I live in Bill Shorten's electorate, Maribyrnong. If I was represented by any other Labor member, out of sheer perversity, I may be tempted to vote Labor in the upcoming Federal election. It would of course be a totally wasted vote, but then again the only meaningful vote I have is in the Senate.
Bill Shorten was married to Debbie Beale, daughter of Julian Beale, squillionaire and Liberal party power broker. While married to Debbie, he began an association with Chloe Bryce, daughter of the Governor General. Bill Shorten married a heavily pregnant Chloe after they had both ditched their previous partners. If you want proof, you can Google it and see the pictures for yourself.
Now, in last Sunday's Herald Sun, Bill and Chloe said how dead against intrusions of privacy and nasty rumors. No one said what the nasty rumors were. Anybody who's been in Canberra knows how the Press Gallery operates. Probably more stories go on the spike than ever see the light of day. It's part of the press-pollie club. Sorry, Bill, I'm not a member of the club. The embarrassing rumor I heard from very good sources was that you had impregnated one of your staffers. If it's not true, let's see you deny it -- in public.
Friday 18 May 2012
Joe Hockey: Reformed bank basher
Joe Hockey's wife is an investment banker, if the bush telegraph is to be believed. If so, she probably earns ten times his anaemic parliamentarian's salary. For a union official, a public servant or a teacher -- in other words, a typical Labor MP, it's not a bad wage, but if you are a top QC (think Tom Hughes) , a businessman, a medical specialist or even an architect in a successful practice -- in other words, the people who once filled the Liberal ranks -- it's pretty pathetic. Most Lib MPs these days are staffers, a person the average Liberal branch member not so long ago regarded with derision and scorn.
I must say Smokin' Joe was once very low on my list of top Libs. His incessant bank bashing might appeal to the hoipolloi, but any sensible person knows Australia is blessed to have four sound banks that earn good profits and have sound balance sheets. It is no secret that the real battlers -- in other words, small business owners -- are subsidising holders of residential mortgages. This is pure politics. With Treasurer Wayne Swan whining about the banks passing on each reduction in the RBA cash rate to mortgage holders, when he knows that it doesn't directly affect their cost of funds, the banks don't need enemies on the Right.
But Joe -- who until recently I habitually referred to as 'That Fat Prick Hockey' -- has reformed. He's been telling everyone -- including Tony Abbott -- that if there is someone promising to spend the taxpayers' money like a drunken sailor, it's Tony Abbott, not him.
Take the handicapped insurance scheme. In the Budget, some $1 billion was allocated for this scheme. This is despite Jenny Macklin telling me it would cost $6.5 to 8 billion dollars in the first year alone (see previous entry 'Be Hardhearted with the Handicapped). Who is going to fund it now? The States! After all, it is a Stater responsibility. And who else? Tony Abbott! And what does Joe say? We may not be able to afford it! This scheme, which will replace family carers with paid staff, and will wipe out a private sector which dates to colonial times and replace it with a government bureaucracy, will be funded by the Libs, if Tony Abbott has his way. According to him, it's bipartisan policy.
We'll forgive the reformed Joe his former bank bashing ways, now he's the nearest thing to an economic brain the Libs have.
As for Tony Abbott: He's on a mission from God -- and we don't know where he's going.
I must say Smokin' Joe was once very low on my list of top Libs. His incessant bank bashing might appeal to the hoipolloi, but any sensible person knows Australia is blessed to have four sound banks that earn good profits and have sound balance sheets. It is no secret that the real battlers -- in other words, small business owners -- are subsidising holders of residential mortgages. This is pure politics. With Treasurer Wayne Swan whining about the banks passing on each reduction in the RBA cash rate to mortgage holders, when he knows that it doesn't directly affect their cost of funds, the banks don't need enemies on the Right.
But Joe -- who until recently I habitually referred to as 'That Fat Prick Hockey' -- has reformed. He's been telling everyone -- including Tony Abbott -- that if there is someone promising to spend the taxpayers' money like a drunken sailor, it's Tony Abbott, not him.
Take the handicapped insurance scheme. In the Budget, some $1 billion was allocated for this scheme. This is despite Jenny Macklin telling me it would cost $6.5 to 8 billion dollars in the first year alone (see previous entry 'Be Hardhearted with the Handicapped). Who is going to fund it now? The States! After all, it is a Stater responsibility. And who else? Tony Abbott! And what does Joe say? We may not be able to afford it! This scheme, which will replace family carers with paid staff, and will wipe out a private sector which dates to colonial times and replace it with a government bureaucracy, will be funded by the Libs, if Tony Abbott has his way. According to him, it's bipartisan policy.
We'll forgive the reformed Joe his former bank bashing ways, now he's the nearest thing to an economic brain the Libs have.
