Piers Akerman: Bill Shorten is a pygmy compared to Hawke, Whitlam
It was said the death of the loveable larrikin, former PM Bob Hawke, might have tipped the scales in Labor’s favour though the current ALP is hellbent on trashing every aspect of Mr Hawke’s successful approach to government, Piers Akerman writes.
Opinion
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As counting closed for the federal election, officials from both major parties were wondering how much the sympathy vote for former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke may be worth.
It was said the death of the loveable larrikin on Thursday evening may have tipped the scales in Labor’s favour though the current ALP is hellbent on trashing every aspect of Mr Hawke’s successful approach to government.
Probably nothing stands out at this moment as much as Mr Hawke’s enormous popularity.
He was a genuine bloke whether you liked that bloke or not, Bob was nothing but authentic.
Opposition Bill Shorten is not and never has been and the polls reflect his deep untrustworthiness.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is trusted, what you see is what you get whether it is looking slightly goofy as many Dads do on Sunday mornings.
But when he talks of his beloved Sharks or his family or his faith he is dinkum.
The contrast between Mr Shorten and Mr Hawke on almost every front could not be greater.
Mr Hawke, as the many obituaries remind us, took on the worst aspects of the trade union movement and, as a former advocate for the ACTU and as its former secretary, he knew what corruption looked like and he took the necessary steps to clean out the rogues.
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He went for the Builders’ Labourers Federation and also deregistered the Ships Painters and Dockers following the Costigan Royal Commission after amending the Industrial Relations Act to require unions with fewer than 1,000 members to justify their continued registration.
He was an unabashed supporter of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, and had been for years before he became Prime Minister.
Currently, Labor happily provides cover for anti-Semites in its ranks.
Mr Hawke managed to bring a rare unity to the nation — not only in the wake of the winning America’s Cup yacht Australia II in 1983 — but through his consensus politics.
Mr Shorten’s strategy is divisive.
He wants to punish older, prudent people, and pander to the young fascinated with the global warming cult has brought an unnecessary and unworthy intergenerational war to the nation.
Wiping out the savings of those who believed they should be self-sufficient will throw many more on the public purse.
In previous elections, the major parties have fought over the centre ground, in this election Labor opted to argue for extremes. Extreme taxation, extreme global warming strategies, extreme policies everywhere.
Labor’s known spending is stratospheric but still so much remained uncosted when people voted.
Mr Hawke understood after years of negotiating on behalf of the trade unions that pay rises can only be achieved through productivity increases.
Mr Shorten, who really is little more than a glove puppet for the most thuggish elements of the union movement as he is regularly depicted by cartoonist Johannes Leak in The Australian, has not moved away from the feral ACTU boss Sally McManus who would happily break laws she personally disagrees with.
He is happy for the ALP to be beholden to the rogue CFMEU, a union whose officials have been fined millions for encouraging violence on worksites.
Through Mr Hawke’s ground breaking Accord he made the ACTU partners with business in stabilising the economy.
Mr Shorten wants to re-write Labor’s own industrial laws to give the unions the upper hand in all negotiations — or else.
Hawke had respect for business.
Mr Hawke, like that other sainted Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, had strong connections with China but he never publicly advocated for China against the Australian national interest.
His successor Paul Keating is prepared to work against Australia’s security chiefs to place China’s interests before those of Australia.
Mr Hawke was always a forward thinker but the policies of the current Labor leadership hark back to an era he up-ended. Mr Shorten and his shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen hanker for the days when unions shut down the nation and old men sat in trades halls around the nation singing songs about socialist heroes.
In his last major address Mr Shorten attempted to bask in the lingering rays of Gough Whitlam’s fabled popularity but he didn’t reflect on Mr Hawke’s real reforms which — with the help of the Coalition Opposition which supported those reforms — changed the nation for the better.
This election will not be over until the last vote in the last electorate is tallied.
With more than four million votes cast before the booths opened yesterday and the myriad of ragtag and ratbag minor single interest parties attempting to manipulate the system, the 17 days it took to count the ballots in 2010 may be surpassed.
The Independent candidates offered care but no responsibility. Their principal efforts were designed to delegitimise parliament, not enhance the institution, and to tie up resources in the process. They offered a lot of foreplay but no climax.
In the electorate, where punters attempted to weigh up whether they were winners or losers on various policies, the sums could not be done. The information wasn’t there.
The Canberra press gallery deserves to be flogged for failing to question Labor deeply on its promises.
Heavily Green-Left, the ABC barracked for Labor. No bias there? Forget it. It’s beyond Pravda.
An independent broadcaster would have looked at the double taxing inherent in Labor’s plan to hit retirees with the abolition of franking credits, the effect on the housing market of the ban on negative gearing and the whole impact of the global warming fiasco.
As the count continues, those who don’t want Labor to get the smashing victory predicted just four weeks ago will take some comfort from the recent narrowing in the polls but it may have all come too late.
The least palatable result is another hung parliament with characters like the obnoxious Rob Oakeshott pulling Labor’s strings.
Labor has come into office from Opposition just three times since WWII and each time it was led by a visionary, Mr Whitlam, Mr Hawke and Kevin Rudd, as flawed as he proved to be.
Mr Shorten is a pygmy by comparison with any of these.
Let the count continue.
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