Gillard is right that she represents core Labor values which really amounts to the policies of the Greens disguised as concern for the workers.
This time, because of the formal alliance with the Greens, we saw the real thing in action. We also saw true Labor values so far as the workers are concerned, with Julia absolutely admitting that she helped set up a “union slush fund” and Craig Thomson’s HSU credit card being run through at some very un-Labour like venues. The words “self interest” does not go anywhere near covering the way these people operate. They’re in it for the money and the workers be damned.
I have a little piece over at Quadrant Online about this fake separation. Just how fake it is can be seen by what this former ACTU Secretary and now cabinet minister was reported to have said in The Australian:
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said Senator Milne was only doing a bit of product differentiation.
‘We are the ones who brought in a carbon price successfully and we are the ones who have made major breakthroughs in Tassie forests and the Murray-Darling’, he said.
Why he still wants to brag about it is beyond me, but then so much of what these people believe is good policy is beyond me. If their aim is to make people dependent and poor, it would make sense, but since they say that their aim is to create independence and wealth, why they do the things they do remains a mystery. Perhaps it’s because they are completely clueless about how economies work. In this regard Combet’s Wikipedia entry is quite revealing, especially his “work” career:
Greg Combet was born in Sydney and attended Eastern Creek Primary school, then Rooty Hill High School from years 7 to 10. He completed his secondary education at Baulkham Hills High School. He was later educated at the University of New South Wales where he studied mining engineering, and then graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Economics, and a Graduate Diploma in Labour Relations and the Law. He was a project officer for the New South Wales Tenants’ Union before working for the Lidcombe Workers’ Health Centre. In 1987, he was employed by the Waterside Workers’ Federation, now part of the Maritime Union of Australia.
Combet’s association with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) began in 1993 when he became a Senior Industrial Officer. In 1996 he was elected Assistant Secretary and in 2000, following the retirement of Bill Kelty, he became Secretary. Over his time at the ACTU, Combet has co-ordinated many union campaigns, including the ‘Cavalcade to Canberra’ of 19 August 1996. The protest gained notoriety due to 2,000 breakaway protesters rioting in and around Parliament House. He rose to further prominence during the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute and supported militant union protests during the campaign, saying “the laws were made against workers, and bad laws have to be broken.” Combet also participated in campaigns to secure entitlements and compensation for the staff of the collapsed airline Ansett Australia and asbestos victims of the James Hardie company. In his capacity as Secretary of the ACTU, Combet led the campaign against the Howard Government’s WorkChoices industrial relations law changes.
Why would putting Rudd back in charge make any difference at all with these people still around?
I get the distinct impression that somewhere, there must be a village called “Combet”, which is lacking its’ idiot!
And a village called Gillard.
And a village called Swan.
And a village called Albanese.
And a village called Conroy.
And a village called Bowen.
And a village called Plibersek.
And a village called Wong.
etc.
Up The Workers!
20 Feb 13 at 1:17 pm
“If their aim is to make people dependent and poor” You can stop right there. You have it in that sentence. No other explanation for what they’ve done makes any sense. Dependent, poor and disarmed. Seems to be a global phenomenon doesn’t it, and seems to transcend Left/Right politics.
Paul
20 Feb 13 at 1:18 pm
The ALP does best where people live who are dependent on government. The Greens Party does best where people live who work for the government (usually inner urban seats). Mitt Romney was in the ballpark about the 47% – in Australia, it is probably around the 42% or 43%. This is because income inequality in Australia is somewhat less and unemployment and underemployment are also less.
Giuseppe De Simone
20 Feb 13 at 1:41 pm
The problem with having a government policy is that it is essentially government hampering the market. Since the policies don’t work, or do not produce the something for nothing that many expect, then new policies are called for, and implemented. Those too fail to produce the results calling for more policies and legislation until it cascades into the system we have now.
Central planning only works with robots.
Louis Hissink
20 Feb 13 at 2:10 pm
Greg Combets CV omits the bit where he stood by and cheered on as leftist scum smashed down the doors of parliament house and ransacked the lobby because John Howard took their beer money away.
If the Libs win government they should ask Combet (if he gets to keep his seat) if he plans to attend the next parliament ransacking party or not.
brc
20 Feb 13 at 2:37 pm
Control through dependency is an old political trick simply re-invented by the Gillard/Greens government. Inventing victimhood and offence and then buying the votes by offering solutions to the problems thus created. Only the brainwashed and the indoctrinated swallow that crap.
