Today is Australia Day, the 224th anniversary of when we started as a nation. It has been a proud history of nation building, achievement and wealth. An empty continent with nothing going for it has been transformed into the envy of the world.
You would think that such a day would bring out the best in people, that we would all celebrate and be happy. For the most part, that is what happens. But there is a very small minority of moronic leftists and politically correct stooges - aided and abetted by a compliant media - who try and gatecrash the party with stupid, moronic nonsense and idiotic, pea-brained static. Almost every year we have to put up with this crap and the public are increasingly getting fed up with it.
This year the leftist, PC brigade wrung their hands over "racism" (inverted commas intentional). An academic in Perth went to a fireworks display, did a survey and concluded that people who fly the Australian National Flag from their cars are "racist". Many agreed with the statements that people should fit in or go back to where they came from. Also the statement that people not born here are not as Australian as native born Aussies, as well as other quite reasonable propositions.
Pardon me, but I also agree with all those sentiments. What's wrong with it? Nothing.
Academics have always hated Australia Day. They look down their noses at displays of Aussie pride and think there is something wrong with it.
The media lapped all this up as usual, as well as the silly speech by Dr Charlie Teo claiming that Australia is a "racist" country. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.
The other thing that seems to happen either on or around Australia Day is that one of the left wing broadsheets like The Canberra Times prints a letter or article calling the day Invasion Day and propagating now discredited garbage about what supposedly happened to Aborigines after the arrival of Europeans. I can still remember on Bicentennial Day in 1988, whilst other newspapers had green and gold on the front page and headlines like "Aussies Join the Fun" and "Our Big Day", The Canberra Times had a stark black and white front page with the large banner headline "Aborigines All Set to Protest". It was a disgrace.
Today is not a day for the Left. They have dealt their way out of consideration and are now irrelevant. The public have abandoned their stupid, nonsensical nonsense and they are now a redundant political rump whose time has come and gone. Unfortunately they have the upper hand in Canberra at the moment and are still extremely powerful.
This will be the second last Australia Day under a Labor government, and the shame of the past four years is slowly drawing to a close. We can celebrate our national day today in the knowledge that normalcy and decency is only around 18 months away when Labor/The Greens will be consigned to opposition for a very long time. Then we really would have come of age as a sophisticated, first world democracy.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
New year brings more of the same agony
The year 2011 will not go down in history as one of the better years politically. The Brown/Gillard government limped along aimlessly bringing in Greens legislation like the carbon tax which was violently opposed by the vast majority of the population. Stupid nonsense like poker machine reform was floated and still threatens to become law, Craig Thomson was mired in scandal and was protected by the Labor party which would have been bounced onto the opposition benches if a by-election was held. By years' end the party of corruption and shonky dealings had solved that problem by seducing Liberal turncoat Peter Slipper into becoming speaker, thus giving Labor a two seat buffer. Like it or not, we are stuck with the Gillard government for at least the next 18 months.
The opinion polls were diabolical for Labor during 2011, at one stage giving the Liberals a 62-38 two party preferred lead. Gillard and Labor managed to claw back support somewhat during the latter part of the year with her cosying up to foreign leaders, but all those gains were wiped out dramatically in December following the corrosive gay marriage debate and the hijacking of the Labor conference by the issue along with uranium mining at a time when the rest of the world was dealing with a new Global Financial Crisis. The large photographs on the front pages of newspapers of Finance Minister Penny Wong and her lesbian lover along with their newly born illegitimate IVF baby were also extremely damaging for Labor. Indeed, the only thing remarkable about the backlash over these events is that Labor's ratings didn't drop a whole heap more.
We can't really make spot-on predictions about politics, but the professional clairvoyants have again predicted that Tony Abbott will be rolled as Liberal leader and be replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, undoubtedly the worst opposition leader in history when he last held the position during a period where Kevin Rudd was allowed to become the most popular prime minister since Federation, even overtaking Bob Hawke. Labor experienced a honeymoon period of over two years as the Libs experimented with warm and fuzzy left wing leaders Turnbull and Brendan Nelson before they realised that aping Labor was not the way to go, and that the public wanted a centre right leader who would again connect with traditional, mainstream conservative Aussie values. Tony Abbott was able to turn things around and put the Liberals in front within weeks of becoming Liberal leader, and going back to a failed experiment would be handing the Gillard government reelection next year on a silver platter.
2012 is the year the hated carbon tax comes into effect and the real test will be whether the Liberals are able to keep the public anger over Greens-led massive cost of living rises alive until polling day or whether the public will be beaten into submission with a weary sense of resignation North Korea style.
It is to be hoped that an election will be held during 2012 to bring the agony of the Brown/Gillard government to an end. Unfortunately that looks unlikely. There will be a few political highlights, however. Labor will be swept from office in Queensland and with the renewed swing to the Right, the likelihood of anymore misguided Greens-led "reforms" might be minimised. We live in hope. The only regret about the present situation is that we can't just skip this whole year and much of the next and fast forward to election day 2013. Then it really would be a Happy New Year.
The opinion polls were diabolical for Labor during 2011, at one stage giving the Liberals a 62-38 two party preferred lead. Gillard and Labor managed to claw back support somewhat during the latter part of the year with her cosying up to foreign leaders, but all those gains were wiped out dramatically in December following the corrosive gay marriage debate and the hijacking of the Labor conference by the issue along with uranium mining at a time when the rest of the world was dealing with a new Global Financial Crisis. The large photographs on the front pages of newspapers of Finance Minister Penny Wong and her lesbian lover along with their newly born illegitimate IVF baby were also extremely damaging for Labor. Indeed, the only thing remarkable about the backlash over these events is that Labor's ratings didn't drop a whole heap more.
We can't really make spot-on predictions about politics, but the professional clairvoyants have again predicted that Tony Abbott will be rolled as Liberal leader and be replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, undoubtedly the worst opposition leader in history when he last held the position during a period where Kevin Rudd was allowed to become the most popular prime minister since Federation, even overtaking Bob Hawke. Labor experienced a honeymoon period of over two years as the Libs experimented with warm and fuzzy left wing leaders Turnbull and Brendan Nelson before they realised that aping Labor was not the way to go, and that the public wanted a centre right leader who would again connect with traditional, mainstream conservative Aussie values. Tony Abbott was able to turn things around and put the Liberals in front within weeks of becoming Liberal leader, and going back to a failed experiment would be handing the Gillard government reelection next year on a silver platter.
2012 is the year the hated carbon tax comes into effect and the real test will be whether the Liberals are able to keep the public anger over Greens-led massive cost of living rises alive until polling day or whether the public will be beaten into submission with a weary sense of resignation North Korea style.
It is to be hoped that an election will be held during 2012 to bring the agony of the Brown/Gillard government to an end. Unfortunately that looks unlikely. There will be a few political highlights, however. Labor will be swept from office in Queensland and with the renewed swing to the Right, the likelihood of anymore misguided Greens-led "reforms" might be minimised. We live in hope. The only regret about the present situation is that we can't just skip this whole year and much of the next and fast forward to election day 2013. Then it really would be a Happy New Year.
Monday, 19 December 2011
Boat tragedy a case of Green murder
Over the weekend we saw yet another awful consequence of the implimentation of The Greens' policy on asylum seekers. A refugee boat sank off the coast of Indonesia en route to Australia with the drowning of over 200 people.
The broadsheet press are trying to pin the blame onto a certain people smuggler who is being described as "a snakehead". But aren't they missing the point? The whole people smuggling industry had been closed down by the Howard government in the early 2000s with the Nauru solution and offshore processing. When Labor came to power in 2007 there was one asylum seeker in detention. Only 43% of refugees processed under the Nauru solution came to Australia, the rest were either sent back home or resettled in other countries. All that changed under Labor which dismantled the Nauru solution in 2008 and brought in what they touted as "a more compassionate approach to asylum seekers". Australia was open for business again, a new generation of people smugglers came onto the scene and Australia was swamped.
Under Labor and The Greens over 500 people have drowned trying to come to Australia. My my, what a compassionate approach to asylum seekers!
During the year we saw several silly thought bubbles by Gillard regarding possible "solutions" blurted out before anybody was ever consulted. First she said a detention centre would be built in Timor-Leste. Oh no, said the Timorese, we're not going to wear that. Then she said the Manus Island detention centre would be reopened. The Papua New Guineans quickly put the kybosh on that. Then she came up with the so-called Malaysian solution. The Greens stomped on that by deserting their coalition partners and refusing to vote for it in parliament. In a breathtaking display of failing to see the wood for the trees, she and others in the Labor party tried to blame Tony Abbott. As a consequence we now have The Greens' open door asylum seeker policy in place. Come one, come all. Disappear into the general community, live off Centrelink benefits and bring your relatives in a few months. Is it any wonder the people smugglers are now doing a roaring trade with thousands rushing to get onto the boats?
The awful immaturity and naivety of The Greens and their moronic far-left policies has been exposed by the screams of the latest asylum seekers as they disappeared under the water and their dead bodies floated away from their sunken boat. The Greens are as guilty of mass murder as if they boarded the boat themselves with semi-automatic weapons and opened fire.
The Greens are now the Martin Bryants of politics. How anybody can consider still voting for them after this outrage is totally beyond comprehension.
The broadsheet press are trying to pin the blame onto a certain people smuggler who is being described as "a snakehead". But aren't they missing the point? The whole people smuggling industry had been closed down by the Howard government in the early 2000s with the Nauru solution and offshore processing. When Labor came to power in 2007 there was one asylum seeker in detention. Only 43% of refugees processed under the Nauru solution came to Australia, the rest were either sent back home or resettled in other countries. All that changed under Labor which dismantled the Nauru solution in 2008 and brought in what they touted as "a more compassionate approach to asylum seekers". Australia was open for business again, a new generation of people smugglers came onto the scene and Australia was swamped.
Under Labor and The Greens over 500 people have drowned trying to come to Australia. My my, what a compassionate approach to asylum seekers!
During the year we saw several silly thought bubbles by Gillard regarding possible "solutions" blurted out before anybody was ever consulted. First she said a detention centre would be built in Timor-Leste. Oh no, said the Timorese, we're not going to wear that. Then she said the Manus Island detention centre would be reopened. The Papua New Guineans quickly put the kybosh on that. Then she came up with the so-called Malaysian solution. The Greens stomped on that by deserting their coalition partners and refusing to vote for it in parliament. In a breathtaking display of failing to see the wood for the trees, she and others in the Labor party tried to blame Tony Abbott. As a consequence we now have The Greens' open door asylum seeker policy in place. Come one, come all. Disappear into the general community, live off Centrelink benefits and bring your relatives in a few months. Is it any wonder the people smugglers are now doing a roaring trade with thousands rushing to get onto the boats?
The awful immaturity and naivety of The Greens and their moronic far-left policies has been exposed by the screams of the latest asylum seekers as they disappeared under the water and their dead bodies floated away from their sunken boat. The Greens are as guilty of mass murder as if they boarded the boat themselves with semi-automatic weapons and opened fire.
The Greens are now the Martin Bryants of politics. How anybody can consider still voting for them after this outrage is totally beyond comprehension.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Climate change lobby has really flipped this time
It has been a bit quiet on the climate change front in recent weeks. The hard left and their buddies in GetUp! - the Hitler Youth wing of the Australian green movement - got what they wanted, a savage new tax and a massive bureaucracy to indulge their fantasies. They've been content to sit back smugly and let Gillard divert the public's attention with her sashaying up to foreign dignitaries. All of that was shattered by the release of a new report from the Climate Commission which is nothing short of bizarre.
