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No one is arguing that vast swathes of the Abbott ministry are actually competent or that they are performing well. And no commentator is suggesting that the budget was well handled, or that most of the domestic political agenda was well handled.
So in formulating their anniversary puff pieces to try and give Tony Dumb Dumb a boost, they asked themselves what is left? And so the reporting has predictably been - Abbott is good at international diplomacy in the wake of the Malaysian airline tragedies, and he responded strongly to international terrorist threats. Julie Bishop hasn't made a horses' arse of herself for a few months now, so she must be internationally respected. Sloppy Joe is the most unpopular and least respected treasurer in 30 years, so in contrast his smoking buddy, The Cormanator looks reasonably competent (even if he isn't because he was the budget's co-architect).
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If any of what the Abbott boosters are saying was true then we would have an international reputation that was second to none.
We don't.
The truth is that more than 35 issues in the last year have generated news stories abroad ridiculing Abbott and Australia. Examples include:
- ‘Australian leader appoints lone woman to Cabinet’
- ‘Australia gaffes explode into Indonesian diplomatic crisis’
- ‘Is Australia run by anti-science climate change deniers?’
- ‘Abbott says sorry to Najib’
- ‘Move to reintroduce knights, dames to honours list ridiculed’
- ‘Abbott’s refugee plan crazy’
- ‘Budget backlash as Aussie Govt support plunges’
- ‘Australian PM ribbed over 'cringe-worthy' Abe photo’
- ‘Australia falls short on Aboriginal welfare targets’
Far more scathing assessments have appeared in other languages elsewhere. About 65 media reports in more than 30 countries scoffing at Australia in recent months.
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But where Abbott has got it totally wrong (on a monumental scale) is:
- The RET - from its effect on power prices, to how important it is to a large cross section of the community, to how effective the marginal seats campaign is being in scaring the Coalition's backbenchers
- The Budget - fails on every level by not reducing spending, shifting burden from rich to poor, removing revenue streams, and having no prospect of large sections ever passing the senate
- Reducing our Carbon intensity - recently dismantled government legislation had Australia leading the world. The new policy settings will see a big and sudden reversal.
- Human induced climate change - the likelihood that human activity is driving Global warming has now reached 99.999% but Tony Dumb Dumb still believes the science is not settled.
- Higher Education - where again little (if any) of the current policy will pass the parliament
- Health - where the GP tax: ignores the evidence, doesn't address the sustainability of Medicare (as it claims), is working against the medical fraternity rather than with it (a bit like Campbell Newman's approach), and is inequitable.
And what effect is it having on the nation, on the people he is supposed to represent? Well, based on the Fairfax-Lateral Economics wellbeing index, which puts a dollar figure on national wellbeing, ours fell by $2 billion in the June quarter and is $10.5 billion lower than a year earlier.
The about turn our nation has taken on just about every positive indicator in the last 12 months can be put down to.... The Abbott Effect.