Bill Shorten
Welcome to ICB, The Punch’s weekly column where we call bullshit on matters owed the honour of being metaphorically described as fecal matter.
This week we’re taking a look at gaffes - verbal slip-ups. I’m calling bullshit on the way other politicians blow the tiniest of their opponents’ public stuff-ups into a big deal.
Let’s start with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who “gaffed” on Tuesday. Talking to the media he said: “Should the Reserve Bank lower interest rates today, that will be welcomed, but that is obviously a matter for the bank”.
But the Reserve Bank chooses whether to adjust interest rates on the first Tuesday of the month. This Tuesday was April’s fourth. Dun-dun-DUN!
Continue reading "ICB: Gaffes aren’t worth mouthing off about" »
Labor MPs now feel condemned to an unhappy routine of Gillard Government advances crashing into the roadblock of the leadership standoff with Kevin Rudd.
Many are also despairing over the prospect that the only way to end instability caused by Kevin Rudd’s ambitions is to gratify them.
For many, that reward for all the trouble caused is unacceptable. Which means the next leadership change—and the odds of one happening are growing stronger—is likely to be from Julia Gillard to Bill Shorten or Stephen Smith. Not Kevin Rudd.
Continue reading "Odds rapidly Shorten on a different leader" »
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realitycheck says:
What rubbish. The rantings of a child who cannot leave home. The US and UK guarantee our security with their nukes and forces. You will learn this when the Jews bomb Iran. We owe them loyalty and should be grateful. People like you are too juvenile to realise this. Australia… Read more »
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boganpride says:
The ALP used to be the cream of the working class - elevated on merit against the odds. It is now better represented by Punch types. Bolinger bolshevics, multiculturalists and people such as Penberthy, who seems to have lost his heart and soul inside Kate Ellis. Same. Shame.Shame. We trusted… Read more »
Despite it being the dawn of the Sunshine Parliament, Julia Gillard is going to have to make some decisions about her cabinet based very much on the darker and drearier realities of the last Government.
Between former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, former Prime Ministerial backstabbers and powerbrokers in Mark Arbib and Bill Shorten and Robb “this could go on for a while yet” Oakeshott, Julia Gillard is faced with political equivalent of a surgical face transplant in a NSW public hospital.
Heres are a few people and portfolios that are going to leave the Prime Minister with some headaches:
Kevin Rudd
He’s not so much the elephant in the room as he is an erudite 200 kilogram, opera singing multi lingual gorilla in the room that regularly supplies analysis for the six o’clock news. Queensland was apparently upset that he got dumped as PM, but as he never really seemed to disappear so it’s unclear why they were so upset.
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Tim Anderson says:
Why Rudd became chopped liver, Gillard is just a caretaker PM waiting for Bill “showbags” Shorten to claim his prize, he has already stated he will be Labor leader before the next election. Bill has been stacking branches in Victoria and panders to some lobby groups for support. http://www.hereticpress.com/Dogstar/Religion/Faith.html#faceless Read more »
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Ryan says:
@Pelu: well lets see now, if there were “core promises” and “non-core promises” then there might actually be some that this incompetent bunch of clowns might have delivered, sadly there are zero notable deliverable promises (other than some half baked tokenistic, insincere speeches). If the promise is to spend every… Read more »
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