So who are you going to vote for?
I got:-
30% Tony Abbott
30% Christine Milne
20% Kevin Rudd
20% Bob Katter
Frankenprime.
Shows I'm either quite a bit out of touch with Aussie politics or I've shifted a little bit back to the centre. I usually vote conservative.
Thanks Stu, twas fun.
50% Milne
30% Krudd
20% Katter
Three of a kind!
Rattle ,The greens were the party that introduced the carbon tax for the purpose of reducing pollution.Now they've done a preference deal with Clive Palmer who happens to mine coal ,one of the major contributor to carbon pollution. Didnt take much for Clive Palmer to buy them..The greens have sold their soul for a few extra votes .
They don't get up my nose ,they've certainly gotten into my wallet with their economy destroying policies though .
Joe Hockey on Q &A Monday night told the story of a person who had a business in Australia and the same business in America .His electricity bill for his Australian business was $52million while for his bill for the same electricity in America was $25 million.$12 million of his Australian bill was for the carbon tax.How can Australian business be competitive with those cost?.Who would invest in Australia with extra costs like that?
A government needs to build wealth to pay for all the services and improvepeoples standard of living.The Labour Party are good at wasting our wealth not so good at building it .
I Agree that Tony Abbotts paid parental scheme is too generous .Because of the mismanagement of the six years of labour we are in 300 billion debt and can't afford anything .
This is tedious.
Examples can be produced to prove any point e.g. your last post has caused me to question your analytical abilities.
When the carbon tax was introduced the opposition trotted out example after example in the parliament showing how the price on carbon was destroying businesses. Abbott and Co very quickly stopped the pantomime when it was discovered (red faced and all) that the facts didn't stack up. The facts didn't stack up. The facts didn't stack up and the said businesses were telling porky pies. Shit, I'm starting to repeat myself 3 times just like Action Man.
For christ sake grocer don't be so darn narrow focused and all believing of your political gods. Every economist in the country will tell you that most electricity price increases in Australia over the last several years have been caused by power companies over investing in new infrastructure because the government funding formulae used to compensate the said greedy mostly foreign owed power companies (State Government responsibility) maximises profits this way. This is not to say there aren't isolated examples of companies being hit by higher prices by carbon pricing but most of them received government compensation.
Sure the electricity companies have contributed to the added cost of electricity but at least we will have new poles and wires to show for it ,what do we have to show for the added price of a carbon tax? a 10% added cost to an all ready expensive electricity bill .
.I certainly haven't been paid any compensation for my increased electricity bill , have you?
The latest figures from the NSW independent pricing and regulatory tribunal estimates the cost of green schemes to the average electricity bill at $316 a year, with the carbon tax adding an average of $168 per year.
Under the labour partys/greens carbon tax we have been paying six times more than the Europeans pay per tonne of carbon .
The whole reason Rudd "terminated " the carbon tax was because he knows how damaging its been having on business.
The boss of Myers ,Australia's biggest department store says "we are talking to investors in the US ,Uk and Asia and they are saying they don't have a lot of confidence in Ausralia at the moment because political uncertainty in the mining tax,the potential perceived and actual impact of the carbon tax,and therefor they don't have an active interest."
There is plenty more examples of how bad the carbon tax has been Just look at your electricity bill ya goose. .
What do all the green voters think of Clive and Christine's little partnership?
...
Interesting article in The Age today about role the IPA has in political life here in the "lucky" country.
The IPA is head by John Roskam. Never heard of him? well that is who you will be supporting particularly if you vote Liberal.
Mr Roskam is quoted as saying " All governments are threats to our freedom" and believes the Liberal Party now has a tougher breed of free marketeers.
No surprise the IPA is funded by the likes of Gina Rinehart
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/free-rad...
Congratulations! Your PM is...
40% Kevin Rudd
40% Christine Milne
10% Tony Abbott
10% Bob Katter
PM type: Frankenprime
Hmmm. I'm not terribly surprised by the results (but.. CM as PM?), however I don't think the questions were quite as well constructed as Vote Compass.
What do people think of Abbott's generous new paid parental leave scheme?
By: "yorkessurfer"
Just pure craziness, i don't know how they even come up with such crazy schemes.
