Originally Posted by
Icarus2001
Just on one point AerialPerspective, ScoMo is correct, he does not hold a hose but more than that FIRES are well and truly STATE issues, not federal in any way. Now I do agree that going on holiday was not a good look but in a practical sense the PM can and does work from anywhere.
Yes Icarus, that is true, firefighting is a State responsibility but to effectively quarantine (no pun intended as will be revealed below) the Commonwealth and ScoMo from any responsibility is to ignore reality. First, every previous PM on both sides, including Howard, stayed in the country in summer during what was expected to be a serious time for fires across the country. Secondly, as all on this forum would know, the Commonwealth is responsible for the disposition of ADF assets if allocated to fires/cleanup/support and the Commonwealth has sole responsibility for the registration and certification of aircraft and components which is how the States get their firefighting assets approved to fly here - so, in fact, the Commonwealth is central to the effort and for him (ScoMo) to go away then offer a pathetic excuse such as "... the States didn't ask for help..." is not just excuse-making but callous and ignorant on his part.
While we're on the subject of responsibility. Quarantine is NOT a State responsibility, yet ScoMo was more than happy to suggest it being flicked to the States and has done virtually zero to do anything about taking it back when it has proved that hotels are not designed for quarantine for an airborne disease. Based on his record to date, I have no doubt he orchestrated this so he could blame the States when it went bad, which it did.
Aged Care is a Commonwealth responsibility too - ScoMo is happy for States with a high infection/death rate in FEDERALLY CONTROLLED Aged Care facilities to be blamed for that too, but - and this is an old story with him - his government was warned specifically that the Aged Care sector needed reform and that something such as disease outbreak would be devastating and as usual, he and his band of no-hopers just kicked the can down the road and hoped for the best, including that pathetically inept moron he had running Aged Care who couldn't even estimate how many infections and/or deaths there had been and again fobbed off responsibility after yet another disaster.
Numerous warnings were given about Robodebt and his shower insisted it was all legal and moral - it took a decision in the High Court to ORDER the government to cease and desist on the basis, I believe it was the Justices of the Court that said "... it is nothing more than a State sponsored extortion racket...." (or words to that effect).
None of this is to have a go at you at all, as you were just pointing out a fact about responsibilities but the track record shows that this government and the concept of responsibility are distant strangers.
Every government has its problems and screw ups but this lot have elevated it to a fine art, their true medium is obfuscation of process (sports and 'everything else' rorts, etc.) and to lie, prevaricate and shift blame for things they could have been reasonably expected to know and/or act on earlier.
Not telling the French President until the night before cancelling a major contract, providing the weasel word BS answer to the Porter affair "I'm not his boss anymore" is not just disgusting, it's amoral - and this bloke claims to be a Christian.......