Do your job, Malcolm Turnbull, it’s what we pay you for
Image courtesy of abc.net.au
conclusion whether he or she is ‘on the job’. After an exchange with
Malcolm Turnbull via the social media, Jennifer Wilson has severe reservations if he is doing his.
I had a robust set-to with Communications Minister
Malcolm Turnbull on Twitter this morning, after he arrogantly informed a
regionally based small business owner that if she wanted reliable
internet connections she ought to have bought her house in a different
area.
Vaucluse, maybe?
Perhaps I was exceptionally irritated by this comment because it
reminded me of when my entire family went missing for a week in a
Mexican hurricane, & Alexander Downer remarked that it was their own
fault for living in a hurricane-prone place.
I didn’t argue with Turnbull about the government’s plans (I use the
word reservedly) for our future communications. I argued with him
because every response he made to me referred not to the issues, but to
the deficiencies of the ALP when in government. No matter how
consistently I pointed out to him that his tactic of attempting to
deflect a questioner from her concerns by arguing that “the ALP started
it and were worse than us” only serves to convince me that the
government fears its own policies aren’t worthy of mention, the man
would not cease his epic struggle to gain a political point.
“You’re winning no support trying to avoid questions by point
scoring,” I tweeted. ” You’re in charge, govern, in our best interests.”
To which the Communications Minister replied” “So it’s shameful to tell
the truth is it? Or is it that you are ashamed of the mess Labor left
us to clean up?” And so on. The battle is still going on as I write
this, though Malcolm retreated a couple of hours ago. I obviously struck
a nerve: there are a lot of people wanting governance from this lot,
and increasingly fed up with them behaving as if they are still in
opposition.
What the Abbott government and their advisers are apparently unable
to grasp is that every time they attempt to deflect the focus from their
policies onto a critique of the ALP, they reinforce the impression many
of us have that their policies either don’t exist, or are too
inadequate to be discussed, leaving them obliged to resort to employing
critique of the former government as their only narrative. This is not
governing the country.
It’s a serious abrogation of responsibility.
The Abbott government seems to me exceptionally disregarding of the
future. This causes me great concern for the well-being of my
grandchildren and their peers. Surely it is a government’s job to do
everything possible to ensure the best for our young, now and as they
become adults.
The Abbott government must understand that governing a country is not
a game: it is the most profoundly serious enterprise anyone can
undertake, it affects the lives and futures of millions of people, and
arrogance and point scoring will not cut it.
You won the election, Mr Turnbull. Get governing, or get out.
This article was first published on Jennifer’s blog No Place For Sheep and has been reproduced with permission.
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