Oz Federal Election 2013 - Discussion and Comments

[Moody]

I've long held the view that the great majority of AJ's audience.....is your average older Aussie battler I.E. the same people that once were "A" grade - ALP voters.!

Ahhh ..... the old "Aussie Battler"! Aren't they now called the "aspirational voters"? They aspire to be as greedy and soulless as the vacuous conservatives, and by God they are giving it a red hot go!!

If the ALP remain the party for the young, clueless & self interest......the Green Monster is going to consume it - very quickly!

ALP is the party of the self-interested???? What planet are you on!!!! At least my more intelligent conservative friends admit it's all about "keep your hands off of my stash you bogan\greenie\foreign scum!"

Accuse them of being the party of the repressed and motley tree-huggers (though not so much lately), but self interest?!!? That's rich!

[I am of course excluding Eddie Obeid and anyone associated with that poisonous scumbag. Typical right-wing oxygen thief that he is]

[Oh ... and by the way - is Tony Abbott now referred to as the Green Monster?]

 

[amaroo]

intelligent

IMHO you need to stop reading browski posts

 

[BrentH]

Labor faces annihilation in marginal seats

Based on current polling, Kevin Rudd would be the sole QLD-based survivor in the House of Reps of an election if it were held today.

Other interesting snippet:

With Mr Abbott, 38 per cent now regard him favourable, up from 30 per cent in January, while 41 per cent view him as unfavourable, down from 46 per cent in January.

Not a figure to be proud of - though some big leaps there. But:

Similarly, 25 per cent of marginal seat voters have a “favourable’’ impression of Ms Gillard, down from 29 per cent in January, while 48 per cent have an “unfavourable’’ view, up from 43 per cent two months ago.

(Polling is still showing Kevin '13 ahead of Gillard's March of Death, in terms of preferred leader of the ALP - but the gap has narrowed and polling is atrocious at 20% vs 21% respectively - making me wonder where the remaining 59% is going. [Malcolm Turnbull as ALP leader?])

 

[Moody]

(Polling is still showing Kevin '13 ahead of Gillard's March of Death, in terms of preferred leader of the ALP - but the gap has narrowed and polling is atrocious at 20% vs 21% respectively - making me wonder where the remaining 59% is going. [Malcolm Turnbull as ALP leader?])

As things stand it is not going to be pretty for Labour come September, but if the Coalition really wants an annihilation then they should dump Tony for Malcolm. Even my wife said she would vote for him!

 

[cove]

Our Treasurer needs to raise about $50 billion......how much will be your share??
We really need him replaced but it looks like that will be left to voters in his electorate.

 

[Skyring]

As things stand it is not going to be pretty for Labour come September, but if the Coalition really wants an annihilation then they should dump Tony for Malcolm. Even my wife said she would vote for him!

The problem with that scenario is that Turnbull had his chance and gained zero traction against Rudd. When Abbott took over, he identified Rudd's weak spots, attacked them and soon enough Rudd was a shatted wreck, where he remains to this day. He's doing exactly the same thing to Gillard, pounding home her flaws.

If Turnbull returned, Julia would eat him up.

If Rudd returned, there would be such a vengeful massacre that the ALP would crumble from the inside. Well, more than it's already doing.

 

[BrentH]

As things stand it is not going to be pretty for Labour come September, but if the Coalition really wants an annihilation then they should dump Tony for Malcolm. Even my wife said she would vote for him!

Sadly, it won't happen before the election.

The sentiment among the party rank-and-file is that Tony has done a good job where Malcolm blundered, and this view is probably reflected within the Parliamentary wing.

As it stands, Tony Abbott is getting most of the credit within the party for unseating Kevin Rudd and making the ALP look terrible, he's popular within the party - particularly with the drys - and they're working hard to show unity and competence in contrast to the way the ALP appears right now. If they changed leaders today, the "disunity" would cost a huge number of votes.

And nobody's going to knife a leader who holds 61% of the 2pp in some states just a few months before an election - even if his approval ratings are pretty dismal.

