If Abbott and the LNP are the answer, what is the question?

If Abbott and the LNP are the answer, what is the question?

With Tony Abbott and his LNP as a shoe-in (according to all the MSM commentators), in the up coming election a mere five, short, months away, based on opinion polls that completely ignore a fair chunk of the voting public who only have mobile phones, I thought it would be timely to ask a few questions.

Would you buy a used car from any one of these?

But before we look at some questions, it should be noted that there are very few LNP policies available to scrutinise and even less costing (in fact none) so the only reference that one can use is the much touted policy direction booklet (our plan) that Abbott shoves under the nose, or waves in front of the camera of any reporters that have the temerity to ask him a question on policy.

That’s right, I’m going to take one for the team, and read it      so just talk amongst yourselves   😀

….. Crickets…….

Well there’s a half hour I’ll never get back   🙄

OK, so I have read the reviews from others, and I have to say… they were right! That booklet is nothing more substantial than a collection of motherhood statements, with no detail or costings.   It is full of “We will”, but does not explain how “They will”, other than in general terms, which effectively tells us nothing!

Here is the text of page 2, and 12 of the “We Will’s”, which basically covers the entire contents of the booklet.

1. We will build a stronger, more productive and diverse economy with lower taxes, more efficient government and more productive businesses that will deliver more jobs, higher real incomes and better services for you and your family..

Q: With our economy already the envy of the developed world, HOW?                               Q: With a commitment to introducing a tax on big business to finance your PPL scheme, and a commitment to reducing the tax free threshold from $18,200 back to $6,000, and offering only a “modest” reduction in company tax, how will you deliver lower taxes?         Q: As you have already flagged your intention to cut thousands of public service jobs, how will out-sourcing and privatisation actually deliver more productive business, more jobs, higher “real” incomes and better services, when the evidence shows to the contrary?

2. We will get the Budget back under control, cutwaste and start reducing debt
– to keep interest rates as low as possible; and to protect the Australian economy from future economic shocks.

Q: How is the Budget “out of control”?                                                                                           Q: If you are so strong on cutting waste, why are you the most expensive LOTO that this country has seen, and why are you obsessed with debt, which is a mere 10% of GDP?       Q: Interest rates are already very low, so when you qualify “As low as possible” are you saying that they may well go up, under your fiscal plan?                                                           Q:  While you have largely ignored the GFC, what “Future economic shocks” do you have in mind?

3. We will help families get ahead by freeing them from the burdens of the carbon tax
– to protect Australian jobs and reduce cost-of-living pressures, especially rising electricity and gas prices.

Q:  How can families be better off, when you remove the Carbon price, and the associated compensation, which more than covered the small impost of said carbon price, leaving people worse off in real terms, and do you seriously expect that the power and gas prices will drop to pre carbon price levels?                                                                                            Q:  How will this “protect jobs”?

4. We will help small businesses grow and create more jobs
– by reducing business costs and cutting taxes as well as cutting red and green tape costs by $1 billion every year.

Q: How and at what cost to the workers, the environment and the country?

6. We will generate one million new jobs over the next five years and two million new jobs within a decade by growing a bigger, more productive and prosperous economy.

Q:  How will YOU generate these jobs, when our economy has been growing steadily, with our productivity up despite the GFC, and will these jobs be primarily part time and casual positions as they were under “Workchoices”, with work place contracts and little if any job security?

7. We will build more modern infrastructure to get things moving
– with an emphasis on reducing the bottlenecks on our gridlocked roads and highways.

Q:  How can you promise to “Build more modern Infrastructure”, when you intend to only deliver a second rate NBN, and is that indicative of the quality of infrastructure that we can expect from an LNP government?

8. We will deliver better services including health services
– by putting local communities in charge of hospitals and improving co-operation with the States and Territories.

Q:  When we have seen what has happened in QLD, and how you have endorsed Newman’s cuts and policy direction, how can we trust you to do anything different?

9. We will deliver better education
– by putting local communities in charge of improving the performance of local schools.

Q:  When we have seen what has happened in QLD, and how you have endorsed Newman’s cuts and policy direction, how can we trust you to do anything different?

10. We will take direct action to reduce carbon emissions inside Australia, not overseas
– and also establish a 15,000-strong Green Army to clean-up the environment.

Q:  Why will you remove a system that is working, and replace it with one that the vast majority of experts say will be much more expensive, and will NOT work?

11. We will deliver stronger borders
– where the boats are stopped – with tough and proven measures.

Q:  With Indonesia stating categorically that they will not allow you to tow boats back, and TPVs proven to increase the numbers of women and children getting on boats, and Nauru and Manus Island already open, and the refugee numbers, world wide, increasing, when the numbers, world wide, had slowed to a trickle prior to 911 and the resulting wars  (which was why the boats stopped coming under the PS, and not because of effective policy), how can you make this promise?

12. We will deliver strong and stable government that restores accountability
– to deliver a better future for all Australians.

Q:  Why then have you already committed to calling a DD if you don’t get the government that you want, if in fact you do win in Sept?                                                                               Q:  Why then have you and your party attempted by any means possible, to bring down a duly elected government using lies, distortions, misrepresentations as well as dirty tricks and personal abuse?                                                                                                                           Q:  Why should we trust you to do what all State LNP governments refuse to do?

There is one other statement in the booklet that I thought needed some questioning, and that is   “We’ve been consulting with the experts”…..   WTF

This is an opposition that has made an art form out of ignoring experts on:

• The economy
• The environment
• Health
• Education
• The NBN
• Asylum seeker policy
• Climate Change

And the list goes on.

Maybe the experts that they have been consulting with, are Jones, Bolt, Hadley and the IPA, those legends in their own lunch boxes, who declare themselves the fonts of all wisdom and knowledge.   😯

So, if the question is:

“Who will lie, cheat and deceive their way into government, for their own benefit and that of their rich mates at the top end of town, to the detriment of the vast majority of people in this country, the country itself , and ours and our children’s futures?”

Then the answer is definitely…  Abbott and the LNP! 

Or have I missed something. 😉