Australian Politics thread [merged]

[Coach]

the truley sad part is that the other option is buffoon in his own right.
the next election will be like deciding between a douche bag and poo sandwich

Bring back Latham. At least he was entertaining

[Francois Jackson]

great post DD. 

I'm not an expert in politics, but what gets up my nose is we actually pay these people. Over governed from local council, state and federal MP's parading around while we continually top up their wages.

We pay people to do a job(lightly used) that lets face it a lot of people can do.

They are not smart people they are puppets, walking around waiting for the next bloke to knife them.

The circus that has been the ALP in the last few years particular has made me embarrassed to say she is the leader of our country.

[mightytiges]

anyone watching Bolt report on 10.

Does anyone else feel embarrassed that we are being led by such an incompetent party and leader in Gillard.

What a circus, i just cant believe we actually pay these guys

Who in their right mind would rely on Andrew Bolt for their news  . Of course he will trash anything Labor and call it the worst government ever - he's a hardline conservative  . He represents all that is wrong with the modern media where real journalism has been replaced by opinionated political cheerleaders who are more one-eyed about their side of politics than a footy fan is about their team.

If people want to bag Gillard and the Federal Government then that's their right but to call it the "worst ever in Australia history" is ridiculous. Of course the Liberal crowd suffer amnesia when it comes to remembering the Fraser goverment of double digit unemployment, 21% interest rates, high inflation to the point Howard as treasurer was advocating wage freezing and an Australian economy driven into the ground and stalled due to zero economic reform. Everyone knows the high Aussie dollar is hurting non-mining exporters, manufacturing, tourism industry and retail (high A$ making internet shopping even cheaper). That will continue while the mining boom and high global commodity prices stays continues irrespective of who is in government. Eliminating penalty rates sure won't alter the situation expect reduce the take-home pay of workers.

One thing I think we can all agree on daniel is we are over-governed with three tiers of government and virtually all pollies these days come via the Arts/Law uni degree conveyor belt. No wonder they all think and act the same. Just look at here in Victoria where Baillieu was against myki, the desal plant, regional rail link and a host of other projects when in opposition on top of promising nurses and co. significant wage rises during the last election campaign yet once in government he's done a 180 on every one of these. Every pollie lies to gain/stay in power. 

[Francois Jackson]

anyone watching Bolt report on 10.

Does anyone else feel embarrassed that we are being led by such an incompetent party and leader in Gillard.

What a circus, i just cant believe we actually pay these guys

Who in their right mind would rely on Andrew Bolt for their news  . Of course he will trash anything Labor and call it the worst government ever - he's a hardline conservative  . He represents all that is wrong with the modern media where real journalism has been replaced by opinionated political cheerleaders who are more one-eyed about their side of politics than a footy fan is about their team.

If people want to bag Gillard and the Federal Government then that's their right but to call it the "worst ever in Australia history" is ridiculous. Of course the Liberal crowd suffer amnesia when it comes to remembering the Fraser goverment of double digit unemployment, 21% interest rates, high inflation to the point Howard as treasurer was advocating wage freezing and an Australian economy driven into the ground and stalled due to zero economic reform. Everyone knows the high Aussie dollar is hurting non-mining exporters, manufacturing, tourism industry and retail (high A$ making internet shopping even cheaper). That will continue while the mining boom and high global commodity prices stays continues irrespective of who is in government. Eliminating penalty rates sure won't alter the situation expect reduce the take-home pay of workers.

One thing I think we can all agree on daniel is we are over-governed with three tiers of government and virtually all pollies these days come via the Arts/Law uni degree conveyor belt. No wonder they all think and act the same. Just look at here in Victoria where Baillieu was against myki, the desal plant, regional rail link and a host of other projects when in opposition on top of promising nurses and co. significant wage rises during the last election campaign yet once in government he's done a 180 on every one of these. Every pollie lies to gain/stay in power.

I dont need Andrew Bolt to tell me Labour party is a complete farce right now, they do it all on their own.

As for Fraser well who cares that was 30 years ago lets talk about the performance now.

Have you honestly looked at Gillard's performance in isolation forgetting about your loyalty to Labour? I asked my father recently re: Carbon Tax if it were Liberal who introduced this tax would you in support of it? his response yes i would.
hahahahaha what a load of crap. You vote for the party not the policy

I have voted Labour all my life, my father even works at the poll booths but since they brought in Gillard that was the end for me.

