2013 Federal Election: 7 September 2013

[Julia]

I have had a look at my candidates and I can't find Rudd, Abbot or Milne among them. Funny how folks say the they will/will not vote for Rudd or Abbot or Milne when they are not candidates in their electorate.

Hardly surprising, however, given the presidential nature of this campaign.

I will do what I always do, vote for the candidate who will best represent my electorate.

I'd imagine that's what most of us will do.

If your local representative was in your opinion less than competent, but he represented the party that you believe will best manage Australia, would you still vote for him/her?

Likewise, if the candidate was in your opinion competent, but you did not believe the party he/she represents is the best option for Australia as a whole, how would you vote?

In both above scenarios, let's say the seat is a marginal one where your vote actually matters.

 

[johenmo]

Hang on a minute – what’s so bad about kids being unable to read when they start school?
I couldn’t read when I started school, and there’s nothing wrong with my reading and writing skills now.
One of my kids is a medical student and was top of her school year for ten years in a row in a private school that was the fourth highest academic achiever in Queensland - and she couldn’t read when she started school either.

For some - nothing at all. For others, they are at a disadvantage. If the household supports them after they start school they'll catchup. Not everyone is academically gifted and/or supported at home or able to attend a school with the support. Govt schools don't have the funds to deal with the current size of the problem. I heard a teacher who's child started school & couldn't read say "that's what school is for". Her child struggled for the first couple of years and it was one-on-one work that got the child up to average. Our kids sound like yours. I believe it's parental responsibility to prepare kids for school, that's all.

 

[Calliope]

I have had a look at my candidates and I can't find Rudd, Abbot or Milne among them. Funny how folks say the they will/will not vote for Rudd or Abbot or Milne when they are not candidates in their electorate.
I will do what I always do, vote for the candidate who will best represent my electorate.

Nobody in my electorate of Fisher no one will be voting on for Abbott or Rudd. It is a vote of good versus evil.

Peter Slipper, who arrived late, was keen to talk about his more distant past - as an altar boy. Despite having hit the national headlines over sending sexually charged text messages to his gay staffer James Ashby, Mr Slipper spoke at length of the need to protect Australia's Christian values.

He defended his record of 20 years in getting funding and infrastructure for the Coast, including the university and the Bruce Highway upgrade, and vowed to fight to keep the state Sunshine Coast University Hospital in public hands.

Mal Brough "despaired" at the direction Australia was heading, referring to the alcohol problems and child abuse in Aboriginal communities and also in mainstream society.

He also took the opportunity to again defend his role in assisting James Ashby, the staffer who lodged a sexual harassment case against Mr Slipper that was later thrown out on for being an "abuse of process".

Mr Brough said he was only helping Mr Ashby, would do so again and believed he would be vindicated in an upcoming appeal.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/passion-shines-in-fisher-outsiders/1993779/

 

[Country Lad]

If your local representative was in your opinion less than competent, but he represented the party that you believe will best manage Australia, would you still vote for him/her?

No. That has happened where we had a complete ******** representing Canberra in our electorate and we may as well not have been part of Australia.

Likewise, if the candidate was in your opinion competent, but you did not believe the party he/she represents is the best option for Australia as a whole, how would you vote?

Yes, unless one of the "cuckoo land parties" has the best candidates, but I have found that these usually have an IQ number around their boot size.

Let's face it, the whole system is broken. Has been ever since the political party ideology has pervaded the Senate and stuffed its real purpose.

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[Calliope]

But not before he flew a taxpayer funded jet to Brisbane for a cooking show on the ABC during the afternoon before arriving in Canberra around 6pm...


Read about it here: Rudd’s goose is cooked

Rudd obviously used this show to demonstrate how charming he is when dealing with women. But then he wouldn't dare try to bully Annabel Crabb.

Her public face is also deceptively charming, but behind the facade she is pure steel.

 

[moXJO]

That is really a myth

IIRC rents increased in 4 capitals and decreased / stagnated in 4.

So if the removal of NG had been the cause of the rent increases it would seem strange to only affect some cities and not others?

