Australian Politics thread [merged]

[1965]

Heard 1965 used to be a Liberal voter but switched allegiences after he got taken to a Labor party meeting and found their chairs more comfortable.

  (I think it was supposed to be funny anyway)

Nah, can't see it.

Nice try but say something remotely funny, sarcastic or insulting next time

This is just plain dumb.

 

[1965]

Abbott is a fool and the worst PM I can remember.

His performance in regard to Indonesia has been nothing short of grossly incompetent.


So far, Abbott’s best is not good enough

By ABC's Barrie Cassidy 
Posted Fri 22 Nov 2013, 9:39am AEDT

A Labor government created the problem with Indonesia, but only the Prime Minister can fix it. So far, he has done nothing other than place fresh impediments in the path of a solution, writes Barrie Cassidy.

Tony Abbott insists he'll have a foreign policy with a Jakarta focus and not a Geneva focus. To this point, Geneva will be well pleased.

To be fair, the Prime Minister was placed in a no-win situation by the previous government on the Indonesian spy scandal.

But that is no excuse for making a bad situation even worse. There were so many options to consider short of an apology, and he took none of them.

In the competitive world of domestic politics, it would have galled Abbott that the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, should point to the Barack Obama precedent; that is, concede, apologise, call for a review and promise it would never happen again.

Galling because the intelligence agencies breached the boundaries under Labor's watch; galling because the Prime Minister was protecting the secrecy doctrine behind international spying; and galling because nobody likes to be criticised when they are doing their best to clean up after somebody else.

But all that aside, so far, Abbott’s best is not good enough.

If the leader of the world's superpower can swallow his pride and apologise to Germany's Angela Merkel, then why can't the leader of a middle ranking power apologise to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or at least behave a little more conciliatory?

Abbott is right to argue that Australia should not apologise for "reasonable intelligence gathering". But tapping the phones of the Indonesian President and his wife goes beyond reasonable.

And to try to justify the tapping with talk of "protecting our country", implies that in some way, Australia regards Indonesia, the target of the taps, as a threat.

Abbott is handling the issue as he would a political fight with his opponents, when it is a diplomatic dispute that needs fixing.

[Chuck17]

You must have alziemers then if you can't remember back a year ago

[1965]

You must have alziemers then if you can't remember back a year ago

Rudd and Gillard were both better than this fool.

It was the backstabbing crap that went on that was their undoing.

 

[Smokey]

It was the backstabbing crap that went on that was their undoing.

 

 

[tony_montana]

It was the backstabbing crap that went on that was their undoing.

 

 

[mightytiges]

A Labor government created the problem with Indonesia, but only the Prime Minister can fix it. So far, he has done nothing other than place fresh impediments in the path of a solution, writes Barrie Cassidy.

How is it Labor's fault that Australian (as well other countries') secrets relating to surveillance were leaked to the press by an American computer specialist on some self-proclaimed anti-government secrecy crusade who once worked for America's National Security Agency?

In any case, the anger from the Indonesia president isn't now about the actual spying (every country spies) but about Australia's (in other words Abbott's) response to it and that the response was done in parliament which the Indonesians saw as Australia/Abbott being dismissive of the whole incident. I can just imagine the outrage here if the situation was reversed and Indonesia just said to us "hey chill out, everybody spies"; especially the outrage from certain conservative media outlets/commentators.

[1965]

A Labor government created the problem with Indonesia, but only the Prime Minister can fix it. So far, he has done nothing other than place fresh impediments in the path of a solution, writes Barrie Cassidy.

How is it Labor's fault that Australian (as well other countries') secrets relating to surveillance were leaked to the press by an American computer specialist on some self-proclaimed anti-government secrecy crusade who once worked for America's National Security Agency?

In any case, the anger from the Indonesia president isn't now about the actual spying (every country spies) but about Australia's (in other words Abbott's) response to it and that the response was done in parliament which the Indonesians saw as Australia/Abbott being dismissive of the whole incident. I can just imagine the outrage here if the situation was reversed and Indonesia just said to us "hey chill out, everybody spies"; especially the outrage from certain conservative media outlets/commentators.

Unlike you to be so misleading MT.

That quote was from Barry Cassidy not me.

 

[1965]

 One term Tony is in trouble.

 

Labor storms ahead
Date November 25, 2013
Mark Kenny

Bill Shorten has made the strongest debut of any opposition leader since Kevin Rudd in 2006-07, propelling Labor into the lead over a government weighed down by its secretive asylum-seeker response and an unconvincing commitment to action on global warming.

The first Fairfax Nielsen poll since the September 7 election has charted a rapid recovery for the ALP, with the opposition shooting to a 52-48 per cent lead over the government on the preferences of respondents - the quickest poll lead achieved by any federal opposition after losing an election.

It is also the first time Labor has led on the two-party-preferred vote in more than three years.

The result will be seen as a wake-up call to the Abbott government as it struggles to maintain public confidence in its tough stop-the-boats policy while refusing to reveal the most basic details on the grounds of operational security.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-storms-ahead-20131124-2y43r.html#ixzz2laCTFEEq

[Chuck17]

Lmao The backstabbing king

[1965]

Lmao The backstabbing king

Our next PM unless the Libs turn on Tony and put Malcolm Turnbull in.

 

[Francois Jackson]

i feel sorry for you 64, you seem to have lost your way. Shorten PM gee just when i thought we couldnt get worse than Gillard.

Your obsessed with your left wing nonsense and your looking like a fool on a daily basis now on this subject

Abbott this abbott that, give it up already. One would think you want to bend him over with your dribble.

On Indonesia and spying, quite frankly WGAF.

Hope Abbott kicks on for another 10 years so i can shove it up your greeny Adam Bandt date and if he doesn't so be it, MT would be a fitting PM and would launch off the Queen which i think is a good thing.

Dont take offence but people like you are the reason why i hate the greens so much. Always complaining about trees, conspiracy theories on the world ending or some rubbish like that.

give it up bloke, chill out and go smoke a joint of shawitzi

[1965]

i feel sorry for you 64, you seem to have lost your way. Shorten PM gee just when i thought we couldnt get worse than Gillard.

Your obsessed with your left wing nonsense and your looking like a fool on a daily basis now on this subject

Abbott this abbott that, give it up already. One would think you want to bend him over with your dribble.

On Indonesia and spying, quite frankly WGAF.

Hope Abbott kicks on for another 10 years so i can shove it up your greeny Adam Bandt date and if he doesn't so be it, MT would be a fitting PM and would launch off the Queen which i think is a good thing.

Dont take offence but people like you are the reason why i hate the greens so much. Always complaining about trees, conspiracy theories on the world ending or some rubbish like that.

give it up bloke, chill out and go smoke a joint of shawitzi

Now that is what I call a decent serve.

Did you see the nonsense insult I got the other day.

Something about comfortable chairs.



 

[Francois Jackson]

dont take offence its just i find all greeny's the same type of people.

they all whinge and moan and complain the world is ending if we dont do this and dont do that.

I dont know a lot about politics but what i do now is your thoughts on Abbott are wrong. He is a man of high integrity and honour

[1965]

I dont know a lot about politics but what i do now is your thoughts on Abbott are wrong. He is a man of high integrity and honour

Happy to accept that but that doesn't stop him from being the most incompetent PM I have known.

One-term Tony has NFI.