Tony V Tony

Abbott stood up in parliament the other day to rail against Gillard's "lies" for her introducing a carbon tax when, prior to the election that resulted in a minority government, she should not do so. You think the reality that it is a minority government and therefore had to deal on that stance and cave would be obvious to everyone.

It's an old righty trick of course. You bellow and you haw and you carry on, hitting the same few policy-free notes each time you do, and you rely on the fact that the broader public is mostly not engaged with politics and that they'll take in your crap by osmosis via the nine seconds of politics they may see on that night's news broadcast. If, that is, they even watch the news broadcast (1).

So Abbott stood up in parliament, railed mightily and then sat down.

Tony Windsor, independent member for New England and an independent, responded.

''There's been a lot of discussion today about history,'' he began. ''This is a hung Parliament. The decision to do something about climate change … to put a price on carbon, was a condition of the formation of government.

''The Leader of the Opposition knows that very well, because on a number of occasions, he actually begged for the [prime ministerial] job. Begged for the job. You've never denied that, Tony, and you won't.

''He begged for the job, and he made the point, not only to me but to others who were in that negotiating period, that he would do anything to get that job. Anything to get that job.

Windsor then stated his belief that Abbott would have also introduced a Carbon Tax had the idea been pitched to him during the negotiation phase between the independents and the major parties over who as to win government.

Windsor ended his response with labelling Abbott a disgrace. 

And indeed he is. 

Nice work, Mr W.

(1) I can however see the attraction in not giving a tinkers about politics. You look at the hawing and the shouting and the turtles muscling up to each other to ineffectually windmill slap and it's pretty disheartening. But they're not all the same; there are FUNDAMENTAL differences between the parties, especially the major parties.