You can understand to a degree the baby bonus and paid parental leave for low income families, but to provide big sums of money to people with higher incomes is nothing more than middle to high class welfare.
I just want to crawl under a rock, cos I fucken hate them all. How on earth do we elect people like John Howard or Kevin Rudd ?
Deadset, you wouldn't let them mow your lawns. If they knocked on your door and said "I do lawns", you'd reply "yeah good one, move along".
I particularly despised John Howard, pathetic little germ of a man.
Thankfully, the election should be done n dusted before footy finals, so we can concentrate on something really important.
So after the leadership debate last week between Abbott and Rudd, the makeup artist that worked on them both claimed that Rudd was rude to her. The media of course had a field day over her twitter comments. It's now emerged that her brother is the NSW President of the Young Liberals!
Why am I not surprised?
Yeah I thought the exact same thing at the time - it had to be a set up.
Funny though - I can't seem to find anything in the MSM about it.
Me either Yorkes.
What's your source?
So what if her brother is 'NSW President of the Young Liberals'. The question is, was Rudd rude to the woman? Going on Rudds reputation, I bet he was.
Well, it'd be an awful shame for Rudd's alleged 'rudeness' to make mainstream headlines across every media outlet for several days, especially if only one side to the story was told.
I've never paid much attention in previous election campaigns, but the media bias this time around is very disheartening.
@zenagain, was reading an article called The Great Debate Debacle on website The Political Sword. Have cut and pasted the comment below. This isn't a court of law but smells a bit fishy?
Is Simon Fontana, NSW Young Liberal President, related to Lily Fontana, the make up artist who prefers Tony Abbott? http://www.youngliberal.org.au/executive
http://www.lilyfontana.com.au/about/
And this comment. Has she gone into damage control?
Le voyageur â€
Makeup applier Lily Fontana seems to have deleted her Facebook page. Mysterioushttps://www.facebook.com/lily.fontana Tried to see if Abbott was a friend
@salt,
You may well be right, given his history its easy to believe Rudd was rude.
But here's the rub. In days gone by the journalist would have asked the back ground questions on the makeup artist. Who is she contected to? what's her political affiliations? is she a member of a political party. Asking those questions my friend is called being a 1/2 decent journalist.
Sadly, there are few 1/2 decent journalists about and it drives me mad to see and hear the twaddle that makes up the news. Are we so darn dumb that we accept this shit?
Another example of mindless journalists chasing the easy story is what has happened with the Essendon Football Club. While its reasonable to think something was wrong at the club surely the real story in Melbourne about this mess is how either ASADA or the AFL or both have been leaking information about the case to Fairfax almost on a daily basis for months. Where are the investigative journalists chasing that story?
Car salemen, marketing gurus, politicians, fat arsed mining magnates, lobby groups (especially the IPA) and most journalist - all up against the wall come the revolution!
I voting for an honest, open politician who will answer questions directly and in full. Can anyone name one?
Rattle, I know one! Nick Xenophon in SA.
salt and zenagain, Mediawatch covered the Rudd incident (re: makeup artist) very well last night.
Crikey ben, get with the program and go to iview .... http://www.abc.net.au/iview/
Also on last night's media watch was an old clip from Murdoch defending / defining a free press as one where there were many players in the market so that a monopoly didn't exist and the said media baron couldn't "bully the public with his personal views" ....... Rupert must have been planning how he would run his empire way back in the 60's.
On the subject of Murdoch he got a right royal booting on Q&A last night .... good therapy really seeing a contrary view on the box ..... also available to watch on iview. Also a standout was that dickhead from the IPA putting both feet in his big fat mouth on the issue of women having babies.
Media Watch & Q&A sticking it to Murdoch ... I went to bed a happy man.
I can't take either party seriously, I'd never support either.
They both support the Amercian military with their war criminals Barak Obama and George Bush.
I'm assuming they're taking tips and guidance on corruption from the American government as well.
Two groups of ugly fake boring sheep.
I stopped watching mainstream media news years ago and doubt I'll ever bother again.
Somebody send me a message when a party decides to get rid of large parts of legislation and taxation.
Anyone else notice how Abbott and his aspiring front benchers have taken to accusing Labor of actions and behaviour that they engage in themselves?
