Oz Federal Election 2013 - Discussion and Comments

[Pukka]

Front page news across Australia. Julia Gillard has publicly announced that her job is safe.

Lol better tell that to the electorate then

 

[Moody]

The funny thing is......the issuing of 457 visa have hit a huge peak under Gillard. Talk about campaigning against your own policy, team & party! Geez, can it get any worse?

Hypocrisy seems to be her only feature!

Get a grip, guys! The 457 visa system is a useful way of closing skill gaps which benefits employers and the country. It also benefits the workers as they can bring their families, can enter and leave Australia freely, and have a good chance of gaining permanent residency.

But .... the criteria for allowing a 457 visa are "A business can sponsor a skilled worker if they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian citizen or permanent resident to fill a skilled position", and that is where problems arise. There is quite some evidence (and I have had first-hand experience) of rorting of this system in order to bring in cheap labour. In order to maintain the integrity of the system the government have decided to task FWA with assessing the validity of visa applications.

This is all good, and the only distasteful aspect is the use of this issue for political purposes by the government .... and of course the ridiculous claims of the right-wing rabble-rousers that the 457 system is squeaky-clean and only nice nurses (and future brides) are being employed.

 

[casanovawa]

Get a grip, guys! The 457 visa system is a useful way of closing skill gaps which benefits employers and the country. It also benefits the workers as they can bring their families, can enter and leave Australia freely, and have a good chance of gaining permanent residency.

But .... the criteria for allowing a 457 visa are "A business can sponsor a skilled worker if they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian citizen or permanent resident to fill a skilled position", and that is where problems arise. There is quite some evidence (and I have had first-hand experience) of rorting of this system in order to bring in cheap labour. In order to maintain the integrity of the system the government have decided to task FWA with assessing the validity of visa applications.

This is all good, and the only distasteful aspect is the use of this issue for political purposes by the government .... and of course the ridiculous claims of the right-wing rabble-rousers that the 457 system is squeaky-clean and only nice nurses (and future brides) are being employed.

Even if you didn't use it to bring in cheap labour, you could probably use the system to bring someone for the same pay with a better work ethic and less sense of entitlement that the world owes them a living... Not denigrating all workers, but some of the young ones today?!?

 

[casanovawa]

So now Gillard is trialling 24 hour child care centres. A good thing. But has the child care standards industry been consulted? And who could afford to pay the workers shift payments?

Is this what its come to?? I do seriously question the good of 24 hour childcare for the actual children out there... without using the line "Will someone think of the children!!!"

 

[casanovawa]

Front page news across Australia. Julia Gillard has publicly announced that her job is safe.

Only as far as her 'mates' are concerned... Perhaps... Wait till its put to a wider vote Julia...

But seriously, what must the world be thinking of this ongoing circus??

And investors out there looking for some sort of stability??

 

[amaroo]

There is quite some evidence (and I have had first-hand experience) of rorting of this system in order to bring in cheap labour.

There is some evidence of this occurring in the PM's office Communications Director......going on performance the visa should be cancelled immediately!

order to maintain the integrity of the system the government have decided to task FWA with assessing the validity of visa applications.

That should see things right. They should be ready to table a report in around 3 years

 

[drron]

Of course us right wing rabble certainly dont say the 457 visa system is sqeaky clean.Why bring in a media advisor for a politician when many top journalists have either been sacked or taken redundancies in the last couple of years?Surely there is an Australian journalist qualified for this job?
Yes do as I say not as I do is alive and well in Australia today.

 

[Pushka]

.....Surely there is an Australian journalist qualified for this job?
Yes do as I say not as I do is alive and well in Australia today.

Maybe those qualified journalists declined her offer?

 

[browski]

But seriously, what must the world be thinking of this ongoing circus??

You know, here in your little room of like-minded loons, I can see why you might think that the rest of the world agrees with your utter dribble.
But as any foreigner will tell you, Australia is going gangbusters, and Julia is a star.

But back here in your little asylum of acolytes, best you keep preaching to the converted, lest you get a dose of reality. You have way over-invested in your position and I suspect it is too late for you to unwind.

