1
   

The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

 
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Mon 2 Apr, 2007 12:05 am
Forgive me for being such a sceptic at this positive time for Oz Labor .... but we have seen "new Labour" at work in the UK. Hopefully Kevin Rudd is not using that model as his own? The annual ALP conference (in about a month's time) will tell.:

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/01/0204_moir_gallery__470x273,0.jpg
0 Replies
 
vikorr
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 Apr, 2007 08:41 pm
Yes, it's an interesting time for Labor, and for Australian politics.

...of course 'interesting' doesn't always equate to 'good'.

Time will tell.
0 Replies
 
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 Apr, 2007 02:03 am
Get Up campaign:


Dear friends,

It beggars belief, but this federal election tens of thousands of eligible Australians will be stopped from voting. Will you be one of them?

The Federal Government has passed extraordinary legislation that will close the rolls for voters at 8pm, on the very night the election is officially called. In the last election, 83,000 first-time voters enrolled in the first week after the election was called. Hundreds of thousands more registered at their new address. But this time they won't get that chance - unless we act urgently.

That's why whether you're enroled to vote or not, there's a crucial role for you to play right now. Click on the link below to demand this law be revoked, and help friends and family enrol correctly in the next two weeks - before new changes and extra red tape come into effect on April 16 making it even harder!

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DontLetThemStopYouFromVoting

In Australia we never know what date to expect the federal election; it's up to the party in power to decide. Typically, the big announcement prompts tens of thousands of people, especially young, newly-eligible voters, to enrol that week. Hundreds of thousands more remember to register at their new address. It's been that way since Federation with no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

But this time if you're too busy or don't hear about the election in time, and you're not already correctly enrolled, you can't vote. Even if you're organised enough to get in early, new forms and ID requirements are about to come into effect on April 16 - making it that much harder for many Australians overseas or in rural areas to register. And if you've been overseas for more than 3 years and you're not on the roll, you're still not allowed to enrol from abroad.

The effect of this law - the Orwellian-inspired "Electoral Integrity Act" - is to stop people from voting. Ours is to fight back. We've made it easy to spread the word to ensure your friends and family are correctly enrolled before the polls slam shut: just use the note below to share this essential campaign with everyone you know, including Australians overseas!

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DontLetThemStopYouFromVoting

Thanks for taking urgent action to spread the word,

The GetUp team

PS: GetUp has taken your calls for climate action directly to decision makers, at the weekend's National Climate Summit. We told leaders from politics, industry, science and the business community they have a mandate for bold action to fight global warming, and presented Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett with our Action Agenda and 75,000-strong Climate Action Map petition. For details and photos, click here.

----------------

If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au.

GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues.

To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here.

----------------

Hi,

I'm part of a new campaign to make sure no one is stopped from voting on Election Day, and I wanted to make sure you're enrolled to vote.

We used to have seven days after the election date was announced to actually enrol, but this time the polls will close to new voters at 8pm - the very night the election is officially called. If you're too busy or don't hear about the election in time and aren't already correctly enrolled, you won't be able to vote on Election Day.

Not sure if you're enrolled correctly? Just click on the link below. You can join the call to revoke this legislation and tell politicians to make it easier, not harder, for all of us to have a say at election time. You can also make sure you're correctly enrolled before the polls close in record time.

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DontLetThemStopYouFromVoting

It's up to us to make sure we get a voice on Election Day.
Many thanks!

PS: On April 16, new ID requirements and extra red tape come into effect, so if you're in a rural area or overseas especially, make sure you get on the roll now.
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 Apr, 2007 02:07 am
I just read that GetUp dispatch, while catching up on my emails, Deb.

It certainly does beggar belief!

Shocked

Evil or Very Mad
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 Apr, 2007 03:10 am
Yesterday's Newspoll results on the standing of Labor & the Libs with the voters.
I hope you have excellent eye-sight! :wink: (Very small print!):

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,21493330-17281,00.html
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Apr, 2007 05:29 am
Strange, Deb.

I haven't seen any mention of this in the mainstream media at all.

You'd think the AGE or the ABC would have had something to say about it by now, wouldn't you?

... or Crikey!, perhaps?:



dlowan wrote:
Get Up campaign:


Dear friends,

It beggars belief, but this federal election tens of thousands of eligible Australians will be stopped from voting. Will you be one of them?

The Federal Government has passed extraordinary legislation that will close the rolls for voters at 8pm, on the very night the election is officially called. In the last election, 83,000 first-time voters enrolled in the first week after the election was called. Hundreds of thousands more registered at their new address. But this time they won't get that chance - unless we act urgently.

That's why whether you're enroled to vote or not, there's a crucial role for you to play right now. Click on the link below to demand this law be revoked, and help friends and family enrol correctly in the next two weeks - before new changes and extra red tape come into effect on April 16 making it even harder!

