made offers too, but evidently, somewhat less. I really, really hope Oakeshott accepts the ministry.
Fleeced
8 Sep 10 at 1:25 pm
I’m loving this new found attraction on the part of Windsor and Oakeshott (unfortunate name for Catallaxians, don’t you think, our hero and all – Michael that is) to government stability – yeh, three years of being in the spotlight and hauling in the treasures associated with the pork-barelling. I’m not so convinced that the Australian people give a toss about stability – better to truck along to the polling booth than put up with lousy government. Just ask the good folk of NSW.
And as for Tony Windsor’s admission that he needed to support Labor because his name-sake would win an early election – surely this gives the game away. As Paul Kelly so ironically noted, ‘ethical pork-barrelling’, mmmmmmmmmmmm
The only upside is the three, or now two, amigos will have to put in more of an effort around the parliament – like turn up at divisions, lest the government fall. Their previous performances have been less than impressive, with Katter and Oakeshott failing to achieve even a pass mark. Naughties boys who are now working in the national interest.
Judith Sloan
8 Sep 10 at 1:29 pm
It would also be nice if Rob ‘Fidel’ Oakeshott would just shut up: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/rob-oakeshott-says-he-weighed-up-offers-from-tony-abbott-that-got-bigger-and-better/story-fn59niix-1225915866955.
We don’t care – just enjoy the $75 million for the Port Macquarie Base Hospital and other assorted goodies.
But don’t kid yourself that you did not support LABOR – maybe he is getting lessions in SPIN from the Sussex Street boys.
Judith Sloan
8 Sep 10 at 1:52 pm
Oakeshitt
I prefer the epithet Oakesnott. But to each their own.
TimT
8 Sep 10 at 1:55 pm
If Oakeshott is smart (which he’s not) he’ll keep getting photographed with his wife and cute kids, because it’s his only redeeming feature.
Infidel Tiger
8 Sep 10 at 1:57 pm
Horse trading is nothing new. All that is different about this is that the horse trading is out in the open. The fall of Kevin illustrates that MPs, even those inside the tent, don’t just want to be treated like somebody elses rubber stamp. The great thing about this is that the public get to see how sausages are made. I didn’t want an ALP government but I don’t mind this theatre for a couple of years. It’s kind of refreshing.
TerjeP
8 Sep 10 at 1:59 pm
Horse trading is nothing new. All that is different about this is that the horse trading is out in the open.
That is just lame. There *is* going to be more horse trading. The ALP has some degree of party discipline. If Julia had some reformist instincts in her, she would’ve been able to give fuller vent to them than she is now. There are now cancerous Greens and country socialists in the tent. I would much rather have preferred an ALP govt able to govern effectively to this. The *only* redeeming feature is an early election may be called once it all falls apart
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 2:05 pm
On Price and Bolt’s radio show:
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 2:15 pm
This alliance will reinforce all the worst aspects of Labor while stifling all its good parts.
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 2:17 pm
The bookies don’t reckon it’ll survive:
http://centrebet.com/cust?action=GoSports&flash_enabled=1&bir_only=N
Infidel Tiger
8 Sep 10 at 2:18 pm
No Ken, we neeeeed Oakschott in a ministry! And Brandt, each one if possible. Plus Rudd.
This is really going to be something to behold….
Chris M
8 Sep 10 at 2:22 pm
Still I hope that Gillard makes wise decisions and governs well.
And that the Libs do some policy work so when they are re-elected they can do some of the things that need to be done.
Ken Nielsen
8 Sep 10 at 2:22 pm
Chairwoman Kim attacks the press for not celebrating
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2010/09/08/the-tony-windsor-furphy-the-press-and-opposition-are-spreading/
The performance of the press gallery has been a disgrace over the last couple of days. From a journo loudly proclaiming “f*ck” during Rob Oakeshott’s press conference to the press pack applauding Tony Abbott at his, it’s been most unedifying. Not to mention the ridiculous impatience during the Independents’ press conference displayed on Twitter by all the wits of the journosphere.
Perhaps most risible, and most disturbing, has been the willingness, nay desperation, of the press to find a talking point which would fit the narrative that the Labor minority government is somehow illegitimate.
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 2:22 pm
Larvatus Pravda
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 2:24 pm
“…to find a talking point which would fit the narrative that the Labor minority government is somehow illegitimate.”
Like that’s a big ask.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 2:25 pm
ABC: Cracks open in new Federal Government.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 2:29 pm
This post by Homer’s hero and playschool character possum is being lauded all over the leftosphere
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2010/09/08/let-the-great-unhinging-begin/
There will be an angry that we haven’t seen for a long time, from a group of disgruntled political zealots.
