What we're talking about

Christine on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' isn't it funny how DHS don't recognise the psychological effects of domestic violence on children and continue to allow ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' There is a family In the Cairns Area who are Foster Carers.Atherton Child Safety have threatened the carers and own ... more
duncan on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i have spent time with this family. it is a house full of love. "mum", grandfather and older sblings.this cannot be an issue ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Family Law is different from the rest of the law in this country.. Ie. Family Law is based on probability: ie if it might ... more
carol annetta on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' having known this family for some time i am disgusted with the treatment she has received. it seems more of a witch hunt ... more
Maureen Hillary on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Derryn,I have counselled traumatized parents as a result of DHS staff.There are great staff workers who care but they ... more
Janet Tavener on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I am a visitor to this country.My attention was drawn to the case of these children and their foster mother by a relative of ... more
sam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Happening in Tasmania also.Wewon a court case over 8 months ago and due process still hasn't been done.We spent 17,000 ... more
Anne Glover on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I just cannot believe what the DHS has put the Foster Mother, and the children through - I thought the DHS was supposed to ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS are the most disgraceful organization I have ever had the displeasure of becoming involved with. They are so ... more
Vicki on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hi Derryn,I have known this carer since primary school, she has always put others above herself. Being a carer myself I know ... more
Gran'ma Pam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' As any of us with any sense know, these children should NEVER have been taken from this lady (mum) in the first place, they ... more
Dominic Lombardo on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I see my daughter every six months DHS are conducting a vendetta against me I have not been told why I can only see her ... more
cassy houghton on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hello Derryn,Firstly i would like to thankyou for your support and the willingness to help this beautiful family.I ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Im a carer also in Qld. I see this happen way too much from our Government. They are starting to use Carers own children as ... more
paul on "I'll pay the fee," says Hinch I believe what Liberal Party has done is stupid. But I feel for candidates like Joh Bauch and James Buonopane who want to ... more
Andrea on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Why are these public servants allowed to blatantly flout the law without the same consequences the rest of society faces? I ... more
birth mother on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i am the birth morther of these 4 children and i just want to say dhs dont care they just want the kids in care so they can ... more
Frances Goff on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Derryn, Firstly, Happy BirthdayHaving worked in a primary school for 15 year I have seen some terrible things regarding DHS ... more
Karen on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hi Derryn, I have known these children through "the system".for all of their lives. I have had regular contact with them ... more

When is enough enough?

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 30 August, 2010 - 4:14 PM

Hinch and Michael Pachi behind Canberra lines\

Neil Mitchell - Abbott PM by Wednesday?

EDITORIAL: There is a bit of historical footage from the first days of the Canberra crisis which has come back to me again and again in recent days. Especially as the horse trading goes on and on and the Three Amigos keep pontificating and the other bit players, like the angry ant and Tony Crook, vie for their moment in the sun.

The TV cameras recorded the first meeting between the independents and Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan.

Just before Julia Gillard handed out those folders like presents to the Three Wise Men, we saw Wayne Swan - this country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer - almost curtsying or genuflecting as he obsequiously shook Bob Katter’s hand.

Add to that the praise that Gillard and Abbott have heaped on these renegades and you have to ask: where do you draw the line?

When does one of these people who will be our next prime minister say: Enough is enough. Thus far and no further.

When does Gillard or Abbott decide that horse-trading for the top job is demeaning, demeans the office and poisons the chalice?

Or are they of a mindset to follow the Graham Richardson creed: Whatever it takes.

Ordinary voters I talked to over the weekend are saying Abbott should take a gamble. Say to Gillard ‘you can have it. Sell your soul to the Greens and try govern with their agenda. I’ll see you back at the polls in two years.’

Abbott would then probably be assured of those independents seats because they would revert to the Nationals.

But it would be risky. The voters in Queensland and New South Wales, who took to Labor, with their baseball bats may have vented their anger. The sacking of Kevin Rudd would, by then, be a mere postscript to history and both the unpopular Queensland and New South Wales Labor governments could be gone.

In his favour he knows that half a million more people voted for the Libs and the Nationals than voted Labor and by then the Greens more radical, and unpopular policies on taxes, and boat people would be better known.

Big gamble ... but at some stage you have to say that nothing more is for sale. Unless just living in The Lodge is more important to you than anything.

Footnote: And to add to the Canberra craziness right now,Lindsay Tanner, the man who quit the day Julia Gillard rolled Kevin Rudd, one of the kitchen cabinet the Gang of Four, did not stand for re-election.

The Labor candidate in the traditional Labor seat got beaten by the Green ‘Adam Ant’.

Because of the hung Parliament, Tanner still gets paid as Finance Minister. At $237,704 a year.

I guess that’s one person who hopes the deadlock continues.

'Abbott PM by Wednesday'

3AW Radio host Neil Mitchell says he's received an inside tip Tony Abbott could be Prime Minister of Australia as soon as Wednesday. Read more and hear Neil Mitchell's editorial on the blog by clicking on the image on the right.

Blog comments

I still believe in one vote for one person, note one vote for you and if you don't win I will give my vote to someone else. I'm sure if we have this situation, we would not be in this position at the moment. As if the Greens member who won Melbourne wasn't going to give his vote to labor, he was a former labor minister and this was probably the deal he had already made before the election. The writing was on the wall

Sandra Wednesday 1 September, 2010 - 12:45 PM
Enough is enough isn't a strong enough term. We need to go back to the polls for another election ASAP and lets see who would really be our new governing body.
How can we do this???????

Ashley Brown Tuesday 31 August, 2010 - 2:24 PM
Three political minnows have managed to make a national election all about. Democracy at its finest.

Terry Tuesday 31 August, 2010 - 8:41 AM