WARNING: BUYER BEWARE

"Bill Shorten will nearly double Australia’s emissions reduction targets if he wins government but will seek to counter a carbon-tax and electricity-price scare campaign with a range of measures including rolling out smart meters to manage home power use." 

However, the article by Sid Maher in The Australian today goes on to say "The contentious detail and price implications will be thrashed out by consultation after the election." So in other words, sign your life away and we'll tell you how much it will cost you later!!!! Now that's a deal worth signing up for....not.

Mr Maher also states Labor will promise to appoint a panel of consumers and family advocates to minimise the effect of policy changes on low-income households. But what about the impact on middle income households who are being squeezed at every turn? What about the impact on self-funded retirees? What about the impact on business? 

So buyer beware and if you trust Bill Shorten & Labor to do the right thing AFTER getting your vote I'd seriously be questioning your judgement with all due respect. 

Can We Afford To Gamble With The Election

Now that Malcolm Turnbull has signalled the Double Dissolution and a July 2nd election date, it's a good time to reflect on where we are politically.  It's important for two reasons; 

1. To try to understand what led us to this point

2. And, to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes  

The Liberal National coalition sweep into power in 2013 after the six year nightmare under the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd Governments. Tony Abbott was riding high as the elected PM and swiftly went about delivering on promised key objectives. We have talked about those ad nauseam.

The honeymoon ended with the 2014 budget and we were on a steady slide for months. In August 2015 I penned a blog to ex Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. It was titled Dear Prime Minister Abbott. What I wrote, wasn’t only about how I felt. A lot of us felt the same way. I know that from personal conversations and chatting with people on several forums. It was supported by the overwhelming response I received on posting this piece on Twitter. 

Things sadly didn’t change so the party changed leader. In came Malcolm riding high on the crest of a wave. But things turned sour fairly quickly and now we are plunging rapidly back to where we started. Cue Turnbull’s big play. It took guts to do what he did calling for a DD. I believe the intentions are sound but the risk of it turning pear shaped are high. That said, I believe courage deserves support. 

Perhaps if Mr Abbott had listened and made the called for changes things may have been different for him and us. But we won’t know, so we have to deal with the cards we’ve been dealt. Malcolm Turnbull will lead us to the election. I don’t mind admitting I’m not overly enthusiastic about that.

But it is, what it is. 

I accept and understand why many conservatives are unhappy. But that isn’t new. There were many unhappy conservatives when Abbott was leader. This unrest steadily increased throughout 2015. But most of the moderates were not comfortable sharing how they felt. They were slammed when they did. Now we have the DelCon movement. The major difference between the DelCon's and previously unhappy Liberals  is, many of the DelCon's are hell bent on payback. As a result, we risk being in a worse position than we find ourselves in now. The consequences of that are alarming. 

If we were in a solid position financially and the global market was buoyant, we could run the risk of experimenting. That is, send the Liberals a very strong message. But, we aren’t financially solid and the global market is particularly volatile. Due to Labor’s recklessness we are swimming in debt. Our mining boom has fizzed and we need time to build new industries. The warning bells are ringing on another market crash. We have NO cookies in the jar to buffer us (thanks to Labor). The odds for taking a gamble are not in our favour. 

Given the above I’ll be helping the LNP win government. I wasn’t over the moon with the change. But I’m just as angry with Tony Abbott as anything else. He could have done something he didn’t. So he gets no sympathy from me. I’m no different to many others I’m a Liberal and through gritted teeth I’ll vote for Turnbull’s team and work my butt off to help keep him honest.  The only thing which will change my position is a shocker of a budget. That coupled with a plan that lurches far too far to the left. If that happens there's no hope for any of us. I may as well pack up and move permanently to my UK home. 

I’ve said before Tony Abbott achieved a significant majority in the lower house but people didn’t trust him in the senate. His senate result was the worst ever. So claims he achieved a landslide are overstated. Unless the electorate delivers you a senate that works it's no victory as we’ve discovered.We can blame the ‘vote whisperer’ & I have. BUT if people had given Abbott the vote to enable him to govern we wouldn’t be in the position we are in now. It's that simple. 

