Kevin Rudd

[bunyip]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

I'm getting a bit fed up with Rudd bashing in this forum.

I think Rudd deserves every bit of the bashing he gets from this forum, and from various other sources. In fact he's even resorted to bashing himself by admitting tonight on TV that his performance as PM and the performance of his government haven't been up to scratch, and 'we're getting a good whacking, and we deserve it'. (his words, not mine).

The Peter Garrett debacle has been a joke. Typical ALP - just like they did when they took poor old Cheryl Kernot into the fold, they selected Peter Garrett on the basis of his high profile, irrespective of his lack of political experience.
Kernot at least had political experience, but little in the way of ability. Garrett had neither political experience nor ability.
It's a poor reflection on Rudd's judgement that he'd take on a bloke who is a tree hugger and a former rock star, and promote him to one of the senior government portfolios. Exactly what Garrett had to offer in the way of political ability, escapes me. But his high profile as a rock star was what attracted Rudd, not his political ability. I'd say that's a pretty poor reason for selecting someone to join the team that runs the country. Rudd is now learning that the hard way.

He and his unionist/rock star government are stumbling along like a bunch of amateurs, making one stuff up after another. As Calliope points out, they're sadly lacking in people who have experience in running an efficient business.

On top of that, Rudd is forever behaving like a dingbat by pulling stilly stunts to draw attention to himself and put across the image that he's a good, down to earth bloke.
The general public are starting to see straight through him. Pity they didn't see through him before they elected him, but better late than never.

 

[specialed]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

I'm getting a bit fed up with Rudd bashing in this forum.

"Rudd degrading the office of PM" What unspeakable act, gross studipity, corruption or whatever justifies such a statement . ([I Of course I'm sure one of our resident rudd bashers can find some excuse to warrant the slur.[/I])

I think Kevin Rudd can be fairly criticized and if he doesn't have a good rethink about how effective the public service needs to be he deserves to get a boot up the bum. I suspect it might come from his own side however.

But when I think of people who "degrade the office of PM" I keep remembering Howard deliberately vilifying boat people( "Children overboard") to split the Labour party and fire up some good old fashioned hate and fear politics.


I remember the decision to support the war in Iraq when there was plenty of evidence that it was totally dishonest ie there were no weapons of mass destruction, Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.

I suggest Rudd has a long way to go before he reaches those levels of duplicity.

Can we tone down the hate mail ?

Gameshows and Breakfast tv should be beneath someone in the role of PM. Whether or not you agree with Howards decision to go to war, or even teh children overboard affair, these were at least politcal acts.... Appearing on Good News Week is nothing more than a PR exercise.. Off hand I cant remember any cheap PR stuns by Howard, I'm sure there may have been some in the end....it took Rudd about 10 hours

 

[specialed]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

When is someone going to ask Rudd if the school halls will need to audited for safety so children are not the next casulty caused by a rushed policy decision

 

[Julia]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

:

The 5 online betting agency's taking bets on the election all have the ALP at about $1.28 and the LNP $3.80, now for those amongst us that are super conservative and don't have a good understanding of gambling ill put this in terms they can easily understand.

You seem to be confused here. The LNP only applies in Queensland, so any comparison between the national ALP and the LNP would be meaningless.

I'm getting a bit fed up with Rudd bashing in this forum.

I think Kevin Rudd can be fairly criticized and if he doesn't have a good rethink about how effective the public service needs to be he deserves to get a boot up the bum. I suspect it might come from his own side however.

But when I think of people who "degrade the office of PM" I keep remembering Howard deliberately vilifying boat people( "Children overboard") to split the Labour party and fire up some good old fashioned hate and fear politics.

I remember the decision to support the war in Iraq when there was plenty of evidence that it was totally dishonest ie there were no weapons of mass destruction, Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.

I suggest Rudd has a long way to go before he reaches those levels of duplicity.

Can we tone down the hate mail ?

