Apparently, Calliope was a fly on the wall at all the gang of four meetings.
The insulation program was definitely wastefull, but "dodgy mal-practices" only relate to the private contractors installing the insulation, not the government.
That's not quite right, Macquack. The government failed to put sufficient safeguards in place or do proper checks on installers. The programme was just made to be rorted, and that's of course what happened.
Ditto the BER with its ridiculously over priced buildings.
There was good sense behind some sort of stimulus programme, but in their haste, they failed to set all the schemes up and supervise them properly.
There's now intimidation of school principals who want to report price gouging.
Rubbish, the gang of four were party to all Rudd's bad decisions, and Gillard has not backed away from the BER or roof insulation wasteful and dodgy mal-practices..
That's true, and it's to her credit that she has acknowledged her share of blame.
Rudd had to go, not because of his bad decisions, but because Gillard, acting on instructions from her factional masters, betrayed him. His sin was that he didn't suck up to a faction.
Probably right, but my guess is that the other deciding factor in his execution was that the government realised the miners had them over a barrel and that the tax would have to so modified as to bear only a passing resemblance to the original. Kevin Rudd couldn't be seen to make yet another major backflip without exposing the Party to utter ridicule, thus cementing Abbott's increasing confidence, so Rudd was tossed out with the idea that Julia would come along with her smiles and charm, and her (genuine, I think) conciliatory approach and be able to persuade voters that she didn't really, truly, absolutely go along with the tax, she was just pretending, and what she really wanted was the new modified version.
Just a theory of course.
In the spirit of Keating. She will be much more straight and inspiring than
Kevin Rudd.
She may well be. Too early to know yet. She will at least give the impression of being straight.
I like her clear refusal to swear on the Bible, and to be candid about being an agnostic or atheist. That's a strong point in her favour for me, after Rudd and Abbott being such godbotherers.
Rudd was not elected at all, the election was lost in the main by Howard's love affair with GWB and the fight against terrorism in mostly the wrong places. As well on the same sword fell Blair in the UK.
Rudd in fact emulated many of Howard's traits, aloof, manic for press and to stand by the man of the us of a. Starts to wear thin when you are cutting back on food to ensure the mortgage repayments.
That's bull**** explod.
Howard lost because people like my cousins got sick of being called after a 9am to 5pm day and being told by their employer to return to work at 7pm at the family dinner table on the threat of being dismissed. FAIR GO
I think you're both right. The Howard government was tired, or at least perceived as such, and Work Choices really finished them off. It was the last straw for the people who had been so dismayed about Howard's enthusiasm to involve us in wars that were none of our business.