Federal Rounds - Gillard’s “GAME ON” should have been “GAMES OVER”
28-June-2010
Written by: John Cobb, MP -
When Julia Gillard walked into the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister on Thursday she shook hands with Tony Abbott and said “Game On”. Two words that showed just how badly out of touch Labor had become. Running the country is not a game. Regardless of whether the Prime Minister was attempting to incite some niggle from Tony Abbott or whether this was an attempt to psych him out – the words were still the same – Game On.
Yet for Labor’s factional powerbrokers that orchestrated the demise of Kevin Rudd this is exactly what the whole affair is about. They, not Australia would decide who had the power.
From my time in John Howard’s ministry, I saw what it took to effectively run the country. It took hard work, tough decisions, negotiation, listening, judging and acting. At no stage was it ever “game on”. Last weekend in Canberra, John Anderson, the former deputy PM, spoke about the pride he had and still has in the attitude of the ministry and executive he was a part of. John is considered by all sides of politics and the press as honest as any politician to enter Parliament. He said he was proud of being part of a responsible Government that made tough, unpopular decisions when faced with a $96 billion debt and a $10 billion budget deficit whilst never taking their eye off Australia’s future.
Julia Gillard’s “Game” involves people’s jobs. It involves small businesses in Blayney, Oberon and Forbes. It involves the mining industry in Parkes, Lithgow and Orange. It involves a Bells Line Expressway. It involves hospitals, doctors and a 24 hour rescue helicopter. It involves people’s lives. For Calare, this isn’t a game.
When Julia Gillard said “Game On” she trivialised border security. It highlighted the spin of changing the portfolio of Population to the portfolio of “Sustainable Population”. It went a large way to explaining how the Prime Minister herself could trivialise the $5 billion of waste out of $16 billion spent on school halls, millions of which were wasted here in Calare.
“Game On” explains why just 13 of the 2650 Trades Training Centres promised by Labor have been constructed. Training and Education is far from a game. “Game On” explains why families in Calare continue to face the dreaded “double drop off” every day. And those two words explain why people in Calare, and across the country, feel betrayed after the expectations of November ’07.
In a week that brought out the very worst in politics, those two words were the lowest point. I can assure you, that at no point in my nine years in the House of Representatives have I ever considered representing Western New South Wales and Regional Australia a game.
Considering that 20 hours before Julia Gillard began her game, only a select few people knew such a move was on the cards. When the press gallery quizzed Labor backbenchers leaving Parliament House on Wednesday night they obviously knew nothing about it and accused journos of sensationalism and trying to beat up a story. Their votes had obviously been counted by the factional right and the Unions without their knowledge.
So at 2pm Thursday afternoon Prime Minister Gillard strolled into the House of Representatives, the people’s house, and uttered those two words. And the Labor Party Machine rolled the dice once more.