You're quite right in suggesting all politicians have their failings. It just happens that John Howard and whatever his decisions were (and I absolutely agree with you about the evidence for going to war in Iraq) are history.

Mr Rudd is our present Prime Minister, and he is finally being held to account for at least some of his rushed and improvident decisions.

As Bunyip has observed, Peter Garrett had zilch in the way of qualifications for political office and if the Labor Party took him on to capitalise on his rock star reputation, they have now adequately paid for such stupidity.
He is completely unsuited to a life in politics.

Meantime, he has effectively no job, other than maybe opening Art Gallery exhibitions and having his picture taken with the odd koala or hairy nosed wombat. For this we taxpayers will continue to reward him in undue proportions to the contribution he makes.

Mr Rudd should have had the courage to simply sack him. But to do so would have been to hang Garrett out to dry for a whole of government decision. Rudd, being the micro manager that he is, would have told Garrett to rush the roll out of the programme, with now obvious lack of regard for appropriate safety standards.

There's a silver lining to the insulation debacle: we now know better than to expect that Federal Labor would do a better job than the States on Health.

I'd like to see the Opposition blow torch next directed onto the NBN project for which apparently the government have done absolutely no research.
It seems likely that if it comes to fruition, by that time it will be superseded technologically, and quite possibly too expensive for the average household to adopt.

 

[Duckman#72]

Re: Media turns on Rudd

The fact is we were very, very, lucky.

Lucky that the rise of commodity boom times fed back into our economy remember the libs were in power during a massive expansion of gov income.

This is a common misconception. The benefits of the mining boom were primarily slewed to the tail end of the Howard era. It also coincided with the Libs getting lazy on policy.

Lucky that Howard didn't win the election with his over the top ambitious spending plans.

We should thank our lucky stars that we had a fiscal conservative at the helm while navigating through the GFC.

Lucky that our banks rip us off on the fees they charge and make embarrassingly large amounts of profit so didn't need to get over exposed to derivatives. This is the really big one.

I agree...to a point. But it wasn't luck, it was part of the legislative banking guidelines put down by Costello. The fact that Australia's banks weren't caught up big time with Mortgaged Back Securities can be attributed more to Costello than luck.

Lucky housing prices remained up under pinned by gov 1st home buyers so under pinning banks cap levels. I could go on and on but the GFC was a contagion and people have remarkably short memory's.

I agree to both comments.

Oh and the fat lady still hasn't sung yet now that sovereign risk is in play and Australia cannot afford a dim wit like Barnaby running finance and a shadow treasurer that can only say glib one liners.

For a start we already have a Shadow Treasurer that can only say glib one liners. Actually I'm not even sure they are glib. Secondly would the Coalition done any worse than the following:

* Spending $43 Billion on a new communications network without a clear business plan
* Give away a quarter of a billion to the TV stations in an election year for no increase in Aussie content.
* Design and implement the now infamous ceiling insulation program without reading Government requested reports.

Not to mention the "computer for classrooms" disaster, the "halls/fences/sporting complexes for schools whether you need it or not" scheme and the "we'll-fix-it" insulation bailout(on top of the inital waste).

Be careful about who you are calling dim wits IFocus .

Duckman

 

[drsmith]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

Top of the list was something like 'Gee whiz, this governemnt stuff (I'm sure there was a 'business of' in there somewhere) is a bit harder than we thought' This commetn made in trying to explain the undelivered promises and poorly executed schemes.

They worked out how to win an election against a Prime Minister that was past his best-by-date but obviously not much beyond that.

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

I am watching Rudd on Insiders this morning.

He looks rattled, will not answer a question directly (as ever) and even has Barrie Cassidy a left wing commentator unable to save him from himself.

He's doing a comprehensive "Peter Beattie" impersonation, but not as convincingly.

Just watched Rudd on Insiders.

Barrie Cassidy as predicted, SOFTLY-SOFTLY-SOFTLY.

