While the Beaconsfield thing very much impressed me, I don't think I trully fully appreciated Bill until post 2019 election, and saw who we should have had, and the swarmy clusterfuck of shite streaked clowns spanking off into a sack of kittens we ended up with.
I remember feeling absolutely sick to my stomach the night of that election loss. Reminded me of Beazley a bit too much. A genuinely good bloke who would have made an amazing PM.
Saw Shorten at a town hall before that election, and he was great. Seemed to genuinely want to engage with the crowd.
I live in western Sydney, all Labor areas. I was in a line at Cole's and talked to an 80YO. She said she voted Lib for the 1st time as Labor were going g to get rid of franking credits. I asked her if she had $ in the stock market. She didn't (of course). I blame Murdockkk and News Corpse for ScoMo. His win made me sick. Libs spent trillions and we got nada except corruption .
Well, while I agree with you - I never used his self-given "eke-name" - I have to let you know that my Latin teacher at Tamworth High School in 1961 told the class his nick-name - clearly to fend off any otherwise negative name we might come up with. "Senex proelium" Old Man Battle. He was Peter Battle. Clever young fellow that he was. We never did go beyond that. And nor did most Australians re the Pentecultist babblemaniac Morrison...
Thanks for dragging up some bad memories, JB! Just as bad as the election loss at the time was what it meant for future elections - no more big policies that might address underlying inequalities by upsetting the status quo. Sigh.
Hi JB, have to agree on both counts re Bill and Julie Bish as PMs - except that Bishop allowed herself to be rolled out with the party women to deny Morrison’s ‘woman problem’. Too crumb maiden-ey and vile betrayer of the sisterhood for me. But still, much better than Morrison, Duffoon, and Abbot all rolled together on their best days.
Bill had a red-hot crack at this politics thing, wading through the compromises, the venality, the drudge, while trying to make things better. Every pollie who makes it to the Ministry is ambitious, egotistical and ruthless, Bill too, but as far as pollies go he was a capable and personable operator, and he was there for the right reasons. I wish him well.
I 100% agree that Bill would've been an exceptional PM. Did you ever watch him on Q&A? He had so much information in his head. It was clear he not only knew the talking points but he actually understood what he was on about too ..that's something we don't see very often now. Sadly, I suspect we're in for some of the same devastation in the next State election. Not sure about the Federal...hung parliament would be fine with me tbh.
Hung parliament should be the aim I think. It will force all of those parties to deal with the indies who are in my opinion among best talent in our parliament.
"I remember seething with so much rage and loathing that night that I couldn't sleep. About three in the morning, I got up and wrote a whole screenplay. I just needed to pour this malign energy into something, somewhere".... wasn't that how we got the play/movie Don's party? Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Thanks for your post. Shorten's interest in books shows he has more substance than the usual politician. I, too, thought he would make a great PM—well, at least better than the last half a dozen due to his interest in policies. My editor got him to comment for an article I wrote for the Chronicle about the NDIS when he visited a disability workplace in Wangaratta. I think he genuinely wanted to try to make Australia a better place.
Agree totally with your assessment though I've never written a book nor received calls from the man in question. My wife and I did sit next to his wife and mother-in-law however (well, they sat next to us as it happened) in a cool part of Brisbane - a book-shop-cum-café. We'd taken a ferry down river to reach the location - and took a bus back to the city after our (sort of) brush with fame. And a couple of stops on the way Yassmin Abdel-Magied (just weeks before Lest. We. Forget.) climbed aboard and sat a few seats in front of us. That evening we went to the Brisbane City Hall (is that what it is called) for a presentation by Wil Anderson. What a sparkly city! I suffer from a condition similar to your own - in confusing how I want things to be with how they actually turn out - it's the optimist in me. The only significant politician who has ever called me is Andrew Leigh. My own local member - now a Minister - has turned out to be a great disappointment. He took over from the brilliant Jill Hall who never compromised her clear principles by accepting a ministerial position. Will he come good - I doubt it. Yes, WS would have made an excellent PM. A reader! Wow!
And that was how I found out Bill Shorten has retired from Parliament.
I also believed he’d make a great PM, and seethed with rage for days, and not just in the aftermath.
Every time that walking sack of shit, lies, and hypocrisy spewed out one of his callous plans, or nauseating ideas, I was consumed with rage!
His pompous pronouncements oozed from bottomless pit of his self interest, arrogance, and messiah complex; dripping with disdain on us lesser mortals. His total lack of self awareness, and his inability ability to be embarrassed, was on a par with Trump!!
The deadly consequences of his dreadful policies were merely collateral damage in his eyes.
I imagine it must’ve been even more infuriating for Shorten; almost soul-destroying. Sorry.
I’m glad Bill’s out of the shithole that our Federal Parliament has become. Dutton is as evil as Morrison, and then some.
It’s a testament to his character that he didn’t seek a cosy sinecure like so many others.