 

[Moody]

Now that you lot have waved the white flag on 457 visas .... I think we should return to media reforms.

It was a particularly good Media Watch tonight. Kim Williams was outed as a complete hypocrite - crying foul over clauses in the proposed reforms that were actually suggested by the Press Council themselves, and presiding over an odious rag (Tele) that misrepresented a phote of media personalities as some sort of cabal against Conroy. A complete lie as it turns out, but let's gloss over the blatant media bias and go back to associating Conroy with despots and mass murderers. Wouldn't want to inject any intelligence into the debate, would we?

 

[Pushka]

... Wouldn't want to inject any intelligence into the debate, would we?

Obviously not.

 

[jetlagger]

Front page news across Australia. Julia Gillard has publicly announced that her job is safe.

It is not yet April 1.

 

[Moody]

Obviously not.

If you were trying to channel Oscar Wilde you have unfortunately missed and found your inner Jerry Lewis instead.




100 right-wing dullards don't like this.

 

[casanovawa]

Hmmm, I think this week's Q&A lacked much of the talent of the last panel discussion, pity, was looking forward to a bit more argy bargy...

 

[drron]

Well Moody Sen.Conroy is a Catholic and voted against RU486.We know from posts here some despise Tony Abbott for his views on abortion,does Conroy also qualify for abuse?

 

[Moody]

Well Moody Sen.Conroy is a Catholic and voted against RU486.We know from posts here some despise Tony Abbott for his views on abortion,does Conroy also qualify for abuse?

I know catholics that are pro-abortion, and non-catholics who are anti. As long as you can morally justify your stance then that's fine with me, but overall I'm not a fan of faith-based politics. Still - it's nowhere near as bad here as it is in the USA.

 

[Pushka]

If you were trying to channel Oscar Wilde you have unfortunately missed and found your inner Jerry Lewis instead.

Just as well I wasn't then. Goodness, using Jerry Lewis as an example must make you quite senior then. Nothing wrong with that of course, just, well, interesting.

 

[Moody]

Hmmm, I think this week's Q&A lacked much of the talent of the last panel discussion, pity, was looking forward to a bit more argy bargy...

Agree - the only argy-bargy was Barnaby interjecting his oh-so-droll comments continuously to the point where Tony Jones had to slap him down. But who was the right-wing soft-jock on the left? Seemed to have a poor grasp of political history for someone who has been on radio since the sixties.

And Tony himself was in a rum mood. He made a very snide comment and I was hoping the Labour newbie would have responded "I'll take that as a comment, Tony!", but alas the opportunity went begging.

Lateline was more illuminiating and I particularly like Tony Windsor's take on the whole media reform issue. He thought that the package of 6 measures was unlikely to pass, but breaking it out could see most of them through. The sticking point seems to be the Ombudsman applying the "public interest" test, as of course the government plans to use this to censor all dissent. Yeah right! Anyway his parting comment was along the lines of :-

"I'd like a media that is not afraid of reporting the truth, but moving away from inventing it!"

I wonder who he was referring to????

[In unrelated news there was a report of 600 new phone hacking victims being uncovered in the UK.]

And finally - sad old me got caught watching Order in the House last night (or should I say, this morning). Weird how Julia wipes the floor with Tony in parliament but can't win a trick outside of it.

 

[Skyring]

Weird how Julia wipes the floor with Tony in parliament but can't win a trick outside of it.

It depends on your point of view, I guess. I see Julia evading questions and making personal attacks. The busloads of schoolchildren watching from the top galleries, trained to answer exam questions directly, accurately, and truthfully because their futures depend on it, must be as impressed with the sordid example as I am.

I'd like our leaders to be people I can admire, respect, honour. Not mean nasty dissemblers.

 

[Moody]

It depends on your point of view, I guess. I see Julia evading questions and making personal attacks. The busloads of schoolchildren watching from the top galleries, trained to answer exam questions directly, accurately, and truthfully because their futures depend on it, must be as impressed with the sordid example as I am.

I'd like our leaders to be people I can admire, respect, honour. Not mean nasty dissemblers.

Did you watch it last night or are you just working from your usual patter?