Mungo MacCallum (Dec'd)

Recent articles by Mungo MacCallum (Dec'd)

MUNGO MACCALLUM.-And so, gritting our teeth and holding our noses, we prepare to face 2020.

And once the new years eve fireworks have been cleaned up, it does not look promising.

MUNGO MACCALLUM.- Our economy is enjoying global tail winds ,not head winds as Frydenberg tells us.

Scott Morrison is rummaging around in his near-empty presents sack looking for some spare socks and mouldy chocolates, the sleigh is off at the panel beaters in need of drastic repairs, and the reindeer continue to shit on us from a great height. Merry Christmas from ScoMo and his orcish elves.

MUNGO MACCALLUM.- The trolls at The Australian and SmoKo

They just cant help themselves. Even in this season of peace and goodwill the belligerent lunar right remains determined to charge into the culture wars, as they like to call their grubby vendettas against any who dare challenge their self-interested agenda.

MUNGO MACCALLUM.-Greta Thunberg

The coronation of Greta Thunberg as Time Magazines person of the year may finally be the end of the denial and procrastination of the reactionary rump determined to pretend that climate change is a conspiracy designed to subvert civilisation as we know it.

MUNGO MACCALLUM.- Delivering on threadbare policies.

And so ScoMos annus miraculous staggers to an end, with the promise that the next one will be the year of delivery, the one that produces the outcomes which will make all the dithering, procrastination and avoidance of issues all worthwhile.

Australia plummets below Greece

At last Scott Morrisons torpid government realises that it is in danger of being mugged by reality.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison kowtows to Trump

Even as Donald Trump announced he would cut and run from Syria, leaving his Kurdish allies to whatever bloody fate awaits them and opening a door for the resurgence of ISIS. our fearless prime minister was not ready to breathe a word of criticism of his friend, ally and protector.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Albanese risks making Rudd's mistake.

As they sweat on the results of the long-drawn out post mortem over Labors loss in the unlosable election, the warlords are already staking out their own positions. The feeling seems to be that since a protracted series of blame games are inevitable, a least they can make a pretence of moving forward, even though they are in fact moving backwards.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Reserve Bank gives up on Morrison

The Reserve Bank, like so many economic pundits, has finally given up on the government of Scott Morrison. After months, years, of pleading for a sensible stimulus policy to drag Australia out of its torpor, Philip Lowe has conceded that it just not going to happen and all he can do is bet the farm on interest rates, his only effective weapon.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison joins the dark side.

The conservative line about Donald Trump used to be that really, he himself was not all that important. What mattered was the unbreakable link between Australia and the United States, our great and powerful ally.

MUNGO MACCALUM. Morrison shock troops chase Greta

Not only Donald Trump in the USA and Boris Johnson in the UK struggling to bluff and bluster their way out of their self-inflicted problems, but even the previously untouchable Canadian Justin Trudeau was embroiled in decades old controversies over black face pranks.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Tribalism runs riot

In the age of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, it is tempting to assume that partisan tribalism has taken over that a new wave of irrational loyalty to the leader, right or wrong, is the only proper way to go.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison joins the conga line.

And so back to Mark Lathams conga line of suck holes Scott Morrison goes to Washington. The regular obeisance is hardly unexpected, but it is no less embarrassing for that. Morrison has made it clear that the main purpose of his visit is to shmooze. He will continually tell The Donald how grateful and obedient Australia has always been to its great and powerful friend.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Government rakes in the tax.

Glory Hallelujah. Let joy be unconfined. The budget is back in balance. Except that it isnt were still about $700 million short. But near enough is good enough certainly good enough to let an ebullient Josh Frydenberg predict more or less credibly that in nine months time, the sacred surplus can finally be delivered.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Proud to be dumb.

David Littleproud has a somewhat unwieldy title Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disasters and Emergency Management. But, keeping it simple, he is happy to live up to his name: he knows very little, and is bloody well proud about it.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. How good is Gladys?

According to Scott Morrison, Gladys Liu is the most innocent of innocent bystanders -- a nave and trusting immigrant, embroiled in a brutal conspiracy engineered by the evil inquisitors of the Labor Party. The worst that can be said is that she slipped (or more likely was entrapped) over an interview in which she was a little clumsy about her relationship with communist Chinese controlled bodies working in Australia. But she has issued a statement (or had it issued for her) clearing all that up, so nothing to see here.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Economy circles the drain.