I mean, FFS, that hateful, unelectable Mirabella sits on the Submarine Committee!!(summat like that innit!).
I have a lot of time for Bill. For a long time he hung out in the robodebt/Centrelink victims area in Twitter. If someone was having problems, an @ to Bill got a response and help - and this was both before and after the 2022 election. Many people had their payments quietly restored, and he never, ever did it for the media.
Also - I'm glad he's a reader. I can't really imagine Albo reading fiction, Dutton gives me book burning vibes, and we all know that Morrison loves fantasy, but keeps rereading the same book. Without fiction, how can you even begin to understand other people, or imagine how things could be better? I just don't trust people who don't read.
I remember being so impressed by Shorten at the time of the Beaconsfield mine disaster that I predicted he’d be PM one day. I thought that day had come in 2019. I was working as an electoral officer that day and was looking forward to the bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge at home. I ended up drowning my sorrows with the champagne.
Dining at Libertine at The Barracks in Brisbane with friends visiting from NZ. Openly in despair at our collective fucking stupidity as a nation picking that "Dick Dastardly type" in Morrison over too many IPA's at Brewski RIP.
Good to hear a positive story about Shorten. The Age chose to "write" an article on all his Zingers on the day he announced his retirement. What a pack of hacks.
I used to get the sh*ts with the focus on the zingers in the media, which often failed to give proper recognition to Shorten's outstanding speeches when in the public domain.
Same for me - I was sure Bill would win & I thought he'd make a great PM - devastating night 😔 my thinking is that from the time he refused to fly overseas to be ' checked out ' by Rupert he was done for - sky & the rest of the murdoch filth had it in for him, bringing up the old rape allegations etc 😡 I can't believe there's a possibility Dutton ( I mean fucking DUTTON! ) could win next year - not that albo has been that good - he needs to pull his finger out!
I know some people who’ve got issues with Shorten, and that’s fine. And I know rating his career is a lot more complex than the view I have.
But that view is of a man I’d never heard of, who stood in the cold and rain and Would. Not. Leave. until those two miners came up.
And that told me everything I ever needed to know about Bill Shorten.
Same. I've always rated him as one of the best because of that.
While the Beaconsfield thing very much impressed me, I don't think I trully fully appreciated Bill until post 2019 election, and saw who we should have had, and the swarmy clusterfuck of shite streaked clowns spanking off into a sack of kittens we ended up with.
When I hear people putting the boot into unions for lacking selfless leadership, I think of Shorten's efforts that night.
Thank you, JB, was with you every step of the way here especially the utter devastation of 2019 election.
A great view of Bill, so glad he's one of your readers. It figures.
I remember feeling absolutely sick to my stomach the night of that election loss. Reminded me of Beazley a bit too much. A genuinely good bloke who would have made an amazing PM.
Saw Shorten at a town hall before that election, and he was great. Seemed to genuinely want to engage with the crowd.
I live in western Sydney, all Labor areas. I was in a line at Cole's and talked to an 80YO. She said she voted Lib for the 1st time as Labor were going g to get rid of franking credits. I asked her if she had $ in the stock market. She didn't (of course). I blame Murdockkk and News Corpse for ScoMo. His win made me sick. Libs spent trillions and we got nada except corruption .
I always called him scummo - no one gives themselves a nickname 🙄🙄
Well, while I agree with you - I never used his self-given "eke-name" - I have to let you know that my Latin teacher at Tamworth High School in 1961 told the class his nick-name - clearly to fend off any otherwise negative name we might come up with. "Senex proelium" Old Man Battle. He was Peter Battle. Clever young fellow that he was. We never did go beyond that. And nor did most Australians re the Pentecultist babblemaniac Morrison...
Thanks for dragging up some bad memories, JB! Just as bad as the election loss at the time was what it meant for future elections - no more big policies that might address underlying inequalities by upsetting the status quo. Sigh.
Hi JB, have to agree on both counts re Bill and Julie Bish as PMs - except that Bishop allowed herself to be rolled out with the party women to deny Morrison’s ‘woman problem’. Too crumb maiden-ey and vile betrayer of the sisterhood for me. But still, much better than Morrison, Duffoon, and Abbot all rolled together on their best days.
Bill had a red-hot crack at this politics thing, wading through the compromises, the venality, the drudge, while trying to make things better. Every pollie who makes it to the Ministry is ambitious, egotistical and ruthless, Bill too, but as far as pollies go he was a capable and personable operator, and he was there for the right reasons. I wish him well.
I 100% agree that Bill would've been an exceptional PM. Did you ever watch him on Q&A? He had so much information in his head. It was clear he not only knew the talking points but he actually understood what he was on about too ..that's something we don't see very often now. Sadly, I suspect we're in for some of the same devastation in the next State election. Not sure about the Federal...hung parliament would be fine with me tbh.
