Piers Akerman
The Sunday Telegraph
November 23,2013
IF CNN's international audience knew what a low priority Julia Gillard placed on national security, the network may not have given her a soapbox on which to offer unhelpful and irrelevant remarks about the alleged spying during Labor's term in office.
It is astonishing that a media outlet did not make it clear that Gillard, as deputy prime minister, showed such scant regard for national security that she sent a junior staffer and former bodyguard, Andrew Stark, to attend meetings of
the National Security Council in her place. It is staggering that neither she nor Kevin Rudd attended every meeting of the NSC when they were in Australia but that's the true measure of their priorities.
To hear her flapping her gums about a topic she cared so little for only serves to remind the electorate of how flawed she was, and how fortunate we are to be shot of them both, despite the adoration they both received from the ABC and its partner in hypocrisy, Fairfax Media.
One can expect those media organisations to willingly dance to the tune being played by the defector Edward Snowden and his conductors in the Kremlin, but to see Gillard, Opposition leader Bill Shorten and other former national leaders such as Malcolm Fraser stepping out diminishes any remaining respect.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott's dignified response to this Left-wing assault elevates him beyond measure.
Gillard's re-emergence so soon after being dumped by the ALP is an indication of the bitter battle being waged within Labor for some shred of consequence to show for the party's six years in office.
If only CNN had been better briefed, Gillard might have been asked about Labor's failure to provide any funding beyond December 31 for offshore processing of illegal boat arrivals, or of the cost of post-processing accommodation on Nauru and Manus Island.
She might have been asked about the lunacy of linking spending measures totalling over $16 billion over the current forward estimates period to the failed mining tax which is only raising $4.4 billion.
She could have been quizzed on the billions Labor ripped out of the Reserve Bank's reserves necessitating an injection by the Coalition of $8.8 billion to give the RBA a buffer with which to respond to international financial events.
She may have explained why Labor's debt ceiling would exceed its limit of $300 billion next month and is now forecast to break the $400 billion barrier. Under Labor and former treasurers Wayne Swan and Chris Bowen and former finance minister Penny Wong, the debt limit escalated four times, going from $75 billion to an eventual $300 billion, and it still couldn't keep up with Labor's wastrel tendencies.
Labor oversaw the fastest deterioration in debt, in dollar terms and as a share of GDP, in modern Australian history.
Just last week the public learnt Labor had planned secret cuts to the public service - but it had failed to fund more than 13,000 planned redundancies, leaving agencies to find the rest of the savings.
This has forced a large number of departments and agencies to offer voluntary redundancies, which were not funded by the former government and which have subsequently pushed some of them into operating losses.
".....she believes that a married woman is a prostitute. (Quote) "Prostitution in marriage is the transaction of sex in return for love, security and house-keeping." (Quoted by Helen Trinca, The Australian, April 6, 1984, p.7).
Madame Gillard (l) without Tim "the Beard" Mathieson seen here playing dress up or something.
If CNN wanted Gillard to be relevant it should have asked her why she failed to release a secret report that estimated the NBN would leave taxpayers up to $31 billion worse off. Instead of addressing Labor's failed policies and seeking answers to questions Labor has lied about, the international broadcaster gave Gillard a platform to talk about national security - an area in which, like so many others, she demonstrated no expertise.
It is understandable a global audience may be enthralled by stories of spooks told by defecting traitors, but there is really nothing new to these tales. What is more important to the nation is the truth and nothing but the truth about Labor's six deceitful and immensely damaging years in office.
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