Shorten shrieks about debt but Labor’s policies not the answer

Guess what? Bill Shorten cares about debt now. The Opposition Leader in question time, yesterday:

Tomorrow, for the first time in Australia’s history, gross debt will crash through half a trillion dollars.

Pretty good time to start worrying about it. David Uren in The Australian, yesterday:

It’s hard to pat yourself on the back too enthusiastically about surviving 26 years without a recession when you are teetering so close to the edge.

But wait, who said the budget deficit would get worse if Labor had won the past election? Oh yeah, the Labor Party itself. The Australian, June 27 last year:

Labor has admitted its election policies will cause a $16.5 billion budget deficit blowout over the next four years.

The Opposition Leader thinks the debt blowout kills any chance of tax cuts. Shorten in the House of Representatives, yesterday:

So how can the Prime Minister possibly justify giving millionaires a $16,400 tax cut in just 16 days’ time?

We should vote for years of reckless spending instead? The Australian, June 27 last year:

Labor’s costings document shows it is going to the election with 203 policies costing the budget a combined $34.6bn over the next four years.

The Liberal left is pushing for a gay marriage conscience vote again. Queensland MP Warren Entsch speaking in Canberra, yesterday:

All I want to do is to have the opportunity of putting my vote … we’re ­getting close to a point where we’re ready for it.

A plebiscite was an election promise. Malcolm Turnbull at the National Press Club in Canberra, June 30 last year:

There will be, assuming we are ­returned to government, a plebiscite on this issue.

The Prime Minister on the ABC’s 7.30, June 8 last year:

Presenter Leigh Sales: If it doesn’t (pass the ­parliament) will you have a vote on the floor?

Turnbull: Well I’m not going to entertain that hypothetical. But what I will say to you is that I support same-sex marriage, legalising same-sex marriage and I will certainly be voting yes in the plebiscite.

The Coalition won the past election if we remember correctly. The Australian, July 12 last year:

The Coalition … within sight of a ­majority government.

But principles and promises don’t hold much sway in today’s Liberal Party. The Australian, yesterday:

Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman … said he and others in support of gay marriage would keep (trying) …

And The New York Times’ Sydney bureau produces another gem about life Down Under, Tuesday:

Bunnings, meanwhile, is a large Australian hardware chain that offers space in its parking lots on weekends, so community groups can raise funds selling sausages from the company’s grills. They call these events sizzles.

Are we being studied by Margaret bloody Mead? Coming of Age in Samoa, 1928:

A Samoan village is made up of thirty to forty households, each of which is presided over by a headman or matai.

The Australian’s Rick Morton nails the Gray Lady’s coverage on Twitter, yesterday:

The NYT Aussie outfit is an embarrassment. But it’s not the first time white people have come here under the pretence of exploration.