Sirocco
20 Feb 13 at 3:14 pm
Combet has fought against progress and productivity all his “working” life.
He would have made an excellent Green.
H B Bear
20 Feb 13 at 3:17 pm
He never smiles much either.
candy
20 Feb 13 at 3:47 pm
I’ve noticed that too. He always has this stupid, angry look on his face, as though he has a particularly bad case of haemorrhoids (‘roid rage?).
Rabz
20 Feb 13 at 4:31 pm
The Aus today:
“JULIA Gillard has branded the Greens a “party of protest” and says they would rather complain about things than work to achieve outcomes.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Philippa Martyr
20 Feb 13 at 4:40 pm
So Combet is not an engineer; he just ‘studied’ it; what does that mean, he borrowed an engineering text, dropped out, failed?
Combet is not a nice man but why would he be scowling when he has hooked up with this.
cohenite
20 Feb 13 at 5:50 pm
could not agree more.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-attacks-greens-20130220-2eqwj.html#ixzz2LQBapLsG
Jim Rose
20 Feb 13 at 6:18 pm
In some respects, Juliar Gillard reminds me of Paul Keating, in that she can quell her political opponents with shafts of wit, or vice versa.
These days, it is mostly the vice versa.
Up The Workers!
20 Feb 13 at 6:56 pm
Look, It’s a classic clinical case of denial, mixed with psychological projection. Labor knows all about Denialism. But what about projection?
Everything these poor sods say about Abbott, Abbott, Abbott is simply a projection of their own worse maladies. Abbott is a misogynist, but it’s male unionists buying tricks. Abbott is a fear monger, but what could be more fear mongering than to claim we face a global climate apocalypse against all evidence to the contrary? Abbott is negative and hateful…pick any Swan song or Gillard diatribe. Abbott “isn’t fit to be steward of the economy”…HA, HA, HA, HA…Oh, stop… you’re killing me!
The Libs don’t respect human rights…yet labor policies lure hundreds of illegal migrants to death at sea, then they want to outlaw freedom of expression unless it’s so utterly innocuous that no one can find a reason to file a complaint.
Stolid denialism and projection.
The only home truth Labor hasn’t projected upon Abbott is corruption. Wonder why not?… Reckon the faceless union hacks still got enough canniness about them not to draw undue attention to that topic, eh?
Labor deserves a long respite at a sanitarium with finest medical and pharmaceutical therapies available… if not our sympathy.
wes george
20 Feb 13 at 7:08 pm
Cohenite,
So Combet and Phillips are shacked up, eh? As if we didn’t already know the ABC was in bed with Labor. Not a good look.
Imagine the media hilarity that would ensue if a future Abbott government minister appeared in public holding hands with a conservative columnist for News Limited.
wes george
20 Feb 13 at 7:18 pm
Hi wes; I haven’t seen you around for a while; as usual you are spot on; the ALP are as self-interested a bunch of retrobates as have ever strutted and fretted their hour upon the stage; their entertainment value has been their defining quality but is infinitely outweighed by the damage.
cohenite
20 Feb 13 at 7:54 pm
Oh Cohenite the sad thing is that he probably has to talk to her as well!!!!!
Fred Furkenburger
20 Feb 13 at 8:06 pm
Brilliantly said Wes George.
That stuff should be canned and sold to the masses. Such information should form the backbone of a negative attack campaign. Yes Abbot being positive is important. However, they must maximise damage to the ALP and Greens.
.
20 Feb 13 at 8:14 pm
Strategically placed electrodes is cheaper and works faster.
Gab
20 Feb 13 at 8:23 pm
Everything else got disguised as concern for the workers, so a bit more won’t hurt at this late stage.
Tel
20 Feb 13 at 9:07 pm
No mention in his CV of his career in the coal mines ??
don coyote
21 Feb 13 at 9:03 am
Wow – I wasn’t aware he’d bagged Juanita Phillips. A relationship between an ALP politician and an ABC news presenter – now there’s a surprise /sarc
when will Juanita be parachuted into a safe seat? Assuming there’s any left of course…
papachango
21 Feb 13 at 12:39 pm
Its fake separation for one very good reason-the coalition government in Tasmania
sabena
21 Feb 13 at 3:45 pm