Poor sarcasm. The Labia Party and last paragraph of over the top magniloquence gives it away.
Yes, Allah will provide. It is also April Fools day.
I believe that someone else is the fool. Puts up a good article, and gets it right for once, then shoots himself in the foot with it.
The joke will be on him in the long run. That is whether Abbott wins or loses. The Result is the same. They are still losers.
The funny thing is that this PM promotes hard work, as the way to future success. Both on a personal basis and for the nation.
One needs to work hard at getting an education, and then expect to work hard, to obtain success.
Wonder where Allah providing, comes into the picture when one talks about our present PM.
She herself has shown by example, that she also believes in hard work.
I almost fell for that one, LOVO. For a brief moment I thought Mr Hall had come to his senses. 😯
Migs, I was looking for todays april fools day jokes and blow me down and call me Nancy, I happen stanced on the Sand Pit…… the April Fools Day joke, at least for me, was how they actually KNOW how well our wonderful country is going and yet still maintain thier ‘mantra’ in the face of TRUTH. 🙄 WTF …. 🙄 I don’t get it….. I can only assume it is because I come from Broken Hill….. where rich kid mucked around with poor kid… that mucked around with wog kid… who mucked around with dumb kid, who mucked around with smart kid, et fucking cetera …. and are still mates, cobba’s till the end now thats Australian to me…. I….. sometimes…. feel sorry for these elitist jerks whom think thier so special because of some ‘perceived’ privilege….. we go around but once and they make such a mockery of it… 🙄
What, no mention of the supposed changes to the super being floated by Labor?
I see a backbench revolt if they pursue such a policy. Crean has said he will fight it…might even cross the floor. So much for clear air.
What, no mention of the supposed changes to the super being floated by Labor?
None.
The Panel recommends:
* gradually increasing the Age Pension age to 67 years;
* gradually aligning the age at which people can access their superannuation savings (the preservation age) with the increased Age Pension age;
* improving the fairness and coherence of the existing pension means tests, possibly through a single test, and improving incentives to work beyond retirement age;
* reducing the complexities resulting from the interactions between the tax-transfer system and the aged care sector;
* maintaining tax assistance to superannuation but improving the fairness of concessions for contributions, including by broadening access to them and limiting generous salary-sacrifice concessions;
* improving the ability of people to use their superannuation to manage longevity risk; and
* improving the awareness and engagement of individuals with the retirement income system.
No sense of humour here I see 😆
"A major deficiency … is that tax benefits for super are overwhelmingly biased in favour of high income earners." http://t.co/tjciuauyvu
Bacchus, I’ve known that for over 15 years .. so why now? DUMB
Somewhat off thread, I watched a program on the ABC a few nights ago called Angels in the Dust about Marion and Con Cloete who care for 550 South African children, many of whom have been either orphaned, abandoned or abused by their parents.
A large number are also infected with HIV/AIDS which it is estimated could lead to 25 million children being orphaned in Africa.
Even more tragic was the Minister for Health in South Africa recommending olive oil, garlic and lemon juice as a cure for HIV/AIDS. All so the government doesn’t feel obliged to provide anti retro viral treatment for sufferers.
Did you read the budget speech linked by George M?
But yes, you”ve got to wonder about timing and the “selling” of the message…
Selling the message is the last thing/never thing that should be done……. ‘telling’ the message….. the message must be told… not sold…..let the MSMLNP ‘sell’ their message ( and a little bit of themselves 🙄 ) …. you can only fool some of the people some of the time…. that is the MSMLNP way…….but not all,…. which is something thems higher selves don’t get ….. word of mouth is what’s going to win this and the next election for PMJG… not sell… and not “the game”…… I’m hoping that the MSMLNP continue to use American style BS….. ’cause the ‘pull ya head in’ sub-culture will come a whittling……. Tony Tall Poppy is chewing more than he can bite… *choker*
They’re quite pervasive LOVO – what are you going to drink now? You may have to settle for Coopers 😆
LOVO, from your link to none other than our own Kevin Rennie of Global Voices,
Container refunds are the most effective mechanism for increasing recycling and reducing litter. The beverage industry opposes container refunds – let‘s show them where their trash ends up.
When you see drink container litter on the street, in a park, on the beach – or anywhere it shouldn‘t be – take a photo and upload it to the CS map.
The situation that we currently have is that people have to PAY to recycle via having an extra bin. Way..way back when I was a Shire Councillor we provided this service for nothing because a recycling bin meant minus X dollars in roadside cleaning. Then some bright spark suggested that all this recyclable stuff might mean a business for him. That was in the mid 80’s..I think that I’ll play music..
We’ve had deposits on bottles and cans for decades in SA. Prior to recycling centres and drinks in cans, when you bought a soft drink in SA, you’d be asked “Drink here, or take away?”
Interstate visitors were puzzled until they were told that if they took the drink away from the shop, they had to pay a deposit on the bottle. Deposits varied depending on the size of the bottle and shop owners paid the deposit on delivery.
If a bottle was returned, the deposit was refunded and the bottle stacked in the empty crates. At the next delivery, the shop owner was credited for the empties.
Local kids and holiday maker kids from interstate trawled bins and roads for bottles which they would return for cash in the claw.
It augmented their pocket money and kept the streets and roadsides clean.
Some enterprising kids snuck onto shop premises, pinched empties and cheekily returned them to the shop they pinched them from. Usually they were sprung and the empties locked up.
Adults also collected them and it wasn’t unknown for people to save enough money to buy furniture.
When the government decided to extend the deposits to alcohol containers, it was too cumbersome for pubs to be doling out deposit refunds and the recycling centre was born.
I haven’t heard of Coke trying it on here, but it puzzles me as to why they have taken the action; they don’t have to collect or refund the deposit, so what’s their point?
Hopefully, people action will force them to do the right thing.
Hi, Jane… it’s such a no- brainer isn’t it 🙄 … as someone that has grown up with “tapping” bottles as we call it here in the Hill… I have always known that the national deposit collection scheme would work…. because I have grown up with it…. for all you folk out there this is how it goes….. instead of chuck’n your drink container away… ya keep it 😯 …… keep ten @10c refund, ya gots a dollar…. next time you chuck a drink bottle, can, water bottle, ice coffee carton.. etc…think 10c…. 3 months later ya gots a pile of ’em @10c each which you take to the ‘Bottle O’ ( recycle centre) and get (average family wise) $40 to $50….. pensioners, those with limited employment prospects, those on the dole, etc, actively go out and collect cans, bottles, cartons, etc to supplement thier incomes… up to $20 to $30 per day… give or take… its a win/win situ….. cleaner streets and environs….. less landfill…… less resources going to waste… and the odd free lunch 😉 …or tank of juice and/or supplemental $ to pay bills, etc….. just ask a South Aussie or Broken Hill-ite what they reckon about ‘Tapping’ bottles.. it makes cents, not waste 😀
LOVO, exactly. It makes so much sense, particularly as coke doesn’t have to handle the returns.
But it still doesn’t explain why the hell Coke has taken this action? Has there been any explanation at all?
Maybe if people collected all the coke cans and bottles and dumped them outside coke hq, whether they’d still think it such a good idea?
Perhaps the NT government could start branding coke as a bad citizen. Oh wait, it’s a Liars government…….
Visit to TPS worthwhile. Long comment on Abbott’s address to the IPA do that should not be missed.
“…1. Tony Abbott talks God and Western values behind closed doors
MATTHEW KNOTT | APR 05, 2013
Tony Abbott delivers a sermon on the importance of Christian values, and the need to give more recognition to Australia’s Western heritage, in a speech to a gala IPA dinner in Melbourne. Crikey obtained the audio of the speech.
Tony Abbott’s greatest successes have been making Prime Minister Julia Gillard seem illegitimate and obscuring her government’s achievements. The media and public have been too hard on her. Clint Howitt explains………”
Lady Thatcher’s death could propel The Wizard Of Oz track “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to the top of the charts.
Those who saw her death as a cause for celebration have prompted a download surge for the track.
Within 24 hours of the former Prime Minister’s death, the song had risen to number 9 in the iTunes best-sellers chart. It reached number 2 on the Amazon singles download chart. …
Another performance of the song by Ella Fitzgerald stood at 146 in the Official Chart and one by the Munchkins is at 183. If sales of the three versions had been combined it would be selling strongly enough to be at number 40.
Wait, what happened to the version by The Fifth Estate? To my rock and roll ears, that was the best version.
Unlike Labor, despite its many dramas, the Coalition doesn’t have a ‘philosophical structure of its own,’ says former Labor leader Mark Latham.
“If Paul Keating had listened to every pet shop galah opposed to micro-reform, he would never have built Australia’s miracle economy … The challenge for Labor is to adapt to the political consequences of the Hawke-Keating economy.” Photo: Peter Morris
MARK LATHAM
Unlike Labor, despite its many dramas, the Coalition doesn’t have a ‘philosophical structure of its own,’ says former Labor leader Mark Latham.
One of the amusing traditions of Australian politics is to watch right-wing commentators embrace Labor dissidents. A month ago Simon Crean and Martin Ferguson were bumbling, uninspiring, middle-ranking ministers. Today they are heroes of truth and foresight, having criticised Julia Gillard for not following “the Hawke-Keating model”.
This ritual says a lot about the anti-progressive side of conservative politics. It has no philosophical structure of its own, hence its fascination with Labor ideology. Australian conservatism is anti-equality and anti-environment. Tony Abbott is the perfect leader of this “anti” movement – a politician so devoid of ideas he regularly poses for the media with a twee book of Liberal Party platitudes in front of him, like a child holding the class-board in primary school photographs.
The right-wing commentariat love the Crean-Ferguson message because it de-legitimises Labor in government. Given their role in trashing the Hawke-Keating economic legacy after Labor’s 1996 election defeat, it cannot be on the question of open industry competition that Crean and Ferguson want a return to the policies of the 1980s and ’90s. Rather, when these two protectionists talk about the Hawke-Keating model, they are referring to the myth of consensus politics – or as they put it, “governing for all Australians”.
PUSHING AGAINST THE ..
NEED TO GET RID OF OLD BAGGAGE
The modernisation of the party will only be achieved by reformers free from the institutional baggage of old Labor. As former ACTU presidents and sons of parliamentarians, Crean and Ferguson are part of Labor’s internal ruling class. With their exit from the ministry, the party’s frontbench, for the first time since 1983, is void of second-generation MPs – something Abbott should welcome, given his longstanding complaint about “Labor’s hereditary peers”.
An interesting feature of Gillard’s prime ministership has been the way she has fallen out with the hereditary sub-faction: former cabinet ministers Crean, Ferguson, Joel Fitzgibbon and Robert McClelland. Contrary to the right-wing media stereotype, Gillard is her own person. She is often fitted up as a puppet of the union movement but, in practice, union leaders have supported her mainly because of their hatred of Kevin Rudd.
There is a detailed back-story to her split with Crean, Ferguson, Fitzgibbon and McClelland but in each case Gillard rejected their sense of entitlement, their born-to-rule belief in holding positions of influence beyond their ability. Crean wanted to be the government’s chief strategist and when this became unachievable under Gillard, he flipped over to wanting to be Rudd’s deputy. Ferguson was once the head of Labor’s “soft left” faction but lost control of his group to Gillard in 2003 – a lingering source of resentment.
Fed up, interesting that Abbott calls Labor “hereditary peers” when his own team are all decidedly part of Howard’s old rusted-ons.
Some 17 of them I believe. On the shadow front bench to boot.
How others, beyond our shores, see our PM.
“……………..people are “looking for a plan for the future and the determination to deliver, which is why I think on election day they will look at me and the government I lead and see a plan for the future and a determination to deliver it.”
Win or lose in September, Gillard said her legacy is secure after introducing a carbon price and improving education, which is “closest to my heart.”
“I believe this will be remembered as a time in which we got all the elements right to seize the opportunities of this century of change in the region,” Gillard said. “When I’m an older person and sitting back in the retirement home watching our nation, I will be seeing a stronger nation because we have done those things.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net;.”
Julia Gillard will be long remembered after Tony whathisname…..the future Ambassador for Tuvalu 😀
“…………………….The $2.85 billion of new savings targeting university-related spending and tax breaks for education expenses will pay for much of it. Of that, however, only $900 million over four years would be taken off universities themselves. The rest would come from students, graduates and parents.
Second, Gillard’s plan is more gradual and less targeted than Gonski’s model. It wanted new spending targeted at the poorest 25 per cent of children, those most likely to fall behind. Gillard saw political dangers in this, so she has targeted the bottom 50 per cent. That’s politically smart, given that the Coalition and its media echoes are attacking the entire Gonski project.
I’m not sure that the Coalition does itself any favours in this. The polls suggest the Gonski plan resonates with most Australians, who want public schools to be better funded. Many schools in Coalition electorates, especially in the country, would do better under this formula. Many of its supporters’ children are being offered better-resourced schools. Why oppose that?
Government is about setting priorities. Coalition governments in Victoria and NSW have recognised that the Gonski reforms are on the right track; their priority too is to lift the resources and performance of the disadvantaged schools. In defending the Howard funding model, Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne risk being painted as defending the privileged.
The response so far from NSW, Victoria and Queensland has been artful: a bit of bluster against the way Labor is going about it, but they’re not saying no. Nor should they: it makes no sense for them to weaken their own position for future funding battles with an Abbott government. Over the next three months, the Coalition states will make or break these reforms.
My bill to introduce restrictions on the promotion of betting odds during sports broadcasts and programs such as The Footy Show has certainly evoked some passionate responses.
There was the usual rant from those ideologues at the Institute of Public Affairs who believe that a modest proposal to restrict gambling advertising to children is the domain of “censors, wowsers and reactionaries” (The Age 7/4).
Congrats on 900,000 thou Migs and co…….. a hearty well done. 🙂
By my calc’s in 3-4 months you will be a millionaire Migs….. sadly not on paper 😦 😆
“……It now appears that nominal GDP growth will be nearer 2 per cent which is weak enough to rip something between $10 to $15 billion from government revenue in 2012-13. Treasury was certainly not looking at the economy through rose coloured glasses, rather it was a simple error that was driven by a sharper fall in the terms of trade than Treasury, or most credible market economists, were looking for.
Treasury was also forecasting nominal GDP growth of 5.25 per cent for 2013-14 and while there are ongoing reasons for optimism about the real economy, the low inflation climate and weaker terms of trade mean it will almost certainly be forecasting nominal GDP growth nearer 2.5 – 3 per cent when the budget is handed down.
These forecasts mean there is little prospect for a budget surplus in 2013-14 simple because revenue growth will be so very weak.
From the perspective of managing the economy, the surplus or deficit matters little. It is often forgotten that fiscal policy is the means to the end – the government spends and taxes to achieve a range of outcomes which at the macro level is, or should be, to keep the economy growing which delivers job creation and social decency. Even with the softer climate for revenue, the deficit is likely to be small – less than 1 per cent of GDP and quite possibly, near 0.5 per cent of GDP.
That aside, there seems little doubt that for 2013-14, Treasury will forecast real GDP growth of 3 per cent, an unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent and inflation at 2.5 per cent. If Treasury has an upbeat view on consumer demand and housing, it might lift the GDP growth rate to 3.5 per cent but in any event, the real economy continues to perform well. Any macro economist would say this is near perfect. It would be difficult to have the economy growing much faster that this without there being inflation pressures. .”
What is the difference between a small deficit and small surpluses. The deficits have been trending downwards.
Abbott has now seen sense, and is no longer screaming he will get the budget back into surplus. Wish he would see the same reality, by claiming he can turn back to the boats will not work.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has demoted a member of his staff for threatening the head of an indigenous education charity.
Mr Abbott has announced his director of policy, Dr Mark Roberts, has been demoted following an investigation into his behaviour at a Sydney dinner on Thursday night……..
”We will do some things that will hurt because when a country, a government, has been living beyond its means, you’ve got to take remedial action,” he said.
”And you can’t reduce expenditure, reduce the growth of expenditure, without looking at some of the existing expenditure measures. So, if we’re going to do our job properly, we’ve got to get the budget under control and inevitably that is going to involve some tough things.”
But Mr Abbott insisted that the Coalition would be upfront about its intentions, citing the example of its plan to abolish Labor’s low-income super contribution, which cuts tax to zero on 3.6 million super accounts.
”Mark us down if you like for what we are proposing to do, but please mark us up for having the honesty to tell people before an election,” he said.
On workplace relations, Mr Abbott vowed that the policy to be announced soon would give small business owners a level of comfort, while reassuring the workers of Australia ”that their pay and conditions are safe”.
”The worker deserves justice, just as the owner and the manager deserves justice, and it’s a question of getting the balance right. We got the balance wrong in our last term. I think the current government has got the balance wrong and we do need to take it back to the sensible centre.”
The Opp
The Australian Federal Police have told Graham Perrett they’re moving on the Ashbygate matter, but yet they still don’t appear to know what’s going on in the courts. Ross Jones reports.
THE Australian Federal Police says it’s moving in the Ashbygate matter, but it apparently still cannot get its collective head around the difference between an appeal and seeking leave to appeal.
The matter has apparently now been assigned to Steve Lancaster, who basks in the title Assistant Commissioner Crime Operations. This at least seems like a move in the right direction.
Would be lovelly to see Bought join Mirabella and Abbott in court mattters, well before Sept 14
Basically it means that zilch can be done on this matter because it is subject to an Appeal early May. After May and the Appeal, then let’s see what happens.
The matter isn’t “subject to an appeal” though is it Min? That’s the point of the IA article. Ashby & Co have “sought leave to appeal” Justice Rares decision. Until the Federal court determines whether it will allow an appeal to proceed, there is no appeal, surely?
None of those state leaders looked very happy. No gloating there.
The body the language between Cando and the PM was interesting. No love lost for sure. I suspect the PM has something in store for the man. Suspect much of what he was saying might be at the very least, misleading. Garrett has already questioned many of the figures he has uttered in the last day or two.
The look on the faces of the other leaders give not appear to be supporting can do..
The PM had full control of the media mob, much to the concern of one or two journalists.
As Keating, I believe said, one does not get between premiers and a bucket of money. The bucket is still on the table. I believe the premiers know, there will not be any from Abbott.
Calling Tony Abbott names will not get the ALP re-elected. School funding is yet another botched ALP effort at introducing policy before sussing out difficulties in getting it accepted or finding out problems with the States. This has resulted in more adverse publicity and will definitely not get the ALP re-elected. Why have the ALP managers not learnt how to present policy knowing the numbers are there to get it passed. The constant perception of inompetence is stronger than the presentation of facts. This is so frustrating.
Min and Bacchuss, that seeking leave to appeal might just make matters worse for Ashby. We have read all that was put before the court. It is hard to read any other meaning into the evidence.
Remember, that all the evidence came from Ashby.
Of course the case was never meant to come to a conclusion until much later this year. The action of Roxon, allowed Justice Rares to make an earlier decision.
All the evidence had one use, to make Slipper look as bad as possible, lay on the table, while the legal matters dragged out. Then the matter would just disappear into the woodwork after the election.
That was the game that Justice Rares refuse to let the court be a party to. Would be surprised, going on the evidence presented, seen it any different.
Where do we call Tony names.
What I see here is mostly about what Tony does and says.
That’s unfair Millicent.
You tell me any Federal government that’s gone into COAG knowing the numbers are there? Even Howard never knew that and Labor States have bucked Labor Federal governments and Liberal States have bucked Liberal Federal governments.
As to being botched, it matters not how this government presents anything, nor how good or bad it is, the MSM and the Coalition who will get the most favourable coverage, even from the ABC, will can and condemn it, and that’s the way it will be reported, as a disaster, even if it’s not.
So if you can tell us how this government can get around that I will admit you have a valid point, otherwise you are barking up the wrong tree.
Campbell Newman making an utter arse and fool of himself on Lateline. Labor will disect this interview and use it against him.
No one can succeed like Dr Mark Roberts…
Newman on Lateline refusing to talk about Howard’s poor education funding “that was then, this is now” stuff & a few minutes later into the “Howard golden age ” line re other issues. Fuckwit. Alberici looked a bit bemused at times.
Tony reckoning as usual on getting votes from mugs on all sides who reckon they’ve got him sussed re gay marriage. But you ALL have to wait til after the election.
I see that someone on reb’s blog has suggested that people here should be killed.
Interesting.
What I find striking is we have real “killing” going on in the US and you guys have said nothing? How many posts on Abbott now in the last week? Geesh….
Interesting?
As interesting as watching ants drown in vomit?
Bob @ 11:55 pm
Alberici did look very bemused as Newman displayed what an idiot he really is.
His bit about demanding the Federal government, Gillard or Abbott he didn’t care, pay for what are clearly State responsibilities was laughable. Basically he wanted a free ride off the Federal government’s back, and then he came out with a doozy.
After the next Federal election he will sit down with the PM, Gillard or Abbott, and rewrite the Federation.
So Sparta a blog on Australian politics should now cover US domestic affairs when there a thousands of other blogs around doing just that?
Nothing illustrates how insular and self obsessed most Americans are than Sparta’s post.
“Nothing illustrates how insular and self obsessed most Americans are than Sparta’s post.”
Yes…That is exactly what it means; genius. Your analysis is as on point as always! Your true humanitarian nature on display once again….Forgive me, please return to your “insulted”, pointless world of Abbott bashing.
Michael, like the PM, you are hard to pull down. Like her, you are still standing.
Keep up the good work.
I only ask one thing, when they pop up under new names, do not be so fair, get rid of them quickly.
Theyt are not that hard to recognised.
Thanks Sparta.
I’ve been watching the news here, been online on both social media and online news sites plus commented on blogs, forums and a forum I run all on the various tragic events that are happening in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan, which you overlook. Not American so not of concern to you.
But with all that you want every blog, even ones that state they are left political ones, to talk about domestic events in your country.
Yes you and your country are insular.
Plus what is it with right wingers that go into left wing sites and demand how they should be run and what they should post as topics?
I don’t see the equivalent happening on right wing blogs and forums with left wingers telling right wing admins and authors how to run their sites and what to post as topics. They can exclusively bash the left and Gillard to their hearts content without mentioning happenings in the US and not get one criticism from those who make that criticism of this site.
Well Sparta, Abbott is our Opposition leader. What he does, affects us.
As for the terrible deaths in that marathon, the problem is that many of us, perceived that as the norm in your country’s society.
I have also seen that a handful of powerful men, by threats, stopped your elected politicians from passing mild leglistaion on gun control, that 90% of the people want.
Does not seem like a democracy to me.
Saying that, the bombing has had extensive coverage in our media. Many in fact have felt the coverage is a little over the top.
No…Thank you Adrian…I sometimes forget you are under the assumption nobody else has access to the internet but I suppose a terrorist attack in downtown Boston followed by gun battles in the streets is a regular phenomenon in your vast experience.
P.S. Genius, my wife’s family is from Northwest India formerly Pakistan so yes, I am very aware as she still has family there. But thank you for that, again, your worldly brilliance always astounds me. Tell me, have you been in touch with people on the ground in Pakistan; I have but I am just a lonely American. I bow to your ignorance. Please, don’t let me interrupt; I look forward to hearing another moronic excuse for Labor being a failing mess; to include the “lying, evil, mastermind” known as Abbott…Continue…
Oh please Sparta, don’t play the high and mighty and falsely accuse others of ignorance. And lame try in attempting to twist it around on Pakistan.
You came here with a post not about Pakistan but one thing in particular, and indeed not even about the fertiliser factory explosion that in some ways is a worse tragedy than the bombing at the Boston marathon.
You accuse this site, a self pronounced left wing political one of not covering a single domestic event in the US that is being constantly and heavily covered by all the media here and hundreds of other Australian sites. In other words you come here and try to tell the authors and blogger how their site should be run.
You bought this up here for one reason only and only after the identity of the terrorists were revealed. Very telling, and I’m wondering if you would have made that same accusatory post here if the terrorists had turned out to be white Christian extremists.
So just out of curiosity as you have touched ground in Pakistan and in my ignorance I haven’t, why didn’t you demand this site post about that tragedy and not constantly bash Abbott?
Who was that idiot journalist who asked for a show of hands from the State premiers at the COAG press conference?
“……………..As much as Newman, Barnett and other Coalition premiers complain about the way the Gillard Labor Government does business and dream about reform of federal-state relations, they should be a little careful about what they wish for.
In his leadership manifesto Battlelines, Abbott devotes a chapter to federalism, calling it “Australia’s biggest problem and how to fix it”. He even has a draft piece of legislation as an appendix in the book, ready to go should he win power in September.
Abbott points out conservative governments in Canberra are not soft touches for states’ rights advocates, highlighting the number of issues John Howard saw as too important to be left to the provinces: gun laws, workplace relations, a national curriculum and the Murray-Darling basin top the list.
Abbott does wrap his takeover plan in reassuring words about safeguards – he says any extension of Commonwealth power should be subject to laws passed twice by Parliament, six months apart – and says it is to improve government, not trample on the states.
“Fixing the federation is almost certain to be a challenge for the next Coalition government,” Abbott writes. “Change that is contemporary, practical and incremental is just the kind of policy that a revitalised Liberal Party should adopt.”
Perhaps those Coalition premiers who are thundering against Gillard should raise this with Abbott when they next talk. Perhaps they could start by asking him if he’s got a full stop in his briefcase…..”
“…………In his leadership manifesto Battlelines, Abbott devotes a chapter to federalism, calling it “Australia’s biggest problem and how to fix it”. He even has a draft piece of legislation as an appendix in the book, ready to go should he win power in September.
Abbott points out conservative governments in Canberra are not soft touches for states’ rights advocates, highlighting the number of issues John Howard saw as too important to be left to the provinces: gun laws, workplace relations, a national curriculum and the Murray-Darling basin top the list.
Abbott does wrap his takeover plan in reassuring words about safeguards – he says any extension of Commonwealth power should be subject to laws passed twice by Parliament, six months apart – and says it is to improve government, not trample on the states.
“Fixing the federation is almost certain to be a challenge for the next Coalition government,” Abbott writes. “Change that is contemporary, practical and incremental is just the kind of policy that a revitalised Liberal Party should adopt.”
Perhaps those Coalition premiers who are thundering against Gillard should raise this with Abbott when they next talk. Perhaps they could start by asking him if he’s got a full stop in his briefcase.
In regards to “white christian nationalist” if you visit the Daily Trash you will see that that was my first suspicion. The loss of life however would have been no less tragic and I am sure you would have much to say then; so predictable mate…I am sorry you feel you are a man of the world but you are not, never have been…Stick to what you know, which is virtually nothing…When you desire a real “debate” on ANYTHING, let me know; I have no problem engaging falsehoods and circumspect. Now, stick to what you know, bashing a political leader; any idiot can….
Silk, whoever that idiot was, she got put in her place very quickly.
Sparta, I fail to see what is eating you. This is Australia, not the USA..
Of course we hate to see deaths anywhere. Maybe you can tell us why that disaster happened in Texas. Did those firemen put water on that fire.
We are interested because we have similar setups near populations. I have also saw that we treat the fertilizers so they do not explode so quickly.
Has not that occurred in your country.
Sparta, what is good,, sees that you now have a President that has not gone overboard, as occurred in the two towers disaster.
No rushing out to create fear and bringing in new laws.
A president theatre talks about the bonds of compassion and unity. Yes, that is nice to hear. .
Sparta, get over yourself. Not commenting here on a blog about Australian politics over the plight of someone else does not mean that our thoughts and sympathies are not with them. It simply means that no-one probably wants to bring that into a discussion on Australian politics.
Trying to imply that not commenting means something says more about you.
Scroll the troll
And Sparta headed exactly where I knew he would, which was the original aim of his first post on this.
It had nothing to do with the tragedy but a move to bash this blog. So bloody predictable.
And don’t come the almighty raw prawn here Sparta and your mightier than though attitude. Shit if I wanted a debate, you would be the last person I would seek out, and the proof is in expecting me to be up with all the blogs you post in.
You might have voiced that suspicion in a blogs I never visit but you certainly didn’t here, you only posted here when the identity of the suspects was revealed, and did so to bash this blog over the head with being terrorist sympathisers by omission of condemnation, something you have done in the past.
And again why do the right come here and demand this blog post stuff they determine or insist on to conform to their credo when firstly this site clearly states what it is and why it holds Abbott and the LNP to account, something the MSM certainly doesn’t do, and secondly they never do the same for right wing sites, where apparently unending Gillard bashing is not a crime and bashing that political leader non-stop is laudable and not idiotic, even those right wing sites that didn’t mention the Boston bombings?
OMG, doesn’t Sparta have a been in his bonnet today?
He’s now the American representative of the Melbourne blog police.
Perhaps Sparta would prefer we blog about recipes or knitting patterns.
I actually went down in the gutter to see what you were referring to earlier Migs. yomm had also asked over there what it meant, so grodo fessed up it was something he said. Of course, to yomm, this meant that you were lying 😯
It did remind me though of why I don’t bother with it any more though 😉
Indeed, Tom, yomm was too stupid to scroll upwards to see this:
Evil Walrus of Palm Beach permalink
April 20, 2013 1:28 am
So much for financial news.
The Uncle in USA describes bombers and family as “Losers”
We really should cull a few people….
Do we have the names of those over at a certain coffee shop ?
LOL
But I guess it’s easier to call someone a liar. 🙄
Sparta of Melbourne has a nice ring to it. 😆
so grodo fessed up it was something he said.
Are you suggesting that el gordo stretches the trooth a bit? 😯
Tom, it’s clear then that yomm reads this blog more thoroughly than he does reb’s. 😆
it’s clear then that yomm reads this blog more thoroughly than he does reb’s.
After delving back into that little Edge of Darkness again this morning, I can see why Migs 😉
re abbotts protection racket for abusive staff
.@msgracecollier@vanonselenp Violence, intimidation, aggression & threat to use government power to destroy an NGO a clear sacking offence
What the right such predictable projectors, liars and deceivers?
“It had nothing to do with the tragedy but a move to bash this blog. So bloody predictable.”
LOL, genius speaks…Adrian, you have just gotten more and more bitter over the years, go easy on the drink..Migs, you must be really taken with the ability of “some” here to find so many different ways to say the same thing? Very fascinating.. Enjoy the echo chamber folks; I didn’t realize this had become an “Australian, about Australia only” platform…I only drop by because there are “characters” here from years ago that use to engage in debate about a hole host of issues, not just Australian…Remember, that thing Tim Dunlap use to run? Nah, didn’t think so…My apologies, those folks are long gone…
“Sparta, well you guys do have a gun culture.”
Hahah…You mean “pressure cooker” culture…I suppose we will have to go through background checks now to purchase those…I am curious Migs, are you under the impression that Norway is too?
“Shit if I wanted a debate, you would be the last person I would seek out, and the proof is in expecting me to be up with all the blogs you post in.”
Adrian, you have always been a bit daft. You are the worldly man, engaging in “one” blog about “one” topic? Who ever said anything about “seeking” anybody out, I can come here, you can go to Daily but we both know your little world never stands up to much scrutiny; never has. I have always loved your believed ability to “read minds” and do it so poorly but hubris has always been your strongest card, still is….Stick to personal insults man, its all your good for.
Here, let me tell the brilliant scholars here how this goes, barring Abbott puts his foot in his mouth, some Liberal scandal or some disaster that Julia can take credit for, she is DONE. Plot, predict, analyze the media, purported cover-ups or whatever but when you exude POOR leadership (real or imagined) and have lost the people, its over! Don’t have to live on “your” side of the pond to know that; but clearly in “this world” one feels you do. Sorry, it isn’t an “attack” to offer a bit of opinion about anything “Adrian”, grow up or grow thicker skin. Stop getting your panties in a twist over nothing…
Anyway, thank god the people of Boston can sleep easy for a bit knowing one of those very misguided souls is deceased and the other incapacitated; right Adrian? LMAO. Oh sorry, Abbott is a “predictable projector, liar and deceiver’; Julia is just plain awesome….Better Adrian? Am I back on topic?
GOOD LUCK JULIA, YOUR GOING TO NEED ALL YOU CAN GET!
Adios de los Estados Unidos…
Hi Sparta, are you suggesting this is an Abbott bashing blog? Look at the recent posts section…nah, another angle. Look at the diversity of the posters opinions…look, a unicorn.
What made Tim’s blog so successful was the diversity of threads where sometimes both sides of the supposed political divide would concur. Tim had that knack which is a rarity these days in the blogosphere.
If you do choose to pop in here I would very interested in your opinion how the USA, socially and economically, is traveling.
Unlike some…I have not been brainwashed to believe America is evil as the use of the term “most Americans” by a person who overuses the word “projection” indicates. Very entertaining.
Noooo…!!!!!!!!!! Speculation is that Abbott wants to make John Howard our Governor General…
The escalation in rhetoric has fuelled suspicions within the government that Mr Abbott wants to keep the position vacant so he can appoint his old boss and mentor John Howard to the role.
