Not really important
September 14, 2015 6:56 AM   Subscribe

 


Translation for non-Aussies?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:05 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


Congrats Wolof! Wish us luck here in Canada next month.
posted by gman at 7:05 AM on September 14, 2015 [8 favorites]


Go Canada! It's difficult to imagine this post staying up, however.
posted by Wolof at 7:07 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Brandon Blatcher: Translation for non-Aussies?

Here.
posted by gman at 7:09 AM on September 14, 2015 [5 favorites]


On the off chance that Australia's joy doesn't get deleted as a double post, I'll say again here what I said in the other thread DO NOT LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE ARSE ON THE WAY OUT CHAMP.
posted by langtonsant at 7:10 AM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]


We're calling them #turnip .
posted by taff at 7:10 AM on September 14, 2015




I have never voted Liberal in my whole life. If this guy performs well in the lead up to next years election it may be the straw that breaks the camels back.
I need him to stand up for same-sex marriage
Reverse the awful NBN direction - maybe (he always looked embarrassed when he made announcements (Big Liberals said "he practically brought the internet to Australia")
Get rid of the monarchy ✔
Just as starters.
Why do you think this post won't stay up Wolof?
posted by unliteral at 7:18 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Turnbull would have to be a shitstain of Bleached-Barrier-Reef proportions for this to be bad news.
posted by lalochezia at 7:19 AM on September 14, 2015


As insane as the US election system is, at least we don't change course whenever the country feels like it, I guess. Good luck to the new Prime Minister there, I hope he does a better job.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:19 AM on September 14, 2015


Oh! I see. Bit slow. Digesting.
posted by unliteral at 7:22 AM on September 14, 2015


we don't change course whenever the country feels like it,
Ha!
posted by unliteral at 7:23 AM on September 14, 2015 [5 favorites]


Why do you think this post won't stay up Wolof?

Because we have that other one just down the hall. Anyway, carry on, chaps, no skin off mine.
posted by Wolof at 7:24 AM on September 14, 2015


Why do you think this post won't stay up Wolof?

Because there's already an open thread, and this post does nothing to educate the non-Australian viewers about what went on in the lead up to this event.

Turnbull would have to be a shitstain of Bleached-Barrier-Reef proportions for this to be bad news.

Not true. I have 6 words for you: three more years of LNP rule.

As insane as the US election system is, at least we don't change course whenever the country feels like it, I guess.

Neither do we. We just change the leaders and keep doing whatever we were doing before. Case(s) in point: We will have neither a Republic nor Same-Sex marriage by the end of Turnbull's time as PM, despite is public position on both of these issues. This is a party-run government.
posted by kisch mokusch at 7:26 AM on September 14, 2015


Translation for non-Aussies?

I'm not up on this, so I'm pulling from other sources. WSJ: 5 things to know about Australia's change in leadership
Malcolm Turnbull will succeed Tony Abbott as Australia’s prime minister after a party rebellion that may moderate the country’s stance on issues ranging from same-sex marriage to climate change and economic policy.
  1. Instability is the new normal - The latest challenge caps a decade of instability that has splintered both sides of Australian politics.
  2. Changing times - On many major global issues, Mr. Abbott was stranded on the wrong side of fast-changing changing public opinion
  3. What does Malcolm Turnbull offer voters? Supporters say the millionaire former banker and entrepreneur Malcolm Turnbull could pose the best chance of reversing more than a year of opinion polls pointing to a conservative defeat at next year’s federal election
  4. What will change? Mr. Turnbull could bring a more moderate face than Mr. Abbott on a slew of issues including climate change, border security and same-sex marriage.
  5. What are the risks? Some conservative party elders say the leadership challenge risks inflaming political divisions within the party, repeating the tumult of Labor rule.
BBC has a quick write-up on Turnbull in light of this change in leadership. Also of note: Wikipedia article on Leadership spill, which defines the term as a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election, and there's a list of notable spills, where you can see how tumultuous spills have been for Australian leadership in the last decade plus.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:30 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]




roomthreeseventeen: "As insane as the US election system is, at least we don't change course whenever the country feels like it, I guess. Good luck to the new Prime Minister there, I hope he does a better job."

