Elections With the latest coup against Malcolm Turnbull, Australia now had five Prime Ministers in five years

[neverwas]

Russel Coight for PM

i support the nomination of the other russel!

 

[Edgy Brah]

I looked for Voldemort/Peter Dutton but this is what I got.
Scott Morrison though is the same brand of cunt but less cunt and more vanilla. Can't wait for a Labor government to undo what these cunts have done.

 

[Arkain2K]

Australia's sixth PM in a decade. Why does it seem so ungovernable?
By Ben Westcott, CNN | August 25, 2018

There's never been a more exciting time to be Australian.

At least that's what Malcolm Turnbull said when he wrenched power from then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a leadership coup in 2015, and three years later the excitement continues as Turnbull finds himself on the receiving end of the knife.

But it wouldn't be surprising to find Australians longing for those days when their lives were a bit less exciting.

The merry-go-round of Australian political leadership pulled down another leader on Friday, making former treasurer Scott Morrison the country's sixth Prime Minister in just over a decade.

There were reports after Turnbull took power in 2015 paramedics decided to stop using the question "Who is the Prime Minister?" to test patients' mental capacities, as it was getting too hard to remember.
So why can't Australia keep a Prime Minister for more than three years?

It isn't in economic turmoil like Italy, which struggled to form a government for months earlier in 2018, nor are the structures of government unstable, like in many failing democracies across the world.

And it certainly isn't because Australians are demanding it -- an Essential poll released on August 1 found 64% of respondents said political parties shouldn't change their leaders outside elections.

Speaking in the Australian Senate on Friday, Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale expressed the thoughts of many Australians in an impassioned speech that went viral, describing the government was "a disgrace."

"We have people across the country who are suffering and look at what you're doing. You are so focused on yourselves that you have forgotten what the country elected you to do," he said.

Political chaos



Australia has now gone 27 years without a recession, a record of continuous growth of which dozens of other countries including the United States would be envious.

But despite that, its political culture can more often resemble that of a coup-prone banana republic.

"Our current political class is ambitious and not always willing to deal with the minutiae of intra-party politics," Jill Sheppard, lecturer at the Australian National University School of Politics and International Relations, told CNN.

"The advent of 24-hour news channels in Australia has created a demand for content, and an unprecedented focus on the personal lives and feuds of Australian politicians."

The coup culture began when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was toppled by his deputy, Julia Gillard, in an abrupt, night time ouster in June 2010, leaving many Australians waking up unexpectedly to a new Prime Minister.

At the time, the leadership change in government outside an election was highly unusual in Australia. Before 2010, there had only been two such successful challenges in the previous 50 years, in 1971 and then 1991.

"(But) the removal of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister in 2010 opened the floodgates: once Australian politicians realized it could be done, the notion of doing it again -- and again and again -- was less daunting," Sheppard said.

Since 2010, there have been three more changes of leadership between elections, from Gillard back to Rudd, from Abbott to Turnbull and now Turnbull to his treasurer Scott Morrison.

Following Rudd's removal from the leadership, his supporter and former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner in disgust proclaimed that democracy in Australia was being "dumbed down."

"Part of the problem here is that it's quite an insidious thing, that people in the game, whether they're journalists or politicians just instinctively default to politics as a sport, as if that's what matters, and overlook the content," he said in an interview in 2011.

Factional wars

It isn't just an increasingly fragile media and political environment. As in the United Kingdom and the United States, politics is becoming increasingly divided and partisan.

"Both major parties face deep-seated cleavages within their ranks, as the historical bases of the parties give way to new and dynamic social trends," Sheppard said.

"For instance, the Liberal Party was traditionally an anti-labor party, comprised of white-collar capitalists. Now the party consists of a ramshackle collective of social conservatives, social progressives, economic conservatives, and soft libertarians."

Friday's toppling of Turnbull was originally over climate change policy, but the Liberal Party's conservative faction had long disliked and distrusted the leader over his historically progressive policy views.

"There was a determined insurgency from a number of people both in the party room and backed by voices, powerful voices, in the media," Turnbull said on Friday, after he had lost.

The current leader of the opposition Labor Party, Bill Shorten, was himself a power broker for the powerful Victorian Right faction in his party before he came to power. He was personally involved in the wrangling over the Rudd and Gillard spills in 2010 and 2013.

Like other Western countries around the world, there is no current end in sight for the growing partisanship and a compulsory voting system doesn't help either, Sheppard said.

