But this in nothing new.
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And it worked. So the plan is now... stick with what works.
Enter the next fear campaign... the purported facts that the budget is much, much, much worse than expected. Even the figure of $666.66B of government debt in a decade is quite deliberate. Despite the jokes about the devil's number (which were flagged by a News Limited journo), is no accident. It smacks of the usual tripe which is pumped out by the Credlin propaganda machine, likely with the eager backing of Captain Catholic himself, and with interference being run by News Limited to make it appear more news than fabrication.
Now, as a result of this impending disaster (which is all Labor's fault), regretfully deep cuts are required to save the patient... says Dr Joe Hockey. Like the $9B injection into the reserve bank that Glenn Stevens has confirmed he did not ask for, yesterdays MYEFO was more political theatre. In essence a softening up exercise. The plot is that If we can be convinced that things are completely dire, we will be more accepting that drastic action needs to be taken... we will then be told that the government are the only ones adult enough (or maybe they'll retire that ineffective rhetoric) to make the hard decisions. This in turn will be expected to shift perceptions of the government from arse-clowns (which they clearly are) into messiahs. Or at least that's the plan.
This same premise is being assumed by noted economist Stephen Koukoulas.
But this is a slow motion budget emergency. As Laura Tingle says, yesterdays announcements were heavy on the 'it's all Labor's fault' message and light on any planned action. Announcements on that will need to wait until May. We obviously need plenty of time to be kept in the dark, we need to be continually pounded with the 'Labor's fault' message, and we need to have time to worry enough so that when Joe finally announces how we'll be saved, we might actually believe it.
The Coalition appear to have learned from the mismanaged broken promise on Education, which Christopher Pyne attempted. His entirely inelegant double back flip with a one and a half pike, landing him squarely on his face and scored him a 'zero' from the general public. He has thankfully been in hiding ever since.
In order to engineer their intended backflip on the NDIS, Hockey first needs to lay the groundwork with his confected and drawn out emergency. The need to change will then not be a broken promise, but a necessity that was... 'all Labor's fault'.
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The government will manage opposition to the lowering of environmental standards by taking away all financial resources that have been provided to environmental legal aid centres. This is a notable move as this financial support has been provided by the federal government for 20 years, further evidence that the Abbott government is steadily dismantling environmental protections. The main effect of this is that it will expose communities to damaging development and reduce scrutiny on the mining industry. There is a clear pattern here.
But it's not all bad news. The ladies, who are currently deserting Tony Abbott in droves, have something to cheer about. Although Tony could only find room in cabinet for one woman, he has managed to find his mate Sophie Mirabella another job... as a Board Member of the Submarine Maintenance Organisation. I doubt that Sophie actually knows anything about submarines, submarines aren't all that plentiful in the rural Victorian seat of Indi, but the $71,680 per year salary will be a nice little interim earner for a Liberal party warhorse until a nice plum overseas posting becomes available.