The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

Fraser surprised over Snowy
By Xavier La Canna
June 02, 2006
Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has expressed surprise that such an "obstinate" Federal Government should change its decision on selling Snowy Hydro.

Mr Fraser said the Howard Government's decision not to sell its holding in the hydro scheme showed it would react to public opinion.

The former Liberal PM said he had not expected the Government to reverse its decision to sell its 13 per cent stake in the Snowy scheme, a turnaround which led to New South Wales and Victoria also abandoning their privatisation plans.

Full story...

I now know John Howard's breaking point:

3 negative Alan Jones TV editorials in a row.


Sigh. If only it was logic and compassion.

Yeah. If only. <sigh>

Malcolm, my hero! :wink:

Seriously though, what a sad state of affairs when Malcolm Fraser is looking like the voice of reason, fairness & compassion, time & time again. Just shows you how fair right (& out of touch with real people) Labor is these days. How dare they try to sell our bloody water to the highest bidders!!! I'm just gobsmacked. Who mandated the NSW & Victorian governments to do this? I can't recall it being an election issue, ever! I see that The NSW government is now claiming that the Snowy will die a "slow death". Why should it? What the hell are they (the federal, NSW & Victorian governments) doing with our taxes, anyway? A pox on all of them!

From the Sydney Morning Herald.

Iemma's $1.5b war chest dries up:

The scuttling of the planned sale of Snowy Hydro Ltd will deprive the NSW government of a $1.5 billion political war chest for the state election next March. ... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/iemmas-15b-war-chest-dries-up/2006/06/02/1148956532031.html

Yep. Indeed.:

Snowy Hydro outrage strands leaders midstream
June 3, 2006/the AGE

THE Snowy Hydro sale collapsed even faster than it was put together. Prime Minister John Howard bowed yesterday to "overwhelming" public feeling when he announced the Commonwealth had decided not to sell its 13 per cent stake in the scheme. That cruelled the deal for NSW, a 58 per cent stakeholder, and for Premier Maurice Iemma, whose need to raise capital to restore the financially strapped state's infrastructure inspired the privatisation. The Bracks Government, which claimed to have reluctantly followed the others into the deal, also followed them out by confirming Victoria, too, would retain its 29 per cent stake. If all three governments have been left looking embarrassed and foolish, it is nothing more than they deserve for their arrogant handling of such an important issue. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/snowy-hydro-outrage-strands-leaders-midstream/2006/06/02/1148956543383.html

Now they're saying that Howard had legal advice that he couldn't sell FIVE DAYS before he bowed to 'people power'.

Maybe we should just talk about when he's honest - it would save keyboard wear.

Who is saying, hinge? What's the story?

Meanwhile......WHAT was the whole Jeff Kennett thing?


Msolga?

WHICH Jeff thing do you want to know about, Deb?

There are so many Jeff things .... they tend to linger! <Ugh! Shudder!> <sigh>

That he was considering a comeback.....but seemingly no longer?


(Shudder!)

Oh, I see!

Yes, the press did push the idea that he was seriously considering a comeback, Deb. I'm not sure about how seriously he really contemplated that. Though the media went quite ga-ga at the prospect for a bit! I suspect his threat to return was actually part of a campaign to ensure that his preferred protege, Ted Bailleau (sp?), got the job as Libs leader/current opposition leader. He got the job. And oddly, Ted has gone all passionate about education, hospitals, etc ... all the things that Jeff blitzed in his privatization or bust period in office! These Liberals are all over the shop, but Labor ... what a disappointment they've been! Just carried on with more of the same from where Jeff left off ....

And while on the subject of Jeff, it has amazed me that he's become the public face of Beyond Blue, an organization whose brief is to enlighten the public about depression in the community. Jeff directly caused more wide-spread community depression/misery than any other Victorian political leader in living memory. It's more than a bit weird that he's gone all compassionate about suffering people following all that he did! Politics is weird!

AGGGHHHHH!!! It's all coming back to me!!!! <shudder shudder>:

Back to industrail relations .... According to my local paper the Lib's IR reforms were based on a four page literature revue! So this is the solid background work put in by Howard & co. before throwing out a system that had worked for over a 100 hundred years!

IR overhaul based on short 'essay'
Josh Gordon, Canberra
June 5, 2006/the AGE

THE economic case used to justify the Federal Government's controversial workplace regime is based on a four-page literature review.

Treasury officials told a Senate committee in February that a document mapping out the economic case for workplace laws was "much longer" than a "scaled down" three-quarter-page briefing that was released to the media late last year under freedom-of-information laws.

But the "longer" document, provided to the The Age, is a four-page summary of 16 academic and Government papers supporting the Government's case. ...<cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ir-overhaul-based-on-short-essay/2006/06/04/1149359609121.html

Here it is:
Lawyers counselled against Snowy sale plan

Thanks, hinge.

Puts quite another perspective on the whole thing, doesn't it?

Now I'm wandering how the hell nuclear power got on the agenda?

I heard this morning that JH was denying that his 'enquiry' panel was stacked with pro-nuclear types. If JH was denying it then it must be true.

Why are some enquiries so easy to launch, and others, like why Australia ignored the UN and invaded Iraq never see the light of day.

I despair of this country.

You are not alone in that, hinge.

The sudden nuclear "debate" closely followed JH's visit to the US. (Remember the vague "maybe" to India a couple of months before re possible sale of uranium in the future?) THEN he went to Canada and suggested they reconsider nuclear options. (Apparently Oz & Canada have some of the world's largest uranium deposits.) It's bloody depressing, that's all I can say.

And just think of the of the opportunities that flogging our uranium & embracing nuclear energy would unleash! Think of the problems that could be so easily solved! JH is a visionary leader!: