By Kevin Glancy

It constantly amazes me that polls continue to indicate that there are still people out there who actually think that Julia Gillard is doing a good job. Of course it’s their right to think that and I would defend that right but I am hard pressed to find a reason for that support. The interview with Gillard that follows certainly doesn’t help.

I’ve tried to understand her but failed dismally and I’ve long since come to the conclusion that I don’t like Gillard or her politics and I have grown weary of her constant lies, spin, evasion, hypocrisy, sexism and double standards.

To add insult to injury are her policy announcements. They constantly lack detail and are usually set in some distant future and always beyond the next election.  There is no money to fund the policies and most of them rely on the cooperation of the states but she does not consult the state Premiers before making the grand announcement.

Of course, every Liberal state government is currently trying to rectify the financial mess inherited from the previous Labor state government and therefore is simply cash-strapped.

Now a smart Prime Minister would talk privately with each state Premier before dropping them in it but Gillard tells them nothing. Instead she provokes their negativity by her complete lack of good manners.

There’s no pre-announcement consultation as she ripens them up for the kill, ready to blame them for failing to respond and for simply seeking the detail which she can’t provide. You can bet she’ll bring out the ‘negativity’ word following the upcoming COAG meeting with regard to her suspect electricity scheme.

Gillard’s recent ‘proposal’ to lower electricity prices is a classic example of her politic.

It’s rhetoric, nothing more because if she was serious about lowering the cost of electricity there’s a simple answer. Drop the RET green schemes, the solar subsidies and the carbon tax and Australians would get instant back pocket relief.  

Electricity is like water. It’s a basic necessity and its price affects the cost of everything.

It’s an overhead that has to be met by all Australians from manufacturing, delivery to retail and of course unless we want to go back to the dark ages – in our homes.

The nonsense about its solitary 9% effect is just that. Economists put it closer to 14.9% but you can forget the percentages because Gillard pretends that it only affects the power we use in our homes and that’s another blatant Gillard lie. Electricity is consumed everywhere but with Gillard’s ‘carbon cops’ and heavy fines, businesses are too scared to state that a price rise is due to the carbon tax.

The solar subsidies are also discriminatory. Those who can’t afford solar pay extra for their electricity to fund those subsidies. This means that those who can afford solar get it cheaper.  

These schemes are wasteful, lower our standard of living, penalise Australians and make Australia economically less competitive or viable.  Nor will these schemes lower emissions. In fact by the government’s own figures emissions will increase.

As far as lowering temperatures are concerned, there is also no justification for this sacrifice whatsoever with no conceivable rise in global temperatures over the last 16 years as per data from the UK Met Office. The current fuss about hot weather and record braking temperatures is an insult to the 300 plus people who lost their lives in the last European winter due to the extreme cold weather.

In any event the climate will always change; no argument there. But we will never have the ability to control it unless we put a big dome over the globe. But still the climate change stupidity and arrogance prevails and those who cannot think for themselves follow the lies and spin such as the kind witnessed at the recent Doha Climate Talks.

Of course you may be one of those who believe that the pain of the carbon tax is worth the supposed 0.0038 degree difference it may make over the next 100 years which must coincide with a belief that no advances in technology will be made over that same period. Of course that also assumes; that Australia has a roof and walls around its atmosphere and it makes no difference what China or India do.

The Global Carbon Project reveals that the biggest contributors to global emissions in 2011 were China – 28 per cent, the United States – 16 per cent, the European Union – 11 per cent, and India – 7 per cent.

As for the cost of ‘gold plating’ which Gillard wants us to believe is the only contributor to rising electricity prices. It’s too late to do anything about that because electricity companies have already spent the money doing exactly that. Her policy is on the never-ever – it’s never ever going to happen.

It’s just a typical and cynical Gillard headline grabber. Her previous policies put prices up and now she has the gall to talk of obscure, hypothetical measures that might just bring them down.

As that great but late, UK comedian Eric Morecambe used to say; “RUBBISH!”    

But back to the headline and what has become the standard Gillard interview for anyone who cares to waste their time. It’s also a perfect example of why I can’t comprehend how anyone could possibly think that Gillard is a worthy fit for Prime Minister.

