Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says support for the prime minister is at a record low because she has stopped listening to the electorate.

Support for Julia Gillard has tumbled according to the latest Nielsen poll.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/polls-show-gillard-is-not-listening-says-abbott-20110516-1eolb.html#ixzz1MSyoWpJE
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AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh.... As if Abbott was listening to the people???!!!!!! Come on! The PM is there to set an agenda as fair as possible for all, and it's always a question of numbers... Is Tony listening to the people on climate change? NOOOOOO!... He sets the denialist's agenda and get the rabid media onside to promote the erroneous idea that climate change is crap... Like in NSW now, Barry is doing average piss-ant work but he does not get the same flak as Kristina was getting for example. WHY? because the media always supports the RIGHT... and, unfortunately, the media supports the extreme right, more and more. That's why Rob Oakeshott was correct in not going to the ugly pantomime organised by Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce... 

If this government had a duck, it would drown. It handed down a budget that was well received by the same economic pointy-heads who decried previous efforts, but was belted by sections of the press for supposedly punishing aspirational people.

Even handing out free set-top boxes to pensioners who would otherwise be left sitting in the dark when analogue TV in their region is switched off is apparently some great bungle because Gerry Harvey, always a fan of government largesse, claims he can do the job cheaper.

The opposition spent the weeks before the budget demanding it be tough and then complained because it was tough.

If the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, got married, the opposition would call it a stunt. Indeed, one feels that if she found a cure for cancer, the Coalition would criticise her for putting oncologists out of work - and be applauded for it.

One newspaper thought the budget too timid and carried the headline: ''That's not a knife, Treasurer''. The next day its front page blared: ''War on middle-class welfare''.

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, gave a budget address-in-reply that was a searing reinforcement of every negative perception about the government and this was hailed by many, including Abbott, as ''an alternative vision''.

The government's inability to sell its policies and defend itself, combined with muddling its messages, especially over asylum seekers, is compounding its woes. So is its infatuation with Abbott and his inconsistencies. Yes, Labor needs to put the acid on him more than a government usually would for an opposition leader because it is just a heartbeat from a byelection and a change of government - but there is a limit.

It is rare, if not non-existent, now for the Prime Minister or a minister to give an interview or a press conference and, without prompting, to start talking about Abbott. They appear intimidated. It is little wonder that Abbott feels he has only to reinforce the negatives.

Last week John Scales, of JWS research, polled 2141 people in the 10 most marginal Labor seats and the 10 most marginal Coalition seats. Asked which, of the past five, had been the best government for Australia, 50 per cent nominated the Howard government, followed by 13 per cent for the Keating government, 13 per cent for the Hawke government, 12 per cent for the Rudd government, 8 per cent were unsure and, bringing up the rear, were the 4 per cent who nominated the Gillard government.

Even Labor voters were dirty on the current administration - only 10 per cent backed the Gillard government. This lagged the 23 per cent of Labor voters who backed Keating, 22 per cent Hawke, 20 per cent Rudd, 13 per cent Howard and the 12 per cent who were unsure.

Indeed the best friend the government has at the moment is the Greens, but that relationship has been strained of late. The leader, Bob Brown, is not only bolder and more articulate in his deconstruction of Abbott, but the Greens' imminent control of the Senate means Brown will be pivotal to the government's aim of reversing the polls through policy delivery.

As the Herald reported last week, even Brown has grown tetchy at what he considers a one-way relationship and he let Gillard know during what was described as a stern phone call on budget day. Brown told Gillard that the Greens were frequently protecting the government by voting against Coalition legislation and motions and by refraining from making unreasonable demands, but were receiving little in return.

The voting-against-legislation even extended to issues the Greens supported. ''We have had to oppose some of our own measures that appear as Coalition bills in order to protect the government,'' a source said of a Coalition bill to improve the indexation of defence pensions. The Greens have long championed the same move but said the Coalition bill was clumsy and uncosted. They helped Labor to defeat it but were unimpressed when they put their own bill forward and Labor rejected that.

