Gough

[Old farmer]

I admired Gough greatly for what he did for our nation and for how he lived.
Brave Margaret was his equal.

[Sebastiaan56]

I think there is a major inherent problem with our democracy. It will always be corrupted by influence peddlars as long as the professional politician class is allowed to develop its claws. That goes for all parties from what I can tell. I heard a suggestion recently of a lottery type system where citizens are randomly chosen to serve. Coupled with a independent judiciary I think it would work quite well. Gets rid of entrenched policy positions. If you think its fanciful just remember we use randomly chosen juries. Of course it will never happen but it is a worthy speculation.

Im sure the line is Whitlams Artme, I remember it clearly and also some commentary of Howards plagarism when he repeated it. It was Fraser who turned Australia around on refugees. Prior to that the mood was much like today. Labour has never been a supporter of imported cheap labour, if that makes sense.

It's Larry Pickering I don't get. I used to love his cartoons. Where/why did he develope such hatred?

And a 'nother thing. This argument over the wages we pay our pollies needs some balance. They get far less than a CEO of a multi national who claim that you pay peanuts you get monkeys. So shouldn't the same argument apply to the pollies? After all we know what their wage is before we vote for them. The discrepancy between what the pollies call an "entitlement" and what we think an entitlement is, is open for debate. It is breath takingly intellectual dishonesty by the incumbent government.


TT

[Lyle]

Which mob pillaged the military superannuation scheme way back???
I thought it was Gough and his cronnies.
The scheme was self continuing until it got raided, then it failed and had to become a new scheme with less returns etc.

[.RC.]

Personally I think Hawke and Keating have done far more for this country than Whitlam ever did.

I find it amusing they did the most to destroy the powerful unions...

It was policies like Whitlams and future government that went on to destroy our manufacturing sector...

Can anyone honestly say having a country of intellectuals is a good thing?

I have nothing against an educated person, but just because you are educated does not mean you are smart.. I have seen so many people of all intellects totally incapable of seeing things from a different perspective other then the one they hold... And understanding that their point of view might be valid but is but a small part to consider when looking at the bigger picture...

One thing I often wonder is with all this talk about getting the country "smarter"... What are all the people through no fault of their own not capable of getting a worthwhile higher education going to do when we finally destroy all low end jobs in this country?