Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

The smaller mining companies (under A$50 million in profits) are excluded from the tax, but they are not happy about the plan.

I will shut up and watch as things become clearer.

... She said she would have more to say in coming days about future policies. "I've obviously said I'm concerned about the question of asylum-seekers. I understand that there are community concerns about these questions," she said.

With the freeze on processing Sri Lankan asylum-seekers due to be reviewed next week, Ms Gillard will face her first major decision on the issue and could extend the moratorium. An asylum-seeker vessel carrying 73 people - the 74th this year - was yesterday intercepted off Christmas Island.

Ms Gillard also has Climate Change Minister Penny Wong working on a climate change policy that could adopt some of Mr Abbott's "direct action" on cutting greenhouse gas emissions with far less emphasis on rising costs.

The government has also signalled it plans to resolve issues surrounding its $16.2bn Building the Education Revolution schools program, with the Treasurer and new Education Minister Simon Crean conceding there had been "some problems". .....

I think both sides of politics deal disgracefully with this illegal immigrants. I mean, everyone freaks out at a boatload of 70 Sri Lankans....what happens if Bangladesh succumbs to human-induced climate change and we are hit with a wave of 70 million Bangladeshis....

I don't propose an answer, really. I don't know if there is one. But hysterical fear-mongering about 'stopping the boats' is nothing but naked xenophobia and pandering to the talkback lobby.

BRYAN DAWE: No, it's a bit early to do that.

Do you accept that you have been put there by the faceless men of the ALP faction system and that you are in debt to those power brokers?

JOHN CLARKE: No, I do not accept that, Bryan. I realise the media wishes to portray these things in that way but these people have faces, Bryan. That is how we recognise them.

I think both sides of politics deal disgracefully with this illegal immigrants.

a government source said an election was unlikely to be held before the end of August: ''Anyone who put money on August 14 would lose their money.''

Speculation that the election could be called as soon as today was scotched by Ms Gillard, who said she needed to deal with the issues of asylum seekers and climate change before going to the polls.
''I do understand the concerns when people see boats looming on the horizon,'' Ms Gillard said in an interview yesterday. ''I also understand that there's nothing humanitarian about people being on boats and potentially at risk of losing their lives at sea.''


Ms Gillard said she wanted an honest and open debate about border security: ''I certainly dismiss labels like 'intolerant' or 'racist' because people raise concerns about border security but we've also got to be very alive to the complexity of this and that there's no quick fix.

''There's a temptation for people to use these labels and names to try and close down debate and I'm very opposed to that.''

Greens leader Bob Brown has written to Treasury asking for the full cost of the compromised mining deal, which cuts the tax rate from 40 to 30 per cent.

Senator Brown fears the cost of the compromise could be $25 billion a decade - ''billions unavailable for health and education''

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called for an open debate on asylum seekers days before the government is expected to announce a new policy on refugees.


A three-month freeze on the processing of Sri Lankan asylum seekers is due to expire on Thursday.

Ms Gillard would not be drawn on what decision the government would make or if it would apply to refugees more broadly.

However, she said people should be able to speak their mind on the issue, free from political correctness.

Don't know if I agree though.