This morning at the AFR, Wayne Swan is said to be preparing a number of initiatives for his final budget (whoops!):
The Gillard government will increase pressure on the opposition over policy costings by publishing the final budget figure well before the election and requiring in law an independent audit of every political party’s promises that would be published one month after polling day.
…Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has dismissed calls by the government to release policy costings and says he will adhere to the usual timetable of waiting for the release of the pre-election fiscal outlook, which will be in mid-August, 10 days into the campaign.
In a bid to pressure the opposition to release figures earlier, Mr Swan will promise to release the preliminary underlying cash balance for 2012-13 “well before the election’’.
The same story reckons Swan will defend the deficit on the basis that:
“We have seen a longer-term hit to our revenue from the GFC, ongoing global volatility and the evolution of the mining boom through its enormous investment phase,” he will say. “These impacts have lasted longer than we originally expected.’’
I’ve noted many times over the past two years that Labor has no convincing economic narrative to make it a clear and cogent political option. Wayne Swan has spent the better part of this period berating the public for a lack of confidence despite his government’s allegedly excellent economic stewardship. Now it looks now like there is a shift on and MB is writing the government’s re-election narrative:
- resonate with the populace by using language that reflects their post-GFC conservatism and savings drive;
- release budget figures as early as possible to Abbott to pigeon-hole his spending cuts;
- fight the election on the grounds that the Libs are austerity nutters, unwilling to contemplate deficits even when they are needed for growth. Thus wedging their number one strength, budget management.
It’s a winning strategy. Can they pull it off? It will take clear communication and a united team. Oh…
“fight the election on the grounds that the Libs are austerity nutters, unwilling to contemplate deficits even when they are needed for growth”
I think there is virtally zero public understanding of the nature of government budgets – Joe Public simply believes that if he is managing to save, so should the government. The impossibility of both public and private sectors being in surplus without huge net inflows through the foreign sector is a meaningless concept to Joe. Joe – hearing logical-sounding but totally misleading deficit hysteria from the current opposition – will blame the malaise on the government deficit itself, which will likely be going hand-in-hand with soft growth since it will be driven entirely by the automatic stabalisers.
There’s hardly anything that Milton Freidman said that I agree with but I’ll agree with one thing – “people would be happier if governments did not publish their accounts”.
It’s not that hard to follow. Stimulus equals growth.
To the average punter, stimulus equals electrocutions and houses burning down everywhere due to faulty insulation intallment (a MASSIVE exaggeration but that matters little now), hyper-expensive problem fraught school buildings – these are the sorts of things the average punter has been conditioned to associate with stimulus, not growth.
Perhaps I’m a bit cynical H&H but I see further large stimulus as politically near-impossible.
With monetary policy being mis-used to try and prop up house prices rather than purely as an economic counter-stabaliser in the face of a shock and policy makers too frightened to strongly apply fiscal policy in the wake of the most amazing media-driven wave of mass hysteria I have ever personally witnessed, I am not looking forward to the next recession.
I;m using stimulus as a catch-all for deficits, not predicting another package.
It’s still basic. If the economy is slow, cutting spending makes it slower.
Most people perceive the national economy to be like their personal economy – and when times are tight, you as an individual don’t go out and spend, you batten down the hatches.
Agree 100% drsmithy. Any hint of more stimulus from Gillard and Swan will be seen as reckless, and Hockey will hammer them on it.
Of course, once the LNP are in power, the chances of them actually implementing their austerity measures are next to zero. Abbott and Hockey are hardly conviction politicians or hard-core economic ideologues. They’ll do whatever is necessary to keep the economy afloat.
I have to agree with Lef-tee, this is not a message the average punter will understand. The only way they will understand is if they live through a completely unnecessary recession induced by Messrs Abbott and Hockey.
Do you think everyone has been asleep for the past five years? Why do you think savings have risen?
They’ve been saving because their personal circumstances are tight, and they expect the government to do the same. They don’t understand that in a slowing economy governments should do precisely the opposite.
They’re not blind to Europe. This is an arguemnt that can be easily prosecuted in the right hands.