Scaper, the thing which made Tim Dunlop’s blog so successful was that he insisted that everyone remain on topic, insisted on links to back up opinions and didn’t hesitate but delete anything which was defamatory.
That blows the claims made by the mining industries on employment out of the water, and the judgement by the NSW court sets a precedent that will make all such future claims suspect.
I’ve noticed on the TV where I am that there’s a heavy advertising push by the mining industry with the intimated loss of “tens of thousands of jobs” forefront. As an employer of labour the mining industry has never been a big player with the latest lobbying by SMEs being more honest and to the point about the loss of employment.
Min from your link.
”In my view, the decision to announce these appointments subverts the established convention that no government should make decisions that are legitimately the province of a potential successor,”
Hubris much? Time to start saving all this shit for the Labor victory later this year 😉
Mobius, at last count the mining industry employed around 4% (that figure might refer to qualified tradespeople), it of course being a highly mechanised industry. One thing for certain is that it employs far less people than does tourism which is the point many people were making when the big miners want to come in and wreck the joint.
Tom, that statement is of course a load of horse manure. If it was up to Tony Abbott which brand of toilet paper would be “legitimately the province of a potential successor”. Actually that’s not a bad analogy given that it’s Howard that we’re talking about…
Whoops, I should have said Tom, that quote is a load of horse manure…you knew what I meant don’t you. 😳
……..are you suggesting this is an Abbott bashing blog?
Wow! A left wing blog that gets stuck into probably the most mendacious, unprincipled LOTO in the history of Australian politics because the msm, despite having more ammunition than was expended during WW2, utterly fails to do its job.
There are more than enough blogs around which are prepared to look the other way wrt Liealot’s mendacity, stupidity, lack of decency and double standards, You’d feel right at home there.
Equally Sparta, CW is an Australian left wing political blog. Consequently, we write about the Australian political scene, not about events in the US.
Jane, some people really have difficulty grasping that.
Funny how an open blog, that doesn’t pretend to be a ‘news’ outlet gets bagged for being a ‘bashing blog’, yet media outlets that pretend to be ‘journalistic’, and even have a code of practice that dictates that they should present information evenly and accurately, are just fine when they bash repeatedly and quite often inaccurately just one party, while shielding the other one all the way through til the next election.
If you have a problem with this site, the daily terror must then make you physically sick.
This one states it’s political alliance at the top, it is unambiguous, but ltdnews pretend to be impartial, but it is quite obvious that they are not.
Michael, I must say, you do get it right. how do we know? We only have to look at the number that come and tell us, we have it wrong.
Who would have known it, NSW first to sign up. That must explain the gloomy looks that O’Farrel was shooting at Cando, last Friday.
Yes, Keating is correct. Do not stand between premiers and a bucket of money.
Abbott is on a loser with the Gonski school funding, with all those $$$$$$$$$$ in dickhead Newman eyes he won’t hesitate to sign up.
Crowey, I think you will find, Abbott is a loser on most things.
That Q and A audience were listening hard last night. So was the hundred people at the PM community do on Sky. Comments by journalists after were revealing.
There is a change in the air.
What one needs to see, is where those undecides end up. Up to 30% or more on most questions.
One the poll experts do not seem to point out.
Did note, that when that boat came into Geraldton, many first reaction was to say how can we help them.
Yes, young kids, sitting on a tiny, ramshackled boat, can bring home reality to many.
It is hard to demonise kids. That is why Howard hid the people, on islands, far out in the ocean.
it was the cameras, that bought many out into the streets, in the days of the Vietnam war.
Oh dear, don’t you realise these community events are staged, not uncommitted voters.
Here are questions from last night.
Gay marriage – an advocate urges Gillard to get on board.
Education – a critic of the cuts to university funding.
Debt – a neutral question on when the government will return to surplus.
NBN – A supporter of the NBN complains not enough people know of the benefits.
Achievements – An apparent supporter tells Gillard she has a lot of achievements to her credit and should tell people. What will she do to get out the message?
Negative gearing – a neutral question on where she will change the rules.
Food security – someone who’s read Tim Flannery’s book The Future Eaters has a question.
Superannuation – a man calling himself “a socialist at heart” says he’d be prepared to pay more tax on his super.
Same sex marriage – another supporter. Attacks Tony Abbott for a “political connivance”.
Live cattle trade – Woman says “I’ve always voted for the Labor Party” but live trade is disturbing.
Uncommitted my arse!
scaper,one arranged by Sky. I think not.
Abbot says, that after the election, there will be a conscience vote on same gender marriage. Why not before the election?
No education will occur with that small uni cut. Most of it falls on the student having to pay back scholarships.
Yes negative gearing should go. Look what happened to Keating when he tried. Never under estimate the power of the wealthy to defend their handouts.
The live cattle trade wit Indonesia is increasing. The problem it not with the PM, but with Indonesias desire to become self sufficient, when it comes to beef.
scaper, I have seen those black soils of Queensland, during the monsoons. Sorry, agriculture would be impossible during most of the year.
Living on a property, in the middle of Queensland, I am also aware of how hard it was to spot the evaporation of dams during the dry season. Yes scaper, living there, you would be aware of having a wet and dry season. How far did you get driving, off the tar, during the wet. Walking a few metres was nearly impossible.
Yes, scaper, I do come from a farming background in the south west of NSW. Yes, my father was a wheat cockey. Went onto dairying.
The truth is, much of our farming has been on marginal land. Yes, much has caused much damage to the environment.
The truth is, the PM signed with NSW with nearly all she asked for. Suspect the PM is not into exaggeration.
scaper, what is also clear, is NSW does not believe it will be better off under Abbott.
All Abbott wants top talk about is boats. Suspect, no one is listening. Would rather talk about schools..
Who wants to talk about boats??????
Love the questions that Abbott is getting into that interview. Trying to scare us
that boats might be infected.
Today is a bad day for Abbott.
His easy run has come to an end. I would say the staes are now dumping him. He was goven last Friday, but that is where it ends.
Scaper, is it not about now, that you call me an idiot.
scaper, can you change your name to scarper. Spell check keeps throwing out scaper.
“Equally Sparta, CW is an Australian left wing political blog. Consequently, we write about the Australian political scene, not about events in the US.”
“Jane, some people really have difficulty grasping that.”
LMAO! Apparently this story or topic warrants coverage on a “left leaning AUSTRALIAN BLOG”…..Thank you Jane and Migs for making my point quite nicely …I rest my case…LOL
Didn’t the right wingers tell us the warming was slowing down or had stopped 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 years ago, depending on what story they are on at the time.
So where’s the post on US current events, Sparta? You raised the point and have been answered, rather than just being ignored.
And still no further discussion or reference to US events. So, your point?
Could Abbott be a sacrificial lamb. Something I have believed for a long time. His job it to win the next election, then disappear.
What worries me, is not that he will not be around, but who is pulling those strings.
The political climate today seems surreal. Makes little sense.
We have a government that has delivered, an economy that is a world leader, and if we put the right infrastructure in place a bright future. Well as well as the global economy allows.
We have politics driven by two words, deficit and debt. Deficit means little in itself. We have debt that is manageable. We seem to have the perception, that the country is bankrupt, that there are no options available.
The truth is, it is all about making choices and priorities.
Yes, there are great structural budget problems to be addressed. Yes, it could mean cuts in expenditure,. Yes, it could mean raising more revenue. It could mean that there are some not paying their way. It could mean we cut old programs, to be replaced with what is essential today.
At the end of the day, it is about the society we want. We are indeed lucky to have that choice.
“,,..Could a Rhodes Scholar, former cabinet minister and one of the most successful Opposition leaders in Australian history also be a complete mug? A number of pieces are falling into place to suggest Tony Abbott will make history as a conservative prime minister, but not in any way he would like.
For some time I have pondered a curious shift in political events – namely, the turning of the political bull that is Malcolm Turnbull.
Where once he cavorted through the Coalition ranks goring his own side’s policy positions – on carbon pricing, same-sex marriage, Coalition question-time tactics, and the odd smirk or ironic aside on Abbott’s socialist paid-parental leave scheme – this year he has become a docile ox helping to pull Abbott’s wagon into the Lodge..”
What is the difference between wasteful and unnecessary spending and investing in the future.
What happens if there is no investment in infrastructure to ensure future wealth.
Do we want to be a part of the so called Asian century? Can that happen, if we do nothing?
Little wonder the greatest thorn in Tony Abbott’s side has stopped hurting his leader. If anyone on the Coalition front bench understands the economic storm that will bedevil the first year of an Abbott government, it is Turnbull.
Major surprises and slip-ups aside, Abbott would seem to have little to prevent him winning the prime ministership. Keeping it beyond 2014 will be quite another matter.
The man caricatured by the left as a voracious conservative wolf who hates refugees and women, rips up workers’ rights, slashes spending on renewables, rewards carbon polluters and so on, starts to look less like a wolf and more like a lamb being led (by a bull?) to slaughter.
Mr Intelligent Hockey had this to say on 7 sunrise, when parliament resumes we will be putting a no confidence vote against Julia’s minority government, if successful it would mean an earlier election.
I see that Clive reckons he will be registering a new political party and run at the next federal election.
What this nation needs is a new centre left party free of union influence, not another far right redneck party.
Clive Palmer is going to be middle of the road and represent all Australians..and they were worried about Therese Rein having pecuniary interests. 😯
I see that Clive’s party has yet to register. Needs five hundred members or a member in Parliament.
Loved Hockey’s comment this morning on Sunrise that voters need to see Mr. Palmer’s policies! Looks like the idea of UAP fielding candidates bothers Joe!
Of course when Clive Palmer first developed his taste for politics some three years ago he was gunning for Wayne Swan, Kevin Rudd and their mining tax. Has he thought through how his United Australia Party is likely to help Wayne Swan, Julia Gillard and their version of the mining tax?
We published this pome here at Cafe Whispers in May, 2010.
Wayne Swan did not declare this war
It was Clive Palmer crying poor
On Lateline some three years ago
When Kevin Rudd was all aglow,
Insisting miners pay more tax.
That night Clive said he’d get the axe;
Promised a miners’ revolution
To bring about Rudd’s execution.
So it was. Twiggy and Gina
Came charging into the arena.
They roused the citizens of Perth
To claim states’ rights to sell their earth.
Well known Aussie mining magnates,
Victorious, this band of mates,
Then refused negotiations
And Gillard’s terms with corporations.
Billionaires on the back of trucks
Got Tony Abbott thinking, “Shucks!
We’ll have a nationwide revolt!
Bring carbon pricing to a halt!”
But somehow his People’s Rising,
Urged on by his catastrophizing,
Flopped. It did not eventuate
He’d get what he thought his ‘due’ estate.
Abbott couldn’t make the distance,
So Clive now has to lead resistance.
The manpower of a footie team,
Plus ‘National Treasure’ title, seem
To enlarge him, make him bigger,
Into a massive public figure.
Ally Twiggy gets his jollies
In Canberra, nagging pollies.
It wasn’t hard to find a part
Ideally played by Ms Rinehart.
In charge of all their propaganda,
She made sure their memoranda
Were written up, had wide report
In her media outlets newly bought.
That’s when Swannie sounded the alarm!
“Oz beware! Our democracy could come to harm!”
My illustrations to this pome and the accompanying post included one of Gina on the back of a truck which at the time was reproduced all over the net with relevant posts. It seems to have disappeared and I cannot retrace it. Can anyone help?
A bit quiet around these parts.
Got another function next week to attend. Should be a hoot. John Roskam, Janet Albrechsten and Michael Kroger will be leading a discussion after the Freedom of Speech briefing.
The more important stuff will be discussed in the background. After all…it is footy season.
Can anyone help you?
No, judging by that “POME” you are beyond help.
Crowey, why is Abbott so desperate to have a election a month earlier. What do they achieve in the scheme of things.
Yes, puts him in the driver seat, as being seen as encumbent PM during the campaign. Could also allow him to go to the election, without any costed policies.
What is the hell is a month difference going to make?
What is wrong, playing to the rules?
Cannot see either the independents or Greens allowing this to happen. Why is Abbott so afraid of the budget?
“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human”: – Aldous Huxley
Maybe Mr. Abbott might get what he does not want. The answer is not as clear, as Abbott would have one believe. Big business will not be too keen on the budget being interfered with and the political instability that would follow.
“……IF Tony Abbott succeeds with his proposed no-confidence motion against the Gillard Government, the election could be on August 3, not September 14.
There has never been a successful vote of no-confidence against a government in the House of Representatives and it will be extremely difficult for Mr Abbott to get enough support from the cross-bench.
But if it did happen, and if Mr Abbott were invited by Governor-General Quentin Bryce to form a government, his first act would be to immediately ask for an August 3 election and cast himself as “caretaker PM”.
Abbott ready to take plunge on early poll
He intends to put a no-confidence motion on the notice paper in mid-May when Parliament resumes for the Budget session. It could take up to 10 days, depending on the day he lodges.
Independent MP Rob Oakeshott told the Herald Sun such an important issue must not be allowed to sit on the notice paper.
He would immediately seek to bring on the debate, which carried a risk for the Opposition Leader as it could overshadow his formal reply to the Budget.
“I will bring it on,” Mr Oakeshott said.
“If they are going to put it on the notice paper, it is important we deal with it as a matter of priority and urgency. It is disrespectful to Parliament to allow something of this significance to linger for a week.”
Mr Oakeshott said while he and fellow independent Tony Windsor had a written agreement to support Julia Gillard on matters of confidence and supply, he had not decided how he would vote.
“I will listen to the debate and participate,” he said. “What are the reasons? Tony Abbott wants to have more detail than three-word slogans.
“The Labor Party is unstable but the Liberal National Party has spent three years destabilising.”
If a no-confidence motion succeeded it would be unchartered political territory that would also put the spotlight on the role and powers of the Governor-General in a way not seen since the Dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975.
The PM could advise Ms Bryce to call an election or recommend another MP be given the chance to form government.
August 3 is the first possible date for a normal House and half-Senate election but there would be no restriction on a House-only election in June or July.
Shocdking story. Must be lies. We all know, it is only Labor MP’s that are corrupt.
“……….Former MP jailed for 14 months for fraud
Updated: 17:41, Friday April 26, 2013
Former federal MP Peter Shack has been sentenced to 14 months in jail for defrauding his mother-in-law out of 100 thousand dollars from a family trust.
Shack, the Liberal member for the West Australian seat of Tangney for 15 years, was handed the sentence in Perth’s District Court today.
During a trial in January, the 59-year-old was accused of enticing a blank cheque from his mother-in-law Mary Stasinowsky in July 2004, which he later filled in for 100 thousand dollars and deposited in a business account.
He’d been managing Mrs Stasinowsky’s finances after her husband’s death in 1998 and was made a director of the family trust in 2008.
Shack claimed during the trial that it was a loan but the prosecution pointed to the fraudulent paper trail created by Shack to hide it.
He was granted parole, meaning he could be released after serving seven months in prison…………
More ‘charges’ may be in the making :- ” Fair Work Australia has ‘withdrawn’ from its pursuit of Craig Thomson and its 154 civil charges against him. It is not the end, but it means that should the 154 identical criminal charges fail, and they will, he is a free man and free to sue Abbott, Pyne, Brandis, McClymont, Lewis, Oakes and Murdoch for a quarter of a million each if they do not apologize to him and his wife and make some reparation for the suicidal misery they have put him in.” http://www.ellistabletalk.com/2013/04/27/the-innocence-of-craig-thomson-63-jaccuse/
Oh dear, by citing some twisted lefty on a tumbleweed blog site indicates you are desperate.
t appears that Abbott is now going to listen to the experts. It appears, according to Sidnonis, that is what he does always.
Then we can assume he will listen to the three experts appointed, to find a solution to stop refugees coming by boat. I take it, that Abbott has already penned a letter to the PM, calling on her to put the whole Housten plan into operation. He will agree with the experts, t6hat turning boats back will not work, and is not the answer.
We can assume, he will listen to 97% of the world’s scientist, and fully back the CEF and all that it entails. Will listen, when the experts tell us, it has only a small, very small effect on the economy.
Of course he will come on board and agree that the economy is not broken, that we are travelling well. Most of all, he will agree, that there is more to discussing the economy than debt and deficits. That debt and deficit mean little wit9in themselves.
Mr. Abbott will get behind the Gonski plan of funding education, because all t6he experts say the present system is unfair and broken.
Yes, I believe we will see pigs flying, pink pigs at that, across the sky.
Funny, that the police are going after Thomson. The truth is, they hhave more chance of getting the FWA case up. Standard of proof is lower. Does not make sense to me. Suspect some have been too clever by half.
Listening to electoral speech of Abbott to the party faitful in SA. Announcer said, talking about carbon tax as usual.
That is not what concerned me that much, as said, more of the same, we have been hearing for three years. Nothing new there.
I must say, he spoke with such emotion, as if he cared. Must have had some drama lessons. Still sounds like a snake oil salesman.
The comment that gets under my skin, is that he can bring in the NBN for 60 Billion less. There is no basis for this claim whatever. NBNCo is unlikely to be anywhere near this figure. His plan to get to the same standard will be much greater in the long run.
The following comment, that Labor is also unnecessary digging up everyones back yard. Are there any here, that have had their front yard dug up. I have been listening to people saying in Gosford how wonderful it was, when turned on this week. Nothing about digging up the front yard. Also excited, as they believe the NBN will bring Gosford back to life, and there was already business moving into the empty office space, to take advantage of it. (Gosford is a town, that has not thrived for years)
Are there any that have complaints about front yards being dug up? I would love to hear from them.
I was under the impression, much will be pulled through existing copper wire channels.
He also has great concerns for refugees being held in camps. Someone should tell him, the system we have now, is what he demanded. A harsher, much harsher rebirth of the Pacific Solution.
Abbot can allow the Housten Plan to be put in place in its entirety. Can show us he is indeed capable of taking the advice of the experts.
“..Imagine, for a moment, that the boot was on the other foot. Let’s suppose it was Julia Gillard who had announced one of the world’s most generous parental leave schemes to support women in the workforce – and her intention to impose a levy on about 3200 of Australia’s biggest firms to pay for it.
Internal ALP debate on the merits of the idea would, inevitably, have stoked leadership tension. Business would have recoiled in horror at another big new tax, and said so. And Tony Abbott? The potential for daily photo opportunities with owners of medium-sized companies who couldn’t afford the added impost would have been alluring – if he was of a mind to exploit it.
Except that this big new tax is Abbott’s baby and the scheme it will fund will be a signature policy and a high priority when – assuming the polls are an accurate reflection of the people’s will – Abbott becomes prime minister in September.
For the best part of three years, since Abbott announced his parental leave policy without consulting his shadow cabinet or party room, the plan has been in the background, and the fervent hope of a number of colleagues and of the business community has been that it would stay there.
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Now, as the expectation of a change of government grows, attention is turning to what Abbott will do in office on issues ranging from workplace relations and his ”direct action” alternative to pricing carbon, to the bold parental leave scheme he first canvassed in Battlelines, the reflective manifesto he wrote after the defeat of the Howard government (and that will be re-issued with a new foreword before the election).
This week the Liberal leader reaffirmed his commitment to the scheme, which goes far beyond what was proposed by the Productivity Commission in 2009. He told reporters: ”I think it is high time that Australia did join all of those other countries that have a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme based on a parent’s real wage, not on a welfare entitlement. And the great thing about a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme is that it’s good economic policy as well as good family policy and good social policy. It is good for productivity. It is good for [workforce] participation. If we want a more productive economy, it is precisely the kind of thing we need.”
The declaration coincided with an assessment by the Grattan Institute that Australia faced a decade of budget deficits, with the annual total set to pass $60 billion in 2023, unless governments took tough action to ”share the pain”.
It also came as Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan made it clear that fiscal rigour in this election year would be confined to identifying savings to pay for new spending on programs such as the national plan for school improvement and the disability insurance scheme.
At a televised ”people’s forum” in Nunawading, Gillard explained how budget revenue had been smashed by the global financial crisis and the high Australian dollar, leaving her government with just two options.
”You can say, ‘well, we’ll keep cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting on the expenditure side’, which would really hurt people. Or you can take the approach that we’re taking and say, ‘well, you know, the revenue coming in will recover over time. The important thing now is to match any new spending with savings’.”
The answer underwhelmed the Grattan Institute’s John Daley, who told me: ”In talking about the need for spends to be matched by saves, that’s exactly the way the government has been proceeding for the last four years. The problem is that, when you are structurally in deficit, you need to do better than that.”
It was also a catalyst for a new line of attack from Abbott, who told Leigh Sales on ABC TV’s 7.30 that Gillard and Swan were planning to ”booby trap” the budget – saddling the incoming government with a lot of commitments that would make managing the nation’s finances ”very, very difficult indeed”.
Abbott also stressed the need for caution when it came to new spending on programs such as school funding reform, saying: ”Everything right now, Leigh, has to be tested against that framework: how is it going to help us get back to surplus? How is it going to make our economy more productive?”
JoeHockeyMP
@JoeHockey_MP
Surely Australians would want Gina to have a tax break or Nannies on the Nth Shore before money is wasted on #RU486, #Gonski & #NDIS #auspol
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Is Abbott putting weight on? Latest is, Abbott is electioneering on “fait GP”. Fair go for whom I wonder.
The opposition has called on the NSW government to rule out scrapping a $250 concession that helps pensioners pay their council rates.
In a statement, NSW Labor said a proposal to scrap the payment was contained in a Local Government Review Panel report released last week and commissioned by the state government.
Opposition local government spokeswoman Sophie Cotsis called the proposal an ‘absurd idea’.
‘Abolishing the $250 concession is an absurd idea when you consider how tough our pensioners are doing it with the rising cost of food, water, electricity and medication,’ Ms Cotsis said on Sunday.
‘Coming just days after the O’Farrell government jacked up electricity and gas bills yet again – the premier needs to rule this proposal out of hand.’
She said pensioners were already paying an average of $2000 a year in council rates.
So the Coalition will abandon any drugs in sports investigations if they win government.
Probably another one of their promises they will back flip on when the backlash hits them.
As someone said, which lobby group got their ear this time. There can’t be a Party that has been more under the thumb of vested interest groups than this one, and this is only in opposition.
“Professor Rod Tucker, Director of the Institute for a Broadband-enabled society at the University of Melbourne, says that the Coalition’s 25 to 50 megabits per second internet will eventually become redundant.
“We’re going to need more than that capacity by 2020 and so what it means is the Coalition’s broadband network is likely to be obsolete by the time it’s completed or soon afterwards,” Tucker says.”
Here we are at five minutes to midnight (Telstra time) and Cinderfella’s Tony and Malconnect are trying to off load a gilded carriage before it turns into a nodekin.
“Telstra will replace its century-old copper wire phone network with new technology within the next 15 years, saying the ageing lines are now at “five minutes to midnight”.
Telstra said that the copper wire network is degrading and will need replacing in about 15 years….. that was said, by Telstra, 9 years ago.
“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them”: George Orwell
Substitute nationalists for Liberals.
Mr. Windsor is prosposing a referendrum for same gender marriage, to be held at the next election.
Fed up, Liealot is becoming more shrill in his desperation to have an early election, before Ashbygate turns into a big fat boil on his bum, perhaps.
LOVO, good news that FWA has decided to drop the choc top charges against Thomson.
I’ll gladly chip in when he decides to sue the @rses off the Ignominious Seven. I reckon he should demand the highest payments from Liealot and the wizened foreigner.
Mind you, seeing Prissy desperately searching down the back of the couch to stump up his reparation would be fun.
This could be another reason Lielaot is desperate to have an early election.
Here we are at five minutes to midnight (Telstra time) and Cinderfella’s Tony and Malconnect are trying to off load a gilded carriage before it turns into a nodekin.
Roflmao, LOVO.
The penny is slowly dropping. We are now in a new economic age. The economies of all nations are not reacting the way economic theory tells us.
Like all such times in history, it is only when things fail, and one looks back, does one realise what may have happened.
Fiscal austerity no longer works. Yes we had the mineral boom that sent out dollar through the roof, leading to the undermining of the rest of the economy. On top of that, we now have a global economy.
I seem to remember back in the 1950’s, wool selling for a pound for pound. That led, if my memory is correct, great inflation, and later stagflation.
I suggest that economics is far from as an exact science. I suggest, most have been proven wrong, from both sides of the fence. I believe Labor realise that keeping people in work was important. This belief would have come from the knowledge, that over the last few decades, each time we had high unemployment, it took much longer and greater cost getting people back to work.
The economy once again played its unexpected game, by not allowing that dollar to come down, as was expected. The predictions made by the treasury, based on economic expectations has not occurred.
A nations economy is about much more than spending or lower taxes. There are no simple answers, and I suggest we need to cease in saying there are.
We know what has happened. What is more difficult, is knowing what to do next.
“……………… If the shortfall was made good entirely about spending it would require:
– Entirely abolishing all Family Tax Benefit A payments (saving $14 billion).
– Or stopping all funding to the States for health care (saving $13 billion).
– Or stopping all funding to schools (saving $13 billion).
– Or stopping all funding to aged care homes (saving $8 billion), as well as community care ($2 billion) and veterans’ care ($2 billion).
– Or cutting all Medicare payments by two-thirds (saving $12 billion).
– Or cutting pensions to the aged by a third (saving $12 billion).
– Or abolishing all disability pensions (saving $15 billion).
Or if the shortfall was made good entirely from taxes and ‘tax expenditures’:
– Extending capital gains tax to the family home (raising – eventually – $15 billion a year).
– Or raising the current 45 per cent rate to 66 per cent (raising $12 billion).
– Or having the current 45 per cent rate cut in at incomes of $65,000 rather than $180,000 (raising $12 billion).
– Or raising the 32.5 per cent rate to 37 per cent (that is, do away with that rate completely, raising $10 billion).
– Or lowering the $18,200 threshold to $12,500 (raising $13 billion, but you’d be taxing about an extra 650,000 people, including many pensioners).
– Or taxing all superannuation contributions at marginal tax rates (raising $14 billion).
– Or raising the rate of company tax from 30 per cent to 35 per cent (raising $12 billion – but also adding to franking credits that would cut the personal tax take).
– Or adding 30 cents a litre in additional taxes on the price of petrol (raising $12 billion).
– Or tripling the existing taxes on cigarettes (raising $12 billion, and adding about $17 to a pack of 25 cigarettes).
– Or lifting the carbon tax to $60 dollars a tonne and removing the future link to the European carbon price (raising $12 billion).
Summary: It’s A LOT of money..”.
“………….So forget the cute, faked up, political narratives. These are the facts. If there is a budget black hole that we should be scared about, the financial markets are not telling us so. In fact, they are sending the opposite message. In any case, the hole is not significant in the scheme of things. And finally, the damage – not just fiscal, but human – would have been far, far greater if we had listened to the punishers and straighteners now lecturing us from their privileged positions.
None of this is intended to deny we have budget challenges. But don’t believe those who say it is due to “out-of-control” spending. As a proportion of our overall growing economy, our public spending has remained relatively constant. What’s happened is we got a big, temporary pay rise in the early 2000s via the commodity boom and then we made permanent changes to the budget (largely via tax cuts and middle class welfare) that mean when revenues fall, as we are seeing now, it has a bigger effect on the bottom line.
Be aware, also, that the high-flying Australian dollar – which is defying the usual sell signals of falling commodity prices and narrowing interest rate margins – is acting on a brake on much of the trade-exposed parts of the economy. And that’s affecting tax revenues as well. As we saw, the Australian dollar is so high partly because we are such a model of fiscal virtue and good governance. People overseas want to lend to us. And that means the government is borrowing at an extremely competitive rate. It’s a good credit risk..
Listening to interview with Hockey. The whine is growing in his voice. No indication that he understands where the economy is at, and how it operates.
Are being asked questions, but no answers forthcoming.
Virginnia is asking the questions at last.
We know that Howard was into privatising and user pay. Did his actions in giving rebates to private health funds only transfer the cost of health from the government to the voter.
Did the actions of Howard lead to massive private debt. Is some of that debt now being pulled back.
Yes, there is more to good economics than public debt and deficits.
“…………………………The simplest path to bad policy like this is to shift health costs “off budget” and, through a combination of incentives and compulsions, on to private health insurance (PHI). Lobbyists for private health insurers make the glib and superficially plausible argument that PHI is the obvious means to make this saving through mechanisms like “Medicare Select”, a system which would essentially destroy Medicare and conscript Australians into PHI.
The false logic of such self-interest needs clarifying.
Shifting costs from public spending to private spending is not a saving. We are no better off if we save a dollar in taxes only to have to spend a dollar in the private sector, without any better outcome. In fact, because of the high administrative overhead of PHI, the figure is more like an outlay of $1.10 to save $1.00 in taxes, but we have been conditioned to believe that while public bureaucracy is bad, private bureaucracy is virtuous.
PHI is essentially a “privatised tax”, collected by NIB, HCF or Medibank Private, rather than the Australian Taxation Office, to fund our shared health care needs. We may not relish paying taxes, but we have to admit that the Australian Taxation Office does a fairer and more efficient job at collecting tax than private financial agencies.
Worse, because of its demonstrated incapacity to control service providers’ costs, combined with a tendency for consumers to over-spend on health insurance, PHI results in high over-use and over-charging, a situation most clearly manifest in the USA where health care costs are now 18 per cent of GDP, compared with our 9 per cent. Nine percent of GDP is enough to fund Gonski, a national disability scheme and a fast train, with a little left over for tax cuts or some ships for the navy. Private health insurance, as a permissive funding channel, makes health care more expensive, but it doesn’t buy better care or produce better outcomes..”
The report highlights numerous problems – no reliable power supply, limited access to safe drinking water, high temperatures and humidity, mosquitoes, risk of self-harm and mental health problems – the list goes on. [1]
These conditions are unsafe, unsanitary and unacceptable – especially for children.
Call on Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor and Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to act immediately to shut down the Manus Island detention centre.
Disability Levy Serves The Common Good
Ben Eltham
Disability Care won’t just help people living with disabilities, it will boost the economy. Not many reforms are such good news. So why the nonsensical outcry about the levy, asks Ben Eltham
Read the full artic
It appears that droughts are no longer declared in NSW, That is a good way of getting rid of a problem.
Just bury ones head in the sand. (dust in this case)
Noticed this is fact is now on ABC 24. Was mentioned by accident this morning on ABC Radio local, when talking to a farmer in the drought areas.
It appears how one helps farmers in times of drought, depends on the financial situation of the NSW government.
Also what was bought up in that interview, was the fact that droughts are coming more often, Yes they are usual, but one expects more good years in between.
Senator Wong being interviewed by Lyndal Curtis. Seems to be enjoying the interview.
Suggest it might be hekpful if Mr. Abbott read the legislation he helped to get through. Suggested that maybe he can get someone to explain it to him
We all know how Abbott hates to read
Senator Wong finished off. by saying that Mr. Abbott should br held to the standard he asks of everyone else. That is, how does he get to it adding up.
“It appears that droughts are no longer declared in NSW, That is a good way of getting rid of a problem.”
Actually Fu having read up on it what NSW is doing is not a bad way to go and should be done nationally.
Central to the approach is the new Regional Assistance Advisory Committee which will provide advice to the NSW Minister for Primary Industries on effective programs including the existing measures of:
the Rural Financial Counselling Service;
the Rural Support Worker Program;
the Special Conservation Scheme;
transport subsidies; and
farm business preparedness and resilience programs including PROfarm courses,
short and long course training through Tocal College and TAFE.
“The Regional Assistance Advisory Committee, chaired by David Palmer, will also oversee the development of new monthly Seasonal Conditions Reports, a strategic advisory tool to help farmers prepare for the seasons ahead,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
My only concern would be if a government used this system to shirk as it’s not as transparent as drought assistance as it consists of many layers and disparate measures.
It was a favoured trick of Howard’s to tie up what he called generous assistance replete with tax payers advertising saying it was generous and put in so many layers and conditions only a fraction could ever be claimed.
Mobius, could be, but the farmer did not appear to know what it is all about. In his defence, he did say, at this stage, they are not looking for assistance.
What is probably the bigger story, is the inference that this dry has come about very quickly. There has been recent rains, but all has dried up quicker that in the past.
He said there is no ground water, and the feed has disappeared.
One must asked, is what occurring more proof of man made climate change, or is it the norm for these areas.
The information given on ABC 24 give not give one much hope, that the government knows what they are doing.
Is any of what you have listed been put in place.
Maybe we have some readers in the area that can tell us where the NSW government is up to. I, for one is interested.
Maybe the PM has signalled to the Opposition leader, that his days of not being challenged are over.
I believe she will call his bluff on every occasion.
Up to now, the PM has chose to ignore his stupidity.
As Senator Wong said, he needs to be held to the same standards, as he demands of everyone else.
For Migs and a close relative who also suffers Lupus.
This is Lupus month. Please help.
Fed up @ 3:50 pm
Well Fu why doesn’t this surprise me because of course there is a Liberal government at the helm and dishonesty and deceit are always the hallmarks of Liberal governments.
