- 23 Feb 2015 23:20
#14529459
Its really a perfect storm of a number of interrelated factors: the lies - yes, but only in the context of making such a big deal of bringing honesty back into government; the unfair budget - not only does it fail societies' equity test, but it is so transparently bad economics ( eg short sighted attack on preventitve medical care and ignore the extensive rorting by the rich); then of course there's the leadership issue. And this issue wouldn't be an issue if not for the first two factors - the proof of this being in the mumblings of Abbott's own back bench, who have attacked policy direction at least as much as they have attacked Abbott's personal leadership style. And finally add to this the emergence of a new sort of paradigm in Australian politics - the one term governments. The defeat of the first term LNP government in QLD was simply phenomenal, and not even Newman's most ardent critics could have predicted it (and didn't - right until the votes started to be counted). It reflects a new cynicism in the electorate that has really caught everyone off guard. Of course, everyone knows the cynicism has existed for a long time, but there was an assumption that stable, predictable multi-term governments would persist regardless. That world view has come crashing down, and politicians are acutely aware of this - and are shitting themselves. Thats a major cause of the liberal backbench push to oust Abbott IMO - they can no longer rest on their laurels and assume mediocre government will not be punished.
Salohcin wrote:I think (most of) the coalitions problems were made for themselves back at the last election.
They made promises not to do a whole bunch of things they really wanted to do.
So now when they are trying address the issue of the structural deficit, not only are their actions a bit unpopular but the actions break promises.
This is something that a changed leader is going to suffer from too.
Its really a perfect storm of a number of interrelated factors: the lies - yes, but only in the context of making such a big deal of bringing honesty back into government; the unfair budget - not only does it fail societies' equity test, but it is so transparently bad economics ( eg short sighted attack on preventitve medical care and ignore the extensive rorting by the rich); then of course there's the leadership issue. And this issue wouldn't be an issue if not for the first two factors - the proof of this being in the mumblings of Abbott's own back bench, who have attacked policy direction at least as much as they have attacked Abbott's personal leadership style. And finally add to this the emergence of a new sort of paradigm in Australian politics - the one term governments. The defeat of the first term LNP government in QLD was simply phenomenal, and not even Newman's most ardent critics could have predicted it (and didn't - right until the votes started to be counted). It reflects a new cynicism in the electorate that has really caught everyone off guard. Of course, everyone knows the cynicism has existed for a long time, but there was an assumption that stable, predictable multi-term governments would persist regardless. That world view has come crashing down, and politicians are acutely aware of this - and are shitting themselves. Thats a major cause of the liberal backbench push to oust Abbott IMO - they can no longer rest on their laurels and assume mediocre government will not be punished.