Oz Federal Election 2013 - Discussion and Comments

[Skyring]

And no matter what side of politics you lean towards, no one in their right mind can believe he will get a fair trial. Both major party leaders have effectively found him guilty and the main stream media have had a field day with it. If this ends up with a jury trial Thomson will be found guilty no matter how strong his defense is. I think his best chance is the evidence being weak enough that it gets thrown out of court like the Slipper/Ashby debacle ... And I think that's unlikely

Thomson will get a fair trial. Politicians don't influence the courts to any great degree. Our history is full of examples. Look at the High Court telling Gillard she couldn't do the Malaysian thing.

Thomson will get every opportunity to present his case. Except that it won't be in Parliament and he is going to be cross-examined by someone who knows exactly what questions to ask and make sure that they are answered. Judge, jury, media, politicians, everything is really immaterial, because it all depends on Craig Thomson.

My educated guess is that Thomson can't afford to stand up tall and be cross-examined.

I also think that the prosecution has very likely got a whole bunch of evidence that hasn't made the papers, that it will be brought out in court in day after day of media sensation, and that Gillard cannot afford those days to coincide with an election campaign.

 

[Mal]

From recent reports... Thomson can't even afford a barrister. I wonder if there is a white Knight who will fund his defence case... otherwise it is legal aid and or bankruptcy.

 

[Mal]

A high speed rail link syd to cbr to mel would be a great place to start. If they extended it to per via adl and bne then it would be much better.

When the uk, Japan, china etc can get high speed trains sorted you do wonder why Australia keeps rafting around.

 

[Sprucegoose]

You are correct. She was found guilty of assault but no conviction was recorded. Craig Thompson remains innocent until proven guilty though.

Thompson is facing over 150 charges and has already been found wanting in previous investigations while Gillard stalled this dirt bags final removal from public representation.

The man is a disgrace to the many low paid health workers who paid their union money only to have it squandered. The unions are scandal ridden. A formal conviction is the only outstanding piece of paperwork so please don't hide behind the soft platitudes of the virtuous legal system we have!!

Lets get onto Obeid next? Hang on he's innocent...........

 

[ReLoad]

Thompson is facing over 150 charges and has already been found wanting in previous investigations while Gillard stalled this dirt bags final removal from public representation.

The man is a disgrace to the many low paid health workers who paid their union money only to have it squandered. The unions are scandal ridden. A formal conviction is the only outstanding piece of paperwork so please don't hide behind the soft platitudes of the virtuous legal system we have!!

Lets get onto Obeid next? Hang on he's innocent...........

Jeez, I'm glad you are not a judge.

 

[777]

Thompson is facing over 150 charges and has already been found wanting in previous investigations while Gillard stalled this dirt bags final removal from public representation.

The man is a disgrace to the many low paid health workers who paid their union money only to have it squandered. The unions are scandal ridden. A formal conviction is the only outstanding piece of paperwork so please don't hide behind the soft platitudes of the virtuous legal system we have!!

Lets get onto Obeid next? Hang on he's innocent...........

Which but of "innocent til proven guilty" are you struggling with?

 

[ReLoad]

Back on topic for a minute;

Julia makes baby harp seals cry, and has no fiscal credibility.

Tony is the biggest No man in the galaxy and does not give a toss about anyone earning less than 300k a year, he also loves living in 1955.

What is the chances of getting a half decent alternative? Why doesn't Malcolm step in? Surely the liberal party are not as stupid as they seem?

He would get my vote in a heartbeat.

 

[Sprucegoose]

To over simplify it: there are two sides of parliament. The one with the most votes and members forms government.

Not Votes, seats. Labor got less seats than the coalition but conned the other rabble and put the NBN in their electorates and did special deals to help them. The electorate were slow and unaware at the time just how tricky this woman was and the rapidity at which she will reverse a previous promise, support a disgraceful speaker, stall investigations into corrupt union officials and the list just goes on and on. That is after she stabbed her boss in the back.......popularly Australians were electing Kevin Rudd as their PM even though officially at the time he was the member for Griffith and the leader of the ALP.

In short, the Australian people will never make this mistake again

 

[Sprucegoose]

A high speed rail link syd to cbr to mel would be a great place to start. If they extended it to per via adl and bne then it would be much better.

When the uk, Japan, china etc can get high speed trains sorted you do wonder why Australia keeps rafting around.

HS trains work in highly populated countries. They did a study a while back and couldn't stack up the economics of one on the eastern sea board.

It will need to be a gov unitive as no private capital will be available given the poor infrastructure returns to date and most SPVs going broke

 

[Skyring]

Why doesn't Malcolm step in? Surely the liberal party are not as stupid as they seem?

He would get my vote in a heartbeat.

Malcolm had his go. He made zero headway against Kevin Rudd. There was a change of Liberal leadership and twelve months later Abbott had Rudd reduced to tears.

From my own dealings with Turnbull during the republic thing, he is not a man to be trusted.

Bob Carr, I think, is the only senior politician with a chance of gaining the trust of the electorate and getting Australia rolling as it should.