Having said that, I don’t believe for a moment that Abbott and Hockey will actually follow through on their austerity plans if the economy goes into a nosedive after mining investment peaks. They’ll do whatever is necessary to keep the economy afloat.
Well a) they don’t have the right hands, and b) most Aussies don’t know or care about what’s happening in Europe, as long as the Euro is weak and they can have a cheap holiday.
Of course, I’m not arguing they’ll succeed. But the strategy is good even if they’re hopeless.
Exactly Lorax and drsmithy – the average punter does not grasp the concept of sectoral balances. In their veiw, nothing could be more logical than if John and Jane Doe are tightening their belts, government is irresponsable if it does not do so as well.
It just seems to make basic common sense to the average voter that a government budget surplus is the exemplar of fiscal management.
So about the most policy help that the economy can look forward to IMO is whatever the RBA can manage to achieve with their one blunt tool and a government deficit driven not by voluntary expansion but merely by the automatic stabalisers – what MMTers would call a “bad deficit”. Such a situation will probably just reinforce the notion that deficit spending is always bad and prolong the malaise as governments continue to look for unattainable surplusus.
We might understand that cutting government spending into the face of a slowdown only tends to make things worse, but until the electorate at large clearly understands this, I remain a bit pessimistic as to how it will all pan out.
Maybe by some miracle, we’ll suddenly turn into a powerful export-driven economy, beating the Chinese and Germans at their own game.
Pompous claptrap! You don’t need to get sectoral balances to know that cutting spending and raising taxes means less for you.
Pompous? You don’t get much further away from pompous than a gritty, blue-collar worker such as myself.
Go sit in on your average workplace lunch room and see if you hear a single person saying that deficits are ok for now because they will be needed to support growth.
I understand the bare-bones basics of what makes these things tick through sheer coincidence, the GFC and a workplace accountant saying “where are the government getting all this money to spend on this giant stimulus thingy”, which fired my interest. Most people have little interest in delving into such things.
And you don’t think it makes sense to the average punter that spending might need to be cut so that their taxes don’t have to be raised to pay for it?
Fair points all. My argument is that in this environment, in the hands of decent operator, this argument would not be hard to deliver, even to those that don’t get it yet.
You would think so wouldn’t you?
It’s a bit of a shame that the MSM seems to almost completely own the narrative and policy makers struggle to get their own message across.
If Turnbull was at the helm I’d 2nd what your saying but Abbott and Hockey don’t fill me with any sort of confidence beyond popularlist politics and the enactment of failed ideologies.
… which is why the vast majority of us deserve the government we’ll be getting .. the one led by Tony Abbott.
Waleed Aly has a good oped today:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/labor-has-lost-the-plot-and-the-narrative-20130221-2eua9.html
IMHO, Labor has become just another clone of the Howardian Liberal party – the same dog whistling about asylum seekers to the lowest common denominator voter in marginal seats, the same sellout to vested interest, the same middle class welfare ..
Not just a clone, but as NSW has shown, a party that has been structurally corrupted – cronyism, nepotism and soft and real corruption. They have shown how easily the corp lobbyists can own them with pokies and with MRRT.
In the Liberals we will have more of the bullsh8t growth at any cost mentality, more shocking housing policy and the continuing march to a massive CAD and debt serfdom for our young.
These parties are policy free trash.
Yes – I find my optimism dial is at a similar setting.
Yup.
The outlook is dismal.
That’s is my concern with Abbott, he’ll pump housing up even more.
100% with you there Mav,
The ALParatchiks biggest single problem is their ‘own’ voters, and the fact that for many of them the current crowd has never had the cojones to reject the Howard national narrative.
Their IR laws were/are Workchoices lite
Their immigration policies are Torynuff policies lite
Their housing focus has been first and foremost relatively wealthy boomers and their investment properties – not workers and the young
Their super policies are/have been about perpetuating a system that pays out now to the wealthy and sets the younger and working types up for a life of working longer and paying more tax
Their industry policy has been about doing nothing vis the AUD and smoothing out the pillow of a ‘dying’ manufacturing sector, not trying to invigorate it.
