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Monday 26 August 2013

The politics of character assassination

With the looming federal election just weeks away; I am hoping the politics of character assassination will soon draw to a close.


At every opportunity, the former prime minister and current prime minister, deputy PM (both of them too), every minister (including the ones who were fired and the ones that resigned) and back bench members of parliament blamed Tony Abbott for every issue imaginable plaguing a poor government. 

Not an interview, press release or political comment began without a personal attack on the opposition leader. I and most of the public who wishes to not be fed spin and lies decided to undertake my own research to find the truth.

Even the first words uttered by Craig Thompson after he finally faced 173 charges for corruption was to blame Tony Abbott for his predicament. Falsely misappropriating funds on union credit cards including theft, obtaining property by deception and obtaining financial benefit by deception and not Tony Abbott may be the reasons for his investigation.

How the %&#@ could Tony Abbott be responsible for these charges, sure he keep the pressure on the government as Fair Work Australia, led by former Australian Education Union and Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow who led the investigation into the charges (no conflict of interest here) undertook a go slow approach taking three years. 

The former prime minister herself facing allegations of fraud; Ms Gillard, a former partner of law firm Slater & Gordon left under suspicious circumstances had (and still has) her own improprieties to deal with.

There is pure unadulterated fear by union leaders of Tony Abbott being elected prime minister; Abbott has stated union leaders will be held to the same standards as company directors meaning union funds could no longer be used for prostitutes, personal holidays, cash withdraws or any other personal expenses.

I am no fan of Abbott; I was surprised at his ascendancy to leader of the opposition, I thought there were better candidates. But such a prolonged and personal attack gained my attention and I started looking into the guy, did these allegations have any foundation? 

A bachelor of laws and bachelor of economics at the University of Sydney plus a master of arts as a Rhodes Scholar at the Queens College, Oxford - indicates he is probably not a dummy.

Abbott engages in community work as a volunteer fire fighter, surf lifesaving and a couple of short stints in indigenous communities, he competes in iron man competitions too. 

Federal minister Brendan O'Connor was forced to publicly apologise after Abbott cut short annual holidays to assist in fire fighting duties with his local brigade; the brigade he has been a member since 2000 including serving as deputy captain with O'Connor calling it a stunt - ouch.

I am neither conservative nor religious in my personal views and don't necessarily follow his political ideology, but I could see through a concerted campaign of character assassination to deflect attention away from failures of government leadership and implementation.

As a follower of Australian rules football, if you play the man and not the ball - it usually indicates you have neither the ability nor the temperament to play at that level, it is clear the current government is out of its depth.

I don't know who is going to win the election; I just hope the next three years is going to be an improvement on the past six years. I hope the standards of behaviour of our political leaders is also held to a higher standard than we have become accustomed too.

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