Tugging the forelock

Prince Charles is currently visiting Australia for the Commonwealth Games. Predictably, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating has claimed that the heir to to British throne supports Australia becoming a republic.

Just as it was when Keating was Prime Minister from 1991 to 1995, this remains a boutique issue, largely driven by opinion leaders in politics, the media, and academia. The average Australian is far more concerned about work, raising their families, and their cost of living.

According to research from KPMG, it does not even rank amongst the top 10 most important issues facing Australia.

Similarly, research from Roy Morgan identified economic and financial issues as the issues that most concerned Australians. The republic issue did not even rate a mention. It's hardly a vote winner.

https://home.kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2017/12/issues-facing-australian-leaders-2018-outlook.html

http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7504-most-important-problems-australia-the-world-february-2018-201803051043

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/prince-charles-supports-australia-becoming-a-republic-paul-keating-says?cid=trending

Sweet victory

With his government languishing far behind the opposition in opinion polls, it seems almost certain that Labor will win the next federal election, due to be held in 2019. Labor's controversial plan to remove tax rebates for share dividends will reduce the incomes of self-funded retirees. The unwinnable election that Andrew Bolt mentions here was in March 1993, just over 25 years ago, and not in 1991.

In 1991, the Labor Party was mostly preoccupied with the recession, and leadership tensions between Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and his rival, Paul Keating. Keating successfully challenged Hawke on his second attempt, becoming Labor leader, and Prime Minister, in December 1991.

Labor won the 1993 election by relentlessly hammering the Liberals over their proposed Goods and Services Tax. Could Malcolm Turnbull use the same tactics against Bill Shorten's tax plan, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat? Politics never ceases to fascinate.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/can-turnbull-be-a-keating/news-story/7ce59e70b65c6b0e51478ad94b0ba1b5

Those weren't the days

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating (1991-1996) was a larger than life figure, and well known for verbally abusing his political opponents and giving a shellacking to newspaper editors who published unfavourable stories about him. Just in time for Christmas,and offered in the spirit of what is supposed to be a season of peace and goodwill, comes the launch of a new IOS app, the Paul Keating insult generator.

I once received as a gift a copy of the Paul Keating Book of Insults, collated from his speeches and public statements, which in a reference to his famous "Banana Republic" speech of 1986, was published in a banana shape. On the right is a picture of said book. Presumably much of the content in the app is similar to that in the book, such as referring to then Opposition Leader John Howard, who led the Liberal opposition to victory over the Keating government at the 1996 Australian federal election, as "the greatest job and investment destroyer since the bubonic plague."

Fresh in my mind are his ruthless bucketing of his opponents during Parliament question time. Keating's  aggressive parliamentary tactics contributed to the perception in the electorate that politicians were too focused on childish name calling to care about their concerns during what were difficult economic times, and that he was out of touch with them.