The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

dadpad wrote:

Joe Hockey is certainly earning his stripes taking the brunt of attacks. Is he just proving his loyalty or being groomed for some future role?

I think he comes across as a mafia hit man.

Joe is certainly earning his strips dadpad. He comes across to me as probably a nice fellow, but there is no way in hell will he ever convince me that "workchoices" is good for the worker. They always say it is good for the economy, as if the worker is not part of the economy. Joe is being loyal to his party, but I wonder if he personally believes it is good for the average worker?
But hang on !!! They are "tinkering" with minor issues at the moment ...
(New definition of "tinkering" = major turn around/backflip)
Me wonders if the polls has caused this "tinkering"

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Joe Hockey: In the vein of Carl Williams. Kinda baby faced.

bungie: If you do a back flip you end up heading in the same direction.

Quote:

The Red Baron is our Julia, I presume? And you have a wee crush, do you?

did you notice the way it was spelled. No not a crush I just think pollies could do with a bit more empathy for individuals.

Of note is the fact that my wife makes $6.00 per month too much for me to be eligible for unemployment benefits. a result of this is the local job shop wont register me as seeking employment. not that that really worries me the jobs come to good operators.

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bungie wrote:

msolga wrote:

I hate those Job Networks! Horrible places! Ask any unemployed person whose had to deal with them. (No choice, thanks to the Libs.) Ms Rein's company sounds pretty much like most of the rest, though she's done a lot better financially than many of the others.

I have always thought these so called "Job Networks" were just a way to give business a slice of the welfare cheque. The old C.E.S. did a better job and for about 1% of the cost.
]

Yes, I agree. All part of the big transfer of our taxation $$$ from public to private under Howard, bungie. Ditto for education & health & god knows what else. Interesting isn't it, given that the theory is that "private does it better", that subsidies from public coffers are necessary to keep these businesses viable.

msolga wrote:

Me, I'm starting to feel a bit nostalgic for the previous Labor leader .... you know, that fellow with the anger issues? :wink: At least he seemed to understand what Labor is about!

I agree msolga, it's a pity he went off the tracks or was derailed on purpose. His heart was in the right place for the little people.[/quote]

Mark Latham was far more a Labor Party person that Rudd will ever be. He was really into reforming the party, policy development & those traditional Labor "fair go" concerns. Too bad about the "personality flaws" which made it so easy for him to be undermined .. I think he was really committed.

With Rudd we've got the opposite - the squeaky clean image but (as I see it) almost a total lack of commitment to (or understanding of?) what the Labor Party is actually about. (Check out his statements on education funding, uranium mining, his twists & turns on IR & business, etc). The object of the Party appears to be to win government at any cost. But what does Labor stand for in 2007? Buggered if I know anymore. Confused

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dadpad wrote:

... Of note is the fact that my wife makes $6.00 per month too much for me to be eligible for unemployment benefits. a result of this is the local job shop wont register me as seeking employment. not that that really worries me the jobs come to good operators.

$6 per month!
That might not bother you, dadpad, but it really bothers me! That's ridiculous!

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msolga wrote:

With Rudd we've got the opposite - the squeaky clean image but (as I see it) almost a total lack of commitment to (or understanding of?) what the Labor Party is actually about. (Check out his statements on education funding, uranium mining, his twists & turns on IR & business, etc). The object of the Party appears to be to win government at any cost. But what does Labor stand for in 2007? Buggered if I know anymore.

All part of the plan to get elected I suspect msolga. Broaden the appeal, dont scare off the swinging voter, prove that you CAN work work with big business

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dadpad wrote:

msolga wrote:

With Rudd we've got the opposite - the squeaky clean image but (as I see it) almost a total lack of commitment to (or understanding of?) what the Labor Party is actually about. (Check out his statements on education funding, uranium mining, his twists & turns on IR & business, etc). The object of the Party appears to be to win government at any cost. But what does Labor stand for in 2007? Buggered if I know anymore.

