It is not very often that I can recall being angry about matters political. More often than not there is a begrudging acceptance that sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t. But right now I am mad as hell about the direction our nation is travelling in.
In any other time, most citizens could think of one or two government decisions that provoked their ire, but few would be able to recall a time when almost everything the government did was shown to be so maddeningly wrong. But now, wherever you look there is another example of government waste and poor public policy. The most recent is the so called ‘Malaysian solution’; another policy thought bubble that was announced and thus far cannot even be implemented.
Every time I see a television news report detailing the arrival of yet another leaky boat filled with illegals who have paid big money to skip the authorised immigration channels, I feel my frustration rising. The initial displeasure is directed at the smiling faces of the recent arrivals who all look well fed and well prepared for a life of comparative luxury in Australia. I think of the taxpayer funded welfare payments, English lessons, accommodation, education, health and legal services that will be supporting these deliberate law breakers for years to come and I wonder why?
Why are we laying out the red carpet for people who pay money to people smugglers just so they can breach our borders? Indeed, why are we even subscribing to an outdated United Nations convention that encourages these economic refugees to rort Australia’s humanitarian immigration intake?
But then I remind myself that it is human nature to push boundaries and thus how can I blame the individuals who are taking advantage of the Australian Government’s intransigent stupidity?
After all, it was the Labor Government which abandoned the laws that had previously stopped the boats. Despite their protestations, Labor is directly responsible for weakening our offshore processing regime. They are also responsible for the additional billions of dollars required to accommodate these modern day colonists; a circumstance that should infuriate every taxpayer.
But Labor still clings to the claim that these new boats have nothing to do with their policy approach. Why doesn’t that surprise me?
Given the policy disasters implemented since 2007, by now we should all be conditioned to the many failures of our current government. However, the sheer scale of their continuing incompetence beggars belief. We now have a new $56 billion nationalised telecommunications industry that has never had a cost-benefit analysis and was undertaken despite worrying warnings from Treasury. We face a carbon tax, a mining tax, a plethora of nanny state initiatives and other regulations that will stifle what remains of our national creativity, prosperity and entrepreneurship.
At every turn there is a barrier between government policy and common sense.
Everything this government touches seems to turn to custard. Their rock solid promises are paper thin, their money management is reckless and their empathy with everyday Australians is almost non-existent. We have a government that is prepared to distort, spin, mislead and lie to the Australian people if they think it will be to their political advantage.
Frankly, irrespective of one’s political leanings, this government can only be considered an incompetent embarrassment. The office of the Prime Minister has been devalued, the public’s faith in their government pursuing the national interest has all but disappeared and the credibility of our ministerial ranks has been left wanting.
That’s why I’m angry and why millions of other Australians are angry too. For all of us, the next election cannot come soon enough.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
