Australian Politics thread [merged]

[Penelope]

 

[Hellenic Tiger]

This Labor government is hopeless. Abbott and the Libs should be running the Government. I'm against excessive taxes and Labor is all about excessive taxes and tax hikes. Whenever theres a problem Labors first response, their default response is tax. We dont need that type of party in Government. Theyre hopeless.

You mean Abbott and his $3.3b levy for parental leave he wanted plus all the other levies and taxes the Libs introduced while in government . Or how about Abbott asking for Liberal party donations to oppose the flood reconstruction efforts to help Queenslanders  . What a loyal Australian he is  and god help us if he ever becomes PM  .

Or how about Abbott expecting companies to fork out for the paid parental leave scheme.
Libs need Joe Hockey are going nowhere with Tony we would be worse off had he got up last August.
Julia is about as inspiring as bathroom rug. The more I think about it the more Rudd did a better job.

[FNM]

This Labor government is hopeless. Abbott and the Libs should be running the Government. I'm against excessive taxes and Labor is all about excessive taxes and tax hikes. Whenever theres a problem Labors first response, their default response is tax. We dont need that type of party in Government. Theyre hopeless.

You mean Abbott and his $3.3b levy for parental leave he wanted plus all the other levies and taxes the Libs introduced while in government . Or how about Abbott asking for Liberal party donations to oppose the flood reconstruction efforts to help Queenslanders  . What a loyal Australian he is  and god help us if he ever becomes PM  .

Or how about Abbott expecting companies to fork out for the paid parental leave scheme.
Libs need Joe Hockey are going nowhere with Tony we would be worse off had he got up last August.
Julia is about as inspiring as bathroom rug. The more I think about it the more Rudd did a better job.

I have to agree about Julia even though I'm a fan of hers. She has been rather dull. Interesting though, she's fantastic in Parliament.  I've done lots of doorstops with her over the years with the work I do, and she's great. Probably why I thought she'd be a good PM. But it's not happening. She needs to get into Parliament and fight like she normally does. She needs to loosen up and get into Tony a bit more. She's more than capable.

[mightytiges]

The current strength in the economy has nothing to do with policy's by Gillard.
Economy is stronge due to demand from other countrys for our minerals

While China and India buying our minerals has been a boom for the economy for a decade or so it wouldn't have saved us alone from the GFC. Victoria for instance stayed very strong yet its economy isn't minerally based (more agriculture, service industries and part manufacturing). Without the stimulus measures Australia would've still gone into recession which would've impacted dramatically on Government revenues through falling consumer confidence and hence minimal retail spending resulting in mass job losses meaning less tax revenue and more government expenditure required in supporting the rising numbers of unemployed. Remember the predictions were for 10%+ unemployment without the stimulus measures. The problem with the anti-stimulus brigade of the opposition is that if we had followed the traditional cut expenditure heavily route to match falling government revenue (as Australia did during the Great Depression) it would've exacerbated the deflationary effects of the GFC and driven us not only into recession but into a deep recession. It would've been a disaster. The budget still would've been gone into deficit yet without a strong growing economy as we have now. Stimulus in layman's terms borrows more inflation to reduce unemployment. It was a perfectly valid solution to combat the deflationary effects of the GFC on Australia (The reason why Whitlam failed was that in the 70s due to the oil crisis we had a high inflationary environment so spending heavily as he did made inflation and hence the economy worse).

Anyway back on the topic it appears the majority of Aussies support the levy
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/majority-of-australians-support-julia-gillards-flood-levy/story-e6frf7l6-1226001112609

[FNM]

Anyway back on the topic it appears the majority of Aussies support the levy
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/majority-of-australians-support-julia-gillards-flood-levy/story-e6frf7l6-1226001112609

Of course, most decent Australians support it. It's only the tight-assssed ones with so-called principles that don't!!! Oh, it's the effing principle lmao! Give me a break!

[Tigeritis™©®]

The only person in Labor at the moment who could run a proper government is Bill Shorten, the rest should go home and do some knitting or play some bowls.

Now this seems to be the most annoying predicament all Labor supporters have. When you support the 10 headed monster with all of its factions and agendas you can never be sure who will be leading it and for how long. Now that PM Gillard ousted Rudd due to a drop in the opinion polls she did it with the help of Shorten and Abib. Unfortunately for Gillard she has a lower opinion poll than Rudd did when they ousted him.
The only question now is, "How long will it take for Bill to knife Julia?"

*Welcome to labor politics. Too many rudders trying to stear the ship.