Give Cassidy 1 out 0f 10 against Red Kerrie 10 out of 10 on the 7.30 report.

Rudd did look a little rattled in his impersiation of Peter Beattie. He has a lot of catching up to do to match our dear old Pete.

Just watched the piece and have come to the conclusion that you guys are delusional...rattled, lol just lol opcorn:

http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

 

[drsmith]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

The grin on his face when he was responding to questions about hospitals suggests to me that he knows he's full of crap.

 

[IFocus]

Re: Media turns on Rudd

* Spending $43 Billion on a new communications network without a clear business plan
* Give away a quarter of a billion to the TV stations in an election year for no increase in Aussie content.
* Design and implement the now infamous ceiling insulation program without reading Government requested reports.

Not to mention the "computer for classrooms" disaster, the "halls/fences/sporting complexes for schools whether you need it or not" scheme and the "we'll-fix-it" insulation bailout(on top of the inital waste).

Be careful about who you are calling dim wits IFocus .

Duckman

Agree with this, Conroy is a big disappointment (read dud) and Garrett nuf said.

Still has to be the poorest team on all things economy the Libs have ever had, Barnaby should be on the front bench but not finance........it has a real chance of haunting Abbott.

 

[drsmith]

Re: Media turns on Rudd

The Coalition is not ready to govern and the current lot are, well, not too good at it.

Oh the pain! The pain!

 

[Calliope]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

I'm getting a bit fed up with Rudd bashing in this forum.

But when I think of people who "degrade the office of PM" I keep remembering Howard deliberately vilifying boat people( "Children overboard") to split the Labour party and fire up some good old fashioned "hate and fear politics hate and fear politics.

The Rudd haters are suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, They still need a regular fix of "children overboard" to keep their spirits up.

And as for "hate and fear politics" Rudd was driving his GW campaign based on hatred of the sceptics and fear of a cataclysmic disaster. But that's only to be expected of a serial liar and manipulator, who each day degrades his office further.

 

[basilio]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

The Rudd haters are suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, They still need a regular fix of "children overboard" to keep their spirits up.

And as for "hate and fear politics" Rudd was driving his GW campaign based on hatred of the sceptics and fear of a cataclysmic disaster. But that's only to be expected of a serial liar and manipulator, who each day degrades his office further.

Thanks for another measured response Calliope

I repeat. Being critical of some poor decisions and in particular how well a government is administering the economy is one thing. Just turning the argument into vitriol and hate is, in my view, going too far. I just don't believe the government deserves that sort of abuse. (But then who ever said the world was fair and rational!)

I am very disappointed and angry with how the insulation and Green Loans programs have been handled. I believe they were fundamentally good ideas but were simply not thought through properly and did not have proper supervision to pick up on the rapidly expanding rorts. In fact one of the serious failures of the public service as a whole (IMO) is an inability or unwillingness to actually check out reality for themselves rather than waiting for formal reports and end of project analysis.

Back in the real world I suggest that politicians and Public Service from all sides attempt to brazen out sticky situations rather than quickly accepting there are stuff ups and addressing them. If there is anything that should come out of the current debacles it should be a willingness to keep a closer eye on how projects are being administered and being prepared to act when it goes off the rails.

Or is that just far too sensible for real politick ?

 

[Calliope]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

Thanks for another measured response Calliope...

In fact one of the serious failures of the public service as a whole (IMO) is an inability or unwillingness to actually check out reality for themselves rather than waiting for formal reports and end of project analysis.

Bureaucrats are total failures at managing any enterprise whether it be pink bats, hospitals, aboriginal housing, broadband roll out, renewable energy, etc. Especially when they are given a fist full of dollars with no checks and balances and exhorted by Rudd to spend, spend, spend.

It is good to see that you have not lost your faith in Rudd. He has rewarded your faith by becoming the great apologist. He has now taken the sins of all his cabinet on his own shoulders. This is almost Christ-like. Perhaps one day Saint Kevin may lay down his life to absolve us of all our sins.

