New Aussie PM

[BagOfCrisps 24]

This bloke any good then?

 

Is it true he got in because he didn't pose for photos knitting?

[pie-eater 207]

I think it might have been her extremely bright ginger hair myself.

[Go Native 70]

He's the guy she kicked out some years back. He's now had his revenge. They're a joke. I'll still vote for a joke rather than the extremely conservative, racist, misogynistic and religious nutcase the other side are offering.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Oh God.

I thought maybe this forum wouldn't have any of this ridiculous circus appear on the pages.

<sigh>

 

K.Rudd. Nice enough guy. But that joke of a political party he is leading are incomprehensible. Backstabbing, in fighting, back room loyalty deals, underhanded sneaky popularity mongering. Freaking nightmare.

 

As conservative as the other side is - they can NOT be worse than the current crop of infighting Union strongmen and idealistic commies.

I know you'd never believe that GN, but I reckon the alternative deserves a shot after the shocking few years under Labor.

[Go Native 70]

I don't believe the years have been all that bad under Labor though. Australia still has an economy which is the envy of most of the developed world. Australians currenty have the highest net median wealth per capita of any people in the world. We've seen the start of a much needed infrastructure project in the NBN, something that should have been initiated more than a decade ago but we had Howard then and he wasn't spending an extra cent whilst selling off as many assets as he could to manufacture a budget surplus and give tax cuts to the rich. We've also finally seen decent legislation on pricing carbon poullution that has been working extremely well. CO2 production has reduced 16% since the carbon tax was introduced at minimal impact on the economy. And billions of dollars are being made available for renewable energy projects. Something that will be completely dismantled under a government run by the mad monk and replaced with something that will be far more costly and less effective. We've seen the introduction of a very overdue national disability scheme and they are still attempting to get through a much needed fairer system for education funding nationally. We also recently saw the formation of the most extensive marine conservation parks of any nation. I could go on and on. All this whilst in a minority government. Pretty impressive stuff I'd say.

Of course if you read, watch or listen to any commercial mainstream media in Australia the picture is a completely different one. One that is orchestrated by Murdoch and the billionaire mining magnates who completely dominate our media. If you listen to them Australia is supposedly on the brink of becoming the next Greece! And there's no shortage of dumbarse Australians who believe this nonsense.

[JA2340 16]

As conservative as the other side is - they can NOT be worse than the current crop ...

Ummm ... remember Howard and his "never ever..." and the "agreement" he had with Costello to stand aside after the election, but never did!

 

Truly! The major parties here have become jokes of their own making. Unfortunately, the only guy in the parliament with an ounce of common sense, the guts to do what is right, and the integrity to know what that is, has announced that he's not going to contest the upcoming election. Tony Windsor has been a beacon light of sense in the rancour that the parliament has become. His electorate has now the misfortune to have a choice between a redneck idiot and a few from the lunatic fringe. Unless a credible independent emerges from the mire, I can see me voting informal.

[gozaimaas 61]

2 cars

One has a broken engine but yesterday recieved a new coat of paint

The other has bad paint but the engine is still running at least.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

JA, I think that can be said about all countries political parties......meet new boss, same as old boss.

 

Goz.....nice description!

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Best I've heard in a while. LOL

[Go Native 70]

2 cars

One has a broken engine but yesterday recieved a new coat of paint

The other has bad paint but the engine is still running at least.

 

Broken? That may be what the mainstream media have attempted to portray but the record of groundbreaking and progressive legislation that's been passed by this government proves that's complete nonsense.

The engine is running on the other side? Yeah sure, running full steam backwards towards the ultra conservative, religious right. Is that really where you want Australia to go? You really want a PM who is so closely aligned with the biggest pedophile ring in the world, the catholic church? I kinow I don't. Do you really want to live in a country that is threatening to completely disregard their obligations towards asylum seekers? That's what we'll get under an Abbott government. Do we really want a government that'll completely dismantle environmental protections around the nation, that will provide further subsidies to the fossil fuel industry whilst actively discouraging investment in renewables? Do we want a government that will actively allow our national parks to be opened up to further exploitation? That's what we'll get if we vote this idiot in. Do we want massive cuts to services to manufacture a budget surplus even though Australia has one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the developed world? I know I don't.