All part of the plan to get elected I suspect msolga. Broaden the appeal, dont scare off the swinging voter, prove that you CAN work work with big business

Well of course, dadpad!

But the real question is: what do you end up with once this party with such broad appeal becomes the government?

What's happening in Oz now reminds me so much of post-Thatcher Britain.
And they ended up with "New Labour" & Blair.
And look where that got them!
What does Labour in the UK stand for now?

I've actually reached the stage where I couldn't care less which party is in government. It's what they deliver to the people that matters.

The way I see it now we have a choice between these 2: The Thoroughly Discredited & Revolting Party or the alternative, the Deeply Disappointing Party.

Of course I want to see the last of The Thoroughly Discredited & Revolting Party. I can get quite passionate about that!

But can I get excited about The Deeply Disappointing Party? Do I believe they have the commitment & drive to make the changes that are needed in Oz society?:
No.

But they're the best of the limited choice available to us.

Sad

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An election between a douche and a turd? What's new?

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Wilso wrote:

An election between a douche and a turd? What's new?

Not all that much, I guess ....

Except I would have liked the guys in the whiter hats to be tad gutsier.

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msolga wrote:

All part of the big transfer of our taxation $$$ from public to private under Howard, bungie. Ditto for education & health & god knows what else. Interesting isn't it, given that the theory is that "private does it better", that subsidies from public coffers are necessary to keep these businesses viable.

What's that old saying ? ... The capitalist system will never fail whilst the workers are there to pay the taxes to prop it up.

With the PAYE tax system and the GST, the wage earner gets the tax taken from his pay packet before he even gets it, then gets slugged GST as soon as he spends any of it. On the other hand, there seems to be no end tax benefits, grants, low interest loans, government assistance etc etc to support business and primary producers. I think the "little people" have had a gut full of this lopsided treatment. Remember the old slogan ....

IT'S TIME

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What the .......???? Confused

:

Last Update: Wednesday, May 30, 2007. 1:01pm (AEST)

Rudd orders Labor to dump union leader

Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd has demanded that union leader Dean Mighell be stripped of his membership of the ALP.

The Victorian secretary of the Electrical Trades Union was recorded last year boasting about tricking businesses into giving pay rises worth millions of dollars.

He has also made remarks personally attacking Prime Minister John Howard.

Now Mr Rudd says Mr Mighell has resigned from the party at his request.

The Labor leader told Sky News that Mr Mighell's comments were unacceptable.

"They're just not the way in which we believe people should behave and I think you've just got to draw a line in the sand with this," he said.

"It comes on the back of earlier remarks as well. His remarks about the Prime Minister a month or so ago which I found deeply offensive, and I think many Australians did as well, I repudiated them then.

"What surprises me and disappoints me is that Mr Mighell has continued."

Mr Rudd has told Sky News he personally ordered the resignation and the refund of any ALP campaign contributions made by the union.

"The key thing is what you do in terms of action once behaviour like this emerges," he said.

"You see the content of his remarks and the obscene nature of the remarks demand a response.

"I've taken direct action on this now and I think action speaks louder than any words."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1937685.htm

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http://network.news.com.au/image/0,10114,5503434,00.jpg

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http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/05/30/moir31507_gallery__470x293,0.jpg

Last Update: Wednesday, May 30, 2007. 7:07am (AEST)

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200702/r125438_408435.jpg

Cameraman Brian Peters was among five journalists shot dead in East Timor in 1975. (ABC)

Govt told Indonesia 'not to worry' about Balibo inquest
By Geoff Thompson

Indonesia's Foreign Minister says the Australian Government has told him not to worry about the ongoing coronial inquest into the death of Balibo five cameraman Brian Peters.

Hassan Wirajuda was responding to questions about the former general Sutiyoso, who was approached to give evidence to the inquest while on a trip to Australia.

According to local wire reports in Indonesia, Sutiyoso, who is now the governor of Jakarta, plans to cut his trip to Australia short after a New South Wales police officer visited him at his Sydney hotel and invited him to give evidence at the inquiry.

