Friday, August 12, 2016

HERBERT SNAFU SIGN OF MEAN /LEAN TIMES IN COALITION

Despite having officially lost the election , the  vanquished  Ewen Jones  (LNP) sign still is in place above the Townsville  office into  which  the  victor, Cathy O'Toole (ALP) , has  already moved . It is understood  federal Administrative  Services officers  who came to Townsville to assist  O'Toole move in  were surprised that  the  large  Ewen  Jones  sign, at a busy main intersection ,  had  not  been  removed.

Somehow, the  local media   has  not  twigged  that  this is a most unsatisfactory situation  which could  be interpreted that Jones, backed by the Queensland  branch of the  Liberal National Party ,   is  not  admitting defeat ,   and that  Ewen's    fingernails  will be   under the  wallpaper , when   he  is eventually  dragged  out of  office , if the almost  certain appeal to the Court of Disputed Returns  fails. 


 Once again, it reveals that Townsville needs  an independent  media  outlet to ask obvious questions, chase up obvious angles , break new  ground . One shining example was  the recent  event in which Jones announced , midst much fanfare, a  $45,000  grant to a  stock exchange listed  ferry  company on which  Lucy Turnbull , wife of the PM ,  had  once been  a member of its board. No scribe asked the  obvious  question ... could this  in any way embarrass the PM? And , being a savvy party whip ,  did you not think to raise this point with the PM to avoid any  controversy  ? 
  
When this  blogger raised  the  above points with Jones , he dismissed it as being money for  Aboriginal employment . How much  employment  is provided  by  45K?  Furthermore , the  ferry  company  has  just announced it had a good  year , doubling  its  profit   to  $22.3million , so why the federal government  drop in  the  bucket? 

The  Conservative  father of both houses of  federal  parliamentSenator  Ian Macdonald ,70,  was  quoted frequently  during and after the election , but as usual  it seems not many questions were asked of him by reporters, one being why he had his arm in a sling  during the  counting .
 
Senator Macdonald  plays  same monotonous  old  tunes on  upright piano, one being that  GetUp! is the Hitler Youth group of   the Greens (November 3,2011) , backed up by  likening Stephen Conroy(ALP)  to Joseph Goebbels  , leading to an apology to the Jewish community , not  Conroy .
 
He has just  had  printed in the Murdoch   Townsville Bulletin , which  backed   Jones to  win , a wide ranging  statement which could be interpreted as an indication that there  will be a court  challenge to the win by O'Toole  by  37 votes.
 
In  it he launched an  attack on the ALP (what's new ?) and  ended up saying what a mighty job  Ewen Jones had  done  for Townsville    in six  years . Really ?Townsville  has  the highest unemployment  in  the state , the  highest bankruptcy  level , high youth unemployment ,  real  estate  values  down , parts  of  the  CBD and  industrial  areas  looking  like  Detroit . Eventually Jones  and the PM were belatedly forced to   support  the stadium and entertainment centre, which  Bill Shorten  had  backed  to  the tune of  $100million.
 

During  the election campaign,O'Toole  drew  attention to the  real  plight of  Townsville  by  pointing  out  this derelict street  building , not far from the Townsville Bulletin  office; one main   street  with 80 plus empty or up for lease/sale  premises .
  
 Meanwhile, where is Ewen Jones ? In short public statements ,where obvious questions were not asked ,  he announced he  would abide by the party's decision on whether  or not to  mount a  court challenge  and that  he was  going  for a  holiday .
 
Obvious questions . Who ( names )  is conducting the  examination of  the election  for a  possible challenge on the alleged grounds that soldiers  and  hospital patients had  missed out on the chance to vote  ? Where-Townsville, Brisbane, Canberra ?  How many lawyers involved , are they local ? Is  the Attorney-General  George  Brandis involved in any way ?Where  is  Ewen Jones holidaying ...Queensland, Rio ?
 
And do Jones , Senator Macdonald , the PM  and  Senator Brandis think the Ewen  Jones   sign  should   be  removed  immediately, if not sooner ?  MUCH , MUCH  MORE  LATER.