I'm not sure. My partner is American, and she's been in Australia for about 10 years. During that time we've had something like 5 changes in PM, and the US has had one change in President. As you say, this seems to be a fundamental difference in how our political systems work: the way in which Australian democracy seems to be evolving is that unpopular governments will make genuine changes to their leadership when presented with evidence that they're headed for electoral defeat. On the one hand, this means we lost Gillard before her time and lost the opportunity to stick it to Abbott in the polls, but on the other hand, my partner had to suffer through the last years of GWB. As much as I fear that Turnbull might very well save the Libs from the electoral fire that they so justly deserve, it's not obvious to me that the fickleness of the Australian system is all that bad. That said, Turnbull is basically Abbott with the ability to form a grammatical sentence. If your head of government's main claim to fame is that he can refrain from eating raw onions in public then you might possibly have bigger problems as a society.
posted by langtonsant at 7:33 AM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]


Can I just repeat this please.
I have never voted Liberal in my whole life. If this guy performs well in the lead up to next years election it may be the straw that breaks the camels back.
I have heard this several times today on radio and in discussion with colleagues. It is also a something I would do.
posted by unliteral at 7:39 AM on September 14, 2015


we don't change course whenever the country feels like it,

No, it's not whenever we feel like it, it's regularly scheduled mid-term elections.
posted by maryr at 7:58 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think a big part of this story has to be the unexpected decline in global demand for coal. Abbot's fortunes seem to match the market peak and rapid decline. He reaped the benefits of denying climate change and sucking up to that industry. Perhaps other politicians in bed with the fossil fuels industry will start to see the light. Commodities are just as likely to boom as bust and when they bust your national economy is fucked. Even if oil and coal will last for ever and global warming is a hoax, these industries are just too unstable to form the basis for your economy.
posted by humanfont at 8:02 AM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]


I have heard this several times today on radio and in discussion with colleagues. It is also a something I would do.

Keep in mind that Turnbull is not really a progressive, unless “progressive” is defined, somewhat desperately, to mean “not an embarrassing reactionary xenophobe”, and has promised to keep the same policies. There'll be no same-sex marriage without a plebiscite, no carbon pricing, no re-funding of environmental funds, no rolling back of restrictions on wind farms, no rolling back of mass surveillance or “national-security” laws, and so on. You probably wouldn't lose money if you bet on the government keeping trying to push East-West Link onto an unwilling Melbourne as well.

Having said that, it is partly tempting to vote Green with preferences to the Liberals, just to hasten the euthanasia of the Labor Party, and the likelihood of something more fit for purpose emerging. (Something of the sort emerging from within the factional fiefdoms of the ALP looks exceedingly unlikely; I suspect that that entire structure must be razed first.)
posted by acb at 8:11 AM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]


humanfont: "I think a big part of this story has to be the unexpected decline in global demand for coal."

Not directly no. The collapse of the mining boom probably played some part in this (the economy always matters in domestic politics), but Australia is like every other country on the planet - there's a fuckload more to our politics than one commodity price. Tony Abbott made a lot of mistakes in reading the Australian electorate. Yes, he might have kept himself afloat on a resource boom had it continued forever, but his downfall is a more complicated matter than the iron ore market. It is super annoying when people go looking for overly-simple explanations of American politics. The same is true down here.
posted by langtonsant at 8:14 AM on September 14, 2015


The same policies sold effectively by someone who isn't obviously a complete cretin is something I'm not looking forward to. I'm having flashbacks to the interminable Howard years already.
posted by deadwax at 8:19 AM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]


I'm not an Australian and so have no business stating my opinions about this "spill" except to say that this new fellow had better do something to alleviate the horrible, absolutely inhumane conditions for asylum seekers.
posted by Nevin at 8:21 AM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]


Even if oil and coal will last for ever and global warming is a hoax, these industries are just too unstable to form the basis for your economy.

That's a completely absurd hypothetical. If the supply of the stuff lasts forever and it doesn't have deleterious effects on the climate, how is that not a totally rational basis for your economy?
posted by Wolof at 8:25 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Nevin: "I'm not an Australian and so have no business stating my opinions about this "spill" except to say that this new fellow had better do something to alleviate the horrible, absolutely inhumane conditions for asylum seekers."