It has been alleged that Sutiyoso was a member of an Indonesian military special operations team which attacked the town of Balibo in 1975. Five Australian journalists were killed in the attack. ...<cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1937059.htm

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Aw, fer crying out loud!:

Last Update: Thursday, May 31, 2007. 0:25am (AEST)

Sack more union officials, says Labor MP

A federal Labor backbencher says his leader, Kevin Rudd, should reconsider all Electrical Trades Union (ETU) officials as election candidates, in the wake of the Dean Mighell controversy.

The Victorian union boss has been dumped by the party after he boasted about tricking businesses into spending millions of dollars on unnecessary pay rises.

The Member for the Tasmanian seat of Franklin, Harry Quick, has lost pre-selection to one of Mr Mighell's union colleague, Kevin Harkins.

Mr Quick says many in the union share similar views to Mr Mighell.

"I think they're all birds of a feather and they're not going to change," he said.

"They're hard-line people. Their actions over the past probably 10 or 15 years indicate that they are of a fixed mind.

"Sadly, I don't think they're the right people to be representing the ALP in some of the seats they've been chosen in...

"Kevin says he was drawing a line in the sand against thuggish behaviour, against trade unions and removing ALP membership from Mr Mighell.

"I think perhaps the Labor hierarchy should look at some of the other people who've been preselected and perhaps have a hard look at whether they should disendorse them."

Mr Mighell maintains he has been used as a political pawn by the Federal Government in an attempt to antagonise Labor.

"All I've done is fight for the very best increases I can for my members," he said yesterday.

"I've done that lawfully, I've done thousands of agreements."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1938276.htm

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Why stop at union officials? why not rank and file as well ?
Wonder how much support the ALP would get then ?
Keep up the factional brawling and the wheels will fall off.

Dump more union officials, says Labor MP

A federal Labor backbencher says his leader, Kevin Rudd, should reconsider all Electrical Trades Union (ETU) officials as election candidates, in the wake of the Dean Mighell controversy.

The Victorian union boss has been dumped by the party after he boasted about tricking businesses into spending millions of dollars on unnecessary pay rises.

The Member for the Tasmanian seat of Franklin, Harry Quick, has lost pre-selection to one of Mr Mighell's union colleague, Kevin Harkins.

Mr Quick says many in the union share similar views to Mr Mighell.

"I think they're all birds of a feather and they're not going to change," he said.

"They're hard-line people. Their actions over the past probably 10 or 15 years indicate that they are of a fixed mind.

And howard and costello are not hardliners ?

"Sadly, I don't think they're the right people to be representing the ALP in some of the seats they've been chosen in...

"Kevin says he was drawing a line in the sand against thuggish behaviour, against trade unions and removing ALP membership from Mr Mighell.

Is that thuggish behaviour "IN" trade unions or thuggish behaviour "AND" trade unions ? Looks like an "AND" to me.

"I think perhaps the Labor hierarchy should look at some of the other people who've been preselected and perhaps have a hard look at whether they should disendorse them."

Sour grapes perhaps ?

Mr Mighell maintains he has been used as a political pawn by the Federal Government in an attempt to antagonise Labor.

"All I've done is fight for the very best increases I can for my members," he said yesterday.

"I've done that lawfully, I've done thousands of agreements."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1938276.htm

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How quickly things turned for John So.

The Public is a fickle master.

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What a clever politician John Howard is! (Never thought I'd have to say that!) The master of "wedge politics" does it again!"
He's making Kevin & Julia look weak as p**** on IR, undermining the best thing that the ALP has going for it with many voters .... and caused consternation in the left of the ALP & the union movement. Kevin Rudd may well have lost a few votes on the left while attempting to hold onto the voter "middle ground" & business (which would prefer the Libs any day!) And just as the polls we're suggesting that Howard's had it! <sigh> Like I said before, come election time there might not be too much different between Liberal & Labor's IR policies. Jeez, Kevin you're a disappointment! Rolling Eyes

:

From today's AUSTRALIAN:

...... in a deliberate move to win back business trust yesterday, the Opposition promised to retain the Australian Business and Construction Commission for most of its first term - if it wins office. At Labor's national conference earlier this month, Labor pledged to scrap the ABCC without delay.

