Reshuffle

[Rorschach]

This article will be typical LW Prog hater material. We can start here anyway. I don't often agree with Tim Dunlop, but he makes the odd good point in this piece, amid the ad hom lies and hubris.

The more things shuffle, more they stay the same
By Tim Dunlop
Posted Wed at 8:47amWed 24 Dec 2014, 8:47am

Reshuffling the cabinet is like changing who wears which colour skivvy in the Wiggles: it doesn't make any difference, and they all end up singing the same old tunes, writes Tim Dunlop.

The Abbott Government won office in 2013 with a fairly decent majority. Not spectacular, and certainly not as large as many had predicted, but decent. Actually it was very decent.

Once the votes were counted, Mr Abbott and his cheerleaders in the media congratulated themselves on a job well done, acted as if a natural order had been restored - there was much talk of the adults being back in charge - and everyone settled in and waited for the so-called greatest opposition leader of the past 40 years to grow into the job of prime minister.

Trust me, Godot will get here first. Tim like mantra is very biased and sometimes just can't help himself, but as long as you know where he's coming from you can judge better what he says.

In fact, rather than growing into the job, Prime Minister Abbott has done a pretty good impression of the incredible shrinking man. See what I mean... no mention of Abbott's very good Foreign visits etc...

Even the media cheer squad that hailed his every three-word slogan in opposition as some sort of cross between Winston Churchill and David Ogilvy has been pouring out their broken little hearts in piece after piece, telling us how disappointed they are in him. Haters' gotta hate.

And maybe we shouldn't be surprised. It's not just that his track record in politics was hardly of a standard that would inspire a Netflix miniseries (or even an Aaron Sorkin one), it's that weak leaders are almost built into the fabric of our two-party system.

Labor swapped leaders three times between 2007 and 2013, despite being in government for two of those changes. The Libs went through Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull before settling on Tony Abbott by a single vote, and he was chosen in the end more or less out of desperation.

He was installed, not because he offered the people of Australia anything in particular in the way of personal qualities or a policy blueprint for the future, but because his election helped settle an internal party argument about climate change.

As I noted last week, as disappointing as Tony Abbott has been, he isn't in and of himself the problem: he is a symptom.

The underlying issue is that both major parties have drained the office of prime minister of authority by converging on an economic program that subsumes economic sovereignty into the vagaries of a globalised economy. Control over key aspects of social and economic policy has shifted from the Treasury benches in Canberra to the stateless instrumentalities of so-called free-trade agreements and organisations like the G20.

The office of prime minister is thus less about leading the country than about managing the electorate's disappointments within that system, and Mr Abbott inherited an electorate hip to the tricks of a political class who have been selling us moonshine - privatisation, deregulation and the rest of it - for the best part of four decades now.

But even allowing for these structural problems, and the electorate's well-founded scepticism, Mr Abbott has brought his own special brand of stupid to the role.

Having sworn black and blue that he would restore trust and integrity to the office of prime minister, on gaining office he set about breaking promises like crockery at a Greek wedding. Yes, that is disappointing. Not as bad as Juliar and Rudd, or as bad as the lies Labor and The Greens continue to tell, but bad none-the-less. No doubt we all wanted better.

...even allowing for structural problems, and the electorate's well-founded scepticism, Mr Abbott has brought his own special brand of stupid to the role.
He compounded his problems with a budget that attacked not just programs and spending but Australia's idea of itself as the land of the fair go. The burden of his "reforms" fell on the poorest, and even in this neoliberal inflected era, the unfairness of that sat badly with many Australians.

Plus, you know, he's just sort of creepy. It's a vibe thing. Its a LW Prog thing Tim, you are after all a LW Prog and a hater.

Anyway, the net effect of all this is what Mr Abbott himself has helped christen a "ragged year". It's what the rest of us call a train wreck. NO, I call loading us up with unsustainable debt, not stopping the boats, increasing power prices and our cost of living a train wreck.

And so, in response, the PM has now reshuffled his cabinet, the political equivalent of shouting, "HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!" Yes Tim fools only the idiots...

The columnists have been out in force telling us all what it really means, who the winners and losers are, and I don't dispute that there is some value in all that. But I can't help but feel it isn't what we should be focussing on. We should be focussing ad hom and hatred like you then? hmmm?