NOPE. It's a lovely thought that speaks well of you, but NOPE. NEVER. Not going to happen under Malcolm. Yeah, I should walk away and go to bed because I am totally drunk on Tony's demise and the many beers that followed, but there is zero chance that Turnbull will do anything positive on that front. Deck chairs. Titanic. EVIL. Rearrangement. You get the idea. Turnbull is a modest improvement on the great budgie smuggler in a number of areas, but a decent human being who cares for the rest of his species he ain't.
posted by langtonsant at 8:31 AM on September 14, 2015 [11 favorites]


Yeah not happening Nevin, unfortunately. The shithouse approach to asylum seekers we have is bipartisan and supported by a majority of the public.
posted by deadwax at 8:34 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


All I'm thinking, there's no way Turnbull can be worse than Abbot. Atleast I hope not.
posted by dhruva at 8:38 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


I haven't seen the issue even mentioned in the media, among my Aussie friends on Facebook, or here on MetaFilter (since the spill, that is).

Wouldn't you rather have Abbott, then? If the policies are going to be the same, but just implemented with more skill, at least Abbott and that Hockey fellow provided some comedic relief.
posted by Nevin at 8:40 AM on September 14, 2015


Nevin, it was embarrassing being Australian away from home while Abbott was in charge. I hold no hope that the Libs will get ousted while the ALP is such a walking disaster so I'll take my small win and be glad I never again have to explain why that bigoted ignoramus leads our country.
posted by N-stoff at 8:46 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


Nevin: "Wouldn't you rather have Abbott, then? If the policies are going to be the same, but just implemented with more skill, at least Abbott and that Hockey fellow provided some comedic relief."

God no. Abbott was pure evil. Literally his only redeeming feature was the fact that he had zero chance of winning the next election. As a South Australian - because not all these names matter nation wide - I'd build a mound from the corpses of Barton, Playford, Dunstan and Whitlam and use it to burn Parliament House to the ground before I'd see Tony Abbott return to government. If you're American think GWB, if you're Canadian think Harper and if your Scottish think Thatcher. The best thing about him is that we got rid of him NOW. That fucker shall not be missed.
posted by langtonsant at 8:48 AM on September 14, 2015 [15 favorites]


I wouldn't say that Abbott is analogous to Harper. Shirely he's more of a Rob or Doug Ford.
posted by Nevin at 9:05 AM on September 14, 2015


Well, man or wolf he ain't no Diefenbaker.
posted by langtonsant at 9:08 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


When I read that Abbott and Stephen Harper are besties, that was all I needed to know about the guy.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:08 AM on September 14, 2015




I would totally have Abbott in the short term, because I don't want the Liberal party in the long term.
posted by deadwax at 9:30 AM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]


If anyone is going to try to catch up with this by reading the blow-by-blow in the previous thread (like I am), this comment seems to mark the point when the starter's pistol went off.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:41 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


When I read that Abbott and Stephen Harper are besties, that was all I needed to know about the guy.

It's quite an interesting point - members of the neoconservative movement in Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand all share notes, tactics and strategies. And I would be pretty sure that the Canadian conservative movement is building ties with their counterparts in Poland and other countries in central Europe and Scandinavia.

It's interesting to see how the different Commonwealth conservative governments adopt similar policies around asylum seekers, renewable energy, state surveillance and foreign policy.

Lynton Crosby, who helped engineer Cameron's surprise victory this past spring has apparently been brought on to advise Stephen Harper's re-election campaign, and you can kind of see his influence in smear campaign that is attempting to portray Alan Kaldi's father as a human smuggler.

A lot of Canadians are freaked out about this new development in the election campaign, but Rosemarie Barton noted that Crosby's appearance on the scene just reflects a deeply divided Conservative Party, and the majority of Canadians are turned off by his brand of bilious venom.
posted by Nevin at 9:46 AM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


And thus did new buttocks clench the Iron Ore Throne of Austrayeros.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:07 AM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]


That's a completely absurd hypothetical. If the supply of the stuff lasts forever and it doesn't have deleterious effects on the climate, how is that not a totally rational basis for your economy?

