Abbott, skills beyond his years

Abbott, skills beyond his years

By Carol Taylor on April 16, 2014 • 

Mark Kenny has been effusive in his praise of Tony Abbott, writing: Abbott in China shows skills beyond his years


My first response was a quizzical one; skills beyond his years? 
Kenny is writing about a person who is 56 years old and who has been in
politics for just over two decades.  Surely some sort of “skills” should
have already emerged during that length of time. . .or at least one
would have thought so.


Kenny, who clearly is or rather was, aiming for some boost in
Abbott’s popularity arising from Tony’s overseas sojourn, then added:

But Abbott has spent a political career surprising those
who underestimate the power of HIS intelligence, HIS people skills
(funnily enough), and perhaps most importantly, HIS directness.


My caps on the above HIS’es.  Perhaps Kenny might like to play this one. . .I know quite a few who

Abbott clearly has been hiding these of his particular lights under a
bushel, with the above going mostly unnoticed by a public who sit and
watch. . . and learn, as Abbott does such things such as break his word
on a regular basis, runs when in tight corner and offers nothing for an
increasingly cynical and somewhat saddened electorate.  Directness
without empathy is a poor skill indeed.


We then learn. . .

A record high vote of support for the Greens and a slump
in support for the Coalition in regional Australia has left Tony
Abbott’s seven-month old government trailing Labor by four points after
preferences, for the second time since being elected.


The Coalition now trails Labor by 4 percentage points on a
two-party-preferred basis on 48 to 52 per cent, with the Greens primary
vote rising sharply to a highest-ever share of 17 per cent.

It was therefore with some deal of obvious confusion that Mark Kenny wrote: Tony Abbott slumps in polls despite best week yet.


OMG, how could this be when Tony has shown “skills beyond his years”?


Best week yet?  I am not sure how the week might have been Abbott’s
‘best’, perhaps because he failed to make noticeable forced and unforced
errors.  Abbott’s ‘best week yet’ must be by Mark Kenny’s own criteria, as it certainly doesn’t seem to be shared by an ever-increasing number of Australians.


Does Kenny believe that photo ops of Abbott swanning around ‘abroad’
wins the accolades, and that Australians believe that this will take
people’s attention away from the threats contained in the forthcoming
budget?  Does Kenny think that photos of Abbott shaking hand with World
Leaders might somehow give credence to his broken promises?


Kenny however does add a few ‘possible reasons’: “the surprise
restoration of the royal titles of knight and dame; the furore
surrounding the suspended Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos and his
links with the disgraced Obeid family and the government’s divisive
efforts to weaken racial anti-discrimination laws at the urging of a
tiny but powerful group of shock-jocks and libertarian fundamentalists“.


Here is some assistance, some other items as to why ‘intelligent’,
‘people skills’, ‘direct’ Tony Abbott and the Liberals have once again
faced a slump in the polls.  Below is certainly incomplete.

• “Long-term youth jobless rate triples”. 
  A headline such as this, plus multiple headlines of ‘job losses’ and
  public service sackings do not add one iota to instilling any
  confidence.
• Nationals MPs warn against ABC budget cuts – “. . .breaking a key election promise“. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-to-break-abc-no-cuts-promise-20140412-zqty9.html#ixzz2ynB1lmTv  “. . .no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.”
• Thousands rally for refugees – “church-goers, activists come together for Walk for Justice for Refugees rally“.
• Public servants will be urged to ­dob in colleagues posting
  political criticism of the Abbott government (Australians do not like
  ‘dobbers’ much less being threatened into having to do so).
• . . .by abandoning the NBN. . .”and replacing it with a patched-together mish-mash of multiple technologies, Turnbull has settled for second or third best”. (As reported in The Australian; that one was a surprise criticism..nay, call it ‘a shock’).
• Mr Downer joined the board (of a Victorian oil and gas company) 14 months ago as a representative of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.
  (It all becomes very incestuous doesn’t it).  This might not be
  *Abbott’s fault*, but it is certainly indicative of who is pulling the
  strings of this government.
• “I also want to stress that the government’s approach will be roads first,
  airport second. . .”. . .and ‘people’ the also-rans.  Abbott also added
  a comment which would have perplexed most; he has promised a new
  airport with “no noise“.  Abbott has now been accused of misleading the people of Western Sydney, ‘duped’ being the description.

Barely a day goes when there are not issues which will impact us for
the rest of our lives.  The media has not time to play this game of the
Abbott government’s.  But perhaps that’s the ploy, hit ‘em so hard and
so early, and with so much data that it’s impossible to keep track of
what this government is deleting- cancelling – re-strateg-ising.