Election

[Geoff Dean]

As if I care about Pollies and Pubic Servants Super. I pay mine out of my earnings so should they.

You should care, because it is your money going to fund the excessive amounts of super that they receive.

You also missed my point. The future fund is set aside to pay for the superannuation that has already accrued. If it is spent, when the current crop of pollies retire, there will be nothing left to pay them out.

The money will have to come from somewhere...at that will be us.

[silentC]

Saw an interesting cut from a Rudd interview yesterday morning:

Interviewer: "So Mr Rudd, will you say sorry to the indigenous people of Australia"
Rudd: "Yes, there will certainly be an apology, but the exact words have not yet been determined"
I: "Yes, but will you say 'sorry'?"
R: "Well, as I say, there will be an apology, but the exact words are not yet decided"
I: "Will you say 'sorry'?"
R: "There will be an apology, but I don't have the exact words"
I: "but will you say 'sorry'?"
R: "Sorry, apologise, the words aren't important, but a full apology will be made"
I: "Now come on Mr Rudd, as you very well know, the controversy surrounding this issue is in the use of the word 'sorry', so will you be saying 'sorry'?"
R: "Look, of course I will say sorry, I thought you were asking me for the exact words, but I don't have them yet"

There's hope for the boy...

[Cliff Rogers]

"We'll all be ruined," said Hanrihan, "Before the year is out."

Arr well, we have lived through changes in government before, we will live through this one too, it is just a pity that it is such a waste of money.

Next???

[Koala-Man]

"We'll all be ruined," said Hanrihan, "Before the year is out."

Arr well, we have lived through changes in government before, we will live through this one too, it is just a pity that it is such a waste of money.

Next???

Waste of money? I fell quite uplifted by elections, actually, I think it's great that we're part of the (unfortunately) minority of the world's population that can undergo a change of government without an outbreak of civil war, bloodshed, persecution, whatever, and be confident that whichever party gets into power they'll do a reasonable job. I mean, there's no Putins, Mugabes or Musharrafs waiting to take over. I'm very thankful for that and I think we can count our blessings.

I don't think there's anything much to worry about in the industrial relations arena. As far as I can tell the ALP only wants to turn the clock back to about 2005.

Only time will tell, of course, but I'm fairly confident the unions aren't going to steal our babies and eat them alive.

Gaz.

[Cliff Rogers]

As I said.... we have lived through changes in government before, we will live through this one too.

It is still a waste of money.

[Koala-Man]

Or maybe he never really wanted the job that much.

Turnbull would have to be a shoe-in for the position now...

I wouldn't be surprised if we haven't seen the last of Costello.

yes, Turnbull's in the box seat for the leadership of the opposition. The question is how long he can hold onto that. My guess is that convincing the Australian electorate will be a heck of a lot harder than charming the denizens of the well-heeled harbourside, beachside electorate of Wentworth.

And the global economy is feeling the strain - it is quite conveivable that a failed election campaign with Turnbull at the helm and a worsening economic situation over the next election could set the scene for Costello to make a triumphant return.

He will have learnt his political lessons well from his former master.

Gaz.

[AlexS]

Correct me if I am wrong isn't this the first time Australia has had total Labour government state and Federal.

I believe it's the first time there has been wall to wall Labor. There has been one previous occasion when there was wall to wall Liberal governments.

The world didn't end then, either.

[LotteBum]

I heard last night that the highest office-holding liberal in Australia is now the Lord Mayor of Brisbane?

Yep. You can rest assured that he'll lose the next election, which I believe is early next year. He is a very, very disliked man and there are some good alternatives around the place. People love to speak of Labor getting the country into debt. (Can Do Cam)pbell Newman has managed to get us into a snotload of debt with his ridiculous infrastructure projects...

[LotteBum]

There's hope for the boy...

1. What a stupid, stupid question from the interviewer.

2. Do you recall some of Howard's gaffes over the years?

3. Give him a chance.

[silentC]

What amuses me is the cavalier attitude some people have towards choice of government in this country. We need a change, give him a chance, let's see how they go before we judge them. It's not like we've just employed a high school leaver for a trial run in our fish and chip shop. There are people's jobs and houses and general financial well-being that are on the line here. It's not good enough, in my opinion, to take someone on face value and 'give them a chance'. You want to be damn sure that they are going to do a good job and that you know all about them before handing them the baton, because it's not a game.

[silentC]

BTW I think it was a very good question from the interviewer. Howard said he felt remorse for the stolen generation but stopped short of apologising for it, because it was not his place to apologise. People took him up on his choice of words, so it's entirely reasonable for them to do the same with Rudd. Rudd differentiates himself from Howard on his willingness to 'say sorry', so lets see if he actually does it in those words.

[Gingermick]

. (Can Do Cam)pbell Newman has managed to get us into a snotload of debt with his ridiculous infrastructure projects...

Just what Brisbane needs. More roads for more vehicles. They could just spend the money on public transport and make it free. That might ease congestion.
But I shouldn't talk too loud, my company is designing some of the tunnels.

[echnidna]

What amuses me is the cavalier attitude some people have towards choice of government in this country. We need a change, give him a chance, let's see how they go before we judge them. It's not like we've just employed a high school leaver for a trial run in our fish and chip shop. There are people's jobs and houses and general financial well-being that are on the line here. It's not good enough, in my opinion, to take someone on face value and 'give them a chance'. You want to be damn sure that they are going to do a good job and that you know all about them before handing them the baton, because it's not a game.

Its just the old guard Whinging SC so disregard them.

Both sides have old guards, they're the sort that'll vote for Atilla The Hun Or Hitler Or Stalin if they are the leader of their party.

Then there's the thinkers,
Some might be turned off their current party so they won't vote for them but they'll never vote for the enemy

And the Greedy Thinkers,
who vote if there's something in it for them.

and the Free Thinkers,
who try to vote for the best party for the country

[Brickie]

Im surprised that no one has told Kev to do a search yet seeing as how hes the new blood.

[TEEJAY]

I only hope we are past the days of

Gee what do we have coming up Christmas or Easter or a long weekend AND . . . .

Let me guess it's a

Transport union strike,

A fuel strike,

A teachers strike

They were sad times - I used to get so angry watching the petrol refinery workers going into the refineries and filling their cars up whilst the rest of the nation had nothing but rations and empty fuel tanks. The workers would give obscene jestures to the cameras and then trundle off - the strike didn't have to bother them.