The report claims that climate change will cause untold medical problems - gastroenteritis, dengue fever, increased suicide rates and even post traumatic stress syndrome. When I heard all this guff I really did believe that the climate change brigade had finally flipped. More and more people are waking up to the climate change hoax so it was necessary to pump up the volume and resort to over the top scare tactics. Nobody is buying it.
The disturbing thing about this report is the reverential way it was treated by the print and television media. The newspapers carried the story and the alarmist findings in the report without critical analysis, but the treatment by the TV stations was staggering. Channel Nine pulled out all the stock footage of smoke stacks, air pollution, signs showing temperatures of 45 degrees, mosquitoes on peoples' arms and any other scary stuff they had in the vaults. Channel Seven had an interview with the government's climate change guru Tim Flannery. Yes, *that* Tim Flannery who has the beach house on the banks of the Hawkesbury River and runs off to ratbag leftist websites like Crikey! misrepresenting anybody who dares criticise him or his views. A very soft interview which even allowed Flannery to attack so-called "climate sceptics" (I prefer to call us climate realists). The ABC as usual trotted out all their typical hard left cliches and had it as the lead story in their news.
By contrast, radio presenters like Ray Hadley and Alan Jones ridiculed the report and gave it the treatment it so richly deserved. It had me thinking that there is a huge gap on TV for a nightly current affairs program similar to The Bolt Report which takes a similar approach to the so-called "shock jocks". It is disturbing that anybody who didn't listen to radio and only watched television received a totally one-sided, supportive view of the climate report and there was no criticism at all of it.
I've written before about the climate change hoax. This is a multi-million dollar, government funded industry with just one aim - the redistribution of wealth in line with socialist principles. Climate scientists are in the government's pocket, being the recipients of lavish research grants to obligingly bring out reports supporting climate change theory. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. The public servants whose salaries are paid for by the government - including the Climate Commission which brought out the latest report - have as their full-time job the promotion of apocalyptic doom caused by climate change. Whole industries have been set up to promote "the clean energy future" - these companies also receive government grants. Left wing unions and green groups - political and financial supporters of the government - are being showered with money to promote climate change and the carbon tax. This is a massive juggernaut, it isn't just concerts and solar panels anymore.
There are very powerful interests ensuring the climate change bandwagon not only stays on the rails but grows ever bigger. A few days ago we saw a very tough economic statement with massive spending cuts including the cutting of family benefits. Incredibly, "action on climate change" was quarantined from the cuts. A staggering ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS (!!) will be spent on another advertising campaign selling the carbon tax, with grants also being given to green groups to distribute supportivepropaganda. Now this is just disgraceful. A totally warped and cockeyed set of priorities.
We should all brace for more of this garbage. Billions of dollars going down the climate change plughole, and all for nothing. Meanwhile we can all reflect on the epidemic of sickness which will supposedly come our way due to "climate change". Perhaps the government might start up another new bureaucracy to advise public servants of exotic new climate change-related diseases they can put on their leave forms when they take sickies. Nothing would surprise me about this government.
The report claims that climate change will cause untold medical problems - gastroenteritis, dengue fever, increased suicide rates and even post traumatic stress syndrome. When I heard all this guff I really did believe that the climate change brigade had finally flipped. More and more people are waking up to the climate change hoax so it was necessary to pump up the volume and resort to over the top scare tactics. Nobody is buying it.
The disturbing thing about this report is the reverential way it was treated by the print and television media. The newspapers carried the story and the alarmist findings in the report without critical analysis, but the treatment by the TV stations was staggering. Channel Nine pulled out all the stock footage of smoke stacks, air pollution, signs showing temperatures of 45 degrees, mosquitoes on peoples' arms and any other scary stuff they had in the vaults. Channel Seven had an interview with the government's climate change guru Tim Flannery. Yes, *that* Tim Flannery who has the beach house on the banks of the Hawkesbury River and runs off to ratbag leftist websites like Crikey! misrepresenting anybody who dares criticise him or his views. A very soft interview which even allowed Flannery to attack so-called "climate sceptics" (I prefer to call us climate realists). The ABC as usual trotted out all their typical hard left cliches and had it as the lead story in their news.
By contrast, radio presenters like Ray Hadley and Alan Jones ridiculed the report and gave it the treatment it so richly deserved. It had me thinking that there is a huge gap on TV for a nightly current affairs program similar to The Bolt Report which takes a similar approach to the so-called "shock jocks". It is disturbing that anybody who didn't listen to radio and only watched television received a totally one-sided, supportive view of the climate report and there was no criticism at all of it.
I've written before about the climate change hoax. This is a multi-million dollar, government funded industry with just one aim - the redistribution of wealth in line with socialist principles. Climate scientists are in the government's pocket, being the recipients of lavish research grants to obligingly bring out reports supporting climate change theory. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. The public servants whose salaries are paid for by the government - including the Climate Commission which brought out the latest report - have as their full-time job the promotion of apocalyptic doom caused by climate change. Whole industries have been set up to promote "the clean energy future" - these companies also receive government grants. Left wing unions and green groups - political and financial supporters of the government - are being showered with money to promote climate change and the carbon tax. This is a massive juggernaut, it isn't just concerts and solar panels anymore.
There are very powerful interests ensuring the climate change bandwagon not only stays on the rails but grows ever bigger. A few days ago we saw a very tough economic statement with massive spending cuts including the cutting of family benefits. Incredibly, "action on climate change" was quarantined from the cuts. A staggering ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS (!!) will be spent on another advertising campaign selling the carbon tax, with grants also being given to green groups to distribute supportivepropaganda. Now this is just disgraceful. A totally warped and cockeyed set of priorities.
We should all brace for more of this garbage. Billions of dollars going down the climate change plughole, and all for nothing. Meanwhile we can all reflect on the epidemic of sickness which will supposedly come our way due to "climate change". Perhaps the government might start up another new bureaucracy to advise public servants of exotic new climate change-related diseases they can put on their leave forms when they take sickies. Nothing would surprise me about this government.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Slipper's elevation a sign of political decay
The elevation of Peter Slipper to the position of speaker of The House is another sign of moral and political decay under the Gillard government. It is grubby politics at its worst. Here we have a Liberal with an appalling record of dirty, dishonest and shonky dealings, someone who was to have his preselection removed and who will - in all possibility - be facing serious charges in the not too distant future - being elevated to the third highest position in Australia after the Governor-General and the Prime Minister. The government's claim that Harry Jenkins resigned unexpectedly on the morning of the last sitting day of the year is laughable. Factional leader Graham Richardson said on Channel Seven that Labor had been working behind the scenes for months to bring this about. Even Harry Jenkins himself has admitted he was executed by giving a throat-cutting gesture to the cameras as he took his position on the back bench.
We all know why Gillard and Labor lobbied so hard for Slipper to get the job and why the previous Speaker Harry Jenkins was executed so ruthlessly. Gillard and Labor now have an extra vote in the House and the government has been able to step back from the abyss ever so slightly. One heart beat away from losing government is now two. As such the Gillard government will now go its full term until late 2013.
There is one bit of good news to come out of this. Andrew Wilkie and the other independents are now dead. The roosters have become feather dusters. Wilkie's poker machine reforms can now be safely dropped without any threats to the government's survival. Wilkie looked a forlorn and pathetic figure as he sobbed to the media saying the government should not burn the independents "because they might need us". No they don't. The government doesn't need them at all. Nevertheless it was disturbing to hear Gillard say that the government was committed to the poker machine reforms. She should listen to her MPs in marginal seats in NSW and Qld. The pokie reforms are electoral poison in the two biggest states and if they are implimented Labor will be annihilated at the next election in those two states alone.
The elevation of Peter Slipper is the latest in the catalog of shame for the Gillard government. We shouldn't really be surprised that it has come to this. It will be a long and hard road until we finally get our say at the ballot box.
We all know why Gillard and Labor lobbied so hard for Slipper to get the job and why the previous Speaker Harry Jenkins was executed so ruthlessly. Gillard and Labor now have an extra vote in the House and the government has been able to step back from the abyss ever so slightly. One heart beat away from losing government is now two. As such the Gillard government will now go its full term until late 2013.
There is one bit of good news to come out of this. Andrew Wilkie and the other independents are now dead. The roosters have become feather dusters. Wilkie's poker machine reforms can now be safely dropped without any threats to the government's survival. Wilkie looked a forlorn and pathetic figure as he sobbed to the media saying the government should not burn the independents "because they might need us". No they don't. The government doesn't need them at all. Nevertheless it was disturbing to hear Gillard say that the government was committed to the poker machine reforms. She should listen to her MPs in marginal seats in NSW and Qld. The pokie reforms are electoral poison in the two biggest states and if they are implimented Labor will be annihilated at the next election in those two states alone.
The elevation of Peter Slipper is the latest in the catalog of shame for the Gillard government. We shouldn't really be surprised that it has come to this. It will be a long and hard road until we finally get our say at the ballot box.
New Zealand leads the way
The conservative National Party led by John Key has won the New Zealand election with the biggest vote in 60 years. Unfortunately they will not gain an outright majority due to the MMP system of multiple member electorates. Nevertheless it is one in the eye for the Left who thought they had it in the bag due to John Key's pledge to privatise government businesses and assets.
We sometimes like to ridicule out cuzzies across the ditch, but the fact is that policies and political trends across the Tasman are inevitably adopted here in Australia shortly after their implimentation over there. New Zealand introduced the GST in 1986, we brought it in in 2000. NZ introduced an emissions trading scheme last year, we will have it next year. Similarly election victories across the Tasman are usually replicated here shortly after.
If I was Julia Gillard I would be very worried.
The latest Newspoll shows that while Gillard's personal popularity has improved due to the foreign affairs agenda of the past two months, there hasn't been any improvement in Labor's poll ratings. Tony Abbott is still on track to win the next election. There is still a yearning for change in this country as we drift further off the rails and deeper in debt.
In 1985 the Aussie bush band Bullamakanka released a song called New Zealand Leads the Way. The victory by John Key and the conservatives gives hope that Australia's agony will soon be coming to an end.
We sometimes like to ridicule out cuzzies across the ditch, but the fact is that policies and political trends across the Tasman are inevitably adopted here in Australia shortly after their implimentation over there. New Zealand introduced the GST in 1986, we brought it in in 2000. NZ introduced an emissions trading scheme last year, we will have it next year. Similarly election victories across the Tasman are usually replicated here shortly after.
If I was Julia Gillard I would be very worried.
The latest Newspoll shows that while Gillard's personal popularity has improved due to the foreign affairs agenda of the past two months, there hasn't been any improvement in Labor's poll ratings. Tony Abbott is still on track to win the next election. There is still a yearning for change in this country as we drift further off the rails and deeper in debt.
In 1985 the Aussie bush band Bullamakanka released a song called New Zealand Leads the Way. The victory by John Key and the conservatives gives hope that Australia's agony will soon be coming to an end.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Gillard's revival and the lessons of history
The Canberra Press Gallery are rejoicing over what seems to be a turnaround in the fortunes of Julia Gillard and Labor. There have been several complimentary pieces and the consensus is that the next election is not cut and dried and that Gillard and Labor may very well win. Gillard is experiencing her second wind. A week is a long time in politics, and Tony Abbott's absence from Australia has been a major political blunder with the government hitting the ground running with nobody being able to respond. It is a very different political landscape now than earlier this year when Gillard couldn't put a foot right.
Both the major opinion polls have painted a different picture of the extent of Gillard's revival. The Herald Neilsen Poll has the opposition ten points in front on a two party preferred basis, while Newspoll has them much closer. Nevertheless, it appears that the 20 point margin earlier this year has disappeared.
