Now Look

The following is a piece rejected by the team at Catalyst. It relates to the swearing-in of the Abbott government, so don't lynch me for posting something slightly out of date. It's quietly poetic.

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Boy oh boy.

If our new government's swearing-in picture is anything to go by, Australians are in for a world of hurt for the next three six nine years.

Source: @redneckninja

Look, now, at Kevin Andrews and Christopher Pyne cackling away like a couple of suburban wives at Australians' dismay of a Coalition government.

Look, now, at Warren Truss and Julie Bishop crossing each other's lines of sight, and wonder how these people are Tony Abbott's fail safes. Look at them, and despair.

Look, now, at Eric Abetz, staring defiantly at the camera as if he is a rebelliously errant schoolboy, seemingly determined to be photographed in the wrong tie.

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Look, now, at Joe Hockey looking at Barnaby Joyce with a dangerous gleam in his eye. Look at Hockey try to contain his wrath upon the people of Australia for their conceited mocking last week of the sweat upon his brow, due to a nasty case of catching cold. Look at the swagger in that man. Look at him, and despair.

Look, now, at Barnaby Joyce trying to fit in with the boys' club at the other end of the photo. Look at a man who is still settling in after moving Houses, a man who enters the strange new hostile world of the more-than-notional House of Representatives, from the unrepresentative Senate. Look at Joyce espouse all the outsiderness and alienation of a Salinger archetype.

Look, now, at Malcolm Turnbull look for something, maybe not a piece of his brain but a piece of his free-thinking soul perhaps, crushed under the boot of party discipline. Look at him show his shame of his success in his political party of refuge by not showing his face - like an insufferable child determined to spoil the family photograph. Look at him consider where the republicanism movement is at the moment. Look at him, and despair.

Look, now, at Greg Hunt look on grimly. Look at him ponder quietly whether his climate change bluster will wash, rinse and dry with the Australian people now that he is in office.

Look, now, at Peter Dutton, a brave grimace masking his despondency marked by the realisation he answers to the public in one of the most vital domestic ministries. Look at him considering his options. Look at him, and despair.

Look, now, at Scott Morrison, who dareth smile in public even though he knows, and we know, his culpability in his acts of barbarism, committed for our barbaric polity. Look at him smile as he reflects in his own mind that someday, somehow, the people smugglers owe him big time.

Look, now, at Ian Macfarlane, a man with a chainsaw for a voice box - a man, with his steely centering gaze, who would surely be considered by foreigners or people in the outer western suburbs of Melbourne to be the true PM. Look at him, and despair.

Look, now, at the many men, and despair.

Look. now, at the few women, and despair.

Look, now, at this Coalition government. It is yours and mine and ours. Look, and despair.

Look not at any of them without looking at our supposedly prime ministerial Tony Abbott. Look at this man gazing to the right with a wry smile, as if somebody has informed him half-jokingly that he is now PM. Look, and despair.

Look - nay, gaze, gaze upon thus, and despair!