Malcolm's best chance is if Tony stumbles as PM. (He may be a Kevin Rudd style figure - a more popular leader waiting in the wings - although some might say he's had his chance, that he speaks out of place too often, and that his views are more aligned with moderate/right-wing Labor.)

 

[casanovawa]

Our Treasurer needs to raise about $50 billion......how much will be your share??
We really need him replaced but it looks like that will be left to voters in his electorate.

Wonderful, aren't competent Govts (politically competent anyway) meant to be harsh in the first few budgets in the cycle so that they have some money in the pot to throw around to win votes in the last budget before an election campaign??

And yet the fools have managed to end up with a black hole (which is getting bigger) after already throwing stay at home mums under the bus (which lets face it welfare recipients should be one of the no brainers for Labor)... So ain't this going to be a morale boosting exercise for them.... They richly deserve what they are going to get and it won't be the media's fault...

 

[TheEmu]

Wonderful, aren't competent Govts (politically competent anyway) meant to be harsh in the first few budgets in the cycle so that they have some money in the pot to throw around to win votes in the last budget before an election campaign??

And yet the fools have managed to end up with a black hole (which is getting bigger) after already throwing stay at home mums under the bus (which lets face it welfare recipients should be one of the no brainers for Labor)... So ain't this going to be a morale boosting exercise for them.... They richly deserve what they are going to get and it won't be the media's fault...

I can't recall an outgoing labour government not leaving a Black Hole for an incoming Coalition to fix. Can anyone?
This one is going to be a monster - hopefully Honest Joe won't do a Swanny and pretend to "fix it" immediately - I honestly wouldn't expect a surplus in the next government's entire term.
We need sound, sensible economic management, not a See-How-Clever-We-Are fiddling of the books.
Not the media's fault? Of course it is! Go back and read Animal Farm again…it's always someone else's fault!

 

[browski]

I can't recall an outgoing labour government not leaving a Black Hole for an incoming Coalition to fix. Can anyone?
This one is going to be a monster - hopefully Honest Joe won't do a Swanny and pretend to "fix it" immediately - I honestly wouldn't expect a surplus in the next government's entire term.
We need sound, sensible economic management, not a See-How-Clever-We-Are fiddling of the books.
Not the media's fault? Of course it is! Go back and read Animal Farm again…it's always someone else's fault!

Your post attempts to present a fiction as reality.
We have sound economic management in Australia, that is why Australia has the best economy and best economic record of anywhere in the developed planet.
Until you can acknowledge this point, anything else you write just highlights your ignorance.
Emu, best keep your head in the sand. Here's a dose of reality for you.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/po...credit-rating-still-aaaok-20130329-2gyct.html

''No Liberal government has ever achieved this coveted trifecta from all three global ratings agencies.''
Fitch Ratings said Australia had remained one of the strongest performing economies since the global financial crisis began.
''Australia has built up the capacity to absorb shocks due to a combination of low public debt, a free floating exchange rate and liberal trade and labour markets,'' the agency said.

 

[whatmeworry]

The sentiment among the party rank-and-file is that Tony has done a good job where Malcolm blundered, and this view is probably reflected within the Parliamentary wing.

But the sentiment in the Liberal party is that they are uncomfortable with Tony in the long run. Friends of mine tell me the uneasiness at Lib functions when he laughs.

[video=youtube;nQQH8oTxK1g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQQH8oTxK1g[/video]

 

[TheEmu]

Your post attempts to present a fiction as reality.
We have sound economic management in Australia, that is why Australia has the best economy and best economic record of anywhere in the developed planet.
Until you can acknowledge this point, anything else you write just highlights your ignorance.
Emu, best keep your head in the sand.

I would once again refer the kind and gentle readers of AFF to Orwell's best-known works as to the veracity and venom of Napoleon's and Snowball's responses and posts in this thread.
The facts are indisputable browski, but since your grasp of macro economics is apparently matched by your mastery of syntax and ornithological knowledge, I'll not bother.
Hint: It's my ratite cousin from Africa with the sandy reputation but he doesn't actually do it either!