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DontLetThemStopYouFromVoting

In Australia we never know what date to expect the federal election; it's up to the party in power to decide. Typically, the big announcement prompts tens of thousands of people, especially young, newly-eligible voters, to enrol that week. Hundreds of thousands more remember to register at their new address. It's been that way since Federation with no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

But this time if you're too busy or don't hear about the election in time, and you're not already correctly enrolled, you can't vote. Even if you're organised enough to get in early, new forms and ID requirements are about to come into effect on April 16 - making it that much harder for many Australians overseas or in rural areas to register. And if you've been overseas for more than 3 years and you're not on the roll, you're still not allowed to enrol from abroad.

The effect of this law - the Orwellian-inspired "Electoral Integrity Act" - is to stop people from voting. Ours is to fight back. We've made it easy to spread the word to ensure your friends and family are correctly enrolled before the polls slam shut: just use the note below to share this essential campaign with everyone you know, including Australians overseas!

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DontLetThemStopYouFromVoting

Thanks for taking urgent action to spread the word,

The GetUp team

PS: GetUp has taken your calls for climate action directly to decision makers, at the weekend's National Climate Summit. We told leaders from politics, industry, science and the business community they have a mandate for bold action to fight global warming, and presented Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett with our Action Agenda and 75,000-strong Climate Action Map petition. For details and photos, click here.

----------------

If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au.

GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues.

To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here.

----------------

Hi,

I'm part of a new campaign to make sure no one is stopped from voting on Election Day, and I wanted to make sure you're enrolled to vote.

We used to have seven days after the election date was announced to actually enrol, but this time the polls will close to new voters at 8pm - the very night the election is officially called. If you're too busy or don't hear about the election in time and aren't already correctly enrolled, you won't be able to vote on Election Day.

Not sure if you're enrolled correctly? Just click on the link below. You can join the call to revoke this legislation and tell politicians to make it easier, not harder, for all of us to have a say at election time. You can also make sure you're correctly enrolled before the polls close in record time.

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DontLetThemStopYouFromVoting

It's up to us to make sure we get a voice on Election Day.
Many thanks!

PS: On April 16, new ID requirements and extra red tape come into effect, so if you're in a rural area or overseas especially, make sure you get on the roll now.
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Apr, 2007 06:31 am
Interesting, the distinct lack of enthusiasm from Oz employer organizations for JH's suggestion that they conduct a media campaign extolling the virtues of WorkChoices. (to counter the damaging effects of the trade unions' anti-WorkChoices advertisements.) :

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/04/wbTOONtandberg0504_gallery__470x348.jpg
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Apr, 2007 06:37 am
Business rebuffs Howard over IR ad blitz
Ewin Hannan
April 05, 2007/the AUSTRALIAN


JOHN Howard and big business are at odds over how to combat the union movement's campaign against Work Choices, with industry rejecting the Prime Minister's call for employers to fund a pre-election advertising blitz in support of the industrial relations laws.

Mr Howard strongly urged business to actively fight for Work Choices, but key employer groups yesterday ruled out funding an advertising campaign, with one figure saying it would escalate the "unhelpful and unproductive" debate between the Howard Government and unions.
The Australian Industry Group and the National Retailers Association said they would not be funding advertising in support of Work Choices, while the Business Council of Australia said it had no plans to finance ads.

Despite spending more than $30 million promoting the new laws before their introduction last year, Mr Howard insisted yesterday that it would be unethical for the federal Government to spend taxpayers' funds making political attacks on Labor and the unions before the election campaign.

"But I certainly would hope that from a political party point of view, the Liberal Party will have the resources to run ads that point out flaws in union and Labor arguments," he said.

"And I would hope that the business community that supports these policies would see it as important if they want the policies kept that they might invest some money in an advertising campaign to explain that unemployment is at a 32-year low, that real wages continue to go up and that strikes are the lowest they've been since 1913." ....

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21508205-601,00.html
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Apr, 2007 06:48 am
We all expected the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates yesterday.
And some folk were very, very worried ..... :


http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/03/wbTOONweldon0404_gallery__470x333,0.jpg
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Apr, 2007 06:52 am
.... but it didn't happen.
Which was a cause of great relief in some quarters. Particularly Liberal Party headquarters.:


http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/05/cartoon5407_gallery__470x331.jpg
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Apr, 2007 06:56 am
... but it will definitely happen. Possibly as early as next month, we're told.

So I guess JH & the Libs will reckon that that's preferable than just before the election. (most likely November.)
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Sun 8 Apr, 2007 06:42 am
Government denies secret IR plan
April 8, 2007 - 4:20PM/the AGE

The Federal Government has denied the existence of a secret plan to soften its controversial Work Choices laws in the lead-up to the election.