Piece on ABC News about NSW unexpectedly falling back into drought an farmers already hand feeding stock. They are complaining that recent changes to drought assistance are seeing them out of pocket and in greater difficulty than is normal at this stage of drought.
Call my cynical but it seems that the NSW government knew they were going back into drought early and so soon after the last one so setup the changes to weasel out of paying the farmers assistance.
It never ceases to amaze me that the two groups who are most screwed by Liberal governments, rural and pensioner, are the two groups who most support the conservatives.
ME, coming from a farming background, I know they do not give up their entitlements easily. They also have long memories.
I note Victoria has done the same as NSW. Fire levy transferred to house holders. I . think the Vic one of a $100 might be less than NSW
The farmers do not seem to getting mich from today’s Coalition, whether state or Feds.
.
The United States has failed to take action to mitigate climate change thanks in part to the large number of religious Americans who believe the world has a set expiration date.
Research by David C. Barker of the University of Pittsburgh and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado uncovered that belief in the biblical end-times was a motivating factor behind resistance to curbing climate change.
he former Coalition Government was the highest taxing in our nation’s history, with the tax to GDP ratio soaring to 24.2 per cent in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
By announcing a modest increase in the Medicare levy yesterday, the government is asking Australians to pay a little bit more so a whole lot more can be done for the 410,000 Australians with a severe and permanent disability.
Below is a table of tax cuts delivered under Labor since 2007.
……………………….That’s going to be a challenge all right.
Just as concerning, in fact more so given the lack of coverage and the liklihood of regime change, is an excellent analysis by David Uren of The Australian looking at Tony Abbott’s much larger spending promises.
Uren lists the paid parental leave scheme, cutting the carbon tax but effectively keeping the tax cuts, carbon direct action, a commitment to lift defense spending “by 3 per cent a year until it reaches 2 per cent of gross domestic product – an annual lift of $7.5 billion”, removal of means testing for the private health insurance benefit and improvements to the indexation of military superannuation pensions, along list of state infrastructure projects plus 100 dams and development for northern Australia.
These can be weighed against the abolition of the school kids’ bonus and the rebate of superannuation contributions tax for low income earners, and $1 billion from winding up the the Clean Energy Finance Corp plus vague gesture at cutting 20,000 public servants and “stopping waste”……………….
The firm commitments to spend to date far exceed the firm commitments to save.
Paired with its determination to reduce and abolish taxes, there are grounds for concern that the Coalition’s strategy would weaken the budget bottom line.
The Coalition gives little indication of recognising the severity of the budget challenge it would face.
Commonwealth taxes averaged 24 per cent of GDP in the last six years of the Howard government. They slumped to just above 20 per cent in the two years following the GFC. That translates to a shortfall of about $45bn a year. If that had to be covered by taxpayers, it would be $6000 per household.
Yes, revenue is growing, but nowhere near fast enough to return it to its former share of the economy. It will only be 21.4 per cent of GDP this year.
…Even if commodity prices fall only very slowly from their current peaks, the economy is trapped in a long-term trend of weak growth in the total value of the goods and services it produces – the so-called “nominal GDP” which provides the basis for taxation.
The last line is the problem. As I’ve said, modest deficits are part of the solution for Australia in the years ahead. But the Coalition is showing no sign of understanding the constraints they will face.
I am not doing the Uren piece justice and suggest you read it yourself.
ASHBY v SLIPPER APPEAL HEARING. Full Court of the Federal Court.
………………..The ‘Genuine Steps Rule’ is a relatively new set of procedures introduced in the Commonwealth’s ‘Civil Dispute Resolution Act (2011)’ requiring parties to take necessary alternative measures in an endeavour to resolve their dispute before heading off to court. Both parties in a legal stoush have to file ‘genuine steps statements’ outlining what they’ve done in trying to settle the dispute.
The argument put by both Ashby’s and Harmer’s legal representatives for the seemingly inadequate Genuine Steps process, was the one of urgency. All three judges questioned the reasoning behind bringing the matter to court without going through all the alternative remedies available to Mr Ashby.
At one stage Mr Pritchard was asked the $64,000 question: the matter of payment to Mr Harmer. It was the question by Justice Siopis that caused head-turning consternation at the bar table and was never really answered. Siopis J wanted to know if there would be an apparent difference if Mr Harmer was ‘an investor in the proceedings?’ The spluttering silence of both legal counsel was his reply, and the question wasn’t pursued.
Tomorrow morning is the turn of Peter Slipper’s legal representative, Ian Neil SC……………
Three times as much as Victoria.
Households to pay $300 for fire levy
Millions of property owners in NSW face a new levy to fund fire and emergency services, after an overhaul of how land is valued to determine land tax and council rates.
On Thursday, a parliamentary inquiry released its final report into the land valuation system, recommending changes designed to increase transparency and make it more equitable.
The government is believed to be preparing to endorse the recommendations and will use the overhaul of the valuation system to introduce the emergency services levy.
Abbott shows all signs of becoming more like Rudd
From: The Australian May 03, 2013 12:00AM
DAVID Uren’s point is well made (“It’s time for Abbott to show us the money”, 2/5). Tony Abbott has done a great job of exposing the lack of fiscal discipline in federal government but shows no sign of bringing any discipline to it.
Kevin Rudd also did a great job in opposition of exposing the fiscal sprawl of the Howard government in its later years, when Abbott was a cabinet minister. Rudd was going to restore fiscal discipline and sort out the federal-state tangle of responsibilities. But he talked the talk a lot better than he walked the walk, and by 2010 Labor was displaying all the weaknesses of the later Howard government with none of its strengths.
For all his talk about ending the waste, Abbott shows every sign of becoming another Rudd. All his promises are about cancellation of taxes, local spending on state public works, and the mother of all cash splashes, the parental leave scheme. More big spending and playing favourites, but different favourites to Labor’s…….
Brilliant, and the tax on stupid internet comments would reap a windfall from NoS.
There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.
Could the ABC be first in line for Abbott’s fire sale? Would it really matter, as present administration has out source much to the IPA and the MSM. The ABC in reality has disappeared as an independent media source.
“.MEDIA
Why the ABC Should Be Privatised
Tom Switzer
Let me stress from the outset that I think the ABC is a great and important Australian institution, and many of its staff members—from Leigh Sales and Chris Uhlmann on ABC1 to Sandy Aloisi and Glen Bartholomew on News Radio to Scott Bevan and Kumi Taguchi on ABC News 24—are highly professional and intelligent members of the Fourth Estate. I rather like Mark Scott, the managing director, who has expanded ABC services to vastly more people than at any time in the corporation’s eight decades. I am also a regular contributor to its television and radio programs, and I am proud of my association with them……….”
“Even if commodity prices fall only very slowly from their current peaks, the economy is trapped in a long-term trend of weak growth in the total value of the goods and services it produces – the so-called “nominal GDP” which provides the basis for taxation.”
But Bacchus tells me that commodity prices have nothing to do with taxation revenue. Isn’t it amazing that Costello got all this extra revenue from 2004 when the boom started but then when commodity prices exploded in 2008 increasing by 50% Labor allegedly is not getting the money from the boom. It just stopped coming in when Labor was elected.
And pigs fly.
Another success for PM. How many is that this week.
Love seeing the premier of Victoria, standing beside the PM, saying how good the disability scheme is. Did not hurt her, when live cattle to Egypt have been suspended.
Neil, when companies invest in new activities, that investment money is offset against the tax they have to pay. Yes, the prices are up, but also is the amount they can claim as taxation deductions. That has to work through the system, before the profits rise, allowing higher revenue receipts.
Also, you ignore that states have put up royalties, that are also deducted from what the Federal government gets.
Neil this has said by more than one expert.
Yes, prices are up, but what is available for taxtion purposes has not.
Bacchus is right. Commodity prices are not automatically reflected in revenue collections.
DD: Do you feel Tony Abbott would make a good prime minister or are you fearful for the future?
RO: It is up to the people on the Parliament, and the Prime Minister, they choose in the future. May we all choose wisely!
“There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.”
FU, you need to make up your mind. You people have told me many times that the Howard govt was the highest taxing govt of all time and that if Labor was taxing like Howard they would get more revenue.
In your above statement you are now saying they did not tax enough. Basically you hate Howard so much that it does not matter what he does. You will always find some dishonest reason to complain.
And by the way, Howard tax cuts can be easily restored by Parliament. Gillard has the numbers to get that legislation through. It should also be remembered that the Howard tax cuts continued passed 2007. Labor has done nothing about it.
But now you are saying Howard did not tax enough. You should make up your mind.
PS. Bacchus has shown me no evidence that Labor is getting less money from mining than Howard did. It is just an allegation with no evidence.
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerst not the beam that is in thine own eye?” :Bible, Matthew 7:3
You see in others what you actually see in yourself.”: The Guru Dronacharya in Mahabharata
You did not answer the question FU.
In an earlier post it was mentioned that as a percentage of GDP Howard was high taxing. Latter on you said that Howard did not tax enough and that Howard/Costello tax cuts are unaffordable.
Which is it?? Perhaps you hate Howard so much that no matter what he does you will always complain.
“It is easy to see the faults of others, but not so easy to see one’s own faults”: Gautama Buddha (563 – 483 BC)
That is not an answer. Your latest statement for political purposes was that Howard did not tax enough.
Do you think it is possible that the current Labor govt have no idea how to manage money??
Neil, Howard was in for 12 years. Could not both be true. He was a great one on levies. Loved tax rebates to the wealthy. Believed in user pay for the lower income earners.
Most of all, he shared with Costello, his hatred of unions. When one goes back to Costello’s pre political days, his only achievement was taki9ng on unions in the courts.
The tax cuts benefitted the better off.
He bought in the regressive GST. while cutting progressive personal and company taxation.
Mr. Rudd erred in continuing the tax cuts when he came to power.
Now the tax cuts remain, so does the ongoing spending that governments have to cope with. The mining boom is fast disappearing. Things might have been a little better, if Rudd was able to get that MRRT in. What has occurred, is we have a weaker one, that the miners managed to delay, until the boom was passed. Yes, there are no longer super profits to tax. Still, it is on the books, if we ever have another boom. Which does not appear likely at this stage.
What Howard did not spend on, was the infrastructure, that enables future prosperity and maintenance of the present infrastructure.
The GFC was in 2008 I believe, but the rest of the western world has not recovered.
Across the world, for the last couple of decades, there has been a widening of the gap between rich and poor. More of the taxation burden has been transferred to the lower income earners.
When we look at the economies of the western world, this policy appears to be disastrous.
No, Neil, I actually said he made tax cuts, that are now having an ongoing effect on the budget. Yes, set up some of the structural deficits we now have.
I will add, we now have a political climates that say no government can increased taxation when needed. That on itself is stupidity.
When one looks at events this week, with the PM raising the NDIS money by a levy, could mean that reality is that most of the public realise if something is needed, it has to be paid for.
If we look back through history, governments were able to lower and raise taxes as necessary. ]
The truth could be, that Howard did some good by handing back taxes when revenue increased. What is wrong is the belief they should not be increased, when the windfalls in revenue disappeared.
“Bacchus has shown me no evidence….”
I’ve shown you lots of evidence over the years Neil – ALL of it ignored for some spin from a Lieberal politician. WTF makes you think I’m going to trawl through budget statements, ABS figures and mining company annual reports just for you to call me a liar again, and once again pull something out of your @#$e of a Lieberal press release?
While you’re at it, you might like to stop verballing Fu as well – she’s not saying the Howard government taxed too much or too little – try reading what she said for a change. She is, after all, many orders of magnitude smarter than you 😛
” The mining boom is fast disappearing”
No it is not. It is still bigger than when Howard was in power. Commodity prices have dropped. Commodity prices peaked in 2001 but they are still much higher than in 2007.
You also said this “is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time”
You say he taxed too much and then you say he did not tax enough. Just admit it FU. You hate Howard so whatever he does you will condemn. And you love Gillard so she can do no wrong
“I’ve shown you lots of evidence over the years Neil ”
No you have not bacchus. You have not shown me he is getting less revenue from mining. It cannot be true.
“Commodity prices peaked in 2001 but they are still much higher than in 2007
Commodity prices peaked in 2011
Read the budget numbers scaper linked to Neil – they PROVE that you’re wrong. The Howard government was the highest taxing and most profligate government this country has ever seen. Labor, while dealing first with a GLOBAL financial crisis, then a hung parliament, has been trying to get the economy working correctly again. Unfortunately, they’ve been thwarted by the economic dinosaurs of the Lieberal party at every turn.
If it wasn’t for the damage we know the Lieberals will do should they control the treasury after the next election, I’d hope that we get a Lieberal government, just to educate people on just how badly Lieberals handle an economy that requires work…
Yes I have Neil 😛
“The Howard government was the highest taxing ”
But FU just said the Howard/Costello tax cuts are unaffordable.
And you have not shown me that Swan is getting less revenue from mining. We know because of the GFC there has been a crash in Capital gains Tax revenue. This will continue for years. But the drought broke and commodity prices exploded and this makes up some of the difference.
I tell you what Neil, how about you prove that the government from 2007 till now is receiving more revenue from mining than the government received from 2004-2007? I don’t mean in nominal terms either 😉 It’s something I don’t believe you’re even capable of. Prove me wrong?
And you have not shown me that Swan is getting less revenue from mining
Never said I had, and never said I would 😉
You’re making unsupported assertions again Neil. How do you know government receipts are down because of CGT? Is it something you’ve got evidence for, or can you just “feel it in your water”? 😆 😆
Neil, I have not even said if the way Howard taxed was wrong for the economy. Each PM has to make taxation and spending cuts, in relation of how the economy is working at the time. Also one cannot deny what is occurring in the global economy, and more so, in the Asian region.
I did say that Howard was wrong in moving the taxation burden from the upper income earner, to those on low incomes. I believe that to be wrong, and short sighted. It is pure ideology, based on the belief in small government.
What is more annoying, is that any attempt to take benefits of any kind from those who do not need them, as class war.
Neil, what you claim, with words and statements, with no context, means nothing at all.
In fact it is impossible to reply to what you are saying. What you are saying is pure rubbish.
So I take it, that treasury is also liars.
Neil is getting thrashed again. Facts plus logic beats Spin and wishful thinking every time. 😀
Neil, you do realise that Howard was nearly six years ago. That is three governments. Neil, you do realise that we are now in a completely new world order and global economy.
In the time there has been a GFC, that some say equalled the great depression. One that many countries, including most of Europe have not recovered from.
We are ow well and truly in the Asian century.
Why would one look back to Mr. Howard and Mr. Costello for answers.
Our economy has performed better than most. Would not that suggest, that maybe this Labor government might just have some answers. Not all, for one would need a crystal ball for that.
What is becoming clear, Thatcherism and austerity budgeting is not delivering.
Then we moved into the era of stagnation, which the emphasis seemed to be on cutting wages and workers conditions, and all would be right with the world.
We had Hawke, that did deliver productivity rises,with the Accord , with workers and employers pulling together.
That was not good enough for Costello and Howard, unions had to be destroyed. One thing that Workchoices did not deliver, was any productivity rises.
Then along came Labor, that put employment head of the list.
Not a bad idea, as history shows us, after every economic downturn, and raise in employment, most recoveries did not improve the employment situation.
It has taken longer and more expensive each time to get the unemployed back to work.. Never mind the number of businesses that went under.
We now have a PM who believes for the nation to prosper in the future we will need a highly educated and trained workforces, along with modern technology, especially in communications.
This PM believes it is up to government to provide4 the necessity environment for industry to thrive. Not to spend the money would be waste.
Talking about what Howard did or not do, has little to do with what is occurring now.
The question one needs to ask is, is Abbott capable of identifying the problems of today, and does has he the answers to what is needed.
I believe not.
“Neil, you do realise that Howard was nearly six years ago.”
Yes I do. But at 11.31AM you said this
“There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.”
You were the one who brought up Howard. After saying he taxed too much being the highest taxing govt ever you then said he did not tax enough. In facts his tax cuts are hurting us 6 years latter according to you.
After 6 years they are no longer Howards tax cuts but Swans.
Neil, what is wrong with that statement?
It was said today, on the TV from someone from IA that we can no longer afford those tax cuts.
To balance a budget, one looks at outgoings and income.
All we hear, is that cuts have to be made, Yes, that could be true, but we also have to look at revenue. Do we need to reverse some of those tax cuts.
But you said Howard was the highest taxing ever now you want to reverse Howards tax cuts.
Just admit it. You hate Howard and he could solve cancer and you would still complain.
Neil. Please stop twisting my words. You are making a fool of yourself.
This is my last comment.
One raises or lowers taxes, according to the conditions that apply at the time.
‘
Yes, it is time to look at raising taxes. It makes sense.
As I said, Howard belonged to another age. Has nothing to do with what is needed today.
Please take the blinkers off, and I suggest, you go back and read what you have written from the beginning of this post.
All I have done is reply to what you have written. No more, no less.
Here’s a pretty succinct explanation of the structural problems introduced by Costello:
Usually, income tax is cut only every three years or so, and cut close to an election so voters haven’t forgotten it. Does it surprise you that cutting income tax so much can reduce its revenue-raising power today and in coming years? It shouldn’t.
The Australia Institute has used the well-regarded Stinmod micro-simulation model to estimate that, had the income-tax scale for 2004-05 still been in use last financial year, 2011-12, collections from the tax would have been almost $39 billion higher.
Now, you may object that we couldn’t have gone for all that time without any tax cut. Since our tax scales aren’t indexed for inflation, we need regular tax cuts just to counter the effect of bracket creep.
Fair point. So next the institute compared the actual tax scale in 2011-12 with the 2004-05 scale with its tax brackets indexed up to allow for all the inflation in between. It found the indexed scale would have raised an additional $25 billion. So Costello’s many tax cuts cut the real rate of income tax – on the strength of a surge in company tax collections that proved to be temporary.
Think how much smaller the budget deficit (and the accumulated debt) would be now had he limited himself to offsetting the effect of bracket creep. (Remember too that, particularly in the years before the GFC, his decisions to spend rather than save the tax windfall from the resources boom obliged the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates higher than otherwise, to prevent this recycling from causing inflation.)
No, I do not hate Howard or any other politician. I have never admired the man or his policies, right back to when he was a failed treasurer.
Yes, I do dislike Abbott intensely. Not because he is a Liberal politician but I do not like what he is.
No, hate is not in my genes. Useless emotion. Hurts those who hate more, than who they hates.
Where have I made personal; insults against Howard. Have just repeated what he said and did.
No this is what you said.
There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.
After saying Howard taxed too much you then said the above statement. And you are blaming something Howard did 6 years ago for the current state of the budget.
Furthermore I would have to say you people are fools. You only have to look at what Labor did to the budget in Victoria under Cain, Queensland under Beattie and under Keating to know what was going to happen. All the GFC did was accelerate what was always going to happen.
“his decisions to spend rather than save the tax windfall from the resources boom”
This is not true Bacchus. He saved all the mining boom. It is Swan who has spent the lot. Please tell me how much money Swan has saved.
“FC, his decisions to spend rather than save the tax windfall from the resources boom obliged the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates higher than otherwise, to prevent this recycling from causing inflation.)”
Neil, what about all those interest rate rises under Costello. Many more that what the public needed to endure.
Do not forget about the record private debt that was undermining the country.
Neil is flapping about like a fish out of water. Spin won’t save him! 😀
Costello responded to the temporary boost in collections from company tax by cutting income tax eight years in a row (though, to be sure, the last three of his cuts were actually delivered by Labor).
Unfortunately Neil, the facts don’t bear out your version of economic “reality” 🙄
Bacchus. Costello saved $50B in his last three budgets.
The facts do back out my version.
Please tell me how much of the boom has Swan saved??
As soon as Labor got elected revenue dropped. That is the fact. Whether it is due the to GFC, govt incompetence or just dumb luck which happens from time to time is debatable.
The facts are however that after Labor was elected the drought broke, commodity prices exploded and terms of trade reached record levels.
From your first link Costello saved $16B, $17B and $20B= $53B in his last three budgets. How much has Swan saved??
Neil’s “debate” is down for the count, but he’s too punch drunk to see it. 😀
Yeah I see the facts Bacchus.
But do you digest them?
Fu @ 4:25, it’s nice to see that my article from The AIMN has been turned into a poster. 🙂
“the drought broke, commodity prices exploded and terms of trade reached record levels”
Hmm… No mention there of Leyman Bros, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, every major economy moving into recession, our mining industry shedding jobs…
Surely you wouldn’t be one to only tell ½ of the story, would you Neil? I wouldn’t have expected such dishonesty from you 😛
“But do you digest them?”
He never has before Migs – not too much chance now 😉
It was Labor’s misfortune to first win office 24 days after the stock market peaked in 2007 and then to just win again three years later as the 10-year commodity price boom was coming to an end.
That’s life: you don’t always get to choose your moment and it’s true that some elections are good ones to lose.
The timing of Kevin Rudd’s moment in 2007 and Julia Gillard’s in 2010 means that the number 200,000,000,000 will be hung around the party’s neck like a dead albatross for a generation. That’s the aggregate budget deficit that will have been incurred by the ALP between 2007 and 2013. It’s an unhappily round number.
It assumes the 2012-13 budget outcome will be around $25 billion, which we won’t know ’til election time, and doesn’t include the 2013-14 deficit, likely to be another $15 billion or so unless big cuts are made in this month’s budget.
Despite that $200 billion number there is no immediate crisis. At 20 per cent of GDP, outstanding debt will not cause bond yields to rise or Australia’s AAA rating to be lost. The ‘crisis’ is that it won’t be easy for either party to find a path back to surplus because it’s a moving target – revenues have not finished falling. And the real issue is the ‘structural balance’, which excludes cyclical factors. It’s estimated by consulting firm Macroeonomics to be $41.3 billion in 2013-14, falling to $21.1 billion in 2014-15 and then ongoing at about that level without more revenue and/or less spending.
There are four big problems for revenue: commodity prices, and therefore resource company profits, have not finished declining; mining and energy depreciation charges are much larger than expected; ‘stateless’ technology firms – the new big profit earners – are avoiding billions in tax by using tax havens; and the consumption tax is too narrow and too low.
The two high profile problems – that the carbon tax and the mining tax won’t raise what was expected – are insoluble. Australia cannot have a carbon emissions price out of step with the rest of the world and there can’t be a workable resources rent tax that sits alongside state royalties; it’s one or the other.
In fact there’s not much to be done about any of those revenue problems, beyond the proposed increase in the Medicare levy to pay for an increase in payments for disability.
GST changes have been ruled out and the only thing that can be done about Google etc paying no tax is to expose them, which probably won’t work.
And there is really only one big problem with spending: Australia’s means testing regime is too loose. Too many people are getting too many benefits they don’t need because successive governments have tried to buy their votes. The health and welfare systems have been used as political tools, not safety nets.
What’s more, expectations in this area are still being raised, not reduced, by both parties in 2013, even though the budget balance has deteriorated by more than $20 billion.
The ALP is still promising to increase education spending in line with the Gonski recommendations and go ahead with the National Disability Insurance Scheme, while the Coalition is sticking with its paid parental leave scheme.
As a result of poor means testing the health budget is out of control and ‘middle class welfare’ is blowing a huge hole in the budget.
In my view the number one reform to public finances should be the creation of a single, consistent and simple means test across all health and welfare programs, and possibly education as well.
Primary health care and public hospital entr……………”
My emphasis. Yes, no matter what you say, there is problems with falling revenues.
Bacchus, perhaps the morsels of truth are too big for him to chew on.
“No mention there of Leyman Bros, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, every major economy moving into recession”
Bacchus I said this “As soon as Labor got elected revenue dropped. That is the fact. Whether it is due the to GFC, govt incompetence or just dumb luck which happens from time to time is debatable.”
I did mention the GFC. Surely I do not have to go into the nitty gritty details. What gets me is that you are so forgiving to Swan blaming the GFC for the poor state of the budget (which has some truth) but way back in 1982 blame Howard for the state of the economy when there was a nasty worldwide recession on. Interest rates were 20% in the US in 1981. Our rates have to be the same or higher than the rest of the world otherwise money will flow out of the country. US also had double digit unemployment in 1982.
Michael, makes a good poster.
Is it true, Howard also raised the medicare levy?
Maybe it is a simple as someone wrote. That the PM develop a means test, that applies to all government handouts across the board.
It’s been fun playing with you again Neil. I hear the sweet sound of a bottle of Shiraz calling now. Ciao 🙂
I see the PM had better things to do today. Yes, signing up Victoria to NDIS could be seen as more important.
“”……….”She should be there, I know she’s busy but it’s named in in her honor,” she said.
“Everyone says it’s a great day. I’m looking forward to it.”
The under-pressure leader has become the first PM to ignore an invitation from the Gold Coast Turf Club to attend a race day named in her honour.
Regardless, Ms Cornwell said she was excited to see the “atmosphere, crowds and entertainment” at her first big race day.
About 5000 people are expected at the $175,000 Prime Minister’s Cup, which is the city’s second biggest race meeting.
In the past the meeting was held mid-week.
Former PMs John Howard and Malcolm Fraser attended the event while in office..”
Congratulations Bacchus on another effortless debating victory over Squeal of Sydney. 😀
This PM believes it is up to government to provide4 the necessity environment for industry to thrive. Not to spend the money would be waste.
Unfortunately, Fed up, the Liars Party as with all other conservative parties world wide, don’t believe that. Just as they don’t believe that keeping people employed is good for the economy, an attitude which is amply demonstrated by the Liars state governments here, particularly in Qld and in the UK.
And if the Tea Party had been elected in the US, they’d also be busily making sure to throw hundreds of thousands of low and middle income earners out of work, while cutting tax to some of the wealthiest people on the planet.
Equally, it is always up to government to do the big infrastructure projects for the benefit of the nation. Like the NBN, the national roads and transport systems, Snowy Mountain scheme, communications etc.
Private enterprise has neither the will nor the money to do the job because the bottom line is their only concern which means they DO have to prove there is a cost benefit for any project they undertake.
Which is the reason that governments do not now, nor will they ever need, a cost benefit analysis for big public infrastructure projects. The benefit to all Australians, not just those who return a profit to company shareholders, justifies the cost.
We are the shareholders in this country, not foreign investors and the profit for us is the infrastructure which allows (most of) us to live comfortably, get to work, communicate, be educated, access affordable medical treatment and medicines and relatively cheap and plentiful food,
If that doesn’t meet the Liars definition of benefit, I suggest they go and live in countries where there is no major public infrastructure. It would serve them right.
I agree wrt the PM’s Cup, Fed up. The PM has to PM and if if that means she has to miss a race meeting to carry out her PM duties, so be it, particularly when it’s something as important as Gonski.
I wouldn’t have expected such dishonesty from you.
Whereas i would expect nothing else from Liars robots, Bacchus. 😀
silkworm, as usual Latham effortlessly demolishes another Liars barracker, leaving his specious arguments in tatters on the cutting room floor.
Another cracker by Latham.
There’s no one I’ve recently read that can rip apart right wing nonsense and hypocrisy like Mark.
We have more articles today on how Abbott has grown. Funny I have not noticed much change, He is being admired for the way he handle the PM’s action in raising the Medicare levy to fund the NDIS. What is being ignored is it took him two days to come on board. Muttered about having to wait until we came back to surplus. I do not believe the public is seeing it the same way as the media.
One who has matured and grown in stature is Latham He has learnt from his mistakes. He has also admitted he made many. Latham says much that makes sense.
Shock, ABC 24 saying the PM is very much on the front foot, out promoting her policies on all fronts. Being seen as feisty. Yes, it is the PM that has also grown in stature.
Sorry, I cannot say the same for Abbott. Still whining and moaning, still against all. Still promoting lies.
Well Abbott behind the times yet again.
Here was again interrupting his Pollie Pedal, using it to play politics when he said the other day it was above politics, and announced if in government he would regulate the broadcast of live odds during sporting events and the amount of gambling advertising.
Turns out the government has been in consultation, yes that’s consultation, something Abbott says the government doesn’t do, with the TV industry to firstly get them to adhere to their own standards and secondly to crack down on the gambling advertising across sports.
So yet again you have Abbott threatening government control of something, the very thing the right wingers are always accusing Labor of doing. So far Abbott has trounced Labor in his proposals of heavy handed control in just about every aspect of society and business, except for the very wealthy and Murdoch media, who control him.
Tony Abbott is crap for saying Climate Change is crap, this man wants to be PM of our nation but ignores the elephant in the room. 🙄 …. this man/crap should not be LoTo, let alone PM. His Direct Action Plan (DAP) is an NO action plan from an NO action man. …….Q:- What do Tony Abbott and Methane Hydrate have in common…………A:- They both create a lot of hot air. 😦 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/02/white-house-arctic-ice-death-spiral
‘………………………………..If you’re a rusted-on supporter of the Coalition there can’t be a shadow of a doubt that all the budget problems we’re hearing about are the product of the Gillard government’s incompetence. And if you don’t think much about economics it’s perfectly believable.
After all, the budget had been in surplus for eight years straight when the Howard government lost office in late 2007. In that time Peter Costello not only paid back the $96 billion net public debt he inherited from Labor, he clocked up a credit balance of $45 billion.
In marked contrast, Labor’s first budget went straight into deficit and has stayed there ever since, despite its solemn promise to get back to surplus this year. Wayne Swan soon chewed up all the money the Libs left him and racked up a net debt of about $140 billion and counting.
What more do you need to know?
Well, a bit of economics would be nice. Failing that, a bit of commonsense. The good guys/bad guys story I’ve just told rests on two silly assumptions.
First, everything that happens to the federal budget happens because of the actions of the government. Nothing happening in the rest of the economy – or the rest of the world – could possibly affect the budget balance. In other words, nothing happens that’s beyond the treasurer’s control.
Second, from the day a new treasurer takes over, everything that happens must be in consequence of his actions. Nothing his predecessors had done could still be having an effect on the budget long after they’d been tossed out.
Clearly, life – and budgeting – is a little bit messier than that. Economists well know that things beyond the treasurer’s control actually have a bigger effect on the budget than things that are within the government’s control.
That’s true regardless of whether you’re Labor or Liberal and whether what the economy does to your budget is good or bad.
It’s equally true that some of the decisions made by a treasurer can still be affecting his (we’ve never had a female treasurer) successors many years later.
So, as with everything else in work or life, the budgetary performance of a government is some combination of luck and management.
Costello’s management was good in many respects but, as we’ll see, not as good as many have assumed. Swan’s management has been the opposite: far from perfect, but not as bad as it has suited many people to claim. As for luck, there’s no contest: Costello’s luck was great; Swan’s has been lousy.
If you listened to Neil it’s all a political wedge and Labor don’t really care about the disabled.
FFS, he complains that they do nothing for children who are locked up (which I don’t disagree with) yet when they do something for other groups of people – numbering in their tens of thousands – he reckons they are playing a political game. 🙄
Is it just me, or does he give anyone else the shits?
Migs you do know that Gillard is planning to move the children, including their families to the mainland, in a detention centre near Darwin?
Advocacy groups aren’t happy, and I don’t disagree with them, that the Darwin centre is one of the worst on the mainland and though an improvement on the offshore centres it’s still not good enough.
So Abbott is going to take up a Greens policy if he wins government.
That and the regulation of everything else he has promised to control is certainly odd when you consider all the extreme right wing stuff he has also espoused, especially getting into bed with the IPA and Murdoch.
Methinks, and it’s a fairly certain prediction, Abbott will break just about every promise he makes and will blame everything and anyone other than what will be his failures.
Not that the economically illiterate fool Neil will take an iota of it in. My guess he will cherry pick bits out of context and hammer that over and over. Not being very bright, especially when it comes to economics, also makes him very predictable.
Dear Florence,
This morning I made a major announcement about the National Broadband Network. We have updated the three-year plan and an extra 1.3 million Australian homes and businesses will have construction commenced or completed to connect to Labor’s NBN by mid-2016.
There’s been a lot of misinformation bandied around recently about the difference between Labor’s NBN and what the Coalition would do. We need you to share the facts.
You can help by clicking the image below and sharing the facts with your friends and family.
The Coalition’s broadband would be 40 times slower than Labor’s NBN and all Australians will get the NBN infrastructure for free under Labor. If you want to connect fibre to your home or business under the Coalition, you’ll have to pay up to $5,000 or be left disconnected from Labor’s NBN.
By the time a student in Year 7 today finishes high school, their household’s internet needs will have increased six times. We need Labor’s NBN to meet our needs now and into the future – help share the facts today to protect Labor’s NBN.
Stephen
PS. You can see when the NBN will be coming to your area by clicking here.
ME, I agree wrt Latham. he goes straight to the heart of the matter and as you say demolishes Liars party bs so easily. He’s really got his mojo working overtime.
