7640 replies to this topic

[Big Dan]

Here's our new thread dedicated to the upcoming federal election later this year. A poll will be coming soon.

[Media Munger]

I don;t think you should put your name up there. Leave this as a purley political thread please for real intrests sake.

[Mike]

Come on ATNI we all know Dan loves himself to leave his name out of anything! Go Labour IMO - It's time for a change.

[Squee!]

Come on ATNI we all know Dan loves himself to leave his name out of anything! Go Labour IMO - It's time for a change.

Big Dans is there obviously for the "who cares" vote for the second poll

[Big Dan]

I don;t think you should put your name up there. Leave this as a purley political thread please for real intrests sake.

It's a joke. Surely we can all have a joke at Mr Howard, Mr Rudd and my expenses...

Come on ATNI we all know Dan loves himself to leave his name out of anything! Go Labour IMO - It's time for a change.

Whatever you believe Mike. BTW, I agree with you, it's time for a change.

Big Dans is there obviously for the "who cares" vote for the second poll

Exactly. There's a man with some vision.

[Mr Q]

I think it's premature to be making any firm commitments one way or the other. I always vote based on who has the best policies on offer, and who's going to offer the best leadership to the nation. That's something we're not going to have a clear idea of until much closer to election day.

What I will say though is that what Kevin Rudd is presenting is a huge improvement on what Beazley or any other Labor leader over the past several years have offered. We're seeing far more responsible policies being presented - though I'm not entirely satisfied with them (for one thing, we're now seeing that Rudd's plan to raid the future fund for broadband will probably cost far more than what was originally suggested). More than that though, while I have tremendous respect for Rudd - and I have for quite some time now - he's still leading the same rag-tag mob that backed both Beazley and Latham. There are very few figures on Labor's front bench that are of any real quality - in particular, I cannot for the life of me understand why Wayne Swan continues on as Shadow Treasurer when frankly anyone else could probably do a better job.

I think the Australian people though have good reason to give serious attention to the Labor party at the moment though - I don't believe the government is really connecting with the electorate at the moment. But we're still some months away from the likely election date - I don't for a second believe that the coalition is out for the count. The government is still trying to shake off a few problems, but I think we're starting to see them extract themselves from the mess they've been in, and in the lead up to the election, with a few more policy announcements, perhaps some alterations to existing policies (WorkChoices in particular), the coalition can definitely bounce back. There's no doubt though that they're the underdogs at the moment - it's going to be a tough fight.

[Mike]

The underdogs in my mind are Labour. The Liberals have shown to be very strong in the last few weeks to win back. We saw the same thing with Latham.

[Mr Q]

The underdogs in my mind are Labour. The Liberals have shown to be very strong in the last few weeks to win back. We saw the same thing with Latham.

What you saw with Latham was a leader self-imploding and sucking his party in with him. Rudd is a very different leader to Latham (thank god) and as a result, it's hard for anyone to deny that this election is going to be very close. I would certainly say that at the moment I have concerns about a Labor government - but that's a definite improvement on the last election where I was in fear of one, with Latham as PM.

[Jimmy James]

A few points that I've been ruminating on. Howard won't change a damn thing about WorkChoices, I read as much in the Australian the other day while they (the bias right wing media) were having a go at Joe Hockey for not attacking Kevin Rudd over this Sunrise BS, the commentator explained why Howard would not make any changes to WC.

Mr Q are reds hiding under your bed? "In fear of a Labor Government???" by all means be in fear of a One Nation government or a Family First Government but I'm afraid Labor is a mainstream party who have just as tough on economic reform as your beloved coalition.

IIRC last election campaign could've been renamed a smear campaign as every pleb with an axe to grind against Mark Latham came out of the woodwork all at once during the campaign period courtesy of Liberal Party: Dirt Unit. We had recriminations from former Liverpool councillors, taxi drivers, state Labor - you name it, they dug it up.

Now, would Mark Latham have been a good Prime Minister, probably not, admittedly, hell at the time I was gunning for a change, but some of the changes they proposed (like, shock horror - reducing Welfare Benefits, and WTF Not KowTowing to Gunns Ltd) obviously were a change too far for some. But did he (or the Australian public) deserve the sustained attack of the "L" plate campaign. Now it's spread to state politics with the incumbents taking massive swipes at the challengers over perceived past indiscretions - the minute they brought out some add claiming Ted Balleiu profited from school closures was the minute the Libs lost their only chance of winning.

If incumbent governments commited as many resources to infrastructure and administration as they do to winning elections, we might have a better country for it.

I know things have changed in public as general because for years when there was an election, everyone I talked to thought Labor was a joke, even my own wife, friends, you name it, Tampa, interest rates, Howard could do no wrong according to them. This year though I've had these same people only too eager to tell me that Howard is a goner, three different friends, (and countless internet bloggers) have speculated that Howard will retire before the election (even I have trouble swallowing that)

My CPA boss who is a dyed in the wool WASP Liberal (was even in the young Liberals) took me along to a CPA conference on Work Choices (I'm a Payroll Prac) a year ago and spent the whole hour with a stunned expression on his face, ever since he (and another accountant in my office) have been expressing a desire for change.

