2010 Federal Election

[Julia]

Had to say I was surprised and impressed with Julia Gillard on QANDA tonight.

Seemed absolutely on top of all the questions. Managed to answer them properly (or was reminded to do so and responded) Didn't over talk or become boring. Didn't seem to use the negativity card that much. Overall warm, witty and wise. When they panned across the audience everyone seemed quite focused on her responses.

I've only watched the first half but found it entirely predictable and pretty boring. She declared all the questions asked were "great questions" and for the most part then proceeded not to answer them.

Tony Jones was much better than usual in bringing her back to the question. She did look pretty uncomfortable when asked if she had apologised to Kevin Rudd.

She did give a great reply to how she would rate Mark Latham.

But overall, to me it's like someone pressing "Play" on a tape recorder as the same cliches are trotted out time after time. I just can't get any sense of who she is underneath the cardboard cutout, carefully scripted persona.

Q&A is all scripted and carefully answered before hand. I say bring back the school kids to ask on the spot questions.

Yep, I agree. It was quite obvious that QANDA was well and truly scripted.

 

[moXJO]

I think labor will take it out.

Liberals have already said they will vote against the internet filter either way, but are against the NBN. So most tech heads will simply vote labor and get both their wishes. While against the idea of spending that much money, I am for NBN now after talks with those in the industry.
Labor is also spending (wasting) more on infrastructure which is needed.
Liberals policies are not really being heard by the public.
Labor voters rust on pretty quick as well, despite cockups to the wazoo. It would take a whole lot more pain for voters to wake up and change yet. And if they were not swayed by the past years disasters and the axing of Rudd, then labor is a safe bet.

 

[drsmith]

I think labor will take it out.

I'm backing disunity within the ALP to be the defining issue.

If not then Bob Hawke after all this time will be wrong.

 

[Calliope]

Brave, sick Kevin for godsakes, he had a minor keyhole operation.

Q&A last night.

Ms Gillard refused to say that she had apologised "face to face" to Mr Rudd but described him as brave for leaving his sick bed to campaign for Labor. She said the Rudd government had been in a "downward spiral" until six weeks ago, forcing her to step in.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/features/fed...qa/story-e6frfllr-1225903234507#ixzz0wBa07CjC

 

[drsmith]

With all the shenanigans going on with costings claims, Kerry O'Brian's interview with Tony Abbott tonight should be interesting.

 

[IFocus]

There was a party political broadcast from Ms Gillard on ABC Radio this evening. She compared Australia's position with that of e.g. the US and Europe. She didn't, of course, see any need to mention that Australia had a very healthy surplus, well regulated banks, and overall an economic situation completely different from those countries with whom she was making the comparison.

Our banks didn't take up a lot exposure to the various leveraged toxic paper being sold around the globe and this was due to the fact that they were absolutely creaming it here with fees. Hence our banks didn't take a hit like many others in the US / Europe.
Regulation I believe had very little to do with this aspect more straight out dumb luck.

Another point largely overlooked was Ken Henry convinced Rudd, Swan and Tanner to go early in front of the curve unlike US / Europe that went behind the curve. This was because of Henry's experience from pass down turns and dealing with the serve drop in confidence.

The threat I believe from the current Liberal front bench is that they some how know better and would dismiss Treasury's advice.

 

[Calliope]

In Kerry O'Brien's interview wth Tony Abbott tonight O'Brien was at his nastiest. Abbott acquitted himself well.

 

[basilio]

Interesting 7.30 program with Kerry O'Brien and Tony Abbott.

I thought Kerry dissected Tony's policies very carefully. Managed to point out that during the GFC the govt lost $110m in income from tax side and that as far as stimulus packages the opposition supported all of the first $25 b and about half of the next package. There was about $20b of stimulus package that the Liberals didn't support.

What all that meant was that when the Liberals are decrying the $200b government debt Labour ran up in fact there is only about $20b they could/would have done differently.

Worth a look in IView to make up your own mind.

 

[nioka]

Abbott acquitted himself well.

