I have spent the last five and a half years on this blog ranting about the injustice, hypocrisy and idiocy of the Coalition government under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison. This blog was supposed to be a way of ending, or at least diminishing, my shouting at the television. However, as it became clear that the lying, bigotry and nutjobbery under Morrison was much worse than that under Turnbull, the shouting at the television increased again. There was also an increasing risk that something could be thrown at the television, and they are expensive. However, it got to a stage where I couldn’t stand to hear or watch Scott Morrison or Josh Frydenberg or Barnaby Joyce or numerous others anymore, so the mute button was used extensively. That helped.
Now that the Morrison government is no more, having lost 20 seats or more in the House of Representatives, it feels like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It is a feeling of profound relief and I am not the only person to feel this. My partner feels it, my kids feel it, friends feel it, and relatives feel it. I imagine this feeling is very widespread.
Earlier today, I saw a photograph which made me cry. It was a photograph of the two Murugappan girls, Kopika and Tharnicaa, standing in front of a television on which there was displayed the makeup of the new House of Representatives1. The cruelty of the Morrison government towards this young family has been disgusting, and it was done purely because the Coalition government thought they could gain politically from it. Morrison professes to be a christian and now that he has gone, that family will be able to go back to the town of Biloela where they had made their home; their torture will end.
Having spent so much time and typed so many words aiming for the demise of the Morrison disgrace, there is still much wrong with this country which needs fixing to bring it into the 21st century. So, I expect I will continue pointing out its failings, perhaps tinged with less disgust, with a hope that at least some will be fixed. This may sound pompous and self-indulgent, but I have children and grandchildren and am fighting the best way I can for the best future I can give them. That is the least a parent and grandparent can do.
Source
Great news for the nation, but especially for the Murugappan family, who were given false hope a while back by unnamed sources within the defunct (was it ever not defunct?) and rejected, un-Chrisitian Morrison govt.
Surprised the swings against the LNP weren’t larger myself given the obvious incompetence, the total disregard for honesty and integrity, and the less-obvious but more important threat to democracy Morrison and his cronies posed. Keating would have sent them to deserved oblivion.
The good news is that Wilson, Frydenberg, furniture slaesman Kelly (lol) and possibly Sukkar won’t have their noses in the trough (directly) for at least a few years. Sukkar might be relieved to lose given that a federal anti-corruption commission with real teeth and power is now inevitable. The promised RC into Robodebt promises to hand Morrison his comeuppance, although I suspect he will be long gone before it’s in place.
Saw a brief clip of Morrison reading selected pieces from the bible at Hillsong (the place he denied having anything to do with not long ago) yesterday. Obviously he has yet to find any of the many references to reaping what you sow. Here you go Scotty from Marketing, see what you make of these. Next sabbath we’ll cover rich men and needles to see where your pentecostal gospel of prosperity fits.
Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Proverbs 22:8
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.
Job 4:8
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
Jon,
The type of christian that Morrison is, only select the bits of the bible that suit their political aims, and ignore all the other ‘lefty’ bits, like the stuff that Jesus is supposed to have said.
Correction. Morrison’s selected bible readings were at his Horizon church.
Woops, missed one of the (likely) best outcomes from the election. Pocock ousting Seselja is a delicious prospect not only because it removes a completely unrepresentative religious conservative but also because it potentially gives the ACT more leverage AND hopefully sends a message to Canberra voters that there are better choices than the ALP/LP, both locally and federally, if they are prepared to LOOK!
Jon,
I was dearly hoping that Zed would get the bum’s rush. he has been sending all sorts of adverts to me on facebook. I simply replied with a link to a story from this blog in which he or his religious nutter mates featured.
Tony Wright asks (some of) the right questions in this piece:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/frydenberg-vanquished-struggles-to-comprehend-the-depth-of-disaster-20220522-p5anhv.html
Frydenberg’s either still in shock or most of his frontal lobe has frozen shut as a response Morrison’s mindlessness (which Joshie did nothing but praise). Secular Australia has firmly rejected his mate’s hollow hypocrisy, not to mention his smart-arsed over-confidence that he wouldn’t be held to account for his govt’s lack of integrity and competence.
Jon,
That is fairly subdued for Tony Wright, who I always like reading. He usually has a couple of belly-laughs, but perhaps letting Frydenberg open his gob was laugh enough.
As is often the case, the article comments often reveal the “facts” rather than the whitewashed drivel presented by most of the “forgetful” fawning media. This is just one which tells the truth about Frydenberg’s active participation in Morrison’s anti-climate game:
“….personally, I will never forget the night South Australia lost power because of the inefficient and inadequate transformer/power grid fiasco, and he kicked fellow Australians in the guts, politicising the event rather than getting in and supporting a state in crisis”.
Just one of myriad examples of the all-pervasive, spineless sycophancy which dominated Morrison’s tenure.
Sean Kelly also fired a salvo, more of which should be forthcoming in the next few months as journalists slowly regain their fortitude and perspective after the political black hole of the Morrison govt sucked the life and reason out of them.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-most-important-line-in-albanese-s-victory-speech-signalled-the-end-of-an-era-20220522-p5aned.html
“The hateful way in which Scott Morrison attempted to transform some imagined fear of transgender people into a political weapon should remain a stain on his career, and become an enduring symbol of how nasty and devalued politics can become.