That muffled gurgling sound you heard last week was either the remains of the governments economic credibility swirling around the plug hole, or the strangled sounds of ScoMo and his team attempting to put a positive spin over the disastrous national accounts figures. Josh Frydenberg insists they are actually good news proof of the remarkable resilience of a basically sound economy preparing to turn the corner into a rebound the like of which you have never seen. Well, he would say that, wouldnt he? Irrational optimism, wishful thinking, is an essential part of his job description.

Dutton on a power trip

The Greens reckon that Peter Dutton is a sadist that he positively enjoys inflicting cruelty on his defenceless victims.But this is probably unfair to the potato-headed potentate. Dutton is certainly heartless, but his cruelty, while undoubtedly real, is more of an inevitable consequence of his demeanour than a deliberate agenda.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Liberals make a mess out of politics.

In the good old days, when officers were gentlemen and sometimes vice versa, most barracks observed an iron rule: no mention of politics, religion or women in the mess.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison falls into a dunny and smells like a rose.

How lucky is ScoMo? Once again our miraculous marketer has fallen into the dunny and emerged, if not covered in diamonds, at least with a passable array of bling.

Morrison like a salesman talking through a screen door.

Scott Morrisons gee-up to the public service last week was, as usual, that of a dodgy marketeer trying to assure a sceptical customer that he and only he could be trusted to deliver the goods.

A genuinely good man.

Timothy Andrew Fischer was a rare political beast, a genuinely good man.He had his blind spots the worst of them was refusing to acknowledge the reality of Indigenous Land Rights following the High Court decisions on Mabo and Wik.

Scott Morrison voted off the Pacific islands

The Great White Father has arrived the far flung atolls of the Pacific. And, like the missionaries before him Scott Morrison is delivering the bringing of the light -- a gospel of hope and salvation. Well, up to a point. Boiled down, his message is that if they are worried about the rising waters, they should sandbag the foreshores and move to higher ground if there is any, because he is not going to do anything substantial to help.

A conference of moaners in Sydney

The Conservative Political Action Conference held in Sydney last weekend should not be dismissed lightly. It must be dismissed heavily, so here goes. The elite reactionaries gathered in their luxury hotel not to celebrate, but to moan. The parade of paranoid plutocrats complained that their traditional privileges were being challenged their hitherto untrammelled power was under threat.

Morrison prepares for war

Scott Morrison is not too keen on history.When it comes to politics or at least the politics of the Liberal Party, which to him is all that matters history began with his election as Prime Minister. Everything that happened before then, and especially in the three years before then, is utterly irrelevant it should, must, be forgiven and forgotten.

Indigenous leaders draw line in sand

In the far north east of Arnhem land, a line has been drawn in the sand. As part of the great Garma festival, two of the most important and revered leaders of Indigenous Australia have made it clear that the Uluru Statement from the Heart is not negotiable.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Hollow man starts his honeymoon.

Newspoll has emerged from its grotto and ScoMos troops are cheering. The honeymoon has kicked in, and how. Their messiah has given them a convincing cushion, one that should maintain them in comfort for many months, if not years. Forget those constant predictions of doom and gloom that their bible warned of in the past those were all wrong. This time the truth has been revealed. Break out the bubbly.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Gambling stench hits nostrils.

Shock, horror there is a suspicion that Australias biggest and most profitable casinos may not be squeaky clean. And by the way, there have been reports that the pope is a catholic and that two plus two makes four.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Labor accepts ritual humiliation.

One, two, three, four Keeping faiths a dreadful bore. Five, six, seven, eight Tap the mat, capitulate. This, it appears, is Labors new tribal chant. And needless to say, it is less of a battle cry than a muted whimper.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Cultural warriors caught in conflict of loathing.

Once again, the cultural warriors of the right are caught in a conflict of loathing. They would love to see Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne embarrassed and humiliated they were supporters of the arch fiend Turnbull, renegades from the Miraculous Morrison and his band of angels. They deserve to be cast into the nethermost pit, along with the other unbelievers and blasphemers.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Coalition's conflict of disloyalties on health.

The private health insurance funds have effectively been on notice for 50 years, since the time of the moon landing.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. We came in peace for all mankind!