The scary thing is, the micros and independents are still re-contesting. In addition, there will be many new ones running; all untried and untested. So the question for me is? Can I trust the new ones to do what they say they will? No. Do I trust the current backbenchers? Hell no. For me, it a matter of can I afford to gamble. I seriously don’t think I can. 

In the absence of an alternative to the Liberals a number of unhappy conservatives have stated they will donkey vote in the lower house. Their right of course but if enough people do it, they will effectively hand the seat over to Labor. One donkey might not seem much but if 100, 200 plus people do the same, it's a huge risk. Remember, Clive Palmer won by 53 votes against a Liberal candidate who scored 41.3%  first preferences against Clive’s 26.5%. Look how that experiment worked out. 

Adam Bandt said yesterday if we end up with a hung parliament the Greens will hold the balance of power in both houses. Just think about what that means. They want to increase the asylum seeker intake to 50,000 per year. They want to bring back a carbon tax (but so will Labor). The list goes on and on. If through our actions we give Labor a ‘leg-up’ the risk of a hung parliament is real. Queue left, in walks the Greens. 

All elections are important but this one more so. This one is about reforming (cleaning out the senate) stability and prudence. I’m not convinced it's the time to protest or to gamble with our future. Whilst I am but one vote hopefully I can convince a few unhappy conservatives to rethink sending a protest vote. To ask them to give the government an even chance of getting back with a workable parliament in both houses. To ask themselves the question; can we afford PM Shorten and his union controllers? Can we afford the Greens controlling both houses? Can we afford another unworkable senate? Can we afford taking a risk on single issue micros and independents? That includes the Australian Liberty Alliance.

I’m keen to see what's in the budget and the plan for the next three years. Government is about compromise. No government can satisfy everyone's demands. It's a matter of weighing up what's important to us as individuals. That said, it’s equally important to acknowledge what's best for the country as a whole. I didn’t agree with all of Abbott’s policies. I won’t agree with all of Turnbull’s either. The lead up has been messy but I’m not going to hang the government for that. It's the substance that counts not the theatre. 

If Malcolm Turnbull does anything stupid then by all means we should demand they kick him out. As with Tony Abbott, Malcolm is the leader he needs to prove he deserves our trust. If he fails, don’t let him get away with what Tony got away with, blaming everyone else but himself. It's the leaders bums on the chair. Perform or get kicked. I'm counting on Turnbull performing.

What Happen To The Fair Australia?

The headline that grabbed me today was this one from the Australian written by Adam Creighton and Sid Maher. “ONE IN TWO VOTERS IS FULLY RELIANT ON PUBLIC WELFARE.” 

I posted the story on  social media and I received a number responses. The one that really struck a cord with me, came from Nellie. Nellie is one of the more responsible political posters on Twitter and she made a simple statement. So unfair. 

If you are one of the thousands of Aussies who believe in a fair go, you would be hard pressed to disagree with Nellie. It is unfair that 50% of Australians are carrying the other 50% or paying the other 50%. We are frequently reminded our population is ageing.  Whilst pushing the pension entitlement age up will have some impact it’s reasonable to assume that at some point the 50% who are carrying the load becomes 45% then 40% down, down, down. Where does it end?

“Analysis by The Weekend Australian has revealed that more than 44 per cent of voters, almost 6.4 million people, are ­either public sector employees (1.89 million) or wholly dependent on federal government pensions, allowances and parenting payments (4.48 million). The figure grows further when private sector workers who receive more in welfare than they pay in tax are added.”

1.89 million public servants equals 7.9% of the entire population. Sure some are essential services rightly so, but a huge percentage aren’t. 

Scott Morrison has been sending very strong signals that expenditure has to be controlled. Rating agencies have been sending the same signals. We better start listening the old “she’ll be right mate and I’m OK mate” isn’t cutting the mustard. 

There were a lot of comments to the Australian article, some more worthy than others. This one is worth sharing. I hope Richard doesn’t mind me using it. 

“What are you all doing this weekend?

Personally, the wife and I are doing our BAS so the GST can be paid on time for our small business.Then payroll reconciliations so the PAYG withholding taxes can be paid on time.Then PAYG installments so the company tax can be paid on time.Then reconciling superannuation so the 

superannuation can be paid on time.