Similarly, Brown said the Greens were aggrieved that they received no support for their own initiatives, such as the proposed levy on junk food advertising, which both Labor and the Coalition opposed.

Even though the Greens are unhappy that the mining tax has been watered down and that its diminished proceeds will fund corporate tax cuts, Brown has said the party will ultimately allow it through the Senate because it is better than nothing - which is Abbott's mining tax proposal.

Dazed Gillard gang leads with its chin

Abbott escapes scrutiny amid Labor bashing

Phillip Coorey's article is long overdue (''Dazed Gillard gang leads with its chin'', May 16). How the government is continuing to nosedive in popularity in the face of Abbott's stream of vitriol is astounding. The only explanation is some quarters of the press have been engaged in Labor bashing for well over a year, while Abbott is put under hardly any scrutiny.

Take, for example, Labor's budget announcement of more funding in schools for the disabled. Abbott immediately proclaimed gratitude that Labor had finally followed the lead he had taken during the election campaign.

This was rubbish. Yes, he re-badged some existing funding, but even then it was inaccessible except for the severely disabled. As a father of a disabled, but not not ''severely'' disabled, child, I can tell you Labor has in the last year announced about $10,000 per annum extra support for my child for early intervention therapies and schooling, and Mr Abbott's announcements amount to zero.

Let's hope the observations made by Coorey and other commentators about the anomaly of Abbott's post-budget bounce mark a turning point in coverage of the opposition. If not it will bring down the government, the national broadband network, action on climate change and those very noble independents who have risked everything for what they believe is right.

James Manché Bondi

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/gamblers-burnt-by-an-offer-too-good-to-be-true-20110516-1epzo.html#ixzz1MYb3z5Ru

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As I have said before I suspect that Tony Abbott has some sociopath tendencies. And some of the characteristics of sociopath is their ability to twist the truth, to blame others, to knife people in the back and look like perfect angels. One of the problem is one cannot say that someone else is a sociopath. We've all got some sociopath tendencies, but some of us tend to really be borderline. One of the subtle trait of sociopath is to be able to use self-depracation to achieve forgiveness from others — when caught out. Note this is of course a subjective assessment.

 

This  questionnaire is based on research and experiences of socialised psychopaths. For each trait, decide if it applies to the person you suspect may be a "socialised psychopath" (sociopath), fully (2 points), partially (1 point) or not at all (0 points).

 

1. Do they have problems sustaining stable relationships, personally and in business?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 1
   
2. Do they frequently manipulate others to achieve selfish goals, with no consideration of the effects on those manipulated?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 2
3. Are they cavalier about the truth, and capable of telling lies to your face?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 2
4. Do they have an air of self-importance, regardless of their true standing in society?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 1 (possibly 2)
5. Have they no apparent sense of remorse, shame or guilt?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 1
6. Is their charm superficial, and capable of being switched on to suit immediate ends?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 2
7. Are they easily bored and demand constant stimulation?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 1
8. Are their displays of human emotion unconvincing?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 1 (on some occasions 2)
9. Do they enjoy taking risks, and acting on reckless impulse?
     TONY ABBOTT score: 2
10. Are they quick to blame others for their mistakes?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 2
11. As teenagers, did they resent authority, play truant and/or steal?
      TONY ABBOTT score: ? (who knows)
12. Do they have no qualms about sponging off others?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 1
13. Are they quick to lose their temper?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 1
14. Are they sexually promiscuous?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 0 (?)
15. Do they have a belligerent, bullying manner?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 2
16. Are they unrealistic about their long-term aims?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 1
17. Do they lack any ability to empathise with others?
      TONY ABBOTT score: 0 (but on some occasion 2)
18. Would you regard them as essentially irresponsible?

           TONY ABBOTT score: 2
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TOTAL:            22
A score of 25 or above suggests strong psychopathic tendencies.

The Liberal Party accepts donations from tobacco companies, and the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, implied this was behind Mr Abbott's reluctance.

''We expected the tobacco companies to fight us. What we didn't expect was that Mr Abbott would also be fighting us. We thought that he would be on the side of protecting the community's health, not on the side of big tobacco companies. They have continued to take donations from big tobacco for a long time.''

