The Labor Government: Possessed of more mongrel than I thought!

The Blowfly finds that some of the most enjoyable moments are spent on the Speaker’s shoulder in the lower house of Federal Parliament.

He has not been oblivious to ‘our Harry’ becoming increasingly despondent and the tone in his voice becoming more disparaging. How many times can one utter the word “Order”? In different tones?

After sitting on his shoulder for all these years The Blowfly became rather fond of Harry and was deeply impressed by his patience.

Harry has been sorely tested. Especially during this hung Parliament!

You could feel him shudder each time Tony Abbott paralysed Question Time by moving his infamous censure motions. 32 have now been moved.

You could feel him cringe each time Christopher Pyne rose to make a point of order.
You could feel him laugh inwardly each time Joe Hockey rose to make an economic point.
Recently, as The Blowfly surveyed the Parliament, he pondered the question:

Which side has the greatest sense of mongrel?

On the left is Her Majesty’s Opposition.

Its leader seems bereft of policies. But Christmas is coming and as Anthony Albanese reminded us, with any luck, “Santa, hopefully, will bring Tony Abbott some policies.”
Abbott leads what has become known as a “Noalition”.

He has maintained a pugilistic approach to his job and has seemed oblivious to his hypocrisy. Recently he praised the strength of Australia’s economy whilst in the UK but upon a return to our shores resumed his line that we are in deep trouble. Last week he praised ‘our Harry’ in one speech but then demeaned him minutes later by saying he had been part of a ‘squalid plot’.

Despite the haranguing behaviour of the Opposition, the taunts, the censure motions and the slagging, the Government has still managed to get 254 pieces of legislation through the Lower House.

On the right we have the Government.

Lead by Australia’s first female Prime Minister it has often seemed to be in trouble.

But recently we have seen several major reforms passed. The Carbon Tax and the Minerals Resources and Rent Tax. Both have been the subject of a solemn pledge by the Opposition that, upon assuming Government, they would be repealed.

Both have been neatly packaged up by the Government into a picnic basket containing many goodies for the electorate. At first look these simply seem like sweeteners but on closer inspection they have presented any Coalition assuming government with a delicious array of budgetary dilemmas.

Already facing a $70 billion ‘black hole’ with its present policy settings a Coalition would need to make huge cuts to spending to embrace fiscal responsibility.

Approaching the next election this will be one of the key issues.

And they can be sure that the Government will give them curry.

One can only imagine the dread that Andrew Robb and Joe Hockey feel at the task ahead of them.

The Blowfly has concluded that, after the events of last week, where an extra vote was clawed from a hung Parliament, there is no doubt that the Government possesses an exhilarating sense of mongrel
.
That augurs well for their progress!