Hung parliament should be the aim I think. It will force all of those parties to deal with the indies who are in my opinion among best talent in our parliament.
I suspect that the LNP and ALP will find more in common with each other. Might I suggest they be termed the ALNP from now on.
"I remember seething with so much rage and loathing that night that I couldn't sleep. About three in the morning, I got up and wrote a whole screenplay. I just needed to pour this malign energy into something, somewhere".... wasn't that how we got the play/movie Don's party? Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Thanks for your post. Shorten's interest in books shows he has more substance than the usual politician. I, too, thought he would make a great PM—well, at least better than the last half a dozen due to his interest in policies. My editor got him to comment for an article I wrote for the Chronicle about the NDIS when he visited a disability workplace in Wangaratta. I think he genuinely wanted to try to make Australia a better place.
Agree totally with your assessment though I've never written a book nor received calls from the man in question. My wife and I did sit next to his wife and mother-in-law however (well, they sat next to us as it happened) in a cool part of Brisbane - a book-shop-cum-café. We'd taken a ferry down river to reach the location - and took a bus back to the city after our (sort of) brush with fame. And a couple of stops on the way Yassmin Abdel-Magied (just weeks before Lest. We. Forget.) climbed aboard and sat a few seats in front of us. That evening we went to the Brisbane City Hall (is that what it is called) for a presentation by Wil Anderson. What a sparkly city! I suffer from a condition similar to your own - in confusing how I want things to be with how they actually turn out - it's the optimist in me. The only significant politician who has ever called me is Andrew Leigh. My own local member - now a Minister - has turned out to be a great disappointment. He took over from the brilliant Jill Hall who never compromised her clear principles by accepting a ministerial position. Will he come good - I doubt it. Yes, WS would have made an excellent PM. A reader! Wow!
And that was how I found out Bill Shorten has retired from Parliament.
I also believed he’d make a great PM, and seethed with rage for days, and not just in the aftermath.
Every time that walking sack of shit, lies, and hypocrisy spewed out one of his callous plans, or nauseating ideas, I was consumed with rage!
His pompous pronouncements oozed from bottomless pit of his self interest, arrogance, and messiah complex; dripping with disdain on us lesser mortals. His total lack of self awareness, and his inability ability to be embarrassed, was on a par with Trump!!
The deadly consequences of his dreadful policies were merely collateral damage in his eyes.
I imagine it must’ve been even more infuriating for Shorten; almost soul-destroying. Sorry.
I’m glad Bill’s out of the shithole that our Federal Parliament has become. Dutton is as evil as Morrison, and then some.
It’s a testament to his character that he didn’t seek a cosy sinecure like so many others.
I mean, FFS, that hateful, unelectable Mirabella sits on the Submarine Committee!!(summat like that innit!).
Rant over, sorry again.
Have a lovely weekend all.
I have a lot of time for Bill. For a long time he hung out in the robodebt/Centrelink victims area in Twitter. If someone was having problems, an @ to Bill got a response and help - and this was both before and after the 2022 election. Many people had their payments quietly restored, and he never, ever did it for the media.
Also - I'm glad he's a reader. I can't really imagine Albo reading fiction, Dutton gives me book burning vibes, and we all know that Morrison loves fantasy, but keeps rereading the same book. Without fiction, how can you even begin to understand other people, or imagine how things could be better? I just don't trust people who don't read.
I always rated Shorten. He brought policy. Detailed policy. Good policy. Learning this aspect about him confirms my opinions of him.
I remember being so impressed by Shorten at the time of the Beaconsfield mine disaster that I predicted he’d be PM one day. I thought that day had come in 2019. I was working as an electoral officer that day and was looking forward to the bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge at home. I ended up drowning my sorrows with the champagne.
I still mourn that night.
Dining at Libertine at The Barracks in Brisbane with friends visiting from NZ. Openly in despair at our collective fucking stupidity as a nation picking that "Dick Dastardly type" in Morrison over too many IPA's at Brewski RIP.
Where could we be now if we were brighter?
Good to hear a positive story about Shorten. The Age chose to "write" an article on all his Zingers on the day he announced his retirement. What a pack of hacks.
I used to get the sh*ts with the focus on the zingers in the media, which often failed to give proper recognition to Shorten's outstanding speeches when in the public domain.
I loved Bill's fingers!!
Damn autocorrect. But fingers instead of zingers is pretty bloody funny. Now I'm trying to remember if Bill actually did have nice fingers. . .
Same for me - I was sure Bill would win & I thought he'd make a great PM - devastating night 😔 my thinking is that from the time he refused to fly overseas to be ' checked out ' by Rupert he was done for - sky & the rest of the murdoch filth had it in for him, bringing up the old rape allegations etc 😡 I can't believe there's a possibility Dutton ( I mean fucking DUTTON! ) could win next year - not that albo has been that good - he needs to pull his finger out!