Also, if 90% of IP loans are written to purchase existing properties, then how does the current NG system help with supply?

If the removal of NG causesd a reduction in investor demand then either current investors sit tight - no change in rental supply - or they start to sell - since no new investors willing to buy then you would have to think FHB would step in.

The current NG system does NOTHING to increase rental supply

Yeah thats what was reported at the time myth or not, the govt did a back flip not long after. Gloss it up all you like

 

[bunyip]

I will do what I always do, vote for the candidate who will best represent my electorate.

Cheers
Country Lad

I’ll put the best interests of Australia first, by voting for the LNP candidate in my electorate.

 

[bunyip]

Our kids sound like yours. I believe it's parental responsibility to prepare kids for school, that's all.

Depends on what you mean by ‘prepare’. We read to our kids long before they started school, encouraged their natural curiosity and love of learning that is common to all kids.
But we didn’t see any need to teach them to read.

My baby boomer generation has generally better literacy and numeracy skills than todays kids, and I can tell you that a much lower percentage of us went to kindy or pre-school or had any kind of training to prepare us for school.
We raced around outside and did normal kid things until we got called in for dinner and then bed. We were usually too worn out from being normal kids to have much time or interest for books. Pre schools and kindy were not even available to me. Nor were TV and computer games.
I could think of a dozen reasons why some kids might struggle while others don’t. And they’re not necessarily related to whether or not they could read before they started school.
Not that I think the ability to read is any disadvantage to a child starting school for the first time. But nor do I think it’s a necessary attribute to ensure that kids can perform well.

I have no doubt that we could substantially lift literacy and numeracy standards of our schools simply by reinstating the learning system that was in place during my school days. Seems to me the education department did to education what Rudd did to the Pacific Solution....tried to fix a system that wasn’t broken.
Whoever wins government on September 7, I’d like to see them consulting those who are familiar with the school curriculum of five decades ago, and using that as a general blueprint for todays curriculum.

 

[Julia]

If your local representative was in your opinion less than competent, but he represented the party that you believe will best manage Australia, would you still vote for him/her?

No. That has happened where we had a complete ******** representing Canberra in our electorate and we may as well not have been part of Australia.

Likewise, if the candidate was in your opinion competent, but you did not believe the party he/she represents is the best option for Australia as a whole, how would you vote?

Yes, unless one of the "cuckoo land parties" has the best candidates, but I have found that these usually have an IQ number around their boot size.

I'm in a safe National seat so my vote is pretty irrelevant. The long term sitting member, a really great bloke, retired when the election was called. His replacement is not up to scratch.

The best individual imo is a bloke who was previously an Independent and was instrumental in bringing the "Dr Death" case. Unfortunately he has now joined the crazy Clive Palmer so I couldn't bring myself to vote for him.

My baby boomer generation has generally better literacy and numeracy skills than todays kids, and I can tell you that a much lower percentage of us went to kindy or pre-school or had any kind of training to prepare us for school.
We raced around outside and did normal kid things until we got called in for dinner and then bed. We were usually too worn out from being normal kids to have much time or interest for books. Pre schools and kindy were not even available to me. Nor were TV and computer games.

Probably depends on where you were brought up and the attitudes of your parents.
My parents taught me to read long before school start, and books, visits to the library etc, plus kindy, took a much higher priority than racing round outside.

 

[Ves]

I'm in a safe National seat so my vote is pretty irrelevant. The long term sitting member, a really great bloke, retired when the election was called. His replacement is not up to scratch.

The best individual imo is a bloke who was previously an Independent and was instrumental in bringing the "Dr Death" case. Unfortunately he has now joined the crazy Clive Palmer so I couldn't bring myself to vote for him.

Are you talking about Rob Messenger? If so, from the accounts of friends who have lived up that way, it sounds like you live in a beautiful part of the world, Julia.

 

[Julia]

Are you talking about Rob Messenger? If so, from the accounts of friends who have lived up that way, it sounds like you live in a beautiful part of the world, Julia.

