Letters to the Queanbeyan Age editor

The chest thumping preceding the tax-payer funded, promised-shock-and-awe campaign, has ended with predictable post-conflict corpse-strewn battle-field blood-letting and recrimination among generals about defective ordinance, deceptive enemy tactics and poor intelligence.

Like most battles/invasions (Iraq, 2003) this one was based on a shaky premise, whose outcome might well represents karma.

Howard's postulate for Iraq's invasion was WMD's, while Turnbull's was Senate failure to pass Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) legislation.

This coercive, discriminatory legislation, absolutely essential to Australia's survival as a civilised society (citizens were told), initiated by Howard (2005), emanated from his self-indulged, politically-inspired assault on building unions via the Cole Royal Commission.

For an expenditure of $60 million it secured one shaky conviction (Ark Tribe), subsequently overturned as invalid.

Interestingly, despite the double dissolution being triggered by senate's recalcitrance on the ABCC it failed to get a mention during the hustings!

Turnbull's avowed - repeated aim - was to rid himself of the obstructionist, senate rabble, Keating's "unrepresentative swill", an objective enthusiastically cheered along by Greens and Labor for crass political motives.

There's no denying a wish has been granted! All the dead obstructionist wood has been cleared away, replaced by a bag of feral cats!

With Turnbull's failure to achieve his longed for crowning "mandate", the rent-seekers are all a-tremble lest the promised $50b tax cuts they've been "promised" can't be delivered.

The crooked banking and finance system, likewise, is apprehensively, peremptorily, trying to forestall a Royal Commission.

Turnbull can conceive of no more exciting time to be alive. Golly!

- Albert M. White, Queanbeyan