Even Oakes knows they are gone

[IQS.RLOW]

Laurier Oakes has finally swallowed the bitter pill of reality and acknowledged that Gillard is woeful and gone. This would have been hard for him to write considering his past blind partisanship and cheer leading for the ALP, I'm surprise he managed it through the tears, choking sobs and wailing.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/o ... 6?code=510

Julia Gillard's Labor government financially broke, morally bankrupt, writes Laurie Oakes


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THE death throes of Julia Gillard's government are not pretty to watch. Christopher Pyne's appeal to independent MPs to put it out of its misery will strike a chord with many voters.

Gillard and her team have clearly abandoned all hope of surviving in office. They are preparing for defeat. The grubby cash-for-votes deal with the Coalition, which fell apart under the weight of public anger on Thursday, was evidence of that.

Donations to Labor are drying up as its hold on power weakens, and things will get a lot tougher after the election. The dollar-per-vote proposal was about getting access to taxpayer funds to keep a desperate party afloat financially in opposition.

Further indication the government has thrown in the towel is the behind-the-scenes talk about who will lead Labor after Gillard is dispatched by the voters. This entered the public domain on Thursday with reports that Bill Shorten as opposition leader would not allow a Tony Abbott government to abolish the carbon tax without a fight.

Then there is the way excuses are being prepared in advance for the electoral day of reckoning. Gillard's supporters are trying to make the case that it's not all her fault.

Who is to blame, then? Kevin Rudd, of course.

There was an article in the May issue of The Monthly, titled The Saboteur, for example. It contained no new information or insights, but the timing was seen as significant.

And the PM's blame-shifting attempts were reflected in a front-page newspaper article just a few days ago headlined "Team Rudd accused of sabotaging shaky PM".

The report said Gillard backers were even blaming Rudd for inflaming the row over the planned diversion of millions of taxpayer dollars to political parties.

The funding deal debacle was as clear an indication as you'd get of what is wrong with the Gillard government and why it will feel the wrath of the electorate on September 14.

It has nothing to do with Rudd or leadership destabilisation.

The plan was hatched in secret, with no attempt to explain or justify it to voters. It involved backroom horse-trading with the Opposition that was always going to look sleazy.

"As crook as Rookwood," is the way one angry Labor MP - not a Rudd supporter - put it.

There was no consultation with people who might have pointed out the political folly of the scheme, particularly Senator John Faulkner, the Labor elder statesman who had drafted proposals for principled political funding reform when Labor came to office in 2007.

Diverting taxpayer dollars to pay political party administration costs had very little to do with principle, and a great deal to do with ALP self-interest.

And the timing displayed astonishing stupidity. Here was the government feathering the nests of political parties at a cost of $60 million immediately after a Budget that saw taxes increased, benefits cut and the Treasurer warn about shrinking government revenue.

Even a total political nong would realise the level of community outrage that would generate - but Gillard apparently did not. And, confirming the defectiveness of her political antenna, she continued to defend the deal.

Another of federal Labor's unfortunate characteristics, a gutless caucus, was also on display. MPs felt the public backlash but - apart from Faulkner and one or two others - they made no attempt to alter the course their leaders had embarked on. It should be said that Abbott did not cover himself with much glory either. He has now admitted that signing a secret letter to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus endorsing cash-for-votes and promising Coalition support for the bill in parliament was an error of judgment.

It seems that only Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane, Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin (Loughnane's wife), and opposition spokesperson Bronwyn Bishop knew about the letter before the government released it. Even deputy leader Julie Bishop was kept in the dark.

Coalition front and back benchers and officials were not as dumbly compliant as their Labor counterparts. Abbott and Loughnane faced a rebellion.

On Wednesday night, after Abbott argued in favour of the deal in a telephone hook-up of Liberal federal executive members, every state president of his party told him he was wrong and it should be stopped.

At the same time, Loughnane's deputy Julian Sheezel attended a regular weekly meeting of Liberal marginal seat-holders and first-term MPs at Parliament House and he was left in no doubt about their hostility to what was proposed. "Julian was run over by one-way traffic on this issue," said an attendee. "He must have felt like he'd been dropped 10m from a helicopter on to a freeway."

Abbott's leadership group was against him, and he was told he did not have the frontbench numbers or in the party room, so he took the only course possible.

He broke his agreement with the government, hoping that credit for killing off the unpopular measure would more than compensate for damage to his credibility. And it did.

When MPs complained about a leader failing to keep his word, talkback jocks gleefully put to air Gillard's most famous sound-bite.

"There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead."

Laurie Oakes is political editor for the Nine Network. His column appears every Saturday in The Daily Telegraph.

[Black Orchid]

One of the last to wake up to the realities. It must cut some deeply coming from Oakes.

[Aussie]

NOIQ writes:

Laurier Oakes has finally swallowed the bitter pill of reality and acknowledged that Gillard is woeful and gone. This would have been hard for him to write considering his past blind partisanship and cheer leading for the ALP, I'm surprise he managed it through the tears, choking sobs and wailing.

'BO' writes:

One of the last to wake up to the realities. It must cut some deeply coming from Oakes.

Common ground:

First phrase from each introduces 'reality.'

First concept in (the common) second sentence, from each.......'hard for him to write,'.............synonymous with 'cut deeply.'

[Black Orchid]

Your point?

Such excitement over the word "reality". Is it the first time it has been typed here?

[Rorschach]

Laurie has been dodging reality for years being an ALP supporter.
Yes it must have hurt to finally admit the bleedin' obvious...

Financially and morally bankrupt...

[Aussie]

Oakes is financially bankrupt?

[Jovial_Monk]

Quite a few wheels came off Tone’s wagon in the last two weeks, no wonder our two right wing ding bats didn’t notice.

[IQS.RLOW]

You mean where he stitched up the ALP for going at the taxpayers wallet once again?

He came out of it looking like the hero who single handedly stopped the bank robbers

[Mattus]

Oakes is the best political journalist this country has ever had. From the Edward Murrow school of journalism, he wears his bias on his sleeve. It takes nothing away from his journalism. On he contrary, it is refreshing honesty in an industry which is obsessed with presenting itself as fair and balanced, when it is anything but.

To suggest that Oakes has had his head in the sand about the inevitable political Armageddon that the alp faces is demonstray wrong. This article from February gives brilliant imagery of how the alp party room is preparing for the reaping.

[Rorschach]

Brian White was the best bar none.
He was unbiased and to the point.

Oakes' bias, any journalist with a bias, (most of the ABC and Fairfax) is kidding themselves and the public when they allow their personal politics colour their publicly expresssed opinions and articles. This is and has always been very clear with Oakes.
It causes his articles to be flavoured negative when it comes to any story with the other side of politics or any individual politician from there.
That is the problem.