Finally it seems to be sinking in with some conservatives that Rudd is no Latham, in fact he's much closer in personality type to John Howard, Howard has proven that no matter how many missteps, lies or blatant hypocritical decisions he makes they all wash off him, but the Libs are attacking Rudd exactly the same way they attacked Latham and are all dumbfounded as to why it's not working, why the polls aren't budging - maybe because their own leader wrote the book on cunning politics and Rudd has spent some time reading it!

[bauhaus]

Election year, so both sides can play:

How Howard walked the road to ruin

The PM's stint as treasurer may be something he would prefer to forget, writes Alex Millmow.

http://www.theage.co...6696914528.html



For tracking Poll numbers, see http://www.ozpolitics.info/blog/

Edited by bauhaus, 19 April 2007 - 03:24 PM.

[Firetorch]

Inflation data out

AUSTRALIA'S inflation rate rose just 0.1 per cent in the March 2007 quarter, or 2.4 per cent over the year, well below expectations, and taking pressure off interest rates.

The number is good for Australian households as it eases pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates this year. The RBA sets interest rates to keep inflation below 3 per cent.

Good news for Howard and the Liberals.

[Blue Mountains]

i've had enough of the Coalition, time for a change, Labor isn't perfect but it's better this time 'round. Personally i'd prefer a more Social Democratic/Social Liberal alternative

[bauhaus]

Inflation data out
Good news for Howard and the Liberals.

STRONG DOLLAR = cheap imports = lower Inflation

Early 2Q CPI futures suggests flat growth = Stag = R on the way

Not such good news for Howard and the Liberals

Edited by bauhaus, 24 April 2007 - 04:09 PM.

[Norman]

When is the election predicted to be?

[Firetorch]

STRONG DOLLAR = cheap imports = lower Inflation

Early 2Q CPI futures suggests flat growth = Stag = R on the way

Not such good news for Howard and the Liberals

'Stag'?

I doubt we will see a recession in the near future as the economies of WA and QLD are still strong and should off set low or negative growth in other states.

When is the election predicted to be?

November I think.

[Mr Q]

Early 2Q CPI futures suggests flat growth = Stag = R on the way

Not such good news for Howard and the Liberals

This has to rank as one of the most ill-informed comments I've read.

We suddenly get lower inflation than expected (not that I was expecting inflation to increase by the 0.6% that economists were forecasting, especially after the PPI figures came out), and now we're heading for a recession?! Absolutely rubbish. Much of the reason for the lower inflation is international factors - oil prices have eased off from their highs last year, but we continue to see downward pressure on prices for many of the things we import (manufactured goods from China, for instance).

This is a good outcome. We've now had two consecutive quarters with low rates of inflation. It's clear that the RBA's contractionary policy is having the desired impact - inflation is, I think, back under control. Monetary economics is both an art and a science, but I think at this point in time, the RBA has things just about right. For that reason, I stand by my assessment that I don't expect to see an increase in interest rates this year.

[Firetorch]

Not sure if this exactly fits in this thread, but:

Aussie of the year award almost given back

SCIENTIST and environmentalist Tim Flannery says he has considered handing back his Australian of the Year award due to Prime Minister John Howard's climate change policies.

Speaking at Melbourne's RMIT University today, Dr Flannery said he was struggling to reconcile his role as Australian of the Year with his views on climate change.

"Of course this year I am Australian of the Year, and I have to somehow tread a very difficult line, a very tenuous line, I think, between honouring the tradition of Australian of the Year, being apolitical, and trying to do something for my country," Dr Flannery said.

He said he had considered handing back the award, frustrated by the Federal Government's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a statement from Mr Howard that the economy took precedence over climate change.

Someone should tell him we couldn't care less whether he hands back the award or not as some sort of protest towards Howard. He acted immaturely too in his speech of receiving the award; I think we all get the message that Mr. Flannery thinks Howards environmental policies are poor.

Of course looking after the economy is of greater importance to the Government, than making an effort towards reducing emissions that will have minimal global effects on climate change. He is a delusional, scaremongering, left wing idiot.

Edited by Firetorch, 25 April 2007 - 02:04 AM.

[Mr Q]

Dr. Flannery is obviously a man with passionate and deeply-held views, and I have little doubt his believes he is acting to promote the best interests of this country and this planet for the future. I respectfully disagree with him - particularly on things like Kyoto, on which I believe I've established my views quite well already - but at the end of the day, "Australian of the Year" is not a political appointment, and while the recipient shouldn't feel at all obliged to support the government, the award shouldn't be used as a platform for attacking on policy either. I think it demeans the award, and I've got to say, I think Dr. Flannery's comments about wanting to give back the award are more than a little bit juvenile, and demean him as well.

Do I think Dr. Flannery should just shut-up and not talk about issues close to his heart? No, I absolutely do not. But do I believe that he should learn to express himself in a more productive and professional fashion, as befits his status in the community? Yes, I most assuredly do.

[TGIF]

I agree with much of what he's saying - and that the government isn't doing too much about it at all - but I don't think a title/award like that should be used as a political platform.