It’s Federal election time again here in the Banana Republic. It’s easy to predict when national elections are due to occur; one simply adds about 18 months to the date of the back room deal which terminated the previous Prime Minister.
One of the hundreds of living ex-Prime Ministers wrote a letter (ooh, how old skool!) to Chez TNA this week;
As much as I’d love to use my postal vote in a way which didn’t involve a pithy and sweary version of the statement, “none of the above venal rent-seekers” and illustrated with a poorly-executed drawing of male genitalia, I’m afraid I can’t find it in myself to give a mandate to any of the woeful wastes of skin and protein we call politicians.
Why?
Well, let’s pick off Anthony Aloisius Hancock’s Abbott’s five points above as examples.
Innovation. Whenever a government claims to be doing something about innovation, run away scared. The hubris of an Australian government to claim to be pro-innovation is on an unprecedented scale.
A New Defence Industry. This is one of the few activities that this organ believes is required of a national government. Creating bullshit jobs in South Australia by buying submarines at three times the cost isn’t the way to do it though. By the way, surely the bullet point title should be “Defence” not “a new defence industry”? Or are we paying workers to dig holes and then paying them again to fill them?
Further Export Trade Deals. In theory, this sounds like a great idea, until you open up the latest one and realise that it contains Bilateral Investment Treaty boilerplate clauses. If you aren’t an expert in international law, these probably haven’t been on your radar before. In summary, these agreements usurp domestic law; if a company decides to take action under the BIT, they can bypass the existing legal process and courts and go straight to arbitration. Who are the arbitrators? Three lawyers from a pool of about 50 working for around 5 global law firms. What could the corporation take to arbitration? How about “expropriation of future profits” due to new legislation brought in by a democratically-elected government. Ponder that for a moment….. Oh, and it’s an Export AND Import deal.
New Tax Incentives. Yeah, that was the main point of the “Innovation” thing though, wasn’t it; tax breaks for Malc’s mates at the major investment firms? It’s a tautologous bullet point.
A New Strong Economy. What does this even mean? How?
Nope, it’s Cock O’Clock when that postal voting form arrives.
Australians, consider this; you get the politicians you deserve.