Waiting for Malcolm

The Australian public is waiting for Malcolm, and so are a lot of serious problems.

Tony Abbott has been given a bit longer to prove even more conclusively he is simply not capable of being Prime Minister. Meanwhile the political world drifts along as we wait for Malcolm and the real game to begin. The ALP geniuses cheered at Abbott's survival but it would be in their interests to get Malcolm up as soon as possible so as to have the maximum time and this coming budget for their attacks.

The Liberals are just trashing their brand for a few more weeks before reality forces them to accept the inevitable. At least the media are at their Australian best as they find amusement in the liberal's astounding idiocy and their inability to get any story straight before they roll it out. The general public seem to be enjoying the jokes but soon they are likely to get impatient. They know there are serious problems building up and no-one is dealing with them. At the very least they expect Malcolm to save them from the horror of a Bill Shorten Prime Ministership.

Anyone concerned about rapidly changing Australia to survive and prosper within the new realities should also be eager for Malcolm to finally become PM. Until he has had his chance he will remain the excuse for everyone who wants action but is still hoping for the superman to save them any personal effort.

After Malcolm, reality.

That is not to say that he must fail, but if he succeeds he certainly will be a superman.

Consider the problems that are also waiting for Malcolm.

Government revenues are in decline so expenditure cuts must be made. There are some welfare payments that can be trimmed but the big savings, never mentioned by Hockey or conservative commentators, are in the massive tax benefits to wealthy retirees, subsidies to private health funds and private schools, and subsidies to farmers through specific assistance to ethanol producers and more general handouts. There are also idiocies like the school chaplain scheme that should simply be abandoned.

Unfortunately for Malcolm his party is committed to all these wastes of public money and will fight any attempt at common-sense budget cutting.

The US Government has gone beyond telling us which wars to fight and now tells us which equipment to buy, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. They also direct our foreign policy. This causes waste of money in Defence spending and problems in our relationships with other powers. Malcolm may not be a cringer but his party is full of them.

Malcolm is reasonably in tune with public values on gay marriage and other issues, to the horror of about half his party and most of the Nationals.

One huge, moral issue widely ignored in the media, is euthanasia. Malcolm, due to his adopted Catholicism, probably agrees with the right-wingers that this must be blocked. But around 80% of Australians want the right to die in certain circumstances.