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In his student political days, Abbott waged war on student unions. His goal in entering student politics was to dismantle student unions, a goal he furthered in federal politics by supporting the VSU legislation changes. His next target is the union movement as a whole.
What better way to deflect attention from an incompetent and policy free government, than starting a war with the 'baddies' - the Union movement. Everyone supports the weeding out of criminal and corrupt individuals, but a royal commission like the one proposed by Abbott would be designed to target the entire union movement and at the same time inflict some political damage on Labor. Again Abbott is seeking to waste public funds on a politically partisan exercise. Desperate.
Abbott has also declared War on the ABC. Of course any organisation who would dare to publish facts that reflect badly on the government are - 'unpatriotic'. That wasn't Abbott's attitude when he was leader of the opposition - So more correctly... anyone who dares publish facts that reflect badly on a Conservative government are an organisation controlled by left-wingers who need to be reigned in.
Again Abbott's attitude toward press freedom were different when he was in opposition, when the focus was the Murdoch press, and when most of the bad news stories concerned his political opponents.
Then there is the war on Science. From no dedicated science minister, to the appointment of climate sceptics like Maurice Newman, to delaying the implementation of renewable energy projects by asking for further studies into the health effects of wind turbines (when numerous studies have clearly demonstarted none exist).
It is also interesting to note that 200 scientists have written to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority asking them not to permit the dredging and dumping associated with the proposed Abbot point expansion. According to the scientists, research clearly shows that the reef will be adversely affected by such activity. But Greg Hunt is also a willing participant in the war on Science, so the decision reached in a few days will be an interesting one.
And there is the war on the poor and the unemployed. Serial incompetent Kevin Andrews has flagged changes to welfare, refusing to look into the largest and the most poorly targeted area - pensions. As highlighted by Cassie McGannon on The Conversation website - if the real aim was to ensure needs are met and unnecessary spending is reduced, why quarantine this particular area?
We also have another back to the future moment with the Coalition wanting to reintroduce Work for the Dole. The current suggestion is to reintroduce the scheme that was in place under the Howard government. This program was studied and it was found that those who participated in it were staying out of paid employment on average 2 weeks longer than those who didn't. International studies of similar programs have also indicated that they are ineffective strategies in returning people to work sooner. The details were discussed on Radio National,and the broadcast can be accessed here.
The real motivation behind 'Work for the Dole' - punish the unemployed.
And finally, the War on wage earners. The government is backing Toyota as it seeks to reduce conditions for workers previously agreed to as a part of the Enterprise Agreement process. They are going down the same path with their non-support of SPCA - egging Coca-Cola Amatil to drive down worker entitlements when employment costs (and the Coalition's favourite throwaway line... the Carbon tax) are a much smaller impact than... the Exchange Rate, their aging and outdated infrastructure (which is the reason they asked for a government contribution), Imported fruit and Fresh fruit competition. Are they waging a war on the facts too? And what happened to our Infrastructure PM... does the Mad Monk only want to build roads and ports in the Great Barrier Reef?
Eric Abetz is attempting to place downward pressure on possible wages growth. Interesting behaviour from a government whose mandates included managing cost of living pressures - resist pay rises for workers (which will reduce cost of living pressure) but push on with removing a price on carbon (which will have no effect on cost of living. But more interesting is the fact that Economists dismiss Abetz's comments as baseless. Even his cabinet colleague, assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinis contradicts him. In Abbott's war, it seems this covert operation by Abetz did not include Sinodinis. Team Abbott are a real Dad's Army.
In fact the current war on science and tackling climate change, which includes removing the Renewable Energy Target, will put at risk half of all jobs in the solar industry. But the good news is that all these unemployed, high skilled workers will be redeployed repainting toilet blocks and repairing playground equipment under the government's 'work for the dole' program.
The biggest War Abbott is fighting is a war with Common Sense... and common sense is getting a pasting. Take your wins where you can get them I guess.
I have read a large number of commentators who have suggested that the information control and the fear mongering being run by the Abbott government is similar to the tactics employed by the Nazis. I'd like to draw a different parallel. The German army got itself into serious trouble by opening up battle on too may different fronts... which is what Abbott seems to be doing.