AC Neilson survey - I want to change my mind....

[greggy]

Greggy that is the problem. It is time for a change, but not at the expense of having Unions 'try' to run the show. Howard should have gone before now, but then that would have meant Costello and while I dont mind him, I think I am in the minority. He really does have to work on that smirk er, smile of his.

Hi Prospector,

Mr Costello has been a good Treasurer, but according to a recent poll the Liberals would suffer an even bigger defeat under Costello's leadership. Mr Costello's personality is similar to that of Mr Keating, arrogant, and that is a huge turn off for my liking. You are probably in the minority, but this is a democracy and everyone's opinion is valued. Mr Rudd still has time to make some much needed changes to his IR proposal as he still seems to be getting the benefit of the doubt by the Australian public, but support for him is wavering just a little.

 

[happytown]

government is the shadow cast by big business over society

now more than ever

cheers

 

[Smurf1976]

If you keep pumping the money supply at a double figure growth rate then at some point either the average worker is basically stuffed or we get a massive wages boom.

One or the other is coming no matter if it's Liberal or Labor. And it's bad news overall either way.

Add climate change, peak oil, Iraq / terrorism and the US Dollar issues into the mix and I'm wondering why, exactly, anyone would want to be Prime Minister in the first place.

Surely a smarter strategy would be to have some unpopular policies, lose the election and let the other party take the blame for the trubles ahead. Then in 3 or 6 years time, present yourself as the alternative to all that strife and get a pretty much guaranteed decade plus in office.

 

[billhill]

I do agree with most that labors IR changes are not exactly what the country needs however at least they are not completely tearing them up and anyway there are still question marks over the Libs IR laws. No party will get it entirely perfect. Anyway unless there is a landslide victory to labor a the next election they're unlikely to have control of the senate so current laws will probably remain for the time being. Whats just as concerning to me is the environment, infrastucture, broadband, education, etc and i think labor under rudd has shown greater leadership and thinking in these areas then the howard government. I'm still pretty young and would rather my long term future secured rather then seeing a short term gain.

 

[chops_a_must]

Well, as a small business owner, and with some of their policies coming out, I wanna change my mind! Please please ring me back AC Neilson - anyone else previously thinking maybe Rudd but can see major warning signs?

I have some concerns also.

I'm I guess, what you would call a traditional Labor left type of person, but never voted Labor (always Green) due to my age and disenfranchisement. I was all set to be voting Labor this year... but now I'm not so sure.

I'm also a small business owner (sole operator) and if all things going well, would be looking at taking someone on in a year or so.

However, I'm not sure how I could if Labor have their way. In my industry, there is no union coverage, people are hired on AWA's or on a casual basis. If I went to the unions, and asked for an agreement, they wouldn't be able to provide me one suitable to myself, or to the employee, or in my industry. It's a huge problem. You can't abolish AWA's for industries where there is no collective bargaining and where people are hired on their individual skill set. And this is precisely why unions have failed and are redundant, because they haven't been able to adapt to industries like mine.

As a long time (all of 5 years lol) left wing voter... what do I do? :dunno:

What do people like us do, who want to treat our employees or prospective employees fairly and well, who don't intend on screwing them over? All we want is a good outcome for ourselves and employees.

Rudd needs to clarify all of this in an awful hurry.

I think you biggest problem will be that there are many more workers than business owners that vote.

But I think it's time for the workers to see if they can run the country again only to realise they are workers and should leave running the country to those who run businesses.

Lol. Love your work Kimobaby.

 

[happytown]

and yet the irony that on May day it is alleged that a labour politician 'bullied' big busines escapes all and sundry

cheers

 

[nomore4s]

I have enough trouble getting workers atm, imagine if 2 years paid maternity leave comes in I'll never have anyone working for me, they'll all be on maternity leave.

 

[astroboydivx]

However, I'm not sure how I could if Labor have their way. In my industry, there is no union coverage, people are hired on AWA's or on a casual basis. If I went to the unions, and asked for an agreement, they wouldn't be able to provide me one suitable to myself, or to the employee, or in my industry. It's a huge problem. You can't abolish AWA's for industries where there is no collective bargaining and where people are hired on their individual skill set. And this is precisely why unions have failed and are redundant, because they haven't been able to adapt to industries like mine.

I'm no expert but can't you employ them on a common law individual contract?

 

[chops_a_must]

I'm no expert but can't you employ them on a common law individual contract?

I wouldn't even be able to do that because these contracts (as I understand them) have to have reference to an award, and there is no award rate in my industry! Grrrrr.

It's not even clear (as Keating pointed out) if Rudd will allow these common law individual contracts. It all just seems like a mess.

What will happen is that everyone will have to be contracted out, or become a sub-contractor, and that doesn't help anybody either.

 

[Smurf1976]

...would rather my long term future secured rather then seeing a short term gain.

Strongly agreed regardless of who wins the election.

Today's situation is a direct result of what we did in the past "for the future". Tomorrow does come - 5 or 10 years is nothing in the overall big picture sense - and we need to be planning for it.

IR is one big issue. Water and energy are other obvious ones. Economic risks are another that comes immediately to mind. I'm yet to see any politician address these apart from short term thinking on IR.

Where's the water plan for the long term future of our agriculture and cities?

Where's the energy plan for electricity and transport fuels? What we're doing now is, mostly, not sustainable beyond the near term and yet any major change will take decades to implement even if we had a plan right now.

What about the global economic conditions? The relative decline of the US and in particular the US Dollar is hardly a trivial issue and yet we hear nothing about it.

(For those noting that I missed the environment, any proper water and energy plan will take care of most of the major issues but acknowledged that there are also other issues that are important too. But I don't think the political process can deal with them all at once - hence my leaving it to the water and energy related environmental problems first as they seem most urgent and most likely to gain political support for action).