Is Abbott any better?  No, in some ways worse with his work choices rubbish he may bring back to life but he is still a better option that what we currently have.

Too right about good ol ted backflipped on everything which is why i scratch my head that these blokes are paid top $$$ for doing SFA. His just another puppett.

Cant wait for Swan tomorrow after tomorrows RBA announcement if it goes as planned.

"Its un Australian to not pass on the full 25 pts, shop around make the banks pay"

I mean this is the kind of rubbish we are paying these 3 levels of government to say. Robby Doyle judging which buskers get gigs in the CBD.

WTF!!!

[Tigeritis™©®]

anyone watching Bolt report on 10.

Does anyone else feel embarrassed that we are being led by such an incompetent party and leader in Gillard.

What a circus, i just cant believe we actually pay these guys

Who in their right mind would rely on Andrew Bolt for their news  . Of course he will trash anything Labor and call it the worst government ever - he's a hardline conservative  . He represents all that is wrong with the modern media where real journalism has been replaced by opinionated political cheerleaders who are more one-eyed about their side of politics than a footy fan is about their team.

If people want to bag Gillard and the Federal Government then that's their right but to call it the "worst ever in Australia history" is ridiculous. Of course the Liberal crowd suffer amnesia when it comes to remembering the Fraser goverment of double digit unemployment, 21% interest rates, high inflation to the point Howard as treasurer was advocating wage freezing and an Australian economy driven into the ground and stalled due to zero economic reform. Everyone knows the high Aussie dollar is hurting non-mining exporters, manufacturing, tourism industry and retail (high A$ making internet shopping even cheaper). That will continue while the mining boom and high global commodity prices stays continues irrespective of who is in government. Eliminating penalty rates sure won't alter the situation expect reduce the take-home pay of workers.

One thing I think we can all agree on daniel is we are over-governed with three tiers of government and virtually all pollies these days come via the Arts/Law uni degree conveyor belt. No wonder they all think and act the same. Just look at here in Victoria where Baillieu was against myki, the desal plant, regional rail link and a host of other projects when in opposition on top of promising nurses and co. significant wage rises during the last election campaign yet once in government he's done a 180 on every one of these. Every pollie lies to gain/stay in power.

what I agree with is that we are over-governed.
You mention the high interest rates during the Fraser government but fail to mention interest rates during Paul Keatings tenure.
You mention state politics but fail to mention that the state ALP stuffed up so bad on all those issues & wasted so much money that the Baillieu government are hamstrung by the stupid spending if the previous government. You fail to mention that the Cain/Kerner state ALP were so on the nose that even Tassie was laughing at us. Kennett came in, made the hard decisions and brought the state back from a -A rating to the most livable city in the world.

Facts are that this current federal government was left with a giant amount of money in the bank but the ALP can't help themselves and spend spend spend. They come up with ideas sometimes good but fail to implement those ideas effeciently.
Pink batts.
Building the education revolution.
Cash for clunkers.
Carbon dioxide tax just to name a few. 
......and What will be the biggest waste of money; The broadband network.

All governments have made bad calls from time to time but this current federal government will top them all in idiocy. 

   

[Penelope]

Daniel if you are going to label a government the worst ever, then governments for 30 years ago are very relevant, beacause that statement is a comparison.

The state of play for australia was a lot worse under the fraser liberal govt than it is now. They were the only govt in our history to legislate that home loans could not rise above a certain figure, a strange move indeed from a party whose basic policy is non interventionist, but one they felt they had to do to save face in the wake of a economic nightmare

The other thing worth noting when comparing then and now is how the libs got into power.

not by convincing the australian public that they are  a competent and capable government with sound policies, but by blocking supply and forcing the dismissal of the whitlam goverment.

there are some scary parallels between then and now as mr rabbit has no policies of his own, but uses the status of parliament to block everything they can that the govt tries to do.

the opposition are in  a unique position in they can actually influence decision making in a positive way, but elect to be totally negative in an attempt to bring down the govt down and bugger the consequences.

lets hope thats as far as the parallels end or we are in for some serious pain when they win the next election.

[Tigeritis™©®]

Daniel if you are going to label a government the worst ever, then governments for 30 years ago are very relevant, beacause that statement is a comparison.