Their education policies have been about perpetuating the great ‘private education’ ripoff.
Their policies at a societal level are about making sure boomers get a payoff for the vast amounts of debt they have taken on by getting subsequent generations to take on the same debt and service it.
Sure the Torynuffs arent a step forward on any of these issues, but they are the step backwards Australia has to have.
The ALParatchiks can mull over whether policy should be about taking little steps in the same direction as the Torynuffs, or identifying clear policy objectives and taking decent strides towards them.
Also.. HnH.. if you see a 3-line talking point as a winning narrative, then god save us all.
Pollies and bureaucrats in RBA/Treasury are scraping the bottom of the barrel in setting an economic narrative for Australia. You have no such excuse – feel free to write a longer story !!
Come on, dude, you know I’m paraphrasing…
Yeah, but should you be spending time worrying about who will win the next elections?? We’ll get more or less the same thing from both parties. Posts like this one allows the nutters (u know who) to attack and distract.
I dont think it is a winning narrative, not within a bulls roar.
More like a moments illumination just before someone gets belted by a heavily laden truck moving at speed.
Maybe future movie goes will ask themselves what if, but it isnt going to change much about now.
It’s a winning narrative all right. If coupled with export focus, policies for lower dollar, infrastructure aimed at productivity , living within our means etc, etc…
It’s great national interest stuff.
Of course it’s nearly all missing but hey!
‘If coupled with export focus, policies for lower dollar, infrastructure aimed at productivity , living within our means etc, etc…’
Did you have a joint before starting today?
You’re a cynical bunch. Just because Australians have been fattened on a diet of self-interest does not mean the narrative could not be altered successfully.
People are not as stupid as you lot suppose. They have been afraid since the GFC and still are. That is a powerful feeling that can be rallied to cause.
Compared with the vacuity of Abbott’s message it would have every chance of winning in the right hands.
Cynical about our peers eh? I’ll tell you why…
You’ve read my posts. It’s clear I have no idea about the nerdy stuff you speak. Yet my peers call me a nerd. Read too much apparently.
They don’t want to know. They’re comfortable with the Murdoch/LNP machine telling them what to think.
I think the reason it would not be a winning narrative in the hands of the ALP is that it is an economics only story, without an overarching social story. The ALP have failed to articulate a vision of what they would like Australia to be like. As a consequence, their individual policies are all over the place and they are riven by intrigue and division.
The sooner the Labor Party forgets about the old class divisions and becomes a social democratic party instead of a labor party the better for us all. Gillard’s speech to the AWU was particularly unfortunate in that respect – a real step back to the dark ages.
Gillard’s speech to the AWU, the rapturous embraces with Ludwig etc are are siren call to the AWU faithful, quite likely her only solid backers left.
And yes, a speech directed to a time that no longer exists but what to expect – the union movement itself struggling with its raison d’etre, representation of around 13% of the workforce, holding too much power in the Labor party, elevating union hacks to positions beyond ability.
I’m with Faulkner, Labor needs serious reflection and change.
3d1k, that is about the most sensible comment you have ever made in the history of astroturfdom.
Mining Bogan.. top insight from the coalface, as always.
hnh,
I agree with this
Compared with the vacuity of Abbott’s message it would have every chance of winning in the right hands.
BUT, and it’s a big BUT, the gov needs completely new leadership to achieve that. I don’t think Rudd is an alternative and I don’t see any Keating like potential leaders waiting in the wings who could be called up at short notice to pull that off.
Basically it’s too late!
Alex,
“Gillard’s speech to the AWU was particularly unfortunate in that respect – a real step back to the dark ages.”
Homage to her Keepers, the real rulers of Australia. Entirely predictable and mandatory.
It’s a hopeless narrative because the real narrative has been played out before everyone’s own eyes. We already KNOW the narrative.
