We often do ourselves a disservice by the choice of words we use in describing events.

Take "leadership" as a prime example. If you played word association games with most Australians these days, and said "leadership", they would probably respond "coup".

But the reality is, of course, that leadership coups have nothing to do with actual leadership.

The perplexing ugliness of the last few weeks — and indeed much of the past decade — concerns struggles for power rather than leadership. They have involved struggles for jobs that give the authority and power of a leader.

There has not been even the remote sniff of what most people would think constitutes actual leadership of the country driving these battles.

There has not even been any great ideological divide involved in most of these struggles, no matter how those involved may kid themselves.

If it wasn't for the fact that some parts of the media consider themselves legitimate forces in these struggles, there might be some quiet agreement to call the phenomenon that now grips the Liberal Party — and before that the Labor Party — for what it is, simply by a change of nomenclature.

We would be doing the country a favour, as the whole business has given leadership a bad name.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-15/laura-tingle-giving-leadership-a-b...

Elections NOW!

Alluring invitations have been pouring into Gadfly’s bunker and one of the most irresistible is for the November Masquerade Ball being held by the Mona Vale branch of the Nasty Party at Point House, Newport.

This is Jason Falinski territory, formerly held with a tenacious grip by Chopper Bishop.

The dress code is evening dress, “masks compulsory”. Indeed, masks should be compulsory at all Liberal Party events, even for Liberal MPs when sitting in parliament. It would make stabbing each other in the back and sides so much easier if the assassins had their faces disguised with frightening headgear – although noticeably some are frightening enough without masks.

It’s only $150 a head and Young Liberals can squeeze in for $130. No GST is payable.

Jason is in for a busy social whirl. Last month we reported that in October he’s hosting a Spring Dinner in Whale Beach where attendees are required to fork out $150 to listen to Benito Dutton.

Read more:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2018/09/15/gadfly-let-there-be-lights/

Scott Morrison '100% confident' bullying [in the Liberal-CONservative Party] is not a problem – politics live...

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/sep/18/scott-morris...

Not even "Debug" spray or "AntiBacterialSoap" can claim that much... They say 99.9 % or they get hit for false advertising...

...

Some Liberals, like Member for Curtin Julie Bishop, have hinted they might support a High Court referral motion from Labor in the House of Representatives. I suspect their loyalty to their gang of thieves is greater than their hatred of some of their political brothers. After all, they owe their political life to the Liberal Party and, in Bishop’s case, the potential of leading the rabble in Opposition might appeal.

The Wentworth by-election on 20 October has the capacity, too, to undermine the Government. Former PM Malcolm Turnbull resigned from Parliament after losing the leadership. He won Wentworth in the 2016 Election with a primary vote of 62.3% and a two-party preferred vote of 67.7%. Because of a redistribution of the seat favourable to the Liberals, the ABC election site says the margin is now 18.9% to the Liberals, two-party preferred. 

David Sharma, a bog-standard Liberal Party man with the ability to bring in lots of money but, unlike many Liberal Party MPs and Senators, articulate and clever, won the pre-selection battle. He was Malcolm Turnbull’s candidate. Scott Morrison’s female candidate was knocked out in the third of six rounds.

Now that Kerryn Phelps has announced she will run as an independent, it is entirely possible she, or Labor, could win the seat. Phelps has called on voters to put the Liberals last to send a message to the Government. Not only would a Phelps or Labor victory weaken the Government and take away its majority (though Phelps, if elected, would likely guarantee supply), it would send shock waves through the born-to-rule Liberal Party. It would also tell many voters that its okay not to vote for the Liberal rabble.

Read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/morrisons-coa...

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Kerryn Phelps deserves the gig, but she will meet stiff opposition from the rich guys of Wentworth. No-one in their right mind should vote for someone like Tony Abbott on the North Shore and yet the loony right keeps bringing him in, as if he was god himself...

Delving into the differences between more than 20 demographic groups, the research from the Museum of Australian Democracy and University of Canberra found distrust and disillusionment surpassed 80 per cent among some communities, while in others, more than 60 per cent remained happy with the current system.

So, are you more cynical than a swinging voter? More satisfied than the rich? Or more apathetic than Generation X? To see whether you’re more trusting or cynical than other Australians, take our quiz below. (You’ll need about 2 minutes.)

And rest assured your answers are not linked to your identity, nor will they be stored or passed on to anyone else. You trust us … right?

at:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-20/in-a-nation-of-cynics-we-are-flocking-to-the-fringe

Dear Auntie, you must be kidding us! We, THE VOTERS, are NOT THE CYNICAL ONES. The cynical people are our politicians who abuse their privileges and positions while telling us that they "are on our side"! What a lot of rot! The Liberal (CONservative) Party should be renamed the "FUCK YOU PEOPLE" party.

The Liberal Party is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a video which shamelessly falsifies history. Alan Austin reports.

“These are the quiet Australians who have won a great victory tonight”, declared Prime Minister Scott Morrison in an election night clip at the start of a mendacious video released on Saturday to mark the Liberal Party’s milestone.

This is the first of many falsehoods. The May election victory was won by the Murdoch and Fairfax media empires and other “news” organisations that lied shamelessly to the Australian people about Labor and the Coalition day in, day out, for years. Saturday’s video is a neat compilation of some of those time-honoured untruths.

It claims child endowment, the expansion of university places and the Snowy Mountains scheme as Liberal achievements. Child endowment was introduced in 1941 before the Liberal Party was formed. It was Labor, not the Liberals, which opened tertiary education to students from low-income families. The Chifley Government initiated the Snowy Mountains scheme, beginning in 1946.

The rewriting of the Liberal economic record is laughable:

“William McMahon became prime minister in 1971 where he continued the Government’s record of economic stability.”

Didn’t happen. By 1971, the economy was badly weakened by years of poor policy, low productivity, cronyism and union-bashing. The September quarter of 1970 recorded negative GDP growth for the fourth time in four years. The economy went into actual recession – for the first time since the war – with consecutive negative quarters in Q4 1971 and Q1 1972.

The Coalition lost control of inflation in 1970 and 1971, seeing it rise from 2.1% to 7.1% in 18 months.

The video claims falsely:

“During the six years spanning Holt, Gorton and McMahon as Prime Minister, the Liberal Party provided an engine room for social progress.”

Pure nonsense. The examples offered include giving women equal pay, ending the White Australia policy and the 1967 referendum. Australia was late to the party on all these. Canada enacted equal pay in 1956, the USA in 1963.

The real social progress that transformed Australia in the 1970s occurred during the brief but energetic three-year period of the Whitlam Government which followed the decades of stagnation under the Coalition.

Read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/liberals-outd...

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