The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

<sigh>
.. the book ... the predicament ... & the bleeding obvious way out of the wilderness!

It would want to be good. They're already on the back foot with the two weeks leave thing. That really hit home. And I heard Kym Beazey pulling in Family First in his comments on that. It could be that Senator Fielding isn't going to be a patsy for Howard.

.... Meanwhile, Peter Costello wows The Hillsong Church. Alexander & even Bob Carr were involved, too. What's going on? Is this Australia or the US? :

Costello soaks up Hillsong's praise
By AAP and Age Online staff
July 5, 2005 - 1:07PM



Treasurer Peter Costello last night soaked up a rapturous welcome from 20,000 followers of the Hillsong Church in Sydney's Superdome.

To the delight of the congregation at the opening of the Sydney-based Pentacostalist group's annual conference, Mr Costello shared the limelight with NSW Premier Bob Carr and federal ministers Alexander Downer, Kevin Andrews and Peter Dutton.... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/where-politics-meets-religion/2005/07/05/1120329425848.html

I misread that earlier, goodfielder. FF is responsive to Beazley? Interesting. What a position Fielding is in. All sides grovelling to him!
Yes, it will have to be a good campaign from the Libs to change public opinion. I heard a news report earlier suggesting they are now going to bring it forward, so they must be worried at the backlash in the polls. I'm dying to see how they'll pitch it. I'm trying to imagine angles but honestly can't think of any obvious ones. I have this feeling we all might get some fun out of this! :wink:

John Howard interrupted his holiday to sort the Libs out on this. Now that's a sign of panic. Despite his protestations that he takes "modest" holidays so he is available (yep, his globetrotting such as his $9000 per night hotel suite to catch the Ashes means that he can indeed put up with a "modest" holiday back home) this is definitely a sign that the ACTU has given the Libs a damn good whack.

Oh and I have to say this. Bob Carr is an electoral whore.

I feel better now.

""Oh and I have to say this. Bob Carr is an electoral whore""

..and a damm ugly one.
Let's remember that Costello's brother is Saint Tim, the darling of the Latte set, and that the Hills area, Baulkham Hills, Winston Hills, Seven Hills and Kellyville where the Hills are alive with the sound of project home construction are the fastest growing areas on the East coast.
They were moved by where the votes are, rather than where the Spirit is, I think.

Not that I know Sydney well Mirriwinni but point taken. My ex is from Cherrybrook/Castle Hill and I was amazed at the number of neo-mansions in the area.

And Bob Carr is a demographwhore as well.

Nearly forgot my manners - welcome to A2K as the cogniscenti call it

Waiting to see what Howard will come up with in the next few days. I mean he can't change anyone's mind by just talking about the ACTU "scare campaign". (BTW how ironic. As we all know, that's precisely how he won the last election!). Somehow he's got to convince ordinary people that the "reforms" will be good for them. That's much harder to achieve than just appealing to peoples' greed & self interest. It'll be fascinating to see what the spin doctors come up with. All I heard today was a little pep talk about how the changes would be good for the economy & once people get used to the changes they'll get to like them. He'll have to come up with something a bit better better than this!

Welcome to A2K, Mirriwinni. Here's hoping to to hear more from you on this thread. But, come on, Tim C isn't THAT bad! He actually does some half useful work in the community, which is way more than I can say for his smirking brother.

lolololololol I missed that cartoon msolga.............lololololol

hahaha! ... so funny!

Well, I just looked & this is page no 100 of this new thread, following the previous Coming Oz Election thread.
Who would have thought things would become so torrid, so quickly? Come to think of it, who during that election campaign, knew that the Libs had this nasty IR stuff planned for us? And who the hell gave them the "mandate" to do this?

Thanks for the welcome, folks, much appreciated.
Given the increasing proportion of the workforce which is now casual, myself included, and who accept the trade-off in an increased hourly rate for no holiday pay, etc, frankly I'm surprised at the degree of angst this has stirred up.
I notice the unions have lost no time in imposing a levy to fund protests, though.

I'm not surprised at the angst at all, Mirriwinni. Like you, I have worked contracts/casual positions since resigning from a permanent position a few years ago (long story!) & I personally do not feel anything like as comfortable with the experience & the "benefits" as you do. It might work in some situations, but definitely not all.
We are being told that workers will "have the choice" to forfeit some of their holidays for payment, but I'm not half as confident as you that, not too far down the track, such an arrangement won't become a non-negotiable requirement of the job. You want work, you wear the conditions. Take it or leave it. This is the attitude of many employers with contract/casual workers already (I know! And it can be quite daunting for an individual, without the support of an award & a strong union to get a fair deal in these circumstances. Been there, done that. ) Frankly, I'm quite cynical regarding suggestions that "negotiation" to meet individual workers' needs will occur at all. My main concern, really, is that the scales will move even further in favour of employers. I think it's gone way too far in that direction already.

What does a "rock-solid iron-clad guarantee" really mean?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s1409143.htm

It's getting really, really confusing keeping up with all of JH's promises. I clearly recall he also promised to "never ever" do something (?), but honestly, I've forgotten the details! Whatever it was, I know he eventually did do it! What WAS it again? The GST?

So, too refresh my befuddled memory, I typed "John Howard & broken promises" in my address bar & got:

Truth Overboard - 35 Lies told by John Howard and counting:
http://www.alp.org.au/features/lies.php

Good grief! That man's tells lots of whoppers!

How anyone can believe this bloke is beyond me.