Oz Federal Election 2013 - Discussion and Comments

[Skyring]

That makes as much sense as a Barry Jones white board.

LOL! I remember that. What was he trying to do at that media conference? Whatever it was - it may have had something to do with education - it confused the hell out of all present.

Not to be confused with Ros Kelly's whiteboard, which was a way of directing money to marginal electorates without putting anything down on paper. She resigned over the Sports Rorts affair and when she made a speech likening her retirement to handing over her baby - her electorate - to the nominated successor, the struggling young householders of Nappy Valley rejected the blatantly lesbian Labor candidate in favour of someone a little more in tune with their family-oriented lifestyle. I think it was the only time that the Libs won the seat of Canberra.

Barry Jones, getting back on track here, was one of the few fair dinkum intellectuals ever to make it into Parliament. I was hanging over the rail in the Press Gallery for the Constitutional Convention when he and Ian Sinclair co-chaired that glorious shambles and it was pure entertainment all the way through. Barry Jones, Jim Killen, 'Tash and a host of wacky odd-jobs apparently supporting a peoples' revolution. But Jones and Sinclair held it all together and cracked the odd joke.

 

[Skyring]

Right wing nutbags are too wrapped up in their blind delusions to realise that criticism of the objects of their affection does not mean support of the objects of their blind hatred.

Well put. Left wing nutbags are too wrapped up in their blind delusions to realise that criticism of the objects of their affection does not mean support of the objects of their blind hatred.

Too much hatred and delusion here all round, I think. A balanced view does not mean that the hand grenades flying from one side are matched by the mortar bombs launched by the other.

 

[Skyring]

I'm sure that people like Peter Reith and Kerry Chikarovski have a huuuuuge following amongst university students...

Thinking back to my own uni days, may I just pour a little scorn on that statement? There were many different student tribes in my day. Those who played student politics, controlled the Union, published the student newspaper and basically displayed the public face of student life came from Humanities. They had the time to play these games and their studies tied in well.

The Science side of the equation generally had their heads down in their studies. They couldn't have cared less about Whitlam and land rights and gay rights and all that stuff. So long as there was a supply of cheap coffee and an occasional beer blast, that was all they required in the way of student politics. These are the folk who resented compulsory student unionism because they could always use a bit more money for a bit more software.

If they had a preference for political talking heads, they tended to support those who used reason and facts in their statements over those who made a grab for the emotions every time.

In short, those few who staged noisy colourful protest rallies were far outweighed by those many who didn't. But hey, guess which group made the news bulletins?

 

[drsmithy]

Seriously - and drsmithy, you are as entitled to your opinions as anyone else, whether they be mainstream, partisan, left, right, traffic island in the middle of the road, or on the verge [...]

Erm, what ?

It grabs a whole bunch of very personal information and as noted in the article, that data can be hijacked. Your IP address is fair game, of course, but I certainly wouldn't recommend supplying your email address. Not unless you create a onesy from Gmail or something.

It's been a while since I was hit by a phone poll, given I haven't had a landline since the mid-2000s, but they don't seem to be collecting any more information than one of those.

Plus, of course, there's not even a hint of data verification, so you are free to put in whatever "personal information" you want.

You are only identifiable as you let yourself be.

 

[drsmithy]

I wouldn't say that The Australian is partisan. I don't see it being strongly or blindly supportive of Abbott. He gets a fair go, but the paper just shoots Rudd and Gillard down in flames.

[...]

If The Australian - or any other media outlet - criticises poor output from the government, then that's just standing up for standards. We pay these folk enough, devote vast slabs of our public wealth to giving them staff and offices and facilities of all kinds and the end result is more like reality TV than anything useful.

15-odd years ago, the Australian was a pretty good paper. Fair, balanced, investigative, relevant. It asked important and difficult questions about how the country was being run and held all accountable to their views (or lack thereof).

These days it's little more than a mouthpiece for vested interests and socially conservative politics. Reporting standards are atrocious, and acres of newsprint are spent on irrelevant semantics like "the carbon tax lie" while fundamental and important questions like "why is real estate so expensive and how can that be fixed", or "why are equality and class mobility dropping while the wealth gap increases" are given lip service, at best.

The problem with the Australian is that it only attacks "poor output" from one side of politics, which does no-one any favours at all. It's the Daily Terror for lawyers, bankers and CEOs.

 

[Pukka]

while fundamental and important questions like "why is real estate so expensive and how can that be fixed"

That really is your pet gripe isn't it?

Anyone would think you didn't actually own a house the way you bang on about wanting house prices to plummet.

 

[amaroo]

15-odd years ago, the Australian was a pretty good paper.

I tend to agree however, I feel exactly the same when I listen, watch & read the ABC and Fairfax. It's a balance and there will always be competing interests.

It's a real shame that Fairfax is dying.....the board (past & present) have been pathetic.

If the unions were staffed with professional members of the public rather than just thugs they could/should be in a position of influence in the media......all those funds wasted on drink, junkets and supporting tunnel vision politics.

 

[QF WP]

Too much hatred and delusion here all round, I think. A balanced view does not mean that the hand grenades flying from one side are matched by the mortar bombs launched by the other.

Well put. A few here (although I am pleased with the lack of moderation on this thread lately). Perhaps self moderation is in favour

 

[drsmithy]

while fundamental and important questions like "why is real estate so expensive and how can that be fixed",

That really is your pet gripe isn't it?

