BF2S Forums Australian politics thread.

Dilbert_X wrote:

Why does anyone even pay attention to what politicians say they'll do after the election?

Its like asking a child how well behaved they'll be after they get their ice-cream.

Because thanks, Obama.

So the carbon tax is going to be cut, but the carbon tax compensation scheme will remain?

So right, budget reply reply.

Interesting to see Tony's new tactic in the open. His handlers have obviously highlighted the problems with his overly negative "No" image so now instead of "Everything is terrible forever and it's the Government's fault" it's "Everything is fantastic but it's the Government's fault things are bad." We'll see how well that works for him.

Other than that there wasn't much that wasn't expected. Abbott spent far too long teasing the Government and said far too little about what he would do. What he did say was quite illuminating though.

First off, his plan to return the budget to surplus was very interesting. Not a plan so much as a "we've done this before, trust us" promise. It's not much better than his plan earlier this year where he claimed "surpluses are in our DNA". Great Tony, now if only economics were genetic. All Tony's saying is that if he were given the same people and the same economic conditions he'd achieve a surplus. Well no shit. Thing is if he's pointing out his ministers and boasting that they were in the last Government to achieve a surplus one also has to assume that they would bring back all the other policies that came with that Government as well as the incredibly high taxation, wasteful spending, and gems like Workchoices. It's a stupid point to make from a stupid man.

Also his constant moaning about allegedly wasteful government spending has got to stop. Included in his "Little Book of Big Labor Waste" is the dramatic revelation that the Government is paying for seminars to teach public sector workers how to get a good night's sleep! Shock horror! Never mind that irregular sleep patterns can lead to serious health concerns among shift workers, the seminar, (singular,) cost a grand total of $600 for all 50 people who took part. If this is Tony's idea of wasteful spending what can be said about his carbon tax compensation without the carbon tax policy? I wrote something on this a while back when he first announced it and highlighted exactly how dumb it is so I won't go into it now, but I will say that this sort of policy is why the Howard Government was deemed to be a wasteful one. I understand that Tony is going to make cuts to keep this payment but why would he bother? Cutting things just so you can give out money for no reason, that's not a good policy. You make cuts so you have money for other worthwhile policies, this bribe achieves nothing - remembering of course that much of this compensation goes to big polluters.

If Wayne Swan has learned anything from the past year it is that a surplus-at-all-costs approach is not a smart one to take. He and Labor have paid for that assurance of a $1b surplus, (let it not be said that Labor don't know how to run off at the mouth without thinking about it.) But lets not get carried away. Okay so Swan didn't get his surplus, that was fairly predictable. But there is not a budget crisis as Tony claims. Not even close to one really. What's more Government spending isn't out of control. Can someone remind Tony what the deficit was after 2011-12? It was $43.7b. Now it's just over $19b. Does that really show a Government that is fiscally irresponsible? I'm pretty sure the Howard Government never made up nearly $25b in one year. But that won't stop Tony and his downer brigade.

Interestingly his big stance on that, again, is that the Government can't be trusted. "They promised a surplus, they delivered a deficit". Let's take a step back though and point out that the Government promised a surplus based on Treasury figures and predictions. And guess what Tony, your lot rely on Treasury for your figures too. Might want to tell Joe Hockey that too before he starts questioning the trustworthiness of Labor's predictions again.

Of course it's always been laughable to me that one of Tony's main arguments is "The Government can't be trusted, what you need is the reliable trustworthiness of Tony Abbott."

Abbott backing away from Gonski surprised me, though not so much in retrospect. Gonski is a pretty easy vote winner, sort of like DisabilityCare. No-one can really argue against spending money on childhood education, especially as there was a big costly inquiry as to improve education in Australia and this is what they recommended, (sort of.) Abbott says it is too risky to go ahead with if all the states don't support it.

Tony Abbott ladies and gentlemen, shies away from a negotiation even with states run by his own party. What a fucking coward.

Of course Tony's assertion is that funding isn't needed, but better teachers are. Tell me please then how one attracts and retains good teachers Tony? Because so far all I've seen from Christopher Pyne is a structure where you fire bad teachers, reward good ones and... fuck I don't know, something about how this gives kids better opportunities? I don't know -  nor does Pyne. Amazingly this comes after Australia's most populous state run by the Liberals fairly enthusiastically signed up to it. I wonder where an Abbott Government would leave Barry O'Farrell?

Abbott also leapt on to some popular Labor policies like funding for some roads projects and DisabilityCare, intent on not letting Labor get away with those vote-winners and reminding people at every opportunity that these policies are bipartisan, (while not mentioning that as far as the Liberals input goes their big contribution was agreeing to it.)

And then there's really nothing else to say. Axe the carbon and mining taxes. Uncosted promises. Cuts to public sector jobs, unemployment support, and super for low-income earners. And all wrapped up with a "we'll deliver more detail about how we'll do all this later". Essentially the same old lack-of-substance drivel I've come to expect.

Anything could happen, the Murdoch Republican fanboys utterly misjudged the US election, and if Abbott is personally neck and neck with the one-headed hydra even though most of the press is behind him thats a poor showing.

Thats like one of those 'would you rather be raped by a tender black man with AIDS or a white man with herpes who will send you flowers afterwards' questions.

The media is just as bad - oh the liberals want us to focus on Rudd for another month? Okay then!

AussieReaper wrote:

The media is just as bad - oh the liberals want us to focus on Rudd for another month? Okay then!

apparently chris pyne is an expert on internal alp politics, didn't you know

Kevin Rudd raises his head in the media. Calls on Tony Abbot to allow a conscience vote in gay marriage. Media automatically assume this to mean "Rudd challenges Gillard leadership!"

All this happens because let's face it, the LNP have shit policies and bought media.

yeah we should give more money to american car companies.

They were given $1.1bn and still shut down. Obviously it's a failing company if that doesn't help. Maybe at least take away mining subsidies and put it in other places to save jobs would be a good start.

Jaekus wrote:

They were given $1.1bn and still shut down. Obviously it's a failing company if that doesn't help. Maybe at least take away mining subsidies and put it in other places to save jobs would be a good start.

Ford suck I have to say, but as the Ford bod pointed out, they took 1.1bn of taxpayer investment, and paid back 6bn in taxes.
Plus there's the benefit of bootstrapping other manufacturing.