The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

The Melbourne property market has definately dropped. Even though some real estate agents will tell you it is still bouyant, it is down for a fact.

Don't get depressed msolga because of the government lying, otherwise you will never be happy. It doesn't matter if it is labour, liberal, the demo's or greens, one thing they have in common they all lie.

Keep your chin up, it is a sunny day. You can't save the world.

So we're being told. Perhaps some of those frustrated first home buyers will finally get a house? Don't get me started on government concessions for people buying houses for investment purposes!

There are DEGREES in these things. The current level is shocking & terribly cynical & the Libs romp it in at election time. It just makes me wonder about Oz voters, that's all ... Oh well .....

Well I am probably a typical oz voter, which should give you an idea as to their intelligence level, haha.

THAT election result & why. I've been particularly interested, since the election, in Robert Manne's analysis of the current predicament of Labor, but more particularly, of the left of the Labor Party. What happened & why? Where to next?:

Howard the Pied Piper triumphant
December 20, 2004/the AGE

The federal election, the Iraq war and treatment of asylum seekers made 2004 a miserable year for the left, writes Robert Manne.

..The simple explanation for the Howard victory in 2004 goes like this. During the past decade, middle Australians have experienced unprecedented levels of prosperity, based partly on improved productivity but also on dizzily high levels of personal debt. This has created a fundamental paradox. The prosperity relies on the permanent maintenance of a low-interest-rate regime. Affluence is shadowed by anxiety. Debt is the ghost at the national banquet.

Howard and his advisers understand all this very well. The pivotal moment of Australian politics this year came as the election was called. Mike Scrafton had proved beyond doubt that John Howard had lied to the Australian public on the eve of the 2001 election over what he knew about the children overboard affair. Howard's response to this charge was fascinating to observe. He did not - except formulaically - protest his innocence. Rather, he asked the people to answer a simple question: in a choice between the Coalition and Labor, whom did they trust? The "trust" was not about telling the truth but about managing the economy in general and, in particular, about keeping interest rates low.

..For the left-leaning political intelligentsia, 2004 was a peculiarly dispiriting year.

This group - in which I now include myself - has continued to believe that truth in government matters. In the week following the Scrafton incident, the Coalition's electoral stocks actually rose

<complete article>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Robert-Manne/Howard-the-Pied-Piper-triumphant/2004/12/19/1103391634388.html

Thanks for posting that Olga - I'm feeling less alone, but just as powerless. It's like reading an article I would have written if I could actually express myself - except his conclusion that Australia is still a wonderful country, which I think contradicts much of what he says in regard to the selfishness in our voting. I think we have pretty much drained our cache of international goodwill.

I know, hinge, I know <sigh>.... In his last article he suggested that "the intellectual left" abstain from involvement in formal politics altogether for a time & embrace community-based politics instead. Nothing worse than being right, but counting for f@k all anyway! I found his final words a bit strange, too. I suspect he doesn't really believe it, but is trying, trying, trying not to be totally negative.

Funny thing, though ... not so long ago Robert Manne was persona non grata with the left here in Melbourne. Funny how times change. And funny who tries to make sense of the dilemma & pain of the left. I listen to everything he has to say these days.

I told you msolga, the average voter couldn't give a stuff about human rights and whether howard lied or not about children overboard. As long as the economy is going alright, interest rates are low, unemployment is low, then they will vote for howard. once these things worsen then they will swing. You have to differentiate between things which affect people and don't. Things which affect people = interest rates, tolls, unemployment, health, education, economy, jobs in specific industries(logging). Things which don't affect people = human rights, children overboard, foreign aid. People only change government when they stuff up.

Howard's nation afraid
December 27, 2004/the AGE

Howard is an election-winner because he is able to get people who disagree with him to vote for him.

.."Far from making us "comfortable and relaxed" as he promised, Howard seeks at every opportunity to make us anxious. He made the nation afraid that Aborigines could make title claims on suburban house blocks. He made 20 million people afraid of a couple of thousand desperate refugees - and yes, the vast majority of the asylum seekers Howard vilified as people he wouldn't want in this country, were found to be genuine refugees.

A stunning example of the fear tactic is the way Howard made the nation afraid of becoming a republic, even though most of the population wanted to do so. You have to admire him for that. And the way he made us fear non-existent WMD. Most recently, he has preyed upon people's fears of interest rate rises."...


<complete article>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Opinion/Howards-nation-afraid/2004/12/26/1103996430256.html

Nothing much new on the Oz politics front right now.
I'm posting this because it gave me a much needed laugh. Hope it does the same for you.

Ah, Gough, Gough .....<sigh>

Hi, msolga. Thanks for your continued postings.
I do look at them all. -realjohnboy-

rjb emerges from the fog!
Greeting to you from Oz & happy new year! Well, as happy as it can be, in the circumstances!
Thanks for continuing to read & look. Nice to know that someone is! :wink:

Hmm - Mark's continuing pancreatitis problems are of significance, I believe!

Plus - I hear there is a kind of Liberal thinktank/agitator group amongst their backbenchers who will be pushing a strong agenda of tax and welfare reform.

Of course, since they are righties, I shudder in anticipation - but, I must say, I gather they have ideas for removing - through the tax system - some of the financial disincentives for very low-earning people to remain on welfare - which mught be very sensible.

Shall await their proposals with guarded interest.

I have been following those "reform" proposals with interest & a fair bit of fear & loathing, Deb. Also those coming from "the business community", so eager for more "incentives". Mid-year, with the installation of the huge Senate majority is really going to be something! I think that Howard might even have to work on curbing some of the blatantly excessive expectations of his backers. It should be interesting to observe!

Mark Latham. I agree. I'm just wondering about the timing of his removal. It seems inevitable, doesn't it? But who the hell with? Besides, who'd be mad enough to do the job?

In the meantime, I think we should seriously consider replacing Peter Costello with his brother, Tim, as Treasurer. :wink: Now wouldn't THAT be refreshing?