Reports today said former workplace relations minister Kevin Andrews had overseen an emergency strategy to be implemented if public support for the already unpopular new workplace laws continued to crumble.

The strategy reportedly involved restoring workers' public holidays and penalty rates for weekend work, as well as measures to strengthen maternity leave and redundancy provisions.

It would also involve revising the classification of small business to a firm with fewer than 50 employees, down from 100, to lower the number of companies eligible for exemption from unfair dismissal laws under Work Choices.

Mr Andrews today rejected the report, saying the Government remained committed to Work Choices.

"Absolutely, categorically, there is no such plan or policy at all," Mr Andrews said through a spokeswoman.

"We believe in Work Choices. It delivers more jobs, higher wages, greater flexibility.

"That was the only policy that's been created and we're committed to it."

A spokesman for Prime Minister John Howard said the Government's position remained that there would be "no change to the substance of the laws". ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/government-denies-secret-ir-plan/2007/04/08/1175970920621.html
0 Replies
 
bungie
 
  1  
Reply Sun 8 Apr, 2007 02:40 pm
msolga wrote:

"We believe in Work Choices. It delivers more jobs, higher wages, greater flexibility.
"That was the only policy that's been created and we're committed to it."


Gee, am I missing something here ? More jobs AND higher wages. I thought by lowering wages, the employer had more money to hire more workers ... Silly me ... and this GREATER FLEXIBILITY ummmmm .... is that a cure for arthritis ? wow, these work choices are really good for us .... I just didn't see it that way at first. So, if I embrace Work Choices I will have,
1. Higher wages
2. More workers to help me
3. No arthritis
Oh, and it will be good for the economy too .. JH and JH have told me so.
I do love it when wealthy men in suits tell me what's good for me.
Now I am a happy little Vegemite !!!!
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Mon 9 Apr, 2007 01:47 am
bungie wrote:
Now I am a happy little Vegemite !!!!


Good!
You've finally got it, bungie!

Now, repeat after me (with feeling): "Every day, in every way, life gets better & better under the Liberals! What's good for "the economy" is good for me!"

You are such a slow learner! :wink:
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Mon 9 Apr, 2007 02:08 am
What a thought! What if he does weasel his way out of his current mess (with bribes, scares, whatever it takes ...) & win by a nose? Shocked

Me, I reckon this election is going to be a much closer competition than the polls are suggesting right now.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/08/9cartoon_gallery__470x305.jpg
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Mon 9 Apr, 2007 02:47 am
Just sharing this article with any of you who might be interested.
I found it quite refreshing & very interesting .... & agreed with almost everything this fellow said!
Yup, we've been sold a pup, been taken for a ride by the "economic experts". You know, the "analysts" who write those dry articles that that keep repeating the same mantras about what's "good for the economy", over & over ... & make your eyes glaze over. (The very same "experts" who tell us that we are enjoying the lowest levels of unemployment & job security in yonks ... Rolling Eyes)
Anyway, read on if you're interested.:



We killed manufacturing
April 9, 2007/the AGE

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/09/svOPED_wideweb__470x322,0.jpg
Illustration: John Spooner

The economic rationalists imposed a scorched-earth policy and the ground is still barren, writes Martin Feil.

ECONOMISTS are very much like management consultants. Every decade or so they dress up their old theories in new language, tie on some fancy statistical and modelling bows and debut a new theory.

Free-market economics is the new name for economic rationalism. Its genesis arises from the observation that we are all living longer and having fewer children to shoulder the burden of paying taxes and supporting us in our old age. To avoid a demographically induced, economic Armageddon we must make the economy grow.

It also comes about because economic rationalism didn't achieve much. The tariff review program took 20 years and cost the economy billions. There is no evidence whatsoever of new manufacturing industries with outward-looking, internationally competitive processes and strategies arising from the ashes of the manufacturing bonfire. There is evidence that we stunted our own manufacturing growth.

The single strategy proposed by the free-market economists is to increase our productivity and make goods and services more efficiently. This will lower prices and increase demand. Consumers will clamour to consume more. The gross domestic product of the economy will obediently grow.

According to the free-market adherents, productivity improvements occur only when there is no government intrusion in the marketplace. Businesses are left to compete and only the most efficient survive. They then altruistically give their efficiency gains to consumers to grow the market.

The trouble with the theory is that it is demonstrably simplistic and inadequate. The Australian economy grows for a number of other reasons. These include the creation of new industries and new products such as information technology, computer games, the internet and the mobile phone.

The economy also grows because of the economic activity of hundreds of thousands of new small and medium-sized businesses that add to gross domestic product.

Existing industries such as gaming, entertainment, child care, retail, restaurants and so on are also growing to reflect a radical difference in our lifestyle.

Finally, gross domestic product is growing because we are saving less and are increasing consumption.

