Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Abbott's moral dilemmas

The Blowfly is continually bemused by the doggedness and tactics of the Opposition leader, Tony Abbott.

During the week The Blowfly stopped for a few fleeting moments to ponder the contradictions that Tony Abbott has built, and is continuing to build, for himself and his Coalition.

The moral dilemmas are simply delicious.

Somewhere deep inside that Catholic head there must be the most comprehensive array of conflicting thoughts.

Firstly there is the moral dilemma of having to say NO to every single initiative that emerges from the Labor Government.

His Jesuit-influenced upbringing will be telling him that all things are possible if he sets his mind to them. So, personally, he desperately wants to be PM, but the route he has to take is to repudiate everything that that Labor puts on the table.

In the Parliament his language is so dreadfully negative that one can only relate the experience to the bully in the schoolyard who continually tells you what a drongo you are.

Just imagine walking around the playground and telling your peers that everything they were doing was wrong and was going to cause the sky to fall in.

It is also a moral dilemma for any human being that seeks to be a national leader to say No to every initiative that someone else proposes. (If Cecil Rhodes had known that a scholarship in his name was to be used in this fashion then he might well have directed his will to other causes).

Leadership is about developing ideas up and preparing the roadmap for the trek ahead.
There is also a moral dilemma in the example he is setting for Australia’s future leaders.

At a time when Australians are desperately trying to convince the younger generation that we can build a better future , that we must re-invent ourselves and our economic base we have a potential Prime Minister who is being referred to as ‘tear down Tony’ because all he can abide as a policy initiative is to remove what a Labor government has put in place.

The younger tech-savvy generation see in Tony Abbott’s approach to the NBN a simple denial that technology can advance our society and keep us competitive with other nations such as Japan, China and the US (Silicon Valley US, that is, rather than Cleveland US).

Then there is the moral dilemma in the poker machine issue. On the one hand we see the supermarkets dominating this space through their ownership of hotels. So Tony stands up for them. But the battlers who have gambling problems are expected to rely on counselors to protect them from themselves. Liberal values are not able to be extended to deep social issues apparently. Except of course in Malcolm Fraser’s day or in Sir Robert Menzies day!

And Tony has now given his blood oath to repeal the carbon tax and many other Labor’s initiatives. You can just see him after his first 100 days in office doing a stocktake of all the legislation he has been able to repeal.

That a potential leader should consider shedding blood to preserve the past , and the interests of the old world order, is the greatest moral dilemma of all!

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