 

[jetlagger]

Your post attempts to present a fiction as reality.
We have sound economic management in Australia, that is why Australia has the best economy and best economic record of anywhere in the developed planet

I'm sure that is skirting on delusional interpretation, or have you been spending too much time with existing political servants in Canberra?

 

[tgh]

Problem is that when the lone voice of C.Browski ,eventually gives up and consoles himself with some vodka..... everyone else left will be sitting around nodding in agreement....boooooring.
We need another true believer or two to enter the fray and spice up the argument.

 

[browski]

The facts are indisputable browski,

There have been facts ignored, none presented.
Anytime you'd like to counter my arguments with facts....... will be a first.

So which part of our economy is not booming.

Unemployment: Enormous Tick Record lows: 6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Feb 2013
Inflation: Fanatasic and low. Strong dollar keeps lid on inflation - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Debt: Unbelievably low. Australia's credit rating still AAA-OK
GDP: Developed world's best. 3.1% 2012

Now what have the undereducated got to offer as their "facts"?
Absolutely nothing (once again).

 

[dfcatch]

WTF!!

Debt unbelievably low???

It's the highest it EVER has been in Australia's history!!

And all those points you quote from the 3rd party endorsements of our economy are because of how the Coalition left the economy for Labor.

Labor inherited low debt (actually zero debt, and a surplus in the bank).

They have blown out the debt and re-regulated labor laws.

The economy is in "ok" shape despite this current Labor Govt.... Not because of them.

And you can't compare Australia to all the basket cases of the world and say "oh look aren't we doing great compared to all those bankrupt economies".

If that's your view of the country's economy, then I'm concerned about how you run your household finances.

I certainly hope to never end up your creditor.

 

[dfcatch]

PS. Browski - you're more than welcome to donate more taxes to pay for your friends' incompetence.

Unfortunately - the rest of us have to pay too.

 

[cove]

The unemployment figures are basically incorrect. If you count the number of unemployed and under employed the numbers are up in the high teens and maybe higher.

 

[TheEmu]

Problem is that when the lone voice of C.Browski ,eventually gives up and consoles himself with some vodka..... everyone else left will be sitting around nodding in agreement....boooooring.
We need another true believer or two to enter the fray and spice up the argument.

The true believers seem to be getting rather thin on the ground…
And in all seriousness, I believe the ability to engage in robust debate is one of democracy's most important tenets.
The true believers aren't interested in a frank and honest debate however, as can be seen by the personal attacks immediately launched at anyone who dares to ask a question or challenges the mindlessly regurgitated party line, and nothing; no fact, no event, nothing, will change their mind…"4 legs good, 2 legs bad."
This mindset stems from the head down, where insult, innuendo and deflection have been the stock in trade for labour party "leadership" since Keating - sadly, competency, responsibility, honesty and a willingness to keep your word have no place here where Machiavelli is the role model and a knife-proof back is compulsory.
I honestly fear for the future of the labour party as the purges from the Headless-Chicken School of Leadership have stripped the majority of experience (and decency) and consigned it to the bleachers. Just about all she has left to form a cabinet are former boyfriends, former celebrities and equal-opportunity candidates, most of whom have already proved their incompetence.
The lack of internal trust is very readily apparent in the internal ructions and chaos that have been the overarching features of this government.

 

[TheEmu]

The unemployment figures are basically incorrect. If you count the number of unemployed and under employed the numbers are up in the high teens and maybe higher.

Just one of the many fiddles employed (sorry) by the spin doctors to make the figures fit the rhetoric. Parameters governing definitions of under-employment as well as classifications of unemployed, fully employed, part-time employed are all adjusted to suit. Similarly, a discernible difference can be made by adjusting the allowed percentage for unemployable. Shifting recipients onto a differently defined Centrelink benefit immediately affects the figures.