We have seen how Gillard sold out whatever credibility her party has for the Greens signature that put her in the Lodge. What electoral poison! The deceit of the CO2 tax to appease the Greens, who have proved to be polling toxicity for Labor. Then just this week we see “Oh, we don’t need that lot of nutters with us anyway”. Huh? The Brits had a term for that during the Troubles; *Own Goal*.
You have to ask yourself; why would she ever do that? After the Rudd knifing and all. My theory is this; She was told to do it- *whatever* it takes , get into power- agree to anything. By whom? Those who control this Govt and Gillard. For their benefit and to get their claws into our Treasury.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/julia-gillards-parallel-universe/story-e6frg6z6-1226583020265
To win you need the middle class and either 1. the well off / economic libertarians (big overlap here) or 2. the less well off. Thus there will always be middle class welfare.
Alternatively you need either 1. the social conservatives and the middle ground or 2. the social libertarians and the middle ground.
The Libs are broadly 1. in both and Labor are broadly 2. in both.
The outcome then depends on gauging how to play/balance/sell the tradeoffs between the various groups, almost entirely in marginal electorates.
I must confess to be struggling with the notion that the Liberals are austerity nuts.
While they talk about tight purse strings their policies appear to be anything but ( more black holes than a Professor Krauss lecture)and that seems to be what is driving Mr Swan to demand the numbers.
That leaves us in the weird situation where both sides are yakking on about austerity but actually showing the austerity of a professional cyclist in a bikies meth lab.
But no surprise that our dim wit politicians are rolling out sound bites that bear no resemblance to their actual policies or intentions or actions.
It is anyone’s guess what any of these clowns will actually do in office.
True, the ALP have been make a few mumbles lately in the right direction but that may be an accidentally arrangement of words and in any event, as you note, how much confidence do we have that this government, especially the Treasurer, has the spine or communication powers to bring the country along.
In the circumstances that significant fiscal stimulation is required (and there are lot more things we can before we get there – micro reform etc in things like tax and land regulation) that is certainly preferable to the snake oil of the RBA on the road to ZIRP monetary policy.
“In the circumstances that significant fiscal stimulation is required (and there are lot more things we can before we get there – micro reform etc in things like tax and land regulation) that is certainly preferable to the snake oil of the RBA on the road to ZIRP monetary policy.”
Nail meet hammer. Goodbye ZIRP/LIRP.
I’m talking about a political narrative. I agree with Lorax that if times get tough, the tough will likely wilt.
“It is anyone’s guess what any of these clowns will actually do in office.”
1. F*** up.
2. Line own pockets.
3. Rinse and repeat.
more black holes than a Professor Krauss lecture
Is it possible to watch too many Lawrence Krauss lectures? Methinks not, and I’ve watched dozens.
I’d like to see him go toe-to-toe with George Pell.
Why does every DH in the media think they’re running the country?? If you want the job so badly, RUN FOR OFFICE!
Why do DH readers come in and read then complain about it? WATCH TV!
It’s a duopoly with very high barriers to entry.. You may as well say if you don’t like the grocery store you should open one up.
If you are building their narrative please desist. This lot do not deserve re-election.
I suspect it is a narrative easily demolished by an effective campaign.
Such excellent fodder: simple narrative Howard government debt v Gillard government debt; vids of Swan and Gillard surplus mantra; repeated vignettes of Labor Ministers spitting bile about Rudd; quotes from most major media “Swan should resign” Time for Gillard to Go”; targeted reminders of union connections; specific reminders of union rorting (Williamson, Thomson, AWU); the ‘faceless men’; NSW Labor; you get the idea.
Its almost like someone from a PR agency wrote that, for say a certain Council or Party…hmmm
Its like he’s just stepped out of a meeting where he’s been brainstorming these ideas…
what about the simplistic ‘stop the boats’ and ‘great new big carbon tax’ sloganeering? Abandoned already?
Stop the Boats is an electoral winner.
Good idea Mav – contrast the Howard Stop the Boats era with the daily arrivals now; and from a humanitarian aspect emphasise the prevention of loss of life at sea as a result of taking a strong stance. Win win.
