Julia's Reign

[Blue]

All I can say is that these politicians are a disgrace.

It's all about political fucking about and nothing about delivery and service.

How absolutely appalling to watch people who are elected into public service behave the way these clowns do. They are on TV and they know it. It is out of control.

And this applies to all sides of politics.

I can't decide what pisses me off more. Julia being Julia, Tony being a whiney child, the Greens acting like they live on a moral mountain, never mind high ground or the smug behavior from the independents.

This is what our tax money buys us but there is nothing we can do about it. We'll just be voting ion the next round of power hungry fools in the next election and the circus will continue.

And we have bloody layer upon layer. Council, State, Federal with all sorts of other bits and bobs of bureaucratic job creation in between. Pah.

 

[Sully]

Sadly Blue I agree.

 

[Clawhammer]

Yep - puppets on the right or puppets on the left. There are both equally pathetic and we lose regardless of who wins.

 

[kambah mick]

While I generally agree with you about the standard of politicians, it is a fact that jobs go to those who stand up. Normal people wouldnt have the patience to go through the lifetime of bullshit required to rise through their party of choice, probably work in the office of a Minister from their faction of their party at low pay for several years, cultivate contacts/influence with power brokers in their area, attend countless meetings and conferences, submit themselves to the preselection process where they, their family and their friends will be dissected mercilessly by their party colleagues, and then go through the election process. You spend a lifetime under a microscope where friend and foe alike are for ever on the lookout for weaknesses, where journalists are forever looking for "gotcha" moments and to pry into your private life. Journalists and the general public will give you absolutely no cfredit for any achievements, but will slag you off for your accent, your appearance, your hair colour, etc etc.
Living here in Canberra we see a lot of them as we go about our work and at night in the bars and restaurants of Manuka/Kingston. They are generally an unlovely lot, their advisers are generally several degrees worse, the journalists even worse again (except Laura Tingle, who is a class above the lot), they are all smartarses, ferociously anbitious, tremendously thick skinned, with huge egos and few manners. Among the politicians there are a few exceptions to these criticisms,but only a few.

 

[Blue]

While I generally agree with you about the standard of politicians, it is a fact that jobs go to those who stand up. Normal people wouldnt have the patience to go through the lifetime of bullshit required to rise through their party of choice, probably work in the office of a Minister from their faction of their party at low pay for several years, cultivate contacts/influence with power brokers in their area, attend countless meetings and conferences, submit themselves to the preselection process where they, their family and their friends will be dissected mercilessly by their party colleagues, and then go through the election process. You spend a lifetime under a microscope where friend and foe alike are for ever on the lookout for weaknesses, where journalists are forever looking for "gotcha" moments and to pry into your private life. Journalists and the general public will give you absolutely no cfredit for any achievements, but will slag you off for your accent, your appearance, your hair colour, etc etc.
Living here in Canberra we see a lot of them as we go about our work and at night in the bars and restaurants of Manuka/Kingston. They are generally an unlovely lot, their advisers are generally several degrees worse, the journalists even worse again (except Laura Tingle, who is a class above the lot), they are all smartarses, ferociously anbitious, tremendously thick skinned, with huge egos and few manners. Among the politicians there are a few exceptions to these criticisms,but only a few.

But isn't it terrible that it has become all about the things you mention above but the idea of delivery and gets lost? It is called public service, after all.

Anyway I guess I am being naive in my old age.

 

[Lior]

So glad I'm not the only one who is disappointed in Australian politics.

We have the Liberal Party who are acting like the National Party. Their economic views have moved from free market to Democratic Labor from the 70's.

The Labor Party panders to the Greens and is over regulating, over spending, and is controlled by a bunch of factional clowns.

The Greens simply stand on their grass, thinking they are morally superior then the rest, when they are far from it.

Imagine if the Democrats were still around today, they would be thriving from this environment. I lament the loss of the Democrats.

 

[Sully]

The Democrats said we'd miss them and they were right!


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[Scotty]

Jenkins has the runs on the board in regards to credibillity and integrity. On that basis if the man said he resigned, he resigned.

I think it is likely that he did, but doubt he was much in control of the timing of it. He just gave up something like 100k per year to sit on the back bench and (not) contribute to policy.

 

[kambah mick]

All the rumours around town seem to point to him resigning on his own terms and to his own timing. It is no secret that the Coalition tactic of doing their utmost to turn question time into an unworkable shemozzle has gotten him down to the point of him having had enough, nor is it a secret that his own party thought he had not been hard enough on the coalition when they played these tactics and thus were a bit hopefull that he would give it away.
The general consensus is that he will retire at the next election, thus the reduction in salary is not too influential as his super would be calculated on his higher salary and so probably played only a minor factor in his decision.
When a party has only a small majority such as now, backbenchers, especially backbenchers nearly at retiring stage of life, get much more of a say in policy than otherwise is the case. His seat has a margin around 20% and is apparently being eyed enviously by many potential preselection candidates.