There are no public servants on hand to answer queries on difficult issues from complex legislation, so we will battle through the weekend on our own.

To all those who enjoy living off welfare handouts .... please enjoy our weekend for us. We are too busy supporting you and battling the red tape to enjoy it for ourselves.”

Hard to argue with that. 

When I’ve raised these points in the past I’ve received the “I paid my taxes I’m entitled” rebuttal. Well, no you aren’t. Your taxes aren’t your savings fund. You pay taxes for services you receive through out your whole life. It's not a fund where you pay and receive services and then you line up to withdraw what you paid for services you received and will continue to receive until you drop dead!! Whew that was long. Seriously, we need a change of attitude if we are to prosper in the future and not end up like Greece. 

When I get push back I’m reminded of a friend of mine who migrated here from Malaysia 7 years ago. He didn’t have much when he arrived with his wife and three children. He had a job. But it wasn’t the highest paying job in the world. Still isn’t for that matter. He works unbelievable hours at times. But the family scrimped and saved and after 2 years they had enough for a deposit on a modest house. It was cramped with five people; three growing teenagers. Last week he showed me the extension they have completed. He has a plan, and that is not to be a drain on the public purse of the country that has given him a new life. If he can do it why can't others? I think we know the answer to that. 

They say democracy exists up until the time voters discover they can vote themselves more and more generous gifts from the public treasury and that irresponsible governments keep appeasing them. Maybe I don’t know. But it sounds plausible. 

I wonder how different the system would be if receivers of welfare or employees of the tax payer didn’t have the right to vote. Only tax payers who don't take from the public purse and self-funded retirees could vote. If nothing else it would be interesting and I bet it would be fairer. I suspect if this was proposed regardless of how off the wall it is, it would receive support. 

So back to Nellies comment. No Nellie, it isn’t fair, and it isn’t sustainable. In so many ways it's unbelievable that parents and grand parents feeding from the public trough are happy to burden their children and grand children with such an unsustainable future for a bag of silver now. 

Sadly the "Fair Australia" has been replaced by the "Everyone For Themselves Australia."  I hope and pray we have a government with the guts to take this head on.  But I fear even if they do and they are reelected we'll end up with another unworkable senate. Unless of course we wise up and give the LNP the mandate and the senate to get stuff done. The alternative is Shorten and you can bet your life he'll be maxing out the credit card. We simply can't afford that and neither can the future generations who will carry the burden.

Stop Whining & Do Something Constructive

For the life of me I cannot see the point of people invading my Twitter timeline and moaning about Malcolm Turnbull.  I don't care if they hate him or not. I'm not overly enthusiastic about him myself. 

If people are as they say Liberal supporters, but they hate Malcolm Turnbull they could get off their butts and try to help fix the problems we are facing. That includes pushing Turnbull and the government to get his act together. Seriously what do people hope to achieve with silly childish comments like calling him Turdbull. 

All parties use social media to gather intelligence and gauge reactions. So how about articulating your opinions on...

• What do you expect. 
• What needs to be improved. 
• What needs to be addressed etc. 

I’m guessing if people are true Liberals albeit unhappy ones, they would prefer to see the Liberals win the election. The alternative is gambling on some other group with the risk of Labor gaining power. You can’t always trust micros to do the right thing as we've discovered to our detriment. Another Labor Government would be a nightmare. Just think of the three top positions filled by;  Shorten PM, Bowen Treasurer and Plibersek Foreign Minister.  It's akin to the Nightmare on Elm Street. 

How about these for a radical ideas.  Using time effectively putting the pressure on Shorten? To a true Liberal, Labor is the ‘enemy’ not ourselves. Actively campaigning Senators who won't help in delivering on essential Liberal Govt’s policies has merit. Lobbying the media (to keep the media honest) is worth a shot. That's probably a tall order but people can at the very least step up and help inform people. After all a large percentage of voters get their news from social media. 

But, if in fact they are truly exLibs I wish they would complain amongst themselves rather than to me. Perhaps some could even cheer themselves up and have a bit of fun coming up with the best whinge the day. 

