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Politics

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Reddy!

Bob Davidson (42)
My old man always says, "If I was prime minister the first thing I would do is remove compulsory voting". Personally, I find the way people vote is an incredibly personal affair sometimes and wish there was more education about policy debate than smear campaigns: "I hate that guy, so I'm voting this", or "That bloke is a racist so I'm voting for her", or "I just love the way this guy can relate to families".

Love him or hate him, you must remember that Liberal has done the best it has over the past 3 years under Abbott, Rudd has been booted as PM during Abbott's leadership in opposition. Things weren't quite so rosy under Turnbull (but perhaps he might be more effective now in a changed political landscape). I like Abbott as a person, his frankness and could quite easily have a beer with him, but would he be a good PM? I'm not sure and the polls suggest he won't be. But one thing that is for sure is that he has more ministerial experience, and knowledge in government than Rudd had ever amounted when he was elected in 2007.
 

Reddy!

Bob Davidson (42)
It's pretty clear IMO why Abbot's saying Rudd got the raw deal: his thinking is probably "Shoot, I could've done Rudd..."

Not could've, he "would've" done Rudd a number of times over. But you are right anyway. I hope that the electorate will look past who is leader for at least a brief moment this coming election, and vote for the party that they think will lead Australia the best for the next term.
 

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Reddy and what you hate about election campaigns will be at its worse with this one. Abbot and co will tailor their's solely around "look what happened to the last block you voted for, you don't know who you'll end up with."
 

Scotty

David Codey (61)
The Labor party are making it easy for them to do that as well.

Just wait until Gillard's socialist (almost communist) past gets dug up.
 

Moses

Simon Poidevin (60)
Staff member
I hope that the electorate will look past who is leader for at least a brief moment this coming election, and vote for the party that they think will lead Australia the best for the next term.
You give the electorate a lot more credit than I, especially as I realise Princess Kiki is still a chance to hold NSW.
 

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
The Labor party are making it easy for them to do that as well.

Just wait until Gillard's socialist (almost communist) past gets dug up.

well, the talk around town is that Abbott and Gillard had a little fling back in uni days, so I wonder it that story will develop any further.
 

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
Abbott is many things, but he is no idiot. The guy was a Rhodes Scholar FFS. My problem with him is he is not Prime Ministerial in the slightest. This straight talking, know-where-you-stand stuff is OK for a while, but in the end cannot work for the highest office in the land. He is also prone to slip-ups at crucial times, much like on the 7.30 report recently. Yeah I want to have a beer with him, and by all accounts he is a nice guy, but I don't want him addressing the G20. I want someone who the world will listen to and respect, and not embarrass us. Thought Kevin fell just short, Julia is efficient but a political scragger, and our only truly prime ministerial politician sits on the Liberal back benches.

A bloke who can't string a few words togather without putting his foot in it is an idiot. I don't care if he was a Rhodes Scholar.
 

Scarfman

Knitter of the Scarf
Barbarian, you want to have a beer with Tony Abbott? Clearly we have very different ideas of a good night out.
 

Scotty

David Codey (61)
Scarfie, why hasn't Ruggo got an avatar? Seems he is putting his hand up for a particular budgie smuggler one!
 

Reddy!

Bob Davidson (42)
The Labor party are making it easy for them to do that as well.

Just wait until Gillard's socialist (almost communist) past gets dug up.

You are right, and I think Gillard will call the election sooner rather than later before such information becomes apparent. Honeymoon period for the win!
 

matty_k

Peter Johnson (47)
Staff member
You give the electorate a lot more credit than I, especially as I realise Princess Kiki is still a chance to hold NSW.

That is purely because the Liberals have nothing going for them at all in NSW.
 

Scotty

David Codey (61)
Good article by Janet Albrechtson from the Australian about the economic (mis) management and theology of the current government.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...ds-off-our-money/story-e6frg6zo-1225891374336

Freidman, who wrote the introduction to Hayek's book, best described the four ways we spend money: "You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you're doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I'm not so careful about the content of the present, but I'm very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else's money on myself, then I'm sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it is, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...ds-off-our-money/story-e6frg6zo-1225891374336
 

Scotty

David Codey (61)
Just emailed this to a couple of friends. Thought I'd reproduce my thoughts here:


Do you remember when the GFC hit and this governments response was thought by a lot of people, including the opposition that it was excessive. Both Hockey and Turnbull were calling for stimulus measures of approximately half what the government proposed, and were calling for a short amount of time to evaluate it. They ended up being railroaded so it was rushed through the senate with minimal changes.

History now shows that a package of 20B rather than 40B would have been the correct response. This government has time and time again failed on financial management.

When coming to power Rudd’s initial mantra was thoughtful restraint and not being rushed into policy. I thought (despite my distrust of him) that we might actually have a good pm/government on our hands. He even had Tanner cutting costs all over the country to try and limit inflation. Something turned this government at the onset of the GFC and they never recovered their economic restraint. Maybe the GFC brought out their true colours, but I seem to think it is more likely that as soon as the GFC hit their focus went to being re-elected (some 2 years out from a possible election) and therefore they had to try and get the country heading towards surplus again as fast as possible. It seems that most of this governments term has been about getting re-elected, and I can’t recall this happening to this extent with any previous government.

They need to learn to govern first and politic second.
 

TheRiddler

Dave Cowper (27)
They need to learn to govern first and politic second.

Of course, the previous mob were shining examples of that.......and their current representatives seem intent on diving down to an even lower common denominator than their predecessors!
 

Reddy!

Bob Davidson (42)
I like what you have to say Scotty.

Just have to look at the $900 Krudd money - that was an incredible over reaction, and as you say an incentive for the voter to put them back into power next time round.
 

Lindommer

Steve Williams (59)
Staff member
You give the electorate a lot more credit than I, especially as I realise Princess Kiki is still a chance to hold NSW.

That is purely because the Liberals have nothing going for them at all in NSW.

mk, you don't understand one of the great saws of politics: opppositions don't win government, governments lose government. At the moment it doesn't matter who the opposition are in NSW, the voting public quite simply want to be shot of this Labor lot. As was the case in 2007 with Howard and the Liberals in Canberra.
 

Moses

Simon Poidevin (60)
Staff member
I thought NSW Labor were really on the nose in 2007, but somehow Iemma bribed connector motorways and got over the line. About two weeks later it seemed the calls for shorter terms started becoming vocal, probably from the same people who re-elected the muppets.
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
This is where we are in desperate need of a moderate 3rd party. If the Democrats were still alive they would be killing it, because no-one wants to vote for the major two parties, but neither do they want to vote for parties on the extreme left or right- namely the Greens and Family First. Our credible alternatives to Libs and Labor are few and far between.
 
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