Not how I saw the result. You should look at it with both eyes. He has almost lost the vote from me that he almost had as a result of his puny answers.

 

[So_Cynical]

I found another little, somewhat amusing election video.

Election 2010 Spoof Trailer - GetUp!
~


And Tony Abbott's archaic views
~

 

[trainspotter]

xxx

 

[trainspotter]

Interesting 7.30 program with Kerry O'Brien and Tony Abbott.

I thought Kerry dissected Tony's policies very carefully. Managed to point out that during the GFC the govt lost $110m in income from tax side and that as far as stimulus packages the opposition supported all of the first $25 b and about half of the next package. There was about $20b of stimulus package that the Liberals didn't support.

What all that meant was that when the Liberals are decrying the $200b government debt Labour ran up in fact there is only about $20b they could/would have done differently.

Worth a look in IView to make up your own mind.

Yeppers 20 billion australian dollars ... now say it real slowly ......... twenty thousand million dollars .... yeppers ............. T W E N T Y B I L L I O N D O L L A R S !!

Now lets say they have got this at ummmmmmmmmm 3% from an offshore source ...... what is the interest on this basilio ???

Gosh ...... a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money !

Do you see any infrastructure? How about a hospital or two? What about a pay rise for the coppers, nurses and teachers? Any more doctors or beds in the wards?

Where did it go? Ohhhhhhhhhhh in your roof and for school halls and the green energy rebates. What happened to them? Ohhhhhhhhh theyr'e being investigated for rorting ??? Yep ....... money well spent. I am so glad the Labor Party spent my future on this !

 

[tayser]

The Liberals announced their so-called National Broadband Network today, and predictably - and correctly - they're getting mauled for it.

No vision, back to the good old days of Telstra swinging its over-sized dick around no ubiquity whatsoever, completely and utterly woeful.

 

[Julia]

In Kerry O'Brien's interview wth Tony Abbott tonight O'Brien was at his nastiest. Abbott acquitted himself well.

I actually thought quite the opposite, i.e. that Kerry O'Brien was more benign than usual and Tony Abbott looked a total fool over the Libs' broadband policy. It's just not OK to say "oh, I'm no tech-head" and fail to be able to articulate how the plan will work.
Mr Abbott did improve later in the interview, but still was hardly convincing.

What all that meant was that when the Liberals are decrying the $200b government debt Labour ran up in fact there is only about $20b they could/would have done differently.[/B]

The Libs have never said they would not have instituted a stimulus package.
What they would have done is spend it on essential infrastructure that would offer jobs and lasting benefits into the future, rather than waste it on cash handouts and rorted stuff like the pink batts and overpriced school halls.

Re taking the advice from Treasury, considering how often Treasury gets it wrong, I wouldn't be putting any store by their advice being best.

Someone on "Insight" tonight, when asked who they would be voting for, said "The Reserve Bank: they seem to be the only people who know how to run the country". An astute observation.

 

[IFocus]

A slightly more balanced view of stimulus

"Claims of stimulus waste were greatly exaggerated "

Media reporting and opposition politicking have left many people with the impression much, if not most, and maybe even all of the billions spent on school buildings under the Rudd government's stimulus package has been wasted.

It will have delivered more than 10,500 construction projects to more than 7900 primary schools by late next year. About a third of the money is going on multi-purpose halls, almost 30 per cent on classrooms and a quarter on libraries, with the remainder going on covered outdoor learning areas and other things.

Spending of the money is being administered by 22 state government, Catholic and independent school authorities. Although the NSW government accounts for 22 per cent of the projects, it attracted 56 per cent of the complaints. The Victorian government, with a 12 per cent share of projects, attracted 20 per cent of the complaints.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/claims-of-stimulus-waste-were-greatly-exaggerated-20100808-11qdj.html

 

[IFocus]

Hockey uses the line government borrowing effect interest rates for banks........

One way the Liberals do this (so far it hasn't suited Labor to run this line) is to exaggerate the effect of the budget on the level of interest rates. One rarely fully articulated argument is that budget deficits - which have to be covered by government borrowing - leave fewer funds available to be borrowed by the private sector and thus force up interest rates.