It's fair to say some exLibs have bolted and joined other parties. Great, but I do tire of them ramming their new found enlightenment down my throat. The ‘vote ALA’ tags are both comical and annoying. I’ve made my decision. I’m not the slightest bit interested in fringe one policy (despite pretending they aren’t) micro parties. 

So in short, whining to me achieves nothing, except possibly making the Whiner’s feel better. Comprendre?  Zip, zilch, zero just a big fat waste of time and energy; yours and mine. Because when my timeline is invaded I’m left to plow through the vents to get to the stuff I’m interested in. All that does is leave me pee’d off. 

I suppose I’ve just had a monumental whine myself. But unless you choose to read this, it will remain my whine and I haven’t invaded anyone's timeline (uninvited) doing it. 

Please Consider Their Families

The judgements are coming thick and fast on the 60-minutes team saga. I’ll not comment on the merits or not of what they did. One day the full story will emerge and at that point I guess everyone will once again voice their opinions. 

What is very clear is as a society how judgemental we are. I’m not absolving myself from the comment for I can sometimes be too quick to judge. However, I try to seek more information than just paper gossip before I make a comment. But I’m human failure is par for the course.  

Some comments in response to media reports or social media chatter about the 60-minutes saga both shock and sadden me. The morale outrage about the circumstances surrounding someone else's predicament is astounding. What they did is one thing, but they are in trouble. They need help and support. 

It makes me wonder if those who show so little empathy (and at times downright nastiness) towards others when they need help, ever make mistakes themselves. When I’ve asked on earlier occasions it often generates the typical “I would never make that mistake.” A mistake is a mistake. There’s no universal rating system that says this mistake is more or less acceptable but than another. It's merely personal judgement. I wonder if the morally superior ever put themselves in risky positions to help others, regardless of how foolhardy it might be. Lastly, I wonder how the morally superior would react if a member of their family were in a similar situation. 

I don’t know what the family circumstances are of the rest of the 60-minutes crew. I do know Tara Brown has a husband and two little kids. They must be worried sick. The kids are probably too young to understand what it means but I bet they are missing their mum. They need all the support they can get as do the families of the rest of the team. So please spare a thought for them before jumping on the high horse and galloping to the morale high-ground.

I hope and pray the situation is resolved as quickly as possible. Then those affected can return home to be with their families where they belong. 

Shorten, The Champion of the Worker, Right🤔

Bill Shorten is a fraud!!!

He certainly speaks with forked tongue. At the very least he should be sent back to the confessional to beg forgiveness for lying. 

This is a man who takes every opportunity to sermonise from the Labor pulpit that he stands up for workers. February 1st this year he even had the gall to unveil a suite of new policy measures designed to protect Australian workers from being ripped off by dodgy bosses. The failure was he left the Union and PM bit out in the middle. It should have read “to protect workers from being ripped off by dodgy union bosses and the Opposition Leader.” 

Union, Laborite’s and recalcitrant backbenchers flippantly dismiss the findings of TURC. They vehemently oppose the introduction of  ABCC legislation. Instead, they seek to cloud the debate with numerous amendments outside the intent of the legislation. From where I sit, it’s clear that given a choice of supporting workers or jumping to the tune of they who pay the piper, Shorten does the latter. He simply won't stand up to the unions.

Who could forget Shorten and his nauseating political sobbing (AKA photo opportunity) when addressing the workers at Queensland Nickel. So can anyone tell me what he has done since then? If he was the champion of the working man and women he’d be front and centre fighting for the rights of sacked workers. Unless I’m mistaken, he's done nothing of note to help. 

Now we have the debate the over The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) and the devastating impact of their decision on owner drivers in the transport industry. The Government will be pushing for the abolition of the Tribunal next week. With the support of five of the now enlightened backbenchers, they have a chance of getting this through the senate. That said, I'm cynical enough to think a couple of the backbenchers are only doing this because of the threat of a DD. But, we will take their vote. Fingers crossed the government can get the sixth supporter to guarantee passage. Labor will vote against it and let's not forget it was Bill Shorten who set this Tribunal up.