"We will all keep turning up to vote no matter how poorly our politicians behave. The two major parties lose some votes to minor party and independent candidates, but for the most part they retain their power over the political system," she said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/24/australia/australia-leadership-chaos-politics-intl/index.html

 

[Bargey]

I looked for Voldemort/Peter Dutton but this is what I got.
Scott Morrison though is the same brand of cunt but less cunt and more vanilla. Can't wait for a Labor government to undo what these cunts have done.

Lol the reason only thing worse than the Liberal / Coalition is Labor (not counting the Greens).

There’s been 2 good PMs in the last 25 years: Howard and Abbott. Shorten is a total joke.

 

[Ruprecht]

Apparently Bishop's set to retire from politics altogether (she's already quit as foreign affairs minister). Supposedly a lot of the WA Liberals said they supported her, but then voted for Dutton.
Makes you wonder where Dutton thought his missing votes were coming from.

 

[Edgy Brah]

Lol the reason only thing worse than the Liberal / Coalition is Labor (not counting the Greens).

There’s been 2 good PMs in the last 25 years: Howard and Abbott. Shorten is a total joke.

"Coal is good for humanity" - Tony Abbott.

 

[Bargey]

"Coal is good for humanity" - Tony Abbott.

Yes? Were you paying $200 per month for your electric bill under Abbott?

 

[Edgy Brah]

Yes? Were you paying $200 per month for your electric bill under Abbott?

No, I was paying less. I was paying a whole lot less under Rudd/Gillard. The whole "Hazelwood closure means we have to jack up prices" bullshit is just profiteering so I don't know how you equate Abbott with energy prices. Unless you think massive tax breaks for mining (coal included) that means they pay only 14% while passing on nothing in the way of lower prices to the consumer is a product of Abbott. Because it is.

 

[Arkain2K]

Australian politicians' coup culture holds serious dangers for our democracy
The Conversation, By Michelle Grattan

Australia's "coup culture" has become so entrenched it now holds serious dangers for our democracy. Not that the politicians seem to give a damn. For all the talk of "listening" and being "on your side" the voters have once again been treated as little more than a gullible audience for a low-grade reality show.

A decade or two ago, many commentators advocated four-year federal terms, to encourage better policy-making. Now we can't even count on a prime minister lasting through the three-year parliamentary term after the election they win.

In less than a decade, we've had four prime ministerial coups: from Rudd to Gillard (2010); from Gillard to Rudd (2013); from Abbott to Turnbull (2015); and, last week, from Turnbull to Morrison.

A couple of these seemed politically savvy. I admit to thinking them so.

In 2013, Kevin Rudd was reinstated to "save the furniture", and he did. In 2015, Tony Abbott's government appeared headed for certain oblivion. Malcolm Turnbull was installed as a better prospect; in the event, he won in 2016 only by the skin of his teeth.

The Gillard coup, driven by a panic attack and colleagues' frustration with Rudd's style, was ill-conceived. The botched assault by Peter Dutton that elevated Scott Morrison was fuelled by a cocktail of revenge against Mr Turnbull and a policy push to the right. We'll see how it ends, but likely it won't be well.

Being 'coup capital' of the world is no joke

While a particular coup may have its justifications, when you look at a clutch of them, they're bad for the country and for the political system.

Some will point to history for precedent — Paul Keating overthrew Bob Hawke in 1991. But we didn't in those days have a "coup culture".

We may chuckle on hearing Australia referred to abroad as the "coup capital" of the world. But it's not a joke. Although this country will continue to be seen as a safe place to invest, a rolling prime ministership must eventually test the faith of outsiders.

The coup culture works against the sort of decision-making that requires serious policy bravery. Timeframes shorten — ironically, just when governments fancifully cast programs as stretching over 10 years.

Thinking for the future is difficult enough with continuous polling and the shrill media cycle. But if a prime minister can't rely on their troops guaranteeing their leadership through tough patches, or standing up against guerrilla insurgencies, public policy is reduced to the lowest common denominator or falls victim to the worst of internal power struggles.

Ditching opposition leaders is different from tossing out prime ministers. It has its own problems, but doesn't undermine the system the way assassinating a PM does. Voters feel (and are entitled to feel) they elect the prime minister; it's not technically true but it is effectively so, as campaigns are so leader-focused.

Revolving door politics erodes our trust

Fundamental in this revolving door is the cost to trust. As in other democracies, Australians' trust in their system and its players has been eroding over decades.

Research from the University of Canberra's Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis found fewer than 41 per cent of Australians are currently satisfied with the way our democracy works. This compared with 78 per cent in 1996.

Generation X is least satisfied (31 per cent); the baby boomers most satisfied (50 per cent). Women are generally less satisfied with democracy and more distrustful of politicians and political institutions.

According to this data — which preceded the leadership crisis — politicians are trusted by only 21 per cent, and journalists by 28 per cent.

