PM doing fantastic job of getting Shorten elected

The Federal Government is handing Labor an easy win.

DRIVER'S SEAT: Bill Shorten is riding high ahead of the next election. Picture: Leighton Smith

IT SEEMS as though Bill Shorten can see no end to all his Christmases coming at once.

Not that he has to do much to warrant it.

Not even stage invasions at the Labor National Conference could dampen this underwhelming feeling that he's going to cruise to an election win.

Media should've had a field day with many resolutions coming out of that conference but it quickly became evident that by the end of the week, Labor emerged as a more professional outfit than the Morrison Government.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison eats a pie during a visit to the Beefy's Pies factory near Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Mr Morrison is on a four-day bus tour of Queensland. (AAP Image/Dan Peled) NO ARCHIVING

And it has nothing greatly to do with some of its policies or even the suitability (or lack of) of its leader.

At times, Shorten still emits the odour of a manipulative, back-stabbing puppet of the union movement rather than that of someone who can propel this nation forward as a unified people.

Some of Labor's policy directions are simply frightening.

Especially in terms of how they will affect pensioners, self-funded retirees and those struggling with housing costs.

On the latter issue, Labor appears to be offering conflicting policies: attacking negative gearing on the one hand (which experts almost universally agree will have a serious affect on rental affordability and supply) and on the other, offering to provide subsidies to landlords willing to discount rents by some 20 per cent.

Mackays real estate market is seeing higher levels of activity and an increase for demand. Picture: Jarred.Sferruzzi

Seems to me that one policy would cancel out the other, resulting in no appreciable improvement to the current crisis in the sector.

Coinciding with the Government's release of its mid-year financial statement, Labor should have provided the Government with much-needed fodder.

The Government should have been able to pick Labor to pieces this week.

But noooooohoh.

The Government just cannot help itself.

It's as if the masochists have taken over.

In some extraordinary re-visit to this time last year, we had another National Party minister embroil himself in scandal; effectively broadsiding any attempts by the Government to gain capital from good economic news.

When are they going to learn!

I share the frustration-bordering-on-fury with the self-destructive mindset of this government.

In some ways, Australian politics is mirroring our British counterparts: a government making clueless misstep after clueless misstep, almost guaranteeing that an Opposition led by the most unlikely of leaders will win the next election.

And it's not only the extra-marital activities of the Member for Malee causing malaise for the government this week.

Queensland LNP Senator Barry O'Sullivan embroiled himself once again in a grubby matter involving women.

This time, in his defence of a staffer found to have sent obscene texts to a female journalist, the Senator sought to dismiss the issue by claiming it was all just an accident.

Text message, texting, iPhone, smartphone. Picture: NewsRegional

The texts were intended for someone else........Really?....Seriously?

But perhaps the single issue this week which continues to present a noose around this Government's neck is the issue of climate change and energy security.

The Federal Energy Minister and avowed climate change denier, Angus Taylor, met with his state counterparts.

Seeking to control the agenda and shut down any contrary proposals, Mr Taylor attracted the disdain of more than just his state Labor counterparts.

The most vocal critic was NSW's Liberal Energy Minister Don Harwin who proudly declared his government's commitment to achieving zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Now that's the sort of forward thinking the public has been crying out for for years.

Still, we shouldn't get too excited that our politicians have seen the light and they can now see further into the future than they have to date shown the capability of doing.

Queensland and part-time Italian citizen-thanks-to-his-mum Senator Matt Canavan brought the idea that this government has vision crashing down by his statement that he wasn't focused on 2050.

His focus is on the now.

Says it all really.

Originally published as PM doing fantastic job of getting Shorten elected