tony abbott

News yesterday of a makeover in Julia Gillard's election campaigning style surely contained a typographical error when it referred to "Real Julia". It brought back images, firstly of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" but also of "The Addams Family" (more so its motion picture sequel, "Addams Family Values").

That, in turn, takes us way back to July 2010, when the Australian Workers Union put out an unfunny and not particularly clever attack ad, but which suddenly takes on a whole new relevance:

"Just think.. if this were a soccer match we could have had 30 minutes extra time followed by penalty kicks. #ausvotes #debate #nilnil"

- me on Twitter, 7.36pm 25.7.10

The Leaders Debate between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott took place on Sunday night. There's nothing more that I can say about the content. Really. The transcript is here.

"Thank you to those who arranged the Leaders debate to avoid clashing with the finale of Master chef."

- NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos on Twitter, 21.7.10

If you consider the continuity errors in Tony Abbott's glib slogan proclaiming that Workchoices is "Dead. Buried. Cremated.", then maybe you are looking for an "Exhumed" to be inserted into that sequence - at least once, maybe more often. Abbott's serial non sequiteurs on the talk-radio circuit on Monday suggest that neo-liberal IR reform, whether named Workchoices or some other moniker, is not about to disappear from the tory agenda. Where's Freddy Krueger when you need him?

"...today I seek my own mandate to move Australia forward.
...this election is about the choice as to whether we move Australia forward or go back. Our great nation, our very great nation, has been built by generations of men and women who had the courage to move forward.

Moving forward, of course, requires conviction, it requires confidence...

Moving forward with confidence also requires a strong set of convictions...

I will be asking Australians for their trust so that we can move forward together.

It's 36 years since the passing of that great American comedian Bud Abbott. He left us a great legacy of funny lines in decades of vaudeville, film and television. Many of those lines were scripted by some very funny writers.

His namesake, honourable member for Warringah and current Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott also says many funny things, but they are mostly unintentional and, as he confessed to Kerry O'Brien on last night's 7.30 Report, unscripted.

While everyone else does their weekly campaign summaries on a Friday, I get around to it whenever... in this case the following Wednesday.

(i) "Coalition gains one point on Labor!" Well golly gee. Four words: Statistical. Margin. Of. Error.

My focus today is on Tony Abbott, minister for health and aging, and honourable member for Warringah; and Peter Costello, federal treasurer and honourable member for Higgins.

First, Abbott and Costello debate themselves over the major issue of the day.
Second, the Invisible Man acts as stunt double for Abbott at the National Press Club.
Third, Costello is picked on by someone smaller than him who is not John Howard.
And finally, exclusive footage as Federal Cabinet calculate the size of a budget surplus.

Tony Abbott has had a Barry Crocker of a day today. Made to apologise to prominent asbestosis sufferer Bernie Banton, half an hour late for the health policy debate in Canberra at lunchtime because of a photo-op with JWH in Melbourne, and then heard swearing at his opposite number Nicola Roxon after said debate. The Sydney Morning Herald has a recap of the highlights of Bud's Halloween, and I hope to put together a Youtube Do Dia Abbott compilation later tonight.

"It is inconceivable that a country as wealthy as Australia cannot solve a health crisis affecting less than 3% of its population."

- from "Close The Gap: Solutions to the Indigenous Health Crisis facing Australia", April 2007

The NACCHO/Oxfam Australia joint report on the state of indigenous health in this country makes for heartbreaking reading. Just one small extract from the executive summary makes for a depressing introduction: