The Federal Politics Thread

[[Shuz]]

Bit of a circus at the moment, hey?

[metro]

Yep, but the circus will be over soon, Tony Abbott WILL be Prime Minister on the 14th of September, the Coalition will rise to power with the biggest parliamentary majority in Australian history and all will be fixed from that point on as they will have a mandate to do whatever it takes to fix this country. Polls have consistently shown an overwhelming majority of Australian's are certainly looking forward it. I've started to ignore any media on the dying ALP govt, all i'm interested in now is what PM Tony Abbott and the LNP will do when they are elected.

But it's not a good look for Female Political leaders in this country: every female leader has led their party to the biggest landslide defeats in our nations history, even in the local context Isobel Redmond, who almost won an election got stabbed in the back by her Deputy.

[monotonehell]

... and all will be fixed from that point on as they will have a mandate to do whatever it takes to fix this country.

Your faith in politicians is almost as staggering as my cynicism.

[Matt]

Fix this country... hilarious.
The envy of the rest of the world.

[metro]

... and all will be fixed from that point on as they will have a mandate to do whatever it takes to fix this country.

Your faith in politicians is almost as staggering as my cynicism.

haha I forgot to add sarcasm to that post, I thought it was obvious

but that's how everyone apparently is feeling, that Tony Abbott will fix Australia after this bad government has wrecked the country for the last 6 years, the media told me so

[[Shuz]]

So does anyone else want to see Kevin Rudd come back?

I do. I just wish they'd get it done with and over already and not drag out the whole process. Talk is the coup will happen next week - Wednesday or Thursday, so as to avoid grilling by the Abbott & the Coalition in QT. Better for Kevin to face off against Abbott through the media, than in the actual parliamentary chamber. I genuinely believe that he is restored as PM, Labor will win the election.

For those of you who read the Australian, there have been a number of very interesting analysis' the past couple of days. Makes for good reading. And if you don't have a digital subscription, not to worry - just copy and paste the headline of the article into Google Search, and click the page through there. You'll get the full version.

[Wayno]

Yep, The Australian firewall is piss weak. Copy/paste into google and you're through. Best paper in Australia, ESP the weekend edition.

Rudd returning probably won't avoid labor being wiped, but would minimise the loss of seats and give them at least something upon which to build for subsequent elections. Strategy 101.

[rhino]

Rudd returning probably won't avoid labor being wiped, but would minimise the loss of seats and give them at least something upon which to build for subsequent elections. Strategy 101.

While I agree with you, everyone seems to have forgotten how toxic the labor Government had become under Rudd, in a very short time. Even now, the majority of members do not want to work under him, as they know what it was like. Even Kevin Rudd seems to understand this. It astounds me that the populace doesn't.

As for Abbott fixing things - most of the problems are perceived problems, which will probably have perceived solutions.

If any of you are aware of the 600-class locos that were converted to Boosters (In 1994 four 600-class locos were converted to Booster Units by Morrison Knudsen, Whyalla to operate with Australian National's ALF class. This involved removing the cab and engine, retaining four of the six bogie traction motors and filling the engine bay with 30 tonnes of concrete with the idea of increasing traction at low speed. They were not successful and placed in store in 1996.)

I once heard these units referred to as "the solution to a problem that didn't exist". And now we look like getting Tony Abbott.

[Aidan]

Yep, The Australian firewall is piss weak. Copy/paste into google and you're through. Best paper in Australia, ESP the weekend edition.

IMO the SMH is a much better newspaper, and none of the Fairfax papers have a paywall yet. The Australian (weekend or otherwise) is as biased as the rest of the Murdoch press. The Weekend Australian is the paper that published blatant lies about the effectiveness of wind turbines last year, which shows just how shoddy its journalism has become.

Rudd returning probably won't avoid labor being wiped, but would minimise the loss of seats and give them at least something upon which to build for subsequent elections. Strategy 101.

Rudd is popular. Abbott is only slightly less unpopular than Gillard. With some decent advertising, the election is certainly winnable for Rudd.

[Aidan]

Rudd returning probably won't avoid labor being wiped, but would minimise the loss of seats and give them at least something upon which to build for subsequent elections. Strategy 101.

While I agree with you, everyone seems to have forgotten how toxic the labor Government had become under Rudd, in a very short time. Even now, the majority of members do not want to work under him, as they know what it was like. Even Kevin Rudd seems to understand this. It astounds me that the populace doesn't.

The populace doesn't care - and why should it? It's not our problem if some MPs get difficult jobs!

As for Abbott fixing things - most of the problems are perceived problems, which will probably have perceived solutions.

That is correct, but there's a huge complication: often the perceived solution to a perceived problem is the exact opposite of the real solution to a real problem. For example, to solve the the perceived problem of getting back to surplus the government is likely to cut back on infrastructure spending.

If any of you are aware of the 600-class locos that were converted to Boosters (In 1994 four 600-class locos were converted to Booster Units by Morrison Knudsen, Whyalla to operate with Australian National's ALF class. This involved removing the cab and engine, retaining four of the six bogie traction motors and filling the engine bay with 30 tonnes of concrete with the idea of increasing traction at low speed. They were not successful and placed in store in 1996.)

I'm aware they use those in America and refer to them as slugs, but I didn't know there were any at all in Australia. Were those four the only examples?

[rhino]

Rudd returning probably won't avoid labor being wiped, but would minimise the loss of seats and give them at least something upon which to build for subsequent elections. Strategy 101.

While I agree with you, everyone seems to have forgotten how toxic the labor Government had become under Rudd, in a very short time. Even now, the majority of members do not want to work under him, as they know what it was like. Even Kevin Rudd seems to understand this. It astounds me that the populace doesn't.

The populace doesn't care - and why should it? It's not our problem if some MPs get difficult jobs!

Ah, but it is! Which is why the Government was going toxic under Rudd - MPs could not deliver what Rudd was telling us they would, within his timeframes, often because he was not consulting with them before making anouncements. While the populace liked Rudd because he was promising to deliver, in fact he didn't deliver, and the populace turned against the party.

I'm aware they use those in America and refer to them as slugs, but I didn't know there were any at all in Australia. Were those four the only examples?

They are the only examples of American-style slugs in Australia that I am aware of. Pacific National has converted some XR class locos to XRB, but rather than filling them with concrete, they are just cabin-less XR-class locos that have to be used in conjunction with another loco. I think they refer to them as slugs, but they're not the same thing as the American-style slugs.

[Aidan]

While I agree with you, everyone seems to have forgotten how toxic the labor Government had become under Rudd, in a very short time. Even now, the majority of members do not want to work under him, as they know what it was like. Even Kevin Rudd seems to understand this. It astounds me that the populace doesn't.

The populace doesn't care - and why should it? It's not our problem if some MPs get difficult jobs!

Ah, but it is! Which is why the Government was going toxic under Rudd - MPs could not deliver what Rudd was telling us they would, within his timeframes, often because he was not consulting with them before making anouncements. While the populace liked Rudd because he was promising to deliver, in fact he didn't deliver, and the populace turned against the party.

Can you give an example of a popular thing that Rudd promised but failed to deliver because of ministerial incapability?

The two biggest reasons why people turned against Rudd were the mining tax and the ETS backdown.

Rudd tried to sell the mining tax as a normal tax on super profits when it was really a super tax on normal profits. The combination of that and a huge propaganda campaign from mining companies led the public to believe it would be disastrous. With hindsight, a super tax on normal profits of mining companies would have been a good thing.

The ETS backdown alienated many of Rudd's supporters. Only later did we learn it was done on Gillard's advice.

[Waewick]

the sad part is (even as Lib voter) the mining tax was a great thing for the economy and would have flatten growth out a lot quicker.

that tax was lost because it was poorly expained, quite simply had Labor shown how it helped voters it would have been easy.

I'm also very disappointed in the Carbon tax outcome - but a lot of that blame lays with Abbott.

[rev]

The only reason we got a mining tax, a carbon tax, and god knows what other taxes these asshole politicians have hit us with, is simply to fund their policies like the NDIS.
The government does not have the funds to pay for things like that, so we pick up the tab with new taxes and levy's.
I'm sure you are all aware of that, but don't listen to the yes men like Steve Georganas(who was on 5AA today bullshiting on about how great Gillard is) and the rest of the Labor left brigade. His own seat of Hindmarsh is looking like it will be lost to the Liberals in a big way, and all he could talk about was how great Gillard has been, how he holds street corner meetings every weekend, how he was out door knocking on the weekend. BIG FUCKING DEAL!

But why should he care? Even when he loses his seat, he will be on almost double the average yearly income. So all these taxes and levy's the rest of us have to find a way to pay, he wont even notice.

I've never voted for anyone but Labor(except donkey votes or whatever they are called, couldn't bring my self to vote for Gillard or Abbott).
But this year I think I may just cast a vote for my local Liberal.

I don't want to hear about what they think they've done that they think is so great for us, while in reality it's not so great for us and we are paying more taxes and levy's.

[monotonehell]

But Rev, unless you are a large mining corporation or a producer of carbon pollution, neither of those taxes apply to you.