Oz election thread #3 - Rudd's Labour

SMH.
Hmmmmmmm ....:

Petty in the AGE:

I think it's fair to say that they're waiting for some meaty issues to sink their teeth into? :wink:

Yep, I think you're right (about Victoria, anyway), dadpad.

Grumblings & disenchantment are rife in the Garden State!(And I'm not just talking about the "Corey problem"!) :wink: :

Dear John, how I hate to write …
January 23, 2008/Letters to the Editor

DEAR Premier, In 2010 you will face the people and no doubt expect ALP members like me to help your re-election. MPs will once again attend ALP branch meetings and tell members how proud they are of your Government's record. Don't be surprised if support is hard to find.

Your Government is showing increasing contempt for the environment and areas such as health and education, which Labor governments traditionally support. Will members of your Government be proud that you have ruined Port Phillip Bay for short-term gain, that you have created a monstrous, energy-hungry desalination plant? Will they be proud that you have diverted water from the stressed Murray River system, that you have allowed hospitals to be closed and refused to pay teachers a salary that will attract young people to the profession? Will they be proud that you have done nothing to ease traffic problems in Melbourne and, in fact, have exacerbated them by centralising our main port in the CBD?

Mr Brumby, don't be surprised if ALP members like me are not so keen to help with your re-election.

Graeme Lechte, Brunswick branch ALP,Brunswick West

http://www.theage.com.au/news/letters/dear-john-how-i-hate-to-write-8230/2008/01/22/1200764260989.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Sad, but this feels like just another Jeffrey experience! :

Hmmm, I don't know about the "crown" bit! First time home buyers might see it a wee bit differently! :

Melbourne set to claim property crown
January 25, 2008

MELBOURNE could outstrip Sydney as the most expensive Australian city for housing within a year.

The average Melbourne house price soared by 25.2 per cent in 2007, compared with 4.8 per cent growth in Sydney, a survey by a property group found.

"If Melbourne house values were to continue on that trajectory they would topple Sydney as Australia's most expensive within 12 months," Australian Property Monitors general manager Michael McNamara said.

The APM housing price survey for 2007 found the average value of a house in Melbourne was $463,488 at the end of last year, up from $370,059 in 2006.

In Sydney, house values rose to $553,357, from $528,105....<cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23106409-2702,00.html

Who would have thought it'd be so damn hard to acknowledge past grievances & apologise? But apparently it is! :

Unions tool up for workplace battles
Sid Marris/January 31, 2008/The Australian

UNIONS are bracing for a long fight with the Rudd Government over new rules for the independent industrial umpire, wage bargaining across industries and unions' right of entry to workplaces.

The ACTU is also vowing to pursue companies that continue to offer the Howard government's Australian Workplace Agreements until they are abolished by parliament.

Unions have joined Labor to pressure the Coalition, which retains control of the Senate until July, to support immediate laws scrapping AWAs.

But some believe they will ultimately have to confront the Government about elements of the more detailed industrial relations bill to be introduced into parliament later in the year.

Among the issues is the Rudd Government's new industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia, which it wants to operate chiefly as a mediator rather than restoring the traditional role ofenforced conciliation and arbitration.

The new bill will also restore the concept of "good faith bargaining" - a legal imperative for both sides to negotiate.

While union leaders say they accept the old system of conciliation and arbitration changed with the Keating reforms of 1994, unions are worried that the restrictions on access to arbitration for intractable disputes, which were a feature of the Howard government's legislation, may continue.

About 200 officials yesterday attended the start of a three-day conference in Canberra designed to come up with strategies that will influence the Government. They discussed case studies of past "industry-wide" campaigns in the cleaning and offshore oil rig sectors that brought about significant changes in employer practices.

Union leaders said while the Government had a mandate for its policies - such as maintaining the Howard government's restrictions on right of entry to a workplace - unions could still influence policy by campaigns that highlighted where the new policies were deficient.

The campaigns would be a long-term strategy, and co-operation and support for Labor would be the main public theme in the short-term while detailed proposals were being developed.

One union leader went further yesterday, suggesting half of the $31 billion in tax cuts promised by the Rudd Government should be paid as superannuation, with funds told to direct more investment in Australia.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said the proposal would help in the fight against inflation by increasing savings rather than putting more money in workers' pockets to spend. Mr Howes also conceded that pattern bargaining - wage claims across industries that can lead to unproductive and inflationary wage rises - was illegal but should not be ruled out as part of the "gamut" of ideas for tackling inflation.

Wayne Swan yesterday said there would be no change to the proposed tax cuts.

"We promised working families we'd put incentive in the tax system and reward their hard work, and that's why we'll deliver the tax cuts in full," the Treasurer said.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said unions would target Coalition members who stood in the way of the bill to abolish AWAs, and would take on companies and industries that tried to sign workers on to individual contracts before they were officially scrapped.

She said it was time for the Coalition to respect the choice made by voters at the election on November 24 "or will we be campaigning in their constituencies because they refuse to actually represent the working people in their electorate or their senate areas".

