It's all coming back to me now, three months into an Abbott Government. The fact that Howard Old Hand Alexander Downer is suddenly in the media every other day again hammers home the inescapable fact that the Abbott Government is "Howard 2.0".
In my first year in Australia - in 2001-2001 - I was led to believe that Howard was not long for this world. Then the Tampa and 9/11 happened and we were saddled with another three years. Then Mark Latham happened and yet another! Finally he was evicted and the way I felt about living in Australia changed. It was no longer in denial of a shameful Government. Despite all of the leadership tom-foolery, I was always happy living under a left-of-centre Government that was at least always steered by compassion and a mission of equity, even if it wasn't always able to execute effectively on it.
Yet in only three months I find myself back in the Howard years. An air of contempt, arrogance and hubris. Lets have a quick round up:
- Contempt for the Planet - Environment Minister Greg Hunt (although that's not his real title, there isn't even an environment or climate change minister, he's responsible for "development") demonstrated spectacular contempt for international efforts to solve the world's most pressing existential problem. He snubbed the International Climate Talks this month in Poland, sending a minion instead. As if that weren't bad enough, his excuse? "Too busy legislating to remove a price from Carbon" - i.e. going backwards on the issue.
- Contempt for the Media - The silence over the boats policy is shocking, and frankly close to undemocratic. I don't hold out much hope for its long term success however as they will find themselves having to review their weekly statements policy when something terrible ala Christmas Island disaster in 2010 will force them out of that cadence. Only now, 10 weeks later, has the Government granted proper interviews to the ABC (Tony Abbott fronted the ABC - on 730 report - and Scott Morrison fronted RN Breakfast, just in the last fortnight). But he fronted 2GB with Alan Jones within days of being elected! Furthermore, no Coalition member can speak to the media without Abbott's office clearance - demonstrating an astonishing contempt for transparency.
- Contempt for the Parliament - I found the fact that Abbott waited two months before recalling parliament after being elected pretty disappointing, and he attempted to avoid as much scrutiny as possible before he was forced to front up to Question Time. Between Question Time and Senate Estimates, this is all we have left in terms of scrutiny and accountability as the Media have been flatly excluded from the process (with the exception of the compliant and complicit News Ltd publications). In fact to prove that point, when asked in Parliament how many boats he had "bought back", Scott Morrison stalled and demurred. When asked by The Australian Newspaper, he was happy to oblige them with the details.
- Contempt for the People - But having based an entire election campaign around "stopping the boats", Abbott shows utter contempt for the Australian people to only report on that once a week; and even within that to hide almost all the details under "operational matters" or "on water issue" smokescreens. The Coalition Government fails to realise that while there are a large number of bigots whose xenophobia led them to vote for a "stop the boats" policy and don't care how it's done, the rest of us take great interest in how our Navy and Immigration Department are mis-treating the world's most vulnerable people.
- Contempt for Process - Despite hounding Craig Thompson and Peter Slipper for expenses fraud, Tony Abbott saw no reason for his own expenses or those of his colleagues to come under any scrutiny. The hypocrisy was in and of itself quite breathtaking.
- Contempt for Indonesia - Tony Abbott's disdain for Indonesia and in particular its President SBY is an international embarrassment. Paraphrased as "everyone does it, get over it", his arrogant dismissal of SBY's palpable offence is amateur and an international embarrassment. When you compare his reaction to that of Obama in the same position, the gulf in the quality of leadership is transparent. In fact, SBY himself has dwarfed Abbott in terms of demonstrating maturity.
- Contempt for The States - Christopher Pyne's welch on the Better Schools/Gonski promise is reprehensible. Even Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell was offended by the way he had been insulted by Pyne's refusal to negotiate or consult: "this is no way for a Government to behave" he said.
- Contempt for Expertise - Furthermore, amid this controversy, Pyne had no interest in meeting with the actual experts behind the Gonski report so he could better understand it, despite describing the report itself as "incomprehensible". The arrogance oozes at every turn.
- Contempt for Citizens in need - I remember this being a particular facet of the Howard Government - zero interest in defending the rights of citizens in trouble overseas. The way Howard and Downer treated David Hicks was an appalling neglect of their responsibilities. Now, the ailing Colin Russell is more or less abandoned by Julie Bishop as he languishes unjustly in a Russian prison.
- Contempt for Refugees - Let's not forget Scott Morrison's edict that asylum seekers be referred to - insultingly and derogatively - as "illegals". This really made me angry.
Before being elected, Tony Abbott said he wanted his Administration to be compared to that of Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan (which was disturbing in itself for anyone left-of-centre). I fear that it is more likely to be compared to that of George W Bush, whose disastrous reign was also characterised by spectacular hubris and arrogance. As such, I worry that such aloofness will bring its own demise - at our expense - and this quote seems to quite elegantly sum up this dynamic:
“Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started.” Mary Midgley, The Myths We Live by