Hockey\u2019s comment was in response to the Coalition\u2019s budget policy of re-introducing the excise on fuel, which was removed by the previous Coalition Government led by John Howard. Like him or absolutely loathe him, Howard had a knack of responding to the interests of \u2018middle Australia\u2019, so much so the phrase \u2018Howard\u2019s battlers\u2019 was coined after, under his leadership, the Libs won a swag of western Sydney seats, previously considered safe Labor Party territory, housing newly arrived migrants nestled amongst the remnants of the blue collar working classes.<\/p>\n
It could be assumed that Joe Hockey isn\u2019t currently endearing himself to such \u2018battlers\u2019 (ironically which millionaire MP Clive Palmer is now appealing to), with Hockey\u2019s poor-people-don\u2019t-own-cars comment adding another clunker to the Government\u2019s already dire sales job of the budget itself.<\/p>\n
Last week the Treasurer met with boilermaker Phil Raker in Ballarat to try and convince the locals of the budget\u2019s wares. In recalling the encounter to the Australian newspaper, Raker provided this special conversation ice-breaker<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201c[I said to Hockey] It\u2019s like two dogs barking on \u00adeither side of the fence \u2014 we\u2019re never going to agree. What we need to do is both of us get on one side of the fence and we\u2019ll lick each others\u2019 nads.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to\u00a0the Australian\u2019s report<\/a>\u00a0on the meeting, this drew a laugh from DLP cross-bencher John Madigan, who hosted the meeting, which momentarily caused me to wish the Palmer United Party\u2019s Jacqui Lambert was in attendance because she sure as hell would have had a good comeback.<\/p>\n But seriously, along with providing a very curious visual, the boilermaker in Ballarat delivered this poignant advice to Mr Hockey<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cI said to him it takes a man to realise that the budget was wrong,\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cPut less of a burden on me and more burden on them (the wealthy) and you\u2019d get your policies through. Then you\u2019ll be seen to be doing the right thing by everyone.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And this is Hockey\u2019s dilemma. Despite cries of fiscal emergencies, Hockey has failed to convince ordinary Australians of the budget\u2019s fairness; that rather than big business or individuals wealthy enough to shoulder the burden of returning Australia\u2019s budget to surplus, it has instead targeted students, young unemployed, the sick, the welfare dependent, and even\u00a0\u201cmiddle Australia\u201d<\/a>\u00a0with the fuel excise increase, the GP co-payments, and the proposed changes to family tax benefits (the last of which\u00a0even John Howard criticised<\/a>\u00a0when asked for his response to the fledgling Government\u2019s first budget).<\/p>\n And to dim any light at the end of the hip pocket tunnel, the budget also foreshadowed the next \u2018public enemy\u2019 for the Government \u2013 elderly pensioners. The only apparent \u2018fairness\u2019 in Hockey\u2019s budget is \u2018sharing\u2019 the load in terms of kicking all the needy who are already down. Pyne rejected the claim, arguing that universities will<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cnot charge higher fees for courses which are typically going to be studied by people who\u2019ll be nurses and teachers\u201d and that \u201cwomen are well-represented amongst the teaching and nursing students. They will not be able to earn the high incomes that say dentists or lawyers will earn, and vice chancellors in framing their fees, their fee structure, will take that into account. Therefore the debts of teachers and nurses will be lower than the debts, for example, of lawyers and dentists.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Presumably men. Driving cars. Phew for that.<\/p>\n Scanning the peak hour train, with fellow poor car-less people, I search for more women, but alas, there are no obviously identifiable nursing or teaching studying women. Instead, I\u2019m nestled amongst a sea of suits, worn by both men and women, crisply pressed at the start of the day,\u00a0no doubt ironed by women still contemplating the removal of the price on carbon<\/a>.<\/p>\n All in all, as Ministers have proven and as even\u00a0Coalition backbenchers have attested<\/a>\u00a0(disunity = death, ahem), Hockey\u2019s first budget has been a damn hard sell (and not helped by Hockey\u2019s attempts at demonstrating the \u201cfairness\u201d of it). And the Treasurer\u2019s fuel excise comments are not even the half of it, with Hockey also:<\/p>\n To a large extent, politics is all about appearances \u2013 and the image of \u2018Smokin\u2019 Joe\u2019 will most likely remain a favourite to various photo editors\u2019 delight over the bulk of Hockey\u2019s parliamentary career (think Alexander Downer and those fishnet stockings \u2026 and deep apologies to those who had managed to block that image from their memory). It\u2019s not a good look.<\/p>\n
\nWho, according to the Treasurer, don\u2019t own motor cars and so are presumably catching public transport. And the women? Again, the Government\u2019s \u201csales\u201d job is not going so well. According to the Government\u2019s logic, presumably there\u2019s gotta be some female students commuting their way to studying nursing and teaching degrees, with Education Minister Christopher Pyne being asked by ABC 730\u2032s Sarah Ferguson (bless) whether the proposed HECS loan repayments will hurt \u201cwomen and poorer people more than it does high income earners\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
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