And last night, ABCC commissioner John Lloyd, who has infuriated construction union leaders, said he was happy to continue in his role if Mr Rudd became prime minister.

"I have a five-year term, it goes through to October 2010 and I intend to stay in the job as long as the job is there," Mr Lloyd told The Australian.

The decision to retain the ABCC follows lobbying by the building sector, which was alarmed that Labor would demolish a tough regulatory cop which has driven reform and radically cut strikes across the nation's big construction sites. In a fillip for Labor's economic credentials, business welcomed the ABCC decision.

But Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union secretary Dave Noonan lashed out at Labor's position, frustrated after campaigning hard against the ABCC's "draconian powers".

Mr Robertson accused Labor industrial relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard of an "error of judgment" in not seeking immediate abolition of the ABCC, saying its powers were "out of control".

ACTU president Sharan Burrow also voiced opposition, saying ordinary workers had been denied basic democratic rights.

In potential further disappointment for unions, West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter yesterday signalled that Labor was on the verge of changing its industrial relations policy for high-income earners, such as miners on the Howard Government's individual Australian Workplace Agreements.

Despite Labor's pledge to abolish AWAs, Mr Carpenter predicted the party would find a way of keeping them for workers on six-figure salaries - but possibly with a different name.

As Labor seeks to lock in high levels of voter support and win back business trust, Ms Gillard also yesterday promised that its proposed new industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia, would not be stacked with union officials and a Labor government would consult the Opposition over appointments. The deputy Opposition Leader told the National Press Club in Canberra she wanted to remove "all" perceptions of bias in how people would be appointed to Fair Work Australia, which would replace the Australian Industrial Relations Commission as the nation's workplace umpire. ........

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21823681-601,00.html

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dadpad wrote:

How quickly things turned for John So.

The Public is a fickle master.

I think the public has discovered a few things it didn't know about him before, dadpad. The MCC is in diabolical financial strife. Far too much money spent on (self-serving) publicity & also too many expensive managerial jobs, apparently. But he lost me over his position on the Dalai Lama's visit to Melbourne. A decidedly political stance, taking a (highly unpopular) pro-Chinese government stance on an issue that he didn't have to buy into at all. He should have stayed out of that one altogether.

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<sigh>

http://network.news.com.au/image/0,10114,5504802,00.jpg

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And still something like 5 months to go! <sigh>
Early days yet!
Things can only get hotter as the election gets closer.
Fasten your seatbelts, folks, it's going to get very, very ugly!:

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/05/31/wbTOONleunig3105_gallery__470x332,0.jpg

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Will the actions of a previous labour government rub off on the current labour government?

This may just push Labour into "children overboard" territory and prove that "they" are all tarred with the same brush.

The Age Newspaper

MPs 'dupes' in game of deceit
In his closing submission, Mr Tedeschi outlined talks between the Whitlam and Soeharto governments in 1974 and 1975, during which the Indonesians formed the view that as long as any military action in what was then Portuguese Timor was "deniable", Canberra would not criticise them strongly.

If the aim of the Indonesians in providing this precise military information to the Australian Government was to compromise the Australian Government's response to an invasion, it can only be said that it succeeded, and spectacularly so," Mr Tedeschi said.

"In fact, no Australian criticisms of what was essentially an Indonesian invasion followed the attack on Balibo."

(snip)

Not once did any Australian official say anything in public or private to suggest that Canberra knew the journalists had been killed by Indonesian soldiers, Mr Tedeschi said. Instead they pursued a "bizarre charade" of asking the Indonesian military to query its Timorese allies.

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