Aided by a frenzied scurrilous and frequently biased press an unscrupulous opposition and the previous government's own inconsistencies, Australians intoned that the Labour Government, was a complete 'shambles' The press and citizens learnt the largely unchallenged propaganda electioneering mantras.
That the ALP Government was not only unstable but also wracked with leadership jealousies, and plots.
They had conspired with the Greens to destroy our coal based economy.
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The ALP failed to stop the boats and lied about a carbon tax.
That the science regarding the threat of climate change was exaggerated and if not crap , it was undecided.
The ALP were also deemed to be terrible economic managers, despite retaining a triple A credit rating.
As with the fallen Julius Caesar, the press came to bury, not to praise and the ALP were masters of their own undoing , despite having achieved some important reforms. The previous Government were the ultimate non Brady Bunch family of politicians, failing to present a flawless cohesion. They, bravely revealed their insecurities failings and struggles.
Having begun their incumbency with an apology to the first peoples of Australia, and ratified the Kyoto Protocol they simultaneously agreed to accept responsibility for the past and the future. Yes Australia was constructed on the genocide and displacement of our aboriginal brothers and sisters. Yes we had a responsibility to safeguard the planet for future generations. Kevin Rudd declared climate change to be the great moral challenge of our generation.
Rudd later trashed his own record of integrity in his second tilt at the leadership, by seeming to contradict his own moral stance on asylum seekers and climate change. To her credit Julia Gillard supported by the independents and the Greens, managed to legislate a price on carbon in 2012.
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The Gillard Government also legislated for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in 2013.
Not bad for an incompetent government.
Sadly a kind of cruelly competitive bipartisanship reached its zenith as both parties sought to outdo each other in regard to horrendous treatment of refugees seeking asylum by boat.
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