Fed up @!4.26pm, great link. Even Neil should finally be able to understand how budgets work and what affects them. Yes even Neil may have to admit that a country’s budget does not stand alone, isolated from outside influences.
Hmmm. maybe not. This is Neil we’re talking about. He probably won’t read the entire article, just the bits that he thinks support his world view.
jane, he will say as he has in the past, the man is a liar. He will then name more that are in the same camp. He might even add that they are immoral.
What I like about Neil’s argument(s) is that the man lives in a perpetual ‘opposite day’…… a claytons truth sayer, if you will 🙄 ….. many that read here at CW can get a better understanding of the ‘bizarro world’ that LNPee’ers, like Neil, live in, just by reading Neil’s comments 😛 ……on ya Neil, thanx for showing us readers how not to be 😆 ….one wonders if Neil has an understanding of how many ALP votes he has garnered by his comments here at CW…… one does laugh at how his faux arguments are cut to shreds, only to be replaced by facts…… on ya Neil, you claytons legend you… 😀
Fed up, you’ve got it right of course. Neil and his ilk are impervious to the truth or facts. They reduce everything to three word slogans, all of which are lies.
LOVO, dead right.
I noticed on the news reports yesterday tabot had found his social conscience, and wants to ban live promotion of betting on TV. The msm reported this as him leading from the front, and that Labor was left flat footed on this. Unfortunately, I saw a grab of the Pm being confronted with this, and she quite tersely responded that the Government had been working on this for a while now.
This morning, Emerson clarified this a bit. Unfortunately, the msm don’t appear too interested. Again, they are trying to put abbott as the winner,. and the Government following. Quite the opposite is the case in reality
………But this lets economists off too lightly. Keynes made the point long ago: “the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood.” Good economists know that nothing is certain and everything depends on everything else. They know the weakness of their analytical tools and resist the temptation to enshrine ambiguities with the false precision of models or with the blinkered certainty of doctrine……
Neil, when it comes to economics, no figure is set in stone. One has to look at the whole context that the figures come from, to form an opinion on what they mean
Economics is not an exact science. It is not black and white, as you appear to believe so.
At the end of the day, in my opinion, it is results that count. One has to look at the whole picture, something you refuse to do.
Under this PM, the results appear to be very good.
My emphasis.
At the end of the day, in my opinion, it is results that count.
An opinion which is wise and absolutely right imo, Fed up.
Yes, Jane, results are hard to deny.
What happened to “Whatever it takes”?
What in hell are you talking about. Do you know yourself?
Scaper’s been at the goonies again 😆
Sit back, strap yourselves in..this election campaign will be awesome!
The strategy has been hijacked, refiner and distilled through the flare glass.
I see that Alex is leading the way through the IPA.
scaper, who against?
Fu, I think Scaper is saying he can see the projection, knows that they are projecting….. and likes that they are projecting……and he thinks it’s very clever,…
…… though some could argue that they are lieing and betraying the voters trust(s)…..just say’n 😉
Scaper, you shouldn’t play with the tarot cards when you’ve been hitting the piss.
Just watching the PM on Q&A and am disgusted, and at so many levels re her inability to communicate basic ‘principles’. Re Gonski, she fails to make the very basic point that it’s all about funding particular and pecular individual students who have very specific needs. Yet she talks about funding ‘schools’. ‘Individuals’ and their ‘needs’ should never be equated with ‘institutions’.
FFS.
Put simply she fails to understand the underpinning principles of her own policies.
Just imagine an NDIS policy framework that funds ‘providors’/carers and ignores those in need.
Put simply she’s effing hopeless. (BTW, Abbott isn’t worth discussing.)
Col, there must be two qandas on tonight. The one I am watching does not convey that message.
What is annoying, is how the moderator cuts off every answer and tries to control the topics.
Wonder what the kids thinks of his bad manners.
Thankfully the PM has been able to override his interference. insisting on giving complete answers.
The questions and the way they are asked, leave most adults for dead.
Fed up I think you miss my ‘basic’ point. In answering any ‘political’ question, one must firstly make the overarching ‘principle’, ( The political ‘message’). THEN go into detail (or not). It’s about ‘horses and carts’. it’s why Abbott is flogging Gillard. The ‘intellectual lightweight’ Credlin is creaming the PM’s advisors.
Col, you are ignoring the fact that there was a very tight framework in the time given for answers. As it was, the PM was cut off in every answer.
The questions were all of high quality. They were hard to give yes and no answers.
The trouble laid in how the programme was design. It was not the PM’s fault the timing was out.
There should have been fewer questions, or the programme go longer.
The PM did answer the questions in plain language and did not talk down to the audience.
What I would have liked to see, is a follow on show, where the students were given a chance to convey their opinion of the PM and her answers. That would have been interesting.
Col, I believe the PM refrained from turning the show into a political exercise. The PM attempted to answer the questions as honestly as she could.
What is wrong with that?
Fed up, just to be clear, the PM ‘performed ‘ very well. She was articulate, coherent and no doubt massaged the audience very well. (Abbott couldn’t come within a bull’s roar.) But she fails to understand the basic ‘building blocks’ or principles which which she needs to promote, if the ALP is to win the coming election, remote as that may be.
The NDIS is now accepted on all fronts, at least in principle, because it’s been sold that way. Each and every individual ‘deserves’ a fair go. Australians buy that. Yet when it comes to ‘education’ she ignores the individual (needs and rights) and puts the spotlight on ‘schools’. It’s not schools that are the problem.
It’s like saying that hospitals are responsible for early or high death rates in partticular communities. Generally speaking the ’causes’ are much more fundamental than that.
Col, maybe she could have, if they dispensed with a moderator, and let her answer as she saw fit.
It was obviously the time allowed for each question, did not allow what you wanted.
It did start off with the audience being told the PM agreed to the answers being kept short.
Col appears to be upset that the PM answered a very specific question specifically. More slogans please ❓
I agree with the Col on this. I don’t agree with him that she isn’t across her own policy in her response to Gonski, after all education is her hallmark, but I think that she (wrongly) answered to the institutional level to diffuse a complex topic that couldn’t be answered in the Q&A time frame, so chose not to answer to the individual needs level of Gonski. But if you look at the transcript she does mention individual needs in her examples.
Tony Jones was a disgrace at every level, constantly interrupting and cutting her off in attempts for a gotcha. When he interrupted with the laptop remark there was a smart arse smug look on his face as he stared at Gillard, but she deftly danced around the lame attempt at a trap.
I thought this was about school kids asking questions of the PM, not the Tony Jones gotcha show.
Also have a look at the tweets put up you can see the Neil like ignorance on full display from the wingnuts.
Forgot to watch it last night. Will watch the repeat. Maybe on future appearances, the PM could constantly interrupt Jones. He might even get it, although I’m not hopeful.
None of these bozos has the faintest idea about hosting a show like Q&A or any interview, or even a private conversation, it would seem. Perhaps their parents didn’t teach them it’s rude to interrupt and a disgraceful lack of manners to constantly interrupt and talk over someone.
Obviously, Jones, the Liars and their barrackers have been dragged up. It’s the only explanation.
Australia has recorded its first trade surplus since 2011, partly due to a fall in imports.
The Bureau of Statistics figures show the nation exported $307 million more in goods and services than it imported in March, seasonally adjusted.
The surplus was due to the combination of a modest 1 per cent gain in exports to $25.75 billion, while imports declined by 1 per cent to $25.44 billion.
You can not draw a simple comparison between the economic performance of the current Labor Government and that of the Howard years. You need to consider external factors, writes Emma Alberici.
Drawing a simple comparison between the economic performance of the current Labor Government and that of the Howard government is like making direct comparisons between Libby Trickett’s 100m freestyle time with that of Sally Pearson in the 100m hurdles……
……………Back to that $96 billion “Labor debt” inherited by the Howard government in 1996 – which actually comprised $40 billion of Fraser government debt that carried through the Hawke-Keating years taking the true level of Labor debt in 1996 to $56 billion. Bringing down that debt wasn’t all about constrained spending and higher taxes, in fact neither of those things were characteristics of the Howard-Costello years. Government asset sales between 1996 and 2007 worth $72 billion wiped the net debt out entirely with $16 billion to spare. With Joe Hockey as Coalition treasurer after September 14, Medibank Private could be the next to go for what was estimated during the 2010 election campaign would reap $4.5 billion…………….
I agree, the government should never have joined the back to a surplus brigade. At least they have the guts to say, enough is enough.
The return to a surplus pledge was never about economics. It was pure politics, that the PM should have had enough nous to ignore.
Does this include middle upper welfare as well. Does it include PPL scheme as well.
Coalition to bust welfare mentality after internal row over parental leave
BY:DAVID CROWE AND SID MAHER From: The Australian May 07, 2013 12:00AM
THE Coalition has vowed to enforce a new “culture of self-reliance” to bring welfare spending under control as it faces a renewed debate over its economic platform because of the generosity of its $4.3 billion paid parental leave scheme.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey yesterday outlined plans to wind back “universal access to payments” as he declared that governments should offer no more than what people could not do for themselves.
Does this include middle upper welfare as well. Does it include PPL scheme as well
Of course not, Fed up. There’s no such thing as middle and upper income welfare. It’s a reward for all that hard work they do and because the cost of decent champagne and caviar has just skyrocketed.
You have to wonder how many voters will fall for that line. Time for Labor to point out exactly what they will stand to lose if that mob gets control of the purse strings.
People should be warned that they’d better build a couple of granny flats for their pensioner parents if the Liars get in.
And they an forget that school kids bonus that helps buy new uniforms, books etc. It will be replaced by a bill from the school for chalk, printer paper, ink, internet no need to worry about internet.
But a hatchet will come in handy to cut off the odd hand or foot so the 2 year old looks more pitiful when they’re out there begging on the streets.
In fact when Sloppy’s finished with the family, everyone will be out on the street after they lose their job and no dole available.
How many of these women would not already have access to very good PPL in their salary packages.
One the employer pays, along with all other leave entitlements.
Which by the way, the employer can dismantle under his scheme.
At this time, women keep their industry scheme as well as the government one.
Good to see the banks deciding to pass interest rate drop in full.
………….TONY Abbott’s expensive paid parental leave scheme is “all about” encouraging women of “calibre” to have children, the Opposition Leader said today.
It’s also about fairness and productivity in the economy, said Mr Abbott as he defended his pet PPL policy against criticisms from within the Liberal Party, and from business.
But he highlighted the benefits for well educated women in top executive roles under his proposed payments.
Mr Abbott today said these women were “in the prime of life and they should be able not just to have kids, but to have careers”.
“We do not educate women to higher degree level to deny them a career,” he said.
“If we want women of that calibre to have families, and we should, well we have to give them a fair dinkum chance to do so. That is what this scheme of paid parental leave is all about.”
A 28 year old, Liberal voting, PhD finance student from Brisbane has done a brilliant job of highlighting the difference between the NBN and #Fraudband. I wonder which way he will vote this year?
Don’t support Abbott’s PPL scheme at all. There was some serious discussion last week at the IPA function and some interesting strategy to ensure it does not see daylight over drinks.
I’ll leave it at that…for the time being.
When Abbott goes it alone, policy falls victim
Tony Abbott should heed the advice of his colleagues and rethink his policies on parental leave, workplace relations and local government recognition, writes Peter Reith.
Yesterday morning one of the Coalition’s younger MPs spoke out on AM radio. His name is Alex Hawke and his seat is in Sydney. He will be an MP of increasing influence in the Federal Parliament because he demonstrated that he had the guts to speak out on a matter of fundamental policy. He voiced his concerns about Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave scheme. His comments were common-sense, and they were measured. He is one of a number of younger MPs in the Coalition who are both ambitious as well as being “economic rationalists”…..
Hi all. yes I am lurking, just not commenting much as I am becoming despondent over the true vitriol in politics these days.
Migs that story in crikey is so spot on. As most of you know for years I have maintained that the tax cuts will destroy our ability to raise revenue and were a terrible decision. I appear to have been vindicated and proven correct. Peter Costello was not a treasurer but rather a beneficiary of a worldwide booming economy and limited economic prosperity era. Rather than keep taxes at the same rate and build infrastructure he gave more and more tax cuts. How on earth the next government will be able to claw back revenue is beyond me. I have no doubt the LNP will slash and burn and introduce numerous levies on those least able to afford them, while claiming no new taxes or increases. A smoke and mirrors strategy so effectively used by the Howard Government as they gave tax cuts to the rich.
Meanwhile here in QLD my small business customers are telling me how quiet it has become over the last 8 months, sales declining, customers who had items serviced every 3 to 6 months are extending that to 6 or 12 months now. Apparently the automotive service industry in which there are many small businesses has started drying up as people no longer get their cars serviced. Wallets closed and plenty of window shoppers. When I ask them who do they blame, they become very quiet, whereas the usual catch cry, not that long ago was the Federal Government, they now reluctantly (when pushed for an answer) concede it is the new QLD LNP government and their slash and burn mentality. It has scared everyone. The fear for jobs has sapped any confidence. My clients in the health industry are stressed to the hilt as services are outsourced or abolished. My tradie clients in construction have left the industry and working in mines. Another started in a mine in Perth at the end of last month.
Much to my utter shock my NSW small business clients who were staunchly LNP and anti ALP are terrified that if Abbott gets in we will have a worse economy and their businesses may not survive if the wallets shut in NSW like they have in QLD.
A very interesting state of affairs.
It seems the only growth industry in this country is politicians and their staff of both sides. A really sad situation when services to the most needy are slashed at the same time.
Great to hear from you again Shane! Hopefully you’re well on the mend now 🙂
Hi, shane. Great to see your moniker again. I hope all is well with your health, both physical and business, although it looks as though small business is taking a knock
The slash and burn aficionados rarely consider the knock on effects of their policies it seems. They seem completely divorced from the consequences of their actions.
Surely they must realise that if you sack one person, at least 10 others are affected, some directly and others indirectly, like your customers in the auto service industry.
It stands to reason that things like services will be the first to be be let go as people rein in spending to cover essentials.
Sacking public servants is always popular with the general public until they find they’re being inconvenienced, but in spite of their prejudices, public servants do all the same things they do, like buy cars, furniture, lattes, takeaways etc.
And when they’re sacked that’s the first things they stop spending on, so 14,000 job losses will definitely be having a negative effect on other businesses and the Queensland economy.
It’s been reported that Queensland is now in recession. That must be a big worry.
“If we want women of that calibre to have families, and we should, well we have to give them a fair dinkum chance to do so. That is what this scheme of paid parental leave is all about.”
Oh, so women of no calibre need not apply. Class warfare, anyone?
And this oaf accuses Labor of class warfare when they are genuinely committed to ensuring everyone gets a fair go, even women of no calibre.
This, combined with Fraudband and a host of other thought bubbles from Sloppy and other Liars, are very strong reasons to reject this mob of rejects come 14/9.
I want a government which is committed to the entire community, not just the wealthy.
The media are having a field day about the ALP back flips regarding the upcoming budget, which I’m sure will upset many voters, and to be honest they have bought the criticism upon themselves.
Great to see your pointy nose again, Shane. I hope you’re doing OK and looking after yourself.
You might be interested in this, which gives you credit:
Somebody made a poster out of your levies and it went viral on Facebook.
Shane, the economy in Qld was on the skids before Newman was elected. The building industry has been in recession for over two years. Retail shortly followed and now the services are now in the doldrums You might have just realised it in your hinterland environ but I’ve seen the decimation unfold and to blame Newman for it is pretty low.
I believe the upturn will commence four weeks after the next election because there is a crisis of confidence which was created not by Newman, that is for sure!
The first two are from Liberal sites. A little dishonest, one would say.
Drum Post–Dodgy Graphs and Easy Markers
My Drum post today looks at some of the pretty misleading graphs being used on political parties websites.
I suggest that when you start seeing these graphs you really need to put on your sceptical hat because there’s often a fair bit of trickery going on.
Rather surprisingly, over on Catallaxy, Sinclair Davidson has had a bit of a crack at me for finding fault with this graph by the Libs:…….
……………Wow see that exponential upswing! And there’s an even added new bit of joy to discover! According to this graph tax revenue was actually lower (see that downward blue arrow) in 2007-08 than it was in 2008-09. Astonishingly $294.9 billion is now LESS than $292.6 billion!! Gotta love budget finance done the Liberal Party way.
I have no problems with someone stating that nominal revenue (or even real revenue) has gone up under the ALP – hell I wrote a Drum post about it last week! But let’s not be so gullible as to think the Liberal Party (or ALP) are pitching their graphs on Facebook to economics professors. They’re pitching it to people who would be utterly bored with economics and anything to do with the budget. But when they see a graph like those above they are lulled into thinking – geez the ALP has gone off on a taxing hike after the low taxing Liberal Party lost office.
Sinclair I think is being far, far too generous about the Liberal Party’s intentions. A bit like a teacher who knows a student has got something wrong, but because he likes the student he marks the essay on the basis of what he believes they were really trying to say, rather than what they did.
Personally I’m not so easily accepting of such a story, especially when you look at the increase in real revenue since 2000-01…….
One should ask oneself, why do the Opposition keep putting out dogy graphs and statements.
Suggest one book mark this page. All available figures available in graph form.
………….On Andrew Bolts 2GB Program Scott Morrison admitted the ‘stop the boats’ promise was something the Opposition would only be ‘attempting’ to do if they make it to government – and he could not say when. In fact, he said a Coalition Government wouldn’t ‘stop the boats’ but rather be ‘aiming’ for the same levels as under Howard.
When repeatedly asked when a Coalition Government could reduce the number of boats to Howard-era levels in their first term, he responded with:
‘I’m not making such forecasts’
‘I don’t put timeframes on it’
Therefore, the leader of the opposition has finally after two and a half years admitted that he has really been taking the Australian people for a ride. He is guilty of playing race politics with people’s lives. And the pity is that had he been (during this period) following the ministry of his Lord, he could have been part of the solution. He has no more chance of stopping the boats under the current circumstances than does Labor.
Well spending one and a half billion dollars on seven drones so as he knows where they are might help.
Business do not like Abbott’s policy. Why does one get the feeling it is a sham. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, replying. ABC 24
scaper
You are simply too one sided, like many others of both persuasions. I see fault in both sides and comment accordingly. My comments were from discussions with small business clients who are the coal face, not rubbery statistics. I agree the building industry had started to decline before the previous ALP government was booted, but it has accelerated at an even faster rate since the LNP have been in power. The LNP have now been in for over 12 months so their policies are starting to bite deep and will get worse, even the staunchest small business owners are realising this fact and reluctantly commenting accordingly. Austerity programmes which go overboard and at breakneck speed destroy the economy and confidence. it has been proven time and again. He could have achieved natural attrition in 3 years without the same terrible result on the economy. The scrapping of FHOGS on existing homes for first home buyers has seen the real estate industry go even further backwards with the added detriment of less than 10% of loans now being provided to First home Buyers. this means even less and less home ownership and more and more rentals.
The auto service industry has only seen the decline in the last 8 months so the previous government had absolutely nothing to do with the current situation, fear of having a job shuts wallets and the loss of private jobs as a result of the slash and burn is making so many simply tread water and not contribute to the economy in any way other than essential purchases.
With Tony Abbot getting rid of revenue generating areas for the government while handing out an outrageous PPL policy, plus gifts to business who pollute, rather than penalties will result in even less revenue and much higher costs to all. For some amazing reason the Carbon Tax is killing everyone and business has to pass on the cost, but a 1.5% ( forecast to actually cost 3% levy ( read TAX) will not do anything and business will somehow miraculously not factor this cost into their sales. Smoke and mirrors of amazing proportions.
And hi to all. I am in Dubbo at the moment so not much time to comment. thanks to all who said G,Day. I am getting better all the time. Anxiety seems to be slowly ebbing and they are pleased with my last heap of test results, so plan to be around for a lot longer. Cheers to everyone.
Cheers to you too Shane, Michael told me Shane’s back! And we’re delighted that you are. It’s good news that things are improving..you certainly have been through a torrid time one way or the other.
Hi Shane, glad to see you back around, even if only briefly and sporadically. Also great to hear about the test results. Lets hope you are around for a long time yet.
Take care of yourself
Hi Migs
Thanks for the link. The more people that know how many levies the Howard Government introduced for political ideology the better. While taxes may have gone down they were simply replaced by levies or new government charges for services and information that used to be free to the general public such as statistics and assistance and counselling. I don’t have facebook so you will need to keep me updated as it is great news.
Hi also to Min, Bacchus and Jane and everyone. Min can you shoot me an email to let me know if I have the correct one for you, you do change it at times 🙂
Hi Shane, will do so. This one is permanent. 🙂
😆
Do this today:
1. Google "atari breakout"
2. Switch to image search
3. Enjoy
” To begin with, Alberici claims that an IMF study shows the Howard government was profligate. Now, anyone who has actually read that study knows the following:
(1) The study is actually a staff paper, and the front page (no less) contains an explicit instruction that it not be attributed to the IMF which Alberici simply ignores;
(2) The study refers to debt issued by all levels of government, not just central government;
(3) The study refers to gross debt, not net debt, levels;
(4) For the years referred to by Alberici, all of the increase in gross debt is due to state Labor governments;
(5) As a result, the inference that the results impugn the Howard government is completely absurd. ”
You have to use common sense from time to time. A govt that pays off all debt is not profligate. Same goes with the crap about the alleged structural deficit. If it did exist it was small. Just Labor Party lies.
Henry Ergas is just slightly to the left of Ghengis Khan, and up there with other rabid, know-nothing-useful “economists” like Judith Sloan. I don’t believe anything these Lieberal economists say :P: 😆
So what Bacchus. The question should be is what Ergas is saying true or not. Your first instinct is to character attack.
Ergas says that State govt debt was also included in the IMF report and that the increase in debt was all due to the Labor Party, especially in Queensland. Is this true or not?? If so the results of the report are meaningless for what your purpose is.
Yes Bacchus you can’t trust this Liberals and their economists as far as you can throw them. Them lot are all proven prevaricators and deceivers, always have been and always will be. Takes someone with a deep ignorance of economics to believe them in the slightest.
Well more personal abuse as usual.
Was State govt debt included in that IMF report you people keep mentioning or not???
LOL Mö – exactly 😉
I haven’t got time for your $#!t Neil – read the report yourself if you really want to know 😛 Ergas’ assertions are probably definitely false though… They must be – they were written by a Lieberal proper ganderist. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them 😆
Well Bacchus Labor supporters have a history of spreading falsehoods. That is why I do not trust you people.
But we all have common sense. That IMF report about the Howard govt could not be true. And Ergas tells us why. It contained Queensland Labor Party debt.
Some European countries like France or Britain do not have State govts. So an IMF report would look at total debt. While Costello was paying it off, State Labor was racking it up.
Bacchus
Well i found the so-called IMF report. Ergas is right about one thing. This is what it says on the front page.
“This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.
The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate”
You know i may not be such a strong Liberal Party supporter as you think. But I am definitely anti-Labor. I cannot understand why so many people tell lies about the Howard govt.
I do not trust Peter Martin, Stephen Koukoulis, John Quiggen and Bernard Keane.
So it is not even an official IMF report but a working paper for discussion.
Neil, it is only you that believes that Labor spreads falsehoods. To you, anything that does not fit in with your beliefs has to be a lie.
Neil, otherwise you cannot make sense of your world.
No FU. Labor supporters spread falsehoods. Just take that IMF report that you people keep mentioning that said Howard was a profligate spender. I had a quick look at it. Howard is not mentioned once. Australia is however. And government debt in Australia is comprised of Federal, State and local.
Looks like Howard got blamed for what happened in Queensland under Beattie/Bligh. And did not Peter Martin spin it.
Peter Martin is a fraud.
Furthermore it was not even an IMF report but a working paper for discussion.
Neil, do not you comprehend. I said that all that disagrees with you are frauds.
Recessions and global economic funk are bad news for Australia’s budget position. Over the past four decades or so, each time Australia has been hit with a global slump or a domestic recession, there has been a budget deficit for either five, six or seven years.
The current figuring has Australia in budget deficit for seven years, if Treasury is right this time and there is a return to budget surplus in 2015-16.
From a purely accounting perspective and according to the latest Treasury figuring, the fiscal impact of the global banking and economic crisis on Australia will be budget deficits each and every year from 2008-09 to 2014-15.
If we hark back to the fiscal position in the aftermath of the early 1990s recession, the budget went from healthy surpluses of 1.5 per cent of GDP before the recession hit to deficits for seven consecutive years – from 1990-91 to 1996-97. A recovery in tax receipts, rather than spending cuts, drove the improvement in the budget bottom line.
It is a shame that Labor let itself be caught up with the political obsession with surpluses/
It appears that Labor has manage the economy, to allow budget back to surplus as is the norm. That means, I believe they have not failed. Just allowed themselves to be caught up in an economic impossibility. At least they are capable of changing course.
Poor old Neil. It appears that every economist and economic writers on the face of the earth is a fraud in his opinion, rather than question why so many of these people keep sticking pins in his Liars Party bubble.
Most normal people would begin to doubt the propaganda which has been their steady diet over the last few years; after all so few people endorse the propaganda.
“It appears that every economist and economic writers on the face of the earth is a fraud in his opinion”
No but Peter Martin, Stephen Koukoulis, John Quiggen and Bernard Keane are.
They tell lies for the Labor party to help them get elected.
Religious nutter says what?
Imagine poor old Neil, the Liberal spinner. Fingers in his ears, eyes scrunched closed. When there’s criticism of the Lieberls he squeals “Lies! Liars! Evil Heretics!”.
😀
I stand by what I said. Martin, Koukoulis, Quiggen and Keane all tell lies to help the Labor Party get elected.
It is easy to tell which Journalists vote for the Labor Party.
Right Wing Projection ^
Warren Entsch is a callous liar.
There are not enough police to investigate Jackson or Bought. One letter from Brandis, and a new enquiry into what happen between Thomson and the Labor party, under way in few hours.
TONY Abbott won’t be paying a cent to fight a $1.5 million lawsuit by One Nation co-founder David Ettridge with the Opposition Leader getting his high-powered legal team “pro-bono”.
In a declaration to the parliament, Mr Abbott confirmed Queensland-based McCullough Robertson were donating their time free of charge to work on the case.
“I wish to advise that Mr RG Bain QC is providing pro bono services as counsel in a legal matter and will be assisted by Mr N Ferrett also on a pro bono basis,” Mr Abbott said.
“McCullogh (sic) Robertson lawyers will act for me on a pro bono basis in the same matter.”…………….
The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will not be charged by his legal team defending a lawsuit brought by David Ettridge. Picture: Gary Ramage
Asked yesterday why the free legal services were obtained, a spokesman for the Opposition Leader said: “An offer was made and it was accepted”.
Brisbane-based McCullough Robertson is Queensland’s largest independent law firm. The firm denied News Limited’s request for comment when contacted on Friday.
Mr Ettridge yesterday said it was a farce that Mr Abbott was not paying for his own legal costs.
……………………………………….guess the question needs to be asked is what political favours are being created by that firm that will be called up upon if Mr Abbott is prime minister after the next election.”
Last year Mr Abbott declared he was receiving pro bono legal services from Arnold Bloch Leibler in defending a defamation case brought against him by prominent unionist John Setka.
In March, Mr Ettridge said he hoped law firms would line up to provide pro bono services for him. But yesterday he said he was paying his own costs and expected the case would leave him up to $200,000 out of pocket.
The One Nation co-founder filed an application in the Supreme Court last month claiming Mr Abbott acted unlawfully in 1998 and 1999 by allegedly assisting and encouraging litigation against Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.
He and Ms Hanson together served 11 weeks of a three-year-jail term for electoral fraud in 2003. The convictions were overturned on appeal.
Mr Ettridge is seeking at least $1.5 million in damages……….
………………….The poll also showed that it was high-income earners who thought better of Mr Swan’s sixth budget than the traditional Labor base of low income earners who were turned off.
The paper said the split in reaction neutralised any benefit for the Gillard government out of the budget and the national disability insurance scheme, DisabilityCare Australia, leaving political support unchanged over the last three months.
Archbishop Dennis Hart does not appear to be enjoying his appearance before the Victorian sexual child abuse inquiry. Cardinal Pell will be on later in the week.
I just had a brain fart, looking at the latest polls. In the past, the popularity of the leaders had little to do with who the electors voted for.
At this time, this is not true. I say this, because many are basing their intentions on their apparent hatred of the PM. They are supporting most of what she has done, and what she proposes to do, but say they will vote for the Coalition.
I hate to say this, but the PM has to turn this dislike around. I believe that the PM is gaining respect for her guts and achievements.
What the public needs to decide, is whether there hatred of the PM worth the ditching of many great policies she is pushing.
Mabe this is why we still have up to 30% of those po9ll undecided or do not knows.
I suspect on the day, they will come down to backing policies such as NDIS, NBNCo, CEF and Gonski. All these are to important to dump. Yes, if Abbott gets in, most will be gone for all time.
I suspect many will come to the conclusion that it is not a popularity contest, that it is about competing policies.
The fact that the latest polls show more upper income earners support the Swan budget an indication, that in the long run, commonsense will prevail.
Those lower income earners that complain about the changes to the lone parent benefits conditions, need to keep in mind, they will be worse off under Abbott. Opposing the PM is not in their best interest. In fact, Abbott in his address in reply promised to take more from these people.
Note the names in this story. Some are popping up in the present NSW inquiry, into Church sexual abuse in the Hunter.
My emphasis.
“.. The current Attorney-General Greg Smith, then the Deputy DPP was accused of tipping off Patrick Power before calling the police. Former High Court judge Michael McHugh later reported to the NSW Attorney General that he should have alerted the police but they had not acted corruptly. Power pleaded guilty to possesses hundreds of child pornography images and video and was imprisoned for 15 months.”
“..The Crown Prosecutor Roser argued that the Court of Criminal Appeal should reject all of Davidson’s findings. He stalled Roseanne’s malicious prosecution case with an argument that she had to prove her innocence. This argument was rejected by the High Court. He is currently appearing for senior police at the Special Commission on Inquiry concerning the child abuse investigations in NSW’s Hunter region.”
“That was 22 years ago. The Crown case accepted by the jury, who only saw part of the available evidence, was in tatters long ago. Six of eight convictions have been overturned. For much of that time, the current NSW Attorney General Greg Smith was the deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, at least partly responsible for the Crown’s handling of the case. So far, he has refused to reopen compensation discussions which were begun and then dropped in 2006, preferring instead the tortuous and expensive route of malicious prosecutions proceedings..”
“……………..Another fantasic piece on the extent of Police corruption in NSW, and the complicity of the Crown and the DPP in what is (at best) malfeasance.
Alarmingly, but not surprsingly current NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith has a central role in these proceedings alongside the littany of other highly dubious and questionable matters he finds himself implicated in…….
The defenders of Thomson here will not be happy if any more charges are laid against him. Obviously, all 183 charges are a stitch up…HAHAHAHAHAH!
scaper, I believe they are. Tim is visiting family in the USA.
scaper, maybe you know, someone noticed that Tony does not wear a wedding ring. I was wondering why.
scaper, as far as Thomson goes, nothing would surprise one.
Funny how there are not police available to spend more time on Jackson, but one note by Brandis, opens up new investigations on Thomson.
Showing your age. Most married men don’t wear wedding rings.
I wonder who was booked eight times in twelve weeks driving Gillard’s tax payer provided car???
I believe it was FWA that instigated the police investigation. Those damn bastards there are Liberal plants!
Scaper, it’s you who are showing your age, men all seem wear wedding rings..that includes gay friends who cannot legally marry. I believe that today they’re called commitment rings.
Wearing your wedding ring?????
scaper, I could not care less whether Abbott wears a ring or not. Just showing how stupid your throw away lines are. Could not care less if Tim is still an item.
I could not care less, as the comments have nothing to do with either being a leader, or how they do their jobs.
scaper, the throw away lines are not even smart or funny. Just shows you as one with a small and narrow mind.
Yes, Labor should be proud of what it has achieved. Still the best option possible. Yes, industry does deserve certainty.
“Labor must fight for the carbon price”
Ahead of an election it looks increasingly unlikely to win, the Gillard government has a few good stories to tell.
It can outline progress with the National Disability Insurance Scheme, it can push the benefits of the NBN, and it can point to a strong employment and economic growth record compared to that of the developed world (best avoid mentioning the budget, however). Labor MPs are selling these messages as best they can, but on carbon pricing they have so far missed a big opportunity.
Although the government was stung by Julia Gillard’s own goal in pledging not to introduce a carbon tax, climate policy remains a weakness for the Opposition thanks to diverse (and strong) viewpoints on climate change within the Coalition.
Its current ‘solution’, Direct Action, is at best short on detail and at worst, in Malcolm Turnbull’s words, “a recipe for fiscal recklessness on a grand scale.” Beyond this, Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce has previously labelled it a meaningless gesture, business and energy groups have been lining up to ask for more information while some Coalition MPs have started to speak out against it.
