In the series Lord of the Rings, there is a loathsome creature called Gollum, who wants nothing except to get his hands on the ring, which represents power.
Gollum becomes pale and shrunken as his whole life is consumed with a lust for power.
To me, that is what is happening to Tony Abbott.
He shows no signs of wanting to do anything worthwhile with the power when he gets it.
He just wants to destroy things – the carbon price which may help to save our planet if anything can; the environment with his patchwork piecemeal apology for a “plan”; and any trace of the wonderful achievements of the Labor government – for no other reason than he has no ideas of his own. It’s all negativity and a lust for power with pathetic Abbott.
Meanwhile, the Australian government does one magnificent thing after another: the Disability Insurance plan, the Marine Park Protection scheme and the carbon price plan, which may be following on after the plans of other nations but is still brilliant.
There are many other achievements but it’s hard to hear about them as Abbott wanders round scaring people as much as he can.
At least he doesn’t actually mutter, “My precious! My precious!” as he gears up for grabbing the ring of power ... guess that would be what the Governor-General would hear if it ever came to the horror of him actually taking over!
The Prime Minister was so magnificent on the ABC program Q&A recently. She was so positive, calm, focused on what matters and unaffected by the unpleasantness of Tony Jones.
We are so darned lucky to have this government, but I wonder if we Australians understand that.
It’s like that song that says, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” Let’s not let this good government slip through our fingers because we’ve been bamboozled by Gollum.
Rosemary Walters
Palmerston ACT