Because there is no doubt that Morrison devalued our politics, not just through his willingness to divide. He did so by using words as though they had no meaning. He did so by using crisp and crafted images as though they could displace reality. There are many reasons Morrison fell, but the clearest explanation is that reality became so sharp and urgent it could not be denied. Pandemic, bushfires and sexual violence could not, finally, be pretended away. They had to be dealt with, and Morrison was not interested.
Jon,
Again, I tend to read much of what Sean Kelly writes too. I can probably now stomach reading his profile of Morrison, now that he has gone. I just watched Mediawatch and it was on the media’s lack of balance and generally pathetic behaviour during the campaign. It goes without saying that the worst was the Murdoch media.
The problem is that every time a bit of light shines (Whitlam, Hawke, Rudd) something goes wrong and the darkness returns. Each time the darkness has become blacker and bleaker. While I am very pleased at the weekend result I am still very concerned at the threat posed by those people who seek to stop all of us from doing what needs to be done to restore the health and vitality of our world, and our country.
Mark,
So do I. However, these people seem to be determined to take the Liberal Party further to the religious right, which will see its demise. Based on the excrement coming from Sky News since the election, I think they are well on the way to doing so. I haven’t seen much of what other Murdoch sewers have been saying; I presume they are in shock. The first thing that the new government needs to do is to sort out these malevolent bastards once and for all. There needs to be legislation to prevent the lies. There also needs to be an enquiry into the ownership of the media, and to have an independent regulatory body that can hammer them if they overstep the mark, rathe than slap them with a wet lettuce. We have to help by telling our friends and family, and anyone who will listen, what lies they have told and what scum they are. One of the things I bumped into today, was someone referring to the Sky After Dark buffoon Paul Murray; they said he was worried about the lack of government advertising that he would now receive. That hit on advertising was what precipitated the demise of the old idiot Alan Jones from Sky. MFW and others, me included, hammered the companies who advertised on his show and apparently his advertising revenue took a 50% hit and he was given the arse. Such tactics may work for cretins like Murray too.
Appropriate tribute to Smokemo’s leadership and concern for his country : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IjpFzxJiv4
Jon,
What a hoot!
Morrison’s shallowness – which was always evident (hence the Scotty From Marketing tag) – was laid bare for the credulous during his lamentable and puerile response to womens issues and the rally in particular. For the scant few apologists who still cling to hope that this was simply a PM under extreme pressure, Morrison’s “reflection” on the election outcome should be instructive : “The Liberal Party has lost elections in the past…..sometimes people like to change the curtains.”
Should have consulted Jenny first, although I’m sure there are bible passages about the folly of pride and conceit. Someone mentioned long ago on this blog that Morrison has no self-awareness (or at least none which approached reality) – that obviously remains one his his many character flaws to this very day.
His hypocrisy hasn’t diminished either. Apparently the teal independents [especially] will [and should] be held to account by their electorates. Roflmao. Did someone mention no self-awareness?
Jon,
Jeez! Did he actually say that? I saw someone say that the dislike of Morrison was visceral. Visceral is a term that hints at irrationality, whereas I’d suggest it was more calculated, based on four years of lies, bigotry, corruption ……
Palpable, not visceral. One didn’t need a great intellect to see through Morrison’s flimsy facade, nor to understand the corruption, incompetence and hypocrisy of his leadership and government. That was there for even the the simpletons at Newscorpse to see had they cared to get their myopia fixed.
Jon,
It seems that many of the RWNJs on Sky After Dark (SAD) are urging the Liberal Party to sidle, or leap, further to the right. I hope they do, as it will be the end they so very much deserve. With Spud as the front runner for the leadership, that seems very likely to happen.
can’t add substantially to above comments but to proffer a smidgen of ‘fatherly’ advice to admin … “when watching that telly thing, wear yer soft slippers.” 🙂
Speaking of the un-Christian behaviour of religious institutions and their principals (who regularly display poor principles….. in this case the Brindabella “Christian” College at Lyneham (ACT).
https://www.smh.com.au/education/private-school-enrolment-contacts-could-be-challenged-after-tribunal-ruling-20220525-p5aog5.html
This bloke lost his job during covid, couldn’t afford the school fees for his kids, offered to pay half, was rejected, so withdrew the kids from the school for the next term. School then sent him a “compensation” bill of $3785!!! He fought in a local tribunal, against school-engaged lawyers no less.
That’s outrageous enough during normal times. In a pandemic it is diabolical (literally and colloquially). As someone brought up Catholic and who went through the Catholic school system (to which I am indebted, thanks to the sacrifices by brothers and nuns) I can only shake my fist in anger and wonder what sort of “christianity” these institutions – and their overseers – teach and practice.
Good news is that the oppressed father won (God prevented one injustice at least). Had he not, and refused to pay, I wonder how far they would have pushed him. Social media would undoubtedly have hammered the college’s overseers but rightly he didn’t want his kids publicly identified and embroiled in the mess that would have brought.
Jon,
Just goes to show you their god really is mammon.