Bill Shorten doesn’t care about workers. If he did, he’d be front and centre on pushing for the ABCC to help clean up the Unions. He’d be doing everything he can for workers in Q’ld and he’d support getting rid of the RSRT. Instead, he’ll stand by and watch thousands of small owner drivers go out of business. 

The Taxi Driver

I met a very interesting man on Friday. He is a taxi driver, but was previously a restauranteur. As it turns out I know the restaurant. He sold it to enable him to focus on his family, which will become clearer. 

My taxi driver is an Afghani by birth. He was eight years of age when he arrived in Australia.  He’s also a Muslim. He’s well educated and successful. It was obvious he came from a good family. He considers himself a ridgy didge Aussie. 

Like me, my taxi driver is an LNP supporter and like me he isn’t impressed with our ex PM Abbott or our current PM Turnbull. He will continue to support the LNP (with some reservations). We have that in common. As a legal immigrant he is very committed to keeping our borders safe. He worked for a period of time (during the Labor years)  as an interpreter on Christmas Island and in WA. This experience seemed to strengthen his support for stopping the boats. 

We talked at length about the ‘Afghanistan’ he remembered as a child. His family had wealth. His father ran an airline, but not long after the Russian invasion of 1979 they arrested his father and jailed him for three years. He was very critical of what was happening in his country. His father was just one of thousands rounded up and jailed. Upon the release of his father, the family applied for asylum. They were accepted by Australia. They had to leave everything behind to make a new life where they could be safe from persecution and war. 

My taxi driver worked hard, studied and made a successful life for himself in the country he loves, Australia. He married and has children, the eldest a son. As a father, he’s worried about his son and radicalisation. He said he feels like a spy constantly on the alert for any signs that his son is being influenced by radicals. He shared his fears that despite the efforts made by himself and his wife, his son may still be ensnared in the web of radicalisation. The thought of this happening understandably fills him with horror. 

The family isn’t overly religious. But he explained that he spends a lot of time trying to educate his son on how radicals use the Koran to manipulate the gullible. Like so many others who use religious text in an attempt to frame an argument radicals don’t provide the context. My taxi driver tries to do that. He believes he is winning, but admits it's a constant battle between parents and the lure of master manipulators. 

His story reminded me of the struggle one of my family members had with their heroin addicted son. Their constant vigil. The guilt they felt in searching his room. Reading his emails, etc. Despite their efforts, their son still managed to obtain drugs. This went on for years. It almost destroyed the family and the scars still remain. Nothing changed until the son decided he had to get off drugs. Thankfully he eventually did break his habit and he is now leading a productive life. 

It also reminded me of Hitler and how he was able to manipulate millions of people. He was charismatic, and he found the lure to suck in people. The reasons why people followed Hitler were many and varied.  From all I’ve read about the subject it's the same with ISIS followers. Some are certainly disenfranchised, others are idealistic (creating their own state). Peer pressure plays a role. Ignorance I suspect is up there. Just plain gullible perhaps. It's reasonable to assume there is a good smattering of just plain evil amongst the recruits. But many come from good families and that's the biggest challenge. Thousands who followed Hitler didn’t believe what they heard about his atrocities. You hear much the same from radicalised youth about ISIS. 

I guess the message for me was. Unless you have been in the situation of managing what this man is trying to deal with, we really can’t appreciate just how hard it is. There are parents who are prepared to give up a lot in their efforts to protect their children. That includes Muslim parents. My taxi driver certainly has. I hope he and his wife are successful in keeping their son on the ‘straight and narrow’. He told me he isn’t the only one in their circle of friends trying to protect their children from the evils of radicalisation. Who would be in their shoes. It's must be simply awful. 

They do say “Sometimes people comes to your life for a moment. It matters not how much time they spent with you but how they impacted your life in that time.” True. My taxi driver was one such person. I learnt something important from him. That is, don’t be so quick to judge. We never know what others a trying to deal with. 

We Shouldn't Just Dismiss Polls

Much has been said about opinion polls over the last few years. The merit of which often depends on the personal like or dislike of parties and leaders and the results presented. Someone recently pointed out if the results are what you want to see they are right. But if they aren't what you want to see they are made up and lies. Makes me laugh but it's true. 