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard said there was no reason why the bill could not be passed by Easter even if there was a Senate inquiry.

The Coalition maintains control of the Senate until July, after which a combination of the Greens and minor parties will share the balance of power.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23135769-2702,00.html

I read Keelty's recent words with disbelief & am not at all surprised about the fierce backlash. Really unfortunate & sad, I think. I used to admire him a lot before his "Howard connection". Sigh.:

Has federal police boss reached his use-by date?
Sushi Das
January 31, 2008/the AGE/OPINION

MICK Keelty, the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, protesteth too much. And embarrassingly for him, his protests are becoming more preposterous and hysterical.

The most unpalatable element of his accusation this week that journalists have misinformed the public over counter-terrorism cases and undermined the judicial system is his shameless hypocrisy.

And his call for a media commentary blackout on the reporting of these cases until all legal avenues have been exhausted raises the question: on which hilltop does Keelty stand when he makes such demands of Australia's robust democratic institutions?

In Keelty's ideal world there would have been no public scrutiny of the Mohamed Haneef case<details of Haneef-related blunders>

..... Keelty's boo-hoo-hoo antics belie the AFP's woeful record on the Haneef case. The cops got clobbered and they know it. Keelty just can't handle it, so he lashes out at the media because there is no one else to blame.

The saddest thing about this whole drama is that Keelty has a reputation for being a good cop. He is respected by many in the force and applauded for the AFP's expert handling of matters after the Bali bombings.

The AFP has done excellent work catching terrorists in conjunction with the Indonesian police. He was unfairly pilloried for stating the plain truth after the Madrid bombing when he said Australia's involvement in Iraq had made the threat of terrorist attacks worse, and he even got slapped down when he said climate change posed a threat to national security.

One might have expected, after heading the AFP since 2001, through some tumultuous times for Australia's crime fighting forces, that he might have been mentioned in this year's Australia Day honours.

Since the AFP failed to remain independent and above politics as Howard government heavies weighed into the Haneef case to exploit popular insecurities, it's hard to see how the AFP under Keelty is going to redefine itself.

And redefine itself it must, to some degree, under the Rudd Government, which has signalled that while it is not about to soften tough counter-terrorism legislation, it will broaden its national security strategy to include a new focus on social policy to build bridges with the Islamic community.

On the domestic terrorism front, things have been going awry for Keelty for some time. But sheeting the blame home to the media, the very same media that his spin doctors seek to manipulate, is unworthy of his office.

If he hasn't already lost it, he is on the precipice of losing the public's trust. Perhaps the time has come for Keelty to hand in his badge.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/has-federal-police-boss-reached-his-useby-date/2008/01/30/1201369225528.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Rudd shuts down Keelty on media gags
Posted 1 hour 56 minutes ago
Updated 1 hour 40 minutes ago/ABC NEWS online


Does not support media gags: PM Kevin Rudd (File photo) (AFP: Adek Berry)

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the Federal Government does not support Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty's call for a media blackout in terrorism cases.

Earlier this week Mr Keelty said he believed the media should be prevented from reporting on terrorism cases until all judicial avenues have been exhausted.

But Mr Rudd has told Fairfax radio that while he has full confidence in the Commissioner, the Government will not be acting on the call.

"He's speaking obviously in terms of his own capacity as head of the Federal Police," he said.

"The Government has its own view and the Government's view is that the media should simply abide by the laws of the land.

"On the side of the media giving full and frank coverage, I think the media's role in the [Mohamed] Haneef case was in the national interest."

The AFP was roundly criticised for its handling of the case against Dr Haneef, who was accused of links to botched car bombings in the UK but was subsequently released without charge.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/01/2151939.htm

Looking more this way every minute!

The ins & outs of (finally!) saying "sorry". An in-depth report from today's AGE.:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/saying-sorry/2008/02/01/1201801033457.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Sorry for posting this. :wink: :

The Victorian seat of McEwen is still not fully resolved.




Labor disputes Bailey election win
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/labor-disputes-bailey-election-win/2008/01/29/1201369116836.html

The Australian Federal Police has an entire media liaison department, whose job it is to selectively leak information to the media, with the intention of marginalising suspects in the eyes of the public. Now that public information makes them look bad, they want information shut down. Fascism is alive and well in Australia.

As a side note to that - I doubt Haneef would ever have been charged without the media reporting, which resulted in intense political pressure, which ended in Haneef being charged.

Another interesting event in that saga was Haneef being held in custody for a day, whilst the judge reserved his decision (another way of saying "Get your act together boys, and bring me some more evidence")

Further It is quite possible, even likely, that media reporting of terror suspect investigations will compromise investigations.

The flip side is more accountability...but that happens after the fact. In a safe world, Keelty's words won't carry weight. In an unsafe world, they could.

I just can't believe what's coming out of Keelty's mouth right now! He used to be sort of objective. This is terribly sad & way out of step with current public thinking. Looks like his days could be numbered.