If Australia should take refugees, why shouldn’t we ensure that we take only from people who have been in processed and in refugee camps/detention for say 5 years as opposed to those who come from a relatively safe intermediate country without processing by any agency.
Who speaks for the refugees already in camps around the world?
2d you know as well as most that Howard’s Stop the Boat era just happened to coincide with political events in the M.E.
By the way Howard & Costelo were spend thrifts and if they had handled the economy better we’d be in a great position now, instead we are in the shit.
As to the average persons self interest, that’s because they had 10 yrs of Liberal Party electoral bribes.
How about we think through BEFORE we jump head long into two wars in foreign lands and cause the rise of refugees?
Explorer I have argued as much here at MB before plus I suggested some sort of deterrent in terms of delayed processing for those that proceeded by sea (before any suggestion of such).
Yes.. but Labor has stolen the thunder by adapting the LNP dog whistle on asylum seekers, as Waleed Aly pointed out in his excellent OpEd.
Also, I am happy to note implicit in your answer is that ‘great new big carbon tax’ has been a grand failure.
I disagree with Aly there – boats are still attempting the journey, just the other day another 98 lives lost. Labor has failed to stem the tide.
The carbon tax campaign by Abbott was very successful for many months. Good PR should be able to put to the electorate McKibbin’s position (jobs losses to arise, when convert to EU has potential to decimate green energy companies financial positions (real price so much lower) – everything is ammunition against this government.
3d PR, you need to work on messaging your bravado across, without betraying your true feelings.
2d,
While I have usually have great respect for what you write, even if I don’t agree with you, which is more often than not, today what you are posting is absolute drivel.
Reading that crap, I’d expect to see some other frequent posters name instead of yours.
dne thankyou – I am approaching this thread with a campaign eye
Mav,
Will you be voting?
It’s a powerful narrative you draw.
Labor has been ineffective in building an opposing narrative that is as powerful. Work choices is probably too long ago now.
And they would sooner bicker than win the election.
Even a social democrat like me thinks that they need a lesson, but giving government to Abbott and Hockey is likely a big price to pay for ordinary people.
Shorten for Leader and dump swan and Gillard to the back benches and push Rudd out of the party if he doesn’t pull his head in. But Shorten wouldn’t want it now would he?
Really Ex, you need to look beyond the screen you are reading.
The guy in this picture runs this country. He appoints the PM and most cabinet posts.Get to know him because he could be the one who calls the shots for your future;
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/desperate-caucus-seeks-stability-as-labor-ministers-plea-for-unity/story-fn59niix-1226580711551
My strong feeling is that Gillard is unelectable, the depth of antagonism toward her palpable. I concede this may be reflective of Resources/Terrace Perth opinion.
All would appear lost if Labor stays with Gillard, there is a remnant of possibility with another. Who?
I hope whoever decides is not the same individual who selected Roxon for AG – having listened to Dreyfus on a couple of issues of late what were they thinking to put Roxon into the role when they had Dreyfus in the wings?
“whoever decides”…He’s in the picture 3d1k.
It’s appalling ,the ignorance of those who believe in Labor. They simply have no idea how their Govt really operates.
Nah, Labor is gone in my crowd. Not for any reason being discussed on here and other nerd sites today. It’s super.
The superannuation changes really pissed them off. The other stuff will get mentioned but once you get in depth their eyes glaze over because they really don’t bother to look deeper. But mention super and there is genuine venom.
The Labor mob needs to sit back, let Abbott make things worse and wait for Jason Clare to finish school. I think he’s the next hope.
Mining Bogan,
From my experience once tradies start earning big money they change their political beliefs REAL quick and before you know it they’re whinging about welfare payments, dole bludgers and tax rates.
According the the latest Galaxy Poll, Rudd is the man!
“Kevin Rudd would catapult Labor into an election-winning position if he was reinstalled as leader”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/galaxy-poll-finds-kevin-rudd-would-lead-labor-to-election-victory-if-he-regained-alp-leadership/story-fncynkc6-1226583699537
Gillard is a deadweight. Will Ludwig/Howes/Shorten give the OK…?