Whether you believe the poll results or not, it should be remembered they are often the only mechanism us, the voting public has to tell parties and their leaders what we think. They are a pulse check. It's too late when it comes to the election, the only other opportunity we have to voice our opinions. 

The most recent Newspoll has been the source of great delight to the antiTurnbull brigade. Let them have their fun whilst we focus on what the poll told us. Whilst the majority  of voters prefer Malcolm Turnbull to the alternative Bill Shorten, they are less enamoured with the LNP. That is a collective problem not just the problem of the leader, Malcolm Turnbull. If it was just down to Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, both the party rating and his personal rating would be below that of Labor and Shorten. 

So, my take is the voting public sees the LNP as a party that is lacking direction and that’s a combination of many factors not just leadership. From where I sit and from what I hear I can summarise that around four key points. 

There is no united front: In a broad-church party there will be conflicting opinions and views. That's fine but but once a decision is made it needs to be owned by the party. Petty squabbling must be kept behind closed doors. Please stop airing your opinions about others in the party in public. Let the media do that. 

Distractions: There’s too much noise being generated by the Liberal Taliban, the gang of three; Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz and Kevin Andrews. 

Leadership: Malcolm Turnbull has to toughen up and take Labor head-on. I know he is careful with language but you can still be considered in your response and get the message out. Please accept the invitation to go on 2GB and take the likes of Alan Jones head on whilst you are at it. 

Policy: The vast majority of conservative voters are not in the top percent of income earners. So policies that include retention of the super tax concessions and private school funding (particularly if we are taking a tough line on public schools) will be considered unfair. Repair the education system and that must include the massive problem we have with unpaid debt. Lastly, more money for health. That means hospitals NOT health care bureaucrats   

So the message from Newpoll was a simple one. We aren’t happy with you lot and you need to get your act together. Stop the squabbles and pull together, let Ministers do their job, drop unfair practices and Malcolm please, start to lead. 

I honestly don’t think the public will buy the hollow barrel policies of Bill Shorten and Labor. That said, if my party (the LNP) doesn’t get their act together post-haste that could be the outcome. Bill Shorten PM, and almost the same front bench that presided over our worst period in Government ever, back in charge.  

What a nightmare that would be. 

Dear Prime Minister Turnbull

It’s time for a heart to heart with the poor beleaguered voters. Voters who are trying hard to sustain a positive position in the face of increasing electoral disillusionment. 

With the greatest respect to you, you have got to start acting as the Prime Minister not the CEO of Company Australia. In February I penned a blog highlighting the perils of you traversing the same path as Tony Abbott. Sadly, Mr Turnbull from the outside looking in that's where you are heading. This one-man band leadership style is not working. It's not working for us, it's not working for your ministers and it's certainly starting to backfire on you. You have very capable ministers who are more than equipped to run their diverse portfolios. Let them. When you challenged Tony Abbott you accused him of not respecting cabinet intelligence. From where I’m sitting I question whether you do that yourself. 

I know you rate yourself very highly on the subject of economics. So you should. But, you are not the Treasurer, Scott Morrison is. Let him do his job. Listen to him. When he says the problem is spending he is absolutely right. Scott Morrison has proven time and again he can sell a tough message and get the electorate to listen. I’m afraid, despite my first belief that communication is strong point for you, you aren’t doing as good a job. If you continue to insist on controlling everything yourself, what was the point of getting rid of Tony Abbott? 

You are a strategic thinker, fantastic we need that in a leader. But I sense what is missing is the ‘pulse check’. As an example, let's take the income tax sharing debate from last week. I can see the merit of what you were endeavouring to achieve. Forcing the states to be more accountable makes sense. However, on the street voters have no trust in the states not to ‘jack-up’ taxes as they did with land tax. Then we have state approvals for large council rate increases and the forced amalgamation of councils in NSW and the alarm bells ring loudly. The debate was dead in the water before it even got off the ground. There were too many influencing factors you couldn’t control. Whilst I understand the bumbled announcement on the edge of a sporting field, few see beyond the event of the day. Add the absence of Scott Morrison coupled with the fact  he was caught unawares (for the second time in almost as many weeks) and the rumours fly. Not a good look. I’m sure you are well aware perception  is reality.