Now I didn’t actually watch the interview because such is my disdain for Julia Gillard that I can no longer stand listening to her or looking at her, so I’m grateful to Andrew Bolt for drawing my attention to this extract of her interview with Paul Bongiorno on Channel Ten’s ‘Meet the Press’ (Sunday 2/12/12). It’s an absolute gem and consistent with her misogyny rant that received rave reviews from the Lefties. 

Incidentally, Andrew’s Bolt Report is on the same channel prior to Meet the Press and he enjoyed the attention of around 160,000 viewers. During his show, Channel Ten promoted Gillard’s appearance and by the time she appeared around 50,000 viewers had already switched off.

They were the smart folk because it’s obvious looking at the transcript, that had you watched Gillard you would have quite possibly slashed your wrists. What she had to say was gobsmackingly pointless, completely uninspiring and as always just more of the same. No answers just evasion and insults. 

Here’s part of the transcript: I’ve highlighted Gillard’s ‘states-woman’ like bits in bold.

Paul Bongiorno: Well at the end of the year, at the end of the Parliamentary session, it seems that the AWU slush fund affair is inconclusive… Wouldn’t a short, sharp inquiry, an independent inquiry, judicial inquiry, end the matter?

Gillard: … Australians are rightly sick of this campaign of sleaze and smear… Mr Abbott’s made it perfectly clear that he’s going to stay wedded to this sleaze and smear, not only now, but even if he was elected Prime Minister. The driving force of his Prime Ministership would be continuing the sleaze and smear.

Paul Bongiorno: … A new promise from Tony Abbott is that if he wins the election, he will have a judicial inquiry into this issue….

Gillard: Mr Abbott is now going to ask the Australian people in 2013 to vote for him on the basis that the centre of his Prime Ministership would be continuing this personal campaign of sleaze and smear… I think Australians are heartily sick of this, Paul; heartily sick of this negative, personality-based politics from Mr Abbott. We’ll let him just carry on with all that sleaze and smear…

Paul Bongiorno: And we will talk about that, Prime Minister, but there’s a Galaxy Poll this morning in the News Limited papers – it finds 31 per cent believe you’ve been economical with the truth. Thirty one per cent believe you’ve lied. Only 21 per cent think you’ve been completely honest. And the poll says 60 per cent want a full account in the Parliament. Will you deliver a full account in the Parliament?

Gillard: …I am not going to become bogged down in Mr Abbott’s campaign of sleaze and smear. The fact that he’s got no positive plans for the nation’s future is his problem and a matter for him…

Paul Bongiorno: Prime Minister, it’s a very big allegation for the Opposition to make, that you misled the WA Corporate Affairs Commissioner. Now union sources tell me – union people I’ve spoken to – is that it’s very unusual for the name of the union to be put on these associations or accounts that are used and, as you’ve told press conferences, every union does it, but it’s unusual to put the union’s name in the name of the association, and that’s where the misleading comes into it.

Gillard: Paul, this is all sleaze and smear from Mr Abbott and his team, because they haven’t got anything positive to say. I did not do anything wrong. The Opposition spent the week in overreach and then humiliating backdown… It just wants the sleaze and smear to keep going… Their political strategy is one of negativity…

Paul Bongiorno: More than 30,000 boat people have arrived since Labor came to power, and 1,000 have drowned…. Prime Minister, November was the latest record month for boat arrivals, none of your policies have worked at stopping the boats, stopping the arrivals. Is it time to consider Temporary Protection Visas and turning back the boats, considering they’re the only policies you haven’t yet tried, and the ones that you have tried have failed?

Gillard: Temporary Protection Visas didn’t work when they were part of our nation’s policy last time… Every step of the way, of course, we continue to encounter negativity from the Opposition, always negativity…

So! Did anyone learn anything, other than Abbott’s obvious support for what I can only assume is a new comedy duo called – Sleaze and Smear?

Did Gillard answer any questions? Other than blaming Tony Abbott and his beloved comedy duo for all that ails us?  

Note: She even blamed him for what union members said about the AWU scandal.

This is the Prime Minister of Australia and she’s busy trying to write satirical comedy scripts. Admittedly she may have some talent. If Monty Python were planning a revival – they have their first script. Or maybe it’s one that John Clarke and Bryan Dawe wrote for the ABC’s 7.30 Report.  

If this is the kind of sick, demented drivel we can expect from any future female Prime Minister I’d rather stick with the men thank you – they’re at least funnier – well sometimes and besides, we can criticize their politics without fear of being called sexist.