[mightytiges]

LOL. That's why the Libs were divided and fighting in their party room yesterday over what areas they would cut. The knives are now out in the Coalition ranks and after last night the end is nigh for Abbott. He's finally put his foot in his big mouth once too often. Then to fuel the story we had the long silent pause and just bizarre nodding twitch when questioned by the Ch 7 reporter. That footage will be replayed over and over until he is giving the flick by the Libs. He is the Lib equivalent of Mark Latham. Without advisers telling him what to do and say to keep him in check he is a unpredictable ticking time-bomb. Dead man walking!

[Tigeritis™©®]

LOL. That's why the Libs were divided and fighting in their party room yesterday over what areas they would cut. The knives are now out in the Coalition ranks and after last night the end is nigh for Abbott. He's finally put his foot in his big mouth once too often. Then to fuel the story we had the long silent pause and just bizarre nodding twitch when questioned by the Ch 7 reporter. That footage will be replayed over and over until he is giving the flick by the Libs. He is the Lib equivalent of Mark Latham. Without advisers telling him what to do and say to keep him in check he is a unpredictable ticking time-bomb. Dead man walking!

Now that's silly to say that Tony Abbott is anything like Mark Latham. Tony is a genuinly nice man alot like Kim Beazley and even suprisingly Kevin Rudd (even with his partyroom shouting). Difference is that these guys want to make genuine difference. Unlike Julia a charlatan of the highest order. I can never be sure what she is saying is genuine. It's a pity we don't see more of yesterdays prime minister with genuine sorrow and compasion. Obviously this was the real Julia.
Fact is that if your a lib and your passionate about something then your allowed to cross the floor of parliment and voice your genuine conviction. You can't do this if you are in the labor party. FACT.

P.S. If I was Tony Abbott I probably would have not restrained myself but smacked Riley in the mouth for even suggesting that I was insincere in regards to a dead soldier.

[Fishfinger]

Fact is that if your a lib and your passionate about something then your allowed to cross the floor of parliment and voice your genuine conviction. You can't do this if you are in the labor party. FACT.

They can if it's a conscience vote. Free votes have been allowed on bills such as euthanasia and research involving embryos/human cloning.

[tiger101]

P.S. If I was Tony Abbott I probably would have not restrained myself but smacked Riley in the mouth for even suggesting that I was insincere in regards to a dead soldier.

I agree Riley should be ashamed of him self.
I have lost all respect for him as a political reporter.

[Francois Jackson]

P.S. If I was Tony Abbott I probably would have not restrained myself but smacked Riley in the mouth for even suggesting that I was insincere in regards to a dead soldier.

I agree Riley should be ashamed of him self.
I have lost all respect for him as a political reporter.

I think Abbott got what he deserved and his silence was proof of his insincerity towards the soldier.

He is a fair dinkum loser that bloke and got what he deserved. LMFAO at u fools who say you have lost respect for that reporter bloke.

I bet if it was that Brown or Gillard you wouldnt be saying that so stuffin spare me would ya.

Problem with Abbott is Gillard is not much chop either so he might sneak in next time round.

[WilliamPowell]

I agree Riley should be ashamed of him self.
I have lost all respect for him as a political reporter.

yeah he should be ashamed; doesn't even know how to ambush a politician 

Fancy briefing Tony's press secretary about the upcoming story they intended to run by giving them a transcript of the defense video and then having a number of conversations with said press secretary 2.5 hours before Tony met with Riley (btw it was Tony's press sec who arranged the "interview"....

Disgraceful effort by Mark Riley. Laurie Oakes would never do such a thing, he just blindsides and ambushes - National Press CLub anyone 

Actually what yesterday's "story" highlighted was that without his minders around Tony continues put his foot in it. That was why he was so good during the election campaign the miders wouldn't allow him to get into situations like yesterday

And if we want to point fingers at who should be "ashamed" of themselves may I suggest that the Libs can put their hands up because if the hadn't of surpressed the defense force video in the first place then they could have controlled this whole thing rather than creating the mess Tony now finds himself in   

[Tigeritis™©®]

I agree Riley should be ashamed of him self.
I have lost all respect for him as a political reporter.

yeah he should be ashamed; doesn't even know how to ambush a politician 

Fancy briefing Tony's press secretary about the upcoming story they intended to run by giving them a transcript of the defense video and then having a number of conversations with said press secretary 2.5 hours before Tony met with Riley (btw it was Tony's press sec who arranged the "interview"....

Disgraceful effort by Mark Riley. Laurie Oakes would never do such a thing, he just blindsides and ambushes - National Press CLub anyone 

Actually what yesterday's "story" highlighted was that without his minders around Tony continues put his foot in it. That was why he was so good during the election campaign the miders wouldn't allow him to get into situations like yesterday

And if we want to point fingers at who should be "ashamed" of themselves may I suggest that the Libs can put their hands up because if the hadn't of surpressed the defense force video in the first place then they could have controlled this whole thing rather than creating the mess Tony now finds himself in   

please just consider this for a minute. 