 

[Gnostic]

While I generally agree with you about the standard of politicians, it is a fact that jobs go to those who stand up. Normal people wouldnt have the patience to go through the lifetime of bullshit required to rise through their party of choice, probably work in the office of a Minister from their faction of their party at low pay for several years, cultivate contacts/influence with power brokers in their area, attend countless meetings and conferences, submit themselves to the preselection process where they, their family and their friends will be dissected mercilessly by their party colleagues, and then go through the election process. You spend a lifetime under a microscope where friend and foe alike are for ever on the lookout for weaknesses, where journalists are forever looking for "gotcha" moments and to pry into your private life. Journalists and the general public will give you absolutely no cfredit for any achievements, but will slag you off for your accent, your appearance, your hair colour, etc etc.
Living here in Canberra we see a lot of them as we go about our work and at night in the bars and restaurants of Manuka/Kingston. They are generally an unlovely lot, their advisers are generally several degrees worse, the journalists even worse again (except Laura Tingle, who is a class above the lot), they are all smartarses, ferociously anbitious, tremendously thick skinned, with huge egos and few manners. Among the politicians there are a few exceptions to these criticisms,but only a few.

The best people (as the argument regarding remuneration goes) do not get the jobs because of the nepotistic situation you describe. I would stand up as you term it but I would never bite my tounge and kiss a fools arse for years to get the opporunity to do the right thing. I will not support that fool through years of their abuse and misuse of the position they were elected to.

A great example at the moment is Rob Oakshot. Here is a man who has never held a significant job outside of the political industry, and he along with the other independents hold the balance of power and as soon as he got that balance he declared his apostasy (having previously supported National Party members and been elected on those principles and his former associations regardless of the fact he stood as an Independent). Oakshot is a great example of what is wrong with our system, here is a man elected to represent his electorate who has totally ignored the views of those he purports to represent. The public in his electorate are almost violently opposed to him and regardless of the fact that he will almost certainly lose his seat at the next election his ignorance of the views of his electorate have further eroded the standing of politicians there.

Is it a good thing that so many in our community view politicians with outright contempt?

 

[ACT Crusader]

Kambah Mick - a few other journos aren't too bad, Misha Sherbert, David Speers are okay off camera and away from the mic.

Politicians come in various (personality) shapes and sizes. Have had my fair share of dealings with them, of all flavors also. Some are extremely bright and intelligent that are genuinely engaged in policy issues. Some are just political "powerbrokers" and have received preselection as a reward for all their number crunching and deal spinning.

For political tragics like myself, the rabble soon get found out in the parliamentary committees where they come across as incoherent, unintelligent, all spin and no substance.

Some have an overinflated view of themselves, others maintain a good level of dignity and even humility. One of my favourite politicians of recent years was Petro Georgiou who stood up to the NSW conservatives of the Lib party and while he did not get alot of his reform agenda into mainstream party policy, but he stuck to it, didn't get discouraged, didn't spit the dummy or take his footy and run, but he kept at it, debated his views in the party room with evidence and without the spin and bluster.

Politics and political debate right now overall is at a pathetic low. As we move into 2012 I don't see it getting a whole lot better either,

 

[Scotty]

So the government wants to means test the private health insurance rebate (what a surprise), but one part of their bill that I wasn't aware of is that they also want to inrease the surcharge if you don't have private health insurance!

Anyone agree with these measures? Seems yet another example of their tax and spend culture. Meanwhile Swans 'jobs jobs jobs' budget has lead to nothing, with the worst job creation figures for decades and increasing unemployment despite lowering participation rates.

 

[Scotty]

The other thing that I don't get about taxation and means testing is that one is done based on family income (means testing) and the other on individual income. Surely it is time for income tax to be done on a family basis?

 

[spooony]

Aah politicians. All they need to do is fool the majority of a nation with some promises and reminders of failures of the current one in charge. But in the end you like him or not one is just as scaly as the other who don't really much care about the voter but more to map out their own ambitions and needs all for the ultimate quest for power.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Juliar has plumbed new depths of arrogance and cynicism.
In order to retain government, her only apparent purpose in politics, she agreed with wilkie to introduce the pokie reforms. We did not vote for them ( though I am in favour of them) and she had never professed a philosophy, let alone one that included their regulation.
She bravely copped the bagging the clubs gave her because, she said, she was intent on doing what was right.
And then slipper, whose pension when he leaves parliament at the next election will be calculated on his salary as speaker, takes the speaker's job thereby giving Juliar a working majority on the floor.
So Wilkies support is no longer necessary to her retaining power, thus his policy Can be jettisoned because it no longer amounts to doing what is right.

Why has this analysis, which is obvious, not featured in the mainstream press?
The woman is a disgrace even to politicians.


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[Schadenfreude]

Did Alan Jones just say that?

 

[matty_k]

I thought even Alan Jones had given up on calling her Juliar.

 

[Sully]

It's supposed to belittle the subject but does just the opposite to me.

 

[Scotty]

Did Alan Jones just say that?

If he did would you disagree with it's content?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I thought even Alan Jones had given up on calling her Juliar.

I don't listen to him so I will take the word of his fans in that regard.
If jones isn't doing something that's a good enough reason to start doing it, I reckon.


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