The conservative dominated media have done all they can to give support to the mad monk. How many interviews have you seen him do lately that aren't pre-scripted or staged managed by Murdoch related media? They all know if they let him off the leash we'll start realising the sort of person he really is. All I know is I already dislike Australian society enough as it is. If this ****wit gets in it's going to become pretty much unbearable. As under Howard we'll just see another big shift to the right causing a more racist and divided nation than ever before. As though it's not bad enough already.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Thats the horrible dilemma in modern politics......there only seems to be 2 viable options and we lurch from right to left every few years. The Lib Dems really shot themselves in the foot by jumping into bed with the Tories at the last election in the UK as for the first time since the WW2, they were being seen as serious government contenders by an electorate that was fed up with the tug of war between Labour and Tory policies.......but in only a few short years that spark has well and truly been extinguished as they have sold their souls to the devil for a whiff of power at the top table. Now the UK electorate is faced with the same old problem of not really liking too much the incumbent government but not really liking the only viable alternative......so in the end nothing changes and nothing gets better.

[gozaimaas 61]

I just dont think all that nasty stuff will happen like you say gn.

Im not pro liberal by any means, but you labor guys are carrying on like fish out of water. The only extremism i see is coming from people like yourself saying how bad its going to be if your team doesnt win.

I seriously doubt the world will end.

Your team had the chance and squandered it, now the other guys will get a go. If the other guys act like you have already assumed they will they wont last long either so relax and stop the scare mongering.

You arent winning friends for your team by using this style of arguement and you just end up looking like an extremist.

[Go Native 70]

I'm not a Labor guy goz. I've never voted Labor in my life. And when the hell have I ever tried to win friends on this site?

I just don't want to see this country shift any further to the religious right than it already has. I remember well what happened to Australian society under Howard (nothing good) and I believe Abbott will be far worse. If you're not concerned about the LIbs then I can't see how you've possibly looked at their policies or some of the people in their party too hard. Have you looked at the nutcase Cory Bernardi at all and what he stands for? He has the full support of Abbott. If that doesn't scare the hell out of you then I really despair. What good do you really think the conservatives will do for this country?

[Go Native 70]

Here's some quotes from the guy you'd have PM of this country. Just in case you're unaware of them.

 

‘Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.’

‘If we’re honest, most of us would accept that a bad boss is a little bit like a bad father or a bad husband … you find that he tends to do more good than harm. He might be a bad boss but at least he’s employing someone while he is in fact a boss.’

‘The problem with the Australian practice of abortion is that an objectively grave matter has been reduced to a question of the mother’s convenience.’

 

‘I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons’

 

‘Climate change is absolute crap’

 

‘If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax.’

‘What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up, every year…’

 

There's plenty more but these give a good indication of the man. Well, I for one am not impressed.

[gozaimaas 61]

Thats fair enough, I wont engage in a tit for tat arguement over things politicians have or have not said, to me they are all liars, some just get caught.

I guess the point I am trying to make is this.

For a guy like myself standing in the middle, with no allegiance to either political party, the thing that I am seeing now is labor supporters acting like desperate fools trying to change the minds of everyone around them.

Its not an attractive look.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Fast forward a few years (or rewind) and you'll find the same from the other side after they've had their chance and mucked it up. It's a never ending cycle of blame and bust

[gozaimaas 61]

exactly tubs

[Go Native 70]

Fast forward a few years (or rewind) and you'll find the same from the other side after they've had their chance and mucked it up. It's a never ending cycle of blame and bust

 