Mr Abbott said that as health minister he implemented measures, including the introduction of graphic warnings, that helped reduce smoking rates, but he was unconvinced that further change would work.

''My anxiety with this is that it may end up being counterproductive in practice.''

His position puts the Coalition at odds with the NSW and Victorian Liberal governments, which support plain packaging.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-wavers-and-eyes-light-up-in-tobaccoland-20110517-1erjq.html#ixzz1MeciQCwZ

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has renewed his criticism of the amount the Government is spending on its National Broadband Network.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today joined a host of NBN executives to launch the first mainland test site for the scheme in the New South Wales town of Armidale.

The Government, which is committed to spending $18 billion over the next four years on the network, has described it as an "historic day".

But the Opposition says the NBN is a waste of money, and Mr Hockey has promised to scrap it if the Coalition wins office.

In a traditional post-budget address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Mr Hockey said the Coalition would deliver a no-frills version.

"We've said that we will deliver a national broadband policy," he said.

"Today the Government is rolling out a Bentley to every Australian. We believe that we can as a nation only afford a Commodore at the moment.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/18/3220574.htm?section=justin

 

Gus: of course Joe has not understood yet that Labor's NBN is a Lamborghini, not a Bentley... It's okay if HE wants to drive a ute on the highway... No qualms there. But some of us who know the real value of a speedy Gonzales internet are FED UP with the Liberals (conservatives) negativity on this subject. Sure one can deliver faster internet than present with wireless and cyber transmissions, but no-one can deliver communication speed and load, faster than the NBN, by a hundred miles... Capishe?

In the footsteps of "angel" Tony Abbott, Joe is degrading himself fast... Mind you, his electorate's community-radio station (North Shore radio) is a wireless stooge for the Liberal Party, even admitting to be admirers and copiers of Alan Jones... They have degraded themselves a hundred times over...

Poor poor Joe...

Editorial from the SMH

Coalition members who can spare time from their misleading attacks on Labor's planned carbon tax for a moment might care to cast an eye towards Britain, where their ideological allies in that country's Conservative government have decided to implement the most stringent program of measures in the developed world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The British cabinet has agreed to cut the nation's emissions to half what they were in 1990. The target must be reached by 2027. Compared with that, Australia's existing target of a 5 per cent reduction from 2000 levels by 2020 is feeble indeed.

The British decision undermines Tony Abbott's position on a number of fronts. First, it fully accepts that climate change is a reality, and that the present episode of global warming has been caused largely by human activity. This contrasts with the abject approach of the Coalition, attempting a dog-whistle exercise to pacify sceptics and deniers, to pander to unreason and deluded hopes.

Second, it accepts that if human action caused it, human action can also reverse the trend. Third, it backs up the powerful environmental case for action on climate change with an economic case: countries which move early will build the post-carbon economy first, and be able to exploit their first-mover advantage to the full.

Fourth, in doing so, it annihilates the argument so favoured for reasons of self-interest by Australia's mining industry that to move early is to be at a disadvantage - as if it were even possible now for Australia to move early, given the growing number of countries already acting to cut emissions. Thanks in large part to the Coalition's wilful ignorance and obstructionism, foot-draggers such as Australia risk becoming left behind.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/britain-shows-up-abbotts-folly-20110519-1euqa.html#ixzz1MqBL5teV

"Yes, hello, Tony," I said, in a no-nonsense way.

"I haven't heard from you in a while," he said.

"Professor Maden says you're a psychopath," I said.

Tony exhaled, impatiently. "I'm not a psychopath," he said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"They say psychopaths can't feel remorse," said Tony. "I feel lots of remorse. But when I tell them I feel remorse, they say psychopaths pretend to be remorseful when they're not. Trying to prove you're not a psychopath is even harder than trying to prove you're not mentally ill."

"How did they diagnose you?" I asked.