The Liberal and National parties have a profoundly successful ability at attracting a disproportional quantity of the most embittered, politically pungent elements of Australian society as supporters – a dark, angry, belligerent underbelly that believes the only acceptable outcome of any political contest is the one they believe in.
A large proportion of the Coalition vote base believes there is one and only one acceptable outcome in politics – theirs. And it is this zealotry that will explode.
The temptation for the Opposition to continue to exploit this belligerence, as they so successfully did in the lead up to the campaign and in the campaign itself, will be overwhelming. When all that stands between the Opposition and a new election – a new chance at *power* – is one scandal, one stuff up, one member of parliament changing – the attraction of flicking the switch to rhetorical overdrive for effect, and righteous indignation to incite their masses, will simply be too great. No distortion will be too large, no lie too audacious, no accusation too brazen.
And they will be ably assisted and their supporters commercially exploited, by the leadership and opinion section of The Australian – not to mention the curmudgeonly Lesser Scribes infesting the sewer end of the News Ltd tabloids and that growing group of feeble minded cowards at the ABC whom appear to have lost any capacity for intellectual autonomy when it comes to independently assessing the dynamics of Australian politics.
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 2:36 pm
Gee it’s interesting how people see things differently. This is from Core Economics by Joshua Gans-
The Coalition lost because of broadband. Specifically, they had a policy of not doing anything on broadband when it turned out that regional Australia really wanted something done. This is ironic because the Coalition’s objection to broadband was the expenditure of public funds. Yet this was only done as a superior alternative to doing nothing and doing something half-baked as Labor had proposed at the 2007 election. For years, I had advocated using market design to get a National Broadband Network in a cost effective and flexible manner. But rather than think hard about the economics the Coalition abdicated consideration of the issue. They deserved to lose precisely because they refused to govern. Hopefully, they will take a long hard look at their appeal to mediocrity and think about whether that it is really working for them.”
I’m not saying Gans is utterly wrong, just that he is looking from a different position and seeing something quite different.
Ken Nielsen
8 Sep 10 at 2:39 pm
Shorter Gans: if the Coalition had listened to me on broadband I’d be more complimentary
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 2:42 pm
“a dark, angry, belligerent underbelly that believes the only acceptable outcome of any political contest is the one they believe in.”
Unlike the ALP which is always gracious and accepting in defeat.
Who said “maintain the rage”?
Ken Nielsen
8 Sep 10 at 2:44 pm
“…he is looking from a different position and seeing something different.”
He certainly is.
The Coalition won a sizeable swing, the popular vote, the two party-preferred vote and the most seats.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 2:45 pm
So that’s Possum letting the facade drop now that the election’s over. When he was ‘proving’ that the Rudd government’s pink batts scheme was a great antidote to house fires, Homer told us he was a strictly impartial expert.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 2:53 pm
Where is Homer? Probably manning the shredders at ALP HQ.
Infidel Tiger
8 Sep 10 at 2:57 pm
I love Gans
He’s always been a good little German when it comes to labor. In fact he was the last man holding the flag for fuel and lettuce watch.
He’s another one into this nation building schtick .
Honestly what the he’ll is wrong with the academy these days because all these ratty ideas and mental dysfunction seems to be coming from a whole cadre of numb nut academics.
Katter looks like a genius compared to this current academy infestation.
Jc..
8 Sep 10 at 3:00 pm
“Where is Homer? Probably manning the shredders at ALP HQ.”
Yes where is the reprobate.
Mumbles turned all political? Shocking that, especially after that greet work he did proving that the lurch Rudd insulation fiasco saved houses from burring down.
Jc..
8 Sep 10 at 3:05 pm
Possum, JC.
Not Mumbles.
C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 3:08 pm
Possum, Mumbles and Poll Bludger
Homer’s Holy trinity
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 3:08 pm
Yea right. It’s possum. Mumbles is the poll expert homer latched onto.
Jc..
8 Sep 10 at 3:11 pm
Jase
Isn’t mumbles and poll bludger the same dude or is homer cross-referencing now?
Jc..
8 Sep 10 at 3:13 pm
nah, I think they’re different though they do the same thing.
A bit like the Father and the Holy Ghost
jtfsoon
8 Sep 10 at 3:16 pm
Hey light relief – Google has a new product called Google Scribe.
It figures out what you are trying to say.
Doesn’t always work, though:
“The ALP won the Nobel Prize for the best experience in games because they are honest.”
Ken Nielsen
8 Sep 10 at 3:20 pm
Ken
Damn.. You found what Homer uses.
That last comment is definitely a homerism.
Did he find a job with google.
Hey homer, are you working for google as their in-house scribe now?
Jc..
8 Sep 10 at 3:25 pm
Check how many LP cliches Lefty Kim can squeeze into one sentence.
