BF2S Forums Australian politics thread.

He's more or less the Australian Dubya, a strange and conflicted puppet.

But still better than the opposition.

Maybe.

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

never trust a man who looks like a hooker's fish-net dragged through a puddle of tanning lotion.

Thats about 90% of Australian men though, the sun is pretty harsh.

keep the darkies out of straya cunt

Last edited by Uzique The Lesser (2013-06-01 05:38:27)

Jaekus wrote:

Better than the opposition? (which I'm assuming you actually mean government, seeing as Abbott is opposition).

He hasn't got any meaningful policies and appeals to racist rednecks who only think about money...

Actually, I can see why you would think that.

Yeah, I think I might vote for him.

And Christopher Pyne, Israel being Australia's most important ally.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2013-06-01 05:53:11)

Only if you're enrolled, which most people are. I have a mate in his 40s who's never enrolled and thus never voted.

Yeah you can turn up to a polling station, get your name marked off and go home if you don't want to vote.

I notice this NBN-asbestos thing hasn't gone away despite me specifically saying that it pissed me off. Malcolm Turnbull said today that the Government was being irresponsible by causing a national panic over it.

Wat?

Anyway, the thing is if you're the party campaigning for corporate self-regulation and the removal of red tape it looks pretty fucking retarded if you start blaming the government when stuff like this happens.

Pretty. Fucking. Retarded.

Julie Bishop as well. The LNP is a who's who of people who kicked asbestos victims while they were down.

Rudd's on the war path, the leadership speculation from the media is forthcoming. I think this whole time the Coalition and their friends in the media have known Rudd's effectiveness so have sought to castrate him by raising leadership speculation every time he opens his mouth. No doubt he did retreat to lick his wounds after he was ousted and no doubt he was hoping to make a leadership comeback but he was never in a position to win a leadership bid. Not ever. He knew that and so did the media. Still, if Rudd stayed in a strong position in the Labor front bench and simply did his job as an able politician the leadership speculation would have likely died out once "Rudd shares opinion on something, whispers of leadership bid" stopped becoming a saleable headline.

Rudd is definitely what Labor needs right now given that his strength is Gillard's weakness, (communication.) Already he's created a simple and effective call-to arms, calming that Abbott's campaign is based on "three core lies" - that he'll stop the boats, that Australia is in an economic crisis, and that Abbott himself is a moderate. Fair call.

Good to know that there's still some fight in Labor. The media has been selling for months now that Australia essentially has a caretaker government keeping the seat warm for Abbott. The media made a bit of a song and dance yesterday over two Labor MPs apparently packing up their office 'in case they don't get re-elected'. Greens Leader Christine Milne came out and said clearly that the LNP will win in September. She did it because she wants to stress to those on the left the importance of securing the Greens' place in the Senate but the call isn't surprising.

But don't people need to, you know, vote first? I know the polling doesn't look good for Labor but people seem to forget that polling is fundamentally flawed, and probably even moreso when you consider that the ones everyone focuses on come from Fairfax and News Ltd. Also that polls almost always narrow right before the election. Plus Gillard has said she wants as many debates as possible with Abbott. This goes against what usually happens with an incumbent who usually sets as few debates as possible to prevent their challenger from being able to appeal to the public. It's pretty well appreciated from all involved I think that the more exposure Abbott gets the less people like him.

Interesting times are ahead, the September election isn't necessarily going to be a case of swearing in Tony Abbott as PM.

100 days is a very long time in politics.

The only reason Rudd causes a negative reaction for Labor is because every time he so much as raises his head the Coalition and Murdoch press starts harping on about leadership speculation. Every time. I have lost count of the weeks where someone somewhere has started fanning the flames, it's easier to count the weeks that haven't had leadership talk. One would be forgiven for thinking that since Gillard came into power Rudd had constantly attempted to wrestle the reins back from her. Rudd has challenged once. Once. The only other time he came close he knew he didn't have enough support so didn't bother. Do they think Rudd is trying to position himself to be king of the ashes if Gillard resigns upon losing? He still needs the support of the party for that and I can't see him getting it, gargantuan ego or not.

And as for deliberate sabotage, so far it seems that Rudd is the only one to talk up Labor's chances. The media has been all over this air of surrender in Labor at the moment. First it was the two MPs packing up their offices. Then Christine Milne, (who as I said was only trying to spruik the importance of the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate.) Today Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson followed suit and Labor's Bill Shorten basically admitted that the Government was going to be defeated. Then Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce couldn't hold it in and stated that the election was already decided and the Coalition would certainly win - though me may not be around to see it if polling in New England is anything to go by. The combination of defeatism and arrogance is fucking infuriating, you'd think the media and the politicians have forgotten that there is a democratic process involved in deciding the next government.

It seems to be snowballing and Labor's as caught up in it as everyone else. Does not one of them have a spine? They're too busy updating their resumes and packing up their offices that they seem to have forgotten that they are part of a Government that has achieved an incredible amount and they're up against an Opposition and an Opposition Leader who are utterly without substance or any hint of a beneficial policy. What's more its an Opposition that seems to know this themselves. The Labor Government does have a reason to believe in itself regardless of whether it is heading towards defeat or not. If a party doesn't believe in itself though, why the Hell should anyone else believe in it by giving it their vote? Talking about and appearing to be accepting of defeat, that's sabotage.

Australians have a legitimate cause to be upset at the state of Australian politics, it's a fucking mess. Largely due to outside factors and a manipulative and malevolent media. The fact that this is going to manifest itself in the election of Tony Abbott and his team of fucking numpties is utterly bizarre. On one side you have policies that the majority actually support and a good social and economic record, on the other you have slogans, insults, and xenophobia.

Either way, there's a lot of truth in the saying that a country often gets the Government it deserves.

Dilbert_X wrote:

I didn't know numpty was in use outside Somerset.

numpty is a scottish word. makes sense it would be found in australia and american south.

To be a talented media analyst and political commentator as I am you really need to look into the subtleties of language used in news stories to understand the intended narrative-



-actually, forget I said anything. A jihad of revenge? Is anyone being serious about this any more?

rudd is back at it!