Productivity improvements, particularly in the manufacture of goods, would run a poor last to these factors as a means of increasing Australian gross domestic product.

The second error in free-market theory is that it assumes a level of altruism that large companies simply do not possess. The experience of the past 20 years in the finance sector proves this point. The banks have cut costs to the bone and have had the benefit of extremely low rates for overseas borrowing. Where they compete and are subject to the beady eye of government (in, for example, the home loan sector) they have structured rates that closely follow rate movements by the Reserve Bank.

In other bank-lending areas, particularly credit card lending, they are enjoying the double-digit rates of 15 years ago.

This behaviour is not confined to banks. Thirty years of watching the retail price of imports not fall in response to reductions in tariff barriers and the removal of import quotas has convinced me that the consumer is the last person to benefit from a reduction in either production or logistics costs.

Suppliers charge what the market will bear. That price generally has little to do with production costs. .... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/we-killed-manufacturing/2007/04/08/1175970936466.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Tue 10 Apr, 2007 11:28 am
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


Gosh & I thought that last article was SO fascinating! Laughing

Put you all to sleep, have I?
0 Replies
 
bungie
 
  1  
Reply Tue 10 Apr, 2007 12:27 pm
msolga wrote:
bungie wrote:
Now I am a happy little Vegemite !!!!


Good!
You've finally got it, bungie!

Now, repeat after me (with feeling): "Every day, in every way, life gets better & better under the Liberals! What's good for "the economy" is good for me!"

You are such a slow learner! :wink:

Every day, in every way, life gets better & better under the Liberals! What's good for "the economy" is good for me!
Every day, in every way, life gets better & better under the Liberals! What's good for "the economy" is good for me!

I feel like a dunce !
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p61/noworries53/dunce.jpg
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Tue 10 Apr, 2007 06:48 pm
That's much better, bungie! Razz
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Tue 10 Apr, 2007 07:07 pm
I can't find the A2K "Cronulla riots" thread, so I'll post this here.

Good for the Australian Communications and Media Authority! (I heard a short excerpt from Jones's on air comments before the riots on (the ABC's) The World Today yesterday. And couldn't believe my ears! Appalling! Shocked)

People in droves actually listen to & agree this crap? It makes me despair.

Jeez, between Alan Jones & Sheikh Taj Al-Din al-Hilali ........! Sad

.... And Jones has the nerve today, to complain about the unfairness of Media Authority's decision! Rolling Eyes :



Jones 'incited' Cronulla violence on air
Kenneth Nguyen
April 11, 2007/the AGE


SYDNEY broadcaster Alan Jones' comments before the 2005 Cronulla riots were likely to have encouraged brutality and vilified people of Lebanese and Middle Eastern background, Australia's broadcasting regulator says.

In a damning report, the Australian Communications and Media Authority criticised Jones' suggestion that "biker gangs … be present at Cronulla railway station when these Lebanese thugs arrive" and his statement that "we don't have Anglo-Saxon kids out there raping women in western Sydney". Both comments were made in the week before the riots on December 11, 2005.

Throughout the week, Jones had read on air letters and emails from listeners that claimed that Middle Eastern visitors to Cronulla were dangerous.

One letter read by Jones said: "These Middle Eastern people must be treated with a big stick; it's the only thing they fear, they don't fear fines and they laugh at the courts."

The authority yesterday found that Jones' employer, radio station 2GB, had breached the Commercial Radio Codes of Practice by broadcasting material likely to encourage brutality.

"The suggestion to invite bikers gangs to intimidate Lebanese rail passengers was made in the context of other comments which gave the impression that people of Lebanese background or people of Middle Eastern background were forming gangs intent on causing harm to 'Australians', had no respect for the law and that existing law enforcement agencies were powerless," the authority said.

"ACMA is of the view that, in these circumstances, an ordinary reasonable listener would regard the endorsement of the biker gang invitation as likely to encourage violence and thereby stimulate violence by approval."

The authority also said that "by referring both to 'Lebanese gangs' and 'Middle Eastern people' on the one hand and 'Australians' on the other, (Jones) implied that the first two groups were not Australians".


Jones also read out one text message that said: "This Sunday every Aussie in the shire get down to North Cronulla to support the Leb and Wog bashing day. Bring your mates. Let's show them that this is our beach and they're never welcome." Jones commented: "Well, now that's not the way. I do understand what you're saying … but we've just got to back off a bit here."

ACMA will write to Harbour Radio, which has breached the broadcasting code's anti-vilification provisions on three occasions, about proposed action against the broadcaster.

Measures could range from suspending or cancelling 2GB's licence to lesser penalties including fines and requiring staff to attend compliance training programs.


With AAP

http://acma.gov.au


http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/10/1175971098057.html
0 Replies
 
 

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