Yes. It's an issue that has massive flow-through effects on the economic viability, and social stability, of the whole country.

It's probably the most important single issue in Australia, playing a part in everything from why a coffee costs $5, through why no-one is out consuming to why interest rates are at "emergency lows".

It should be *everyone's* "pet gripe".

 

[amaroo]

LOL! I remember that. What was he trying to do at that media conference? Whatever it was - it may have had something to do with education - it confused the hell out of all present.

A trip down memory lane.....

 

[drsmithy]

[...] the struggling young householders of Nappy Valley rejected the blatantly lesbian Labor candidate in favour of someone a little more in tune with their family-oriented lifestyle.

Wow. Being "blatantly lesbian" (whatever that means - walking around holding hands with a woman ?) is inherently at odds with a "family oriented lifestyle" ?

For a guy throwing stones about other people's hatred, you seem to be in a mightily transparent house.

 

[Skyring]

Wow. Being "blatantly lesbian" (whatever that means - walking around holding hands with a woman ?) is at odds with a "family oriented lifestyle" ?

I didn't say that. I have no problems with people expressing a gender preference. They are just people like everybody else. Openly homosexual candidates stand for election and are elected. Senator Wong is a good example, as is Bob Brown.

The fact remains that the Labor candidate was rejected by the voters in an electorate that had remained solidly Labor for fifteen years and has - after Liberal Brendan Smyth's brief tenure - remained so for another seventeen.

Her sexual orientation was an election talking point. Not the only one, but a significant one. The consensus, as expressed in The Canberra Times and elsewhere after the vote, was that she had failed to resonate with the voters who considered her lifestyle at odds with their own.

Now, you may take up any issues of bias and intolerance with the voters of Tuggeranong who expressed their opinion at the time. You may care to apologise for your poorly-aimed shot at me.

 

[Skyring]

A trip down memory lane.....

Thanks - that's the one! It might have made sense to Barry, but he was well out of step with his audience on this graphic.

 

[Pukka]

Coalition 1.18 for victory Krudd's stock is in freefall

 

[get me outta here]

I didn't say that. I have no problems with people expressing a gender preference. They are just people like everybody else. Openly homosexual candidates stand for election and are elected. Senator Wong is a good example, as is Bob Brown.

The fact remains that the Labor candidate was rejected by the voters in an electorate that had remained solidly Labor for fifteen years and has - after Liberal Brendan Smyth's brief tenure - remained so for another seventeen.

Her sexual orientation was an election talking point. Not the only one, but a significant one. The consensus, as expressed in The Canberra Times and elsewhere after the vote, was that she had failed to resonate with the voters who considered her lifestyle at odds with their own.

Now, you may take up any issues of bias and intolerance with the voters of Tuggeranong who expressed their opinion at the time. You may care to apologise for your poorly-aimed shot at me.

Wow, where is this original comment Skyring I am intrigued! It's hard to find as the quotes in this huge thread don't have any numbers against them

 

[Skyring]

Coalition 1.18 for victory Krudd's stock is in freefall

The Australian puts it pungently:

Rudd has performed a small miracle to make Labor competitive again, but like fish left out of a fridge, he is fast decomposing, and it is being reflected in less than scintillating performances. The one-man smarmy army has discovered how much more difficult it is this time around. Not even his hair will behave itself.

 

[Skyring]

I suspect that this kid would do the same for any politician interrupting his day, but he's scored big with the front page, derailing Rudd's campaign for the day:

 

[Alanslegal]

The Australian puts it pungently:[/FONT][/COLOR]

Pfttt..... rupert murdoch trash They don't report factual news, just uncontrolled opinionated diarrhea.

 

[drsmithy]

I didn't say that.

What ? That's _exactly_ what you said.

The fact remains that the Labor candidate was rejected by the voters in an electorate that had remained solidly Labor for fifteen years and has - after Liberal Brendan Smyth's brief tenure - remained so for another seventeen.

Indeed. And you just made a judgement call that had something to do with the ALP candidate at the time being "blatantly lesbian" rather than "family oriented".

Now, you may take up any issues of bias and intolerance with the voters of Tuggeranong who expressed their opinion at the time. You may care to apologise for your poorly-aimed shot at me.

I responded to what you wrote. If what you meant was "The consensus, as expressed in The Canberra Times and elsewhere after the vote, was that she had failed to resonate with the voters who considered her lifestyle at odds with their own.", then that's what you should have wrote, rather than "the struggling young householders of Nappy Valley rejected the blatantly lesbian Labor candidate in favour of someone a little more in tune with their family-oriented lifestyle".

 

[medhead]

Well put. Left wing nutbags are too wrapped up in their blind delusions to realise that criticism of the objects of their affection does not mean support of the objects of their blind hatred.

Too much hatred and delusion here all round, I think. A balanced view does not mean that the hand grenades flying from one side are matched by the mortar bombs launched by the other.

What an excellent misrepresentation of my point. I'll lob a hand grenade at any clown that accused me of being extreme left just for attacking the blatant failings of Abbott. Their failure of interpretation is no reason to send back a mortar. If you bother to look you'll see I've heap plenty of scorn on Rudd as well.

Too blinded by love of Abbott to see forest.