In 1900 trade in frozen lake ice from New England employeed nearly 100,000 people and had revenues of over $600 million (current U.S. equiv). New England still has plenty of winter lake ice, as does Norway where the industry also thrived for a time. Yet it wasn't something you'd want to base you economy on for the long term. Other examples that spring to mind are the salt mining and guano industries.

Beyond the risk factors to an economy based on resource extraction related to technology disruption/emergence of substitutes , price and supply volitility there is also the so called "resource curse".
posted by humanfont at 11:08 AM on September 14, 2015


There's also the fact that the mismanagement of the resources boom by both sides of politics has hugely contributed the disemboweling of manufacturing, particularly in the south-eastern states. So not only has the boom and the associated gravy train ended, we now have less to fall back on.

It wasn't hard to see coming either.
posted by deadwax at 11:33 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm glad that pikelet Abbott is gone but this just provides further evidence to my hypothesis that government has no meaning.

All I'm thinking, there's no way Turnbull can be worse than Abbot. Atleast I hope not.

Turnbull is a sly old badger and has a bunch of progressive ideas, and a lot of 50s ideas, and is of course extremely privileged (worth something like $150 mil) and will obviously work to protect his own interests, but I'll be happy enough to have a leader with some charisma for a bit. I can only hope he sacks a bunch of people while he's there, especially Karl Pilkington, Scrotum-head, Disturbed's The Sickness album cover, and Poop-fart. And of course Joe "Mad Dog" Hockey.

Of course, the Coalition don't deserve to be in power. Neither do Labor with that spineless little weasel running it. Shorten will probably go next.
posted by turbid dahlia at 12:39 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


Delightful though it is for the slogan "one-term Tony" to become a reality, Turnbull is more of a wolf in sheep's clothing and in some ways a scarier prospect. It's an interesting coincidence this occurred at the same time as a melt-down on the Chinese stock market- (our principal market for coal and other resources) I noticed that was the Guardian Australia's other live blog last night.
posted by Coaticass at 12:39 PM on September 14, 2015




That WSJ piece is terrible.

1. "Decade of instability'". Not sure I would describe 2005 as instable. The Howard government was so stable that it idly ambled to its loss because no one had the ticker to make a challenge for leadership.

2. "Changing times". Turnbull has the same positions as Abbott on those issues. So, don't think that was a factor here.

3. "Polls". Misleading. Polls show that Labor voters prefer Turnbull to Abbott, but that Liberal voters are the reverse. Being popular with people who aren't going to vote for you anyway isn't the way to win elections.

4. "More moderate face". Wrong. As above, Turnbull has the same position on Abbott on asylum seekers, climate change and same sex marriage. A good laugh to be had at "sympathetic to aslyum seekers".

5. "Party divsions are a risk". You know, if you don't count a leadership spill to remove a sitting PM as party divisions. Think the horse has bolted on that issue. Again, the reason Turnbull won't soften his position on those issues is to keep the party, who does hate him, in his corner. Despite that, that 30 people would actually vote for Kevin Andrews as deputy, out of what can only be considered sheer spite, is a good indication of the level of vitriol for Turnbull in the parliamentary caucus.
posted by kithrater at 2:48 PM on September 14, 2015


The party hasn't been united behind Abbott for a very long time. In the February spill, where no one else even stepped up to challenge, IIRC 39 people voted for "literally anyone but Tony".

No matter the outcome here, there was always going to be factional disfunction. Turnbull and Bishop would have made sure of it.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:03 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


One presumes Hockey, Dutton, Abetz and Andrews are all gone. Wonder where Morrison will turn up. Turnbull might win actually win a lot of party favour is he agrees to have Morrison on as treasurer and a deal to step down at the end of the next term.
posted by kithrater at 3:07 PM on September 14, 2015


That lizard person Pyne sat on the fence, so he might get to keep his cabinet post.

Sinodinos was out pimping Malcolm in force last night, so he's probably hoping he has bought his way out of the cold after that inconvenient election funding corruption charge
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:12 PM on September 14, 2015


The Advertiser is saying Pyne is going to become Minister for Defence.
posted by kithrater at 3:17 PM on September 14, 2015


What I think people couldn't hear was that Abbott was saying "I have stopped the votes"
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:20 PM on September 14, 2015


One presumes Hockey, Dutton, Abetz and Andrews are all gone. Wonder where Morrison will turn up.