In the US they coined a term for it – Right-Wing Projection(google it)
This tactic has been lifted straight from the RepublicanTeaparty in its' attempt to unseat Obama in 2012.
Now we all know how successful that campaign turned out?
But if the polls are correct it's looks likely Abbott will be the next PM on September 7th. Hopefully after that he will finish with his relentless attack dog persona. He can then concentrate on his job of running the country and we will get to see the real Tony, for better or for worse.
If he somehow loses stand-by for a dummy spit the likes of which we have never seen before. It will be something to tell your grandkids about.
If that happens Margie and the girls might have to clear out of the house for a while as holes will be getting punched in a few walls that's for sure!
I'm 30 yrs old and I really can't decide who I want to vote for. They are both embarrassing , immature pathetic to listen to and take seriously! How can you put any faith or trust in someone who carries on an bitches about someone like a 15 year old school girl, and they are meant to runthis country?!? Get fucked!
I would rather vote for the greens than these two primary school acting, pathetic, backstabbing little bitches.
Politicians in this country should be ashamed of them selves and the way that they portray themselves..
Agree to a certain extent GF, but I wonder how much of it is by design or as a reaction to the general theme they are met with. It's definitely not just the pollies, it's also the media (Murdoch deserves some blame but it also falls on these agencies trying to peddle a product and keep a jaded public interested). Everything is in soundbites these days because people are so disaffected that their attention span lasts no longer than 16 words. Not only that, it's also the public and their attitude toward government. Anyone else notice a trend in the pitches, and also the questions put to them? It seems to always be "here's what we're gonna GIVE you", or conversely "what are you gonna GIVE us that HE isn't?" Here's a good slogan for pollies to voters - "You work hard, and we'll stay out of your way. If (and only if) you need help, we'll provide it"
I have said before that I've always leaned Lib, but I tried to watch tonight's debate objectively. I reckon KRudd didn't do himself any favours. He responded to questions with answers to a different question, and threw a few interrupting barbs in when Abbott was speaking. Abbott was measured and did not interrupt once, which was shrewd and surely pre-meditated. I guess that makes me an example of what I was talking about - so little substance in what they were saying that I was paying attention to HOW they were saying it instead...
On PPL, I originally thought it was a shithouse idea and thought that hopefully he will scrap it after getting into power and we would all forgive him anyway. I still reckon it's pretty ordinary, but the more I think about it, the more comfortable I am with it. The best thing he did was level with people. A lady asked a question about dental plans (Lisa needs braces) and he pretty much said 'would love to help, but we haven't got anything planned for you'. Props for that, and Rudd even had a go at it when lady asked about accesing super early. He struck me as abit edgy and showing a few signs that he thinks he's gonna have to scrap to get into this fight.
Could get interesting as we near the big day. Oh what joy - choosing between mild Socialism, definitive Socialism, fanatical Socialism, or a selection of lunatics. How's Palmer's form? He's making these huge broad economic statements on his ads that don't even make the most basic economic sense. How the fuck did he become so very rich?
Kaiser, good point that on Palmer. I just heard him on the radio making those statements with gusto. His sentiments on the key party leaders ring true but in reality his policies are flimsy. His party might bring some balance to the senate but god forbid he's ever allowed to run the country! and the greens? I dunno about them either, have you read their policies? I'm surprised the democrats don't have a greater following.
It's a matter of fundamentals, I'll be voting on party principles not the leaders themselves. As goofyfoot said, the tit-for-tat exchanges and negativity is a joke and mass media machines like newscorp have been flogging this bitchy crap for too long. What about tackling the big issues and highlighting policy strengths and weaknesses. Where's the objective analysis??!
He can then concentrate on his job of ruining the country and we will get to see the real Tony, for better or for worse.
By: "yorkessurfer"
That's better fixed your spelling mistake.
A must read from Don Watson
http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/september/1377957600/don-watson/...
That made my day, in a depressing kind of way. Now back to working out which one is currently offering more in response to my fears and prejudices.
Clive Palmer was on Lateline the other night and claimed when he was director of the Liberal National Party he would pay polling companies to give him the results he wanted?
It makes you wonder how accurate the polling we are being fed on a daily basis by the Murdoch owned polling companies like Newspoll and Galaxy is?
