Federal Coalition Government 2013-?

[Blue]

Bowen and Co must be pissing themselves laughing behind the scenes. Every budget trap they have laid has come out and is biting the Coalition in the balls.

Tony Abbott will not go down because of bad policy. He will because he is one of the WORST communicators in Australian political history and doesn't seem to know when to swallow pride and come clean.

"Look we promised all this stiff but because of the situation and the reality in the numbers, and what spending like this will do to the country going forward we are going to break a few promises and we are really sorry and you have reason to be angry. We have to raise more revenue and cut costs. Sorry"

Surely that sort of line would have worked a LOT better than this "we are keeping faith with the Australian people" bullshit. Moreover they think everyone is stupid and doesn't realise that they are in fact doing preciously little to fuck all about cutting back costs. Seem to think we are stupid enough to think that added taxes equal cost cutting. All big talk about "cutting fat out of the system" and "smaller government" and they do almost nothing about that.

If people didn't hate Abbott by now, boy, has he given them reasons to because of what looks like simple, blatant dishonesty.

Unbelievable to watch. Quite incredible actually. And I don't even read the SMH to figure this out.

 

[bryce]

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/05/21/tony-abbott-winks-sex-line-pensioner-talks-radio

Get the feeling this could be Tony's face after pretty much everything he says? Looks like he notices or remembers that there's a camera on him right at the end.

http://i.imgur.com/qjKzC9K.gif

 

[Bullrush]

Different context.

I don't rate the agencies for a whole lot of reasons.

However, other contributors do. They felt that ALP did a good job getting AAA there and that our debt was not so bad. Here I used it to show the same group, ALP, who put it in place and say how important it is putting it at risk by suggesting they will not pass the cuts.

If they do this then the concept of putting the economy above politics, as Howard in opposition did for Hawke, will end. ALP hard heads should remind the children in charge that it ca swing both ways.

We could end up like the US with a President with good ambitions unable to do anything for entire presidancy due to the upper house.

The Greens will always be mad so why go with them to the mad house.

Wow....you must have some sore-ass balls keeping a foot each in both camps there......

 

[boyo]

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/05/21/tony-abbott-winks-sex-line-pensioner-talks-radio

Get the feeling this could be Tony's face after pretty much everything he says? Looks like he notices or remembers that there's a camera on him right at the end.

http://i.imgur.com/qjKzC9K.gif

Perhaps he recognises her voice.

 

[Braveheart81]

Even better than his shark cull video.

 

[boyo]

No way Tony Abbott can now budget for a second term

"The reason the government broke so many promises in this budget is simple: the promises they made from Opposition were wildly contradictory. You cannot rein in deficits and abolish two major taxes, and replace one of them with a climate change policy that costs billions and promise no tax hikes and quarantine education, health, defence, public broadcasting and pensions from cuts."

"The result is that he brought the Coalition to government with a mandate for almost nothing."

"In short, nothing that might help repair a budget in “crisis”, real or imagined."

"So it’s not that the Coalition cannot be re-elected in 2016. It’s that now it can only be re-elected via a parade of sweeteners. Precisely what these could be is unclear. "

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/no-way-tony-abbott-can-now-budget-for-a-second-term-20140521-zrjie.html#ixzz32P0jj8De


I'm amazed that so many could not, or chose not to, see this.

 

[boyo]

Tony Abbott lacks John Howard's bravery in facing Deakin University protesters

LETTERS

"Yes, Dorothy Logan (Letters, May 21), Tony Abbott was indeed voted in to do a job; it’s just that he now seems to be having trouble recollecting what he promised in his original job application before the election.
You also say that if we don’t like it then we can change things at the next election – but what kind of election will that be? If lying to the electorate is allowed to become an accepted and effective part of a politician’s strategic repertoire, why would it stop?"

"Has no one considered that, like many of the politicians interviewed in the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Tony Abbott has just forgotten that he made certain promises? It is a possibility. "

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/tony-abbott-lacks-john-howards-bravery-in-facing-deakin-university-protesters-20140521-zrjwl.html#ixzz32P7yfep8

 

[boyo]

 

[Bowside]

Bowen and Co must be pissing themselves laughing behind the scenes. Every budget trap they have laid has come out and is biting the Coalition in the balls.

Tony Abbott will not go down because of bad policy. He will because he is one of the WORST communicators in Australian political history and doesn't seem to know when to swallow pride and come clean.

Abbott is a fine communicator. He mastered the soundbite and has sold his message exceptionally well hence why he won the election convincingly against a government totally unable to sell theirs.

I think you overestimate the budget traps that are at play. The LNP has cut their capacity to generate revenue in addition to promising an overly generous Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is now having some budgetary consequences.

Scale back the PPL, maybe replace stamp duty and payroll tax with a new property tax, tinker with super a bit - and all of a sudden you don't have a budgetary emergency.

Furthermore, there is a sound economic argument about the need to not contract fiscal policy at this point in time because it will harm future economic growth and hence budgetary revenue growth.