ScoMo declared for Abbott. ReTurnbull would be more than justified to kick him to the curb.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:31 PM on September 14, 2015


ScoMo could have done a lot more to make Turnbull's life harder, but he didn't. He personally didn't even declare, just a missive from his office. Removing Morrison would be seen as a major provocation by Turnbull; I don't think he is feeling that confident this morning.
posted by kithrater at 3:37 PM on September 14, 2015


an extract from David Marr's Political Animal: The Making Of Tony Abbot 2012:
Australia doesn’t want Tony Abbott. We never have. When pollsters rang to ask who we wanted to take over from John Howard or Brendan Nelson or Malcolm Turnbull we put Abbott way down the list, usually at the bottom. As the years went by and the number of Liberal contenders dwindled, we always wanted someone else: Peter Costello even after he gave up the leadership without a fight; Malcolm Turnbull even after the climate sceptics brought him undone; or Joe Hockey the untried hulk from morning television. We never wanted the man the Liberals gave us in December 2009. Abbott was their pick, not ours. And the party was almost as stunned as the nation. “God almighty,” one of the Liberals cried in the party room that day. “What have we done?”
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:52 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


The quirk of the Aussie "spill" here seems to be, at least in this case, that the challenge and resolution took place all in one day(!). I don't know how it is in other Westminster-style parliamentary systems but in the UK, a leadership challenge from within a party typically means an internal party election in weeks or months (details differ depending on internal party rules).

Spills are back room deals rather than elections.
posted by Talez at 4:04 PM on September 14, 2015


Delightful though it is for the slogan "one-term Tony" to become a reality, Turnbull is more of a wolf in sheep's clothing and in some ways a scarier prospect.

To draw two analogies from recent scifi:

Turnbull replacing Abbott: The Smiler replacing The Beast
Morrison replacing Abbott: The Pervert replacing The Idiot
posted by acb at 4:35 PM on September 14, 2015


So help me out here... is good government starting again today, or did it stop last night and we're going to have something else now?
posted by pompomtom at 4:51 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


kithrater: "The Advertiser is saying Pyne is going to become Minister for Defence."

Party room shenanigans notwithstanding, they might have to do that just to hold Sturt:
Liberal electoral concerns for South Australia were ignited after internal polling, believed to have been done last month in the ­Liberal seats of Hindmarsh, Boothby and Sturt, showed Senator Xenophon, who has run a strong ­campaign against the ­Coalition over its perceived broken election promise to award the $50bn future ­submarines contract to the state, could take at least two of them on preferences if he ran candidates.
I know he's unlikely to lose, but the thought of Pyne having to fight for his seat is pretty damn pleasing.
posted by langtonsant at 4:51 PM on September 14, 2015


Polls show that Labor voters prefer Turnbull to Abbott, but that Liberal voters are the reverse. Being popular with people who aren't going to vote for you anyway isn't the way to win elections.

Core dyed-in-the-wool my-grandpa-was-a-docker Labor voters probably won't. Though the sorts of swinging voters who voted Labor because, while they weren't committed to either party at a visceral level, were turned off by Abbott's views/style/onion-eating or felt that The Misogyny Speech really connected with them or something might.

On one hand, we have Turnbull, who, even if he keeps well to the right and changes nothing, the lack of thundering know-nothing backwardness will make him look inherently more forward-looking and high-minded to anyone who remembers Abbott (a figure who evokes the demented bush patriarchs of outback gothic films like The Cars That Ate Paris and Welcome To Woop Woop). On the other hand, there's Bill Shorten, a man without qualities who took four hours to draft a tweet replying to Abbott's departure, who rubber-stamped through one bad Coalition policy after another because the focus groups told him to, and who publicly announced his support of the Tories' stop-and-search operation after it had been cancelled. Other than a vague feeling of displaced working-class nostalgia and the aggregated desires of its factions to get elected, what does the ALP even stand for these days?