This would be true if our capital markets were cut off from the rest of the world but, since they're not, it isn't. Effectively, both our public and private sectors borrow in the global market, where their demand is too small to have any effect on world interest rates.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/dont-be-fooled-by-debt-spin-20100806-11ogq.html

 

[trainspotter]

A slightly more balanced view of stimulus

"Claims of stimulus waste were greatly exaggerated "

http://www.smh.com.au/business/claims-of-stimulus-waste-were-greatly-exaggerated-20100808-11qdj.html

Very true Ifocus but if this were the case why has the BER and the pink batts as well as the green rebates been suspended and an independent inquiry called?

THE NSW government yesterday made the first official admission that the federal government's $16 billion school building program is failing to deliver value for money after Education Minister Verity Firth reversed a decision to build an overpriced $1 million shade structure instead of new classrooms.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/pol...ip-off-admission/story-e6frgczf-1225845583633

Oh well ......... hardly a rip off at all then?

 

[Calliope]

I actually thought quite the opposite, i.e. that Kerry O'Brien was more benign than usual and Tony Abbott looked a total fool over the Libs' broadband policy. It's just not OK to say "oh, I'm no tech-head" and fail to be able to articulate how the plan will work.
Mr Abbott did improve later in the interview, but still was hardly convincing.

He was never going to be able to provide a good argument against Labor's broadband policy, except Labor's dismal efforts at managing anything, and that's why O'Brien concentrated on that. But then who does understand it?

Everybody wants faster broadband. But not everybody needs it. I live in a regional area and get efficient service on ADSL2+. Spending 42 billion would provide me with a speedier service that I don't need. Providing fibre optic cabling to every home is wasteful.

I think the money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[drsmith]

I actually thought quite the opposite, i.e. that Kerry O'Brien was more benign than usual and Tony Abbott looked a total fool over the Libs' broadband policy. It's just not OK to say "oh, I'm no tech-head" and fail to be able to articulate how the plan will work.
Mr Abbott did improve later in the interview, but still was hardly convincing.

My thoughts too. He looked like a fool over his complete lack of knowledge on broadband. He does not have to be a Bill Gates but some basic knowledge about their own policy would obviously have been useful.

Has the Coalition anywhere responded to the questions of towers and spectrum that was raised in the wake of their broadband proposal ?

The Coalition have argued themselves into a bit of a hole over debt and deficit but it's not difficult to argue that they could have got more value for money/spent less money and achieved the same employment result given the problems the goverment has had with the administration of these measures.

Joe Hockey during the treasurer's debate commented that the coaltition suggested $15-20bn as a response to the ALP's $42bn with the intention of negotiating. This would suggest the Coalition was prepared to spend more but obviously not as much as the ALP's $40-odd bn.

On other economic matters, Hockey has a good point regarding the leaking of treasurary estimates of savings from scrapping the NBN and it will be interesting to see where the truth lies there. Their handling of the ALP's current spending however is amateurish at best, even to the point on how it's displayed on the Coalition's website. In addition to a decimal point error (small beer) and one (or more) duplications (relatively small beer), have they have included government policies that have been re-badged for the election and possibly have prior funding ?

They are foolish to think that at this stage the government would leave itself exposed to a 3.whatever billion $ black hole and should check the detail far better than they have.

I said somewhere that the Coalition will win if they don't trip over their own feet. They have had some serious stumbles today.

 

[moXJO]

A slightly more balanced view of stimulus

"Claims of stimulus waste were greatly exaggerated "

Giving everyone $900 kind of throws out any argument that it was sensible spending.

The Liberals announced their so-called National Broadband Network today, and predictably - and correctly - they're getting mauled for it.

No vision, back to the good old days of Telstra swinging its over-sized dick around no ubiquity whatsoever, completely and utterly woeful.

Libs have shot themselves in the foot over saying they will oppose this and the mining tax IMO.