Abbott’s Mini Me Rides Again (Abbott’s a NewMan!)

Abbott’s Mini Me Rides Again (Abbott’s a NewMan!)

Tony Abbott, a NewMan   (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Campbell Newman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wrote “Tony Abbott’s Mini Me”  to highlight the similarities between Abbott and Newman after Newman made cuts to pretty much everything using the, to say the least, “dodgy”, Costello audit.

Now at that time, Abbott and Hockey had flagged the possibility of having a Costello style audit when they “win” (that should read “STEAL”) Government.

Since then, their efforts to bring down a duly elected government have

The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show coming to a parliament near you (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

come to naught despite the constant intervention by that rabid right Tea Party supporter, U S citizen and Abbott’s puppet master Murdoch trying every trick in the Goebbels book of propaganda, to influence and subvert through his 70% ownership of the Australian media and backed up by  most of the remaining 30%.

I am revisiting the Abbott/Newman connection because of another public rally about to take place in support of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, which has been promised, talked about and planned for years, and is now under threat of privatisation thanks to the Costello audit and Campbell Newman.

The story of the proposed rally was written on page 15 of the Sunshine Coast Daily (Sat May 25), but sadly I cannot provide  a link as the story isn’t on their web site?

Anyway, the essence of the story is that another rally by QLD Nurses is to be held in an attempt to stop the Newman government from privatising what was always supposed to be a publicly owned University Hospital, in an  area of great need, and on a site where the private hospital is already near completion.

The SCUH is scheduled to open in late 2016, and is to deliver a large array of services sadly lacking in the area such as a cancer centre including radiotherapy and chemotherapy , and many other specialised services which people currently have to travel into Brisbane to access.  Many of whom are elderly and very sick, and don’t have access to public transport, and can be travelling for more than two hours to access these services.

The Newman government has been closing or privatising public health services all over QLD, and as the QLD Nurses Union correctly points out “Privately-run public hospitals have a track record of delivering worse outcomes and accountability than state-run public hospitals”.

A week, or so, ago, we saw another public rally, that time by school children and parents protesting about the governments proposal to close down and sell off some public schools.   On Labour Day we saw one of the biggest turnouts  in years against the Newman governments IR policies.

Almost every week, of late, we see another group of disaffected people protesting against what this government is doing to destroy the fabric of our society.  We see on the news the levels of public unrest in countries across Europe, as they suffer at the hands of right wing governments imposing more of their austerity measures, in spite of the mounting evidence that it isn’t working.

The questions that we all need to ponder are;

• “Do we want to follow like demented sheep, the example of Europe and now QLD, in cutting services and spending as Abbott has already canvassed?”
• “Do we really want to install a government  which is determined to oversee the degradation of our public schools and health care system?”
• “Do we want to see a health system where we have to be there to wash, feed and care for our loved ones, in hospital, because the nurses are so understaffed and overworked that the system can’t cope?” (Which is already happening in QLD).
• Do we really want a government that brags about all the medical staff they are training, and yet are laying off staff and leaving trained and qualified nurses and doctors unemployed, while the system is screaming for more staff?”(Which is also happening in QLD NOW).
• “Are we prepared to have a government chosen by the likes of Murdoch and Rinehart?”
• Do we really want a government who’s only interested in maintaining the lifestyles of the rich and famous, to the detriment of the regular Aussies and their way of life?”
• Are we prepared for a society where civil unrest and protests are the norm?
• Are we really that stupid?”

Health and education are just two of the many areas that will suffer savage cuts at the hands of the LNP, as we have seen and continue to see in QLD.

On these and many other areas of service provision, Abbott’s Mini Me Rides Again, and despite all that we keep hearing about how Abbott is  a changed man, the truth is that Abbott isn’t a New Man, Abbott’s a Newman, and Newman is Abbott’s Mini Me.

Be afraid people… Be very afraid!

Be afraid, be very afraid!