The problem is, without a fundamental policy rethink, reshuffling the cabinet is like changing who wears which colour skivvy in the Wiggles: it doesn't matter, they all end up singing the same old tunes. Something Labor, who lost the election, are refusing to do Tim. Tim? Tim? Did you miss that? Tim?

Tony Abbott can swap his team around as much as he likes: it doesn't unbreak his broken promises, nor does it take the stink out of his stinky Budget. True.

And you only have to look at what the Government is already signalling for next year to realise we are simply going to get more of the same.

We've been promised an inquiry into work practices, which everyone knows is just another way of cracking open the chest and massaging the heart of WorkChoices.

Joe Hockey has said, "We are going to give it [economic reform] a red hot go in 2015," and everyone knows that doesn't mean we are going to get, say, a more equitable approach to university funding, let alone something inventive like a guaranteed basic income.

It's hard not to share Ross Gittins' frustration:

Really? One more time? That's the best advance you've been able to think of? That's the best the whole nation has come up with? Another argument about the GST? Another argument about bringing back Work Choices? Never happened yet Progs so stop lying... only the extreme ideologues have even mentioned it. Reith isn't even a Pollie.
...It reveals the limits to our ambition, the incestuous nature of our policy debate [and] the limits to our imagination.... Yes we have a low in politics and have had since Howard's last term.
Meanwhile, the new Minister for Social Services has already announced funding cuts to housing advocate groups and other community organisations, including to Blind Citizens Australia, while the Treasurer has reneged on his promise to go after tax avoidance by multinational corporations.

Doesn't exactly sound like the government has been poring over definitions of fairness.

Various ministers and commentators have said that the Government's problem has been one of communication, but I doubt Mr Abbott and co. really care about that.

Despite their earlier insistence that Vocational Education Training (VET) would stay with the Industry Department, that has now been shifted to Education (which adds Training to its title). Child care has been moved from Education to Social Services. Nothing wrong with that.

These are potentially significant changes, but what explanation has the Government offered for either beyond some vague yammer about a workplace participation agenda?

Far from being intent on better communication, then, the thrust of their approach looks less like being upfront about their overall intentions and explaining exactly what they want to do, and more about sneaking through changes and hoping we don't notice.

To put it plainly, "better communications" is a euphemism for spin and neither has anything to do with telling the truth. And Labor are the australian champions of spin... as k the real Julia...

Yes, we've had a reshuffle, but big deal. It is when you take a competent and successful Minister out of his portfolio and replace him with someone less competent and successful.

Tony Abbott is still the Prime Minister. Joe Hockey is still the Treasurer. They are still committed to their budget and its underlying philosophy of market liberalism and a wholesale attack on the pillars of the welfare state. So Tim you want a change in PM and Treasurer.... Malcolm Turnbull and some other Wet no doubt.

Let's focus on that, not which Wiggle is wearing which skivvy.

Tim Dunlop is the author of The New Front Page: New Media and the Rise of the Audience. He writes regularly for a number of publications. You can view his full profile here.

[mantra]

And so, in response, the PM has now reshuffled his cabinet, the political equivalent of shouting, "HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!"

Yes Tim fools only the idiots...

Really. This is exactly what Abbott is doing, but he is the one fooling the idiots.

[Rorschach]

If he didn't fool you mantra you just proved yourself wrong.

Got nothing constructive to add?

Like why do you think there was a reshuffle?
How effective do you think it will be?
Like how suitable are the new ministers?
Hmmm

[Rorschach]

CANBERRA OBSERVED
Can the Abbott government turn it around?

by national correspondent
News Weekly, December 20, 2014

Despite the Abbott government’s success in abolishing the carbon tax, the mining tax, stopping people-trafficking from Indonesia, and negotiating trade deals with Australia’s largest trading partners, China, Japan and South Korea, its first year of office will be remembered for its failures.

Before the 2013 election, the then Opposition repeatedly criticised the government’s economic management, and promised to end its waste and extravagance, and return the budget to surplus.

It also promised a government of “no surprises”, a promise it was never able to deliver on, but which resonated with an electorate which had become sick of government in-fighting and leadership uncertainty.

The new government faced political difficulties in implementing an austerity program when it had failed to specify how it was going to balance the budget when in opposition.

Central to its problems are measures contained in the 2014 federal Budget, but not foreshadowed before the federal election or before the budget was delivered. They include the Medicare co-payment, the increase in payments for prescription medicines, the indexation of the petroleum levy, deregulation of university fees and cuts to public broadcasters, the ABC and SBS.