Observers of political history in Australia have seen this trend before. It happened with Fraser in the late 1970s, Hawke in the mid 1980s, as well as Keating and Howard. That trend is a government and prime minister experiencing a first round of unpopularity and poor opinion polls, then recovering and winning an election, sometimes more than one election. During 1979 the Fraser government's polling was diabolical but Fraser went on to win the 1980 election. The Hawke government was politically dead in 1986 but recovered during the first part of 1987 to win two more elections. The Keating government was extremely unpopular in 1992 but recovered to win the 1993 election. Similarly John Howard's government was gone in late 2000 and early 2001 due to the backlash over the introduction of the GST, but they staged a major turnaround to win two more elections. And it wasn't due to the Tampa sailing in and the so-called demonising of asylum seekers as the Left has tried to claim over the years, the shift in opinion began months before that. Now it has happened to Gillard. For some reason the public feels guilty if a government and prime minister experience poor polling the first time around and changes their opinion. It is only when the second wave of unpopularity happens that a government loses an election.
As things have transpired, Gillard has benefitted from two things which have coincided - the foreign affairs agenda currently being played out and the timing - Gillard hosting the Queen and Obama, the APEC meeting in Hawaii, Princess Mary arriving next week and the approaching Christmas/New Year break when Australia goes to the beach and politics takes a break. Gillard has been looking like an international stateswoman with domestic politics (including the carbon tax) being put on the back burner. At the same time the opposition has been left floundering with their leader far from home and receiving almost zero coverage. It is alarming how the opposition has been left virtually mute whilst Abbott has been overseas. Even the coverage of Abbott in Afghanistan hasn't boosted his stocks as he has been seen as simply following in Gillard's footsteps - Gillard visited the troops a week earlier. He needs to come home, get back into the Budgy Smugglers and get back on TV again.
In this environment the opposition should be riding high. The Qantas dispute and the Spanish Inquisition CEO Allan Joyce was subjected to by former union thugs at the Senate hearing should have been devastating for the government. Instead it seems to have had the opposite effect. Similarly the carbon tax seems to have run out of steam, despite the issue still dominating talkback radio.
All of this has been manna from Heaven for Gillard. The challenge to her leadership has been put on hold indefinitely and Labor has been able to regroup and recover. People are now talking about Labor ditching The Greens and being able to go it alone again. The only thing that might harm Labor in the next month or so is the national conference in December, but there are signs that the expected tanties might not happen and secret deals are being done behind the scenes to ensure a smooth event. Gillard will get her way on selling uranium to India, and the gay marriage issue will go nowhere even if the party changes its policy to supporting it. The opposition opposes gay marriage and Labor members will be given a conscience vote with the Catholic Right ensuring the Marriage Act won't be changed when it comes to a vote in the parliament. Like euthanasia, gay marriage will remain illegal in this country despite widespread public support.
All in all it appears that politics has been transformed, and next year will be a whole new ball game. The challenge for the opposition is whether they will be able to get on top again in time for the next election. The Gillard/Brown government isn't a total write-off yet - they still have an outside chance of winning - and whether we have a fresh start or continue the political and economic malaise under Labor is now in the lap of the gods.
Both the major opinion polls have painted a different picture of the extent of Gillard's revival. The Herald Neilsen Poll has the opposition ten points in front on a two party preferred basis, while Newspoll has them much closer. Nevertheless, it appears that the 20 point margin earlier this year has disappeared.
Observers of political history in Australia have seen this trend before. It happened with Fraser in the late 1970s, Hawke in the mid 1980s, as well as Keating and Howard. That trend is a government and prime minister experiencing a first round of unpopularity and poor opinion polls, then recovering and winning an election, sometimes more than one election. During 1979 the Fraser government's polling was diabolical but Fraser went on to win the 1980 election. The Hawke government was politically dead in 1986 but recovered during the first part of 1987 to win two more elections. The Keating government was extremely unpopular in 1992 but recovered to win the 1993 election. Similarly John Howard's government was gone in late 2000 and early 2001 due to the backlash over the introduction of the GST, but they staged a major turnaround to win two more elections. And it wasn't due to the Tampa sailing in and the so-called demonising of asylum seekers as the Left has tried to claim over the years, the shift in opinion began months before that. Now it has happened to Gillard. For some reason the public feels guilty if a government and prime minister experience poor polling the first time around and changes their opinion. It is only when the second wave of unpopularity happens that a government loses an election.
As things have transpired, Gillard has benefitted from two things which have coincided - the foreign affairs agenda currently being played out and the timing - Gillard hosting the Queen and Obama, the APEC meeting in Hawaii, Princess Mary arriving next week and the approaching Christmas/New Year break when Australia goes to the beach and politics takes a break. Gillard has been looking like an international stateswoman with domestic politics (including the carbon tax) being put on the back burner. At the same time the opposition has been left floundering with their leader far from home and receiving almost zero coverage. It is alarming how the opposition has been left virtually mute whilst Abbott has been overseas. Even the coverage of Abbott in Afghanistan hasn't boosted his stocks as he has been seen as simply following in Gillard's footsteps - Gillard visited the troops a week earlier. He needs to come home, get back into the Budgy Smugglers and get back on TV again.
In this environment the opposition should be riding high. The Qantas dispute and the Spanish Inquisition CEO Allan Joyce was subjected to by former union thugs at the Senate hearing should have been devastating for the government. Instead it seems to have had the opposite effect. Similarly the carbon tax seems to have run out of steam, despite the issue still dominating talkback radio.
All of this has been manna from Heaven for Gillard. The challenge to her leadership has been put on hold indefinitely and Labor has been able to regroup and recover. People are now talking about Labor ditching The Greens and being able to go it alone again. The only thing that might harm Labor in the next month or so is the national conference in December, but there are signs that the expected tanties might not happen and secret deals are being done behind the scenes to ensure a smooth event. Gillard will get her way on selling uranium to India, and the gay marriage issue will go nowhere even if the party changes its policy to supporting it. The opposition opposes gay marriage and Labor members will be given a conscience vote with the Catholic Right ensuring the Marriage Act won't be changed when it comes to a vote in the parliament. Like euthanasia, gay marriage will remain illegal in this country despite widespread public support.
All in all it appears that politics has been transformed, and next year will be a whole new ball game. The challenge for the opposition is whether they will be able to get on top again in time for the next election. The Gillard/Brown government isn't a total write-off yet - they still have an outside chance of winning - and whether we have a fresh start or continue the political and economic malaise under Labor is now in the lap of the gods.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Carbon tax will destroy this country
Just about everything has already been said about the Brown/Gillard government's carbon tax. We all know it is the brainchild of The Greens, and Gillard has been shanghaied into bringing it in by Bobby Brown and co, but it is instructive and disillusional to see the air of defeatism surrounding the tax and how most people are already planning how they'll just have to suffer it and cut back on the necessities of life once it comes in and the bills start escalating.
The whole basis of the carbon tax is a myth, and it is a credit to the climate change brigade how they've been able to sell the idea that imposing a new tax will somehow lower the temperature and be the new panacea in the fight against climate change. It isn't of course, but the voices of rationality and cool-headed realism are being drowned out by the shrillness of The Greens and their fellow travellers on the Left who have been able to scream the loudest and ultimately set the agenda on this issue.
Already jobs are being lost as a result of the Carbon Tax. Coogee Chemicals have abandoned plans for expansion and creating new jobs (many of them in Gillard's own electorate) because of the uncertainty and increased costs of doing business in this country due to the tax. Like many other businesses they are seriously contemplating relocating lock, stock and barrel to China or other countries which have ruled out introducing a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
The smiles on the faces of The Greens after the Senate vote said it all. A party with just one member in the Lower House has managed to cause the biggest economic unheaval in this country's history. Labor has been delusional and whistling in the dark in the face of having their platform and policies hijacked by a dangerous minority outside the party. Penny Wong actually said during the Senate debate that "this is Labor legislation". If you believe that, I have a Harbour Bridge to sell you.
Is the carbon tax hurting the Gillard government? Well, it appears not. The latest Newspoll confirms the swing back to Labor/The Greens which began earlier this year. It states that if an election were held today, Tony Abbott and the Libs/Nats would just scrape in. If the trend continues, Gillard will be in front in just two months time. Now this is just extraordinary. Not content with wasting taxpayers' money a few months back with a propaganda campaign selling the carbon tax, more propaganda is on the way, meaning hopes of ditching Gillard and Labor are fading.
Tony Abbott disappointed many and gave ammunition to Labor by flying to London on the eve of the Senate vote for a Conservative conference. The task of responding to the passage of the tax was largely left to Barnaby Joyce. Nevertheless the message was loud and clear. Every powerpoint in Australia has become a branch of the Tax Office. We are facing a cost of living holocaust. And all for nothing.
The fight against the carbon tax isn't over. The bills haven't started coming in yet, and when they do the impact will be horrendous. We will all suffer in order to pander to Green fantasies and perpetuate a philosophy which is now being rejected all over the world. Hopefully Australians will come to their senses by the time of the next election and we can set about wiping out all trace of this temporary aberration in our country's history.
The whole basis of the carbon tax is a myth, and it is a credit to the climate change brigade how they've been able to sell the idea that imposing a new tax will somehow lower the temperature and be the new panacea in the fight against climate change. It isn't of course, but the voices of rationality and cool-headed realism are being drowned out by the shrillness of The Greens and their fellow travellers on the Left who have been able to scream the loudest and ultimately set the agenda on this issue.
Already jobs are being lost as a result of the Carbon Tax. Coogee Chemicals have abandoned plans for expansion and creating new jobs (many of them in Gillard's own electorate) because of the uncertainty and increased costs of doing business in this country due to the tax. Like many other businesses they are seriously contemplating relocating lock, stock and barrel to China or other countries which have ruled out introducing a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme.
The smiles on the faces of The Greens after the Senate vote said it all. A party with just one member in the Lower House has managed to cause the biggest economic unheaval in this country's history. Labor has been delusional and whistling in the dark in the face of having their platform and policies hijacked by a dangerous minority outside the party. Penny Wong actually said during the Senate debate that "this is Labor legislation". If you believe that, I have a Harbour Bridge to sell you.
Is the carbon tax hurting the Gillard government? Well, it appears not. The latest Newspoll confirms the swing back to Labor/The Greens which began earlier this year. It states that if an election were held today, Tony Abbott and the Libs/Nats would just scrape in. If the trend continues, Gillard will be in front in just two months time. Now this is just extraordinary. Not content with wasting taxpayers' money a few months back with a propaganda campaign selling the carbon tax, more propaganda is on the way, meaning hopes of ditching Gillard and Labor are fading.
Tony Abbott disappointed many and gave ammunition to Labor by flying to London on the eve of the Senate vote for a Conservative conference. The task of responding to the passage of the tax was largely left to Barnaby Joyce. Nevertheless the message was loud and clear. Every powerpoint in Australia has become a branch of the Tax Office. We are facing a cost of living holocaust. And all for nothing.
The fight against the carbon tax isn't over. The bills haven't started coming in yet, and when they do the impact will be horrendous. We will all suffer in order to pander to Green fantasies and perpetuate a philosophy which is now being rejected all over the world. Hopefully Australians will come to their senses by the time of the next election and we can set about wiping out all trace of this temporary aberration in our country's history.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Can't take criticism? Shoot the messenger!
The Daily Telegraph this morning reports the latest moves in dumping Gillard as prime minister and reinstalling Kevin Rudd as Labor leader. It's on, and Gillard is not expected to see the month out.
Oh, it's been delicious watching various Labor luminaries squirming today, lashing out and confirming all our worst impressions of the party. They've been manufacturing excuses, denying everything and throwing up smokescreens. The only thing they haven't done is fall back to their default position of trying to blame Tony Abbott.
