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How Abbott will check mate his critics

By Jonathan J. Ariel - posted Thursday, 12 February 2015


1. “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

Thatcher showed, and Abbott certainly has the capacity to reveal, that strong leadership can be demonstrated and not promoted like some vulgar circus sideshow. If he needs to learn how this is mastered, he should consult his Foreign Minister.

2. “Everything is fine until you run out of everybody’s else’s money.”

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So long as a government takes from productive people and companies and spoons it out to the able but less productive, what signals is it sending the young? Don’t work hard or your rewards will be taken away? Or, don’t worry about making a living; other taxpayers will take care of you? She’ll be right.

3. “As Ron [Reagan] once put it: the nine most dangerous words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help’ ”.

While government is a necessity, we should not be blind to the reality that government is the least efficient body to get almost anything done. To rely on government to take care of one’s needs is a fiscally irresponsible pursuit, chased by those well-paid inner city socialists who have never had to rely on it. It is no coincidence that the phrase, ‘as efficient as government’ does not appear in any economic textbook. Unless when used as a pejorative.

4. “I am not a consensus politician. I’m a conviction politician.”

Thatcher was and Abbott is a rare breed in courageously standing up for what she thought and he thinks is right. Even if when doing so will not win him votes.

For instance, wanting to outlaw travel by Australian passport holders of the Islamic faith to countries where Da’esh is active, Abbott was hamstrung by Labor in the Senate. Labor parliamentarians are aware of the large numbers of Muslims in their electorates. This saw Abbott abort his policy in favour or a watered down one. He agreed to Labor’s insistence that regions within countries to be made off limits to Australians and not countries per se. This is a case in point. Abbott was right straight off the bat and should have argued his case directly to voters and not the Senate by painting Labor as soft on Da’esh.

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And he’d be on strong ground. Labor has form in putting its electoral survival ahead of the national security interest. After all, it was former Labor Prime Minister Paul J. Keating, fearful of losing the jihadist vote, over rode his Immigration Minister, Chris Hurford and allowed the racist and divisive former Grand Mufti of Australia, Taj El-Din Al-Hilaly be granted permanent residency.

We need more leaders that will stand up for what’s right, and like Thatcher will tell us what we may not like to hear. But only if they can inform, explain and convince us of the merits of their argument.

We need more leaders who can carry us with them on the road to a more sustainable, economically fit and actively employed society that competes successfully with the world on all levels, including on wages.

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About the Author

Jonathan J. Ariel is an economist and financial analyst. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management. He can be contacted at jonathan@chinamail.com.

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