Kevni Jong Ill has been pretty busy over the past few weeks, flitting here, there and everywhere trying to be everything to everyone.
It turns out that being everything to everyone is pretty hard, especially when most of your announcements are nothing more than poorly considered thought bubbles such as the PNG “solution” and changes to FBT governance.
The one thing that is clear as a pair of bollocks on a red kangaroo is that Kevin Rudd is a political chameleon like no other that we have seen.
A shockingly duplicitous individual who will say and do anything that will garner him support from whomever he is talking to at that moment, whether that support be timeless as the rising of the sun or as fleeting as a snowflake in hell.
Back in 2007 Kevin Rudd appeared on ABC’s 7:30 Report as Opposition Leader in the lead up to the election and made his position on Government advertising very clear, stating unequivocally that he considered it to be:
..a sick cancer within our system, It’s a cancer on democracy.
Fast forward to 2013, Rudd is trying to con the Australian public, again, by saying one thing when it suits him and doing another later on, again when it suits his weathervane like persona.
Contrary to many years of bipartisan Parliamentary tradition, Labor has decided to ignore the Caretaker Conventions which came into affect on Monday when the election was formalised to continue its $30 million advertising campaign that promotes it’s PNG “solution” not only overseas but also, more importantly, here in Australia.
There is no concern over the international advertising for that is where the “asylum seekers” are coming from but there is concern that the domestic advertising cannot adequately be expected to be targeted solely at the families of potential asylum seekers already residing in Australia.
Instead many have argued that the key demographic that the ads are aiming at are low information swinging voters living in Australia’s marginal electorates, most notably in Western Sydney which is a key area of resettlement for refugees and immigrants alike.
In my opinion that is not an unrealistic assumption and plays a large part in Labor’s strategy on PNG. They don’t really want to stop the boats, they just want to get the votes.
Once that pesky election is over then Labor most likely will flip 180 degrees again and do exactly the opposite to what it expressly promised, just as Peter Garrett infamously admitted prior to winning office.
Under the caretaker conventions, the Government is required to consult with the Opposition over taxpayer-funded advertising.
News.com.au reports that Tony Abbott on Monday wrote to the Prime Minister and urged him to “cease immediately” taxpayer funded advertising, but this has been ignored by the Government.
The Coalition’s shadow attorney-general George Brandis labelled the decision as a
..flagrant breach of the caretaker convention. This is a scandal. The Government has openly trashed the caretaker conventions
Scott Morrison, the Coalition’s immigration spokesman, also echoed Brandis’ sentiments and said legal action was “under consideration“.
In meantime, the Liberals have launched a petition to try and force the Government to reconsider its decision by weight of public pressure.
In an obvious effort to cause Lefty heads to explode everywhere over another three word slogan, the Liberals have cheekily dubbed the petition Stop the Ads. Voice your concern by adding your name to the petition.
And lest you forget, every illegal boat that enters Australian waters has several impacts;
- Displacing other refugees from accessing Australia’s substantial humanitarian immigration program
- Risk to life and limb for people who come from lands where most have never seen the water let alone know how to swim
- Sideline critical Defence resources from doing their real roles
- Force people into mandatory detention here in Australia and overseas
- Contribute to Australia’s continuing Budget blowouts, over $10.8 billion since 2007
Dacka's Razor 