It's been great theatre, but of main concern are the attempts to blame the News Ltd papers for daring to report the truth. "Da Mair-doch Prairse as er disgrairse!" moaned glorified pommy shop steward Senator Doug Cameron in that tortured, grating, whining accent of his. Well, the only one who is a "disgrairse" is Cameron himself, coming from a militant union, crawling up to Labor faction leaders, getting the numbers and being given a lifetime sinecure in the Senate where he can just sit on his arse doing nothing and pocketing millions in salary and superannuation.
The Murdoch newspapers are the great satan according to the Labor party because they have dared to scrutinise the Labor government, unlike the unquestioning cheer squad in the Fairfax broadsheets which are undoubtedly the worst newspapers in the western world. Labor ministers and The Greens pounced with glee on the News of the World phone hacking scandal, trying to link News Ltd papers here with the problems in the UK despite the fact that News Australia is virtually autonomous with its own directors and senior management.
The hypocrisy of the Labor party concerning News is breathtaking. They conveniently forget that the reason why News controls 70% of newspapers in this country is because of the Labor party itself. Paul Keating in 1986 changed the media ownership laws to enable News to take over the Herald and Weekly Times because HWT's papers had always been arch conservative. "At least Rupert's flexible. His papers have occasionally supported us" said one Labor member at the time. Similarly, Bob Brown from The Greens was happy when The Australian opposed the Franklin River dam project in 1982/83, but as soon as they put The Greens under scrutiny they are "the hate media" and Brown forces the government to set up a media enquiry with the ultimate aim of breaking up News Ltd and forcing them to sell their newspapers.
Meanwhile we can all ponder just how low the Labor party has sunk. A disunited rabble unfit for government at any level, rancid and rotting in the midday sun. Putting Kevin Rudd in charge again will be an act of desperation. The only good thing to come from it will be the smashing of the alliance with The Greens and the hope that at the next election Labor will join the Libs and Nats in refusing to give their preferences to The Greens.
Gillard is now dead meat and Rudd will be an interim leader handling the transition to the opposition benches. Hopefully the voters will have finally learned their lesson and will keep Labor out of government for at least a generation.
Oh, it's been delicious watching various Labor luminaries squirming today, lashing out and confirming all our worst impressions of the party. They've been manufacturing excuses, denying everything and throwing up smokescreens. The only thing they haven't done is fall back to their default position of trying to blame Tony Abbott.
It's been great theatre, but of main concern are the attempts to blame the News Ltd papers for daring to report the truth. "Da Mair-doch Prairse as er disgrairse!" moaned glorified pommy shop steward Senator Doug Cameron in that tortured, grating, whining accent of his. Well, the only one who is a "disgrairse" is Cameron himself, coming from a militant union, crawling up to Labor faction leaders, getting the numbers and being given a lifetime sinecure in the Senate where he can just sit on his arse doing nothing and pocketing millions in salary and superannuation.
The Murdoch newspapers are the great satan according to the Labor party because they have dared to scrutinise the Labor government, unlike the unquestioning cheer squad in the Fairfax broadsheets which are undoubtedly the worst newspapers in the western world. Labor ministers and The Greens pounced with glee on the News of the World phone hacking scandal, trying to link News Ltd papers here with the problems in the UK despite the fact that News Australia is virtually autonomous with its own directors and senior management.
The hypocrisy of the Labor party concerning News is breathtaking. They conveniently forget that the reason why News controls 70% of newspapers in this country is because of the Labor party itself. Paul Keating in 1986 changed the media ownership laws to enable News to take over the Herald and Weekly Times because HWT's papers had always been arch conservative. "At least Rupert's flexible. His papers have occasionally supported us" said one Labor member at the time. Similarly, Bob Brown from The Greens was happy when The Australian opposed the Franklin River dam project in 1982/83, but as soon as they put The Greens under scrutiny they are "the hate media" and Brown forces the government to set up a media enquiry with the ultimate aim of breaking up News Ltd and forcing them to sell their newspapers.
Meanwhile we can all ponder just how low the Labor party has sunk. A disunited rabble unfit for government at any level, rancid and rotting in the midday sun. Putting Kevin Rudd in charge again will be an act of desperation. The only good thing to come from it will be the smashing of the alliance with The Greens and the hope that at the next election Labor will join the Libs and Nats in refusing to give their preferences to The Greens.
Gillard is now dead meat and Rudd will be an interim leader handling the transition to the opposition benches. Hopefully the voters will have finally learned their lesson and will keep Labor out of government for at least a generation.
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Gillard's foreign foray falls in a heap
Julia Gillard is licking her wounds after a disastrous few days where she was brought back to earth with a thud following her disastrous handling of the Qantas dispute. She swanned around at the CHOGM meeting in Perth trying to reinvent herself as an international statesman, wagging her finger at Europe and having her ego massaged by foreign leaders. It was all going well, the puppy dog reporters were all going along with it heaping praise on her, filing acres of coverage about nothing in particular, then reality intervened. You can't keep up a facade forever.
Biased Labor supporter Laurie Oakes writes a column in the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph which really should be headlined "Labor Party advertisement". In this column, the head of the Canberra cheer squad for Gillard usually puts forward the current strategy the Press Gallery will be using to boost Gillard and Labor/The Greens. On Saturday he said that CHOGM would be a circuit breaker and revive Gillard's fortunes. The vuvuzela had sounded, the call went out.
The reporters were dutifully following the directive from His Master's Voice, heaping praise on Gillard, saying nice things about her and CHOGM, pushing the new foreign Julia and going along with her desire to divert attention away from her domestic political failings by swanning around with foreign dignitaries. Everything else was put on hold, Canberra and the rest of the country was a world away. Then Alan Joyce grounded the Qantas fleet.
The Gillard government had stuck its head in the sand over the Qantas dispute. Too gutless to intervene, scared stiff of their union mates, letting it just roll on and do untold damage to Qantas and the reputation of Australia, it dragged on for months. All along the government had the power under the Fair Work Act to intervene and bring it to an end, but they refused. Tony Sheldon from the Transport Workers Union is in line to be the next ALP president, and Gillard and the rest didn't want to do anything that might offend the new boss. While Gillard was in CHOGM fantasy land over the weekend - supping champagne, eating lobster, dressing up in silly clothes and watching Foxtel in luxury hotel rooms - Alan Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet. He had no choice. It was the only way he could get action from the federal government, and he forced their hand to send the dispute to Fair Work Australia. Despite being top-heavy with union officials, Fair Work Australia brought the strike action to an end and gave the parties 21 days to come to a resolution. Something that should have been done right from the start.
Watching the scenes in parliament, and listening to the pathetic performances from Gillard, Combet and the other Labor/union stooges, you cannot help but shake your head in bewilderment. Despite this being a political disaster and an embarrassment of unprecedented proportions, Gillard and the rest actually tried to blame Tony Abbott - yet again. Gillard put on her typical mad harridan, shrew-like performance in parliament screaming that Abbott was "Mr WorkChoices". It was comical, a stunning exposition of a leader woefully out of touch with reality and flailing about like a beached whale. Further embarrassment was caused by Gillard's revelation on TV that she refused to impliment section 371 of the Fair Work Act to bring the dispute to an end because "it had never been used before and might create legal problems". So there you have it. Gillard refused to bring in a law she helped draft - the replacement for WorkChoices - because she was too scared it might not stand up if challenged in the courts. So why did she bring it in in the first place? This is absolutely comical, but oh so typical of Labor and their amateurism and incompetence.
This whole disaster should be a salutory lesson to Gillard and the Press Gallery about the futility of trying to create silly diversions to try and cover up Gillard and the government's failings. You can't get away with it forever, over the barbecues in the western suburbs the punters don't give a fig about African dictators or any other nonsense. They just want an end of it. Gillard is now on borrowed time, and the sooner this failed farce of a government is swept from office the better off we will all be.
Biased Labor supporter Laurie Oakes writes a column in the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph which really should be headlined "Labor Party advertisement". In this column, the head of the Canberra cheer squad for Gillard usually puts forward the current strategy the Press Gallery will be using to boost Gillard and Labor/The Greens. On Saturday he said that CHOGM would be a circuit breaker and revive Gillard's fortunes. The vuvuzela had sounded, the call went out.
The reporters were dutifully following the directive from His Master's Voice, heaping praise on Gillard, saying nice things about her and CHOGM, pushing the new foreign Julia and going along with her desire to divert attention away from her domestic political failings by swanning around with foreign dignitaries. Everything else was put on hold, Canberra and the rest of the country was a world away. Then Alan Joyce grounded the Qantas fleet.
The Gillard government had stuck its head in the sand over the Qantas dispute. Too gutless to intervene, scared stiff of their union mates, letting it just roll on and do untold damage to Qantas and the reputation of Australia, it dragged on for months. All along the government had the power under the Fair Work Act to intervene and bring it to an end, but they refused. Tony Sheldon from the Transport Workers Union is in line to be the next ALP president, and Gillard and the rest didn't want to do anything that might offend the new boss. While Gillard was in CHOGM fantasy land over the weekend - supping champagne, eating lobster, dressing up in silly clothes and watching Foxtel in luxury hotel rooms - Alan Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet. He had no choice. It was the only way he could get action from the federal government, and he forced their hand to send the dispute to Fair Work Australia. Despite being top-heavy with union officials, Fair Work Australia brought the strike action to an end and gave the parties 21 days to come to a resolution. Something that should have been done right from the start.
Watching the scenes in parliament, and listening to the pathetic performances from Gillard, Combet and the other Labor/union stooges, you cannot help but shake your head in bewilderment. Despite this being a political disaster and an embarrassment of unprecedented proportions, Gillard and the rest actually tried to blame Tony Abbott - yet again. Gillard put on her typical mad harridan, shrew-like performance in parliament screaming that Abbott was "Mr WorkChoices". It was comical, a stunning exposition of a leader woefully out of touch with reality and flailing about like a beached whale. Further embarrassment was caused by Gillard's revelation on TV that she refused to impliment section 371 of the Fair Work Act to bring the dispute to an end because "it had never been used before and might create legal problems". So there you have it. Gillard refused to bring in a law she helped draft - the replacement for WorkChoices - because she was too scared it might not stand up if challenged in the courts. So why did she bring it in in the first place? This is absolutely comical, but oh so typical of Labor and their amateurism and incompetence.
This whole disaster should be a salutory lesson to Gillard and the Press Gallery about the futility of trying to create silly diversions to try and cover up Gillard and the government's failings. You can't get away with it forever, over the barbecues in the western suburbs the punters don't give a fig about African dictators or any other nonsense. They just want an end of it. Gillard is now on borrowed time, and the sooner this failed farce of a government is swept from office the better off we will all be.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Wilkie left stranded like a shag on a rock
Sometimes you have to feel sorry for do-gooders like Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie. Thrust into a key position of power despite gaining one of the lowest votes in history, blackmailing Julia Gillard by threatening to bring down the government unless his mandatory pre-commitment poker machine reforms are implimented, huffing and puffing, preening his pneumatic ego and being egged on by extreme leftist activists in GetUp!, now it's all fallen down in a heap. Tony Abbott has pledged to rescind any "reform" if it is brought in, Jamie Packer - one of the richest men in Australia - has slammed the idea, and the voters in NSW and Qld are up in arms and on their porches swinging the baseball bats.