"They give you a psychopath test," said Tony. "The Robert Hare Checklist. They assess you for 20 personality traits. Superficial charm. Proneness to boredom. Lack of empathy. Lack of remorse. Grandiose sense of self-worth. That sort of thing. For each one they score you a 0, 1 or 2. If your total score is 30 or more out of 40, you're a psychopath. That's it. You're doomed. You're labelled a psychopath for life. They say you can't change. You can't be treated. You're a danger to society. And then you're stuck somewhere like this."

It was the French psychiatrist Philippe Pinel who first suggested, early in the 19th century, that there was a madness that didn't involve mania or depression or psychosis. He called it "manie sans délire" – insanity without delusions. He said sufferers appeared normal on the surface, but they lacked impulse controls and were prone to outbursts of violence. It wasn't until 1891, when the German doctor JLA Koch published his book Die Psychopathischen Minderwertigkeiten, that it got its name: psychopathy.

The consensus from the beginning was that only 1% of humans had it, but the chaos they caused was so far-reaching, it could actually remould society. And so the urgent question became, how could psychopaths be cured?

In the late 1960s, a young Canadian psychiatrist believed he had the answer. His name was Elliott Barker and he had visited radical therapeutic communities around the world, including nude psychotherapy sessions occurring under the tutelage of an American psychotherapist named Paul Bindrim. Clients, mostly California free-thinkers and movie stars, would sit naked in a circle and dive headlong into a 24-hour emotional and mystical rollercoaster during which participants would scream and yell and sob and confess their innermost fears. Barker worked at a unit for psychopaths inside the Oak Ridge hospital for the criminally insane in Ontario. Although the inmates were undoubtedly insane, they seemed perfectly ordinary. This, Barker deduced, was because they were burying their insanity deep beneath a facade of normality. If the madness could only, somehow, be brought to the surface, maybe it would work itself through and they could be reborn as empathetic human beings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/21/jon-ronson-how-to-spot-a-psychopath/print

Gus: naked, so no budgie smugglers, hey?...

A DAY after quelling backbench unrest about comments by Malcolm Turnbull, the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, faces a revolt over his refusal to back plain packaging for cigarettes.

A group of senior MPs, led by the former whip and cancer survivor Alex Somlyay, are planning to tell colleagues today that they will be voting for the plain packaging legislation, whether Coalition policy allows it or not.

Mr Somlyay has the backing of two West Australian MPs: Mal Washer, a GP, and Ken Wyatt, the first indigenous member of the lower house and a strong advocate for Aboriginal health.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-faces-revolt-over-tobacco-20110523-1f0vf.html#ixzz1NBiCCvhs


Gus: having acquired chronic bronchitis mostly from passive smoking, I can tell you that Tony's position is effing annoying. One could argue that actually heroin injection is better... See, boozers and other drugs users do not inflict the result of their habits or actions on others — apart from altered behaviour and temptation that could be harful. I drink red ned but it only affect me, unless I drive which I don't. Smoking is a bit like GM crops. Once it's in the environment, it affect far more than just the said crop. It spoils an entire landscape. I can actually smell a smoker ten miles upwind... and my lungs start to cough up...

 

Psychologist Lyn Bender analyses the increasingly erratic behaviour of Prime Minister Tony Abbott from a Freudian perspective.

TONY ABBOTT is like the man who has stepped in what a dog left behind, yet is mystified by the rank odour of everything he approaches.

The Prime Minister of Freudian slipsis in full denial. He refuses to accept that he is massively and irreversibly on the nose with both his party and the electorate.

As his supporters desert him in droves, he rages against the dying of the light, refusing to comprehend his own folly. It has the makings of a Greek tragedy except that Abbott obdurately refuses to face the truth regarding his own psychopathic folly. But then, truth never was Tony's forte.

How might psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud have viewed Abbott and the attempted coup?

Probably as evidence of denial, and the spilling out of repressed and suppressedimpulses and ideas.

In other words, Tony Abbott is in massively out of touch, and “Team Australia” just couldn’t hold it in any more.

For those who think that politics is the art of pretence and suppression, it's all sorted now. Tony Abbott and his minders would have us believe that it was just a little blip on the smooth sea of their faux unity. 

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott--meet-sigmund-freud,7367

 

read also: 

Abbott is an angel...