The next big hurdle is the budget. If you do a poor job of this I think you can kiss goodbye to winning the election. Whilst reform is essential and hard decisions will need to be made, skimping on health and education is a suicidal move. People will buy a deficit in these areas if you tell them why you are doing it. 

As a true Liberal I’m for self-sufficiency and private education but super tax concessions and private school funding must stop. It's unfair, and it's bad economics. A study released in 2014 showed the rate of growth of super tax concessions is greater than that of the pension despite the ageing population, meaning the cost of the tax concession will soon overtake the pension to become ''the single largest area of government expenditure,'' by 2016-17. It also highlighted that the Commonwealth bill for the aged pension and super tax concession is projected to rise at a staggering 12% annually to be $50.7 billion in 2016-17.

''The overwhelming majority of this assistance flows to high-income earners,'' the report finds.

“Low income earners receive virtually no benefit,”

Ditching both of these delivers a win-win. It will soften the blow when you announce the tougher decisions and it will restore faith with the ‘middle of the road’ core. 

I don’t want a Labor Government returned to power. Should we go to a DD, I don’t want a gaggle of ill equipped single cause radicals in the Senate. I’ve had enough of the chaos. You can fix it and get us back on the front foot. You can steer the debate back onto the folly of Labor and you can deliver a win in both houses. That's something Tony Abbott couldn’t do because the public did not trust him enough to give him control of the Senate. It’s up to you but you don’t have a lot of time and you have a huge credibility ravine to traverse. 

As they say, “Do it NOW.” If you don’t you’ll go the same way as Dennis Jensen but this time we all go with you and Bill Shorten will be Prime Minister. 

The Contradictions of the DelCons

I confess to being confused about the contradictions coming from the anti Turnbull DelCon movement. 

When Labor started their Leadership Roulette many on the Conservative side of politics smugly declared we don't behave like that. It's fair to say removing any Prime Minister sends shock waves through the electorate. It hasn’t been a common practice in Australia. But Labor's revolving door of Rudd/Gillard/Rudd was on a completely different scale. I'll fess up in stating that after Rudd toppled Gillard I joined the Conservative chorus claiming our side would never do that. Let's face it, Rudd was still ahead in the polls. The removal of Rudd by Gillard was carried out with the precision of a Valerie Solanas cold blooded assassination. 

Tony Abbott was given a ‘written warning’. He didn’t improve so the party replaced him. I agreed something had to change and I make no apology for saying that, at the time. However, as we all know, some sections of the so called conservative movement erupted. Claims of we are just like Labor reverberated down the corridors of social media. Comments to media columns were full of seething DelCons declaring revenge. This has gone on for seven months. The fact is the process and the environment surrounding Tony Abbott's removal was vastly different to that of Labor. This is a very relevant point that has been expunged from the DelCons repertoire. 

I’m not sure if DelCons are deliberate in ignoring how the system of electing the leader works. Or if there is some other reason. I sense it's the ‘other’ which I will get to shortly. But the fact is, the Australian Prime Minister is not directly elected by the Australian people. He or she is appointed by the party room. There is no fixed tenure for the position of Australian Prime Minister and any serving Australian Prime Minister may have his position challenged and removed from him by members of his party or coalition. Tony Abbott was given notice by his party. Rudd and Gillard were not extended that courtesy. 

Now let's go back to my challenge; the contradiction of the DelCons. We've endured seven months of their whining about our change of LNP leader. Cries of we are the ones who decide when in fact we don’t. We are as bad as Labor. Well, we are not. And, if all that were true, why in heaven's name are those same people openly advocating turfing Malcolm Turnbull out and bringing Tony Abbott back!!! Abbott/Turnbull/Abbott, the game of LNP Leadership Roulette. I’m confused. The DelCons are now advocating behaving just like Labor whom they condemned.  