Outside the left bubble where most of Australia lives, Labor are simply done. The average Joe has stopped listening to what they say. I mean seriously.It’s a rabble , falling apart, looking increasingly like a carny outfit.
I work with a goodly number of rusted ons, Union aand ex union guys in their 40′s and 50′s who know what a good Labor party and Govt looks like. These are good, commonsense family guys. They are in a word – ashamed. Rather not talk about it.That’s how low Labor has sunk. Most of these guys will still vote Labor (just)but only due to determination and habit. It’s not the stuff of election wins when these guys are stumbling with choice.
I wonder why MB are so worried about a change of Govt when this one has so manifestly failed, so miserably turned on itself? The hysteria is palpable. It’s impossible to make a reasonable “narrative” of this rabble – viz the boat situation,the appalling financial management, out of control spending and waste, the plethora of Swan’s tax and budgetary balls ups, the lies deceit and posturing, the very public humiliation of it’s elected leader, the Union puppetmasters Labor reports to . The attacks on our freedoms. The lies. Why, with virtually every mainland state turfing these clowns into very minor Oppositions does MB hold on to the Labor dream so tightly? Are the people of Australia so bloody dense and MB wise? Is MB out of touch? Is this how MB thinks our country, OUR Govt actually SHOULD be run? Because if you back this lot, we KNOW what we get. I don’t know or understand, really.
What I do know is that this continues at our peril. Whatever it takes, this “thing” of a Gov’t has abjectly failed and should be removed. Once that is done sorting through the mess and getting back to some kind of sensible governing has a chance, for ALL Australians. One thing is abundantly clear with this version of Labor- they govern only for themsleves and THEIR believers. Sickening and divisive.
Outside the left bubble …
where most of Australia lives,
…Labor are simply done
The cognitive dissonance is strong in this one.
Something of value to say RP?
It was of value.
You first sentence started off with the most ludicrous contradiction. It is of value to be pointed out.
Yep, thought so.
GSM – guys like you amaze me. You work hard out in the sticks and you just swallow the party advertising hook line and sinker. Mate the Libs have done more for big end of town rent seeker largesse than anyone – when the money men go for lunch, the guys bending their backs may as well not exist.
I’m just saying the party brand is FoS – they line up with your philosophy like a fast food burger lines up with a picture on the advert.
It ceases to be amazing after a while…
Rusty, my fan.
You’re becoming an embarrassment.
aj,
You miss the point entirely. There are but 2 choices on who will run this country. TWO. I do hope you get it.
2.
I don’t LOVE the Libs. I detest Labor for everything it currently stands for and how it behaves. Years ago when I was young and impressionable, I was thrilled to see Whitlam get in. It was “Time”. We all know how that ended. Then later I voted for Hawke. His was a good Govt for Australia. I didn’t go for Keating .
The point is I am not wedded to any party, no matter what the pompous noise on this blog says.
OTOH, you speak of party brands. Are you blind? Do you have even the remotest clue how your current Govt came into being, what keeps it there and how they internally work? If you even remotely believe this Labor party care one jot about “working families” or Australia, you must be entirely delusional. Do some research aj, look into the history of your Govt and how it’s MP’s came to be where they are. You won’t find the Labor party “brand” you think you have if you are prepared to open your eyes.
Then choose ; from the 2 mind. Just 2.
You just made my point. I think both parties are a bunch of lying nepotistic, cronyistic power-seekers that have almost zero grass roots members and a ruling cabal that are only interested in power through brand management.
there are only two choices because guys like you keep buying the brand.
Hello hello is anybody there? It’s a b.r.a.n.d.
Whitlam let you down – so what it was completely predictable – I’m sure a lot of others were suckered in too. Get over it.
You don’t have to love them aj. But making the best choice from 2 is all you have.
Get over it.
Face it GSM. You let the parties define you with the ideology that works for them.
There is nothing worse than a reformed smoker.