I sometimes think I was the only one who was not gobsmacked. On that day fifty years ago when mankind kicked the moon, I was working in the Canberra press gallery, keeping an eye on the television for the news, but never doubting the outcome.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison wants Wyatt to shut up on Indigenous Australians

Scott Morrison really likes quiet Australians as quiet as possible. So it was really no surprise that his response to his minister, Ken Wyatts modest and tentative proposal to consider reviving an Indigenous Voice through the Uluru Statement from the Heart was simple and direct: bloody well shut up and do what you are told.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Supreme Court sets Albanese a real test.

The muffled roar of applause last week was coming from Scott Morrison and the coalition, cheering,, of all things, the Supreme Court of Victoria. Justice Peter Riordan reserved his decision over the maverick union leader John Setkas appeal to block Anthony Albaneses attempt to expel him from the Labor Party.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison climbs aboard Plan A

Last week Anthony Albanese passed his first test at least the one the magisterial examiners of The Australian devised for him. He had retreated, gloated the paper caved, rolled over to the majesty of the ScoMo mandate. By agreeing to pass the enormity of the coalition tax package, he had acknowledged the verdict of hard-working Australians. and it follows, as dogs return to their vomit, that any other bright ideas Scott Morrison can come up with must be obeyed with similar capitulation.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison cranks out surplus fetish

Scott Morrison has a new obsession the budget surplus. In spite of his assurances to the contrary, this has not actually been delivered, and there are growing doubts that it will be the storm clouds, the head winds of which the prime minister and his treasurer confusingly warn us, could well blow it away.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Union movement has never been more important.

Last week Scott Morrison spelled out what he called his economic policy. But, as usual, it was little more than a series of motherhood slogans about the need for more productivity, less regulation, and a spot of union bashing for good measurenothing new, nothing of real substance, much like the prime minister himself.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The exhumations have resumed.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the graveyard, the exhumations have resumed.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Peak Crazy of Morrison and Dutton.

It took just a month after the election for the miraculous Morrison mob to dial back up to peak crazy.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Flat earthers and 'The Australian'.

About sixty years ago, as an undergraduate of Sydney University, I met a flat earther on the campus.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Ramping up the anti union campaign.

If John Setka did not exist, the coalition would have invented him. But fortunately he does exist, so its just a matter of slapping on a few bells and whistles, dimming the lights and tuning up the spooky music, and hey presto! The abrasive trade unionist is transformed into the demon prince, a bogey man designed to scare small children and gullible swinging voters.

MUNGO MACCALLUM - What Bob Hawke meant by aspiration.

Bob Hawkes widow Blanche dAlpuget summed it up best: his was a life triumphantly well lived. The state memorial service last week sent the silver bodgie off in grand style. It was a fitting celebration of a remarkable leader.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Our freedom is at risk.

Our Prime Minister assures us that the AFP raids of last week had absolutely nothing to do with him. Well, of course not he and his government are never responsible for anything.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Israel Folau and the problem with fundamentalist religion.

The Israel Folau saga is finally moving to the tribunals first to the Fair Work Commission, and if that does not produce a result, on the Federal Court and perhaps beyond.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Overburdened with lightweights.

Its an old line, but a good one and unfortunately usually a true one: the front benches of parliament are top heavy with lightweights.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Government collective IQ shrinks further.

There was little to enthuse about Scott Morrisons second ministry. The first one wasnt too flash either, but with the exodus of Christopher Pyne, Kelly ODwyer and Mitch Fifield, the collective IQ has fallen still further. Bringing back Arthur Sinodinos would have helped, but he preferred a comfortable posting to the other side of the world.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Albo has authenticity ScoMo can only fake.

It didnt take long for the hubris to kick in. Before the dust was settled, an exultant Liberal was reported ass gloating: We just campaigned on a strong economy weve got a mandate to do anything! Well, anything or nothing.

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Abbott waits for next ride on gravy train.

With his political death, Tony Abbott achieved something he had never managed or even attempted in his political life: bipartisanship.

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The bodgie.

Bob Hawke did not suffer from false modesty. He always knew he was the smartest person in the room and, unlike many egoists, he was usually right, which is saying something, given the stellar ministry over which he presided for most of is time as prime minister.

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