Oz Federal Election 2013 - Discussion and Comments

[amaroo]

Julia Gillard's cabinet?

That's gold!

 

[cove]

drsmithy is that you on MB thinking you need a new accountant? Car log books,travel diaries and good record keeping are a must if you are dealing with the ATO.
There was a very detailed Ken Henry tax review that was ignored so there is little point in individuals trying to change things.
I don't consider a 12 week log book every 5 years for Fringe Benefits Tax to be a great imposition but we only have thirty something cars that are not one tonners. For a big company that would be a bit of a horror story.
The chance of a real estate crash sometime this century is always greater than zero but I doubt it will happen in the next few months or even a year or two and the APRA watchdog runs regular stress testing.

 

[Rebekkap]

I'll take September 21 to allow Rudd and his hair drier a guaranteed trip to the G20

It would be very unusual to hold an election while football finals are on in Victoria.

 

[drsmithy]

There are a number of areas that the private sector cannot do as good as government. I.e. Public Transport, Health, Utilities etc
Transport companies suck $2.6 billion

Maybe I need some [/SARCASM] tags ?

 

[Pushka]

So, this two page Asylum deal. It seems Rudd has only brokered for PNG to keep the true Asylum seekers, and we have to deal with the ones that are not. Nice work!

 

[Skyring]

So, this two page Asylum deal. It seems Rudd has only brokered for PNG to keep the true Asylum seekers, and we have to deal with the ones that are not. Nice work!

They can refuse anyone they want, apparently. This is turning into Julia Gillard and East Timor all over again.

 

[Skyring]

Amanda Vanstone has some choice words here:

So, for the guy who was PM of the government that trashed our border controls to now be talking about fixing the problem is extraordinary. He shows no embarrassment at all. Not a scintilla of pink enters his endlessly cheery face.

There's a lot more, but the bit that really interests me is that Rudd has embarked on a massive advertising campaign based on a document that he won't reveal. He signed something with the PNG Prime Minister, but he isn't making it public. And we're spending millions, based on what, precisely?

 

[SQ421]

Just like offshore processing, yeah?

Hard to know what you're going to get with Labor nowadays. Whatever the leader reckons is good for a headline, I suppose.

And pray tell what, besides slogans, are we going to get with the Coalition?

 

[medhead]

More spin.

Why do you think that is? Could it have been that we started with a large surplus inherited from the previous government?

Also, I'm presuming you mean net debt to GDP ratio, which, as our GDP is sliding, will likely be an entirely different number in the not too distant future.

A handful of socialists are appearing in this thread. To refer a previous post:

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
― Margaret Thatcher

Refer back to the picture posted from the Australian. All the answers are there. It's not spin at all. Just cold hard numbers. You can hardly accuse the Oz of being a socialist rag. Yet they published the numbers, no doubt for a very good reason. Such as Australia's performance is at the top end during what has been very difficult times for the entire world.

Oh and the cold warrior thatcher is no longer relevant in the modern paradigm where the socialists in china are lending money to the capitalists.

 

[SQ421]

So, this two page Asylum deal. It seems Rudd has only brokered for PNG to keep the true Asylum seekers, and we have to deal with the ones that are not. Nice work!

Well, the ones that are not true Asylum Seekers are returned to their country of origin. Similar to what happens when an Asylum Seeker landing in Australia is not found to be an Asylum Seeker.

 

[Pushka]

Well, the ones that are not true Asylum Seekers are returned to their country of origin. Similar to what happens when an Asylum Seeker landing in Australia is not found to be an Asylum Seeker.

They will have to come to Australia first because PNG won't keep them once they've been refused. So we just get the ones who will be really angry. And if they apply for a review, which they might if the PNG process comes under scrutiny, could be here for quite some time.

Now there is a real solution.

 

[amaroo]

They can refuse anyone they want, apparently. This is turning into Julia Gillard and East Timor all over again.

That's what I'm thinking.

 

[Deleted member]

Yes, it'll undoubtedly get the xenophobic racists cheering.

An ethically and morally bankrupt "solution", however. It's not often I feel ashamed to be Australian, but listening to that announcement was certainly one of those times.

Why is stemming the tide of illegal queue jumpers unethical or morally bankrupt? ( I am not a KRudd fan either btw. ) what is immoral is for Indonesia to allow them in ( while happily accepting hundreds of millions of Aussie aid) and then getting high and mighty about turning the boats around. This is a problem not of our making and if we ( Australia ) are to have ANY say in our own country then maybe this is the way to do it.

 

[Deleted member]

And pray tell what, besides slogans, are we going to get with the Coalition?

Oh he of short memory. We get what we had before. No boats

 

[SQ421]

Oh he of short memory. We get what we had before. No boats

Turning the boats as Abbott reckons he will ("wherever possible") is going to be unfeasible, not to mention a legal and diplomatic minefield.

The charade ends when a boat starts to sink near a Naval vessel. The vessel then has to render assitance to the drowning mariners, who can claim asylum as soon as they are on an Australian Naval Vessel at which point they can not be turned back.

 

[SQ421]

They can refuse anyone they want, apparently.

More speculation?

Or does being a signatory to the Refugee Convention means PNG can only refuse those that are found to not be genuine refugees?

 

[BadgerBoi]

Oh he of short memory. We get what we had before. No boats

That post is going to come back to haunt you.

 

[SQ421]

They will have to come to Australia first because PNG won't keep them once they've been refused. So we just get the ones who will be really angry. And if they apply for a review, which they might if the PNG process comes under scrutiny, could be here for quite some time.

Why would they have to come to Australia first? Maybe I'm missing some details.

Now there is a real solution.

The real solution would be to work in tandem with UNHCR and Inodnesia to

a) Document every refugee awaiting processing in Indonesia (to give it a semblance of a "queue" these boat arrivals are meant to have jumped, also allows their personal information and documentary evidence to be captured before it is destroyed while "jumping the queue")

b) Increase the refugee intake

 

[Skyring]

More speculation?

Or does being a signatory to the Refugee Convention means PNG can only refuse those that are found to not be genuine refugees?

I had a look for the article that noted this, but Google has lost it in the wave of comment.

I'll keep my eyes open, but no, it's not speculation on my part, as my choice of words indicated.

 

[Skyring]

The real solution would be to work in tandem with UNHCR and Inodnesia to

a) Document every refugee awaiting processing in Indonesia (to give it a semblance of a "queue" these boat arrivals are meant to have jumped, also allows their personal information and documentary evidence to be captured before it is destroyed while "jumping the queue")

b) Increase the refugee intake

That would be good, sure.

But we already had a solution. Howard increased the refugee intake and stopped the boats.

Rudd screwed that up.