Election 2010

[Aussie D]

What a week of campaigning we've had! Let's see: julia Gillard has come out and said she has been faking in her term as PM and we will now see the "Real Julia" which has amounted to travelling on the media bus and not saying "Moving Forward" as much whilst Tony Abbott has come under fire for not extending his paid-parenting leave scheme to include stay-at-home mums (which if he had I am sure would be spun to 'Mad Monk wants womeon out of workforce and back in kitchens'). Real Julia wants to debate Tony over the economy on the night of the Liberal party election campaign launch after originally declining further debates on a number of occassions (reportedly). However the good news for internet users is no internet censorship if the coalition wins (which means if they don't we get censorship) (link: ) The other big event is Kevin07 is out of his hospital bed and about to go on the campaign trail with his betrayer Julia from this weekend onwards.

 

[Ruggo]

What a week of campaigning we've had! Let's see: julia Gillard has come out and said she has been faking in her term as PM and we will now see the "Real Julia" which has amounted to travelling on the media bus and not saying "Moving Forward" as much whilst Tony Abbott has come under fire for not extending his paid-parenting leave scheme to include stay-at-home mums (which if he had I am sure would be spun to 'Mad Monk wants womeon out of workforce and back in kitchens'). Real Julia wants to debate Tony over the economy on the night of the Liberal party election campaign launch after originally declining further debates on a number of occassions (reportedly). However the good news for internet users is no internet censorship if the coalition wins (which means if they don't we get censorship) (link: ) The other big event is Kevin07 is out of his hospital bed and about to go on the campaign trail with his betrayer Julia from this weekend onwards.

If you believ that they will actually keep the promiss which I doubt.

If you want a giggle on the campaign, check this out.
[url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/06/2975473.htm?site=thedrum

 

[stoff]

Is anyone else concerned that for the first time god politics is becoming an issue in Australia - sort of to avoid loss by exception. Gillard promsing $1.5M to celebrations for the canonisation (think that is how they make catholic saints) celebration for Mary McKillop. Firstly the Catholic Church can afford to foot the bill, or if not maybe sell one of the treasures they own or some land.

Secondly, because Julia has put herself up as agnostic, there is no need to pay for a church celebration to grab some votes - or is there.

Is this the real Julia?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I heard Joolya say "thank the Lord" in a press conference today. Which lord would that be?

 

[Lindommer]

Well, I was raised on a farm, rugby player, private school and university educated, small business owner and I haven't got a fucking clue who to vote for in this election.

A fortnight later and I'm no closer to deciding whom to vote for. For me, this election is the worst in living memory for issues and choices, both sides are simply appalling. A lot of sensible people I know feel the same, they say the choice is woeful. However, my wife informs me a lot of her female friends and associates aren't enamoured by Julia. Surprising. For years I've been telling her women can be very misogynist at times. Misogynist or not, they haven't got much choice in Macquarie: all the major candidates are women!

In my electorate the bully boys from Sussex Street have letterboxed voters with a spurious flyer shovelling shit on the Liberal candidate, Louise Markus. She's the sitting member for the adjoining electorate, Greenway, which has been carved up due to a redistribution. Louise, quite sensibly, has decided to stand in the electorate which contains the largest number of her current constituents, but they're now in Macquarie. The Labor Party skinheads have accuse her of seat-shopping but didn't have the courage to put the party name on this piece of shit, it simply says "Joe Blow of 377 Sussex Street". Little things like this have the potential to blow up in the perpetrator's face. Did you get one, Scarfy?

Ash, what's Mark Andrews done to deserve your disdain? I always thought he was a reasonable bloke.

 

[Lindommer]

Scotty, as Ash says, the Howard Coalition were dishonest in so many ways. They were/are dominated by the Christian right. Religion has no place in politics. An increasing number of Australians are agnostic or atheist and yet it seems that our politicians are increasingly demonstrative church goers. That the coalition shafted Turnbull for Costello gives us an insight into their culture and how little they've changed. They need a serious cleanout. I will also fill out the whole senate paper.

Couldn't agree more, Cutter, but shouldn't that be Abbott not Costello? (That's not a joke, by the way) I happen to be of a certain religious persuasion, not that any of you would know. For me the separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones of our society which should be observed at all costs. Abbott and the crazy Christians appealing to my religious sensibilities is a certain way of ensuring I'll vote against them. And I always fill out the entire Senate form (or upper house in NSW) to give myself the satisfaction of putting Fred Nile and any other loonies last.

 

[Scarfman]

Yep - got the seat-shopping stuff. Believed it, too. Thank god (!) for G&GR to set me straight.

It was funny seeing the Labor member for Penriff David Bradbury getting hard-balled by the Chaser. Good stuff.

 

[Scarfman]

As I've said elsewhere, I'm a Greens voter most times. I'm currently raising some money and one of the "auction" items is me turning up at the polling booth (my kid's school) with Vote Tony written on my bare torso.

 

[Scotty]

You might get more at the auction if it said 'Vote Sex Party No. 1' (or should that be No. 69?)

 

[Rob42]

As I've said elsewhere, I'm a Greens voter most times. I'm currently raising some money and one of the "auction" items is me turning up at the polling booth (my kid's school) with Vote Tony written on my bare torso.

Not that I'd want to be a spoilsport, but you won't get let in the polling booth with a slogan on your shirt or torso. The very same Tony Abbott got busted for that a couple of elections ago, forcing him (?) to strip off his "Vote Tony" T-shirt before casting his vote.

 

[Moses]

Stripping straight down to the red speedos no doubt..

