Goodbye to not-so-great Uncle Joe

It's OK for us to go a little wobbly at the knees as we farewell this man, cuddly and funny as he is,but let's not go wobbly in the brain. The 2014 budget was unbelievably bad policy, not just bad politics. And the politics was not only bad, it was dishonest.

A succinct and very good summary of Joe's place in the last decade of politics. The mojo was lost in that conscience vote moment and never really regained. The difference with Turnbull appears to be, at this early stage, that he does make an effort to keep in touch with all levels of society.

The only Shakespearean play I had the opportunity to study at school was "Julius Caesar". Of course, I loved it. Hockey's fortunes in politics were tied so closely to Abbott's that this goodbye was bound to happen soon after Abbott's departure. I'm unsure how Joe will fit into the diplomatic scene in Washington. The winters in that great city can be very brutal, but Joe has honed his skills in one of the colder places in Australia. Best of luck Joe.

A true and kind reflection on the political naivete of one Joe Hockey - in my opinion he simply didn't understand the job.

Why is everyone so confident he will make such a good ambassador? Hockey looks and sounds a bit like Beasley, but that's where it ends. I don't get it.

The comparison with Kim Beazley is distasteful. Beazley had his faults and was helped by powerful sponsors, but intellectually he is streets ahead of Hockey. That's is the crucial issue with Hockey, for all that it might be seen in Shakespearean terms: to be PM requires -- apart from cunning, ego and a political nous -- high intelligence. People who were at school with Hockey have told me that intellect was not his conspicuous strength then; and it hasn't been during his political career, either. This is no time for "rose-coloured glasses" however much people might be tempted to say (another quotation", "de mortuis niln nisi bonum".

I seem to recall that Howard called him a lovable, colourful bear of a man, rather than advert to any political aptitude or skill. (Amanda Vanstone, another ambassador, was colourful too).

One of my great good fortunes in life is that I never discovered Sunrise, and thus never fell under the spell of kindly Uncle Joe. It's good to see one more greedy politician depart the scene, but I will always begrudge the money we will lavish on him in his new diplomatic career.

What then are his credentials for being an Ambassador? A self aggrandizing, failed treasurer, a man who knows how to manipulate systems, a genial buffoon with scant connection to the people he was supposed to serve - yes, I guess Jo has them all!

In how many careers can you fail at your job, and then get a promotion overseas? Maybe in the church.

It is un-Australian to kick a man when he is down (or kicked out of parliament), so I appreciate Moira Rayner's 'Good-bye to not-so- great Uncle Joe'. I once, in my naïve youth, cheered on another political Uncle Joe - our rave Soviet ally against Nazi Germany, Josef Stalin. Once the war was over not-so-nice Uncle Joe was revealed. In my should-have-known-better old age I cheered on Jolly Joe Hockey as a perceptive critic of the shambolic ALP. But once he won office not-so-perceptive Jolly Joe emerged. His first budget lacked any regard for social justice principles and yet up to his valedictory speech he defended it as getting the principles right, but getting the politics wrong. Joe, it was a national budget not your wife's and your income and expenditure for the financial year 2014/2015. it was for the whole nation and that means a fairer distribution of wealth to those most in need.

Uncle Pat, I usually agree with your comment but in this situation I'm surprised you used the term "un-Australian" which suggests only Australians have a sense of fairness and empathy and the rest of the world are barbarians. Secondly, I'm not a Jesuit groupie and my parents haven't spent exorbitant amounts of money on my education. I am however one of the less fortunate members of Australian society who would suffer from Abbott/Hockey style legislation and feel no sense of loyalty or lack of "Australian-ness" for my criticism of his motivations and lack of integrity. For me, Hockey was "un-Australian" because he pretended to be the common man, but tried to create policies to screw the lifeblood out of them.

Do anyone else wonder why we are being governed largely by the NSW 'dries'? Joe Hockey's performance in government was a blatant exercise in gaining personal political power - why should we care about him at all?

"Uncle Pat": Mr Hockey is hardly "down", at least if the reports are correct that he's soon to go to the USA. And he wasn't "kicked out of Parliament" -- lucky to get there in the first place (recall, when Ted Mack was the Independent member for North Sydney, the circumstances of Mr Hockey's Liberal pre-selection), he has CHOSEN to resign. I don't think that there has been much public kicking, deserved though it might have been for a man who, as Federal Treasurer, was so plainly stretched beyond his capacities.

I'm with Aurelius: I'm not enamoured of this man who clearly did not give a stuff for, or understood, the ordinary person. As far as I can see, he has no qualifications to be an ambassador in the national interest, and is just another example of "jobs for the boys". Joe Hockey is perhaps no worse than any of us in potential, but it was he who wanted to punish the weak and vulnerable, and not us.

Hockey and Abbott brought this country to a very dark place. Hockey was completely clueless when it came to his job. He has lived off the Australian taxpayer for many many years without doing anything to earn his salary. I for one do not have any empathy for this man who, despite his woeful career, now gets to be our ambassador to the US!

I want to thank AURELIUS, and Dr John Carmody for picking me up on my use of the adjective 'un-Australian'. It was meant to be a dig at the tepid nature of Moira Rayner's 'obituary' on Jolly Joe Hockey political life. I was hinting that Moira was pulling her punches because we Australians don't gloat over someone else's misfortune. It was a great catch cry of John Howard's that was impervious to all argument. 'It's un-Australian not to support our American allies' for example. It serves me right for trying to be a narky critic of Moira's puff piece. Thanks guys! And if I err again don't hesitate to pull me back into line. I always read your comments with relish and delight. They are uniformly informative and frequently humorous.