 

[lasty]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

Rudd deserves the lashings from this forum and all the other media outlets.
Even the beloved SMH lefty medium has given him a whack !
The spin doctors have come out with a doosey looking for the sympathy vote.
Rudd has so many advisors who can he trust? Are they setting him up?
One ALP MP came out in support and said they had too many projects.
No they didnt have projects, they had pipedreams with no substance.
Obviously the Rudd supporters are getting rattled and coming out in support.
Why support this idiot? Infact they are all idiots and politicians have lost all credibility as they are in it for the gravy train and not the taxpayer.

I have questioned the mental ability of Rudd. Im now questioning the mental ability of his supporters as well.

 

[snowking]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

It is good to see that you have not lost your faith in Rudd. He has rewarded your faith by becoming the great apologist. He has now taken the sins of all his cabinet on his own shoulders. This is almost Christ-like. Perhaps one day Saint Kevin may lay down his life to absolve us of all our sins.

He will then rise again to show us how truly divine he really is.

 

[lasty]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

He will then rise again to show us how truly divine he really is.

He is not the messiah. He is very naughty boy !

Rudd is a souffle.. He may rise once more but lacks substance.

 

[jetblack]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

............................

It is good to see that you have not lost your faith in Rudd. He has rewarded your faith by becoming the great apologist. He has now taken the sins of all his cabinet on his own shoulders. This is almost Christ-like. Perhaps one day Saint Kevin may lay down his life to absolve us of all our sins.

I dont know if its faith, I think Mr Rudd has the ability to reward stupidity with stupidity.

 

[IFocus]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

I am very disappointed and angry with how the insulation and Green Loans programs have been handled. I believe they were fundamentally good ideas but were simply not thought through properly and did not have proper supervision to pick up on the rapidly expanding rorts. In fact one of the serious failures of the public service as a whole (IMO) is an inability or unwillingness to actually check out reality for themselves rather than waiting for formal reports and end of project analysis.

The program was way to big for the speed in which they wanted to roll it out. The department responsible was not equipped to handle the program in any way shape or form, BTW this all was fed back to cabinet which they signed of on.

If it was handled by an experienced political hard head and or there was a stronger department head then perhaps the short comings may have been addressed.

 

[noco]

Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

So Rudd says SORRY again. I goofed, please forgive me, I'll work harder to make things right. I didn't think it was going to be soooo hard to impliment all of my promises.

How pathetic can this man get.

He has goofed on:-
* Fuel watch.
* Grocery watch.
* Arrival of more illegal immigrants.
* The home insuation debale.
* Computers for every school student year 9-12.
* Relationships with China, India, Japan, Isreal and Singapore.
* The broken promise on Hospitals.
* Climate Change.
* The ETS and CPRS.

Now he and Gillard have a new CANDY stick ( the National School Curriculum) to sweeten you up.

Another diversion from the real issues of the things he has goofed on.

How can this man possibly inspire confidence.

 

[Julia]

Re: Kevin Rudd degrades the office of PM

I'm not sure this is the right thread for the following, but didn't want to start yet another anti-government thread.

This article was in the Weekend Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-off-to-a-slow-start-gp-super-clinics/story-e

It looks as though these super clinics, a bit like the insulation roll out and the non-researched NBN, may be yet another waste of taxpayer dollars. Here is an extract:

THE network of GP super clinics being rolled out by the Rudd government may do little to improve access to health services and could worsen it by driving other family doctors out of business.

Experts told a forum on health reform in Canberra this week there was little evidence that the $275 million committed to the program would bring real improvements. They also questioned some key tenets used to justify the scheme, including the federal government's expectation that the centres would bulk-bill most or all patients, and would help fix the national shortage of GPs by encouraging more medical students to choose general practice over other specialties.

Some of the four experts who addressed the forum, held at the Australian National University, conceded super clinics could bring benefits if introduced in the right way. But all expressed some measure of concern at aspects of the implementation.