At first Wilkie looked all-powerful. Gillard agreed to his demands in order to achieve and cling to the prime ministership, Tony Abbott was reluctant to criticise pre-commitment because he thought he might need Wilkie's support to become PM and call an election, Packer and the other casino operators remained mute and the heavy lifting opposing the reforms was left to Clubs Australia. Extreme left lobby group GetUp! wheeled out gambling addicts supporting the reforms and it looked like a fait accompli. They even had an opinion poll saying that over 70% of the public supported the reforms. But it all came crashing down once it was realised that the reforms were pie-in-the-sky nonsense and would cause untold damage to the social fabric and lifestyles of communities up and down the east coast of Australia and in country towns in NSW and Qld.
Let's look at that opinion poll. Taken when Gillard first became PM, the 70% figure is largely an illusion. A new opinion poll taken last week shows that support for the reforms has now fallen to 53%. Voters in NSW and Qld are dead against pre-commitment and support is confined to the smaller states where poker machines are either banned, relatively new or confined to casinos. In NSW and Qld, clubs are an essential part of the lives of almost everybody. Many are employed by clubs, they have huge memberships, pensioners get cheap meals from clubs, they run well-equipped gyms with subsidised fees, they are a social hub for pensioners, kids and families participate in junior sport financed by clubs, charities get grants from poker machine revenue, clubs hold Christmas lunches and functions, it just goes on. To have all this put at risk just because of some do-gooder crank from the backwaters of Tasmania is outrageous.
The opposition from James Packer is significant. According to Press reports, Gillard met with James Packer because she hoped he would come out and support pre-commitment. Instead Packer realised he was being played for a mug and has broken his long-standing policy of not commenting on political matters by slamming the reforms. Gillard has had her fingers severely singed. Tony Abbott has pledged to rescind any reform that might be implimented so Wilkie now has nowhere to turn. Gillard can now safely drop the reforms, Wilkie is now isolated and has been neutered.
Mandatory pre-commitment has been a lemon because it is a classic left wing example of social engineering. An attempt by government to regulate the behaviour of the public. Very similar to anti discrimination laws, it presupposes that there is a problem with individual behaviour so the government has to step in to whip people into line. But sooner or later we have to take responsibility for our actions. We have a free will and self control, we are big enough and ugly enough to make our own decisions. That is why these reforms have been resisted so heavily, and why they now lie in ruins. It wasn't a good idea to start with, it was just an attempt to meddle in the free market and regulate private behaviour purely for political expediency and survival.
Gillard should formally announce that mandatory pre-commitment will not be going ahead and that Andrew Wilkie can go to buggery.
At first Wilkie looked all-powerful. Gillard agreed to his demands in order to achieve and cling to the prime ministership, Tony Abbott was reluctant to criticise pre-commitment because he thought he might need Wilkie's support to become PM and call an election, Packer and the other casino operators remained mute and the heavy lifting opposing the reforms was left to Clubs Australia. Extreme left lobby group GetUp! wheeled out gambling addicts supporting the reforms and it looked like a fait accompli. They even had an opinion poll saying that over 70% of the public supported the reforms. But it all came crashing down once it was realised that the reforms were pie-in-the-sky nonsense and would cause untold damage to the social fabric and lifestyles of communities up and down the east coast of Australia and in country towns in NSW and Qld.
Let's look at that opinion poll. Taken when Gillard first became PM, the 70% figure is largely an illusion. A new opinion poll taken last week shows that support for the reforms has now fallen to 53%. Voters in NSW and Qld are dead against pre-commitment and support is confined to the smaller states where poker machines are either banned, relatively new or confined to casinos. In NSW and Qld, clubs are an essential part of the lives of almost everybody. Many are employed by clubs, they have huge memberships, pensioners get cheap meals from clubs, they run well-equipped gyms with subsidised fees, they are a social hub for pensioners, kids and families participate in junior sport financed by clubs, charities get grants from poker machine revenue, clubs hold Christmas lunches and functions, it just goes on. To have all this put at risk just because of some do-gooder crank from the backwaters of Tasmania is outrageous.
The opposition from James Packer is significant. According to Press reports, Gillard met with James Packer because she hoped he would come out and support pre-commitment. Instead Packer realised he was being played for a mug and has broken his long-standing policy of not commenting on political matters by slamming the reforms. Gillard has had her fingers severely singed. Tony Abbott has pledged to rescind any reform that might be implimented so Wilkie now has nowhere to turn. Gillard can now safely drop the reforms, Wilkie is now isolated and has been neutered.
Mandatory pre-commitment has been a lemon because it is a classic left wing example of social engineering. An attempt by government to regulate the behaviour of the public. Very similar to anti discrimination laws, it presupposes that there is a problem with individual behaviour so the government has to step in to whip people into line. But sooner or later we have to take responsibility for our actions. We have a free will and self control, we are big enough and ugly enough to make our own decisions. That is why these reforms have been resisted so heavily, and why they now lie in ruins. It wasn't a good idea to start with, it was just an attempt to meddle in the free market and regulate private behaviour purely for political expediency and survival.
Gillard should formally announce that mandatory pre-commitment will not be going ahead and that Andrew Wilkie can go to buggery.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Spare us the Cup cliches
The Melbourne Cup is coming up, and this is a plea to the media to try and avoid all those cheesy cliches they usually roll out when the big event is held each year. I don't want to be a wet blanket here, but I can't see the attraction in stopping the country for a horse race and a lot of people who really can't afford it losing a lot of money in betting.
Having said that, I acknowledge that The Cup is an Aussie institution, and in a country where such home-grown national events are rare we should make the most of it.
Coincidentally the Reserve Bank is to make its decision on interest rates an hour or so before the big race, and all the pundits are saying that rates will be cut. So please, can we have no newspapers printing cornball headlines like "The rate that stops a nation"? And kindly refrain from the inevitable bank bashing if the banks don't decide to pass on the rate cut.
That way we can get through the event without cringing in embarrassment or groaning to death.
Having said that, I acknowledge that The Cup is an Aussie institution, and in a country where such home-grown national events are rare we should make the most of it.
Coincidentally the Reserve Bank is to make its decision on interest rates an hour or so before the big race, and all the pundits are saying that rates will be cut. So please, can we have no newspapers printing cornball headlines like "The rate that stops a nation"? And kindly refrain from the inevitable bank bashing if the banks don't decide to pass on the rate cut.
That way we can get through the event without cringing in embarrassment or groaning to death.
Monday, 24 October 2011
It's all someone else's fault
The Gillard government's latest tactic of blaming Tony Abbott for all their woes is getting quite tedious, and just demonstrates how bereft of ideas and political smarts they really are. Do they really think the public is swallowing this crap? It just won't wash and they are kidding themselves if they think the public is buying it.
To hear the Gillard government rolling out this silly nonsense - that Tony Abbott is somehow responsible for the influx of boat people and any price rises caused by the carbon tax - you would think they were the opposition party and Tony Abbott is prime minister. Is this a strategy of Gillard's new pommy spin doctor? If so, it appears that Gillard has done her dough (our dough) by employing him. It is just bizarre.
For a start, it isn't Tony Abbott's fault that the amendments to the Migration Act couldn't go ahead. The blame for that can be put fairly and squarely on Labor's alliance partners The Greens. Labor sold their soul to The Greens for political expediency and have been double-crossed. Not surprising in the least. When you hop into bed with a bunch of rattlesnakes you are bound to get bitten. Gillard turned to Abbott in an attempt to circumvent The Greens and - surprise, surprise - Abbott and the opposition would have no part of a policy to send refugees to Malaysia where they would be routinely whipped and tortured.
The attempts by Gillard's employees - most notably the head of the Immigration Department and the head of Navy - to pour scorn on Abbott's policies of reopening Nauru and turning back the boats are absolutely pathetic and demonstrates just how the public service and military have been politicised and compromised under this government. Tony Abbott should take note and dismiss both of them on the first day he becomes prime minister.
Penny Wong's criticism of The Greens is also disingenuous. Wong was happy to sing the praises of The Greens when they obligingly helped pass the carbon tax but they are suddenly the devil incarnate when they arc up over the Migration Act amendments. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Penny.
The public can see right through this BS and can see that the king (or queen) has no clothes. Sooner or later they will have to take responsibility for their own actions rather than trying to blame the opposition leader all the time. The public aren't buying it, and Gillard can be thankful that The Queen is in town to provide a diversion.
As soon as The Queen and Obama are out of the country, the Labor party should move to decapitate Gillard and go to Plan C. By any measure Gillard has been a total failure as prime minister, and has led the Labor party into an unprecedented political quagmire. It isn't a government, it is a dysfunctional rabble under Gillard and the time for decisive action is fast approaching.
To hear the Gillard government rolling out this silly nonsense - that Tony Abbott is somehow responsible for the influx of boat people and any price rises caused by the carbon tax - you would think they were the opposition party and Tony Abbott is prime minister. Is this a strategy of Gillard's new pommy spin doctor? If so, it appears that Gillard has done her dough (our dough) by employing him. It is just bizarre.
For a start, it isn't Tony Abbott's fault that the amendments to the Migration Act couldn't go ahead. The blame for that can be put fairly and squarely on Labor's alliance partners The Greens. Labor sold their soul to The Greens for political expediency and have been double-crossed. Not surprising in the least. When you hop into bed with a bunch of rattlesnakes you are bound to get bitten. Gillard turned to Abbott in an attempt to circumvent The Greens and - surprise, surprise - Abbott and the opposition would have no part of a policy to send refugees to Malaysia where they would be routinely whipped and tortured.
The attempts by Gillard's employees - most notably the head of the Immigration Department and the head of Navy - to pour scorn on Abbott's policies of reopening Nauru and turning back the boats are absolutely pathetic and demonstrates just how the public service and military have been politicised and compromised under this government. Tony Abbott should take note and dismiss both of them on the first day he becomes prime minister.
Penny Wong's criticism of The Greens is also disingenuous. Wong was happy to sing the praises of The Greens when they obligingly helped pass the carbon tax but they are suddenly the devil incarnate when they arc up over the Migration Act amendments. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Penny.
The public can see right through this BS and can see that the king (or queen) has no clothes. Sooner or later they will have to take responsibility for their own actions rather than trying to blame the opposition leader all the time. The public aren't buying it, and Gillard can be thankful that The Queen is in town to provide a diversion.
As soon as The Queen and Obama are out of the country, the Labor party should move to decapitate Gillard and go to Plan C. By any measure Gillard has been a total failure as prime minister, and has led the Labor party into an unprecedented political quagmire. It isn't a government, it is a dysfunctional rabble under Gillard and the time for decisive action is fast approaching.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Queen's visit highlights trend away from republicanism
The Queen is currently in Australia on her sixteenth visit since her ascention to the throne in 1952. It has been a proud record of maintaining royal ties with this country, especially when you consider that before she visited for the first time in 1954, no British monarch had ever visited this country.
Looking at the political and social landscape in this country, you would have to say that support for the monarchy is probably at an all-time high. Princess Diana, Prince Harry as well as Prince William and Katherine have provided a huge boost, especially among young people. Republicanism in Australia is dead.
There was a time in the 1980s and early '90s under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments when support for a republic in Australia was quite high. Indeed, polls at the time showed that a majority of Australians actually wanted Australia to be a republic. The debate back then was about which model should be adopted. Momentum was so strong that John Howard in 1996 and 1998 promised a constitutional convention and a referendum on becoming a republic. The referendum was held in November 1999 and was soundly defeated despite every newspaper in the country advocating a Yes vote.
The republican movement did not take defeat very well at all. Malcolm Turnbull appeared on TV saying that John Howard was the man who "broke Australia's heart". When Turnbull smelt the opportunity to gain a high paying job with Goldman Sachs buying and selling carbon credits he joined the Liberal party, became Minister for the Environment under "the man who broke Australia's heart" and almost succeeded in having Howard introduce an Emissions Trading Scheme and gaining his lucrative job for life after politics.
