Ten good reasons why the LNP has to go

Managing editor Dave Donovan shares ten good reasons why the LNP needs to be voted out.

1. Lies, lies, lies

All politicians lie, right? Well, maybe or maybe not. One thing IA can be sure of is that the ATM (Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison) Government has spent the last six years telling the most brazen lies and, mostly, being allowed to get away with it by a weak and mostly compliant mainstream media. Whether it be about cuts to the ABC and SBS, the impact of negative gearing and capital gains tax provisions, or fibbing about Labor planning to introduce a death tax, they have surely been the lying-est administration this country has ever seen.

For IA’s coverage of Abbott’s lies, click HERE; for Turnbull’s lies, click HERE; and for Morrison’s lies, click HERE.

2. Corruption

Since Tony Abbott took power in 2013, there has barely been a week go by without a corruption scandal crossing our radar. Chinese officials giving senior Liberal MPs “fake” Rolex watches — that turned out to be real. Ministers travelling to China, pretending to be acting in an official capacity, but actually to promote their mates’ interests. Heading to the Gold Coast to buy a flat and putting the travel on the taxpayers’ account. Buying flood water off party donors' Cayman Island companies for record-breaking amounts of money. Doing business with the mafia. The cheat list is beyond voluminous.

To read more Abbott Government corruption, click HERE; for Turnbull’s, HERE; and for Morrison Government corruption, click HERE.

TRUE AUSTRALIA ASK YOURSELF THE QUESTION WHO DO YOU TRUST? Wren's week: Corruption rife within the Liberal Party https://t.co/X1NzqZ5XdF @IndependentAus
— Maggie Atlas (@maggieatlas) April 11, 2019

3. Water

Water is the most important resource in this arid land, but don’t tell that to this Government. We have seen millions of fish die in the Murray Darling and farmers go broke after well-connected cotton growers upstream drain the river of water. The sale of water for record prices to parties linked to the Liberal Party — Labor plan to hold a royal commission on #Watergate if they gain power. And then there was the case of Environment Minister Melissa Price approving Adani’s unlimited water entitlements just a day before the Federal Election campaign was called, directly against expert advice. In short, the ATM Government has treated this vital resource with a carelessness that borders on contempt.

For more on #Watergate, click HERE. For more on the Coalition’s mismanagement of water generally, click HERE.

4. Cronyism

If there’s one thing the Liberals pride themselves on, it’s looking after a mate. So, when it comes to stacking the Administrative Appeals Tribunal with friends and colleagues hours before an election is called, or sending former colleagues into plumb diplomatic jobs all over the free world, this mob never hesitates. Also a favourite is awarding Government contracts to big party donors without tender.

For more on Liberal and National Party cronyism, click HERE.

5. Climate change inaction

Let’s face it, the Liberals don’t really believe in climate change. Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal into Parliament for Pete’s sake, just so he and his colleagues could play catch with it in Question Time. Abbott axed the carbon price. Turnbull squibbed it and was rolled because he tried to bring in the weakest possible action on climate change — the appropriately named NEG. They have declared war on renewables, while planning to underwrite new coal power plants. The country is not going to meet its Paris targets. Enough said.

For more about the conservatives’ vandalism on climate change, click HERE.

Here is the Coalition Government's efforts on climate change

5 years of rising emissions after Australia was the first country in the world to kill off a working climate policy (carbon price) #leadersdebate #auspol2019 https://t.co/VzQLPNMdsh
— Richie Merzian (@RichieMerzian) May 8, 2019

6. Refugees and border protection

Simply getting Peter Dutton out of the Home Affairs Department is one good argument in favour of not voting for the current Government. Dutton is a Minister who arranged on-the-spot visas for the au pairs of his rich friends and former colleagues. Who is involved in scandals relating to murderers and drug lords paying bribes to gain visas. Whose tenure as Immigration Minister exhibited abhorrent levels of cruelty and callous neglect to refugees in detention. Although he is not the only one. Scott Morrison as Immigration Minister was just as bad.

Read more about Peter Dutton HERE and offshore detention HERE.

7. Pro-rich, anti-poor policies

It depends on whether they see you as a “lifter or a leaner”, as former Treasurer Joe Hockey famously said. The Abbott Government slashed spending on education and health in their 2014 budget as it went on a ceaseless campaign to shovel money to the rich, while cutting back the safety net to the poor and disadvantaged. Turnbull and Morrison battled against Labor housing affordability policies, as they fought to cut corporate and personal tax rates and spent millions hunting down fictitious debts from welfare recipients. One of the last acts of the Morrison Government was to pass personal income tax cuts, mainly to rich people, while underfunding the NDIS.

For more on the Coalition pro-rich and anti-poor policies, click HERE and HERE.

8. Normalising the far-Right

The Government’s constant vilification of minorities, including refugees and so-called “African gangs”, has provided a fertile ground for extremists to rise. The Coalition voted for a Pauline Hanson’s One Nation motion saying “It’s okay to be white”, before feeling the outrage from the public and reversing their position. Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Ian Goodenough allegedly met with far-Right extremist Neil Erikson at a rally in Western Australia, apparently to discuss ways to vilify Islam. And then, to cap it all, the Coalition parties have entered into preference deals with One Nation and Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party for the forthcoming Federal Election.

For more about the rise of the far-Right in Australia, click HERE.

Hey #Indivotes Vote for Liberal Party or National Party, your party prefers One Nation / @greenbus Clive. Put Haines 2. The Coalition is normalising the far right with its pursuit of One Nation and Palmer | Katharine Murphy | Australia news | The Guardian https://t.co/BKRXoTInem
— Denis Ginnivan (@dginnivan) May 5, 2019

9. Chaotic government

After spending so much time attacking the “chaos and dysfunction of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years” ‒ as they liked to say ‒ the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has been far worse. That’s even with a fawning mainstream media behind them. Abbott was an absolute disaster, with the final straw being him knighting a prince. Turnbull was meant to bring some sanity, but instead his rise made the hard Right of the Liberal Party go completely bonkers. Finally, after some encouragement from naturalised American lunatic Rupert Murdoch, the dour and ghoulish Peter Dutton launched a spill, only to be gazumped somehow by former ad man Morrison. Things have not improved since then, with Morrison losing MPs and slumping to minority Government. Let’s not even get started on the fiasco that is the Liberal’s NBN.

For more about Coalition chaos and dysfunction, click HERE.

10. Economic mismanagement

The Coalition says Labor can’t manage money, but the Coalition took over an economy ranked #1 in the world. It is now ranked 21^st. They said they were going to fix the deficit and pay down the debt. They have never produced a single surplus in all their years in power and have doubled the debt.

For more on this, read columnist Alan Austin’s forensic analysis this week HERE and, indeed, many more of Alan’s economic pieces on this topic, which may be accessed HERE.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. If you have items you believe should have been included, please note them in the comments after this article.

Reserve Bank's latest outlook challenges 'strong economy' rhetoric: The Coalition is basing its re-election campaign on Australia's strong economy, backed by Treasury forecasts, but the most recent Reserve Bank outlook paints .. https://t.co/HtOk32Dd5F pic.twitter.com/p2ZSJbmPaf
— FinancialPartners (@FINANCEPartners) May 10, 2019

Read the rest of this article in the Independent Australia members only area HERE. (Subscribe to Independent Australia HERE.)

You can follow managing editor Dave Donovan on Twitter @davrosz. Follow Independent Australia on Twitter at @independentaus and on Facebook HERE.