Australian politics thread.

2013-09-07 07:39:04

#3451

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5351|London, England

Jaekus wrote:
Jay wrote:
Jaekus wrote:
It's funny, because he attended an Ivy League school in the states, ran several companies and became President of the United States while you play guitar and sell wine. I know it hurts your self esteem, but George Bush is smarter than you.
Dat ad hominem feels.

Have you got more?

Well, it's just been kind of your thing over the years to call out people and say that they're dumb when you aren't exactly educated yourself.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2013-09-07 07:45:51

#3452

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

And yet here you are, defending George Bush, when he is applied as a similie to our newly elected PM.

2013-09-07 08:09:41

#3453

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5351|London, England

I'm not defending Bush

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2013-09-07 08:24:04

#3454

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

lol

2013-09-07 10:56:59

#3455

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6764|PNW

glhf, oz

2013-09-07 18:35:41

#3456

Ty: Mass Media Casualty; +2,398|6767|Noizyland

Hope Mike Kelly retains Eden-Monaro. It's a bellwether which historically has always changed with the government, it initially looked to have bucked that trend this time around but I think it's looking like the Liberal candidate might just clinch it at the wire - less than 250 votes in it. Sophie Mirabella looks like she's just held on to Indi and is already blaming everyone but herself. Clive Palmer's still expected to take Fairfax. Quite a few seats which may take a few days to determine.

There are a lot of results that mean an interesting few months ahead.

[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon

2013-09-07 21:02:55

#3457

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,810|6099|eXtreme to the maX

Jay wrote:
Jaekus wrote:
It's funny, because he attended an Ivy League school in the states, ran several companies and became President of the United States while you play guitar and sell wine. I know it hurts your self esteem, but George Bush is smarter than you.

He was put into all those positions by his daddy though - otherwise he would probably have been milking cows by hand.

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!

2013-09-08 03:46:31

#3458

Ty: Mass Media Casualty; +2,398|6767|Noizyland

Man, this is going to be a fun few weeks. I heard a rumour that Mal Brough might lose Fisher to a PUP candidate - though I don't believe it as last I saw he was leading comfortably. Clive Palmer has also apparently issued an $800,000 writ against him - though again with Clive this could be withdrawn, or he could be making it up, or it may have been a dream, or... fuck it I don't know. It will be interesting to see where Brough fits into things in the new Government too given Abbott's wariness of him as a potential leadership threat and given the fact that he might attract a bit of scandal over the Slippergate thing.

Whew. Despite claims from the Murdoch Media believe me, the circus is far from over.

Something to remember for the next term of Government too: The LNP may have picked up a lot of seats but the swing towards them was minimal - only around 1.6%. While that would have been enough to take Government given the closeness of the last election it reflects that Tony has a lot to thank the independents and minor parties for, (except the Greens obviously.) 1.6% better than when you were in Opposition isn't much of a mandate.

[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon

2013-09-08 04:06:28

#3459

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

I'd say a lot of the swing wasn't necessarily toward Abbott but more so away from Labor. People were sick of the infighting and instability, and the LNP have presented the image of a united front for quite some time now.

Abbott still has some bizarre policies. Their watered down idea of a broadband policy is weird. The paid parental leave scheme, which is basically welfare for people who earn up to $150k and paid at their salary, flies in the face of their long held ethos of being fiscally conservative.

2013-09-08 04:23:06

#3460

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6667|Canberra, AUS

no one will challenge abbott for the leadership while they have govt. no one. the libs aren't crazy stupid.

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2013-09-08 04:40:47

#3461

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6709

At least the senate will be fractured to balance the power of government a bit. Hopefully abbotts anti-nbn plans are just part of his no no no strategy to labour.

https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

2013-09-08 05:00:31

#3462

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

No, but Abbott will lose the next election if Labor can get their shit together. This weekend is the most popular he has ever been, or ever will be.

2013-09-08 05:25:21

#3463

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,810|6099|eXtreme to the maX

Jaekus wrote:
I'd say a lot of the swing wasn't necessarily toward Abbott but more so away from Labor. People were sick of the infighting and instability, and the LNP have presented the image of a united front for quite some time now.

Abbott still has some bizarre policies. Their watered down idea of a broadband policy is weird. The paid parental leave scheme, which is basically welfare for people who earn up to $150k and paid at their salary, flies in the face of their long held ethos of being fiscally conservative.