 

[Scotty]

Scarfy,

I hope you aren't one of these 'educated elites' that Janet Albrechtsen is referring to?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...-dont-get-howard/story-e6frgd0x-1225903677496

They failed to comprehend the differences between Howard's 2007 election loss and Paul Keating's drubbing in 1996. Mainstream Australians stood ready with baseball bats to boot Keating, his Italian suits, antique clocks and Mahler CDs out of office in 1996. Meanwhile, the educated classes cried into their chardonnay at the rise of a balding, nerdy chap in thick glasses who espoused family values and torpedoed political correctness.

In 2007, only the educated classes had their baseball bats at the ready for Howard. Most Australians did not harbour visceral hatred towards him. While Australia's second longest serving prime minister certainly overstepped the mark on Work Choices, his bigger problem was overstaying his time in office. After 11 years as PM, Australians gave the new guy pretending to be Howard-lite a go. When they worked out Kevin Rudd was conning them, the battlers turned away long enough and swift enough for Labor to switch to a new face.

 

[Scotty]

For much of the media, the prospect of Abbott becoming prime minister on August 21 is as repugnant as Howard winning in 1996. Mesmerised by Labor's latest messiah, they speak about the "sparkle" in Gillard's eyes. For them, a secular Gillard who pretends to be a conservative is far more preferable to a Catholic Abbott who is the real thing.

The rest of Australia may beg to differ. In fact, it didn't take long before Gillard started to look more Titanic than messianic. Witness her embarrassing call for help from Kevin from Queensland. Gillard and the number crunchers now know that Gillard for PM is not winning over voters in those critical Queensland seats no matter how much she talks about understanding the stresses of family life, balancing the family budget, buying that new pram and paying for those music lessons.She now depends on the man who she politically assassinated, a church-going family man, to pull Labor over the line. The question is whether Queenslanders are awake to Labor's latest conservative con.

 

[Scotty]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...a-healthy-option/story-e6frgd0x-1225903677925

Good article on the differences between Coalition and Labor broadband upgrade proposals. Labor seems intent on increasing the size of government, and creating another government owned monopoly, even if it will be rarely used.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I think the NBN is a colossal waste of money. My education is in that field and there is no way that a network like that should cost anywhere near as much as the current government is projecting. For me the mistake was the Howard government not breaking up Telstra into wholesale and retail businesses or saying that the commonwealth owns the backbone and selling off a chunk of the customer facing part of Telstra. That's how we've ended up with the mess we have now.

I also don't always agree with JA, but she is right about Kevvie. We haven't had a government that incompetent since the early 1970's. Hawke/Keating's stature grows by the year in comparison to the current government and also the latter years of Howard's.

 

[barbarian]

The problem with Albrechtsen is that any point she ever makes is just dripping with anti-left morsels like 'politically assassinated' and 'conservative con'. It reads like something the Liberal Party would produce, the second extract especially.

I am no Gillard lover by any stretch but how does Gillard bringing in KRudd to woo family values voters differ from Abbott surrounding himself with females (eg his wife, Julie Bishop etc) to woo the chicks? Its just politics, you cover your bases. Especially if those bases live in Queensland.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

That's a fair comment.

 

[Scotty]

The problem with Albrechtsen is that any point she ever makes is just dripping with anti-left morsels like 'politically assassinated' and 'conservative con'. It reads like something the Liberal Party would produce, the second extract especially.

I am no Gillard lover by any stretch but how does Gillard bringing in KRudd to woo family values voters differ from Abbott surrounding himself with females (eg his wife, Julie Bishop etc) to woo the chicks? Its just politics, you cover your bases. Especially if those bases live in Queensland.

I think the point she is making is that people (media commentators - her 'educated elite') are attacking Abbott for being conservative, such as his remark about family. However, they fail to see that Gillard is doing the same thing by pushing herself right (I mean does she really have an issue with gay marriage?) and bringing in Rudd to help her.

Of course Abbott surrounds himself by females to appeal to certain voters and soften his image. The difference is that no one has levelled criticism at Gillard for those sorts of issues.

The criticism of Gillard is mainly about poor policy drafting and implementation and poor government. The criticism of Abbott is more about his personality than about his policies.

 

[barbarian]

I don't know, Gillard has copped a fair bit of flack for moving to the right in her time- think refugees, climate change, workplace relations.

And I think her personality has been a real talking point this election, the fact she is a childless unmarried redheaded atheist is given a fair bit of airtime. Abbott has also had his personality examined in detail, and I think for both it is a reflection of an election that is very light on policy substance.

 

[RedsHappy]

I think the NBN is a colossal waste of money.

There's another huge issue that rarely discussed: namely, the v rapid evolution in high bandwidth, high speed, high density, high dispersion wireless technologies could make any wired and underground infrastructure not only a massive over-spend vs alternatives, but equally, redundant technically.

Then we have the other issue of business plan viability: ummm, what are 96% of the population actually going to use 100mbps speeds for, for say 4+ hrs per day?, especially when the cost is $40bn++? If the answer is: HD TV, movies and better YouTube, why on earth spend $40bn for a technology whose principal beneficiaries will be foreign media owners and Hollywood film studios? How many homes and 'ordinary' Net users today are seriously deprived in their information lives by having just a good speed ADSL connection?

The whole NBN is, in a word, mad. It will be the greatest, vastly overpriced and wasteful single commitment of the peoples' money ever in the history of this country. It would be infinitely better spent on high-tech educational facilities for 14-22 year olds in all fields of the information economy and, for example only, life-enhancing medical research labs.