I listened to a caller on the radio yesterday. It highlights the point perfectly. This guy is very prone to bleating about the leadership change and how the 54 traitors had no right. So I was gobsmacked to hear him suggesting that Turnbull should be kicked out and replaced with Scott Morrison. Wait, it gets better. He also suggested that Julie Bishop is kicked out and replaced with Tony Abbott as Foreign Minister. So, when the party made the decision to change based on certain factors all hell let loose. But many of the same people are now advocating the same thing. Shaking head. 

The DelCons claims of superiority in holding the moral high ground and accusing everyone else of being traitors and lacking in principle merely highlights their own lack of credibility. They have no claim to the moral high ground. If the party did listen and turfed Turnbull out and replaced him with Abbott they'd be cheering. Some might even cheer for Morrison. They wouldn’t be labelling those within the party room traitors. They'd be declaring them heroes. You can see why I’m confused. 

It's also rather ironic that the caller yesterday was championing Morrison’s cause. Many DelCons have labelled Morrison a traitor despite voting for Abbott. As for Abbott as FM. Does anyone seriously think Abbott would simply slot into that role and support Scott Morrison after what Abbott said about Morrison? Hell would freeze over first. I’m not sure Foreign Affairs is an Abbott strong point. You need finesse and diplomacy in that role. If Abbott was to settle down and take a cabinet role he would be much better suited to defence in my humble opinion. He could have a lot of fun ‘shirt-fronting’ foreign incursionists (not sure that's a word but you get my drift). 

The bottom line is simple. The DelCons hate Turnbull the rest of their carry on is simply mouthing off and framing their argument so they can assault others based on their narrow views. It's a bit sad, but it makes for a fascinating study. 

Martin Luther King once said, “For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That's what hate does.” I think he was right and we are seeing some of that being played out now. There certainly isn’t a lot of logical thinking being applied to some of the suggestions.  

Who Leaked The Confidential Discussion on Tax Sharing?

When Tony Abbott came under attack from the media over bumbled statements and announcements  I came to his defence. As did many others. So it’s only fair I do the same for Malcolm Turnbull. 

When the PM announced his intentions over his determination to have the ABCC passed I let out a big sigh of relief. He sounded authoritative and prime ministerial. In essence the leader we needed to see.  Then came the fumbled announcement of the COAG discussion over tax income sharing. Much was made about the setting of this important announcement; standing at the edge of a football field. Even more was made about Scott Morrison not being present. The media went into overdrive and I was crestfallen and as a result openly criticised the PM. 

But then I stumbled upon a transcript of Turnbull’s interview with Fran Kelly. 

“FRAN KELLY:

A process question first, if I may Prime Minister – why did you choose the launch of a football academy on the edge of a sporting field to reveal your plans for “the most fundamental reform in generations”?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well let me remind you that at the COAG meeting – this is the premiers and chief ministers meeting with me and the Treasurer and others in December last year – we agreed that we would at the next COAG – which is this week – review, look at a wide range of tax reform, that’s state tax reform and revenue sharing options between the Federal Government and the states. So this has been on the agenda.

We have raised it because I don't believe in dealing with the states via a megaphone. It has been raised privately and discussed between me and other chief ministers and between the Treasurer, Scott Morrison, and his counterparts and of course between Martin Parkinson the head of Premier and Cabinet and his bureaucratic counterparts. Those discussions found their way into the media yesterday morning. I heard you had a very good program yesterday morning talking about it.

PRIME MINISTER:

So really we're in a position where because, you know, confidential discussions had been breached, it was obvious I had to clarify what we were talking about and look, I'm an open person, it was an issue of concern so we – so I answered it. So there it is.”

The interview is worth a read. It clarifies a view points and highlights the difference between a perceived announcement and what in essence was a clarification. It also highlights some of the challenges with the States. 

Interview With Fran Kelly

I still think the delivery could have been better. But, perhaps given the leak I’ve been harsh. That said, it's obvious someone was out to sink this proposal before it was even discussed. As I’ve said many times. For all the demands for reform the moment ideas are put up for discussion it's a deafening NO, NO, NO. 

So the $64,000 question remains. Who leaked the confidential discussion? It's poor when leaders and their aides can’t be trusted to maintain confidentiality. If they were business leaders they’d be fired in similar circumstances and rightly so. 

My lesson to self? Do your research before jumping to conclusions.