oh but politics is such fun and our pollies even more laughable!

It would be so refreshing if politicians of all flavours put the country before personal ambition.  It is almost as though the current government is deliberatley trying to lose the next election.

Would it be the first time a government deliberatley lost an election rather than admit they had lost the plot?

Tuesday, 21 August 2018 9.00 am

Malcolm Turnbull declares the Liberal leadership vacant as party room meeting kicks off … all leadership positions declared vacant.

Breaking News...

Malcolm Turnbull has declared the Liberal leadership is vacant.

Malcolm Turnbull wins leadership ballot.

48 votes to 35.

Is he in or is he potentially out?

Section 44 of the Constitution has struck down many a politician in the past year… but is it powerful enough to take down Peter Dutton? This time it is not dual citizenship under s44(i) that is at issue. Instead, it is s44(v) in the spotlight.

Section 44(v) says that any person who "has any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth" is disqualified from sitting as a member of parliament.

Mr Dutton, as recorded in the parliamentary register of interests, is the beneficiary of a discretionary family trust. This trust, through its trustee, apparently owns two childcare centres in Queensland.

The allegation is that since July 2, 2018, the trust, through its childcare centres, has agreements with the public service to provide childcare services in exchange for childcare subsidies.

Mr Dutton may argue the childcare centres merely receive the subsidy on behalf of the parents and do not have an agreement with the public service. But if it is found there is such an agreement, it would appear Mr Dutton has a beneficial interest in a trust that has an agreement with the public service, potentially triggering the application of s 44(v).

Last year, in a case concerning Bob Day a majority of the High Court held that the beneficiary of a trust which, via its trustee, is party to an agreement to which section 44(v) refers, has an indirect pecuniary interest in the agreement, and is therefore disqualified from sitting in parliament. If the facts set out above are correct, this would place Dutton into the realm of potential disqualification.

Read on…. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-21/peter-dutton-childcare-centres-parliament/10146232

Well, Malcolm has stayed in. The only good thing about this is that Duffer (Er Dutton) has resigned from the cabinet. Now he can snipe from the sidelines with his mate Abbott.

Another good thing is that we won't have to pay Mal for being another ex PM. At least til the next election. There are too many of the around as it is.

Same old, same old. Graham Richardson's book, "Whatever It Takes" had a chapter on the Hawke/Keating row and the part that resonated with me was that Australia would have been out of the recession we had to have 12 months earlier if the government of the day had been concentrating on Australia, not counting numbers.

Those PM's who had longevity all had one thing in common; they listened to those around them as well as the voters. If something was contentious, it was changed or dropped. Turnbull has a total inability to listen to those around him, let alone the voters. He is surrounded by sycophants who keep reassuring him that he is doing a good job when the opposite is true. Graham Richardson has a lovely quote about Turnbull, he might be the most intelligent person in the parliament but he is a long way from being the smartest.

If the Liberal MPs can’t trust each other and have so much conflict about how this country should be led, how can they expect the Australian people to trust them? They are immersed in an identity crisis and will remain so until the next election, regardless of who is leading as PM. Perhaps the conflict between moderates and conservatives within the Party will never be resolved, even with an election. Perhaps the Liberal Party has simply become unworkable?

I think this was a pre-emptive strike by Mr Turnbull. Had he waited a couple of weeks until the next sitting, there would have been more time for the discenters to mount a full-frontal attack if they deemed they had the numbers. With Mr Turnbull declaring his job vacent he has deprived the discenters the immediate opportunity to convince others to rally to their cause. The fact that the vote was as close as it was shows he was right to do so.

However, the next game of 'chicken' may not be as favourable for Mr Turnbull and he needs to take the upcomming break to "consider his position" on a great many things, not least his leadership.

And Mr Shorten needs to resist the impulse to gloat. His own standing is questionable and if Mr Turnbull does 'step-down' then Mr Abbott will have an even longer chain to run on, leadership or not. Mr Shorten would be easy pickings.

I think Boring Bill is much better at back-flipping and sucking-up than Malcolm and that's saying something.

Having a look around at the parliamentary "personalities" ... I'd like to bin the lot of them ... the glad, the sad, the mad and the bad.

The Federal Opposition uses Question Time to move a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister.

Grrrr.

And I thought Trump Tweets and May's unseemly Brexit were cringeworthy.

The Australian antics seem to be leaving them in the shade unfortunately.

Idiots Inc.

Quoting someone else;

"Politics is an illusion of service while grasping for wealth and power"

perhaps not an exact quote, but close enough to get the idea.

This is the Government that has ruined the retirement plans of many ordinary Aussies with their endless changes to pensions and super.

They can't control spending so they wring it out of pensioners and retirees whilst they continue to lap up the perks and jobs for their mates.

And I don't think the opposition will do anything to improve the situation.

I'll be looking to see who they both put last on their how to vote cards, couldn't possibly vote for any of the mainstream leeches.

And the circus continues today.