This might surprise people outside Canberra, but there is actually a group called the Australian Republican Movement. Granted, they would be able to hold their meetings in a phone booth but they get a great deal of publicity in the media, especially in Canberra. The head of the ARM, ANU academic John Warhurst actually has a weekly column in The Canberra Times. This just shows how irrelevant and out of touch that newspaper really is.
The present system of constitutional monarchy in Australia is so popular because it works, and it works well. Every political or constitutional crisis we have had in this country has been resolved under the present system, and the country has been able to continue along its merry way. Contrast this with the United States, the model so often held up by republicans as the one we should follow.
In 1995, after the Republicans gained control of congress Newt Gingrich decided to shut down the Clinton administration. The government's money was cut off, civil servants and defense personnel were not paid, welfare benefits were cut off and the whole country ground to a halt. When Gingrich was asked why he did it, he replied "because I can". This dragged on for months, there was no way of resolving it. No governor-general to intervene, no way of having the president sacked and no way of calling an election to let the people decide. It was only resolved when opinion polls showed such a backlash against Gingrich and the Republicans that they were forced to back down. When an election was finally held the following year, Clinton won in a landslide.
The fact that republicanism in Australia is now passe has not stopped much of the media mentioning the subject in news reports leading up to the Queen's visit. It's been quite pathetic hearing this crap from the leftist, wannabe luvvies but it is entirely predictable. They have this cockeyed notion that they are somehow injecting "balance" into their reports by mentioning republicanism, but like the relentless cheerleading for Gillard and Green causes it is not going down at all well out in the 'burbs and over the Sunday barbecue.
There has been speculation that this might be the last visit by the Queen, this time around her age is being invoked. This marks a change from previous visits when the media has said that it would be the last visit "before Australia becomes a republic". Of course, neither scenario has very much to do with reality. The Queen is likely to be around for several more years.
So we should all welcome Her Majesty to this country for the symbolism she provides as to our stabilty and way of life. It hasn't come about by accident, it has happened because of our system of government and the role the monarchy plays in keeping the country ticking over at an even keel. We know the monarchy, we know it works, we know the role it has played in this country's development. And we all know there is no credible alternative.
Looking at the political and social landscape in this country, you would have to say that support for the monarchy is probably at an all-time high. Princess Diana, Prince Harry as well as Prince William and Katherine have provided a huge boost, especially among young people. Republicanism in Australia is dead.
There was a time in the 1980s and early '90s under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments when support for a republic in Australia was quite high. Indeed, polls at the time showed that a majority of Australians actually wanted Australia to be a republic. The debate back then was about which model should be adopted. Momentum was so strong that John Howard in 1996 and 1998 promised a constitutional convention and a referendum on becoming a republic. The referendum was held in November 1999 and was soundly defeated despite every newspaper in the country advocating a Yes vote.
The republican movement did not take defeat very well at all. Malcolm Turnbull appeared on TV saying that John Howard was the man who "broke Australia's heart". When Turnbull smelt the opportunity to gain a high paying job with Goldman Sachs buying and selling carbon credits he joined the Liberal party, became Minister for the Environment under "the man who broke Australia's heart" and almost succeeded in having Howard introduce an Emissions Trading Scheme and gaining his lucrative job for life after politics.
This might surprise people outside Canberra, but there is actually a group called the Australian Republican Movement. Granted, they would be able to hold their meetings in a phone booth but they get a great deal of publicity in the media, especially in Canberra. The head of the ARM, ANU academic John Warhurst actually has a weekly column in The Canberra Times. This just shows how irrelevant and out of touch that newspaper really is.
The present system of constitutional monarchy in Australia is so popular because it works, and it works well. Every political or constitutional crisis we have had in this country has been resolved under the present system, and the country has been able to continue along its merry way. Contrast this with the United States, the model so often held up by republicans as the one we should follow.
In 1995, after the Republicans gained control of congress Newt Gingrich decided to shut down the Clinton administration. The government's money was cut off, civil servants and defense personnel were not paid, welfare benefits were cut off and the whole country ground to a halt. When Gingrich was asked why he did it, he replied "because I can". This dragged on for months, there was no way of resolving it. No governor-general to intervene, no way of having the president sacked and no way of calling an election to let the people decide. It was only resolved when opinion polls showed such a backlash against Gingrich and the Republicans that they were forced to back down. When an election was finally held the following year, Clinton won in a landslide.
The fact that republicanism in Australia is now passe has not stopped much of the media mentioning the subject in news reports leading up to the Queen's visit. It's been quite pathetic hearing this crap from the leftist, wannabe luvvies but it is entirely predictable. They have this cockeyed notion that they are somehow injecting "balance" into their reports by mentioning republicanism, but like the relentless cheerleading for Gillard and Green causes it is not going down at all well out in the 'burbs and over the Sunday barbecue.
There has been speculation that this might be the last visit by the Queen, this time around her age is being invoked. This marks a change from previous visits when the media has said that it would be the last visit "before Australia becomes a republic". Of course, neither scenario has very much to do with reality. The Queen is likely to be around for several more years.
So we should all welcome Her Majesty to this country for the symbolism she provides as to our stabilty and way of life. It hasn't come about by accident, it has happened because of our system of government and the role the monarchy plays in keeping the country ticking over at an even keel. We know the monarchy, we know it works, we know the role it has played in this country's development. And we all know there is no credible alternative.
Monday, 17 October 2011
Pointless protests an exercise in futility
Has anybody ever seen a more stupid and ridiculous series of protests than the Occupy Wall Street series in New York and around the world? When I saw this idiocy, my first thought was that the feral Left had finally flipped.
When you stage a protest, you aim to change something. Either a government policy needs to be changed or scrapped (the anti carbon tax protests), or else something new needs to be adopted. But these protests don't aim to do anything. They are an exercise in futility staged by a bunch of simple-minded luvvies who spend too much time on Facebook and Twitter.
From what I've been able to make out, the protests are against "corporate greed". Something about one percent controlling the wealth, with a sidebar being bank bashing. Again. It's all pretty pathetic because there simply isn't any workable alternative to the current system. Different systems have been tried all over the world - communism, socialism, feudalism, collectivism, ad infinitum. All have failed except the model of corporate capitalism currently in place in the vast majority of countries.
Are the protesters communists? Sure looks like it. They should stop bandying around cute slogans and come straight out and tell us their aims and beliefs. Of course they won't because they don't have any aims and their beliefs are, well . . .. They cannot suggest a workable alternative to the present system because there isn't one.
Occasionally we see silly protests like this which are more like a social occasion than a call to arms. Over Easter holidays during the early 2000s we saw the refugee action demos where detention centres were picketed. They were more like Schoolies Week where old friends from the left could meet each other, exchange recipes and go for a bit of a holiday waving a few placards. The occupy Wall Street protests are very much in the same vein.
It is hoped that these rather silly protests are put down as quickly as possible and the participants get a life. They are only succeeding in making themselves look very silly and it only reinforces the perception that the Left are totally irrelevant and lacking any credibility whatsoever.
Move on folks, nothing to see here.
When you stage a protest, you aim to change something. Either a government policy needs to be changed or scrapped (the anti carbon tax protests), or else something new needs to be adopted. But these protests don't aim to do anything. They are an exercise in futility staged by a bunch of simple-minded luvvies who spend too much time on Facebook and Twitter.
From what I've been able to make out, the protests are against "corporate greed". Something about one percent controlling the wealth, with a sidebar being bank bashing. Again. It's all pretty pathetic because there simply isn't any workable alternative to the current system. Different systems have been tried all over the world - communism, socialism, feudalism, collectivism, ad infinitum. All have failed except the model of corporate capitalism currently in place in the vast majority of countries.
Are the protesters communists? Sure looks like it. They should stop bandying around cute slogans and come straight out and tell us their aims and beliefs. Of course they won't because they don't have any aims and their beliefs are, well . . .. They cannot suggest a workable alternative to the present system because there isn't one.
Occasionally we see silly protests like this which are more like a social occasion than a call to arms. Over Easter holidays during the early 2000s we saw the refugee action demos where detention centres were picketed. They were more like Schoolies Week where old friends from the left could meet each other, exchange recipes and go for a bit of a holiday waving a few placards. The occupy Wall Street protests are very much in the same vein.
It is hoped that these rather silly protests are put down as quickly as possible and the participants get a life. They are only succeeding in making themselves look very silly and it only reinforces the perception that the Left are totally irrelevant and lacking any credibility whatsoever.
Move on folks, nothing to see here.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Leftist scum hailing the carbon tax
The passage of the Brown government's carbon tax has elicited a predictable response from the usual suspects. The extreme Left and environmental lobby are cock-a-hoop and believe they have scored a famous victory over ordinary, mainstream Aussies. It isn't very often a minority fringe gets their agenda adopted by government - especially a policy which has almost zero support out in the 'burbs - but it has happened and the gloating is quite over the top. They are squealing with delight.
To get an idea how the hard Left are celebrating, you only have to pick up The Canberra Times. I knew that once I pointed out the paper's even handed coverage of the passage of the tax, they would then shift the paper back to the hard left and print letters and commentary hailing the tax. It has been quite sickening.
One of the reasons why The Canberra Times has always pandered to a hard left fringe element is the presence of editor at large Jack Waterford who has been with the paper since the 1970s. He is constantly writing pieces promoting radical aboriginal activism, criticising "shock jocks" and the Murdoch newspapers, and sundry other nutty causes. But an article he wrote on Wednesday must surely take the cake for being one of the most slanted and bizarre ever printed.
In the article, Waterford writes that the passage of the carbon tax marks the turning point in the government's fortunes, that Gillard is a leader with the right stuff, that she is a reformer with substance and criticism of the carbon tax is "nonsense", that Abbott is on the back foot, and that there will be a popular rethink over the tax once people realise "something" is being done about "climate change". It was just pro-Gillard cheerleading, it is just staggering and shows just how out of touch Waterford and the rest of the flunkies at The Canberra Times really are.
The Labor party must surely be deeply worried about all the articles and letters in The Canberra Times supporting them and the carbon tax because The Canberra Times and its readers are almost always totally at odds with mainstream opinion beyond the borders of the ACT. Politicians read the paper with alarm if it supports them because they know that it means that back home people are not happy and that their seats might be at risk.
The Canberra Times has even admitted that they have been slanting their publication of letters in favour of the carbon tax. That miserable cunt the letters editor - who has me and other conservatives on a black list and refuses to publish our letters - has either been sacked (yay!) or is on extended leave, because the acting letters editor has published a piece saying that they received "a torrent of letters from interstate" about the carbon tax but none of them were printed. All of those letters would have opposed the tax. Instead they have printed letters supporting the tax from the same tired old left wingers who are constantly getting their drivel into the paper, including that bitch Rosemary Walters from Palmerston (ACT) who nearly always gets a letter printed at least once a week.
By contrast, every other newspaper has carried outrage from mainstream Aussies over the carbon tax. I have little doubt that, as the political and social climate in this country continues to move back to the mainstream Right, The Canberra Times will move further and further to the hard left. The paper acts as a barometer on the national sentiment. Whatever they support, you can bet your bottom dollar that Aussies are dead against it.
To get an idea how the hard Left are celebrating, you only have to pick up The Canberra Times. I knew that once I pointed out the paper's even handed coverage of the passage of the tax, they would then shift the paper back to the hard left and print letters and commentary hailing the tax. It has been quite sickening.
One of the reasons why The Canberra Times has always pandered to a hard left fringe element is the presence of editor at large Jack Waterford who has been with the paper since the 1970s. He is constantly writing pieces promoting radical aboriginal activism, criticising "shock jocks" and the Murdoch newspapers, and sundry other nutty causes. But an article he wrote on Wednesday must surely take the cake for being one of the most slanted and bizarre ever printed.