Since its election in September last year, the Abbott government has had to deal with a hostile Senate. When Labor and the Greens blocked the repeal of the carbon and mining taxes, public opinion was with the government.

After the new Senate took office on July 1, there was an expectation that the minor parties and independents would co-operate with the government to repeal the new taxes.

After months of stalling, this was finally achieved.

However, the government’s budget has been a complete fiasco, with Treasurer Joe Hockey’s unpopular measures to raise new revenue repeatedly blocked by the Senate.

When this has happened in the past, the government has been able to secure passage of its legislation through concessions to minor parties, together with the threat of an early election.

However, this option is not available, as the community has broadly supported the Senate’s decision to block the government’s measures, and an election is unlikely to change the composition of the Senate.

The Treasurer’s problems have been compounded because prices of Australia’s major export commodities have fallen dramatically over recent months. The price of crude oil has fallen from above $US110 a barrel six months ago to less than $US70 today. Over the same period, coal prices have fallen by over 10 per cent, and iron ore prices by a massive 30 per cent.

Falling prices of iron ore, coal and natural gas directly affect government revenue, because mining royalties have become a major source of state governments’ income, and the profitability of mining and petroleum companies has been a significant source of Commonwealth revenue.

At the very least, all this means that government plans to return the budget to surplus in three or four years have been thrown into disarray, with the prospect that the budget deficit could well be even larger in 2015-6. The government’s reputation for fiscal management has taken a battering — even if the cause is to be found in the log-jam in federal parliament.

The only saving grace is that, with low interest rates, the cost of servicing the public debt is not increasing significantly.

The fall in state revenues has led to calls for an increase in the goods and services tax (GST), currently at 10 per cent, which is shared among the states. However, any increase in the GST would be political suicide for the federal government which introduced it.

The main beneficiary of the present uncertainty is the Labor Party, which has distanced itself from the corruption scandals which discredited the party in New South Wales, and from the misconduct of unions revealed in the royal commission into trade union governance and corruption.

To add to the government’s woes, the slide in the Liberals’ standing in the opinion polls was followed by the defeat of the Victorian Coalition government, the first one-term government in Victoria since the 1950s.

The credibility of both the Prime Minister and his Treasurer are now on the line. Mr Abbott’s task in 2015 will be to rebuild the confidence of the public in his leadership. It would be a mistake to believe that tinkering with his proposed paid parental leave scheme will address the issue.

It will require an acceptance that it is now virtually impossible to get unpopular budget measures through the Senate, and the government’s options will be restricted to the Appropriation Bills which Labor has said it will not oppose.

A starting point could be to look hard at areas of duplication between the Commonwealth and the states, and reduce the Commonwealth role in areas such as health, primary and secondary education, aged care and child care to one of financial oversight, rather than intervention and control. Any such change will need to be fully explained to the Australian people. The common sense approach...

[Rorschach]

So far it's looking like the barnacle clean and the reshuffle are non-events as far as the majority of the public are concerned.

[Neferti]

So far it's looking like the barnacle clean and the reshuffle are non-events as far as the majority of the public are concerned.

Public Servants have a forced holiday between Christmas and New Year. Canberra closes down at this time of year .... check Batemans Bay if you want to see anyone. I used to call it Canberra-by-the-Sea.

Not sure whether they went back to work today or not. I have several neighbours who are Public Servants and they seem to be home.

You will have to wait a while before anything much comes out of the Public Service!

[Rorschach]

I doubt the Public Service, especially those in Canberra, makes up a majority of the Australian Public.

[Neferti]

I doubt the Public Service, especially those in Canberra, makes up a majority of the Australian Public.

OK, apologies. I was talking about Commonwealth Departmental Staff. Shiny bums. Clerks.

STATE Public Servants (essential services) are obviously rostered on.

The Teachers are off until the end of January.

No doubt we have Police and so forth working.

Medicos work throughout, regardless.

Oh, and Canberra does have their fair share of "essential services" too ... I had my garbage collected on Christmas Day (double time obviously).

[Rorschach]

OK...

So far it's looking like the barnacle clean and the reshuffle are non-events as far as the majority of the public are concerned.

[boxy]

OK...

So far it's looking like the barnacle clean and the reshuffle are non-events as far as the majority of the public are concerned.

That's what happens when you do it over the Christmas/New Year period, and don't have the right wing media circus beating it up 24/7