So yes, if one is not committed to the idea of the Liberal Party being the embodiment of evil, one could well end up voting for a Turnbull-led coalition.
posted by acb at 4:54 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Inside the Liberal Party room
posted by unliteral at 6:01 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think the best joke about this I have seen since it all went down was from a Country Fire Station that reminded people on Twitter that leadership changes in Australian politics are a handy reminder to do your annual battery check for your smoke alarms.
posted by awfurby at 6:19 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]


I'm just so happy Abbott is gone, hopefully with a huge swath of his frontbencher as well. Now for Labor to pull their finger out and the Greens to be a little more about the art of the possible and not the perfect.
posted by michswiss at 6:32 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think the best joke about this I have seen since it all went down was from a Country Fire Station that reminded people on Twitter that leadership changes in Australian politics are a handy reminder to do your annual battery check for your smoke alarms.

Here it is.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:06 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


"the boats have stopped, and with the boats stopped we have been better able to display our compassion to refugees"

oh just fuck right off, Abbott.
posted by russm at 7:42 PM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]


Tone blames a "a febrile media environment that rewards treachery" for his downfall.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:44 PM on September 14, 2015


and with that, he's done.
posted by russm at 7:45 PM on September 14, 2015


"This has been a government of men and women, not of gods walking the earth"

I think he meant "men and woman".
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:46 PM on September 14, 2015 [4 favorites]


and with that, he's done.

Finally.

That's lunch, people!
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:47 PM on September 14, 2015


Turnbull would have to be a shitstain of Bleached-Barrier-Reef proportions for this to be bad news.

From my point of view, an ignorant and backwards PM thinking might be preferable to someone who was a partner and chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia... at least in terms of quantity of possible damage someone can do while at the reins of a country.
posted by xdvesper at 9:08 PM on September 14, 2015



So yes, if one is not committed to the idea of the Liberal Party being the embodiment of evil, one could well end up voting for a Turnbull-led coalition.



This is what worries me. I feel like now we're likely to see the Liberals win the next election, with Tones at least there was no hope. I was raised in the bastion of "Core dyed-in-the-wool my-grandpa-was-a-docker Labor voters probably won't." and generally vote Greens to show the ALP my displeasure with them but there are an awful lot of swing voters and those who voted Liberal knowing it meant Abbott would be PM (ugh).

Glad I no longer live I Warringah, I'd be getting a "dear Kitten Magic, thank you for your support" letter any day now. AGGGGGH.
posted by kitten magic at 9:54 PM on September 14, 2015


Not a particularly strong Question Time for Turnbull so far in my opinion. He is a stuck pig on Direct Action and climate change and he is lying through his teeth about how it doesn't matter how you cut emissions so long as they are cut.
posted by Quilford at 10:04 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've got QT in one ear, and an old favourite in the other. Good times.
posted by misfish at 10:16 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Australia doesn’t want Tony Abbott. We never have.

To be fair, we never wanted Bill Shorten either. If Labor had the nous to install Albo or Plibersek in the top spot instead, today's feast of pure and overdue joy would not have come with quite the same sour aftertaste.

That said: oh christ I'm glad he's gone
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


If Turnbull really wants to do some Direct Action on climate change he should just get cracking on implementing ZCA2020.

(dreams of Australia becoming the Saudi of sunshine)
posted by flabdablet at 11:47 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Tony, your boat has been stopped.
posted by valetta at 11:57 PM on September 14, 2015


Perhaps it's all an A/B test? Replace the figurehead, keep the policies exactly the same, if polling improves dramatically, it wasn't the poofter-bashing, windfarm-wrecking or reef-bleaching but the raw onions that were the problem, which is now solved.
posted by acb at 3:36 AM on September 15, 2015


Replace the figurehead, keep the policies exactly the same

I doubt that. I think Malc is genuinely different.
That's why so many people are uncomfortable with him in the party.
Or outside, like Jonesy and Hadley.
posted by Mezentian at 3:48 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


At worst, things will start to diverge once we haven't had any unhingedly reactionary “captain's calls” for a while. Unless those are included in the testing regime.
posted by acb at 3:56 AM on September 15, 2015


I just came to say that the lizard shapeshifter from the stars that took human form to be our prime minister is GONE, and I am having a dance party, and you are all invited.
posted by adept256 at 5:05 AM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]


Replace the figurehead, keep the policies exactly the same

I doubt that. I think Malc is genuinely different.


