The lucky country that is what they call
It seems Brendan shares PM Kev’s ideas of inclusion and consensus. Rather than stymie the many voices on the conservative side he is allowing ‘open mike’ as it were. Most prominent challenger, Malcolm Turnbull has been fairly mute since some early, unseemly attacks on his leader.
Turnbull might have decided it is best to sit and wait for the hapless Nelson to dig his own hole. But Senate leader for the conservative side, Nick Minchin, is happily sniping at both Nelson and Turnbull. Neither is close enough to Attila the Hun for his liking.
In fact former seminarian and Howard attack dog, Tony Abbott might be a more likely candidate for mouthpiece for the far right. Oddly, while there is talk of the Liberals and Nationals merging into one conservative force it starts to look like the far right and the moderates might split into two distinct parties.
I don’t mind the current round of self destruction, except that in the longer term a government is generally only as strong as its opposition. With the best will in the world, lack of vigorous scrutiny leaves the door open for sloppy administration. Even a robust media cannot compensate for weak parliamentary opposition.
4 comments:
Re: "the lucky country" of Australia ... this is a bit off-topic, but I couln't resist sharing it. In looking up the meaning behind some of the obscure verses of Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna", I came across this gem:
In Perth, during the Australia tour of 1966, Dylan treated the audience to an otherwise unknown verse of "Visions of Johanna". This verse introduces a new character, Amelia, who describes Australia as "God's favorite failure". There is no indication that Dylan performed this verse on any other occasion.
[don't you just love wikipedia?]
Wonderful wiki! AS for Dylan, his halo keeps slipping...
I think Dylan always hated that halo & would be glad to have it fall off. You don't think he was being disparaging about Australia, do you? He never tells! It was you who got me on that wiki-kick in looking up tidbits about Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.
I don't know what Dylan thinks. The music has always attracted me, but not the man.
The statement is pretty wide open; eg, you regard the lot as a failure.
I notice I get a lot of search inquiries around the globe looking for 'the worlds greatest country'. Must have been something I posted once. I never understand what they are looking for or why. Might blog on that thought :)
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