Of the two alternative climate policies, Labor has the better story to tell; it’s just a little gun-shy after taking an almighty hit upon the announcement of the carbon tax. Given speculation the ALP may agree to a repeal should it lose the election, perhaps the party now believes the rhetoric that carbon pricing is its WorkChoices.
Unlike WorkChoices however, the problem with the carbon tax is not the impact it has on voters, but rather that it was built on a mistruth that has haunted Labor through good opposition. The sting has gone out of it so much that the pollsters are rarely even bothering to ask the voting public their opinion on carbon pricing anymore. WorkChoices, on the other hand, was as despised post-election as it was when first mooted.
A buckling to Coalition pressure to repeal the legislation would be just as embarrassing a backflip as Abbott deciding not to try and repeal the carbon tax. It would be a major backward step after climate change minister Greg Combet labelled such a move “immoral”. It would also do the public a disservice by not allowing Direct Action to be subjected to the scrutiny it deserves.
By bringing climate policy into the election limelight, Labor can also attack Abbott for his deception over the potential impact of carbon pricing. From economic wrecking balls to towns being wiped out, cobras striking and pythons squeezing, Abbott’s language was as strong as it was scary for the Australian public……………..
Although the government was stung by Julia Gillard’s own goal in pledging not to introduce a carbon tax… it’s just a little gun-shy after taking an almighty hit upon the announcement of the carbon tax… the problem with the carbon tax is not the impact it has on voters, but rather that it was built on a mistruth that has haunted Labor through good opposition.
Does anyone see anything wrong in these three propositions?
Sick of Tom bloody Waterhouse (and other gambling industry advertisers) spoiling your enjoyment of the footy? Sign the petition: http://tinyurl.com/o5rjrxq
Hazel Hawk has passed away. I really liked her and hated the way Bob left her.
Fed up @12.45pm, all the lies?
ME, a very sad day, indeed. Hazel Hawke was a very well respected campaigner for Alzheimer’s sufferers and a long suffering partner of Bob Hawke, boozer and philanderer.
I have always had an enormous amount of respect for Hazel Hawke, particularly her quiet dignity after Bob ‘s rather despicable desertion of her.
Vale Hazel Hawke. A great woman.
Behind every ‘good’ man . there is an even better woman….. Vale Hazel.
So after all his massive cuts and hardship heaped on Queenslanders, including wide scale destruction of the environment at the behest of industry and developers, Newman fails, just as his austerity was predicted to fail at great pain for not only no gain but going backwards.
This comes on the back of the news of Newman setting to allow 2 million hectares of pristine bush to be cleared for big farming interests, yet another broken promise.
I know one thing, I bet we don’t see Neil condemning Newman for racking up surpluses, just as he hasn’t condemned the other Liberal States for doing it either. Hypocritically and erroneously he only ever blames Labor.
And we haven’t seen anything if Abbott gets in and fails as he must, the lame excuses and blame shifting will come thick and fast.
Latest poll…LNP 57%-ALP 43%.
I saw Labor’s office in Parliament House…a broom closet!
Scaper, and the benefit to the country is? Get over it, it’s not a footy game where killing the opposition means the best outcome. Tell me how you’re going to be salivating all over Abbott’s jock strap benefiting from Tony Abbott when he becomes PM…oh whoops, I think that I now know…
Yep, all is honky donky in Liberal Land.
A rift is widening in Coalition ranks over renewable energy targets, with several Liberal MPs planning to publicly defy the party line by attending a Tea Party-style anti-wind farm rally at Parliament House in Canberra.
The rally is scheduled for June 18 and is being promoted through a clandestine group using a website called StopTheseThings.com, which provides no names of organisers or authorisations, but posts a picture of Tiananmen Square in an apparent effort to encourage defiance.
It also posts comments from contributors claiming God is on their side in their bid to rid the nation of wind farms.
Shock jock Alan Jones is certainly on their side and is named on the website as master of ceremonies for the upcoming event, which is being touted as the ”Wind Power Fraud” rally…………….
It should be called the “Anti-Wind Power Fraud Rally.”
Who needs wind power anyway? The conservatives should put their propensity to spin to good use. Harnessed properly it could be an abundant source of renewable energy.
Min, how would I benefit?
The Water Transfer Project, Darwin as a Free Port, Special Economic Zones, the Inland Rail to Brisbane and Project Iron Boomerang for starters.
But the best value is watching you lot howl like banshees for at least a decade…priceless!
“But the best value is watching you lot howl like banshees for at least a decade…priceles”
Min, why would the above be true. Surely if the election of a Abbott is going to be so good, we would be on our knees, thanking God for being saved from the terrible Gillard government.
We will be full of love for Abbott, and go to our knees, every time the Saviour goes pass.
Pell appears today at the RC into the RC.
When Pope Benedict 16 stepped down, there was of course immediate speculation as to who would become the next pope. I checked the betting odds on all the contenders, and noted that Pell was ranked at the bottom. I wonder why?
This is the problem with switching to the other side.One does nott know what they are getting. Lucky dips can be fun, but npt this one, I fear.
“……Sell the ABC and voters will make you pay
by:ERROL SIMPER
From:The Australian May 27, 2013 12:00AM
IT’S disturbingly clear that one of Tony Abbott’s principal problems, should he be prime minister after September 14, might be to keep his loony Right in check.
Peter Reith and many others have made it clear, for example, they believe the Opposition Leader’s industrial and workplace policies are “too timid” and want a tougher, more employer-friendly regimen. This is despite John Howard’s Work Choices (probably) costing the Coalition the 2007 election and in the knowledge that Abbott’s embrace of Work Choices was reluctant….”
silkworm, Cardinal Pell has more to be responsible for than others.
We hear so much about divorce. Where are the studies that tell us how these people fare after divorce. Are they happy, or do they wish they stayed in the marriage. None tell us why they are throwing in the towel. Just a thought on my part. Divorce is always presented as being something bad. Is it?
“till death does part”. What does this mean? Is it the death of love, physical death or even just death of the marriage?
“………..EMPTY nesters are divorcing in droves, as the “20-year itch” fuels a mid-life marriage breakdown.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has found the risk of divorcing after 20 years of marriage has doubled in a generation.
Middle-aged men are more likely to remarry than divorced women, who stay single or live apart from their new lovers.
The first 10 years of marriage remains the danger period for most Australian couples – but the latest data points to a new “20-year itch”…”
Cardinal Pell taking no responsibility. In fact acting as being badly done by. Hostility from press.
This is only the beginning.
Pell trying to get statement he was refused to make, into his answers.
He is denying that he is perceived as having influence.
The man is a fool at the very least.
His face has redden quicker than that of Hart.
He will not have any skin left on those hands, when this is finished.
Asked to explained.
Ask why he appeared in court with an offender. Maybe he should be asked, why he did not inquire to the severity of the crimes the priest pleaded guilty to.
Always been on the side of the victims. Maybe he should be asked, in this case, who are the victims. Lived with priest for twelve months.
Pell is not doing well at all.
Pell had no idea. Knew there were many charges. Never asked what they were, it seemed. Now being called out on a lie,
Thanks, fu. Now watching on ABC 24. Pell accepting no responsibility. Palming blame off onto his bishops. I see what you mean by losing skin off his hands. Wash wash wash. Not me.
Christ’s stripes are from whip marks on his back. Pell’s stripes are from grill marks on his bum.
scaper @7.18am, I hope you’re patient. None of the above will come to fruition no matter how much you and the Liars spruik.
The laughable water transfer project which they’ve obviously found in Barnett’s waste paper basket and special economic zones just for Gina. You haven’t got that long to live! Bwwwahahahahahahahaha!
We will be full of love for Abbott, and go to our knees, every time the Saviour goes pass.
Not me, Fed up, I’ll be knocking up a cross, torches and pitchforks for distribution to the punters when they realise they’ve been sold a pup with distemper. 😆
Pell taking no responsibility, eh? Now we know why Liealot also shrugs off responsibility with such ease; his mentor is tarred with the same brush.
And now caught in a lie, just like his star apologist and defender of the pedophile priest. Looks like there’s some “‘splaining to do.”
Pell is getting no better. In fact worse.
As for the hands, I have visited many adolescents in custody, including my work life. All sat at the other side of the table, rubbing their hands as Pell is doing. Abbott also has the same behaviour under pressure.
Shame they put the show on in competition with QT. Not sure which is the most revealing.
Nice to know the Cardinal has no authority.
I hope the next time, their is a message read out from the pulpits ordering those present to take a certain action. That they let him know, he can take directions and shove them up, one knows where.
I believe he has just made one, decrying Gonski. This when the Catholic Education has made different comments.
Who said women cannot interrogate. This one is a beauty.
He is talking about the Royal Commission.. Told three times now, this is not the Royal Commission.
So we now have it under oath, that the Cardinal has no authority.
What do we expect from the Public Services. Apparently not what it could delver a few short years ago.
“…examine such long-term issues.
“More recently, when I came across an outstanding research project demonstrating how to hugely improve capacity to deliver age and disability services in remote communities and made inquiries about how to embed this knowledge in the relevant department, I was advised that the sort of core knowledge-containing structures I had enjoyed as a minister no longer exist in the APS”..
Love Pell, his answer to his luxurious accommodation in Rome. A hostel that students come to study.
Seen a programme a few months ago on the church in Italy. It appears those student accommodation is the way the church avoids tax. Very few students found within their walls.
The case for keeping Julia. Indeed there is a case fro keeping this PM. She has earnt, the hard way, the respect of many.
Yes, not perfect, but what PM has been.
Why does one continue to focus on failures at the expense of the great numbers of achievements.
“………..IT seems I’m the only columnist left in Australia who thinks Julia Gillard and her excellent government have a reasonable chance of winning the September 14 election.
Should she stay or should she go? Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Call me quixotic if you like, but I just can’t believe that my fellow Australians would toss out a government that has done us such sterling service for an opposition led by Tony Abbott who threatens to undo so much of what we’ve achieved these last five years; and who wants to set us on a path to “austerity” that has done such appalling damage in Europe and the US……..”
Barnett’s waste basket? You display your rather large rump called ‘Ignorance’.
In fact, you have no idea which is most entertaining as you represent the apathetic class that has no say.
You belong to the “Build Anything Nowhere Anywhere Near Anything” sect. Commonly Known as ‘BANANAS’…back to the jungle.
scaper, maybe you can interpret what you are trying to say. Lost you.
Not Pell’s finest day I believe.
“………Australia’s top-ranking Catholic has admitted to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that some members of the Church tried to cover up child sexual abuse by other members of the clergy.
Cardinal George Pell told the inquiry he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of child sex abuse within the Church.
Some members of the packed public gallery wept as Cardinal Pell was forced to answer questions about the Church’s systemic cover-up of cases of rape of children as young as five-years old.
Cardinal Pell says he recently learned that former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns had destroyed documents to hide cases of abuse and he admitted that in some cases members of the clergy were placed above the law.
But Cardinal Pell denies paying lip service to victims of Church abuse and only saying sorry because he was caught out..”
scaper you seem full of praise for the ludicrous build a squillion dams somewhere or other for God knows what reason; certainly no sensible reason. How about let’s build a railway line to nowhere-except Russ Hinge’s house, perhaps.
Different taxation zones, ffs? And just who will administer these hare brained schemes? Certainly not public servants. Thanks to Liealot and his fellow half wits, there will be no public servants to administer such a moronic plan.
If such a scheme were at all feasible don’t you think other countries would have tried it? But not one has even bothered to contemplate it. Why is that, I wonder?
The Liars should submit their “policies” to a film maker specialising in fantasies. I’m sure they’d be snapped up.
Jane, your comment displays your lack of knowledge…once again.
Obviously you don’t have a clue about water transfer and I fail to see where I mentioned building dams. However, did you know that recently the government gave $2M to recalculate the cost to build Hells Gate Dam just recently? That’s right, your beloved government.
Your comment about the railways yet again reveals your lack of knowledge. The Inland Railway was endorsed by Infrastructure Australia but canned by your beloved government in favour of a railway in Melbourne (50km) that costs twenty times the price with relatively little GDP gain.
Project Iron Boomerang is a privately funded ($45B) project and the proprietors are already purchasing land for the rail and infrastructure corridor which will be the largest project in our history.
Your comment relating to SEZs is a howler! You say…”If such a scheme were at all feasible don’t you think other countries would have tried it? But not one has even bothered to contemplate it. Why is that, I wonder?”
Your ignorance is breathtaking! So no other country has bothered to contemplate it???????????? Educate yourself, fool!
Any large-scale development in northern Australia which fails to account and plan for the effects of AGW is doomed.
Those who think otherwise, are indeed fools, although education is not likely to remedy such ignorance, given the active choices involved in their rejection of reality.
Enter the Global Warming Doomsday Cultist.
HAHAHAHAH!
scaper has anyone ever told you that you are a total dickhead.
Only by keyboard jocks who resort to abuse because they can not form a reasonable argument…like you, actually.
scaper, we have had dreams for damming and diverting water in the North since Harbour bridge has built. Each time, sanity has raised it head, and the dreams abandoned.
scaper, in spite of what you say, irrigation in this region is not viable. Well at least on a wide scale operation. The climate and environment prevents this.
Yes, one cannot ignore nature.
You say you came form the north. Ask the farmer or grazier, how hard it is to save the water in their dams, year to year,. Yes, for starters, evaporation is a big problem, high on the list of negatives for the dream. Yes, yes are many negatives and few positives.
I have not even got to the fact, the rain falls in a short time frame, or the land does not have many valleys, and no snow line.
Do not forget that beautiful black soil, that is near impossible to work with, during the wet times. Impossible even to walk across.
.
Insulting people who do not agree, does not change facts.
crowey, you can work out what he is saying. Must take my hat off to you.
Was not “special economic zones”, the wish of the far right back in the 1980’s. Seem to recall much talk then. One can only marvel at the fact that some business believe they are entitled to be removed of the obligation to pay taxes and treat their employees as humans. that they believe they are entitled to all, at the expenses of others.
Wonder how much they can produce and sell, without those workers. Yes, workers also contributed to the wealth made,
With NBNco, the north will become less isolated, will even allow people to cooperate and remain in communication in the wet. Should lead to increase business opportunities. Much better option that fantasy land dams.
Oh dear, another one with a comprehension deficit disorder! The only mention of dam I have made is Hells Gate that is nothing to do with the opposition and somehow water transfer alludes to dams?
You can knock what you don’t understand but the fact is you and your ilk are powerless to stop these projects going ahead.
Is thius the world we really want?
“………..A MELBOURNE business once awarded a best employer accolade is in strife after deducting wages from staff members for toilet breaks.
At least three employees at an Aegis Australia call centre in Werribee had money taken from their pay for the amount of time they spent in the loo during their shift.
Staff at the outsourcing and contact centre company are required to explain if they are away from their desk for more than 90 seconds..
scaper, i have a farming background. Have lived in Queensland. I also have a great interest in geography.
This is a topic, I have been interested in for a lifetime. Would love to see the fantasy become a reality. Sadly, it is nothing but a fantasy.
Sorry scaper, I cannot change facts, to be able to agree with you.
scaper, admit it. These Liars projects will NEVER get off the ground, simply because they are just more of Liealot’s brain farts.
Hopefully, if these clowns are voted into power, they’ll break all these dumb promises. I for one will be delighted when they manufacture excuses not to act on any of Liealot’s brain farts.
What will be interesting if the Liars get the nod will be waiting for even the teeniest tiniest bit of outrage from the likes of the resident trolls when they break promise after promise.
My bet is that “changed circumstances” will be bandied about , but no shrill cries of untrustworthiness, lies, incompetence, chaos & all the crap thrown at Gillard for the last 3+ years will be mentioned
Like Fed up, I also spent my childhood on a farm and also agree that the Liars brain farts belong in the realms of fantasy..
QT: Albanesen is moving to suspend standing orders to force Abbott to acknowledge science of climate change. Aboot accepts climate change is happening. Equivocal on whether it’s anthropogenic. Says anyway, he disagrees with govt’s CPRS. Abbott using opportunity to attack govt, but won’t discuss his own carbon pollution reduction plans.
Jane, somewhere in the ball court of Mr. Turnbull’s effort to create rain, in the Howard government. I believe it was some 10 million, he spent.
Maybe that Murray/Darling plan they drew up of a table napkin.
Yes, all in the land of make believe.
I have a feeling, the asylum seekers trap is being sprung. Wonder who the winner will be?
So is the NBN. Yes Mr. Albanese, it is uploading as well. Also about capacity, as well as down loading speed. Down and up loading at the same time.
New catch phrase, the Digital or Broadband divide. Sadly I live in a area, on the wrong side of that divide.
Media Watch: Disclosing the funding of think tanks
ABC1′s program investigating media and public affairs turned its attention once again to the Australia’s top eight think tanks (which gratifyingly includes CPD).
Of these eight, CPD is one of only three which have a policy of disclosing funders (other than small, individual funders who wish to remain anonymous).
Media Watch researchers put a list of searching questions to each think tank, and published the responses on its website. Miriam Lyons’s original response on behalf of CPD, alongside responses from the McKell Institute, Grattan Institute, Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney Institute, The Australia Institute and Per Capita, while the Institute of Public Affairs’ brief reply is summarised in the transcript.,,
Another myth being put to bed. The myth, that this nation under the PM is a unhappy place to be.
“…….he Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Better Life Index has found 84 per cent of Australians are satisfied with their lives.
This betters the OECD average of 80 per cent.
And what’s more, life expectancy at almost 82 years is two years higher than the average.
In the happiness stakes, Australia beats Sweden and Canada, also known for high standards of living.
The survey of 36 industrialised nations also found more than 73 per cent of Australians aged 15 to 64 have a paid job, compared with the OECD employment average of 66 per cent.
However, almost 14 per cent of employees work very long hours, much higher than the nine per cent average in the industrialised world, with 21 per cent of men working very long hours compared with just six per cent for women.
Unlike in many other OECD countries, mothers often return to full-time work once their children reach school age.
The OECD website says there are also high levels of civic participation and a strong sense of community in Australia………..”
jane, horrors of horrors, he spent that money while the government was in care taker mode. What a horrendous crime is that.
Federal Independent MP Tony Windsor believes mining magnate Gina Rinehart could bankroll the campaign of his main opponent ahead of the upcoming national election.
Mr Windsor faces a tight race for his seat of New England in northern NSW, against National Party Queensland senator Barnaby Joyce, who is attempting to move to the lower house.
He told parliament on Tuesday there were rumours swirling in his electorate that Ms Rinehart planned to donate up to $700,000 to Senator Joyce’s campaign.
“I’d like Ms Rinehart to actually clarify her position as to how many hundreds of thousands she is giving to a candidate in New England,” Mr Windsor said during a debate on political donations.
But Senator Joyce said that to the best of his knowledge, Ms Rinehart had not donated a dollar to his campaign.
“Certainly, I would know of any substantial donation and I know of none,” he told AAP.
Asked if he would accept a donation from Australia’s richest woman, Senator Joyce said, “Yes. You bet.”
Mr Windsor questioned the interest of Ms Rinehart – a West Australian billionaire – in New England.
“Does it have anything to do with coal seam gas on the Liverpool Plains?” he asked in parliament.
“Does it have something to do with the water trigger amendment to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act that’s currently before the Senate that one Senator Joyce … was part of the delaying tactics to prevent that particular amendment getting through the parliament week before last?”
The legislation would give the commonwealth powers to to consider the water impacts of new coal seam gas projects and was something Mr Windsor pushed for.
Senator Joyce said he rejected all of Mr Windsor statements in parliament.
“I can understand that Mr Windsor is under a lot of pressure. I can understand he’s rattled,” he told AAP.
“But you can’t just wander into the chamber and make these bizarre statements.
“He should really go back, if he’s a decent person, and correct the record…..
Only by keyboard jocks who resort to abuse because they can not form a reasonable argument…
LIKE YOU actually, Scaper, as you once again demonstrate! 😆 😆 😆
Scaper lives in an unchanging world where the temperature never, ever changes. Fine one day, fine again the next. 😉
Yes, I believe that Telstra will be given back their power under Opposition power. Other telco’s will be back in the position they have been up to now, beholden to Telstra.
Optus considers FTTH NBN plans
Harrison Polites
3 Jun, 9:27 AM
Technology
NBN Buzz
Bookmark
Optus is bracing for a Coalition-driven NBN, mulling a new style of broadband plan that would see a fibre-to-the-home expansion rolled into the contract.
Talking to Inside Business, Optus’ chief country officer Kevin Russell said this is one of the many plans the telco is “bouncing around” as part of its bid to keep up with the ever-evolving NBN rollout.
Under the current scheme, fibre is to be rolled out to the majority of homes in Australia.
However, if the Coalition gets into power after the September election, its plan would see most homes serviced under a fibre-to-the-node scheme, where the last mile of the network – the cable connecting the home to the node – would remain as a copper connection.
Optus’ plan would see the telco bundle in a fibre connection for that last mile of the network, as an add-on to its broadband plans.
Mr Russell also expressed concerns about the competitive landscape surrounding the NBN rollout, saying Telstra holds a strong position in the tough telco market.
“They negotiated a very nice pot of gold on a business that was probably declining, or was declini.
Yes, we will be paying for that extra kilometer. Why, one should ask themselves.
Another question I ask, and have ask those contractors doing the work, which is hard, why is there not a simple machine that lifts these pits in one operation. I believe they are very small. 2 or 3 feet either way.
Why, when Telstra has been aware of the problem for decades, have they not develop modern technology to deal with the situation.
No, they have choose to avoid the problem, by contracting out to contractors to sub and many sub contractors. Have chosen to avoid there responsibilities. Ensuring the manage to do the job at the cheapest cost possible.
I suspect, if they had developed modern technology to deal with the matter, it would in the long run, be much cheaper, and definitely safer.
We are long past the time we take a shovel and crowbar, assisted by a small jack hammer to do such work.
Rob Oakeshott speech in the house, worth catching up on.
Wonder who is bringing in legal mob. Will have great problems proving they are at risk. Experts seem to be saying not.
“Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said both Telstra and the network’s builder, NBN Co, had questions to answers.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is calling on people who believe they may have been exposed to asbestos around Telstra’s work on the national broadband network to register their exposure.
Lawyer Jonathan Walsh says asbestos-related diseases don’t manifest for years so it’s important for people to track possible points of exposure earl…..]]
Opposition speaker claiming that roll out, is only occurring in margin seats. Sorry, I am in a safe Labor seat. I have to wait until the last lot.
Another view. Why is the bullshit of Turnbull gaining a foot hold?
“Abel Adamski, Tue, 2013-06-04 00:58
Rod and Tony.
Before commenting , know the facts.
A) NBN leased Testra’s Pits/Ducts/pipes for 30 Years on a fit for purpose basis (fit for purpose includes safe for workers and the public) – This meant Telstra is being paid as part of tha $11Bill to remediate their infrastructure as per the terms of the contract.
B) The NBN/Telstra contract includes facilities/buildings/power systems (No Break etc). BUT NOT The wires or copper. The Copper wires remain the VERY Valuable assett of the Telstra Shareholder.
C) The matter of the Asbestos was factored in as well known within the industry and was part of the due processes. As the article ststes Telstra has been paying compensation re asbestos to it’s lines workers for over 20 Years. (Maybe why they went to contractors rather than employees – legal proof).
D) The delays, the remediation works have been a factor which is Telstra’s responsibility. Other factors, council approvals. Lack of skilled workers ( asbestos training is a training cost ), a large reason for lack of skilled workers is the patchy rollout due to remediation iddues and the understandable reluctance of the contractors to waste the money on traing the skilled workers and splicers when News Ltd (protecting the very lucrative Foxtel and Sky Pay and Subxscription MONOPOLIES) and the coalition will not need splicers as doing FTTN and will have the taxpayer subsidising private sector builders who can as a result undercut the LBN in high value areas, meaning the total cost plus all the direct taxpayer subsidies both transparent and hidden will end up on the budget bottom line. But then the subject is not the Quislings, but the asbestos and responsibility. Telecom knew about it and had a program replacing it. Privatisation, now Telstra, reorganisations, redundancies, beancounter and seagull priliferation. Costs cut to improve dividends. Asbestos remediation is very expensive so we have the present situation. Shoild have been fixed years ago
reply
Is it not shocking,CanDo has broken his promises. Why is it, that all those cuts are having the opposite result. Could it be, that austerity, sends economies into down fall?
Did they forget, all those sacked workers, stop spending, lowering tax receipts.
?The Queensland treasurer has unveiled a budget deficit that is double last year’s forecast, as the state grapples with cyclone repairs and plunging mining royalties.
Tim Nicholls handed down his second budget on Tuesday, confirming the bad news he broke over a week ago – that Queenslanders will have to wait an extra year for a surplus.
‘We haven’t sought to pretend fruitlessly and mindlessly that we’re going to achieve something when it becomes apparent that’s not going to be achievable,’ he told reporters.
A budget deficit of $7.7 billion is expected for 2013/14 – double Treasury’s forecast of $3.8 billion made in last year’s September budget.
The repair costs from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, which pummelled the state in January, are lower than those left by the 2010 and 2011 natural disasters.
But Queensland still expects to contribute $620 million towards the $2.5 billion bill, between 2012 and 2015.
This year’s extreme weather is estimated to have wiped $500 million to $750 million from the Queensland economy, or a quarter of a percentage point in growth in 2012/13.
It comes as falling commodity prices hit state mining revenues, with forecast royalties dropping by $980 million since the Newman government’s first budget.
Treasury has blamed the revenue drop on weaker coal export prices and a strong Australian dollar, which held parity with the US greenback for most of the past year.
‘That has a very significant impact,’ Mr Nicholls said.
Last year, the government predicted an increase in coal royalties would net $1.6 billion over four years.
But, Mr Nicholls said, commonwealth GST revenue payments to Queensland and mining royalty collections had fallen by $5.3 billion since the Liberal National Party (LNP) came to power in March 2012.
A return to surplus has been pushed back to 2015/16, a year later than forecast.
A modest $1 billion surplus is predicted for that financial year, following a small deficit, of $244 million, in 2014/15.
Queensland’s economy is expected to grow by three per cent in 2013/14 before doubling to six per cent in 2015/16.
The September budget had forecast 3.75 per cent growth for 2013/14.
Unemployment is forecast to drop from six per cent in the upcoming financial year to 5.75 per cent in 2014/15 and 5.5 per cent in 2015/16.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE:..
Maybe by the electiion, the figures will be better, not worse as Abbott would like.
“Australia’s current account deficit narrowed to $8.51 billion in the March quarter, seasonally adjusted.
This followed a deficit of $14.759 billion in the December quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Tuesday.
The median market forecast was for a deficit of $9.0 billion in the March quarter.
The surplus on goods and services rose in real terms, which would add 1.0 percentage point to growth in the March quarter measure of gross domestic product (GDP), the ABS said.
Australia’s net foreign debt rose to $763.578 billion in the March quarter from $757.284 billion in the December quarter.
What is the Opposition on about. By the was, the Opposition ensure they do not find themselves in this position. Do nothing, does protect one.
“Well since 2001 this asbestos issue has been known about , Telstra also told a senate broadband inquiry in 2003 about it as wel and also said Copper Lines were end of life .. new medium to be implemted over next decade …
Then again on Sept 15th 2005 as per the attached APH Hansard record below shows Coalition knew more about this issue then they are letting on , in fact if the truth be known , Howard sold Telstra to mum and dad shareholders knowing there was a huge asbestos issue timebomb ..
Café Whispers 
….my bad….. 😯 😆
http://iainhall.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/a-change-of-direction-for-the-sandpit/
Poor sarcasm. The Labia Party and last paragraph of over the top magniloquence gives it away.
Yes, Allah will provide. It is also April Fools day.
I believe that someone else is the fool. Puts up a good article, and gets it right for once, then shoots himself in the foot with it.
The joke will be on him in the long run. That is whether Abbott wins or loses. The Result is the same. They are still losers.
The funny thing is that this PM promotes hard work, as the way to future success. Both on a personal basis and for the nation.
One needs to work hard at getting an education, and then expect to work hard, to obtain success.
Wonder where Allah providing, comes into the picture when one talks about our present PM.
She herself has shown by example, that she also believes in hard work.
I almost fell for that one, LOVO. For a brief moment I thought Mr Hall had come to his senses. 😯
Migs, I was looking for todays april fools day jokes and blow me down and call me Nancy, I happen stanced on the Sand Pit…… the April Fools Day joke, at least for me, was how they actually KNOW how well our wonderful country is going and yet still maintain thier ‘mantra’ in the face of TRUTH. 🙄 WTF …. 🙄 I don’t get it….. I can only assume it is because I come from Broken Hill….. where rich kid mucked around with poor kid… that mucked around with wog kid… who mucked around with dumb kid, who mucked around with smart kid, et fucking cetera …. and are still mates, cobba’s till the end now thats Australian to me…. I….. sometimes…. feel sorry for these elitist jerks whom think thier so special because of some ‘perceived’ privilege….. we go around but once and they make such a mockery of it… 🙄
What, no mention of the supposed changes to the super being floated by Labor?
I see a backbench revolt if they pursue such a policy. Crean has said he will fight it…might even cross the floor. So much for clear air.
None.
No sense of humour here I see 😆
Bacchus, I’ve known that for over 15 years .. so why now? DUMB
Somewhat off thread, I watched a program on the ABC a few nights ago called Angels in the Dust about Marion and Con Cloete who care for 550 South African children, many of whom have been either orphaned, abandoned or abused by their parents.
A large number are also infected with HIV/AIDS which it is estimated could lead to 25 million children being orphaned in Africa.
Even more tragic was the Minister for Health in South Africa recommending olive oil, garlic and lemon juice as a cure for HIV/AIDS. All so the government doesn’t feel obliged to provide anti retro viral treatment for sufferers.
WTF? Salad dressing is the cure for HIV/AIDS?
http://www.takepart.com/angels
TB,
Did you read the budget speech linked by George M?
But yes, you”ve got to wonder about timing and the “selling” of the message…
Selling the message is the last thing/never thing that should be done……. ‘telling’ the message….. the message must be told… not sold…..let the MSMLNP ‘sell’ their message ( and a little bit of themselves 🙄 ) …. you can only fool some of the people some of the time…. that is the MSMLNP way…….but not all,…. which is something thems higher selves don’t get ….. word of mouth is what’s going to win this and the next election for PMJG… not sell… and not “the game”…… I’m hoping that the MSMLNP continue to use American style BS….. ’cause the ‘pull ya head in’ sub-culture will come a whittling……. Tony Tall Poppy is chewing more than he can bite… *choker*
Could North Korea be Labor’s 9/11?
Could North Korea be Labor’s 9/11?
Perish the thought!
Love people power, the national deposit collection scheme is a no brainer… and it will work… just ask a South Aussie or a Broken Hill-ite
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.340451192722848.1073741825.303584956409472&type=1
http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Whatelsewesupport/why-do-we-need-a-container-deposit-legislation-.html
https://www.facebook.com/itsoutoforder
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/03/21/coca-cola-machine-out-of-order-in-australia/
I, for one, have stopped buying Coke products…. stuff ’em. 👿
http://ccamatil.com/OurBrands/Pages/Australia.aspx
They’re quite pervasive LOVO – what are you going to drink now? You may have to settle for Coopers 😆
LOVO, from your link to none other than our own Kevin Rennie of Global Voices,
The situation that we currently have is that people have to PAY to recycle via having an extra bin. Way..way back when I was a Shire Councillor we provided this service for nothing because a recycling bin meant minus X dollars in roadside cleaning. Then some bright spark suggested that all this recyclable stuff might mean a business for him. That was in the mid 80’s..I think that I’ll play music..
We’ve had deposits on bottles and cans for decades in SA. Prior to recycling centres and drinks in cans, when you bought a soft drink in SA, you’d be asked “Drink here, or take away?”
Interstate visitors were puzzled until they were told that if they took the drink away from the shop, they had to pay a deposit on the bottle. Deposits varied depending on the size of the bottle and shop owners paid the deposit on delivery.
If a bottle was returned, the deposit was refunded and the bottle stacked in the empty crates. At the next delivery, the shop owner was credited for the empties.
Local kids and holiday maker kids from interstate trawled bins and roads for bottles which they would return for cash in the claw.
It augmented their pocket money and kept the streets and roadsides clean.
Some enterprising kids snuck onto shop premises, pinched empties and cheekily returned them to the shop they pinched them from. Usually they were sprung and the empties locked up.
Adults also collected them and it wasn’t unknown for people to save enough money to buy furniture.
When the government decided to extend the deposits to alcohol containers, it was too cumbersome for pubs to be doling out deposit refunds and the recycling centre was born.
I haven’t heard of Coke trying it on here, but it puzzles me as to why they have taken the action; they don’t have to collect or refund the deposit, so what’s their point?
Hopefully, people action will force them to do the right thing.