There is always choice.
aj,
You need to understand this; the “big end of town” may not always be your friend, but they most certainly are NOT the enemy you need to be most concerned with. You just have to know your limitations and scope of relevancy.
Suck up that brand baby. I’ve seen some lobbying and rent seeking from the corporates thats puts your ‘free market’ myth into fairyland where it belongs.
No myths held by me . Just facing up to our reality. Your idealism is cute but irrelevant.
Haha you really need to get into the city for a bit. Take a job with the finance team for a big mining house and enjoy what life has to offer.
When your drinking a nice red with the advisory team over lunch you might notice some gaps in you brand created ideology.
“When your drinking a nice red with the advisory team over lunch you might notice some gaps in you brand created ideology.”
That’s the irrelevant bit. I reserve my red sipping for a nice sunny terrace in SW France overlooking the Gave d Pau.
Haha ‘when I’m not in the back of Burke whinging about the lack of free markets I like to head to the home of protected agri-business to use my Aussie pesos to best advantage’
Hahaha
aj,
“The wicked ENVY and hate; it is their way of admiring.” – Victor Hugo
So true.
That’s just you creating a story – to avoid the logical flaws in your ideology. And conveniently ignore the last point I made.
I love the paradox of free-markets GSM sucking up the the fruits of protected agri-business.
If there is a hater here it’s you, angry that the nasty left curtailed your fine business building potential, whilst wilfully blind to how the right reinforces entrenched structural protection.
It’s only the angry ideologues like you that I find distasteful.
I should add – that most cranky pants boomers with your ideology missed out on the rivers of gold of the land prices and take it out on others.
Might not be the case with you, but I’ve noticed a trend.
Thanks for the Fri sport
. Have a good one.
When is comes to Modern Labor a fair bit truth there GSM.
Yep – the only thing between this government and the deep blue sea is a demonisation campaign against Abbott that will not work.
A campaign casting Abbott as an economic light weight living in the golden fuzz of the last days of Chez Howard might work if delivered by someone plausible.
But we are talking about Swan.
Game over.
BTW, has anyone figured out the image yet?
Angry bird of sorts?
Angry Swan
Cranky swan?
What I suggest you do is go down to your local lake and piss a black swan off and see how it reacts, watch out!!
Is that the one that does the backflip?
I did think Angry Bird and with a beak like that I assumed Gillard…angry bird (colloq: upset female) the rest an obvious physical manifestation.
Something with a very big bill and a very small brain. And one-eyed as well.
Yeah HnH its you as Sam Toucan presenting your best balanced view of the fkn froot loops that confront us.
Labor can win, but one of the key reasons they are still in play is the ambivalence many voters feel towards Abbott, who comes across as shifty and disingenuous. Labor’s strategy should slam this home big time.
Hark, is that a continuous loop of 30 second advertisements I hear in the pipeline ? …
Australia’s economy and society today is the envy of the developed world. But we can’t take that for granted
What will a Tony Abbott government do to funding for schools, for hospitals, for aged care, to defend a fair Medicare, fair workplace laws, for our world leading superannuation system ? Is he prepared to give Australians an iron-clad commitment ?
Run clip of Tony Abbott circa 2004 offering “an absolutely rock solid, ironclad commitment” to maintain the Medicare safety net
What does a commitment from Tony Abbott actually mean?
Run clip of Tony Abbott post 2004 defending his subsequent backflip “When I made that statement in the election campaign I had not the slightest inkling that there would ever be any intention to change this, but obviously when circumstances change, governments do change their opinions”
So can we take Tony Abbott on his word now to maintain funding for hospitals, for schools, for aged care, to defend a fair Medicare, fair workplace laws ?
Run clip of Abbott from 7.30 Report circa 2010: “sometimes, in the heat of discussion, you go a little bit further than you would … the statements that need to be taken absolutely as Gospel is those carefully prepared scripted remarks”
So, what will a Tony Abbott Government do once it’s in office ?
Run one of many available clips of a clenched jawed Tony Abbott staring unblinkingly for a seeming eternity, struggling to offer to the most rudimentary of coherent responses to basic questions
Spleen. Small cheese, the ammunition available to the Libs cannot be surpassed. Labor have gifted them, it is up to the Libs not to blow it.
