LNP trough snouting!

LNP trough snouting!

It’s amazing to me that, finally, the journos in this country have decided that they will cast a casual eye over the LNP, and their expenses.

The truth is that the fifth estate has been highlighting these issues for most of the last term of government, while Abbott was “Pollie pedalling” his way, from his alleged volunteering, and “charity work” straight to the expenses claims office.

Now maybe it’s out of sheer boredom, as a result of the Abbott’s silence, over many of the issues that previously occupied their front pages and headlines for much of the last two terms, or maybe it’s because now that their job of helping to get the government that Murdoch and the big end of town wanted, is done, they have decided to actually report some news?   What a novelty?

The thing is though, that Abbott ran on a platform that included “stopping the waste”, most of which, it appears, can be directly related to LNP expenses claims?   😯

Photo: Rebecca Hallas

We know that weddings are a particular area of trough snouting by the LNP, and it has just come to light that as well as Sophie Mirabella’s wedding, Abbott also claimed expenses for attending Peter Slipper’s wedding too, where, as guest of honour, he held up proceedings by being late, and then as history has recorded, went out of his way to destroy Peter Slipper’s career.

The thing that we as a country should be more than a little concerned about is that George Brandis is now the highest law officer in the land, and is rewriting the code of conduct for MP’s… WTF?

This is the man who has his fingerprints all over the Craig Thomson affair where he (Thomson) has been chased to the point of stalking by the LNP, supported by the AFP and state police forces, predominantly Victoria’s, but also NSW’s, for misusing an HSU credit card.

Now apart from the fact that the pursuit of Thomson, borders on the obsessive, and that much of the evidence has been discredited, the truth is that there were no rules or guidelines  attached to the use of the HSU credit cards at the time anyway… WTF?

So the question has to be asked; How can someone be charged with misusing something that had no rules or guidelines attached to its use?

Likewise for the Ashbygate affair, where Slipper was chased and hounded, primarily for the sake of the LNP getting Mal Brough back into parliament via Slipper’s safe LNP seat of Fisher.

The strange thing is that Brough, has had a cloud hanging over his head, over his previous time as a minister, and has, as a result of his actions in the Ashbygate conspiracy, been roundly condemned by Justice Steven Rares, with regards to the stealing of Slipper’s diary extracts and his involvement in trying to bring down a duly elected government through his associations with Ashby, Doane as well as others.

But I digress   😯

With past and present LNP MP’s, including the current AG, Brandis, justifying their use of tax payers funding their sojourns to mates weddings etc, despite some of them paying the money back, when being caught out, the question is if, as they claim, discussing politics or associating with politicians is reason enough for a legitimate claim, then surely Slipper could say that he talked about his job whilst visiting the winery’s that he has been charged over?

The fact that he was unable to access the Minchin  protocol, when Abbott, Brandis, Joyce and many others have been able to pay back much more in their spurious claims than the $900 that Slipper has been charged over, shows a distinct disparity between the “In” crowd of the LNP and the “Out” crowd of the rest?

Now, the other area of concern WRT this issue of LNP Trough snouting is thatAbbott’s mentor and hero, little Johnny Howard, and a number of other ex LNP PM’s have proven to be particularly expensive to maintain, Howard being a standout in this regard, and with his track record for subsidising his income with his expense account, Abbott may well be by far and away the most expensive of all?

And if as is widely predicted/hoped for, he is a one term PM, then he may well turn out to be a one man (?), long term budget emergency of monumental proportions.

And that’s not including the damage that he and his LNP cohorts can do to this country in one term?

So can we have confidence that the rorts will stop under the Abbott administration? Well if past behaviour is a predictor of future behaviour, the answer is a resounding NO!

Can we have confidence that Abbott will in fact stop the waste?   NO!

Can we have any confidence that George Brandis will do anything other than manipulate the AFP and the legal system of this country for the primary benefit of the LNP and its supporters?  NO!

Will Abbott, Brandis and Co stop the LNP trough snouting?   

NO… it’s in their DNA!

Related articles

• PM claimed $600 to attend Slipper wedding (smh.com.au)
• Week 5: Is that a wedding in your pocket, or is my expense allowance pleased to see you? (theagonisedone.wordpress.com)
• http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/coalition-love-the-public-trough/