Members of the LNP have been getting away with a series of scandals and illegal activities with the aid of the mainstream media, writes Grant Turner.
THE PALADIN CONTRACT, au pairs, Ruby Princess, his family's childcare centres receiving government funds and the deaths of many asylum seekers under his watch are just a few reasons that Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton should be sacked.
Eighty million dollars of taxpayers money for non-existent water that went to a Cayman Island company he once directed, 40 hectares of land illegally cleared by a company he part-owns and forged documents to disparage Sydney's lord mayor as his wife runs for that position are just a few of reasons that Energy Minister Angus Taylor should be sacked.
Of course, we could mention Environment Minister Sussan Ley and her Gold Coast penthouse. We also have NDIS Minister Stuart Robert with his Rolex, internet bill, Robodebt and flat-out lies about Centrelink being hacked. Michaelia Cash and her lying to a senate committee five times about the AWU raids along with the properties she forgot she owned are reasons these politicians should be sacked.
Barnaby Joyce with his moral preaching about family values during the same-sex plebiscite all while he was securing lucrative jobs for his staffer while he was having an affair and a baby with her. Then there's his oversized Gina Rinehart cheque — his list of rorts goes on and are just some of the reasons he should have been sacked.
Going on a Hawaiian holiday while the country is on fire, people still living in tents after those fires, lies about Brian Houston and the White House invitation, Michael Towke's assassination via mates at News Corp to get into parliament, the Ruby Princess debacle, lies told to parliament, having a declared mentor named by a royal commission as a paedophile protector and many other matters are reasons Prime Minister Scott Morrison should be sacked.
What is gobsmacking is that not one of the events mentioned has resulted in any repercussions of substance for any of the people involved.
My question is how did we get from a place in Australian politics where ministers once resigned over undeclared Paddington Bears or for declaring a colour TV as a black and white?
Instead, we've had journalists camped outside Sam Dastyari's home over a $1,600 bill paid by a donor. We've had a royal commission called into a 26-year-old renovation of Julia Gillard's kitchen and who could forget the AFP raiding Bill Shorten's old AWU office in an effort to find a ten-year-old paperwork mistake with the media in tow?
It is hard to reconcile the vast differences in the media treatment and level of accountability applied to the ALP as opposed to the LNP.
This is the same media that on behalf of the LNP, crucified a sitting PM in Julia Gillard for a concocted lie regarding the carbon tax. Tony Abbott's chief advisor Peta Credlin later admitted this was a lie by saying, “It wasn't a carbon tax... we made it a carbon tax”. Our compliant and at times complicit media ran with it relentlessly, yet the myriad of rorts and lies currently being performed by our government go unchallenged.
It has become so ridiculous that the biggest budget blunder in Australia's history is being shaped by our media as a great thing for Australia. No questions posed about the million-plus casual workers who had not worked a full year with a single employer that have all missed out on JobKeeper. This was not at all dissimilar to those in the arts field whose work goes from gig to gig or show to show, or those temporary visa holders brought over to fill the skills shortage that the LNP has created through their years of decimation of the TAFE system.
Then there are those who work in universities, the very people that play a big role in research and finding answers to things like the pandemic that we are now all enduring. All these people are just left to fend for themselves while the media parrots the extremely disingenuous “we're all in this together” government line.
You only have to look at the illegal and cruel Robodebt scheme, which targeted some of the most vulnerable people in our society, to see how this government's actions are allowed to pass with nothing more than token mentions by some in our media. The reality is, it should be front-page news daily — many that received these debt notices suffered untold pressure and anxiety and there are many examples of people being pushed so hard that ending their lives was a better option than dealing with this hideous government.
The media now are parroting the line that the ALP started the Robodebt system because they used ATO data matching to find discrepancies. But, of course, they fail to mention that they also used human oversight and lack of common sense. Yet again, the media step in and apply the overused “equivalency” argument.
Remember, the LNP called a royal commission into the sad deaths of four people from installing pink batts. The true number of deaths that are related to Robodebt will come out in years to come and I suspect it may shock many.
The reality is that we live in a country where most media consumed is dealt out by agendaed oligarchs. Australians are kept so busy keeping their families together and paying their bills that they have no time to seek out or keep an eye on our government that is using COVID-19 to remove our liberties. Same with our ability to speak out against actions taken by our government or indeed the inactions not taken on important issues.
I wrote this tweet recently:
I sadly believe this to be true, although reading responses to the tweet, I see many saying we are ahead of the U.S. these days as we don't have Trump as our leader. I see “Scotty from Marketing” doing a very good job of supporting and indeed replicating his “just lie and blame everyone else” mantra as a means to not be held accountable for his and his government's actions.
Accountability is the single biggest block that democracy is built on. Sadly, it is being stolen from us right before our eyes.
It's time to wake up and stand up against the theft of our democracy.
In no way do I advocate violence, but I do advocate informing friends and acquaintances about the tainted, agendaed MSM and suggest the many independent news sites that are out there, like the one you're reading right now.
Grant Turner has a strong interest in politics and fairness in society and believes in honest independent media. You can follow him on Twitter @gruntat.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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