The Libs blow it everytime Abbott, Pyne, Brandis, Mirabella, Robb and the sisters of no mercy Julie and Bronwyn Bishop open their mouths and attempt to sound like real human beings. But Abbott has gifted too much to be ignored. They’re gonna go down fighting, and he’s given them that chance.
“and attempt to sound like real human beings.” That’s what real adults sound like spleen. They don’t always bring good news or solve all of lifes problems for you. They have bigger responsibilities you know.
‘They don’t always bring good news or solve all of lifes problems for you’
So those weren’t adults talking during 1996-2007, then ? Just as I suspected. Who would otherwise hand over so much largesse to people who didn’t actually need it ? It sure didn’t seem very responsible at the time. Good to know these raffish young Libs have now grown up and have seen the error of their ways, and are now going to recoup all of those mis-given billions, and apply them properly to … to … what is it they’re going to apply those billions of re-couped funds to, again ?
“Who would otherwise hand over so much largesse to people who …” actually earned and contributed it in the first place.
I’ll concede that some balance got out of whack. Overall though JWH had it right.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/john-howard-voted-the-best-prime-minister-of-a-generation/story-e6freuy9-1226561275226
I won’t ever accept that any Govt can spend my money more wisely than I do. Therefore , I believe it best thay have as little as possible of it in the first place. Not a view shared by all I know.
My daughters can’t stand TA and were dumbfounded when I told give he was a Rhodes Scholar. “What, the guy can’t put two words together, your kidding!!”
I told them
+1
The list I posted of a small portion of that ammunition was Moderated away. I’m sure however it will be put to good use
spleen, good effort but the old adage applies; “Dont bring a knife to a tank battle”…. or something like that.
+1 3d1k that is…
ROFL.. oh boy.. you have just made 3d1k’s marketing job that much more difficult.
Spleen, it has already started…the Teacher’s Union ad – kid struggling to read, teacher patiently looking on, kid ‘gets it’ “black holes” and voiceover pleading for more taxpayer money. Mmmmm some sort of swipe at the Libs budget black holes of a few years ago, keep it in the public mind – either that or the stupidity of the teacher’s union introducing kids to concepts beyond their grasp
If you want more government money for your kid, send them to a private school!
Yes indeed 3d1k. Instructive that the Teacher’s Union is so vociferous in spending members money advocating for Gonski and getting hold of taxpayer money. Is it a strategy to boost Union membership?;
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/more-teachers-not-the-answer-to-lifting-standards-says-geoff-masters/story-fn59nlz9-1226514767652
“Since the federal government removed the cap on subsidised university places this year, the entry score for teaching courses has fallen, with some universities accepting students with a score below 50, and the number of students has increased”
“Professor Masters says governments instead should set higher entry standards for teaching courses and reduce the total number being trained…”
Don’t know about the others but here in QLD, the teachers union doesn’t have much realistic need to boost membership – it was running at about 96% last I heard.
Most people seem to think that if you don’t like the current government, anyone else will be better, which is ridiculous and irrational, especially when you look at the dire state of the current Liberals. They are diabolical, they just haven’t had a chance to prove it yet. I am trying to suppress a secret desire for Abbott to get in so we can watch him totally balls it up.
It would also be a chance to clear the Labor decks and get some new blood in. Maybe some who can articulate a coherent vision.
In my mind this will lead to a new era of intelligent and productive politics from both sides. Along with flying monkeys and never-ending packets of Tim Tams.
I’m waiting with baited breath for Pyne to confirm the LNP will be running surpluses over the first 3 years in office since they would have magically been able to run them all the way through and post GFC.
As for people saving so much now, it only looks high because we were into negative savings territory for a while in the early noughties and we’re only back to our long term avg of around 10%. Anyone arguing this is bad needs to look at mortgage debt which is at 80% of GDP and realise we need to start seriously saving in the private sector because our debt balooned by over 200% under Howard and Costello.