Immigration Minister Scott Morrison: The one winner from the Abbott government’s horror Budget 2014?
AND he’s going to tell you it over and over and over and over and over and over and over... and over and over and over again.
Fed Budget
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IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison is being rolled out so often to say what a success border protection policies have been, it might be an idea to put him on caster wheels.
Mr Morrison today told Parliament yesterday it was 160 days since an asylum seeker boat had made it through to Australian territory.
This followed his reminder the day before that it had been 159 days.
He gets to tick off the calendar because border protection is a political plus for the Government, unlike the Budget.
So it is handy to have Scott Morrison on standby to distract from suggestions the Tony Abbott administration doesn’t know what it is doing.
But that isn’t the total of the Government’s strategy to deflect criticism of its economic statement.
THIS GUY WANTS TO TAX YOU EVEN AFTER YOU DIE
The Prime Minister is simplifying his message so that while it is not quite a three-word slogan it does have the ring of his campaign in Opposition.
The Budget’s effect was so fragmented, with so many nicks and cuts causing outrage among so many interest groups, the Government was running full time to answer every criticism.
When you are busy batting off umbrages from groups as varied as marching students and concerned university vice chancellors, hostile doctors and upset research scientists to name a handful, the Budget objectives get lost. And it just gets more unpopular.
So over the past few days Prime Minister Abbott has turned down the volume of the Budget defence and concentrated on its content — all in a tone more of quiet disappointment rather than defiant anger.
He has been repeating the “sad truth” that debt inherited from Labor is costing about $1 billion a month in interest payments alone.
Untreated, this interest payment debt would in 10 years become $3 billion a month.
“That’s $1 billion even now that’s not available to schools and hospitals and for roads,” the Prime Minister told Parliament yesterday.
While the Labor Opposition wanted to complain about changes to the calculation of the pension and tougher repayment demands on student loans, Treasurer Joe Hockey joined his leader in repeating the $1 billion-to-$3 billion interest bill story.
Nervous Liberal backbenchers appear to have listened to strategy directions delivered amid complaints from them are this week’s meeting of government parties.
It is an attempt to give everyone a story with political cohesion about a range of Budget measures which seem to hurt just about everyone. The hope behind it is the story will make the hurt more palatable.
But just in case, Scott Morrison is ready to be wheeled out show not all ministers are in dire political circumstances.
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