As for Tony Abbott: He's on a mission from God -- and we don't know where he's going.
Wednesday 9 May 2012
Tony Abbott: Worse than Whitlam
My Grandmother had very little formal education but a great deal of that esteemed quality known as 'common sense'. If a dog started growling at me, she would say 'don't go near the dog, it might bite you.' Then she would say 'the dog is not very smart, you are. If you go near the dog and it bites you, it's not the dog's fault, it's your fault, because you knew the dog would bite. The dog, on the other hand, would be just acting like a dog.'
The same applies to Gough Whitlam and Tony Abbott. The manifesto for the Whitlam government was 'Towards a New Australia', (1972) published by Cheshire for the Victorian Fabian Society. It lays out the Labor program in government. At that time, if you wanted to know where the Labor dog would bite, you could read this book.
Now, by 1972 the Liberal ascendancy was nearing its end. It was stale and some of its policies, such as paying female employees in the public service two-thirds of male salaries, were guaranteed vote losers for half the population. The fag end of the Menzies era consisted of a series of leaders (or should we say losers) who couldn't come to terms with the office. Gough Whitlam was elected prime minister with the slogan 'It's Time' and the majority of the Australian electorate agreed with him. Labor was in power for the first time since 1949.
The Whitlam government gained a reputation for policy making on the run and it's defining motto came to be 'It seemed to be a good idea to the time.' Were still paying for a great many of these 'good ideas' such as defined benefit pensions for public servants and will be for many years to come.
Tony Abbott also has many 'good ideas'. These 'good ideas' seem to consist of adopting ALP policies then trumping them, as with the handicapped insurance scheme. This scheme will be enormously expensive, wipe out a private sector that has existed since colonial days and replace family carers with with professional (read paid) carers. Already, over 800,000 people are on handicapped benefits -- scarcely believable, I know. How many more will we get now? Then there's his so called maternity leave, which is going to pay senior executives $75,000 to pop out a baby before they hand the infant over to a nanny.
Tony Abbott is said to have studied economics. I find that scarcely credible. As an active supporter of Australia's most successful socialist prime minister, John Howard, this should not come as much of a surprise. One day the Chinese will stop buying iron ore and coal and the party will be over. If Tony Abbott is PM when the music stops, as he could very well be, the money for all his 'good idea at the time' programs will stop too, and those people on some sort of government handout -- most of Australia thanks to John Howard's middle class welfare -- will be very, very angry.
With Gough Whitlam, we had 'Towards a New Australia'. About all we about Tony Abbott's policies is that, like Jake and Elwood Blues in 'The Blues Brothers' he's on a mission from God -- and we don't know where he's going.
The same applies to Gough Whitlam and Tony Abbott. The manifesto for the Whitlam government was 'Towards a New Australia', (1972) published by Cheshire for the Victorian Fabian Society. It lays out the Labor program in government. At that time, if you wanted to know where the Labor dog would bite, you could read this book.
Now, by 1972 the Liberal ascendancy was nearing its end. It was stale and some of its policies, such as paying female employees in the public service two-thirds of male salaries, were guaranteed vote losers for half the population. The fag end of the Menzies era consisted of a series of leaders (or should we say losers) who couldn't come to terms with the office. Gough Whitlam was elected prime minister with the slogan 'It's Time' and the majority of the Australian electorate agreed with him. Labor was in power for the first time since 1949.
The Whitlam government gained a reputation for policy making on the run and it's defining motto came to be 'It seemed to be a good idea to the time.' Were still paying for a great many of these 'good ideas' such as defined benefit pensions for public servants and will be for many years to come.
Tony Abbott also has many 'good ideas'. These 'good ideas' seem to consist of adopting ALP policies then trumping them, as with the handicapped insurance scheme. This scheme will be enormously expensive, wipe out a private sector that has existed since colonial days and replace family carers with with professional (read paid) carers. Already, over 800,000 people are on handicapped benefits -- scarcely believable, I know. How many more will we get now? Then there's his so called maternity leave, which is going to pay senior executives $75,000 to pop out a baby before they hand the infant over to a nanny.
Tony Abbott is said to have studied economics. I find that scarcely credible. As an active supporter of Australia's most successful socialist prime minister, John Howard, this should not come as much of a surprise. One day the Chinese will stop buying iron ore and coal and the party will be over. If Tony Abbott is PM when the music stops, as he could very well be, the money for all his 'good idea at the time' programs will stop too, and those people on some sort of government handout -- most of Australia thanks to John Howard's middle class welfare -- will be very, very angry.
With Gough Whitlam, we had 'Towards a New Australia'. About all we about Tony Abbott's policies is that, like Jake and Elwood Blues in 'The Blues Brothers' he's on a mission from God -- and we don't know where he's going.
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