Or does Murdoch think he can convince Australians to back a winner based on his rigged polling? Sadly he is probably right, the sheeple are easily led!
http://m.
Vote Wikileaks in the Senate to remind the pricks that we have not surrended our privacy willingly!
Looks like Tony Abbott will be PM next week. Not my choice but there you go.
Couple of unrelated but perhaps strangely related things ....
Andrew Bolt yesterday perhaps started what may be the first public criticism of Tony Abbott from the ultra right calling him a policy moderate adding that many of his colleagues will want him to go much further in government than what he has said publicly.
Secondly, polling has shown the vast majority of Australians do not want an Abbott government to control the Senate.
I'm hoping the Senate isn't in Abbott's hands, generally I think that makes better government no matter what side holds the Reps but more specifically it may protect Australia from the ultra conservative members of what will be a new Abbott government.
Now what role will the Murdoch press play in all of this over the coming years and will we be headed for a double dissolution?
'Australia, you've got it good'
Always good to have an outsider - in this case one of the world's pre-emininent economists - cut through the chatter and remind us how good we've got it in Australia.
"Joseph Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics".
The Dean of Economics at said university is Glenn Hubbard, you may remember him from 'Inside Job', where the interviewer got him on conflicts of interest as he was a board member of some of the architects of the GFC.
Not trying to discredit him... just pointing out 1. That there is a coincidence here and 2. How irony and accusation can be a great tool in the discrediting of associates
I actually like the tone of the article. What's missing from this and all recent campaigns in OZ is a leader who can inspire, and get the collective consciousness on working hard to take advantage. Make hay while the sun shines and all that
Why does everybody say they dont like Abbott and Rudd yet talk like there is no-one else to vote for?
A vote for others is not necessarily a protest vote, if you think about it and don't vote the shooters party or something ridiculous like that
I've already done the early vote thing thanks to a trip to Indo.
Democrats are still there on the vote paper, Nick Xenophon, many good choices bar the two main ones, though I did put Palmer above Labor and Liberal which challenged one's beliefs a little, but allowed a little protest vote while still having a reasonably well thought out vote. Better than a 'donkey vote'.
Respect your freedom to vote, my Liberian friend cannot wait to vote, genuinely so excited. Here he can vote for someone who is not in power without going into the booth surrounded by machine gun armed guards, as opposed to going into the governments booth with no guards at all!
Another reason to vote Wikileaks in the Senate
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/wikileaks-releases-documents-on...
Not going to vote for any of the LIARS and THIEVES, mal Tuurdbull....Bull SHITen.....what a poor couple to choose from.!
Yep, you may be right QuadZ, but if we keep sitting on side lines or don't vote then what does that give you. Participation in some way is important. You have to feel that you have to have a say in your destiny. Apathy is far worse.
You'll get a fine for not voting, they're all liars.
D'oh, there I go again agreeing with Tones, I hate that!
never give power to those that seek it
Jobs and Growth/chaos/ OakSHIT....Double Chaos....the watermelon party....?
Ain't much choice in my area.
Jobs and Growth/chaos/ OakSHIT....Double Chaos....the watermelon party....?
Ain't much choice in my area.Looking forward to midnight.
"never give power to those that seek it"
The story of this bloke would make you smile then:
Compulsory voting's a bugger, hey? Here's a little informative guide.
HOUSE OF REPS (GREEN BALLOT)
How to vote (number all):
http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/practice/practice-house-of-reps...
Candidates:
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2016/jun/09/aus...
SENATE (WHITE BALLOT)
How to vote (6 above line or at least 12 below):
http://aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/practice/practice-senate.htm
Candidates (pick your state):
http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/guide/swa/
In that link , there's also a guide to how the individual parties want you to vote if you go the ‘6 above the line’ option (gives an idea what kind of party they are and who they favour, AND WHERE THEIR PREFERENCES WILL GO).
The guide is under the "How to Votes" heading. Hyperlink "Click here for details of Senate how to vote recommendations published by parties"
IN THE SENATE, I AM GOING TO GO THE ‘AT LEAST 12 BELOW THE LINE’ OPTION PERSONALLY .
Pick the senators you want, and you don't even have to bother with acknowledging those you don't.