The real difference as far as I'm concerned Tubs is the state of the media in Australia today. Murdoch owns 70% of print media in Australia and most of the pay TV. Much of the remaining 30% is owned by a couple of other media magnates whose companies are majority owned by some of Australia's mining billionaires. All of this media is very biased towards conservative politics. There is very little in the way of commercial media that provides a left bias to try and get some sort of balance. It's even got to the stage where our public media organisation, the ABC, is accused of being biased to the left. To me it's a ridiculous claim. It's just that over 90% of our media is biased so far to the right that anyone who takes a balanced approach appears miles to left. The effect of all this is that Australian's are not getting anything like a balanced view of what's happening in their country. Anything good the government does is buried and glossed over whilst even the smallest little mishap is front page news and made out to be the end of the world each and every single time. So many Australian's seem to feel that Australia is like on the brink of economic collapse or something when the reality just couldn't be any different. Our economy truly is the envy of just about any other developed nation. We're one of only 7 countries in the world with a AAA credit rating. We had continued growth even after the GFC. Our interest rates are historically low, unemployment is low, debt to GDP ratio is comparatively low. In terms of economic management this government has done an amazing job but you'd never know it. Our media has everyone scared we're on the brink of a great depression. Sure not everyone is taken in by it but enough are. Marketing, PR and advertising works. Companies around the world don't spend untold billions on it for nothing. And our media has become little more than campaigners and PR advocates for the conservative side of politics. To me it's like there's two realities in Australia. The reality the media portrays and what it's really like. And I won't even start getting into the horribly sexist and demeaning way Gillard has been treated not only by the media but also by the opposition. I can't say I liked her all that much as a PM but I liked many of her policies (and disliked quite a few as well) but I detested the way she was treated. A male PM has never been subjected to the sorts of things she was. Made me even more ashamed to be Australian (if that's possible).

I think my biggest concern with Abbott is his strong religious beliefs. I am a fervent advocate for keeping religion out of politics. Under an Abbott government religion and specifically catholic beliefs will very much be part of our politics. Abbott is a huge supporter of Pell even after him being implicated in covering up the activities of pedophiles for decades. I just don't want this sort of fundamentalist christian running our country. It really concerns me.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I agree totally GN. The US appears to be the same, Murdoch owns FOX....right? The News of the World phone scandal seems to have stemmed his neo-con influence over all UK media but he still owns a lot of influential British media outlets. Unfortunately in this day and age, information is power and if you control the flow of information, you control the power. Anyone with any rigid religious views shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the seat of government

[seemore 66]

Wow TB agreeing with GN that will get him to change his mind

I have no real knowledge of politics and policies.

I voted for Bob Hawke because he went to a surf comp I was in.

But I vote local and our local liberal candidate is good.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Wow TB agreeing with GN that will get him to change his mind

I have no real knowledge of politics and policies.

I voted for Bob Hawke because he went to a surf comp I was in.

But I vote local and our local liberal candidate is good.

 

Eh??

 

I'm not trying to change anyone's mind....he can believe in what he lines , but on this issue mines and GN's political views are similar. I'm against any lurch to the right and when you count in a religious factor I'm deathly opposed.

 

We may disagree on other things but on this we are at least on the same side of the fence

[Jynxx 4]

I am totally with GN on this. GOODONYAMATE well said. The Masons are EVIL clowns

[Go Native 70]

Unfortunately in this day and age, information is power and if you control the flow of information, you control the power. Anyone with any rigid religious views shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the seat of government

 

And that's why our billionaire mining magnates in Australia have been spending up big buying controlling interests in our media. They desperately want to maintain policies that allow them to continue make more billions.

An interesting thing in Aus at the moment is the current government initiated a massive Australia wide infrastructure development to upgrade from copper wires to fibre optic. Now on the face of it, considering that Australia has one of the lowest average internet speeds in the developed world with many 3rd world countries having higher average speeds than us, you'd think there'd be huge popular support for this to go through. We are going to have to update our communication infrastructure anyway at sometime in the future and it's not like it's going to get cheaper to do in the future. Yet the Murdoch media has been totally against it. And plenty of dumbarse Aussies have jumped on board with this. The reason Murdoch is against it? He owns pretty much all pay TV in Australia and we pay through the nose to have it. It's hugely profitable for Murdoch. The thing is if we had decent internet speeds we'd be able to download programs much easier from IPTV sites. This threatens Murdoch's business so his papers, remembering he owns 70% of all print media in this country, have had a massive campaign against this national broadband network. The idiots on the other side of politics who of course owe Murdoch big time for all his support are offering an alternative plan which will cost around 80% of the current plan without actually replacing the old copper wires. And if you want fibre optic speeds to your house you'll end having to pay big. At this stage estimates are up around $5000 for the connection. And a whole lot of numbnut Aussies are supporting this. Brainwashed fools the lot of em.

[Jynxx 4]

And guess what, They are going to charge $$$ for internet NEWS in Australia

[Go Native 70]

I don't actually have a problem with that Jynxx. If we want quality journalism we should expect to have to pay for it. I'm certainly willing to pay for what little quality journalism remains. Most news media these days are just proxy campaign organisations for political parties and ideology.