I really don't think Australia has a spending problem at all. The government just can't collect enough revenue at the moment because the economy has a few structural issues harming performance.

 

[Bowside]

On a side note I don't really care about broken election 'promises', I'd rather a government act on the best available information they have.

You'd have to be fucking naive to take what a political party says literally. You have to look at them more generally and make your mind up based on past achievements IMO.

 

[boyo]

Sorry Mr Hockey, I'm afraid I have some good news

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/sorry-mr-hockey-im-afraid-i-have-some-good-news-20140522-38r7c.html#ixzz32QbS6Oyd

 

[Braveheart81]

On a side note I don't really care about broken election 'promises', I'd rather a government act on the best available information they have.

You'd have to be fucking naive to take what a political party says literally. You have to look at them more generally and make your mind up based on past achievements IMO.

I think the focus on broken election promises is important now because of how much it cost Gillard and now Abbott has broken most of his election promises and is being roasted for it.

If it doesn't turn out badly for Abbott here, we'll end up with ridiculous election campaigns where everything is promised because there are no repercussions for breaking them. Swinging voters will flip between whichever party does a better job of promising to put Coke in the school bubblers.

The irony of the whole situation is Abbott would have been elected without making any of the ridiculous promises he did.

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk

 

[Ruggo]

Abbott has a glass jaw and in rugby lingo is a flat track bully.

He has no substance at all. Quite a pathetic individual in reality.

 

[Ruggo]

On a side note I don't really care about broken election 'promises', I'd rather a government act on the best available information they have.

You'd have to be fucking naive to take what a political party says literally. You have to look at them more generally and make your mind up based on past achievements IMO.

I don't know if you have noticed but the Australian voter has proven themselves to be quite "fucking naive"

There is adapting to changing circumstances and then there is lying through your teeth knowing full well the extent of your lies. This government fits the latter perfectly.

 

[Rob42]

Abbott has a glass jaw and in rugby lingo is a flat track bully.

He has no substance at all. Quite a pathetic individual in reality.

Funny, I've heard this quote about the glass jaw a few times lately. Doesn't that refer to someone who overreacts to the slightest provocation, or can't take a punch? I haven't seen any evidence of that from Tony. Perhaps the Macquarie dictionary needs to redefine glass jaw.

 

[I like to watch]

On a side note I don't really care about broken election 'promises', I'd rather a government act on the best available information they have.

You'd have to be fucking naive to take what a political party says literally. You have to look at them more generally and make your mind up based on past achievements IMO.

You'd have to be fucking naive to believe things have changed one iota since they made their promises.
In any event,if things are so bad,then instead of raping the poor.you postpone giving wealthy parents to be $50k,or you postpone the $20B Future fund for medical research.

 

[Ruggo]

Funny, I've heard this quote about the glass jaw a few times lately. Doesn't that refer to someone who overreacts to the slightest provocation, or can't take a punch? I haven't seen any evidence of that from Tony. Perhaps the Macquarie dictionary needs to redefine glass jaw.

Nah, Tony can dish it out but can't take it. Look at his little bitch fits about having to face a hostile Senate. Compare this to his conduct in opposition and tell me he doesn't have a glass jaw.

I would be more than happy to volunteer my services to see whether Tony can take a punch. I would like that very much.

Compare this to the standard he prescribed on Julia Gillard.

 

[Runner]

Wow..you must have some sore-ass balls keeping a foot each in both camps there..

Facts

 

[Braveheart81]

I think this Frances Abbott Whitehouse scholarship issue deserves to play out fully.

If you connect the dots, it's a very bad look and seems exactly the sort of issue a Federal ICAC (if we had one) would be looking at.

The awarding of a scholarship for only the second time ever that is neither promoted as something students can apply for nor announced that it was ever awarded is stange enough as it is.

The fact that Les Taylor, the Chairman of the Whitehouse board is a long time friend of Tony Abbott's and a Liberal Party donor and was the one who recommended Frances Abbott for the scholarship is concerning.

Furthermore, the deregulation of tertiary education fees and opening up taxpayer funded HELP loans to students of private colleges such as Whitehouse both makes private colleges more competitive on price and provides access for more students.

It may just be a few coincidences but I'm not convinced.

 

[Gnostic]

I don't know if you have noticed but the Australian voter has proven themselves to be quite "fucking naive"

There is adapting to changing circumstances and then there is lying through your teeth knowing full well the extent of your lies. This government fits the latter perfectly.

I don't agree Ruggo. The results over the last 3 Federal Elections have been predicated on the Preferential and Compulsory Voting system. If both were voluntary you would see the major parties receiving few votes and probably a wider range of views in parliament and a significantly lower voter turnout.

The current system is anti-competitive and maintains the illusion of Democracy in Australia. The Two Party system is the cause of what appears to be voter naivety IMO. Given more choice and no preferential system I think you would see parties like the Greens and Democrats having a far greater say, and what are the major parties now would have to become more open to gain votes and keep voters turning out.