Mark Buckley

Mark Buckley is a writer based in regional Victoria. He has a particular interest in politics, history and ethics in public life. He blogs at www.askbucko.com

Mark's recent articles

MARK BUCKLEY. Sheer Hypocricy - No Joke

The Morrison Government is withholding funds to the Commonwealth Secretariat unless flaws in how it operates and hands out lucrative contracts are fixed. You could not make this up!

MARK BUCKLEY. Has Morrison Had an Epiphany?

Has our Prime Minister improved in his demeanour since the bushfire crisis? Has he reflected on the communitys assessment of his character, and decided that he needs a make-over, or a session of barnacle removing, a la Tony Abbott?

MARK BUCKLEY. Cleaning the Stables

On Dec 2, 2019 the Australian Parliament voted on a motion to create a federal Anti-Corruption Commission. The motion was put forward by Andrew Wilkie, an Independent from Tasmania. The motion failed, because a majority of federal parliamentarians was against the creation of such a body. The votes were cast along party lines, with no deviations.

MARK BUCKLEY. Waiting for the Replay

Scott Morrison is now having to deal with the two very distinct wings of his party, as they gird themselves for the culture war which will probably erupt at any moment. This culture war will not be about indigenous history, or the date of Australia Day, or even immigration. It is about climate change.

MARK BUCKLEY. Memo to Scott Morrison

In Australia we do not vote for the Prime Minister, we vote for a local member, who is usually a member of a political party. In simple terms, when all the votes are counted the party with the greatest number of members becomes the government, and the assembled members have already decided, or they will very quickly decide, who is to be their leader. This person is then deemed to be the Prime Minister.

MARK BUCKLEY. Three Amigos

It is like the band getting back together again, when all the large white men with blonde-ish hair all came to power, sort of in the same time frame, voted for by actual people, and now all claiming a MANDATE. They all speak a form of English, although it is understood that the meanings that they attribute to many words in common usage are skewed, or at odds with community expectations. These are indeed depressing times.

MARK BUCKLEY. Seriously Under-achieving

The current Government seems to be, almost universally, staffed by a large group of impostors. Are they visitors from another planet, passing themselves off as movers and shakers, decision makers? Have they infiltrated the bodies of the incumbents, but are insufficiently programmed to carry off the deception? Are they all zombies, not alive, but not dead. Whatever the explanation, there is an eerie emptiness about them, as if their batteries are running down.

MARK BUCKLEY. Why Labor Lost

As this years election result became clear, Bill Shorten stated, We were up against corporate leviathans, a financial behemoth, spending unprecedented hundreds of millions of dollars advertising, telling lies, spreading fear they got what they wanted. That is the voice of a hapless victim, complaining about forces beyond his control, and not the alternative leader of the country.

MARK BUCKLEY. Circling the Drain

At the risk of beating the same old drum, this current Government seems to be heading steadily down the ethical and moral drain, ever since the unexpected election win. So much of the countrys malaise, however, can be traced back to the ascension of one Tony Abbott, firstly as Opposition Leader, and then, unbelievably, as Prime Minister.

MARK BUCKLEY. Some Home Truths

There are some things which are true, and some which are not. There are many things which are debatable, or contentious, or even undecided. But the true things will always be true. Our media habitually believes that stupid, nonsensical, or just plain wrong opinions deserve to be treated with the same weight as those things which are true.

MARK BUCKLEY. This Born Again, No Plan Government

Last year, and until the federal election this year, the Liberal National Coalition believed it was heading toward electoral oblivion, and some of the Governments behaviour looked at best to be dodgy. They made sure they would reap the benefits of the last six years in power, Im sure there was much shredding of documents, and many of them deserted the ship, entitlements intact.

MARK BUCKLEY. Unknown Man Takes Over Country

Scott Morrison was originally elevated to the Prime Ministership by pretending not to be a candidate, and then by swooping in on the prize when it came down to a choice between himself, and a man almost universally loathed by the electorate. Voters were actually relieved that it was won by Anyone But Dutton Morrison. He came through as the Steven Bradbury of the Liberal Party.

MARK BUCKLEY. Voters of Australia You're doing it all Wrong

These days, in the dumbeddown media, there are often articles which tell the reader she has been brushing her hair wrongly, or he has been cutting the avocado incorrectly. I thought I would explain to the voters of Australia just where they got it so terribly wrong.

Booing is for Babies

In VFL/AFL football there is a time honoured tradition of the crowd being vocal during matches. Most of the watchers know the game, many have played the game, or aspired to do so. Many who watch, or listen, know the intricacies of the game, and how demanding and merciless it can be.

Conservatives in Australia

A friend of mine asked me the other day why I seem to only criticise the Liberals. My answer was that they have been in power for six years now, so if anything is conspicuously wrong with the country, it is probably their fault. And also they appear to be generally a callous lot. I remember when Liberals with a social conscience were dubbed wets. That was probably the end of their credibility, when the so-called dries gained the ascendancy.

MARK BUCKLEY. Buyer Beware - Politicians

When you buy a television you have an expectation that the thing will work, and that it will fulfil the purpose for which you bought it. In Australia we have a robust Consumer Law, which is quite exemplary, and quite differently from many of our human rights practices, actually elicits praise internationally. There is one product class excluded from its coverage, sadly politicians, and all their works.

MARK BUCKLEY. Unfunded Empathy

We have become accustomed, in Australia, through long adherence to a shared system of values, to governments which would always put the people first. We Australians, it was understood, would always adhere to international norms and standards, and we would conduct our day to day political affairs according to equality and fairness. That was until Tony Abbott ascended to the Prime Ministership, and he let the likes of Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison and Mathias Cormann off the lead.

MARK BUCKLEY. Is Scomo Fair Dinkum?

In Australia it is entirely appropriate for a politician to display religiosity in his public, and or private, life. That being said, it is also appropriate, if said religiosity is on public display, for the politician to fully divulge the length and breadth of those beliefs. In that way the electorate has the opportunity to judge whether the individuals beliefs are acceptable to them, and whether full knowledge would, or could, change voting behaviour.

MARK BUCKLEY. Words Have Meaning

When a politician speaks we should be able to decipher what he or she is saying. Most of them, at least these days, have an education of sorts, and presumably when they use words they use them in a way that their listeners understand. So no should not have a special meaning; and neither should yes. They should mean what most people think they mean.

MARK BUCKLEY. Tony Abbott Will Never Be Prime Minister (Again)

One of my daughters, a wise young head, when describing certain individuals of less than stellar intelligence, uses the phrase he (or she) will never be Prime Minister. It is a curiously descriptive phrase, because it says everything about limits, of intelligence, of ambition, of drive, of the ability to think conceptually, to radiate warmth, to believe in service to our community .

MARK BUCKLEY. Peter Dutton Brings Us All Down (To His Level)

Just when you thought that Tony Abbotts being dumped from the nations parliament was going to necessarily lift standards, Peter Dutton picked up his baton and ran with it.

MARK BUCKLEY. The climate is now personal for us all

When the last tree is cut, the last river poisoned, and the last fish dead, we will discover that we cant eat money.

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