After its astounding victory on 7 September Tony Abbott, the new federal Prime Minister of Australia, said that Australians will see positive changes within the first 100 days of his government.
It is now nearly 90 days since the change of government and nothing new has occurred. It is therefore not strange that the latest poll gave the Abbott government behind the opposition.
The poll also showed that Tony Abbott disapproval rating is much bigger than his approval one. In fact, Tony Abbott has never been a popular figure but rather a controversial one in opposition, and he continues to be the same in government. His arguments are surely not cogent.
During six years in opposition, the Abbott coalition capitalised on the weaknesses of the minority Labor government which had to rely on the Greens and the Independents to just stay in power. The then opposition promised that a coalition government would change the country for the better, they would repeal the carbon tax to reduce cost of living, they would immediately stop the boats of refugees or illegals coming to our shores in numbers, they would reduce the deficit, cut waste and manage taxpayers more efficiently and create jobs and so on and so forth. They raised the expectation of the voters to a very high level. Every one in Australia was promised a better life and everyone was looking forward for that change to happen sooner rather than later.
The change of government, as all analysts agreed, was more a reject of the Labor party and their mistakes and idiosyncrasies. The people of Australia voted the Labor government out more than they voted the coalition in. This was probably the right thing to do as the country needed a new start and a team that would solve the existing domestic problems and establish a plan to envisage a better economic future for Australia. The voters were expecting a strong government to deal with law and order and curb and irradicate the Islamist fundamentalist current which is rising in Australia coming from a particular group in Sydney. This was the promise made by Tony Abbott to the voters.
What have happened since the change over has been very disappointing. It was soon found out that, even with a big majority, the new Abbott government is struggling to govern. First there was the scandal where members of the new government abused of parliamentary expenses, for their personal use. Tony Abbott, the PM and ministers like Georges Brandis and Barnabe Joyce among others were also implicated.
Then came the surprising request of the new Treasurer, Joe Hockey, to raise the debt ceiling from $300 billion to $500 billion. This was a shocker because instead of reducing the debt and deficit, that is a sign that the new government intends to spend more without saying when they will achieve the famous surplus promised. Then came the breaking promise of school funding. The new Minister for Education, Christopher Payne, suddenly declared that the new government will not honour the agreement made with some states by the previous government. This means that the schools will not receive the expected funding over the preconised period.
On the foreign front it is obvious that diplomatic relation with Indonesia is at its worse following the stubbornness, if not arrogance, of Tony Abbott to acknowledge the problem related to spying over the President of Indonesia SYB as well as his wife and ministers. Tony Abbott thinks he is bigger that Barrak Obama who apologised to Angela Merkel. Indonesia has now suspended all collaboration with Australia and has even imposed a road map to future relations. There is also that another gaffe of the Foreign Minister Julia Bishop that could endanger the trade talks with China.
The biggest disillusion of Australians and particularly those who voted for the change, on which the coalition built its electoral campaign, is the stopping of the boats. It is now clear that the new government is unable to stop the boats from coming, unable to deal with people smuggling and unable to prevent people dying at sea. The new minister for Immigration, Scott Morrisson, can only hide himself behind the veil of secrecy by not giving information neither to journalist nor to the Austrian public. Minister Scott Morrisson even refused to answer questions in parliament thus violating the Westminster tradition.
As for the debate in parliament, since it resumed, it is observed that the new ministers have still not yet mastered their portfolios, while some like Peter Dutton, Minister for Health, are merely demonstrating their limitations. Minister Greg Hunt for his part, is still incapable for explaining how his Direct Action Policy will reduce the targeted emission level of ten per cent by 2020.
Question time in parliament is a mere display of how the opposition is hammering and pushing the new government against the wall, while the new speaker is one-sided protecting the government facing humiliation.
The situation for the new government is chaotic to say the least. Controversial and extreme right-wing figures like Barnabe Joyce and the nationals are driving the agenda causing the new Treasurer to reject the bid of $3.4 billion to purchase GrainCorp by ADM. Joe Hockey was very embarrassed explaining his decision because he said he would not be bullied by anyone over this transaction.
These are only a few problems that the new government is encountering. Their future is not bright especially when facing a strong opposition, a revamped and rejuvenated Labor Party which had got rid of its heavy weights like Julia Gilard and Kevin Rudd.