Watered down NBN isn't so stupid, govt shouldn't be dictating what commercial services people receive, they should be helping put in place basic infrastructure like backbones.

Paid parental leave is on the face of it a stupid policy, the alternative is we end up in an idiocracy.

No, but Abbott will lose the next election if Labor can get their shit together. This weekend is the most popular he has ever been, or ever will be.

All being well Abbott will have been quietly replaced by then - I'll bet he'll have ~2 years, quietly bow out and be replaced for the next election with someone fresh, untainted by the nasty decisions Abbott will have had to make, and not so 'tarded.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2013-09-08 05:27:12)

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!

2013-09-08 06:22:16

#3464

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6667|Canberra, AUS

Jaekus wrote:
No, but Abbott will lose the next election if Labor can get their shit together. This weekend is the most popular he has ever been, or ever will be.

you are on a hiding to nothing predicting the defeat of first-term governments in this country. it simply does not happen. it's not impossible (1998, 2010 etc) but it's just not a wise thing to confidently predict.

labor did everything possible to lose in 2010 and still managed to win (granted, mainly off the back of incompetent nsw lib local campaign managers/party officials, which seems to have been a problem again)

Last edited by Spark (2013-09-08 06:22:38)

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2013-09-09 03:45:29

#3465

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,810|6099|eXtreme to the maX

So it seems this man will be holding the balance of power in the senate.

https://resources3.news.com.au/images/2013/08/02/1226690/291719-xenophon-in-bargain-basement-campaign.jpg

Good on yer Nick

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!

2013-09-09 04:58:29

#3466

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6667|Canberra, AUS

lots of men will be holding the balance of power in the senate

including a 9/11 truther

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2013-09-09 06:14:26

#3467

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6145|what

And Abbott has to deal with them.

Good thing he is such a great negotiator...

2013-09-09 16:52:39

#3468

Ty: Mass Media Casualty; +2,398|6767|Noizyland

Dilbert_X wrote:
So it seems this man will be holding the balance of power in the senate.

Good on yer Nick

Hah, no he doesn't. Not even close.

The make-up of the Senate pretty much shows why it needs a bit of a reform. It only takes a few signatures and $500 to register a party and there's nothing stopping anyone from registering more than one. After that its only a matter of constructing background preference deals which can result in a party which gets less than 2000 votes having a realistic chance of getting one of their potentially racist bogan conspiracy theory kangaroo poo-throwing fucknuts in the Senate. Not a great system. Then when you consider the Liberal Democrats getting the majority of their votes because of confusion about their name and their place on the ballot there does seem the need for a change to protect democracy.

Even something as simple as a Robson Rotation would help fix that. Instead of randomly assigning where everyone is placed on the official ballot order, actually have them randomly placed on all ballot papers independently meaning no party is more likely to have an advantage over another through donkey votes or anything else. Making registering a party a bit harder wouldn't hurt either as well as making preference deals more open. When preference brokers like that Glenn Druery wanker have more role in an election outcome than voters it's a pretty sad situation.

Unrelated update: Mirabella is approximately 1,700 votes behind in Indi at the moment!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QXAiEk4m99U/UYyNoYP6bMI/AAAAAAAABDw/ek6GMtwDiH0/depression_-_maybe_everything_isnt_hopeless_bullshit.jpg

Edit: Fuck, she's gaining ground again.

Last edited by Ty (2013-09-09 20:55:31)

[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon

2013-09-09 21:48:42

#3469

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

Not so sure, ABC predicts she will lose the seat. One more booth to count.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-elec … uide/indi/

2013-09-09 22:12:32

#3470

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6667|Canberra, AUS

postals will heavily favour mirabella, you'd say

edit: robson rotation is a nice idea but wildly unfeasible on a national scale

Last edited by Spark (2013-09-09 22:13:19)

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2013-09-10 00:11:17

#3471

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

Repealing the Racial Discrimination Act. He really is taking us back to the 1950s.

2013-09-10 00:40:16

#3472

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6145|what

I like to think you're joking, I really would.

2013-09-10 00:46:08

#3473

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5171|Sydney

It's the law that Andrew Bolt was prosecuted under. Apparently under the LNP it's OK for media to have freedom of speech that deliberately offends people based on the race, culture or skin colour.

2013-09-10 03:18:42