DEAR News Of The Area,

I BECAME worried and frustrated when I read Darcey Browning’s letter (‘Warming Up’, Coffs Coast NOTA page 29, 11 February Edition) extolling the performance of the existing PM and his government and denigrating the Labor party.

Mr Browning is correct in stating that the “bar has been lowered“, not by the Labor party, but by the incompetence and failures of this LNP Government.

Mr Howard Dengate (‘39 reminders of how our Federal Government behave’, p29, NOTA, Friday 11 February Edition) in his letter on the same page has only addressed the tip of the iceberg, when he lists some 39 failures in the misuse of taxpayer money.

The list of failures could extend to the:

• PM’s mismanagement of the bushfire crisis (“PM in Hawaii while the country is burning”, “I don’t hold a hose, mate”).
• The COVID crisis (no initiative or direction on quarantining for which the federal government is responsible; delays, procrastination and mismanagement of the vaccine rollout; the delays and frustrations in the adoption and rollout of RATS, the Aged Care fiasco).
• No energy policy.
• Embarrassing our reputation and credibility on the world stage (China, France/Europe, Serbia, climate change).
• Mismanaging (by the long held LNP benchmark of Debt and Deficit) the economy.
• The about turn on Electric Vehicles.
• Inability to deliver election promises on the Religious Discrimination Bill, National Anti-Corruption Commission and treatment of women in Parliament, including the recommendations made in the Jenkins Report.
• Managing the disunity within Liberal ranks and the byelection conflicts within his party.

Worst of all is the lack of almost total recognition and commitment to the catastrophic impact of climate change by the PM and the LNP.

The unmanaged and uncontrolled onset of global warming will make the COVID pandemic look like a stroll in the park.

The Government believes that the cost (perceived) of taking effective action is unacceptable. However, it is prepared to spend at least $100 billion buying submarines to combat a less likely threat than climate change.

To save our nation is worth any cost.

Mr Morrison as the PM has found to be lacking as a national leader.

He has no vision, no big picture concept of where this country should be heading, his only focus is on the next election and his own personal popularity (baseball caps, Hi-Vis vests, TV promos and a very visible religious presence while displaying few Christian values).

The PM is acknowledged by his own party of being a compulsive liar, who is ruthless and not to be trusted.

He has demonstrated that he possesses no empathy and poor judgement.

He is an unreliable leader.

I can understand Mr Browning’s frustration and anger at temporarily losing his livelihood by the Whitlam Government’s policy on school milk.

But many of us have also suffered due to implementation of various Government policy.

I lost my career in my 50s and had to go back to Tech College for two years to retrain and reskill for a new career.

This was due to a Liberal Government initiative.

These career changes are inevitable as we have changing technologies, government business privatisations, government and business restructures, business mergers, overseas sell offs, etc. Look at our car industry and the job loss there.

The mining industry has no doubt recognised and accepted this and are planning accordingly, as they should, but they are unfortunately being used by the LNP as a political pawn.

If Mr Browning is concerned by our “work ethic now dead in the water” he must recognise that this is not due to a Labor Government, as the LNP has been in power for 20 of the last 26 years.

We all remember the Howard Government middle class welfare.

The current Morrison Government does not need or deserve another chance.

We can measure and judge its performance and we have seen enough.

We need an immediate change of government.

Regards,
Pieter DE VISSER,
Korora.