The state of play for australia was a lot worse under the fraser liberal govt than it is now. They were the only govt in our history to legislate that home loans could not rise above a certain figure, a strange move indeed from a party whose basic policy is non interventionist, but one they felt they had to do to save face in the wake of a economic nightmare

The other thing worth noting when comparing then and now is how the libs got into power.

not by convincing the australian public that they are  a competent and capable government with sound policies, but by blocking supply and forcing the dismissal of the whitlam goverment.

there are some scary parallels between then and now as mr rabbit has no policies of his own, but uses the status of parliament to block everything they can that the govt tries to do.

the opposition are in  a unique position in they can actually influence decision making in a positive way, but elect to be totally negative in an attempt to bring down the govt down and bugger the consequences.

lets hope thats as far as the parallels end or we are in for some serious pain when they win the next election.

ok Al but you too fail to compare the waste of this current government with the stable & sound econonmic management of the previous government.
Again mention Fraser but fail to mention Keating.
The facts are that this government is wasteful & incompetent.
They couldn't even organise a bake sale without wasting billions of tax payer funds only on a committee that decides on whether or not they should implement a bake sale. Then only to get someone like Peter Garrett to be minister in charge of the bake sale & he's been excellent in everything he's in charge of.

The coalition will release policy before the next election. Why give this stupid government great ideas that they can steal. We already have seen how the ALP can do this with the "me too" policies of Kevin '07. 
Anyway if you want to compare governments in the last 30 years then do it properly.

[WilliamPowell]

The coalition will release policy before the next election.

You are right ....

But Mr Abbott has already said (last week at the Nat Press Club) that his "policies" may not end up being promises but rather aspirations

Which is a cute way of saying when you change policy after an election "I am not lying because I didn't promise it"

ok Al but you too fail to compare the waste of this current government with the stable & sound econonmic management of the previous government.

But seriously Mr Tigra you are failing to recognise or it would appear to be failing to acknowledge the concept of comparison.

You seem to be only willing to compare the current govt to the previous one.

If people are going to say this current govt is the worst govt in Australia's then by simple definition it must be compared to all previous governments whatever the affiliation.

That's means comparing this one to the previous one (Howard), then the one before that (Keating/Hawke), the one before that (Fraser), the one before that (Whitlam) and the one before that (McMahon) etc etc. 

If you people do that objectively then the answer will vary from person to person.

IMHO the Fraser govt was a very poor govt and I am not talking about the interest rates, unemployment numbers. I'm speak from remembering how tough it was for my widowed mother to raise 2 small kids on a pension and watching her have to plead with govt agencies (in those days Social Security) to maintain her benefits. Trust me back then the govt of the day wasn't as  generous as govts are today with welfare.  ANd pension increases were few and far between

 

[1965]

The coalition will release policy before the next election. Why give this stupid government great ideas that they can steal.

 

The opposition can't release policies because they don't have any that are finalised.

Last election they refused to let their policies to be audited properly to hide the $70 billion dollar black hole.

We might have to put up with Tony as PM but he will be a one term PM.

 

 

[1965]

IMHO the Fraser govt was a very poor govt and I am not talking about the interest rates, unemployment numbers. I'm speak from remembering how tough it was for my widowed mother to raise 2 small kids on a pension and watching her have to plead with govt agencies (in those days Social Security) to maintain her benefits. Trust me back then the govt of the day wasn't as  generous as govts are today with welfare.  ANd pension increases were few and far between

Malcolm Fraser was asked to define what a poor family was.

His response: "A poor family is one that can't afford a second car"

FACT

 

[tiga]

Great to see Mike Willesse back last night. Finally a no nonsense interviewer who is not afraid to be direct. Just showed what a fool Gillard is thinking Rudd is no threat for the leadership.
I hope he gets to interview Abbott also for a bit of balance. That could be an interesting interview as unlike Gillard, Abbott will provide answers to questions. What the answers will be? Who knows these days. 

[1965]

That could be an interesting interview as unlike Gillard, Abbott will provide answers to questions.

Who are you kidding?

Abbott will provide answers to questions. Ha

He will certainly respond but whether he answers the questions or not is another matter.

 

[Coach]

Why do you blokes waste your time talking about this? Whatever way you look at it a dumbass is going to be running our country. Face it and move on.

Talk about the Tiges 

[1965]

True enough but there are differences.

Being a greenie I'm all for the Carbon Tax, the Liberals are more about profits for big business and tax breaks for the wealthy.

 

[WilliamPowell]

Malcolm Fraser was asked to define what a poor family was.

His response: "A poor family is one that can't afford a second car"

FACT

 

True

The Fraser govt epitomised the saying "the rich get richer, the poor get poorer"

My family lived it