Hi, Jane… it’s such a no- brainer isn’t it 🙄 … as someone that has grown up with “tapping” bottles as we call it here in the Hill… I have always known that the national deposit collection scheme would work…. because I have grown up with it…. for all you folk out there this is how it goes….. instead of chuck’n your drink container away… ya keep it 😯 …… keep ten @10c refund, ya gots a dollar…. next time you chuck a drink bottle, can, water bottle, ice coffee carton.. etc…think 10c…. 3 months later ya gots a pile of ’em @10c each which you take to the ‘Bottle O’ ( recycle centre) and get (average family wise) $40 to $50….. pensioners, those with limited employment prospects, those on the dole, etc, actively go out and collect cans, bottles, cartons, etc to supplement thier incomes… up to $20 to $30 per day… give or take… its a win/win situ….. cleaner streets and environs….. less landfill…… less resources going to waste… and the odd free lunch 😉 …or tank of juice and/or supplemental $ to pay bills, etc….. just ask a South Aussie or Broken Hill-ite what they reckon about ‘Tapping’ bottles.. it makes cents, not waste 😀
LOVO, exactly. It makes so much sense, particularly as coke doesn’t have to handle the returns.
But it still doesn’t explain why the hell Coke has taken this action? Has there been any explanation at all?
Maybe if people collected all the coke cans and bottles and dumped them outside coke hq, whether they’d still think it such a good idea?
Perhaps the NT government could start branding coke as a bad citizen. Oh wait, it’s a Liars government…….
Visit to TPS worthwhile. Long comment on Abbott’s address to the IPA do that should not be missed.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/a-fair-go-for-prime-minister-julia-gillard/
Is it time to give our PM a fair go.
Lady Thatcher’s death could propel The Wizard Of Oz track “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to the top of the charts.
Those who saw her death as a cause for celebration have prompted a download surge for the track.
Within 24 hours of the former Prime Minister’s death, the song had risen to number 9 in the iTunes best-sellers chart. It reached number 2 on the Amazon singles download chart. …
Another performance of the song by Ella Fitzgerald stood at 146 in the Official Chart and one by the Munchkins is at 183. If sales of the three versions had been combined it would be selling strongly enough to be at number 40.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead-could-reach-number-one-following-margaret-thatchers-death-8566042.html
Wait, what happened to the version by The Fifth Estate? To my rock and roll ears, that was the best version.
Fed up, interesting that Abbott calls Labor “hereditary peers” when his own team are all decidedly part of Howard’s old rusted-ons.
Some 17 of them I believe. On the shadow front bench to boot.
How others, beyond our shores, see our PM.
Julia Gillard will be long remembered after Tony whathisname…..the future Ambassador for Tuvalu 😀
I’m 100% behind the Greens on this one..
Gambling is in my blood boasts Tom Waterhouse…
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/controls-are-needed-to-prevent-a-generation-of-problem-gamblers-20130417-2i0b6.html#ixzz2QoIBNRAA
Congrats on 900,000 thou Migs and co…….. a hearty well done. 🙂
By my calc’s in 3-4 months you will be a millionaire Migs….. sadly not on paper 😦 😆
What is the difference between a small deficit and small surpluses. The deficits have been trending downwards.
Abbott has now seen sense, and is no longer screaming he will get the budget back into surplus. Wish he would see the same reality, by claiming he can turn back to the boats will not work.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/prepare-for-some-pain-says-abbott-20130418-2i3ck.html#ixzz2QtVj7OtG
Bet it will not be those on high incomes.
Would be lovelly to see Bought join Mirabella and Abbott in court mattters, well before Sept 14
Basically it means that zilch can be done on this matter because it is subject to an Appeal early May. After May and the Appeal, then let’s see what happens.
The matter isn’t “subject to an appeal” though is it Min? That’s the point of the IA article. Ashby & Co have “sought leave to appeal” Justice Rares decision. Until the Federal court determines whether it will allow an appeal to proceed, there is no appeal, surely?
None of those state leaders looked very happy. No gloating there.
The body the language between Cando and the PM was interesting. No love lost for sure. I suspect the PM has something in store for the man. Suspect much of what he was saying might be at the very least, misleading. Garrett has already questioned many of the figures he has uttered in the last day or two.
The look on the faces of the other leaders give not appear to be supporting can do..
The PM had full control of the media mob, much to the concern of one or two journalists.
As Keating, I believe said, one does not get between premiers and a bucket of money. The bucket is still on the table. I believe the premiers know, there will not be any from Abbott.
Calling Tony Abbott names will not get the ALP re-elected. School funding is yet another botched ALP effort at introducing policy before sussing out difficulties in getting it accepted or finding out problems with the States. This has resulted in more adverse publicity and will definitely not get the ALP re-elected. Why have the ALP managers not learnt how to present policy knowing the numbers are there to get it passed. The constant perception of inompetence is stronger than the presentation of facts. This is so frustrating.
Min and Bacchuss, that seeking leave to appeal might just make matters worse for Ashby. We have read all that was put before the court. It is hard to read any other meaning into the evidence.
Remember, that all the evidence came from Ashby.
Of course the case was never meant to come to a conclusion until much later this year. The action of Roxon, allowed Justice Rares to make an earlier decision.
All the evidence had one use, to make Slipper look as bad as possible, lay on the table, while the legal matters dragged out. Then the matter would just disappear into the woodwork after the election.
That was the game that Justice Rares refuse to let the court be a party to. Would be surprised, going on the evidence presented, seen it any different.
Where do we call Tony names.
What I see here is mostly about what Tony does and says.
That’s unfair Millicent.
You tell me any Federal government that’s gone into COAG knowing the numbers are there? Even Howard never knew that and Labor States have bucked Labor Federal governments and Liberal States have bucked Liberal Federal governments.
As to being botched, it matters not how this government presents anything, nor how good or bad it is, the MSM and the Coalition who will get the most favourable coverage, even from the ABC, will can and condemn it, and that’s the way it will be reported, as a disaster, even if it’s not.
So if you can tell us how this government can get around that I will admit you have a valid point, otherwise you are barking up the wrong tree.
Campbell Newman making an utter arse and fool of himself on Lateline. Labor will disect this interview and use it against him.
No one can succeed like Dr Mark Roberts…
Newman on Lateline refusing to talk about Howard’s poor education funding “that was then, this is now” stuff & a few minutes later into the “Howard golden age ” line re other issues. Fuckwit. Alberici looked a bit bemused at times.
Tony reckoning as usual on getting votes from mugs on all sides who reckon they’ve got him sussed re gay marriage. But you ALL have to wait til after the election.
I see that someone on reb’s blog has suggested that people here should be killed.
Interesting.
What I find striking is we have real “killing” going on in the US and you guys have said nothing? How many posts on Abbott now in the last week? Geesh….
Interesting?
As interesting as watching ants drown in vomit?
Bob @ 11:55 pm
Alberici did look very bemused as Newman displayed what an idiot he really is.
His bit about demanding the Federal government, Gillard or Abbott he didn’t care, pay for what are clearly State responsibilities was laughable. Basically he wanted a free ride off the Federal government’s back, and then he came out with a doozy.
After the next Federal election he will sit down with the PM, Gillard or Abbott, and rewrite the Federation.
So Sparta a blog on Australian politics should now cover US domestic affairs when there a thousands of other blogs around doing just that?
Nothing illustrates how insular and self obsessed most Americans are than Sparta’s post.
“Nothing illustrates how insular and self obsessed most Americans are than Sparta’s post.”
Yes…That is exactly what it means; genius. Your analysis is as on point as always! Your true humanitarian nature on display once again….Forgive me, please return to your “insulted”, pointless world of Abbott bashing.
Michael, like the PM, you are hard to pull down. Like her, you are still standing.
Keep up the good work.
I only ask one thing, when they pop up under new names, do not be so fair, get rid of them quickly.
Theyt are not that hard to recognised.
Thanks Sparta.
I’ve been watching the news here, been online on both social media and online news sites plus commented on blogs, forums and a forum I run all on the various tragic events that are happening in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan, which you overlook. Not American so not of concern to you.
But with all that you want every blog, even ones that state they are left political ones, to talk about domestic events in your country.
Yes you and your country are insular.
Plus what is it with right wingers that go into left wing sites and demand how they should be run and what they should post as topics?
I don’t see the equivalent happening on right wing blogs and forums with left wingers telling right wing admins and authors how to run their sites and what to post as topics. They can exclusively bash the left and Gillard to their hearts content without mentioning happenings in the US and not get one criticism from those who make that criticism of this site.
Well Sparta, Abbott is our Opposition leader. What he does, affects us.
As for the terrible deaths in that marathon, the problem is that many of us, perceived that as the norm in your country’s society.
I have also seen that a handful of powerful men, by threats, stopped your elected politicians from passing mild leglistaion on gun control, that 90% of the people want.
Does not seem like a democracy to me.
Saying that, the bombing has had extensive coverage in our media. Many in fact have felt the coverage is a little over the top.
No…Thank you Adrian…I sometimes forget you are under the assumption nobody else has access to the internet but I suppose a terrorist attack in downtown Boston followed by gun battles in the streets is a regular phenomenon in your vast experience.
P.S. Genius, my wife’s family is from Northwest India formerly Pakistan so yes, I am very aware as she still has family there. But thank you for that, again, your worldly brilliance always astounds me. Tell me, have you been in touch with people on the ground in Pakistan; I have but I am just a lonely American. I bow to your ignorance. Please, don’t let me interrupt; I look forward to hearing another moronic excuse for Labor being a failing mess; to include the “lying, evil, mastermind” known as Abbott…Continue…
Oh please Sparta, don’t play the high and mighty and falsely accuse others of ignorance. And lame try in attempting to twist it around on Pakistan.
You came here with a post not about Pakistan but one thing in particular, and indeed not even about the fertiliser factory explosion that in some ways is a worse tragedy than the bombing at the Boston marathon.
You accuse this site, a self pronounced left wing political one of not covering a single domestic event in the US that is being constantly and heavily covered by all the media here and hundreds of other Australian sites. In other words you come here and try to tell the authors and blogger how their site should be run.
You bought this up here for one reason only and only after the identity of the terrorists were revealed. Very telling, and I’m wondering if you would have made that same accusatory post here if the terrorists had turned out to be white Christian extremists.
So just out of curiosity as you have touched ground in Pakistan and in my ignorance I haven’t, why didn’t you demand this site post about that tragedy and not constantly bash Abbott?
Sparta, well you guys do have a gun culture.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-19/coag-ends-without-school-funding-agreement/4640512
Who was that idiot journalist who asked for a show of hands from the State premiers at the COAG press conference?
Adrian,
In regards to “white christian nationalist” if you visit the Daily Trash you will see that that was my first suspicion. The loss of life however would have been no less tragic and I am sure you would have much to say then; so predictable mate…I am sorry you feel you are a man of the world but you are not, never have been…Stick to what you know, which is virtually nothing…When you desire a real “debate” on ANYTHING, let me know; I have no problem engaging falsehoods and circumspect. Now, stick to what you know, bashing a political leader; any idiot can….
Silk, whoever that idiot was, she got put in her place very quickly.
Sparta, I fail to see what is eating you. This is Australia, not the USA..
Of course we hate to see deaths anywhere. Maybe you can tell us why that disaster happened in Texas. Did those firemen put water on that fire.
We are interested because we have similar setups near populations. I have also saw that we treat the fertilizers so they do not explode so quickly.
Has not that occurred in your country.
Sparta, what is good,, sees that you now have a President that has not gone overboard, as occurred in the two towers disaster.
No rushing out to create fear and bringing in new laws.
A president theatre talks about the bonds of compassion and unity. Yes, that is nice to hear. .
Sparta, get over yourself. Not commenting here on a blog about Australian politics over the plight of someone else does not mean that our thoughts and sympathies are not with them. It simply means that no-one probably wants to bring that into a discussion on Australian politics.
Trying to imply that not commenting means something says more about you.
Scroll the troll
And Sparta headed exactly where I knew he would, which was the original aim of his first post on this.
It had nothing to do with the tragedy but a move to bash this blog. So bloody predictable.
And don’t come the almighty raw prawn here Sparta and your mightier than though attitude. Shit if I wanted a debate, you would be the last person I would seek out, and the proof is in expecting me to be up with all the blogs you post in.
You might have voiced that suspicion in a blogs I never visit but you certainly didn’t here, you only posted here when the identity of the suspects was revealed, and did so to bash this blog over the head with being terrorist sympathisers by omission of condemnation, something you have done in the past.
And again why do the right come here and demand this blog post stuff they determine or insist on to conform to their credo when firstly this site clearly states what it is and why it holds Abbott and the LNP to account, something the MSM certainly doesn’t do, and secondly they never do the same for right wing sites, where apparently unending Gillard bashing is not a crime and bashing that political leader non-stop is laudable and not idiotic, even those right wing sites that didn’t mention the Boston bombings?
OMG, doesn’t Sparta have a been in his bonnet today?
He’s now the American representative of the Melbourne blog police.
Perhaps Sparta would prefer we blog about recipes or knitting patterns.
I actually went down in the gutter to see what you were referring to earlier Migs. yomm had also asked over there what it meant, so grodo fessed up it was something he said. Of course, to yomm, this meant that you were lying 😯
It did remind me though of why I don’t bother with it any more though 😉
Indeed, Tom, yomm was too stupid to scroll upwards to see this:
But I guess it’s easier to call someone a liar. 🙄
Sparta of Melbourne has a nice ring to it. 😆
Are you suggesting that el gordo stretches the trooth a bit? 😯
Tom, it’s clear then that yomm reads this blog more thoroughly than he does reb’s. 😆
it’s clear then that yomm reads this blog more thoroughly than he does reb’s.
After delving back into that little Edge of Darkness again this morning, I can see why Migs 😉
re abbotts protection racket for abusive staff
Why are lefties such predictable losers?
What the right such predictable projectors, liars and deceivers?
“It had nothing to do with the tragedy but a move to bash this blog. So bloody predictable.”
LOL, genius speaks…Adrian, you have just gotten more and more bitter over the years, go easy on the drink..Migs, you must be really taken with the ability of “some” here to find so many different ways to say the same thing? Very fascinating.. Enjoy the echo chamber folks; I didn’t realize this had become an “Australian, about Australia only” platform…I only drop by because there are “characters” here from years ago that use to engage in debate about a hole host of issues, not just Australian…Remember, that thing Tim Dunlap use to run? Nah, didn’t think so…My apologies, those folks are long gone…
“Sparta, well you guys do have a gun culture.”
Hahah…You mean “pressure cooker” culture…I suppose we will have to go through background checks now to purchase those…I am curious Migs, are you under the impression that Norway is too?
“Shit if I wanted a debate, you would be the last person I would seek out, and the proof is in expecting me to be up with all the blogs you post in.”
Adrian, you have always been a bit daft. You are the worldly man, engaging in “one” blog about “one” topic? Who ever said anything about “seeking” anybody out, I can come here, you can go to Daily but we both know your little world never stands up to much scrutiny; never has. I have always loved your believed ability to “read minds” and do it so poorly but hubris has always been your strongest card, still is….Stick to personal insults man, its all your good for.
Here, let me tell the brilliant scholars here how this goes, barring Abbott puts his foot in his mouth, some Liberal scandal or some disaster that Julia can take credit for, she is DONE. Plot, predict, analyze the media, purported cover-ups or whatever but when you exude POOR leadership (real or imagined) and have lost the people, its over! Don’t have to live on “your” side of the pond to know that; but clearly in “this world” one feels you do. Sorry, it isn’t an “attack” to offer a bit of opinion about anything “Adrian”, grow up or grow thicker skin. Stop getting your panties in a twist over nothing…
Anyway, thank god the people of Boston can sleep easy for a bit knowing one of those very misguided souls is deceased and the other incapacitated; right Adrian? LMAO. Oh sorry, Abbott is a “predictable projector, liar and deceiver’; Julia is just plain awesome….Better Adrian? Am I back on topic?
GOOD LUCK JULIA, YOUR GOING TO NEED ALL YOU CAN GET!
Adios de los Estados Unidos…
Hi Sparta, are you suggesting this is an Abbott bashing blog? Look at the recent posts section…nah, another angle. Look at the diversity of the posters opinions…look, a unicorn.
What made Tim’s blog so successful was the diversity of threads where sometimes both sides of the supposed political divide would concur. Tim had that knack which is a rarity these days in the blogosphere.
If you do choose to pop in here I would very interested in your opinion how the USA, socially and economically, is traveling.
Unlike some…I have not been brainwashed to believe America is evil as the use of the term “most Americans” by a person who overuses the word “projection” indicates. Very entertaining.
Noooo…!!!!!!!!!! Speculation is that Abbott wants to make John Howard our Governor General…
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-should-not-appoint-next-gg-abbott-20130421-2i8h7.html#ixzz2R8KWXIWr
Scaper, the thing which made Tim Dunlop’s blog so successful was that he insisted that everyone remain on topic, insisted on links to back up opinions and didn’t hesitate but delete anything which was defamatory.
Rio fails basic maths at the coalface
That blows the claims made by the mining industries on employment out of the water, and the judgement by the NSW court sets a precedent that will make all such future claims suspect.
I’ve noticed on the TV where I am that there’s a heavy advertising push by the mining industry with the intimated loss of “tens of thousands of jobs” forefront. As an employer of labour the mining industry has never been a big player with the latest lobbying by SMEs being more honest and to the point about the loss of employment.
Min from your link.
”In my view, the decision to announce these appointments subverts the established convention that no government should make decisions that are legitimately the province of a potential successor,”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-should-not-appoint-next-gg-abbott-20130421-2i8h7.html#ixzz2R8rmrLAU
Hubris much? Time to start saving all this shit for the Labor victory later this year 😉
Mobius, at last count the mining industry employed around 4% (that figure might refer to qualified tradespeople), it of course being a highly mechanised industry. One thing for certain is that it employs far less people than does tourism which is the point many people were making when the big miners want to come in and wreck the joint.
Tom, that statement is of course a load of horse manure. If it was up to Tony Abbott which brand of toilet paper would be “legitimately the province of a potential successor”. Actually that’s not a bad analogy given that it’s Howard that we’re talking about…
Whoops, I should have said Tom, that quote is a load of horse manure…you knew what I meant don’t you. 😳
Wow! A left wing blog that gets stuck into probably the most mendacious, unprincipled LOTO in the history of Australian politics because the msm, despite having more ammunition than was expended during WW2, utterly fails to do its job.
There are more than enough blogs around which are prepared to look the other way wrt Liealot’s mendacity, stupidity, lack of decency and double standards, You’d feel right at home there.
Equally Sparta, CW is an Australian left wing political blog. Consequently, we write about the Australian political scene, not about events in the US.
Jane, some people really have difficulty grasping that.
Funny how an open blog, that doesn’t pretend to be a ‘news’ outlet gets bagged for being a ‘bashing blog’, yet media outlets that pretend to be ‘journalistic’, and even have a code of practice that dictates that they should present information evenly and accurately, are just fine when they bash repeatedly and quite often inaccurately just one party, while shielding the other one all the way through til the next election.
If you have a problem with this site, the daily terror must then make you physically sick.
This one states it’s political alliance at the top, it is unambiguous, but ltdnews pretend to be impartial, but it is quite obvious that they are not.
Michael, I must say, you do get it right. how do we know? We only have to look at the number that come and tell us, we have it wrong.
Who would have known it, NSW first to sign up. That must explain the gloomy looks that O’Farrel was shooting at Cando, last Friday.
Yes, Keating is correct. Do not stand between premiers and a bucket of money.
Abbott is on a loser with the Gonski school funding, with all those $$$$$$$$$$ in dickhead Newman eyes he won’t hesitate to sign up.
Crowey, I think you will find, Abbott is a loser on most things.
That Q and A audience were listening hard last night. So was the hundred people at the PM community do on Sky. Comments by journalists after were revealing.
There is a change in the air.
What one needs to see, is where those undecides end up. Up to 30% or more on most questions.
One the poll experts do not seem to point out.
Did note, that when that boat came into Geraldton, many first reaction was to say how can we help them.
Yes, young kids, sitting on a tiny, ramshackled boat, can bring home reality to many.
It is hard to demonise kids. That is why Howard hid the people, on islands, far out in the ocean.
it was the cameras, that bought many out into the streets, in the days of the Vietnam war.
Oh dear, don’t you realise these community events are staged, not uncommitted voters.
Here are questions from last night.
Gay marriage – an advocate urges Gillard to get on board.
Education – a critic of the cuts to university funding.
Debt – a neutral question on when the government will return to surplus.
NBN – A supporter of the NBN complains not enough people know of the benefits.
Achievements – An apparent supporter tells Gillard she has a lot of achievements to her credit and should tell people. What will she do to get out the message?
Negative gearing – a neutral question on where she will change the rules.
Food security – someone who’s read Tim Flannery’s book The Future Eaters has a question.
Superannuation – a man calling himself “a socialist at heart” says he’d be prepared to pay more tax on his super.
Same sex marriage – another supporter. Attacks Tony Abbott for a “political connivance”.
Live cattle trade – Woman says “I’ve always voted for the Labor Party” but live trade is disturbing.
Uncommitted my arse!
scaper,one arranged by Sky. I think not.
Abbot says, that after the election, there will be a conscience vote on same gender marriage. Why not before the election?
No education will occur with that small uni cut. Most of it falls on the student having to pay back scholarships.
Yes negative gearing should go. Look what happened to Keating when he tried. Never under estimate the power of the wealthy to defend their handouts.
The live cattle trade wit Indonesia is increasing. The problem it not with the PM, but with Indonesias desire to become self sufficient, when it comes to beef.
scaper, I have seen those black soils of Queensland, during the monsoons. Sorry, agriculture would be impossible during most of the year.
Living on a property, in the middle of Queensland, I am also aware of how hard it was to spot the evaporation of dams during the dry season. Yes scaper, living there, you would be aware of having a wet and dry season. How far did you get driving, off the tar, during the wet. Walking a few metres was nearly impossible.
Yes, scaper, I do come from a farming background in the south west of NSW. Yes, my father was a wheat cockey. Went onto dairying.
The truth is, much of our farming has been on marginal land. Yes, much has caused much damage to the environment.
The truth is, the PM signed with NSW with nearly all she asked for. Suspect the PM is not into exaggeration.
scaper, what is also clear, is NSW does not believe it will be better off under Abbott.
All Abbott wants top talk about is boats. Suspect, no one is listening. Would rather talk about schools..
Who wants to talk about boats??????
Love the questions that Abbott is getting into that interview. Trying to scare us
Scaper, is it not about now, that you call me an idiot.
scaper, can you change your name to scarper. Spell check keeps throwing out scaper.
“Equally Sparta, CW is an Australian left wing political blog. Consequently, we write about the Australian political scene, not about events in the US.”
“Jane, some people really have difficulty grasping that.”
LMAO! Apparently this story or topic warrants coverage on a “left leaning AUSTRALIAN BLOG”…..Thank you Jane and Migs for making my point quite nicely …I rest my case…LOL
https://cafewhispers.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/conspiracies/#comments
In case you guys didn’t follow…lol
Sparta, you’re trolling.
Why is Reuters puzzled by global warming’s acceleration?
Didn’t the right wingers tell us the warming was slowing down or had stopped 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 years ago, depending on what story they are on at the time.
So where’s the post on US current events, Sparta? You raised the point and have been answered, rather than just being ignored.
And still no further discussion or reference to US events. So, your point?
http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national-times/deficit-of-surplus-promises-4215009.html
Could Abbott be a sacrificial lamb. Something I have believed for a long time. His job it to win the next election, then disappear.
What worries me, is not that he will not be around, but who is pulling those strings.
The political climate today seems surreal. Makes little sense.
We have a government that has delivered, an economy that is a world leader, and if we put the right infrastructure in place a bright future. Well as well as the global economy allows.
We have politics driven by two words, deficit and debt. Deficit means little in itself. We have debt that is manageable. We seem to have the perception, that the country is bankrupt, that there are no options available.
The truth is, it is all about making choices and priorities.
Yes, there are great structural budget problems to be addressed. Yes, it could mean cuts in expenditure,. Yes, it could mean raising more revenue. It could mean that there are some not paying their way. It could mean we cut old programs, to be replaced with what is essential today.
At the end of the day, it is about the society we want. We are indeed lucky to have that choice.
What is the difference between wasteful and unnecessary spending and investing in the future.
What happens if there is no investment in infrastructure to ensure future wealth.
Do we want to be a part of the so called Asian century? Can that happen, if we do nothing?
Mr Intelligent Hockey had this to say on 7 sunrise, when parliament resumes we will be putting a no confidence vote against Julia’s minority government, if successful it would mean an earlier election.
I see that Clive reckons he will be registering a new political party and run at the next federal election.
What this nation needs is a new centre left party free of union influence, not another far right redneck party.
Clive Palmer is going to be middle of the road and represent all Australians..and they were worried about Therese Rein having pecuniary interests. 😯
I see that Clive’s party has yet to register. Needs five hundred members or a member in Parliament.
Loved Hockey’s comment this morning on Sunrise that voters need to see Mr. Palmer’s policies! Looks like the idea of UAP fielding candidates bothers Joe!
Of course when Clive Palmer first developed his taste for politics some three years ago he was gunning for Wayne Swan, Kevin Rudd and their mining tax. Has he thought through how his United Australia Party is likely to help Wayne Swan, Julia Gillard and their version of the mining tax?
We published this pome here at Cafe Whispers in May, 2010.
Wayne Swan did not declare this war
It was Clive Palmer crying poor
On Lateline some three years ago
When Kevin Rudd was all aglow,
Insisting miners pay more tax.
That night Clive said he’d get the axe;
Promised a miners’ revolution
To bring about Rudd’s execution.
So it was. Twiggy and Gina
Came charging into the arena.
They roused the citizens of Perth
To claim states’ rights to sell their earth.
Well known Aussie mining magnates,
Victorious, this band of mates,
Then refused negotiations
And Gillard’s terms with corporations.
Billionaires on the back of trucks
Got Tony Abbott thinking, “Shucks!
We’ll have a nationwide revolt!
Bring carbon pricing to a halt!”
But somehow his People’s Rising,
Urged on by his catastrophizing,
Flopped. It did not eventuate
He’d get what he thought his ‘due’ estate.
Abbott couldn’t make the distance,
So Clive now has to lead resistance.
The manpower of a footie team,
Plus ‘National Treasure’ title, seem
To enlarge him, make him bigger,
Into a massive public figure.
Ally Twiggy gets his jollies
In Canberra, nagging pollies.
It wasn’t hard to find a part
Ideally played by Ms Rinehart.
In charge of all their propaganda,
She made sure their memoranda
Were written up, had wide report
In her media outlets newly bought.
That’s when Swannie sounded the alarm!
“Oz beware! Our democracy could come to harm!”
http://polliepomes.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/starting-wars-is-not-swans-way/
My illustrations to this pome and the accompanying post included one of Gina on the back of a truck which at the time was reproduced all over the net with relevant posts. It seems to have disappeared and I cannot retrace it. Can anyone help?
A bit quiet around these parts.
Got another function next week to attend. Should be a hoot. John Roskam, Janet Albrechsten and Michael Kroger will be leading a discussion after the Freedom of Speech briefing.
The more important stuff will be discussed in the background. After all…it is footy season.
Can anyone help you?
No, judging by that “POME” you are beyond help.
Crowey, why is Abbott so desperate to have a election a month earlier. What do they achieve in the scheme of things.
Yes, puts him in the driver seat, as being seen as encumbent PM during the campaign. Could also allow him to go to the election, without any costed policies.
What is the hell is a month difference going to make?
What is wrong, playing to the rules?
Cannot see either the independents or Greens allowing this to happen. Why is Abbott so afraid of the budget?
“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human”: – Aldous Huxley
Maybe Mr. Abbott might get what he does not want. The answer is not as clear, as Abbott would have one believe. Big business will not be too keen on the budget being interfered with and the political instability that would follow.
Shocdking story. Must be lies. We all know, it is only Labor MP’s that are corrupt.
FU. If my memory serves me correct theirs a certain federal member(liberal) facing a similar charge.
The current Member for Tangney is also in a bit of bother
http://theantibogan.wordpress.com/tag/dennis-jensen-mp/
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/tony-abbotts-shaky-campaign/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tony-abbotts-shaky-campaign
More ‘charges’ may be in the making :- ” Fair Work Australia has ‘withdrawn’ from its pursuit of Craig Thomson and its 154 civil charges against him. It is not the end, but it means that should the 154 identical criminal charges fail, and they will, he is a free man and free to sue Abbott, Pyne, Brandis, McClymont, Lewis, Oakes and Murdoch for a quarter of a million each if they do not apologize to him and his wife and make some reparation for the suicidal misery they have put him in.”
http://www.ellistabletalk.com/2013/04/27/the-innocence-of-craig-thomson-63-jaccuse/
Oh dear, by citing some twisted lefty on a tumbleweed blog site indicates you are desperate.
Here is something closer to the real story.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/mp-thomson-granted-partial-stay-in-civil-case-20130426-2ikfd.html
t appears that Abbott is now going to listen to the experts. It appears, according to Sidnonis, that is what he does always.
Then we can assume he will listen to the three experts appointed, to find a solution to stop refugees coming by boat. I take it, that Abbott has already penned a letter to the PM, calling on her to put the whole Housten plan into operation. He will agree with the experts, t6hat turning boats back will not work, and is not the answer.
We can assume, he will listen to 97% of the world’s scientist, and fully back the CEF and all that it entails. Will listen, when the experts tell us, it has only a small, very small effect on the economy.
Of course he will come on board and agree that the economy is not broken, that we are travelling well. Most of all, he will agree, that there is more to discussing the economy than debt and deficits. That debt and deficit mean little wit9in themselves.
Mr. Abbott will get behind the Gonski plan of funding education, because all t6he experts say the present system is unfair and broken.
Yes, I believe we will see pigs flying, pink pigs at that, across the sky.
Funny, that the police are going after Thomson. The truth is, they hhave more chance of getting the FWA case up. Standard of proof is lower. Does not make sense to me. Suspect some have been too clever by half.
Listening to electoral speech of Abbott to the party faitful in SA. Announcer said, talking about carbon tax as usual.
That is not what concerned me that much, as said, more of the same, we have been hearing for three years. Nothing new there.
I must say, he spoke with such emotion, as if he cared. Must have had some drama lessons. Still sounds like a snake oil salesman.
The comment that gets under my skin, is that he can bring in the NBN for 60 Billion less. There is no basis for this claim whatever. NBNCo is unlikely to be anywhere near this figure. His plan to get to the same standard will be much greater in the long run.
The following comment, that Labor is also unnecessary digging up everyones back yard. Are there any here, that have had their front yard dug up. I have been listening to people saying in Gosford how wonderful it was, when turned on this week. Nothing about digging up the front yard. Also excited, as they believe the NBN will bring Gosford back to life, and there was already business moving into the empty office space, to take advantage of it. (Gosford is a town, that has not thrived for years)
Are there any that have complaints about front yards being dug up? I would love to hear from them.
I was under the impression, much will be pulled through existing copper wire channels.
He also has great concerns for refugees being held in camps. Someone should tell him, the system we have now, is what he demanded. A harsher, much harsher rebirth of the Pacific Solution.
Abbot can allow the Housten Plan to be put in place in its entirety. Can show us he is indeed capable of taking the advice of the experts.
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Is Abbott putting weight on? Latest is, Abbott is electioneering on “fait GP”. Fair go for whom I wonder.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-28/talking-pictures/4655728
So the Coalition will abandon any drugs in sports investigations if they win government.
Probably another one of their promises they will back flip on when the backlash hits them.
As someone said, which lobby group got their ear this time. There can’t be a Party that has been more under the thumb of vested interest groups than this one, and this is only in opposition.
“Professor Rod Tucker, Director of the Institute for a Broadband-enabled society at the University of Melbourne, says that the Coalition’s 25 to 50 megabits per second internet will eventually become redundant.
“We’re going to need more than that capacity by 2020 and so what it means is the Coalition’s broadband network is likely to be obsolete by the time it’s completed or soon afterwards,” Tucker says.”
http://www.upstart.net.au/2013/04/25/the-buried-benefits-of-the-nbn/
Here we are at five minutes to midnight (Telstra time) and Cinderfella’s Tony and Malconnect are trying to off load a gilded carriage before it turns into a nodekin.
“Telstra will replace its century-old copper wire phone network with new technology within the next 15 years, saying the ageing lines are now at “five minutes to midnight”.
Telstra said that the copper wire network is degrading and will need replacing in about 15 years….. that was said, by Telstra, 9 years ago.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/14/1068674351979.html
Substitute nationalists for Liberals.
Mr. Windsor is prosposing a referendrum for same gender marriage, to be held at the next election.
Fed up, Liealot is becoming more shrill in his desperation to have an early election, before Ashbygate turns into a big fat boil on his bum, perhaps.
LOVO, good news that FWA has decided to drop the choc top charges against Thomson.