Yes, Rob Messenger. He did a great job supporting the nurse whistleblower in the Dr Jayant Patel case.

 

[bunyip]

The best individual imo is a bloke who was previously an Independent and was instrumental in bringing the "Dr Death" case. Unfortunately he has now joined the crazy Clive Palmer so I couldn't bring myself to vote for him.

Clive Palmer was on TV last night. When the interviewer asked him about the cost of his policies, Clive’s answer was something along the lines of ‘Stuff the cost, who cares about the cost, just do it’!

Clive should stick to business and leave politics to politicians who can speak sense.

 

[Logique]

Green Malcolm
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/ - 25 August 2013

Is this the guy who should be the Conservative Leader?

 

[sydboy007]

Clive Palmer was on TV last night. When the interviewer asked him about the cost of his policies, Clive’s answer was something along the lines of ‘Stuff the cost, who cares about the cost, just do it’!

Clive should stick to business and leave politics to politicians who can speak sense.

I definitely wouldn't invest in a company he's running. Perfect way to bankruptcy if you don't care about costs.

 

[sydboy007]

So Tony says to trust him, and he'll lead the path to smaller Government. Ah Tony, PPL and DA are not ways to smaller Government, at least from my perspective!

Ah Tony the form you have from being in the Howard Govt is not encouraging.

As you can see below Howard ran a very BIG Government - 1 of the highest taxing in history as a % of GDP. I wonder if Abbott will know how to keep spending within revenue levels some 2.5-3% lower than he was used to in power? That's at least $35B less - hmm that's roughly what Saul Eslake thinks Abbott needs to find in savings just to match Labors current deficit target. Maybe Tony hasn't quite got his head around just how poorly revenue is coming in these days. Not even another halving of CGT to spur on house price inflation is going to help him out this time.

 

[Calliope]

Don't send in the clown.

Call it blowback, call it karma, but in Australia's longest-running election campaign, Julia Gillard and then Rudd both sought to make Tony Abbott's character the central issue and both saw their own reputations wilt instead. Rudd, with his distinct combination of owlish face, preachy persona, punctilious speech and negative tactics, is in danger of becoming what politicians most dread, a joke.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smile-youre-on-candidate-camera-20130825-2sjrn.html#ixzz2d25NuIfX

 

[drsmith]

Syd,

I'd like to see the above graphic back to the start of the Hawke/Keating government and it to also include government expenditure as a proportion of GDP.

 

[sydboy007]

Syd,

I'd like to see the above graphic back to the start of the Hawke/Keating government and it to also include government expenditure as a proportion of GDP.

Me too. If you can find one please share.

Sometimes i feel these kinds of Govt statistics are near state secrets. Practically impossible to find.

 

[drsmith]

While there's been a slight improvement in Labor's numbers (in particular its primary vote) in the latest Newspoll, 2PP is still 53% in favour of the Coalition. Newspoll last week was also a bit of an outlier in comparison to the other polls.

Sportsbet though still has Labor going backwards. Odds are now $1.06/$9.50 in favour of the Coalition and the handicap also continues to rise, now at 20.5 seats.

This week is where it might become more interesting with the Coalition to release some detail on savings.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/interview-with-tony-abbott/4911560

 

[sydboy007]

Syd,

I'd like to see the above graphic back to the start of the Hawke/Keating government and it to also include government expenditure as a proportion of GDP.

This report is the best I could find - http://ipa.org.au/library/publication/1367829888_document_paper_-_australias_big_government_-_may_2013.pdf

I think the IPA is a bit right leaning but the report is a reasonable read. Probably agree more often than not with what they say.

Pertinent table for historical readings on Govt revenue against GDP is below.

Second table shows some of the major spending areas. Note tthey don't classify as welfare things like family tax benefits / health insurance rebate / child care fees rebate and other programs like that, so I think they are terribly under reporting the level of welfare payments

Another table in the report shows we have over 16% of the population receiving welfare payments, but once again it's a gross under reporting.

The third table shows what a big public sector employer Howard was.