And he’s not even good at that. 240,000 homes are at risk from Garrett’s incompetence and the PM tells us that 92% of homes are safe. That’s great Rudd, but until you identify the remaining 8% it’s meaningless. Let’s throw 40 million at the problem and it will go away. No it won’t. That is only bandaiding the problem and of course the government have a plan to stop any of the 40 mil going to shonky operators, hasn’t it? Dennis Shanahan says;

The problem spread out of the government’s control while it looked for political solutions. There seemed to be almost a paralysis pervading the government, which failed to recognise the full extent of concern and the frustration and fear people were feeling. Various announcements and disclosures by Mr Garrett served only to feed the sense of a growing crisis at the same time the media reported stories of accidents, fires and fraud.

Rudd’s plan to whip the Japanese with a feather is also coming off the rails. The deadline he announced for legal action to stop the Japs whaling was obviously set so that he could say ad nauseum during the election that we are doing something about whaling and thus tie up the whale hugger vote. From todays OZ

THE Japanese government has accepted in principle a plan for Antarctic whaling to continue at reduced levels under International Whaling Commission supervision. Japan’s Antarctic whaling operations could be legitimised by the IWC by late June, unless Australia can rally enough support from other members to block the controversial compromise plan.

The biggest moral challenge facing our generation, and if you believe the members of the Church of the Later Day Alarmist, the biggest moral challenge facing all generations past and future, has disappeared off the radar screen. With the IPCC being forced to rewrite it’s Doomsday script; with scientists being accused of, and investigated for, misrepresentation of data to satisfy the UN’s campaign on Global Warming and support for the theory plummeting, it’s no wonder Rudd has down graded the biggest moral challenge to the biggest politically inexpedient issue of this election campaign. Penelope (Penny) Ying Yen, aka Penny Wong, is left to carry the Global Waming Climate Change torch, now burning down to her fingers and threatening third degree burns. Give her credit though, she is still threatening that if we don’t join the congregation we wont be able to swim at Bondi or visit the Great Barrier Reef! Should I be worried about my pool flooding my house, I wonder. Meanwhile the back door to Australia remains open or, seemingly off its hinges, as illegal boats, line astern, queue up for berthing at Christmas Island. Michael Evans from Sydney reasonably asks;

IF so many of the people arriving by boat on our north-western coast are genuine asylum seekers, as the federal government would have us believe judging from the number who are being granted residency, why is Kevin Rudd unleashing his spy agencies and police forces on those who facilitate their arrival (“Rudd sets spy agencies on boats”, 24/2)? Surely these so-called “people smugglers” are simply performing acts of great charity and compassion, are they not? Or is it really the case that the people arriving on our shores are mainly economic migrants seeking to obtain resident status in Australia through a back door aided and abetted by criminal gangs?

All of which is a verbose way of saying “Two Whitlam’s in one lifetime is a bit much” to quote reader HRT in comments.

KEVIN Rudd has announced a $41.2 million package to soften the blow of job losses in the insulation industry as a result of his government axing its free installation scheme. God help us!

I haven’t liked Garrett since he politicized the Sydney Olympics with his ‘sorry’ shirt so I don’t care if he is sacked and, in an apparent contradiction I don’t care if he isn’t sacked either. If he is sacked, and I think he should be, then the ALP will take some shrapnel from his demise. If he isn’t sacked then Abbott has the right and obligation to regularly mention his incompetency and the fact that the Rudd suffer fools gladly as often as he can fit it in leading up to the election . I figure that’s a win-win situation for the Libs and for Australia.

In a “look over here” distraction ploy Rudd releases a new terrorism white paper to take everyone’s mind off Garret.

THE government will unleash the full resources of its major spy agencies, including phone taps and satellite surveillance, against people-smugglers and other criminal gangs threatening Australia’s border security.

If the government hadn’t told the world that people smugglers and their clients are welcome back in Australia in the first place Rudd wouldn’t have to resort to spending more money on a problem that was solved a couple of years ago by the Libs. Even the Age is onto the spin with an article dubbed ‘How embattled PM played ‘jihad‘ card’

THE Rudd government’s media policy-on-the-run continues as it flags moves to introduce new laws forcing TV networks to hand back their $250 million-plus tax windfall if they don’t produce enough Australian TV shows.

A review of 10 years’ worth of data held at the Australian Communications and Media Authority indicates that the commercial networks never fall below the 55 per cent threshold in any case, the television networks mindful that any breach could mean they have their licence to broadcast revoked under existing laws.

So why the new laws to replace the old laws that have worked for ten years? Maybe, just maybe, the Rudd government’s policy-on-the-run is morphing into excuses-on-the-run.

KEVIN Rudd today threatened to take legal action against Japan if it does not stop whaling in the Southern Ocean by November this year. Is someone counting Rudd’s hollow threats?