I’ll gladly chip in when he decides to sue the @rses off the Ignominious Seven. I reckon he should demand the highest payments from Liealot and the wizened foreigner.
Mind you, seeing Prissy desperately searching down the back of the couch to stump up his reparation would be fun.
This could be another reason Lielaot is desperate to have an early election.
Roflmao, LOVO.
The penny is slowly dropping. We are now in a new economic age. The economies of all nations are not reacting the way economic theory tells us.
Like all such times in history, it is only when things fail, and one looks back, does one realise what may have happened.
Fiscal austerity no longer works. Yes we had the mineral boom that sent out dollar through the roof, leading to the undermining of the rest of the economy. On top of that, we now have a global economy.
I seem to remember back in the 1950’s, wool selling for a pound for pound. That led, if my memory is correct, great inflation, and later stagflation.
I suggest that economics is far from as an exact science. I suggest, most have been proven wrong, from both sides of the fence. I believe Labor realise that keeping people in work was important. This belief would have come from the knowledge, that over the last few decades, each time we had high unemployment, it took much longer and greater cost getting people back to work.
The economy once again played its unexpected game, by not allowing that dollar to come down, as was expected. The predictions made by the treasury, based on economic expectations has not occurred.
A nations economy is about much more than spending or lower taxes. There are no simple answers, and I suggest we need to cease in saying there are.
We know what has happened. What is more difficult, is knowing what to do next.
Listening to interview with Hockey. The whine is growing in his voice. No indication that he understands where the economy is at, and how it operates.
Are being asked questions, but no answers forthcoming.
Virginnia is asking the questions at last.
We know that Howard was into privatising and user pay. Did his actions in giving rebates to private health funds only transfer the cost of health from the government to the voter.
Did the actions of Howard lead to massive private debt. Is some of that debt now being pulled back.
Yes, there is more to good economics than public debt and deficits.
http://newmatilda.com/2013/04/29/privatised-health-means-public-illness
Could the same be true for Howard, and now Abbott’s education funding.
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=bcde3b960b33e25d0c003ebc8&id=eac5326858&e=83096b2723
It appears that droughts are no longer declared in NSW, That is a good way of getting rid of a problem.
Just bury ones head in the sand. (dust in this case)
Noticed this is fact is now on ABC 24. Was mentioned by accident this morning on ABC Radio local, when talking to a farmer in the drought areas.
It appears how one helps farmers in times of drought, depends on the financial situation of the NSW government.
Also what was bought up in that interview, was the fact that droughts are coming more often, Yes they are usual, but one expects more good years in between.
Senator Wong being interviewed by Lyndal Curtis. Seems to be enjoying the interview.
Suggest it might be hekpful if Mr. Abbott read the legislation he helped to get through. Suggested that maybe he can get someone to explain it to him
We all know how Abbott hates to read
Senator Wong finished off. by saying that Mr. Abbott should br held to the standard he asks of everyone else. That is, how does he get to it adding up.
“It appears that droughts are no longer declared in NSW, That is a good way of getting rid of a problem.”
Actually Fu having read up on it what NSW is doing is not a bad way to go and should be done nationally.
NSW scraps drought declaration system
My only concern would be if a government used this system to shirk as it’s not as transparent as drought assistance as it consists of many layers and disparate measures.
It was a favoured trick of Howard’s to tie up what he called generous assistance replete with tax payers advertising saying it was generous and put in so many layers and conditions only a fraction could ever be claimed.
Mobius, could be, but the farmer did not appear to know what it is all about. In his defence, he did say, at this stage, they are not looking for assistance.
What is probably the bigger story, is the inference that this dry has come about very quickly. There has been recent rains, but all has dried up quicker that in the past.
He said there is no ground water, and the feed has disappeared.
One must asked, is what occurring more proof of man made climate change, or is it the norm for these areas.
The information given on ABC 24 give not give one much hope, that the government knows what they are doing.
Is any of what you have listed been put in place.
Maybe we have some readers in the area that can tell us where the NSW government is up to. I, for one is interested.
Maybe the PM has signalled to the Opposition leader, that his days of not being challenged are over.
I believe she will call his bluff on every occasion.
Up to now, the PM has chose to ignore his stupidity.
As Senator Wong said, he needs to be held to the same standards, as he demands of everyone else.
For Migs and a close relative who also suffers Lupus.
This is Lupus month. Please help.
Fed up @ 3:50 pm
Well Fu why doesn’t this surprise me because of course there is a Liberal government at the helm and dishonesty and deceit are always the hallmarks of Liberal governments.
Piece on ABC News about NSW unexpectedly falling back into drought an farmers already hand feeding stock. They are complaining that recent changes to drought assistance are seeing them out of pocket and in greater difficulty than is normal at this stage of drought.
Call my cynical but it seems that the NSW government knew they were going back into drought early and so soon after the last one so setup the changes to weasel out of paying the farmers assistance.
It never ceases to amaze me that the two groups who are most screwed by Liberal governments, rural and pensioner, are the two groups who most support the conservatives.
ME, coming from a farming background, I know they do not give up their entitlements easily. They also have long memories.
I note Victoria has done the same as NSW. Fire levy transferred to house holders. I . think the Vic one of a $100 might be less than NSW
The farmers do not seem to getting mich from today’s Coalition, whether state or Feds.
.
The United States has failed to take action to mitigate climate change thanks in part to the large number of religious Americans who believe the world has a set expiration date.
Research by David C. Barker of the University of Pittsburgh and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado uncovered that belief in the biblical end-times was a motivating factor behind resistance to curbing climate change.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/01/belief-in-end-times-stifling-climate-change-action-in-u-s-study/
Some inconvenient facts to keep in mind,=.
Three times as much as Victoria.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/letters/abbott-shows-all-signs-of-becoming-more-like-rudd/story-fn558imw-1226634197807
Maybe we get what we deserve, when we demand that PM be popular. If we base our vote on who is the most popular.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/05/02/its-not-that-im-intolerant-i-just-dont-care/
Brilliant, and the tax on stupid internet comments would reap a windfall from NoS.
There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.
Could the ABC be first in line for Abbott’s fire sale? Would it really matter, as present administration has out source much to the IPA and the MSM. The ABC in reality has disappeared as an independent media source.
“Even if commodity prices fall only very slowly from their current peaks, the economy is trapped in a long-term trend of weak growth in the total value of the goods and services it produces – the so-called “nominal GDP” which provides the basis for taxation.”
But Bacchus tells me that commodity prices have nothing to do with taxation revenue. Isn’t it amazing that Costello got all this extra revenue from 2004 when the boom started but then when commodity prices exploded in 2008 increasing by 50% Labor allegedly is not getting the money from the boom. It just stopped coming in when Labor was elected.
And pigs fly.
Another success for PM. How many is that this week.
Love seeing the premier of Victoria, standing beside the PM, saying how good the disability scheme is. Did not hurt her, when live cattle to Egypt have been suspended.
Neil, when companies invest in new activities, that investment money is offset against the tax they have to pay. Yes, the prices are up, but also is the amount they can claim as taxation deductions. That has to work through the system, before the profits rise, allowing higher revenue receipts.
Also, you ignore that states have put up royalties, that are also deducted from what the Federal government gets.
Neil this has said by more than one expert.
Yes, prices are up, but what is available for taxtion purposes has not.
Bacchus is right. Commodity prices are not automatically reflected in revenue collections.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/rob-oakeshott-speaks-to-ia/
Amen to that.
“There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.”
FU, you need to make up your mind. You people have told me many times that the Howard govt was the highest taxing govt of all time and that if Labor was taxing like Howard they would get more revenue.
In your above statement you are now saying they did not tax enough. Basically you hate Howard so much that it does not matter what he does. You will always find some dishonest reason to complain.
And by the way, Howard tax cuts can be easily restored by Parliament. Gillard has the numbers to get that legislation through. It should also be remembered that the Howard tax cuts continued passed 2007. Labor has done nothing about it.
But now you are saying Howard did not tax enough. You should make up your mind.
PS. Bacchus has shown me no evidence that Labor is getting less money from mining than Howard did. It is just an allegation with no evidence.
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerst not the beam that is in thine own eye?” :Bible, Matthew 7:3
You see in others what you actually see in yourself.”: The Guru Dronacharya in Mahabharata
You did not answer the question FU.
In an earlier post it was mentioned that as a percentage of GDP Howard was high taxing. Latter on you said that Howard did not tax enough and that Howard/Costello tax cuts are unaffordable.
Which is it?? Perhaps you hate Howard so much that no matter what he does you will always complain.
“It is easy to see the faults of others, but not so easy to see one’s own faults”: Gautama Buddha (563 – 483 BC)
That is not an answer. Your latest statement for political purposes was that Howard did not tax enough.
Do you think it is possible that the current Labor govt have no idea how to manage money??
Neil, Howard was in for 12 years. Could not both be true. He was a great one on levies. Loved tax rebates to the wealthy. Believed in user pay for the lower income earners.
Most of all, he shared with Costello, his hatred of unions. When one goes back to Costello’s pre political days, his only achievement was taki9ng on unions in the courts.
The tax cuts benefitted the better off.
He bought in the regressive GST. while cutting progressive personal and company taxation.
Mr. Rudd erred in continuing the tax cuts when he came to power.
Now the tax cuts remain, so does the ongoing spending that governments have to cope with. The mining boom is fast disappearing. Things might have been a little better, if Rudd was able to get that MRRT in. What has occurred, is we have a weaker one, that the miners managed to delay, until the boom was passed. Yes, there are no longer super profits to tax. Still, it is on the books, if we ever have another boom. Which does not appear likely at this stage.
What Howard did not spend on, was the infrastructure, that enables future prosperity and maintenance of the present infrastructure.
The GFC was in 2008 I believe, but the rest of the western world has not recovered.
Across the world, for the last couple of decades, there has been a widening of the gap between rich and poor. More of the taxation burden has been transferred to the lower income earners.
When we look at the economies of the western world, this policy appears to be disastrous.
No, Neil, I actually said he made tax cuts, that are now having an ongoing effect on the budget. Yes, set up some of the structural deficits we now have.
I will add, we now have a political climates that say no government can increased taxation when needed. That on itself is stupidity.
When one looks at events this week, with the PM raising the NDIS money by a levy, could mean that reality is that most of the public realise if something is needed, it has to be paid for.
If we look back through history, governments were able to lower and raise taxes as necessary. ]
The truth could be, that Howard did some good by handing back taxes when revenue increased. What is wrong is the belief they should not be increased, when the windfalls in revenue disappeared.
“Bacchus has shown me no evidence….”
I’ve shown you lots of evidence over the years Neil – ALL of it ignored for some spin from a Lieberal politician. WTF makes you think I’m going to trawl through budget statements, ABS figures and mining company annual reports just for you to call me a liar again, and once again pull something out
of your @#$eof a Lieberal press release?While you’re at it, you might like to stop verballing Fu as well – she’s not saying the Howard government taxed too much or too little – try reading what she said for a change. She is, after all, many orders of magnitude smarter than you 😛
” The mining boom is fast disappearing”
No it is not. It is still bigger than when Howard was in power. Commodity prices have dropped. Commodity prices peaked in 2001 but they are still much higher than in 2007.
You also said this “is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time”
You say he taxed too much and then you say he did not tax enough. Just admit it FU. You hate Howard so whatever he does you will condemn. And you love Gillard so she can do no wrong
“I’ve shown you lots of evidence over the years Neil ”
No you have not bacchus. You have not shown me he is getting less revenue from mining. It cannot be true.
“Commodity prices peaked in 2001 but they are still much higher than in 2007
Commodity prices peaked in 2011
Read the budget numbers scaper linked to Neil – they PROVE that you’re wrong. The Howard government was the highest taxing and most profligate government this country has ever seen. Labor, while dealing first with a GLOBAL financial crisis, then a hung parliament, has been trying to get the economy working correctly again. Unfortunately, they’ve been thwarted by the economic dinosaurs of the Lieberal party at every turn.
If it wasn’t for the damage we know the Lieberals will do should they control the treasury after the next election, I’d hope that we get a Lieberal government, just to educate people on just how badly Lieberals handle an economy that requires work…
Yes I have Neil 😛
“The Howard government was the highest taxing ”
But FU just said the Howard/Costello tax cuts are unaffordable.
And you have not shown me that Swan is getting less revenue from mining. We know because of the GFC there has been a crash in Capital gains Tax revenue. This will continue for years. But the drought broke and commodity prices exploded and this makes up some of the difference.
I tell you what Neil, how about you prove that the government from 2007 till now is receiving more revenue from mining than the government received from 2004-2007? I don’t mean in nominal terms either 😉 It’s something I don’t believe you’re even capable of. Prove me wrong?
And you have not shown me that Swan is getting less revenue from mining
Never said I had, and never said I would 😉
You’re making unsupported assertions again Neil. How do you know government receipts are down because of CGT? Is it something you’ve got evidence for, or can you just “feel it in your water”? 😆 😆
Neil, I have not even said if the way Howard taxed was wrong for the economy. Each PM has to make taxation and spending cuts, in relation of how the economy is working at the time. Also one cannot deny what is occurring in the global economy, and more so, in the Asian region.
I did say that Howard was wrong in moving the taxation burden from the upper income earner, to those on low incomes. I believe that to be wrong, and short sighted. It is pure ideology, based on the belief in small government.
What is more annoying, is that any attempt to take benefits of any kind from those who do not need them, as class war.
Neil, what you claim, with words and statements, with no context, means nothing at all.
In fact it is impossible to reply to what you are saying. What you are saying is pure rubbish.
So I take it, that treasury is also liars.
Neil is getting thrashed again. Facts plus logic beats Spin and wishful thinking every time. 😀
Neil, you do realise that Howard was nearly six years ago. That is three governments. Neil, you do realise that we are now in a completely new world order and global economy.
In the time there has been a GFC, that some say equalled the great depression. One that many countries, including most of Europe have not recovered from.
We are ow well and truly in the Asian century.
Why would one look back to Mr. Howard and Mr. Costello for answers.
Our economy has performed better than most. Would not that suggest, that maybe this Labor government might just have some answers. Not all, for one would need a crystal ball for that.
What is becoming clear, Thatcherism and austerity budgeting is not delivering.
Then we moved into the era of stagnation, which the emphasis seemed to be on cutting wages and workers conditions, and all would be right with the world.
We had Hawke, that did deliver productivity rises,with the Accord , with workers and employers pulling together.
That was not good enough for Costello and Howard, unions had to be destroyed. One thing that Workchoices did not deliver, was any productivity rises.
Then along came Labor, that put employment head of the list.
Not a bad idea, as history shows us, after every economic downturn, and raise in employment, most recoveries did not improve the employment situation.
It has taken longer and more expensive each time to get the unemployed back to work.. Never mind the number of businesses that went under.
We now have a PM who believes for the nation to prosper in the future we will need a highly educated and trained workforces, along with modern technology, especially in communications.
This PM believes it is up to government to provide4 the necessity environment for industry to thrive. Not to spend the money would be waste.
Talking about what Howard did or not do, has little to do with what is occurring now.
The question one needs to ask is, is Abbott capable of identifying the problems of today, and does has he the answers to what is needed.
I believe not.
“Neil, you do realise that Howard was nearly six years ago.”
Yes I do. But at 11.31AM you said this
“There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.”
You were the one who brought up Howard. After saying he taxed too much being the highest taxing govt ever you then said he did not tax enough. In facts his tax cuts are hurting us 6 years latter according to you.
After 6 years they are no longer Howards tax cuts but Swans.
Neil, what is wrong with that statement?
It was said today, on the TV from someone from IA that we can no longer afford those tax cuts.
To balance a budget, one looks at outgoings and income.
All we hear, is that cuts have to be made, Yes, that could be true, but we also have to look at revenue. Do we need to reverse some of those tax cuts.
But you said Howard was the highest taxing ever now you want to reverse Howards tax cuts.
Just admit it. You hate Howard and he could solve cancer and you would still complain.
Neil. Please stop twisting my words. You are making a fool of yourself.
This is my last comment.
One raises or lowers taxes, according to the conditions that apply at the time.
‘
Yes, it is time to look at raising taxes. It makes sense.
As I said, Howard belonged to another age. Has nothing to do with what is needed today.
Please take the blinkers off, and I suggest, you go back and read what you have written from the beginning of this post.
All I have done is reply to what you have written. No more, no less.
Here’s a pretty succinct explanation of the structural problems introduced by Costello:
No, I do not hate Howard or any other politician. I have never admired the man or his policies, right back to when he was a failed treasurer.
Yes, I do dislike Abbott intensely. Not because he is a Liberal politician but I do not like what he is.
No, hate is not in my genes. Useless emotion. Hurts those who hate more, than who they hates.
Where have I made personal; insults against Howard. Have just repeated what he said and did.
No this is what you said.
There is nothing amiss with Labor’s administration of the budget. All is needed, is for some of Howard’s tax cuts, enable by the mining boom be restored. They are cuts we can no longer afford at this time.
After saying Howard taxed too much you then said the above statement. And you are blaming something Howard did 6 years ago for the current state of the budget.
Furthermore I would have to say you people are fools. You only have to look at what Labor did to the budget in Victoria under Cain, Queensland under Beattie and under Keating to know what was going to happen. All the GFC did was accelerate what was always going to happen.
“his decisions to spend rather than save the tax windfall from the resources boom”
This is not true Bacchus. He saved all the mining boom. It is Swan who has spent the lot. Please tell me how much money Swan has saved.
“FC, his decisions to spend rather than save the tax windfall from the resources boom obliged the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates higher than otherwise, to prevent this recycling from causing inflation.)”
Neil, what about all those interest rate rises under Costello. Many more that what the public needed to endure.
Do not forget about the record private debt that was undermining the country.
Neil is flapping about like a fish out of water. Spin won’t save him! 😀
Unfortunately Neil, the facts don’t bear out your version of economic “reality” 🙄
Bacchus. Costello saved $50B in his last three budgets.
The facts do back out my version.
Please tell me how much of the boom has Swan saved??
You haven’t actually provided ANY facts Neil…
These are the facts in black & white:
http://www.budget.gov.au/2012-13/content/overview/html/overview_44.htm
which is where these facts are drawn from:
https://cafewhispers.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/running-dry-on-tony-abbott/#comment-147278
Yeah I see the facts Bacchus.
As soon as Labor got elected revenue dropped. That is the fact. Whether it is due the to GFC, govt incompetence or just dumb luck which happens from time to time is debatable.
The facts are however that after Labor was elected the drought broke, commodity prices exploded and terms of trade reached record levels.
From your first link Costello saved $16B, $17B and $20B= $53B in his last three budgets. How much has Swan saved??
Neil’s “debate” is down for the count, but he’s too punch drunk to see it. 😀
But do you digest them?
Fu @ 4:25, it’s nice to see that my article from The AIMN has been turned into a poster. 🙂
“the drought broke, commodity prices exploded and terms of trade reached record levels”
Hmm… No mention there of Leyman Bros, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, every major economy moving into recession, our mining industry shedding jobs…
Surely you wouldn’t be one to only tell ½ of the story, would you Neil? I wouldn’t have expected such dishonesty from you 😛
“But do you digest them?”
He never has before Migs – not too much chance now 😉
My emphasis. Yes, no matter what you say, there is problems with falling revenues.
Bacchus, perhaps the morsels of truth are too big for him to chew on.
“No mention there of Leyman Bros, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, every major economy moving into recession”
Bacchus I said this “As soon as Labor got elected revenue dropped. That is the fact. Whether it is due the to GFC, govt incompetence or just dumb luck which happens from time to time is debatable.”
I did mention the GFC. Surely I do not have to go into the nitty gritty details. What gets me is that you are so forgiving to Swan blaming the GFC for the poor state of the budget (which has some truth) but way back in 1982 blame Howard for the state of the economy when there was a nasty worldwide recession on. Interest rates were 20% in the US in 1981. Our rates have to be the same or higher than the rest of the world otherwise money will flow out of the country. US also had double digit unemployment in 1982.
Michael, makes a good poster.
Is it true, Howard also raised the medicare levy?
Maybe it is a simple as someone wrote. That the PM develop a means test, that applies to all government handouts across the board.
It’s been fun playing with you again Neil. I hear the sweet sound of a bottle of Shiraz calling now. Ciao 🙂
I see the PM had better things to do today. Yes, signing up Victoria to NDIS could be seen as more important.
Congratulations Bacchus on another effortless debating victory over Squeal of Sydney. 😀
Unfortunately, Fed up, the Liars Party as with all other conservative parties world wide, don’t believe that. Just as they don’t believe that keeping people employed is good for the economy, an attitude which is amply demonstrated by the Liars state governments here, particularly in Qld and in the UK.
And if the Tea Party had been elected in the US, they’d also be busily making sure to throw hundreds of thousands of low and middle income earners out of work, while cutting tax to some of the wealthiest people on the planet.
Equally, it is always up to government to do the big infrastructure projects for the benefit of the nation. Like the NBN, the national roads and transport systems, Snowy Mountain scheme, communications etc.
Private enterprise has neither the will nor the money to do the job because the bottom line is their only concern which means they DO have to prove there is a cost benefit for any project they undertake.
Which is the reason that governments do not now, nor will they ever need, a cost benefit analysis for big public infrastructure projects. The benefit to all Australians, not just those who return a profit to company shareholders, justifies the cost.
We are the shareholders in this country, not foreign investors and the profit for us is the infrastructure which allows (most of) us to live comfortably, get to work, communicate, be educated, access affordable medical treatment and medicines and relatively cheap and plentiful food,
If that doesn’t meet the Liars definition of benefit, I suggest they go and live in countries where there is no major public infrastructure. It would serve them right.
I agree wrt the PM’s Cup, Fed up. The PM has to PM and if if that means she has to miss a race meeting to carry out her PM duties, so be it, particularly when it’s something as important as Gonski.
Whereas i would expect nothing else from Liars robots, Bacchus. 😀
Mark Latham on the culture wars.
http://chifley.org.au/opinion/the-culture-wars-legitimate-battlefield-or-just-another-sneaky-right-wing-attack/
silkworm, as usual Latham effortlessly demolishes another Liars barracker, leaving his specious arguments in tatters on the cutting room floor.
Another cracker by Latham.
There’s no one I’ve recently read that can rip apart right wing nonsense and hypocrisy like Mark.
We have more articles today on how Abbott has grown. Funny I have not noticed much change, He is being admired for the way he handle the PM’s action in raising the Medicare levy to fund the NDIS. What is being ignored is it took him two days to come on board. Muttered about having to wait until we came back to surplus. I do not believe the public is seeing it the same way as the media.
One who has matured and grown in stature is Latham He has learnt from his mistakes. He has also admitted he made many. Latham says much that makes sense.
Shock, ABC 24 saying the PM is very much on the front foot, out promoting her policies on all fronts. Being seen as feisty. Yes, it is the PM that has also grown in stature.
Sorry, I cannot say the same for Abbott. Still whining and moaning, still against all. Still promoting lies.
Well Abbott behind the times yet again.
Here was again interrupting his Pollie Pedal, using it to play politics when he said the other day it was above politics, and announced if in government he would regulate the broadcast of live odds during sporting events and the amount of gambling advertising.
Turns out the government has been in consultation, yes that’s consultation, something Abbott says the government doesn’t do, with the TV industry to firstly get them to adhere to their own standards and secondly to crack down on the gambling advertising across sports.
So yet again you have Abbott threatening government control of something, the very thing the right wingers are always accusing Labor of doing. So far Abbott has trounced Labor in his proposals of heavy handed control in just about every aspect of society and business, except for the very wealthy and Murdoch media, who control him.
Tony Abbott is crap for saying Climate Change is crap, this man wants to be PM of our nation but ignores the elephant in the room. 🙄 …. this man/crap should not be LoTo, let alone PM. His Direct Action Plan (DAP) is an NO action plan from an NO action man. …….Q:- What do Tony Abbott and Methane Hydrate have in common…………A:- They both create a lot of hot air. 😦
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/02/white-house-arctic-ice-death-spiral
Great link, Mo.
If you listened to Neil it’s all a political wedge and Labor don’t really care about the disabled.
FFS, he complains that they do nothing for children who are locked up (which I don’t disagree with) yet when they do something for other groups of people – numbering in their tens of thousands – he reckons they are playing a political game. 🙄
Is it just me, or does he give anyone else the shits?
Migs you do know that Gillard is planning to move the children, including their families to the mainland, in a detention centre near Darwin?
Advocacy groups aren’t happy, and I don’t disagree with them, that the Darwin centre is one of the worst on the mainland and though an improvement on the offshore centres it’s still not good enough.
So Abbott is going to take up a Greens policy if he wins government.
That and the regulation of everything else he has promised to control is certainly odd when you consider all the extreme right wing stuff he has also espoused, especially getting into bed with the IPA and Murdoch.
Methinks, and it’s a fairly certain prediction, Abbott will break just about every promise he makes and will blame everything and anyone other than what will be his failures.
From a right wing news outlet no less.
Quality over quantity matters when it comes to debt
Not that the economically illiterate fool Neil will take an iota of it in. My guess he will cherry pick bits out of context and hammer that over and over. Not being very bright, especially when it comes to economics, also makes him very predictable.
Dear Florence,
This morning I made a major announcement about the National Broadband Network. We have updated the three-year plan and an extra 1.3 million Australian homes and businesses will have construction commenced or completed to connect to Labor’s NBN by mid-2016.
There’s been a lot of misinformation bandied around recently about the difference between Labor’s NBN and what the Coalition would do. We need you to share the facts.
You can help by clicking the image below and sharing the facts with your friends and family.
The Coalition’s broadband would be 40 times slower than Labor’s NBN and all Australians will get the NBN infrastructure for free under Labor. If you want to connect fibre to your home or business under the Coalition, you’ll have to pay up to $5,000 or be left disconnected from Labor’s NBN.
By the time a student in Year 7 today finishes high school, their household’s internet needs will have increased six times. We need Labor’s NBN to meet our needs now and into the future – help share the facts today to protect Labor’s NBN.
Stephen
PS. You can see when the NBN will be coming to your area by clicking here.
http://campaigniq.communityengine.com/em/mail/view.php?id=1793533545&a=26848&k=0db4a91#twitter
ME, I agree wrt Latham. he goes straight to the heart of the matter and as you say demolishes Liars party bs so easily. He’s really got his mojo working overtime.
Fed up @!4.26pm, great link. Even Neil should finally be able to understand how budgets work and what affects them. Yes even Neil may have to admit that a country’s budget does not stand alone, isolated from outside influences.
Hmmm. maybe not. This is Neil we’re talking about. He probably won’t read the entire article, just the bits that he thinks support his world view.
jane, he will say as he has in the past, the man is a liar. He will then name more that are in the same camp. He might even add that they are immoral.
What I like about Neil’s argument(s) is that the man lives in a perpetual ‘opposite day’…… a claytons truth sayer, if you will 🙄 ….. many that read here at CW can get a better understanding of the ‘bizarro world’ that LNPee’ers, like Neil, live in, just by reading Neil’s comments 😛 ……on ya Neil, thanx for showing us readers how not to be 😆 ….one wonders if Neil has an understanding of how many ALP votes he has garnered by his comments here at CW…… one does laugh at how his faux arguments are cut to shreds, only to be replaced by facts…… on ya Neil, you claytons legend you… 😀
Fed up, you’ve got it right of course. Neil and his ilk are impervious to the truth or facts. They reduce everything to three word slogans, all of which are lies.
LOVO, dead right.
I noticed on the news reports yesterday tabot had found his social conscience, and wants to ban live promotion of betting on TV. The msm reported this as him leading from the front, and that Labor was left flat footed on this. Unfortunately, I saw a grab of the Pm being confronted with this, and she quite tersely responded that the Government had been working on this for a while now.
This morning, Emerson clarified this a bit. Unfortunately, the msm don’t appear too interested. Again, they are trying to put abbott as the winner,. and the Government following. Quite the opposite is the case in reality
[audio src="http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/newsradio/audio/20130506-emerson.mp3" /]
http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/2013/05/05/Living-within-our-means-Hockey-style.aspx#id_41a15cff-eefb-467b-b7e9-8410a57cf765
Neil, when it comes to economics, no figure is set in stone. One has to look at the whole context that the figures come from, to form an opinion on what they mean
Economics is not an exact science. It is not black and white, as you appear to believe so.
At the end of the day, in my opinion, it is results that count. One has to look at the whole picture, something you refuse to do.
Under this PM, the results appear to be very good.
My emphasis.
An opinion which is wise and absolutely right imo, Fed up.
Yes, Jane, results are hard to deny.
What happened to “Whatever it takes”?
What in hell are you talking about. Do you know yourself?
Scaper’s been at the goonies again 😆
Sit back, strap yourselves in..this election campaign will be awesome!
The strategy has been hijacked, refiner and distilled through the flare glass.
I see that Alex is leading the way through the IPA.
scaper, who against?
Fu, I think Scaper is saying he can see the projection, knows that they are projecting….. and likes that they are projecting……and he thinks it’s very clever,…
…… though some could argue that they are lieing and betraying the voters trust(s)…..just say’n 😉
Scaper, you shouldn’t play with the tarot cards when you’ve been hitting the piss.
Just watching the PM on Q&A and am disgusted, and at so many levels re her inability to communicate basic ‘principles’. Re Gonski, she fails to make the very basic point that it’s all about funding particular and pecular individual students who have very specific needs. Yet she talks about funding ‘schools’. ‘Individuals’ and their ‘needs’ should never be equated with ‘institutions’.
FFS.
Put simply she fails to understand the underpinning principles of her own policies.
Just imagine an NDIS policy framework that funds ‘providors’/carers and ignores those in need.
Put simply she’s effing hopeless. (BTW, Abbott isn’t worth discussing.)
Col, there must be two qandas on tonight. The one I am watching does not convey that message.
What is annoying, is how the moderator cuts off every answer and tries to control the topics.
Wonder what the kids thinks of his bad manners.
Thankfully the PM has been able to override his interference. insisting on giving complete answers.
The questions and the way they are asked, leave most adults for dead.
Fed up I think you miss my ‘basic’ point. In answering any ‘political’ question, one must firstly make the overarching ‘principle’, ( The political ‘message’). THEN go into detail (or not). It’s about ‘horses and carts’. it’s why Abbott is flogging Gillard. The ‘intellectual lightweight’ Credlin is creaming the PM’s advisors.
Col, you are ignoring the fact that there was a very tight framework in the time given for answers. As it was, the PM was cut off in every answer.
The questions were all of high quality. They were hard to give yes and no answers.
The trouble laid in how the programme was design. It was not the PM’s fault the timing was out.
There should have been fewer questions, or the programme go longer.
The PM did answer the questions in plain language and did not talk down to the audience.
What I would have liked to see, is a follow on show, where the students were given a chance to convey their opinion of the PM and her answers. That would have been interesting.
Col, I believe the PM refrained from turning the show into a political exercise. The PM attempted to answer the questions as honestly as she could.
What is wrong with that?
Fed up, just to be clear, the PM ‘performed ‘ very well. She was articulate, coherent and no doubt massaged the audience very well. (Abbott couldn’t come within a bull’s roar.) But she fails to understand the basic ‘building blocks’ or principles which which she needs to promote, if the ALP is to win the coming election, remote as that may be.
The NDIS is now accepted on all fronts, at least in principle, because it’s been sold that way. Each and every individual ‘deserves’ a fair go. Australians buy that. Yet when it comes to ‘education’ she ignores the individual (needs and rights) and puts the spotlight on ‘schools’. It’s not schools that are the problem.
It’s like saying that hospitals are responsible for early or high death rates in partticular communities. Generally speaking the ’causes’ are much more fundamental than that.
Col, maybe she could have, if they dispensed with a moderator, and let her answer as she saw fit.
It was obviously the time allowed for each question, did not allow what you wanted.
It did start off with the audience being told the PM agreed to the answers being kept short.
Col appears to be upset that the PM answered a very specific question specifically. More slogans please ❓
I agree with the Col on this. I don’t agree with him that she isn’t across her own policy in her response to Gonski, after all education is her hallmark, but I think that she (wrongly) answered to the institutional level to diffuse a complex topic that couldn’t be answered in the Q&A time frame, so chose not to answer to the individual needs level of Gonski. But if you look at the transcript she does mention individual needs in her examples.
Tony Jones was a disgrace at every level, constantly interrupting and cutting her off in attempts for a gotcha. When he interrupted with the laptop remark there was a smart arse smug look on his face as he stared at Gillard, but she deftly danced around the lame attempt at a trap.
I thought this was about school kids asking questions of the PM, not the Tony Jones gotcha show.
Also have a look at the tweets put up you can see the Neil like ignorance on full display from the wingnuts.
Forgot to watch it last night. Will watch the repeat. Maybe on future appearances, the PM could constantly interrupt Jones. He might even get it, although I’m not hopeful.
