The Liberals are currently engaging in the kind of sanctimonious finger pointing that oppositions of all persuasions engage in when they’re pissed about being in opposition, but the Liberals just take it all to ridiculous new levels. You know, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has the balls to employ staff to take care of The Lodge and his 14 year old son when John Howard would never have dreamed of such a thing. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has the balls to use Kirribilli House to throw a New Year’s Eve Party that he and his wife paid for — the same house that John Howard lived in for eleven years at taxpayer expense while forcing the simultaneous upkeep of the Prime Minister’s official residence in Canberra.

There are two points I’d like to raise in response.

1) Julia Gillard has been hilariously drawing attention to the phenomenal quantity of WorkChoices promotional material that is sitting in warehouses and is now completely useless. 100,000 pens here, 100,000 fridge magnets there, 100,000 mouse pads everywhere. Now, we’re all aware that John Howard desperately threw over $50 million of taxpayer coin at an propaganda advertising campaign for WorkChoices before it was even law, but at least that is somehow, in some way, marginally and tenuously, sort of, maybe justifiable. But millions of dollars worth of corporate promotional paraphernalia that serves no purpose other than attempting to build a brand? Disgraceful.

2) Alexander Downer was caught skipping question time yesterday to have lunch in a restaurant with a journalist. Now, we all know that Downer, Peter Costello and a few other previously senior government ministers are doing nothing more right now than warming a backbench seat long enough to let their bruised egos heal and long enough to minimise the damage to their Party when a by-election is held. But they are still being paid a salary with additional benefits and allowances to do a job and part of that job, one would think, is to attend Parliament unless they have other duties that clash. Are lunch with a journalist and an arrogant personality good enough reasons to skip question time? Disgraceful.

Again, I’m not wishing to suggest that the ALP has never wasted taxpayer cash but if the Libs want to look around for current examples they should check their own backyard first.