As an aside, I'd like to meet Joe/Jo Public that voted for Michaelia Cash directly last election (below the line).
She got less votes than, say, Ricky Muir!
Hmmmm... Do i feel like a shit sandwich or a turd burger? At least with the turd burger, the bun is toasted.... I'd hate for the bread to get soggy and get shit on my hands......
I actually think shorten has come a long way
labor have some pretty gutsy policies and are almost talking the truth
but shorten's biggest achievement is calming the fuck down the whole political conversation
it's measured response versus rambling desperate hyperbole
Sheepster, back to the comedic drawing-board. That doesn't make any sense at all.
I concur in the main, Sypkan. Labor with Shorten has really begun to turn a corner. I've posted elsewhere (in relation to the EU referendum):
"After thirty years of governments of both stripes advocating the neoliberal model of political economy, Labor now appears to have turned the corner in an attempt to get the settings right on capitalism. In truth, even when Labor was introducing free market reforms they still had a foundation of social justice behind their policy in the Accord when the social safety net was strengthened to compensate for wage restraint.
That tradition continues with the Gonski reforms and the NDIS, both of which the Coalition government appears to want to weaken or abandon.
The values-based policy and fairness test that Labor is planning to apply if elected is exactly what the economy needs, and what society needs, as well, to recover from the decades of free market based economic policy that has moved Australia in the direction of becoming a market society - where everything is for sale including the politicians, and the people are increasingly left to fend for themselves in a Darwinian free for all."
Does anyone really think Labor and the LNP are the same? The outcomes after the election will be the same whoever wins??
Or, as was also written elsewhere,
"Maybe it seems "it's time" again here...time to vote in the LNP across the board in both houses. A "steady hand at the tiller" in these "uncertain seas" buffeted by "global economic headwinds" etc etc etc
Let's really release the LNP Kraken in times of global economic meltdown, or at the very least a more localised recession.
Let's see what they're really made of. More importantly, let's see what we're really made of.
Let's see what the "lucky country" is really like when the luck runs bad...and the LNP is in charge."
Well may you live in interesting and exciting times, Australia...
Shatner writes "Sheepster, back to the comedic drawing-board. That doesn't make any sense at all."
FFS........ You obviously don't remember Captain Goodvibes and his "life is like a shit sandwich" quote.... And you obviously haven't heard the one where a guy looks down and see's a dog crap, says "hmmm looks like crap", he bends down and touches it - "feels like crap".... He sniffs his fingers - "smells like crap"...... He licks them - "tastes like crap"......... Then says" geez, lucky I didn't step in it, these shoes are brand new......"
If you still can't figure it out, shertnerd, what I am saying is both sides are fucked..... It's like choosing between shit..... and shit....
Ya get it man?.....
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure. Its the same old story.
Vote Liberal if you think the rich aren't rich enough and the poor need to be punished.
Vote Labor if you want to bankrupt the country and like tossing off into a strong wind.
Vote Green if you want Aust. to become a Muslim country in ten years instead of fifty. (sorry sheepdogs.)
My tip is to write suck me off on the ballot paper then lob a juicy cockle on it before folding it up.
Being a working class salt of the earth type bloke I could never bring myself to vote for the coalition twits
but Shorten is a pathetic dweeb with no passion or drive to run the country. Fuck the lot of them I say.
I normally put both major parties last and any crazy independent parties first, as for me there all as bad as each other and anything they say they will rarely do.
But this time, im voting labour for Kevin, i was happy to see karma come around and bite Julia and of all the people in politics since good old Bob Hawk, i like Kevin the best.
He's proven him self to be a fighter hes come back from what seem like the dead, to me i think he has what it takes to be a leader a leader needs to be a bit arrogant and do what they believe, I also like that he understands the importance of Australia's relationship with SE asia, obviously like any politician and political party, he's far from perfect and any government is going to waste money, the way i look at it at least with things like NBN we will all be of benefit, and i want damn fast internet through my smart TV.
On the other hand i cant stand Tony, he just seems so negative plus i know its silly but i just cant trust people who wear budgie smugglers, i really have no idea why the Liberals stick with him, plus Liberals seem good at managing money but they only seem to look after the people who have heaps of money.
So who ya, going to vote for?
PS. lets keep it civil yeah :)