If Tony said something so wrong in the context your talking about then why were ALL the SOLDIERS agreeing with him? You think atleast ONE of them would have said something? 

Riley admitted he watched the whole footage looking for something because the libs only wanted a short edited 8 minutes of footage which was initialy released.
Well did ANY of you who are so quick to judge Tony, even consider that out of respect to the dead soldiers and their families they didn't want to release anything that would be more torture for all families involved?

I admit that the silence and nodding during the exchange that I saw with Riley and Tony was uncomfortable to say the least. After hearing 3 radio interviews with Riley he admitted he was perplexed at the anger that Tony was manifesting toward him. Are you serious? Trying to drudge up something out of nothing without any thought if the families involved and the impact it may cause, especially the soldier in question. I'm sure he was thinking "Id like to clock this guy but out of respect to the families I'm gonna keep my mouth shut". 
Did Riley ask the Soldiers why they were so insensative as to agree with what Tony had said? I'm sure they would have knocked his teeth out.

[Tigeritis™©®]

P.S. If I was Tony Abbott I probably would have not restrained myself but smacked Riley in the mouth for even suggesting that I was insincere in regards to a dead soldier.

I agree Riley should be ashamed of him self.
I have lost all respect for him as a political reporter.

I think Abbott got what he deserved and his silence was proof of his insincerity towards the soldier.

Dan, I normally agree with your posts because you're so concise and veracious but this statement I can't agree with at all.
I admit the silence was uncomfortable but it was a testimony to Tony's restraint and his respect of all soldiers that have died in battle especially the widow of the soldier in question.
Unlike Riley who sensationalized a statement made to a group of soldiers whom all of agreed with what Tony had said at the time. I was disgusted at what Riley had done without any thought of the impact it may have to the grieving families. To suggest that Tony was insincere is to also suggest every soldier there were insincere and disrespectful. What absolute rubbish. It was a rubbish story from the beginning and should never had gone to air.
And if your wandering the calibre of reporter Riley ask yourself, "Did he ask the same question to any of the soldiers present with Tony at the time?" or did he ask any of them present what was the context of the statement? I'm sure if he asked these questions then maybe it wouldn't have been a story at all then I'm sure channel seven wouldve loved that.

[mightytiges]

LOL. That's why the Libs were divided and fighting in their party room yesterday over what areas they would cut. The knives are now out in the Coalition ranks and after last night the end is nigh for Abbott. He's finally put his foot in his big mouth once too often. Then to fuel the story we had the long silent pause and just bizarre nodding twitch when questioned by the Ch 7 reporter. That footage will be replayed over and over until he is giving the flick by the Libs. He is the Lib equivalent of Mark Latham. Without advisers telling him what to do and say to keep him in check he is a unpredictable ticking time-bomb. Dead man walking!

Now that's silly to say that Tony Abbott is anything like Mark Latham. Tony is a genuinly nice man alot like Kim Beazley and even suprisingly Kevin Rudd (even with his partyroom shouting). Difference is that these guys want to make genuine difference. Unlike Julia a charlatan of the highest order. I can never be sure what she is saying is genuine. It's a pity we don't see more of yesterdays prime minister with genuine sorrow and compasion. Obviously this was the real Julia.
Fact is that if your a lib and your passionate about something then your allowed to cross the floor of parliment and voice your genuine conviction. You can't do this if you are in the labor party. FACT.

P.S. If I was Tony Abbott I probably would have not restrained myself but smacked Riley in the mouth for even suggesting that I was insincere in regards to a dead soldier.

Both Beazley and Rudd never played the pitbull headkicker role that Abbott has; if anything Beazley lacked a certain killer political instinct as leader. Also Beazley and Rudd are articulate to the point of using too many 'big' words whereas Phoney Tony is a simpleton who just says "no" to oppose for opposing sake and comes up with one line simplistic cliches devoid of reality and substance.

The issue is no longer what he said in Afghanistan (although a pollie trying to be one of boys by playing with their "toys" in the middle of a war zone is a joke in itself). The issue as WP said is that without his Lib minders and spin doctors to shield him from himself Abbott is a loose cannon unfit to be PM as that bizarre interview response with the mad stare and head wobbling showed. He had 2.5 hours to prepare his response and take the initiative yet all we got was rAbbott in the headlights . He's another Mark Latham and that connection was made all yesterday by more than just me. That vision with Riley will be replayed again and again until the Libs wake up he's a liability to them and give him the flick. It's all downhill for Abbott now as this won't be the last time he puts his foot in his mouth.