In the article, Waterford writes that the passage of the carbon tax marks the turning point in the government's fortunes, that Gillard is a leader with the right stuff, that she is a reformer with substance and criticism of the carbon tax is "nonsense", that Abbott is on the back foot, and that there will be a popular rethink over the tax once people realise "something" is being done about "climate change". It was just pro-Gillard cheerleading, it is just staggering and shows just how out of touch Waterford and the rest of the flunkies at The Canberra Times really are.
The Labor party must surely be deeply worried about all the articles and letters in The Canberra Times supporting them and the carbon tax because The Canberra Times and its readers are almost always totally at odds with mainstream opinion beyond the borders of the ACT. Politicians read the paper with alarm if it supports them because they know that it means that back home people are not happy and that their seats might be at risk.
The Canberra Times has even admitted that they have been slanting their publication of letters in favour of the carbon tax. That miserable cunt the letters editor - who has me and other conservatives on a black list and refuses to publish our letters - has either been sacked (yay!) or is on extended leave, because the acting letters editor has published a piece saying that they received "a torrent of letters from interstate" about the carbon tax but none of them were printed. All of those letters would have opposed the tax. Instead they have printed letters supporting the tax from the same tired old left wingers who are constantly getting their drivel into the paper, including that bitch Rosemary Walters from Palmerston (ACT) who nearly always gets a letter printed at least once a week.
By contrast, every other newspaper has carried outrage from mainstream Aussies over the carbon tax. I have little doubt that, as the political and social climate in this country continues to move back to the mainstream Right, The Canberra Times will move further and further to the hard left. The paper acts as a barometer on the national sentiment. Whatever they support, you can bet your bottom dollar that Aussies are dead against it.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
It's all over bar the shouting
The House of Representatives in Canberra has passed the carbon tax and the bills will now be sent to the Senate to be rubber stamped by The Greens. The new tax slug will then commence on July 1 next year.
Looking at the scenes in the chamber yesterday after the bills passed, you could be forgiven for believing that Labor/Greens/independent politicians were within a little bubble adrift in another universe. It was staggering, most observers just shook their heads in disbelief. Labor MPs kissing each other, whoops of joy, the independents slapping government ministers on the back, Gillard ruffling the hair of other MPs, it just went on and on. And they were celebrating the fact that they had just introduced a new tax! Self indulgent and vainglorious to say the least. What on earth were they thinking?
After the tax had been passed, I resigned myself to the fact that the usual suspects would be crowing at their "victory". The ABC and Fairfax press would be hailing it with celebratory headlines and displays of triumphalism. But I was completely taken aback this morning by the universally poisonous reaction from the media and the massive wave of protest resonating right across the country.
This morning's Canberra Times is a case in point. Relentlessly pushing the carbon tax and "action on climate change" for several years now, the paper today has instead led with Tony Abbott's promise to repeal the tax. The stories inside are also less than complimentary. The ABC this morning has also run negative stories about the passing of the tax and its effect on business and the lives of battlers. When not even the ABC and Fairfax press will support you anymore, I'd say Labor and their fellow travellers have a problem. A big one.
The question of who will win the next election is now academic. It isn't a matter of who will win anymore, the only thing up for conjecture is whether Tony Abbott will achieve a massive majority or a record majority. Either way, Labor and the Independents are stuffed. Well and truly. By laying down meekly and selling their souls to The Greens and independents, Labor MPs have signed their own death warrants.
Gillard's performance during question time was absolutely pathetic. Her reference to Tony Abbott being marooned by the tide of history just goes to show how woefully out of touch she really is. Who the hell is advising her?
Abbott will find it difficult to roll back the carbon tax. Labor MPs have freely admitted that they framed the legislation in such a way that would make it almost impossible to repeal, it is so far-reaching into almost all corners of government. Not only that, there is the thorny question of the Senate to consider. The undemocratic preferential voting system has put The Greens in control and they will stay in that position for six more years. Even after Abbott wins the next election and tries to repeal the carbon tax, it will be blocked by Labor and The Greens in the Senate. The only hope is that it will be rejected twice, a double dissolution election will be held and if it is rejected again a joint sitting will then take place. Abbott's huge majority in the lower house will completely swamp The Greens and Labor and the carbon tax will be no more. So there is still hope.
All in all, we can mark October 12 as a truly black day in our history. Not only the date of the Bali bombing where 88 Australians were wantonly murdered, but the day democracy died in this country. A terrible and tragic day which will be remembered in infamy in coming years as the job queues lengthen, families are sent to the wall unable to pay their bills and business pulls up stumps from this country never to return.
Looking at the scenes in the chamber yesterday after the bills passed, you could be forgiven for believing that Labor/Greens/independent politicians were within a little bubble adrift in another universe. It was staggering, most observers just shook their heads in disbelief. Labor MPs kissing each other, whoops of joy, the independents slapping government ministers on the back, Gillard ruffling the hair of other MPs, it just went on and on. And they were celebrating the fact that they had just introduced a new tax! Self indulgent and vainglorious to say the least. What on earth were they thinking?
After the tax had been passed, I resigned myself to the fact that the usual suspects would be crowing at their "victory". The ABC and Fairfax press would be hailing it with celebratory headlines and displays of triumphalism. But I was completely taken aback this morning by the universally poisonous reaction from the media and the massive wave of protest resonating right across the country.
This morning's Canberra Times is a case in point. Relentlessly pushing the carbon tax and "action on climate change" for several years now, the paper today has instead led with Tony Abbott's promise to repeal the tax. The stories inside are also less than complimentary. The ABC this morning has also run negative stories about the passing of the tax and its effect on business and the lives of battlers. When not even the ABC and Fairfax press will support you anymore, I'd say Labor and their fellow travellers have a problem. A big one.
The question of who will win the next election is now academic. It isn't a matter of who will win anymore, the only thing up for conjecture is whether Tony Abbott will achieve a massive majority or a record majority. Either way, Labor and the Independents are stuffed. Well and truly. By laying down meekly and selling their souls to The Greens and independents, Labor MPs have signed their own death warrants.
Gillard's performance during question time was absolutely pathetic. Her reference to Tony Abbott being marooned by the tide of history just goes to show how woefully out of touch she really is. Who the hell is advising her?
Abbott will find it difficult to roll back the carbon tax. Labor MPs have freely admitted that they framed the legislation in such a way that would make it almost impossible to repeal, it is so far-reaching into almost all corners of government. Not only that, there is the thorny question of the Senate to consider. The undemocratic preferential voting system has put The Greens in control and they will stay in that position for six more years. Even after Abbott wins the next election and tries to repeal the carbon tax, it will be blocked by Labor and The Greens in the Senate. The only hope is that it will be rejected twice, a double dissolution election will be held and if it is rejected again a joint sitting will then take place. Abbott's huge majority in the lower house will completely swamp The Greens and Labor and the carbon tax will be no more. So there is still hope.
All in all, we can mark October 12 as a truly black day in our history. Not only the date of the Bali bombing where 88 Australians were wantonly murdered, but the day democracy died in this country. A terrible and tragic day which will be remembered in infamy in coming years as the job queues lengthen, families are sent to the wall unable to pay their bills and business pulls up stumps from this country never to return.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Climate change hoax being cranked up again
The carbon tax is being debated in Federal parliament tomorrow (Wednesday) and the planted stories are starting to appear again in the Fairfax newspapers. Yesterday The Canberra Times and others carried a story about a government-funded report titled Caring For Our Australian Alps Catchments which predicts that the Alps will be free of snow by 2050 due to climate change raising the temperature by 2.9 degrees and rainfall will diminish considerably.
This sort of thing is really very silly and just demonstrates that the multi-million dollar, government funded climate change bandwagon continues to roll on. It isn't based on facts or science, it is a conspiracy to create an industry whereby academia backs up left wing policy by gaining government research grants. The scientists have been duchessed by the government and are compliantly compiling these reports in order to keep their research grants rolling in.
This whole "climate change" thing is the biggest con that has ever been perpetrated.
The empirical evidence compiled over the past 30 years shows that the temperature is, in fact, cooling - not warming as the following graph illustrates:
This is the graph climate scientists and the left wing media don't want you to see.
It is a tragedy that the federal government is so hell-bent on kowtowing to The Greens that we will soon have the inflationary, job-destroying carbon tax at a time when the rest of the world is moving away from similar measures and has realised that sending the country to the poorhouse will not lower the temperature one iota. British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has said that passing the Climate Change Act in 2008 was the biggest mistake the parliament ever made, and that Britain was not going to save the planet by putting itself out of business.
The Canberra Times's performance on this issue has been shameful. Earlier this year they splashed with a front page beatup saying that climate scientists at the Australian National University were receiving death threats, and that they had been moved to a secure area as a result. This story was intended to imply that climate realists are all thugs and psychopaths. Of course, the truth - as reported by the Daily Telegraph - was quite different. One threat had been made and was received three years earlier, and the climate change scientists had simply moved location and gained admission to their offices by a swipe card as part of a general upgrade of security throughout the ANU campus.
Until a few months ago The Canberra Times actually ran a weekly page called Green Scene - written by a staff journalist - which actively pushed Green politics. The paper campaigned in the 2010 election for the Liberal senator in the ACT to be replaced by a Green, and that campaign almost succeeded.
Back onto the subject of "global warming" or "climate change" as it was rebranded a few years ago, we all know it is not happening. The temperature in Canberra yesterday only reached 15 degrees. We have had over a month of similar cold weather. Normally by this time in October we are experiencing 25 or 26 degrees. We had the best ski season in many years in the snowfields - plenty of snow, and - to contradict the ridiculous report referred to earlier - rainfalls have been so plentiful that the gates of the dam on the Snowy River had to be opened over the weekend as there was simply too much water. Remember the government's climate change guru Tim Flannery saying a few years back that we would never have normal rainfalls again, dams would always be empty and climate change meant we would have a permanent drought?
To broaden our horizons a bit, the northern hemisphere experienced the coldest weather they'd ever received a few months back with record snow falls. Don't forget London being snowbound and traffic being brought to a standstill by six inch snow falls. Global warming, eh?
Politically in this country, things are looking grim. So comprehensive has the climate change brainwashing by the media been, a majority of Australians still believe in the conspiracy so Tony Abbott is unwilling to commit to halting all action on climate change. Hopefully when he takes office he will look at the books, realise how badly the system is being rorted, bring all the green schemes and "renewable energy targets" to a shuddering halt and derail the entire climate change bandwagon.
I've written before about just how powerful the Left really are in this country. I've received an email from GetUp! - the left wing extremist group funded by the trade unions - saying that a demonstration will be held at Parliament House in support of the carbon tax when the bills are debated and passed. No doubt the media will give them full coverage, suggesting that they represent public opinion. In fact the opposite is the case. More people than ever before oppose the carbon tax and are itching to turf this government and their fellow travellers from The Greens and the independents out on their ears at the earliest opportunity.
Julia Gillard can be thankful that The Queen, the US president and other dignitaries will be visiting over the next month or so. It has stayed her execution by a few weeks. The carbon tax will be the final blow for this government, and the only good thing to come out of it will be the fact that the Liberals and Nationals will win power by a record majority and stay in office for at least ten years while the public ensures they never make the mistake of electing a left wing government ever again.
This sort of thing is really very silly and just demonstrates that the multi-million dollar, government funded climate change bandwagon continues to roll on. It isn't based on facts or science, it is a conspiracy to create an industry whereby academia backs up left wing policy by gaining government research grants. The scientists have been duchessed by the government and are compliantly compiling these reports in order to keep their research grants rolling in.