On that note, why don't we have a high speed rail network? Or indeed, a decent rail network. Flying people around is tremendously inefficient in terms of resources expended. Likewise all these semi-trailers tearing up the highways, one driver each. The freight could be containerised and put onto trains. The Yanks have it all over us there.

Better yet, get a shipping industry going. Seafreight is the most efficient method by far of moving goods around.

Instead, we get these piddling little token efforts by piddling little politicians anxious not to offend anybody who might vote for them.

 

[Skyring]

Which but of "innocent til proven guilty" are you struggling with?

That's a nice legal point there, but there also comes a point at which people cannot be presumed to be entirely stupid.

Not even the legal system gives 100% observance to the principle. People charged with murder don't often get bail, for example, no matter how theoretically innocent they might be.

 

[amaroo]

Bob Carr, I think, is the only senior politician with a chance of gaining the trust of the electorate and getting Australia rolling as it should.

Pity about his performance as a Premier......not to mention the years that he allowed Eddie to build he retirement nest egg. Too many skeletons in this blokes closet!

 

[oz_mark]

Malcolm had his go. He made zero headway against Kevin Rudd. There was a change of Liberal leadership and twelve months later Abbott had Rudd reduced to tears.

From my own dealings with Turnbull during the republic thing, he is not a man to be trusted.

Bob Carr, I think, is the only senior politician with a chance of gaining the trust of the electorate and getting Australia rolling as it should.

From what I could see, Turnbull was a very smart man, just not so good with the politics.

 

[ReLoad]

From what I could see, Turnbull was a very smart man, just not so good with the politics.

As opposed to Tony who is neither?

I've never ever seen a more negative person in politics before, he single handedly is the only reason the polls are close.

If its a choice between a Tony dimwit and a Julia dimwit, we are going to end up with a dimwit.

All I want is a viable alternative, that's not too much to ask?

 

[HarryB]

As opposed to Tony who is neither?

I've never ever seen a more negative person in politics before, he single handedly is the only reason the polls are close.

If its a choice between a Tony dimwit and a Julia dimwit, we are going to end up with a dimwit.

All I want is a viable alternative, that's not too much to ask?

I agree. Both options are embarrassingly ordinary

 

[drron]

From what I could see, Turnbull was a very smart man, just not so good with the politics.

The best I can put it is that Malcolm Turnbull is the Liberals Kevin Rudd.Both are obviously intelligent and successful men but their major concern is self.

For the record I believe that neither Julia or Tony are dimwits.
I also believe that the record of the Howard government is no where near as bad as painted by his opponents.Future Fund anyone.At least an attempt was made to fund future expenses.

I really dont believe in judging someone by what their opponents say or edited soundbites,often out of context,put up by our media.I will put extra weight on articles that are longer and appear well researched such as the initial SMH articles on Craig Thomson or the Courier Mail articles on the Bundaberg hospital issue.

However all our politicians at the top level are hypocrites when it comes to attaining power.I know several of you think this of John Howard because of his no GST statement.Funny that no one that says this accuses Keating of the same hypocrisy when he was a known supporter of a GST but mounted the mother of all anti GST campaigns against John Hewson.True beliefs ditched to hang on to power.

 

[browski]

Early in the thread I listed a dozen Govt policies that I really like. Perhaps the right wingers don't like those policies; fair enough. However what I cannot seem to get from the Lib lovers is exactly which of their own policies they like. Can anyone list a few or even one that they are keen on?

 

[Limewood]

Was at a BBQ last night with 12 others, conversation came up which party would you vote for in next Federal elections, 2 declined to say, plus 2 were swinging voters (no not swingers well I think not!), all but one would vote for labor, my understanding is 4 were out and out labor voters (or what seems 3 now non).

 

[Sprucegoose]

Was at a BBQ last night with 12 others, conversation came up which party would you vote for in next Federal elections, 2 declined to say, plus 2 were swinging voters (no not swingers well I think not!), all but one would vote for labor, my understanding is 4 were out and out labor voters (or what seems 3 now non).

Where were you?

 

[Pushka]

From recent reports... Thomson can't even afford a barrister. I wonder if there is a white Knight who will fund his defence case... otherwise it is legal aid and or bankruptcy.

That explains the gimp who was representing himself as Thomson's lawyer and saying the most stupid things, even for a lawyer! He seems to have disappeared now.

As opposed to Tony who is neither?

I've never ever seen a more negative person in politics before, he single handedly is the only reason the polls are close.

If its a choice between a Tony dimwit and a Julia dimwit, we are going to end up with a dimwit.

All I want is a viable alternative, that's not too much to ask?

The Leader of the Opposition's job is to be negative until the correct time comes to release their policies. What is the point of releasing a policy more than 9 months out from an election? Either the current Government will steal it and claim it as theirs, or the Policy just sits there and rots because the Opposition don't have Government to bring it to life.

While he has been booted out now, Mike Rann was perceived as the most negative leader of the Opposition, in SA. However, for about five years when he was Premier of SA, he was the most popular Premier in Australia.

Why don't people understand that the Position Description of Leader of the Opposition, is completely different to that of the Prime Minister?

And in my case, when she was in the Opposition, I thought Gillard would make a good Prime Minister, and a great role model for Women. I totally got that wrong.