None of these bozos has the faintest idea about hosting a show like Q&A or any interview, or even a private conversation, it would seem. Perhaps their parents didn’t teach them it’s rude to interrupt and a disgraceful lack of manners to constantly interrupt and talk over someone.
Obviously, Jones, the Liars and their barrackers have been dragged up. It’s the only explanation.
The likes of Neil believe one can.
Whose debt?
I agree, the government should never have joined the back to a surplus brigade. At least they have the guts to say, enough is enough.
The return to a surplus pledge was never about economics. It was pure politics, that the PM should have had enough nous to ignore.
Does this include middle upper welfare as well. Does it include PPL scheme as well.
Of course not, Fed up. There’s no such thing as middle and upper income welfare. It’s a reward for all that hard work they do and because the cost of decent champagne and caviar has just skyrocketed.
You have to wonder how many voters will fall for that line. Time for Labor to point out exactly what they will stand to lose if that mob gets control of the purse strings.
People should be warned that they’d better build a couple of granny flats for their pensioner parents if the Liars get in.
And they an forget that school kids bonus that helps buy new uniforms, books etc. It will be replaced by a bill from the school for chalk, printer paper, ink,
internetno need to worry about internet.But a hatchet will come in handy to cut off the odd hand or foot so the 2 year old looks more pitiful when they’re out there begging on the streets.
In fact when Sloppy’s finished with the family, everyone will be out on the street after they lose their job and no dole available.
How many of these women would not already have access to very good PPL in their salary packages.
One the employer pays, along with all other leave entitlements.
Which by the way, the employer can dismantle under his scheme.
At this time, women keep their industry scheme as well as the government one.
Good to see the banks deciding to pass interest rate drop in full.
A 28 year old, Liberal voting, PhD finance student from Brisbane has done a brilliant job of highlighting the difference between the NBN and #Fraudband. I wonder which way he will vote this year?
http://howfastisthenbn.com.au/
Don’t support Abbott’s PPL scheme at all. There was some serious discussion last week at the IPA function and some interesting strategy to ensure it does not see daylight over drinks.
I’ll leave it at that…for the time being.
Who are we to argue with Reith.
Where’s Neil when you need him (which isn’t often):
http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/04/30/budget-deficits-and-the-grand-hypocrisy-of-peter-costello/?wpmp_switcher=mobile
Hi all. yes I am lurking, just not commenting much as I am becoming despondent over the true vitriol in politics these days.
Migs that story in crikey is so spot on. As most of you know for years I have maintained that the tax cuts will destroy our ability to raise revenue and were a terrible decision. I appear to have been vindicated and proven correct. Peter Costello was not a treasurer but rather a beneficiary of a worldwide booming economy and limited economic prosperity era. Rather than keep taxes at the same rate and build infrastructure he gave more and more tax cuts. How on earth the next government will be able to claw back revenue is beyond me. I have no doubt the LNP will slash and burn and introduce numerous levies on those least able to afford them, while claiming no new taxes or increases. A smoke and mirrors strategy so effectively used by the Howard Government as they gave tax cuts to the rich.
Meanwhile here in QLD my small business customers are telling me how quiet it has become over the last 8 months, sales declining, customers who had items serviced every 3 to 6 months are extending that to 6 or 12 months now. Apparently the automotive service industry in which there are many small businesses has started drying up as people no longer get their cars serviced. Wallets closed and plenty of window shoppers. When I ask them who do they blame, they become very quiet, whereas the usual catch cry, not that long ago was the Federal Government, they now reluctantly (when pushed for an answer) concede it is the new QLD LNP government and their slash and burn mentality. It has scared everyone. The fear for jobs has sapped any confidence. My clients in the health industry are stressed to the hilt as services are outsourced or abolished. My tradie clients in construction have left the industry and working in mines. Another started in a mine in Perth at the end of last month.
Much to my utter shock my NSW small business clients who were staunchly LNP and anti ALP are terrified that if Abbott gets in we will have a worse economy and their businesses may not survive if the wallets shut in NSW like they have in QLD.
A very interesting state of affairs.
It seems the only growth industry in this country is politicians and their staff of both sides. A really sad situation when services to the most needy are slashed at the same time.
Great to hear from you again Shane! Hopefully you’re well on the mend now 🙂
Hi, shane. Great to see your moniker again. I hope all is well with your health, both physical and business, although it looks as though small business is taking a knock
The slash and burn aficionados rarely consider the knock on effects of their policies it seems. They seem completely divorced from the consequences of their actions.
Surely they must realise that if you sack one person, at least 10 others are affected, some directly and others indirectly, like your customers in the auto service industry.
It stands to reason that things like services will be the first to be be let go as people rein in spending to cover essentials.
Sacking public servants is always popular with the general public until they find they’re being inconvenienced, but in spite of their prejudices, public servants do all the same things they do, like buy cars, furniture, lattes, takeaways etc.
And when they’re sacked that’s the first things they stop spending on, so 14,000 job losses will definitely be having a negative effect on other businesses and the Queensland economy.
It’s been reported that Queensland is now in recession. That must be a big worry.
Oh, so women of no calibre need not apply. Class warfare, anyone?
And this oaf accuses Labor of class warfare when they are genuinely committed to ensuring everyone gets a fair go, even women of no calibre.
This, combined with Fraudband and a host of other thought bubbles from Sloppy and other Liars, are very strong reasons to reject this mob of rejects come 14/9.
I want a government which is committed to the entire community, not just the wealthy.
The media are having a field day about the ALP back flips regarding the upcoming budget, which I’m sure will upset many voters, and to be honest they have bought the criticism upon themselves.
Great to see your pointy nose again, Shane. I hope you’re doing OK and looking after yourself.
You might be interested in this, which gives you credit:
http://theaimn.com/2013/05/01/the-consummate-hypocrite/
Somebody made a poster out of your levies and it went viral on Facebook.
Shane, the economy in Qld was on the skids before Newman was elected. The building industry has been in recession for over two years. Retail shortly followed and now the services are now in the doldrums You might have just realised it in your hinterland environ but I’ve seen the decimation unfold and to blame Newman for it is pretty low.
I believe the upturn will commence four weeks after the next election because there is a crisis of confidence which was created not by Newman, that is for sure!
The first two are from Liberal sites. A little dishonest, one would say.
Beware, seeing is not believing.
One should ask oneself, why do the Opposition keep putting out dogy graphs and statements.
Suggest one book mark this page. All available figures available in graph form.
Business do not like Abbott’s policy. Why does one get the feeling it is a sham. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, replying. ABC 24
scaper
You are simply too one sided, like many others of both persuasions. I see fault in both sides and comment accordingly. My comments were from discussions with small business clients who are the coal face, not rubbery statistics. I agree the building industry had started to decline before the previous ALP government was booted, but it has accelerated at an even faster rate since the LNP have been in power. The LNP have now been in for over 12 months so their policies are starting to bite deep and will get worse, even the staunchest small business owners are realising this fact and reluctantly commenting accordingly. Austerity programmes which go overboard and at breakneck speed destroy the economy and confidence. it has been proven time and again. He could have achieved natural attrition in 3 years without the same terrible result on the economy. The scrapping of FHOGS on existing homes for first home buyers has seen the real estate industry go even further backwards with the added detriment of less than 10% of loans now being provided to First home Buyers. this means even less and less home ownership and more and more rentals.
The auto service industry has only seen the decline in the last 8 months so the previous government had absolutely nothing to do with the current situation, fear of having a job shuts wallets and the loss of private jobs as a result of the slash and burn is making so many simply tread water and not contribute to the economy in any way other than essential purchases.
With Tony Abbot getting rid of revenue generating areas for the government while handing out an outrageous PPL policy, plus gifts to business who pollute, rather than penalties will result in even less revenue and much higher costs to all. For some amazing reason the Carbon Tax is killing everyone and business has to pass on the cost, but a 1.5% ( forecast to actually cost 3% levy ( read TAX) will not do anything and business will somehow miraculously not factor this cost into their sales. Smoke and mirrors of amazing proportions.
And hi to all. I am in Dubbo at the moment so not much time to comment. thanks to all who said G,Day. I am getting better all the time. Anxiety seems to be slowly ebbing and they are pleased with my last heap of test results, so plan to be around for a lot longer. Cheers to everyone.
Cheers to you too Shane, Michael told me Shane’s back! And we’re delighted that you are. It’s good news that things are improving..you certainly have been through a torrid time one way or the other.
Hi Shane, glad to see you back around, even if only briefly and sporadically. Also great to hear about the test results. Lets hope you are around for a long time yet.
Take care of yourself
Hi Migs
Thanks for the link. The more people that know how many levies the Howard Government introduced for political ideology the better. While taxes may have gone down they were simply replaced by levies or new government charges for services and information that used to be free to the general public such as statistics and assistance and counselling. I don’t have facebook so you will need to keep me updated as it is great news.
Hi also to Min, Bacchus and Jane and everyone. Min can you shoot me an email to let me know if I have the correct one for you, you do change it at times 🙂
Hi Shane, will do so. This one is permanent. 🙂
😆
Bacchus
Did you see what Henry Ergas had to say about that IMF report that said Howard was profligate??
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/henryergas/index.php/theaustralian/comments/fiscal_fudge_worthy_of_dr_seuss/
” To begin with, Alberici claims that an IMF study shows the Howard government was profligate. Now, anyone who has actually read that study knows the following:
(1) The study is actually a staff paper, and the front page (no less) contains an explicit instruction that it not be attributed to the IMF which Alberici simply ignores;
(2) The study refers to debt issued by all levels of government, not just central government;
(3) The study refers to gross debt, not net debt, levels;
(4) For the years referred to by Alberici, all of the increase in gross debt is due to state Labor governments;
(5) As a result, the inference that the results impugn the Howard government is completely absurd. ”
You have to use common sense from time to time. A govt that pays off all debt is not profligate. Same goes with the crap about the alleged structural deficit. If it did exist it was small. Just Labor Party lies.
Henry Ergas is just slightly to the left of Ghengis Khan, and up there with other rabid, know-nothing-useful “economists” like Judith Sloan. I don’t believe anything these Lieberal economists say :P: 😆
So what Bacchus. The question should be is what Ergas is saying true or not. Your first instinct is to character attack.
Ergas says that State govt debt was also included in the IMF report and that the increase in debt was all due to the Labor Party, especially in Queensland. Is this true or not?? If so the results of the report are meaningless for what your purpose is.
Yes Bacchus you can’t trust this Liberals and their economists as far as you can throw them. Them lot are all proven prevaricators and deceivers, always have been and always will be. Takes someone with a deep ignorance of economics to believe them in the slightest.
Well more personal abuse as usual.
Was State govt debt included in that IMF report you people keep mentioning or not???
LOL Mö – exactly 😉
I haven’t got time for your $#!t Neil – read the report yourself if you really want to know 😛 Ergas’ assertions are
probablydefinitely false though… They must be – they were written by a Lieberal proper ganderist. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them 😆Well Bacchus Labor supporters have a history of spreading falsehoods. That is why I do not trust you people.
But we all have common sense. That IMF report about the Howard govt could not be true. And Ergas tells us why. It contained Queensland Labor Party debt.
Some European countries like France or Britain do not have State govts. So an IMF report would look at total debt. While Costello was paying it off, State Labor was racking it up.
Bacchus
Well i found the so-called IMF report. Ergas is right about one thing. This is what it says on the front page.
“This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.
The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate”
You know i may not be such a strong Liberal Party supporter as you think. But I am definitely anti-Labor. I cannot understand why so many people tell lies about the Howard govt.
I do not trust Peter Martin, Stephen Koukoulis, John Quiggen and Bernard Keane.
So it is not even an official IMF report but a working paper for discussion.
Neil, it is only you that believes that Labor spreads falsehoods. To you, anything that does not fit in with your beliefs has to be a lie.
Neil, otherwise you cannot make sense of your world.
No FU. Labor supporters spread falsehoods. Just take that IMF report that you people keep mentioning that said Howard was a profligate spender. I had a quick look at it. Howard is not mentioned once. Australia is however. And government debt in Australia is comprised of Federal, State and local.
Looks like Howard got blamed for what happened in Queensland under Beattie/Bligh. And did not Peter Martin spin it.
Peter Martin is a fraud.
Furthermore it was not even an IMF report but a working paper for discussion.
Neil, do not you comprehend. I said that all that disagrees with you are frauds.
It is a shame that Labor let itself be caught up with the political obsession with surpluses/
It appears that Labor has manage the economy, to allow budget back to surplus as is the norm. That means, I believe they have not failed. Just allowed themselves to be caught up in an economic impossibility. At least they are capable of changing course.
Poor old Neil. It appears that every economist and economic writers on the face of the earth is a fraud in his opinion, rather than question why so many of these people keep sticking pins in his Liars Party bubble.
Most normal people would begin to doubt the propaganda which has been their steady diet over the last few years; after all so few people endorse the propaganda.
“It appears that every economist and economic writers on the face of the earth is a fraud in his opinion”
No but Peter Martin, Stephen Koukoulis, John Quiggen and Bernard Keane are.
They tell lies for the Labor party to help them get elected.
Religious nutter says what?
Imagine poor old Neil, the Liberal spinner. Fingers in his ears, eyes scrunched closed. When there’s criticism of the Lieberls he squeals “Lies! Liars! Evil Heretics!”.
😀
I stand by what I said. Martin, Koukoulis, Quiggen and Keane all tell lies to help the Labor Party get elected.
It is easy to tell which Journalists vote for the Labor Party.
Right Wing Projection ^
Warren Entsch is a callous liar.
There are not enough police to investigate Jackson or Bought. One letter from Brandis, and a new enquiry into what happen between Thomson and the Labor party, under way in few hours.
Archbishop Dennis Hart does not appear to be enjoying his appearance before the Victorian sexual child abuse inquiry. Cardinal Pell will be on later in the week.
ABC 24
More porkies.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/tony-abbotts-budget-reply-porkie-pies/
I just had a brain fart, looking at the latest polls. In the past, the popularity of the leaders had little to do with who the electors voted for.
At this time, this is not true. I say this, because many are basing their intentions on their apparent hatred of the PM. They are supporting most of what she has done, and what she proposes to do, but say they will vote for the Coalition.
I hate to say this, but the PM has to turn this dislike around. I believe that the PM is gaining respect for her guts and achievements.
What the public needs to decide, is whether there hatred of the PM worth the ditching of many great policies she is pushing.
Mabe this is why we still have up to 30% of those po9ll undecided or do not knows.
I suspect on the day, they will come down to backing policies such as NDIS, NBNCo, CEF and Gonski. All these are to important to dump. Yes, if Abbott gets in, most will be gone for all time.
I suspect many will come to the conclusion that it is not a popularity contest, that it is about competing policies.
The fact that the latest polls show more upper income earners support the Swan budget an indication, that in the long run, commonsense will prevail.
Those lower income earners that complain about the changes to the lone parent benefits conditions, need to keep in mind, they will be worse off under Abbott. Opposing the PM is not in their best interest. In fact, Abbott in his address in reply promised to take more from these people.
Note the names in this story. Some are popping up in the present NSW inquiry, into Church sexual abuse in the Hunter.
My emphasis.
http://newmatilda.com/2013/05/17/victim-terrible-conspiracy
I wonder if Julia and Tim are an item anymore.
The defenders of Thomson here will not be happy if any more charges are laid against him. Obviously, all 183 charges are a stitch up…HAHAHAHAHAH!
scaper, I believe they are. Tim is visiting family in the USA.
scaper, maybe you know, someone noticed that Tony does not wear a wedding ring. I was wondering why.
scaper, as far as Thomson goes, nothing would surprise one.
Funny how there are not police available to spend more time on Jackson, but one note by Brandis, opens up new investigations on Thomson.
Showing your age. Most married men don’t wear wedding rings.
I wonder who was booked eight times in twelve weeks driving Gillard’s tax payer provided car???
I believe it was FWA that instigated the police investigation. Those damn bastards there are Liberal plants!
Scaper, it’s you who are showing your age, men all seem wear wedding rings..that includes gay friends who cannot legally marry. I believe that today they’re called commitment rings.
Wearing your wedding ring?????
scaper, I could not care less whether Abbott wears a ring or not. Just showing how stupid your throw away lines are. Could not care less if Tim is still an item.
I could not care less, as the comments have nothing to do with either being a leader, or how they do their jobs.
scaper, the throw away lines are not even smart or funny. Just shows you as one with a small and narrow mind.
Yes, Labor should be proud of what it has achieved. Still the best option possible. Yes, industry does deserve certainty.
Read more: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/5/23/policy-politics/labor-must-fight-carbon-price#ixzz2U51YjMoR
From FU’s quote above:
Although the government was stung by Julia Gillard’s own goal in pledging not to introduce a carbon tax… it’s just a little gun-shy after taking an almighty hit upon the announcement of the carbon tax… the problem with the carbon tax is not the impact it has on voters, but rather that it was built on a mistruth that has haunted Labor through good opposition.
Does anyone see anything wrong in these three propositions?
Sick of Tom bloody Waterhouse (and other gambling industry advertisers) spoiling your enjoyment of the footy? Sign the petition:
http://tinyurl.com/o5rjrxq
Hazel Hawk has passed away. I really liked her and hated the way Bob left her.
Fed up @12.45pm, all the lies?
ME, a very sad day, indeed. Hazel Hawke was a very well respected campaigner for Alzheimer’s sufferers and a long suffering partner of Bob Hawke, boozer and philanderer.
I have always had an enormous amount of respect for Hazel Hawke, particularly her quiet dignity after Bob ‘s rather despicable desertion of her.
Vale Hazel Hawke. A great woman.
Behind every ‘good’ man . there is an even better woman….. Vale Hazel.
I am one of the 99%…… go figure 😯 ……. are you?????
http://incoherent.net/2012/10/no-representation-no-rightsthe-plight-of-the-invisible-working-class/
Vale Hazel indeed. But let’s not be too judgmental about Bob’s failings as a husband. Who ever knows the truth about any relationships?
Paricia, the relationship did raised children and forty years. Yes, the lady said, later in life, she was happy.
If one is realistic, no relationship lasts for ever. Well at least, very few do.
Couples do grow apart.
This should be our new motto.
“I’d rather vote for a redhead than a dickhead.”
Overheard on a train.
So Newman is going to break a promise on delivering a surplus.
Newman government to break surplus pledge
So after all his massive cuts and hardship heaped on Queenslanders, including wide scale destruction of the environment at the behest of industry and developers, Newman fails, just as his austerity was predicted to fail at great pain for not only no gain but going backwards.
This comes on the back of the news of Newman setting to allow 2 million hectares of pristine bush to be cleared for big farming interests, yet another broken promise.
I know one thing, I bet we don’t see Neil condemning Newman for racking up surpluses, just as he hasn’t condemned the other Liberal States for doing it either. Hypocritically and erroneously he only ever blames Labor.
And we haven’t seen anything if Abbott gets in and fails as he must, the lame excuses and blame shifting will come thick and fast.
Latest poll…LNP 57%-ALP 43%.
I saw Labor’s office in Parliament House…a broom closet!
Scaper, and the benefit to the country is? Get over it, it’s not a footy game where killing the opposition means the best outcome. Tell me how you’re going to be
salivating all over Abbott’s jock strapbenefiting from Tony Abbott when he becomes PM…oh whoops, I think that I now know…Yep, all is honky donky in Liberal Land.
It should be called the “Anti-Wind Power Fraud Rally.”
Who needs wind power anyway? The conservatives should put their propensity to spin to good use. Harnessed properly it could be an abundant source of renewable energy.
Min, how would I benefit?
The Water Transfer Project, Darwin as a Free Port, Special Economic Zones, the Inland Rail to Brisbane and Project Iron Boomerang for starters.
But the best value is watching you lot howl like banshees for at least a decade…priceless!
“But the best value is watching you lot howl like banshees for at least a decade…priceles”
Min, why would the above be true. Surely if the election of a Abbott is going to be so good, we would be on our knees, thanking God for being saved from the terrible Gillard government.
We will be full of love for Abbott, and go to our knees, every time the Saviour goes pass.
Pell appears today at the RC into the RC.
When Pope Benedict 16 stepped down, there was of course immediate speculation as to who would become the next pope. I checked the betting odds on all the contenders, and noted that Pell was ranked at the bottom. I wonder why?
This is the problem with switching to the other side.One does nott know what they are getting. Lucky dips can be fun, but npt this one, I fear.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/opinion/sell-the-abc-and-voters-will-make-you-pay/story-e6frg9to-1226650905832
silkworm, Cardinal Pell has more to be responsible for than others.
We hear so much about divorce. Where are the studies that tell us how these people fare after divorce. Are they happy, or do they wish they stayed in the marriage. None tell us why they are throwing in the towel. Just a thought on my part. Divorce is always presented as being something bad. Is it?
“till death does part”. What does this mean? Is it the death of love, physical death or even just death of the marriage?
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/research-shows-increase-in-marriage-failures-once-children-leave-the-home/story-fnet09y4-1226650820266#ixzz2US8kAJWO
Can be found here.
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/research-shows-increase-in-marriage-failures-once-children-leave-the-home/story-fnet09y4-1226650820266
Cardinal Pell taking no responsibility. In fact acting as being badly done by. Hostility from press.
This is only the beginning.
Pell trying to get statement he was refused to make, into his answers.
He is denying that he is perceived as having influence.
The man is a fool at the very least.
His face has redden quicker than that of Hart.
He will not have any skin left on those hands, when this is finished.
Asked to explained.
Ask why he appeared in court with an offender. Maybe he should be asked, why he did not inquire to the severity of the crimes the priest pleaded guilty to.
Always been on the side of the victims. Maybe he should be asked, in this case, who are the victims. Lived with priest for twelve months.
Pell is not doing well at all.
Pell had no idea. Knew there were many charges. Never asked what they were, it seemed. Now being called out on a lie,
Thanks, fu. Now watching on ABC 24. Pell accepting no responsibility. Palming blame off onto his bishops. I see what you mean by losing skin off his hands. Wash wash wash. Not me.
Christ’s stripes are from whip marks on his back. Pell’s stripes are from grill marks on his bum.
scaper @7.18am, I hope you’re patient. None of the above will come to fruition no matter how much you and the Liars spruik.
The laughable water transfer project which they’ve obviously found in Barnett’s waste paper basket and special economic zones just for Gina. You haven’t got that long to live! Bwwwahahahahahahahaha!
Not me, Fed up, I’ll be knocking up a cross, torches and pitchforks for distribution to the punters when they realise they’ve been sold a pup with distemper. 😆
Pell taking no responsibility, eh? Now we know why Liealot also shrugs off responsibility with such ease; his mentor is tarred with the same brush.
And now caught in a lie, just like his star apologist and defender of the pedophile priest. Looks like there’s some “‘splaining to do.”
Pell is getting no better. In fact worse.
As for the hands, I have visited many adolescents in custody, including my work life. All sat at the other side of the table, rubbing their hands as Pell is doing. Abbott also has the same behaviour under pressure.
Shame they put the show on in competition with QT. Not sure which is the most revealing.
Nice to know the Cardinal has no authority.
I hope the next time, their is a message read out from the pulpits ordering those present to take a certain action. That they let him know, he can take directions and shove them up, one knows where.
I believe he has just made one, decrying Gonski. This when the Catholic Education has made different comments.
Who said women cannot interrogate. This one is a beauty.
He is talking about the Royal Commission.. Told three times now, this is not the Royal Commission.
So we now have it under oath, that the Cardinal has no authority.
What do we expect from the Public Services. Apparently not what it could delver a few short years ago.
http://theconversation.com/public-service-advice-less-expert-chaney-14636?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+27+May+2013&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+27+May+2013+CID_cc59febf1cd70e387d52ee918dc03928&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Public%20service%20advice%20less%20expert%20Chaney
This article is an eye opener.
Love Pell, his answer to his luxurious accommodation in Rome. A hostel that students come to study.
Seen a programme a few months ago on the church in Italy. It appears those student accommodation is the way the church avoids tax. Very few students found within their walls.
The case for keeping Julia. Indeed there is a case fro keeping this PM. She has earnt, the hard way, the respect of many.
Yes, not perfect, but what PM has been.
Why does one continue to focus on failures at the expense of the great numbers of achievements.
http://citynews.com.au/2013/the-case-for-keeping-julia/
Barnett’s waste basket? You display your rather large rump called ‘Ignorance’.
In fact, you have no idea which is most entertaining as you represent the apathetic class that has no say.
You belong to the “Build Anything Nowhere Anywhere Near Anything” sect. Commonly Known as ‘BANANAS’…back to the jungle.
scaper, maybe you can interpret what you are trying to say. Lost you.
Not Pell’s finest day I believe.
scaper you seem full of praise for the ludicrous build a squillion dams somewhere or other for God knows what reason; certainly no sensible reason. How about let’s build a railway line to nowhere-except Russ Hinge’s house, perhaps.
Different taxation zones, ffs? And just who will administer these hare brained schemes? Certainly not public servants. Thanks to Liealot and his fellow half wits, there will be no public servants to administer such a moronic plan.
If such a scheme were at all feasible don’t you think other countries would have tried it? But not one has even bothered to contemplate it. Why is that, I wonder?
The Liars should submit their “policies” to a film maker specialising in fantasies. I’m sure they’d be snapped up.
Jane, your comment displays your lack of knowledge…once again.
Obviously you don’t have a clue about water transfer and I fail to see where I mentioned building dams. However, did you know that recently the government gave $2M to recalculate the cost to build Hells Gate Dam just recently? That’s right, your beloved government.
Your comment about the railways yet again reveals your lack of knowledge. The Inland Railway was endorsed by Infrastructure Australia but canned by your beloved government in favour of a railway in Melbourne (50km) that costs twenty times the price with relatively little GDP gain.
Project Iron Boomerang is a privately funded ($45B) project and the proprietors are already purchasing land for the rail and infrastructure corridor which will be the largest project in our history.
Your comment relating to SEZs is a howler! You say…”If such a scheme were at all feasible don’t you think other countries would have tried it? But not one has even bothered to contemplate it. Why is that, I wonder?”
Your ignorance is breathtaking! So no other country has bothered to contemplate it???????????? Educate yourself, fool!
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Special_Economic_Zone.html
The most recent “bother to contemplate”.
http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/business/3656-myanmar-signs-agreement-with-japan-to-develop-thilawa-sez
Any large-scale development in northern Australia which fails to account and plan for the effects of AGW is doomed.
Those who think otherwise, are indeed fools, although education is not likely to remedy such ignorance, given the active choices involved in their rejection of reality.
Enter the Global Warming Doomsday Cultist.
HAHAHAHAH!
scaper has anyone ever told you that you are a total dickhead.
Only by keyboard jocks who resort to abuse because they can not form a reasonable argument…like you, actually.
scaper, we have had dreams for damming and diverting water in the North since Harbour bridge has built. Each time, sanity has raised it head, and the dreams abandoned.
scaper, in spite of what you say, irrigation in this region is not viable. Well at least on a wide scale operation. The climate and environment prevents this.
Yes, one cannot ignore nature.
You say you came form the north. Ask the farmer or grazier, how hard it is to save the water in their dams, year to year,. Yes, for starters, evaporation is a big problem, high on the list of negatives for the dream. Yes, yes are many negatives and few positives.
I have not even got to the fact, the rain falls in a short time frame, or the land does not have many valleys, and no snow line.
Do not forget that beautiful black soil, that is near impossible to work with, during the wet times. Impossible even to walk across.
.
Insulting people who do not agree, does not change facts.
crowey, you can work out what he is saying. Must take my hat off to you.
Was not “special economic zones”, the wish of the far right back in the 1980’s. Seem to recall much talk then. One can only marvel at the fact that some business believe they are entitled to be removed of the obligation to pay taxes and treat their employees as humans. that they believe they are entitled to all, at the expenses of others.
Wonder how much they can produce and sell, without those workers. Yes, workers also contributed to the wealth made,
With NBNco, the north will become less isolated, will even allow people to cooperate and remain in communication in the wet. Should lead to increase business opportunities. Much better option that fantasy land dams.
Oh dear, another one with a comprehension deficit disorder! The only mention of dam I have made is Hells Gate that is nothing to do with the opposition and somehow water transfer alludes to dams?
You can knock what you don’t understand but the fact is you and your ilk are powerless to stop these projects going ahead.
Is thius the world we really want?
http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/staff-at-aegis-australia-call-centre-in-werribee-had-pay-cut-for-toilet-breaks/story-e6frfm9r-1226651670765
scaper, i have a farming background. Have lived in Queensland. I also have a great interest in geography.
This is a topic, I have been interested in for a lifetime. Would love to see the fantasy become a reality. Sadly, it is nothing but a fantasy.
Sorry scaper, I cannot change facts, to be able to agree with you.
scaper, admit it. These Liars projects will NEVER get off the ground, simply because they are just more of Liealot’s brain farts.
Hopefully, if these clowns are voted into power, they’ll break all these dumb promises. I for one will be delighted when they manufacture excuses not to act on any of Liealot’s brain farts.
What will be interesting if the Liars get the nod will be waiting for even the teeniest tiniest bit of outrage from the likes of the resident trolls when they break promise after promise.
My bet is that “changed circumstances” will be bandied about , but no shrill cries of untrustworthiness, lies, incompetence, chaos & all the crap thrown at Gillard for the last 3+ years will be mentioned
Like Fed up, I also spent my childhood on a farm and also agree that the Liars brain farts belong in the realms of fantasy..
QT: Albanesen is moving to suspend standing orders to force Abbott to acknowledge science of climate change. Aboot accepts climate change is happening. Equivocal on whether it’s anthropogenic. Says anyway, he disagrees with govt’s CPRS. Abbott using opportunity to attack govt, but won’t discuss his own carbon pollution reduction plans.
Jane, somewhere in the ball court of Mr. Turnbull’s effort to create rain, in the Howard government. I believe it was some 10 million, he spent.
Maybe that Murray/Darling plan they drew up of a table napkin.
Yes, all in the land of make believe.
I have a feeling, the asylum seekers trap is being sprung. Wonder who the winner will be?
So is the NBN. Yes Mr. Albanese, it is uploading as well. Also about capacity, as well as down loading speed. Down and up loading at the same time.
New catch phrase, the Digital or Broadband divide. Sadly I live in a area, on the wrong side of that divide.
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=bcde3b960b33e25d0c003ebc8&id=334c265d2c&e=83096b2723
Another myth being put to bed. The myth, that this nation under the PM is a unhappy place to be.
http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=875615
Fed up, it was indeed $10m for his hare-brained scheme.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-11-20/turnbull-pumps-10m-into-rainmaking-gamble/731004
jane, horrors of horrors, he spent that money while the government was in care taker mode. What a horrendous crime is that.
@ Scaper 10:13 am 28 May
@ Scaper 11:45 am 28 May
LIKE YOU actually, Scaper, as you once again demonstrate! 😆 😆 😆
Scaper lives in an unchanging world where the temperature never, ever changes. Fine one day, fine again the next. 😉
Yes, I believe that Telstra will be given back their power under Opposition power. Other telco’s will be back in the position they have been up to now, beholden to Telstra.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/6/3/technology/optus-considers-ftth-nbn-plans
Yes, we will be paying for that extra kilometer. Why, one should ask themselves.
Another question I ask, and have ask those contractors doing the work, which is hard, why is there not a simple machine that lifts these pits in one operation. I believe they are very small. 2 or 3 feet either way.
Why, when Telstra has been aware of the problem for decades, have they not develop modern technology to deal with the situation.
No, they have choose to avoid the problem, by contracting out to contractors to sub and many sub contractors. Have chosen to avoid there responsibilities. Ensuring the manage to do the job at the cheapest cost possible.
I suspect, if they had developed modern technology to deal with the matter, it would in the long run, be much cheaper, and definitely safer.
We are long past the time we take a shovel and crowbar, assisted by a small jack hammer to do such work.
Rob Oakeshott speech in the house, worth catching up on.
Wonder who is bringing in legal mob. Will have great problems proving they are at risk. Experts seem to be saying not.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/6/3/technology/telstras-asbestos-liability-mounts
Opposition speaker claiming that roll out, is only occurring in margin seats. Sorry, I am in a safe Labor seat. I have to wait until the last lot.
Another view. Why is the bullshit of Turnbull gaining a foot hold?
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/6/3/technology/telstras-asbestos-liability-mounts
Is it not shocking,CanDo has broken his promises. Why is it, that all those cuts are having the opposite result. Could it be, that austerity, sends economies into down fall?
Did they forget, all those sacked workers, stop spending, lowering tax receipts.
http://www.skynews.com.au/businessnews/article.aspx?id=877334
Maybe by the electiion, the figures will be better, not worse as Abbott would like.
http://www.skynews.com.au/businessnews/article.aspx?id=877337
What is the Opposition on about. By the was, the Opposition ensure they do not find themselves in this position. Do nothing, does protect one.
http://newmatilda.com//2013/06/04/asbestos-scare-poison-labor