The yet-to-be-released research concluded, "Politicians, government ministers and political parties are deeply distrusted and media of all kinds and how they report Canberra politics is viewed as a key part of the problem".

It also found strong public support for reforms to ensure greater political accountability of MPs and to stimulate more public participation.

Question Time 'shocking' to the uninitiated

The coup culture further alienates an already disillusioned public, unable to comprehend the appalling behaviour they often witness from their politicians.

Recently I spoke to members of a community leadership program who'd come to Canberra for a couple of days of briefings from politicians and others. They'd been to Question Time a few hours before I met them.

To journalists, it was a pretty standard QT. For these people, what they witnessed was shocking. They had trouble getting their heads around how the goings on — the shouting, the insults — could be so dreadful. They'd looked over at the schoolchildren in another part of the public gallery and wondered what those youngsters were thinking.

They asked: why do our politicians act like this and what can be done? All 72 decided to write to their MPs to say this wasn't the type of conduct they wanted to see from them.

My hunch is that this group of ordinary, well-educated, interested citizens would probably be even more put off by subsequent events.

MPs expect the public to move right on

One thing I suspect would have particularly disturbed them is the way the players in last week's coup expect the public to just move right on. Everyone was back to work, they said.

Ms Gillard in 2010 tried to explain and justify her deposing of Mr Rudd by saying: "I believed that a good government was losing its way." It didn't wash.

We know for ourselves the reasons for the latest coup — hatred of Mr Turnbull and a desire to force a sharp turn to the right. But have the main coup-makers and their allies (as distinct from their noisy backers in the media), and the windfall beneficiaries felt the need to properly account for their actions?

This hit-and-run attitude is contemptuous of the public.

The coup culture, especially in this instance, is also accompanied by an "anything goes" view of tactics.

Again, it is a matter of degree — the extent to which the hardball, which we always see at such times, crosses a line.

Go explain to schoolkids why you bully

For some of the Liberal women, it undoubtedly did last week.

Julia Banks, announcing on Wednesday she'll resign her Melbourne seat of Chisholm at the next election, has cited bullying. Western Australian senator Linda Reynolds went to the lengths of telling the Senate: "I just hope that … the behaviours we have seen and the bullying and intimidation, which I do not recognise as Liberal in any way, shape or form, are brought to account."

But Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger saw it as par for the course, saying, in response to Ms Banks: "This is politics. People do speak strongly to each other. You just need to look at Question Time. If you think Question Time is not full of bullying and intimidation then you've got another thing coming."

Well, anyone who bullied or was fine with such conduct should do this: go to your local high school and explain to the kids why bullying shouldn't be in their tool kit but is needed in yours.

Some Liberals flirt with the idea of rules to curb the coup culture, a path Labor has gone down.

It depends on the model: as with so much in politics, what looks good at first sight may hold dangers. Giving a party's rank and file a say in electing the leader, as the ALP does, might eventually advantage those harder to sell to voters, because party memberships are small and unrepresentative.

A higher-than-50-per-cent threshold for a spill, which Labor has also embraced and Ms Reynolds suggests, holds some merit. But when Anthony Albanese was stalking Bill Shorten before Super Saturday, Mr Albanese's supporters insisted the rule could be circumvented.

What's really critical is the culture — in a party and in the political system generally. And once that's been corroded, it's a devil of a job to scrape the rust off.

There are no easy ways to rid ourselves of the coup culture, or to force tin-eared politicians to lift their game. But it wouldn't hurt for more people to follow the example of those in the community leadership program and remind their MPs of their KPIs.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-...elle-grattan-coups-dangers-democracy/10186420

 

[JSN]

Wow pretty crazy that Australia has been so hard up for a prime minister that they actually let a woman run the country for a little while.

 

[Billy no mates]

Maybe the Queen should appoint some suitable person to govern the Colony .

 

[HIMBOB]

Lol the reason only thing worse than the Liberal / Coalition is Labor (not counting the Greens).

There’s been 2 good PMs in the last 25 years: Howard and Abbott. Shorten is a total joke.

Howard had some good points but loses a lot for wasting our mining boom and agreeing to a pitance in the form of royalties.

But Abbott in what way was he not completely shit?

 

[Limbo Pete]

Spoiler

i'll see myself out

 

[squeezewax]

Can't stand Shorten. Every time he is on the telly he is complaining. Yeah i know he is part of the opposition but can't he just stop moaning and being negative now and then? I'd hate to wake up and have to think, 'what can i moan about today?'
It's like the people who have an addiction to Trump. 'How can i criticize Trump today, what nasty things can i say about him, his family, his workers, and ex-workers?' Being negative all the time must take it's toll?