Friday 17th of May 2024
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grubbiman saves the bullshit!!!

grubgrub

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under fire from all sides on Q+A for using parliamentary privilege to label Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles a "Manchurian candidate" and using the issue of national security as a tool by which to smear the opposition.

Key points:
  • Calls were made for the US to do more to halt a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • It was feared that if Russia invades Ukraine, it may embolden China to do similar in Taiwan
  • The panel was also critical of Prime Minister Scott Morrison using national security for political gain
 

Mr Morrison later withdrew the words, but Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the Prime Minister went beyond the pale.

"I've been in parliament for a while and I think it's the grubbiest thing I've seen," Mr Bowen said.

"It was utterly disgraceful, inaccurate and appalling."

 

Mr Bowen said he understood China's policies, along with those of its key ally Russia, were an issue of interest, but said one of Australia's biggest assets was bipartisanship in the national interest. 

He accused the PM of undermining that.

"We come together as one in the national interest," he said.

"The Labor Party has done that consistently and to undermine that in parliament is utterly appalling.

"Dennis Richardson, probably our most esteemed diplomat, former head of ASIO, former ambassador to the United States, former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, said it was beyond grubby, and he's right.

"It is utterly irresponsible, deeply reprehensible and entirely inaccurate and frankly, desperado from the government.

"They are questioning people's patriotism as an act of political desperation."

Andrew Constance, the Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Gilmore and a former NSW transport minister, was asked by host Stan Grant whether the Prime Minister's words were "politically … a mistake".

 

Mr Constance refused to condemn the PM but admitted ASIO head Mike Burgess, who this week told 7.30 that the politicisation of national security was "not helpful",  should be listened to.

"I think that we should be listening to the experts in terms of this … there is no room for loose language," Mr Constance said.

However, Mr Constance did defend the government's stance against China.

"This country needs to be very strong in its position, its language, its determination, its sovereignty," he said, adding that Australia should not bow to coercive pressure from China on issues such as trade.

While he too felt Australia must remain firm when facing pressure from China, foreign editor of The Australian newspaper Greg Sheridan also took aim at Mr Morrison for his comments and defended Mr Marles.

"I am very critical of Scott Morrison for uttering the words 'Manchurian candidate'," Sheridan said.

"They were absolutely wrong.

"He said them about Richard Marles. Richard Marles is a patriotic Australian. He doesn't serve any national interest other than Australia's.

"This week, I think that the government has substantially overdone its China rhetoric, [even though] it's right to be critical of China.

"It's wrong to say the Labor Party has been disloyal or un-Australian or not followed Australia's interests while it's in opposition," he said.

"However, I think that the government is perfectly entitled to subject Labor's actual record on national security to withering scrutiny — in its last term of government, Labor cut the defence budget to record lows."

Questioned on national security, Mr Bowen said there was currently no difference in policy between Labor and the Coalition.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/chris-bowen-attacks-scott-morrrison-q-a-manchurian-china-russia/100841352

 

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we should deport scomo...

Anthony Albanese had to conduct a careful exercise in damage control this week when he made a calculated decision to accept a government migration bill that many of his caucus members have hated for years.

The Labor leader and his senior shadow ministers knew they were cornered by Scott Morrison after the Prime Minister challenged them to back a law that could make it easier to deport convicted criminals. So they hit the phones to make sure their critics on the left would understand why Labor had to let the bill pass.

 

It turned into a textbook case for managing a scare campaign in a week of shrill talk and frightening claims on every front. China, of course, most of all.

Stakeholders in the migration debate, such as refugee groups and migration experts, saw no need for Morrison to change the “character test” when ministers can already cancel visas on broad grounds, as Novak Djokovic discovered.

 

But Albanese and the key frontbenchers, including home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally and multicultural affairs spokesman Andrew Giles, could see the train wreck ahead if they went to the election blocking a bill that did not give the government the power it wanted to deport someone convicted of assault.

 

Morrison and his MPs threw everything at Labor in Parliament, including the claim that Albanese was soft on domestic violence offenders.

The refugee advocates were not happy but they understood Labor’s position. And they had a calculation to make, also. Did they want a Labor government that stops the use of temporary protection visas for thousands of refugees? Or did they assume Labor is certain of victory and could take any political risk in the campaign to come?

One of the lessons from the last campaign, according to Labor’s report into why it lost, was that too many stakeholders “banked” a Labor victory and started arguing over the spoils too soon. In the end, of course, they were all left fighting over nothing.

 

This is the reality of managing a scare campaign. Albanese and the leadership team calculated that the danger of a government attack on the “character test” was serious while the actual change to the law was not significant enough to warrant a rejection.

This was a backdown – and a humiliating one, according to the government. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke got what he wanted. His success was undercut, however, by his own admission that the government will run out of time to get the bill through the Senate before the election.

So it was a wedge, not an urgent change. Even so, Albanese made sure to turn up in Parliament to stand on the same side as Morrison when the vote was held.

Labor saw the next scare coming. Morrison signalled in the media he would challenge Labor to pass a change to firearms law that would impose mandatory sentencing on offenders – something caucus members have rejected in the past. This time, however, Albanese knew it would need to pass with Labor’s support. To do otherwise would invite another claim that he was soft on crime.

Labor’s manager in the lower house, Tony Burke, moved on Thursday to suspend standing orders and launch the debate on the firearms bill. This took the government by surprise, with no ministers ready to speak, but Dutton responded quickly by putting the bill to a vote as soon as possible. It passed the House.

 

Within minutes, Labor reversed years of policy and sacrificed its old concern that mandatory sentences were wrong because they imposed an outcome on judges. It was another backdown. But it was a rational political move to clear the decks for the election.

“It’s going to be an angry, vicious campaign,” says one Labor frontbencher. “They are going to go hard on driving wedges, attacking individual character, relying on fear and stoking division.”

The China scare is the big one, of course. Morrison is desperate, shameless and shrill. His claim on Wednesday that Labor deputy Richard Marles was the “Manchurian candidate” was outlandish, false and more than a bit daft. How could it be anything else? It refers to someone being brainwashed by a foreign power and led to commit treason – until the hero of the story stops him.

Incredibly, and foolishly, Albanese was stung into repeating the dumb claim himself on Thursday afternoon when he told Parliament that Morrison was the real Manchurian Candidate. He missed the chance to take the high road. He was sucked into the scare.

 

The intervention of the ASIO director-general, Mike Burgess, was badly needed. His interview with Leigh Sales on the ABC’s 7:30 on Wednesday night was compulsory viewing ahead of the election. It bursts the myth of one side being more vulnerable than another on the risk of foreign interference.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/who-s-afraid-of-a-scare-campaign-albanese-had-better-watch-out-because-they-do-work-20220217-p59xaa.html

 

 

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