This week Tony Abbott saved Harry Jenkins from losing the Speaker's position in Parliament. Despite reports to the contrary, Abbott did so purely to save his own political skin, says Barry Everingham.
David Flint has turned his personal website into a political blog — and the Indonesian-born monarchist is telling some real porkies.
(I apologise for mentioning animals to the Professor, although we haven’t yet heard his views on last Monday’s Four Corners program.)
Flint claims Tony Abbott “saved the Speaker and preserved stability”, which was the mark of a “true statesman”.
That’s lie number one.
Tony Abbott’s front bench is a collection of out of control hillbillies led, strangely enough, by the manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, who is marginally lispier than Flint himself.
Pyne repeatedly jumps up making points of order, holding up the business of the House and occasionally gets tossed out for an hour when Harry Jenkins’ patience wears thin.
Then Peter Dutton – a former Queensland cop who refused to present to when Kevin Rudd made his hallmark apology to the Stolen Generations – is another serial nuisance, as is that foul-mouthed shrew Sophie Mirabella. There are plenty more, but here I just want to deal with the professor.
Lie number two was that the Government could not rely on Harry Jenkins vote if he stood down and went to the backbench.
Really, professor — who told you that one?
If it was Tony Abbott, it needed to be in writing to be believed because he told Kerry O’Brien unless anything he says is in writing it’s useless.
The fact is, Abbott was petrified that if Speaker Jenkins did stand down, the job would go to Peter Slipper, a Liberal backbencher and Deputy Speaker who will not be contesting the next election and who owes Abbott nothing; this was a vote the unstatesmanlike failed seminarian and boxing thug could certainly not rely on.
Abbott’s last thought was the stability of the Parliament — his only concern was his own neck and his current job which is becoming more precarious as the days go by.
Women voters are leaving him in droves — he seemed to condone the sexist attack made on Minister Wong by one of his Senate troglodytes last week, which is in line with one of his more outrageous statements that women should not be in the workplace but at home!
If the House of Representatives is getting out of control, the finger should be pointed at Abbott for allowing his team to be as disruptive as they are — Speaker Jenkins is a man of honour and integrity, both attributes lacking in Tony Abbott, but which are alive and well in Malcolm Turnbull, as we will undoubtedly see when he regains his true place in the House—the leadership of the Liberal party.