Oz season 07

[bushpig 0]

HOHOHOHOHOH!

 

I'm coming back next year mate! Gotta sort out the shit that Howard has messed up

[Mantas 3]

I dont think Horward will be in by the time you get back. Are you coming back for good BP?

[bushpig 0]

Yep, he looks done!

 

And yep, well for the time being - for good.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

he looked done last time as well, but when push came to shove everybody voted him back in

[soubriquet 0]

Howard was up against Beazley, the fat coward pillock. Beazley bottled over the children overboard affair. He deserves nothing except contempt.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

then maybe it was the time before, the Labour guy, Mark somebody or other

[Mantas 3]

 Originally Posted By: Bushpig

And yep, well for the time being - for good.

Perth?

[Mantas 3]

I'm no Howard fan, but I think he's been in so long because the economy has been ticking along very nicely for the last 10 years. People still have horror memories (me included) of keeting's labour "recession that we had to have". I got laid off twice in one year, started a business and lost my life savings on a bad creditor 1 week before I got married.

That was when interest rates were up at 17% and unemployment at 11%. as compared to 6% and 4%.

[bushpig 0]

yep Perth.

 

And yeah it has been good under Howard. That is why he got voted in again last time round. I think now though, it is time in the normal political cycle that Aussies love to hold to, that there is a change of government. Simply because it is time after a few terms. Rudd seems to be a lot more popular and have a lot more backbone than any of his predecessors. What gets me is how Howard has stayed so popular despite his clear dishonesty and playing of the fear card. Short memory spans, have the voters. Children overboard was a disgrace. Howard hasn't exactly taken many steps forward for reconciliation either. Says a lot for the general voting public! The purse is more important than moral issues. The way he backed Pauline Hanson, by refusing to put her last on the ballot despite such frucked up views still makes me sick. Purely political, and no sense of what is right. AND, I hate how he shows up at every F##ing cricket match and declares himself Australia's biggest fan! That possibly rubs worse than any of his other transgressions! Half the bloody population would be at every game if they could. Just cos he's the PM he can. So what?! Grrrr....

 

Alright, rant over.

[Mantas 3]

Soooooo.......... Not a Howard fan ay?

 

I'm over him too. Times have changed, the future will be a lot different from now on and he's not the man to lead us into it.

 

>Says a lot for the general voting public! The purse is more important than moral issues. <

 

I agree. Our biggest cash cow is all underground. It's an easy buck. You'll notice it when you get back to Perth. WA is riding the biggest recourse boom in Australian history. Clean coal is all he can talk about.

Green Peace ran a competition not long ago. They were offering prizes to anyone who could guess how many times Peter Costello (our treasurer) would mention the words 'Climate change' in the Federal Budget. In the last 12 Federal budgets the words 'Climate change weren't mentioned once!

 

Bloody typical of that generation. The "I'll be dead soon so why bother" attitude shits me.

 

[soubriquet 0]

Tell it like it is bushpig. Don't hold back..........

[bushpig 0]

Don't worry soub, I will

 

 

Mantas, I know, I see it every time I go back to Perth. I know all politicians have dubious ethics and scruples, but Howard just took it to another level. Something that I don't believe Australian politicians had done in the past. We had boozing PMs, and PMs that called other countries' leaders recalcitrants, but none that played the divisive fear-mongering card like Howard has.

[soubriquet 0]

The race card. Howard played it, and Beazley ran with it. They both deserve to rot in hell.

[bushpig 0]

yep, but that was not all of it soub. He lied and got caught doing it a number of times. He should never have been re-elected, but money speaks louder than giving people a "fair go".

[Mantas 3]

How did that whole children overboard thing go again? I was really busy at the time and didn't really get what it was about.

[bushpig 0]

 

From Wikipedia:

 

The Children Overboard affair was an Australian political controversy. In October 2001, during the lead-up to a federal election, the Australian government repeatedly claimed that asylum seekers on a “Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel” (SIEV), intercepted by HMAS Adelaide off Christmas Island, had thrown a number of children overboard in a presumed ploy to secure rescue and passage onto Australian soil. The vessel, designated SIEV 4, was believed to be operated by people smugglers.

 

The claim was first made by Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock on 7 October 2001 (the day before writs for the 2001 federal election were issued[1]). It was later repeated by other senior government ministers including Defence Minister Peter Reith and Prime Minister John Howard.[2]

 

The government's handling of this and other recent events involving unauthorised arrivals worked in its favour. The Tampa incident had led the government to adopt stricter border protection measures to prevent unauthorised arrivals from reaching Australia by boat. Polls indicated the measures had public support. The government was able to portray itself as "strong" on border protection measures and opponents as "weak". In November 2001, the Liberal-National coalition was re-elected with an increased majority.

 

A Senate select committee inquiry later found that the "Children Overboard" claim was untrue and that the government knew this prior to the election. The government attracted criticism that it had misled the public and cynically "exploited voters' fears of a wave of illegal immigrants by demonising asylum-seekers".[3]

 

While it remains uncertain whether sabotage caused SIEV 4 to sink[4], in an interview for a book, The Howard Factor, John Howard maintained "they irresponsibly sank the damn boat, which put their children in the water" and "they did sink the boat".[3]