Perhaps most risible, and most disturbing, has been the willingness, nay desperation, of the press to find a talking point which would fit the narrative that the Labor minority government is somehow illegitimate.
The irony of these dopes banging on about “the media as if LP is not part of “the media.”
As I have said for ages, LP is just one long, never-ending Letters to the Editor of The Australian. In the case of MB, one never-ending job application to write for The Oz’ op-ed pages.
Peter Patton
8 Sep 10 at 4:41 pm
The Coalition lost because of broadband.
Talk about COMPLETELY missing what happened in this election. The real issue is how the hell did that Abbott-led Coalition reduce a first-term government, in an unbeatable position, to a minority government reliant on regional former Country Party members, and even then only after two weeks of horse-trading?
Gans seems to start with the premise that it is was the Coalition which was in the unbeatable position!
Peter Patton
8 Sep 10 at 4:57 pm
The Coalition lost because of broadband.
Conversely, Labor won because they were more shameless in bribing the electorate.
daddy dave
8 Sep 10 at 5:05 pm
Harry Clarke has just interceded with a sensitive and thoughtful assessment of the Independents, and constructive suggestions for the next election.
Oakeshott and Windsor are true democrats. Hopefully their electorates will boil them alive at the next poll.
From the AEC website.
Lyne
Oakeshott (Independent) – 40,066 votes
Gillespie (Nationals) – 29,217 votes
Frederick (Labor) – 11,456 votes
Oxenford (Greens) – 3,645 votes
New England
Tony Windsor (Independent) – 56,317 votes
Tim Coates (Nationals) – 22,965 votes
Greg Smith (Country Labour) – 7,396 votes
Pat Schultz (Greens) – 3,244 votes
Peter Patton
8 Sep 10 at 5:25 pm
And of course, if he does go into the ministry and proves incompetent she won’t dare fire him.
Yeah it’s a political sub-prime market. The media are already speculating about cracks.
If I was a Coalition headkicker I’d be pleased with this result. The ALP have a predestinate long strectch in Opposition ahead. Coming soon to a theatre near you.
Adrien
8 Sep 10 at 6:39 pm
Not to worry JC, the title “the most despised man in the country” is still yours
rog
8 Sep 10 at 8:54 pm
by a country mile
rog
8 Sep 10 at 8:54 pm
Jason – I’m not convinced you are right. I’m not thrilled about this government and I would have prefered that the independents sided with the coalition, however I’d rather this government than an unfetted ALP. We just had an ALP government with all the power necessary to govern effectively and they clearly didn’t.
As for horse trading we just saw an election loaded with pork intended to save the bacon of certain MPs. The Epping to Parramatta rail link comes to mind.
TerjeP
8 Sep 10 at 10:01 pm
p.s. Given Gillard won I assume we will be getting our Epping to Parramatta rail link.
TerjeP
8 Sep 10 at 10:02 pm
Stability:
Penny Wong
forced outpurged in what looks like a Green-orchestrated coup d’etat.C.L.
8 Sep 10 at 10:09 pm
Jeesus Turge, you’re twit.
The indeps just porked $10 billion and one idiot is going to get a ministerial position.
All this including the pork needed to assuage Labor promises.
They just formed a greens alliance and we don’t know what they want yet as that’s under wraps.
And you’re trying to argue with Jason that this set up is better than having a Liar’s party unencumbered with the Greens who will be wanting their pound of flesh. We just saw Penny Wong go because she wasn’t acceptable to the Gangrenes.
You really are an incredible turkey.
You should go blog with Bird about unilateral a gold standard for Australia that you both support. Perhaps even do a pairing of sorts and go see Oakeshott as the three of you would get on well.
JC
8 Sep 10 at 10:37 pm
All perspective is being lost here. Consider that ten billion over ten years with the ten extra billion that Labour will borrow in the next 100 days.
Mustafa Bedridine
8 Sep 10 at 11:01 pm
Now JC, I think you’ve shot you’re mouth off without considering the new Parliamentary procedures.
If Abbot has a brain, he can grind legislation to a halt and stonewall in the Senate until July. The budget gets passed in May.
.
9 Sep 10 at 12:02 am
hi Dot
Why would he slow down legislation if would be seen tagged as obstructionist by this furry little government trying to make its way through the dark forest?
I don’t see why it would be necessary to hold on until July when the senate changes hands? What’s your thinking there>
JC
9 Sep 10 at 12:09 am
Currency Lad
Translation Services
Doc 1.1
Penny Wong
forced outpurged in what looks like a Green-orchestrated coup d’etat.Should read:
Tim Blair links to article in The Australian reporting the Greens
throwing their weight aroundmaking a cabinet suggestion that Penny Wong should get the boot and promises to become a Muslim.Adrien
9 Sep 10 at 7:35 pm