Not a chance. Turnbull's primary public criticism of Abbott was that he wasn't consulting the party properly. What's more, it was Turnbull siding with Rudd on the ETS against the wishes of half the party that lost him the leadership first time round. Any "Captain's Calls" or other deviations from towing the party line will see him dethroned faster than Abbott. I think his unpopularity within the party is based much more on personality rather than policy positions, not dissimilar to Rudd's standing among Labor MPs.
posted by kisch mokusch at 6:19 AM on September 15, 2015


I think Turnbull's own views are relatively moderate and likely strongly held. But he's learned to swallow it all and be seen as a hypocrite to past statements and positions to get into the Lodge.

If I were an idealist, I'd hope Turnbull is playing a long game to bring his chosen party back into current times. He's going to have to evidence that though by taking his party on on some policy front. It's got to happen. Equal marriage, climate change, something as simple as bringing back a Science Minister, ending the attacks on wind farms. If he doesn't, he's as hollow as many have stated.

If I were a strategist, I'd say keep hammering on points that he likely holds personally. Ones that his Liberal colleagues would rather avoid. Force him to lead or create as many fracture points as possible from the right wing factions.

Oh, and how about a vibrant Labor opposition. Bill, you might be a competent manager and organiser, but you haven't shown yourself to be a strong public leader. Step up or step aside.
posted by michswiss at 6:50 AM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]


Oh dog, apparently Hockey is being offered the Communications ministry. The reward for a job done appallingly is...another job?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:45 PM on September 15, 2015


Considering that Turnbull (who, for the benefit of non-Australian readers, was until yesterday the Communications Minister) has had to preside over the unbelievable technical clusterfuck his party turned the National Broadband Network project into on purely ideological grounds, I'm not at all surprised to see him hand over that comprehensively poisoned chalice to one of the former boofheads-in-charge. You fucked it? You deal with it.
posted by flabdablet at 5:00 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


Wait, did Hockey make it through his entire run as Treasurer without ever having passed a budget?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:21 PM on September 15, 2015


At press time, reports of Tony Abbott possessing an Apple IIc, polio, or a falcon remained unsubstantiated.
posted by ckape at 5:53 PM on September 15, 2015




The only assessment of Tone that anyone needs is this image.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:08 PM on September 15, 2015


Communications to Hockey? Brrrr. No.

Damning article at Delimiter: malcolm-turnbull-was-australias-worst-ever-communications-minister
posted by valetta at 9:43 PM on September 15, 2015


The first poll of the new era of our 29th Prime Minister shows the Coalition pulling level with Labor.
posted by Quilford at 1:30 AM on September 16, 2015


Wait, did Hockey make it through his entire run as Treasurer without ever having passed a budget?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA.

Aha.
If that's true (and I believe it is) that is hilarious.
posted by Mezentian at 4:21 AM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


Jason Wilson: His final will and testament was the airing of yet more grievances, one last flourish of this strange and selfish man’s trademark politicised self-pity.

Well put, comrade. Well put.
posted by flabdablet at 9:46 AM on September 16, 2015


Mezentian, if you think the Joe thing is hilarious, check this out.

I think I may need to join JG in hospital.
posted by flabdablet at 10:10 AM on September 16, 2015


This one's going up in my dunny
posted by flabdablet at 11:38 AM on September 16, 2015


Re: Hockey and budget, not true. There is no 'passing a budget'. Every Budget contains a series of measures that never get agreed to by the Senate, for example the Rudd private health insurance measures. The substantive part of the Budget, the Appropriation Bills (sometimes called Supply) always get passed, because if they don't then your government needs to resign.
posted by kithrater at 2:59 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Textsfrommalcolm
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:25 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


ScoMo could have done a lot more to make Turnbull's life harder, but he didn't.

Ayup.
posted by kithrater at 4:19 AM on September 18, 2015


ScoMo and the leaks (they're coming from INSIDE THE CABINET!) have provided much in the way of laughing out loud moments today.
posted by Mezentian at 5:12 AM on September 18, 2015


One last one, because it's topical and amusing:
this is like a really shitty Doctor Who regeneration.

It's funny because it's true.
posted by Mezentian at 7:52 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


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