This whole "climate change" thing is the biggest con that has ever been perpetrated.
The empirical evidence compiled over the past 30 years shows that the temperature is, in fact, cooling - not warming as the following graph illustrates:
This is the graph climate scientists and the left wing media don't want you to see.
It is a tragedy that the federal government is so hell-bent on kowtowing to The Greens that we will soon have the inflationary, job-destroying carbon tax at a time when the rest of the world is moving away from similar measures and has realised that sending the country to the poorhouse will not lower the temperature one iota. British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has said that passing the Climate Change Act in 2008 was the biggest mistake the parliament ever made, and that Britain was not going to save the planet by putting itself out of business.
The Canberra Times's performance on this issue has been shameful. Earlier this year they splashed with a front page beatup saying that climate scientists at the Australian National University were receiving death threats, and that they had been moved to a secure area as a result. This story was intended to imply that climate realists are all thugs and psychopaths. Of course, the truth - as reported by the Daily Telegraph - was quite different. One threat had been made and was received three years earlier, and the climate change scientists had simply moved location and gained admission to their offices by a swipe card as part of a general upgrade of security throughout the ANU campus.
Until a few months ago The Canberra Times actually ran a weekly page called Green Scene - written by a staff journalist - which actively pushed Green politics. The paper campaigned in the 2010 election for the Liberal senator in the ACT to be replaced by a Green, and that campaign almost succeeded.
Back onto the subject of "global warming" or "climate change" as it was rebranded a few years ago, we all know it is not happening. The temperature in Canberra yesterday only reached 15 degrees. We have had over a month of similar cold weather. Normally by this time in October we are experiencing 25 or 26 degrees. We had the best ski season in many years in the snowfields - plenty of snow, and - to contradict the ridiculous report referred to earlier - rainfalls have been so plentiful that the gates of the dam on the Snowy River had to be opened over the weekend as there was simply too much water. Remember the government's climate change guru Tim Flannery saying a few years back that we would never have normal rainfalls again, dams would always be empty and climate change meant we would have a permanent drought?
To broaden our horizons a bit, the northern hemisphere experienced the coldest weather they'd ever received a few months back with record snow falls. Don't forget London being snowbound and traffic being brought to a standstill by six inch snow falls. Global warming, eh?
Politically in this country, things are looking grim. So comprehensive has the climate change brainwashing by the media been, a majority of Australians still believe in the conspiracy so Tony Abbott is unwilling to commit to halting all action on climate change. Hopefully when he takes office he will look at the books, realise how badly the system is being rorted, bring all the green schemes and "renewable energy targets" to a shuddering halt and derail the entire climate change bandwagon.
I've written before about just how powerful the Left really are in this country. I've received an email from GetUp! - the left wing extremist group funded by the trade unions - saying that a demonstration will be held at Parliament House in support of the carbon tax when the bills are debated and passed. No doubt the media will give them full coverage, suggesting that they represent public opinion. In fact the opposite is the case. More people than ever before oppose the carbon tax and are itching to turf this government and their fellow travellers from The Greens and the independents out on their ears at the earliest opportunity.
Julia Gillard can be thankful that The Queen, the US president and other dignitaries will be visiting over the next month or so. It has stayed her execution by a few weeks. The carbon tax will be the final blow for this government, and the only good thing to come out of it will be the fact that the Liberals and Nationals will win power by a record majority and stay in office for at least ten years while the public ensures they never make the mistake of electing a left wing government ever again.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Another day off in the manana society
If you are thinking of doing business with anybody in Canberra today (Monday Oct 10) then you'd better forget it. Today is a public holiday, something called Family and Community Day, one of two extra holidays Canberra fat cats get over and above everybody else.
Normally there is a valid reason for a holiday, whether it be tradition or religion. But this Canberra holiday was created for none of those reasons, it was instituted by the ACT Labor government in order to hit back at the Howard government in 2006. They wanted to make a political point.
Prior to the introduction of WorkChoices, the ACT had the trade union picnic day. Only members of unions could have the day off and an outdoor event was held on the day which fell in March. WorkChoices abolished the union picnic day, something which pleased business and anybody who wanted to get things done in the city. So rather than cop it sweet and acknowledge that the union picnic day was a discriminatory anachronism from another era, the ACT government responded by creating a whole new public holiday. For everybody. I call it The Holiday of Spite. Created to please Labor's union mates. The ACT government minister who created the holiday has even admitted that it was named Family and Community Day to make it as hard as possible for the Howard government to oppose it.
Originally the Family and Community Day holiday was held on Melbourne Cup Day. The ACT government wasted taxpayers' money holding a big event in a park by Lake Burley Griffin. Business hated it. Because Melbourne Cup day was a Tuesday, most people also took the Monday off, thus having a four day weekend. Workers didn't like it either because Melbourne Cup day was always a big event at work where bosses and staff could hold parties and celebrate whilst watching the big race. The hospitality industry had one of their biggest days taken off them, restaurant and function bookings disappeared.
After a few years of this madness, the ACT government called for public submissions into the holiday. Typical for a city of bludging public servants, only four percent of the submissions called for the abolition of the holiday altogether. It was moved to either the Monday before or after the October long weekend.
Very few people outside the public service are happy about this. Business still hates it and WorkChoices has since been abolished. There is little point still holding the holiday anymore, a union picnic day can be reinstituted. But once you give people a day off work it is almost impossible to take it off them again. So we have to tolerate it through gritted teeth.
So the best of luck to anybody trying to do business in Canberra today. I wouldn't be surprised if many interstate and overseas people decide that with the extra public holidays in the city, it is just not worth it and they take their business elsewhere.
Normally there is a valid reason for a holiday, whether it be tradition or religion. But this Canberra holiday was created for none of those reasons, it was instituted by the ACT Labor government in order to hit back at the Howard government in 2006. They wanted to make a political point.
Prior to the introduction of WorkChoices, the ACT had the trade union picnic day. Only members of unions could have the day off and an outdoor event was held on the day which fell in March. WorkChoices abolished the union picnic day, something which pleased business and anybody who wanted to get things done in the city. So rather than cop it sweet and acknowledge that the union picnic day was a discriminatory anachronism from another era, the ACT government responded by creating a whole new public holiday. For everybody. I call it The Holiday of Spite. Created to please Labor's union mates. The ACT government minister who created the holiday has even admitted that it was named Family and Community Day to make it as hard as possible for the Howard government to oppose it.
Originally the Family and Community Day holiday was held on Melbourne Cup Day. The ACT government wasted taxpayers' money holding a big event in a park by Lake Burley Griffin. Business hated it. Because Melbourne Cup day was a Tuesday, most people also took the Monday off, thus having a four day weekend. Workers didn't like it either because Melbourne Cup day was always a big event at work where bosses and staff could hold parties and celebrate whilst watching the big race. The hospitality industry had one of their biggest days taken off them, restaurant and function bookings disappeared.
After a few years of this madness, the ACT government called for public submissions into the holiday. Typical for a city of bludging public servants, only four percent of the submissions called for the abolition of the holiday altogether. It was moved to either the Monday before or after the October long weekend.
Very few people outside the public service are happy about this. Business still hates it and WorkChoices has since been abolished. There is little point still holding the holiday anymore, a union picnic day can be reinstituted. But once you give people a day off work it is almost impossible to take it off them again. So we have to tolerate it through gritted teeth.
So the best of luck to anybody trying to do business in Canberra today. I wouldn't be surprised if many interstate and overseas people decide that with the extra public holidays in the city, it is just not worth it and they take their business elsewhere.
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Cool heads needed in Bali case
There has been quite a bit of comment about the 14 year old boy currently up on drug charges in Bali. Much of it nonsense, a lot of it emotional dribble and quite a lot of it straight out lies.
Before we continue, let me say straight out that I have never taken narcotic drugs intentionally. The only drugs I have ever taken was the partial eating of a marihuana cookie in 1978. I've never understood the attraction of drugs and why people would voluntarily get involved in a lifestyle which is expensive, unhealthy and dangerous.
Having said that a few questions need to be asked about how this boy came to be in possession of the marihuana in the first place. I don't go along with the nonsensical claim that the boy is the victim of police corruption. Many thousands of Australians visit Bali each year and they manage to return without getting involved with drugs or the police or ending up in jail. And why would the police want to set somebody up like this? If the police are indeed corrupt, why has the boy ended up in jail? Surely the boy and his parents would have been able to come up with the bribe money to keep the boy out of jail and have the charges dropped? It is a nonsense argument which is being put forward by ignorant people looking for excuses.
Another thing that many people haven't considered was why the boy was in the sleazy area of Denpasar in the first place. According to media reports he was about to go for a massage. Massage? We all know what this word is a euphemism for.
We all need to step back a bit and have a cold shower. We are talking about a foreign country where the laws are very different than here. Talk that it might affect Aussie tourism to Bali are wide of the mark to say the least. This is the location where there were not one but two terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005 killing over 100 Australians. Tourism did not drop as a result of those events and it is fanciful to suggest that a 14 year old boy being caught with drugs will have the slightest effect on a multi-million dollar industry.
All too often Australians in Bali treat the place as a third world playground where they can go, do whatever they like and act as badly as they can and there will be no consequences. This attitude was examined in the 1984 Redgum song I've Been To Bali Too. The main demographic who visit the island - young men - are especially prone to risky and larrikin behaviour and the abuse of alcohol and other drugs.
We shouldn't be any more sympathetic in this instance because an underage minor is involved. Drugs are drugs and the law is the law. If anything good comes out of this case it will be that Australian tourists mind their p's and q's when travelling overseas and respect the local laws and customs. Judging by the reaction this case has generated in this country, that might be a forlorn hope.
Before we continue, let me say straight out that I have never taken narcotic drugs intentionally. The only drugs I have ever taken was the partial eating of a marihuana cookie in 1978. I've never understood the attraction of drugs and why people would voluntarily get involved in a lifestyle which is expensive, unhealthy and dangerous.
Having said that a few questions need to be asked about how this boy came to be in possession of the marihuana in the first place. I don't go along with the nonsensical claim that the boy is the victim of police corruption. Many thousands of Australians visit Bali each year and they manage to return without getting involved with drugs or the police or ending up in jail. And why would the police want to set somebody up like this? If the police are indeed corrupt, why has the boy ended up in jail? Surely the boy and his parents would have been able to come up with the bribe money to keep the boy out of jail and have the charges dropped? It is a nonsense argument which is being put forward by ignorant people looking for excuses.
Another thing that many people haven't considered was why the boy was in the sleazy area of Denpasar in the first place. According to media reports he was about to go for a massage. Massage? We all know what this word is a euphemism for.
We all need to step back a bit and have a cold shower. We are talking about a foreign country where the laws are very different than here. Talk that it might affect Aussie tourism to Bali are wide of the mark to say the least. This is the location where there were not one but two terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005 killing over 100 Australians. Tourism did not drop as a result of those events and it is fanciful to suggest that a 14 year old boy being caught with drugs will have the slightest effect on a multi-million dollar industry.
All too often Australians in Bali treat the place as a third world playground where they can go, do whatever they like and act as badly as they can and there will be no consequences. This attitude was examined in the 1984 Redgum song I've Been To Bali Too. The main demographic who visit the island - young men - are especially prone to risky and larrikin behaviour and the abuse of alcohol and other drugs.
We shouldn't be any more sympathetic in this instance because an underage minor is involved. Drugs are drugs and the law is the law. If anything good comes out of this case it will be that Australian tourists mind their p's and q's when travelling overseas and respect the local laws and customs. Judging by the reaction this case has generated in this country, that might be a forlorn hope.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)