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Kevin Rudd

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Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Australia has come a long way since the 1980s when Lee Kuan Yew described us as the “poor white trash of Asia”. Australia has survived the global financial crisis thanks much more to the reforms of previous governments than to the spending spree of the current one. The Hawke/Keating Governments introduced financial deregulation, tariff reform and the beginnings of privatisation and labour market reform. The Howard Government enshrined the independence of the Reserve Bank, consolidated hard-won budget surpluses, reformed the indirect tax system to cut direct taxes, began welfare reform, concluded the US free trade agreement and deepened privatisation and labour market reform. As for selling the farm?? What farm would that be Nioka? We have not manufactured anything of value in this country for many years now and long before Costello & Howard were on the scene. A very simplistic approach there old chap. Tut tut.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

nioka said:
Yes. and Being too pally with George Bush which meant going along with the weapons of mass destruction.
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The Howard Haters are still having withdrawal symptoms. They are having trouble switching their hate to Rudd. For all his broken promises, lies and deceit, he is still lovable in their eyes.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

A nice little graph to remind oneself of the debt burden we now have on every man, woman and child in Australia .... thnak you Mr Rudd and your stimulus packages ! So far, the Rudd Government has made little contribution, if any, to serious reform. There have been some worthy symbolic gestures such as the Indigenous apology and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. In some areas, the Government has continued the reforms of its predecessor: the Northern Territory intervention has been “normalised” and a weaker version of welfare reform extended into the rest of the Territory; work is continuing on a national schools curriculum and more school performance data is now available to the public. The pension age has been increased although the Government is in no rush to have this reform implemented. Even so, the Rudd Government’s main economic legacy has been to roll back the workplace reforms of the past two governments and to blow the Howard Government’s painstakingly achieved surplus.
 

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Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?


Don't libs run WA state
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

nioka said:
How much was "the country" running at a surplus. The government budget maybe but we sold the farm to get the illusionary surplus....
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hmmm - it wasn't illusionary money that Rudd distributed so freely. He got it from somewhere real...
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Trembling Hand said:
Fair enough. But to me I don't mind a pollie changing their mind from time to time. There is dishonesty, children overboard, then there is just good times to seize the moment and changes ones mind, GST .
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And let's remember that John Howard actually clearly went to the election saying he would introduce a 10% GST. He was voted in categorically with that as part of his platform. That's quite different from a politician assuring the electorate they will not do something pre-election and then changing their minds once they have been voted in.

There was a retired senior bureaucrat on Radio National this morning very critical indeed of Rudd's hospital plan. He says it's a disaster. Further says that the Henry Tax Review is not being released by the government because it almost certainly recommends increased taxes to pay for the required improvements to the health system.

He suggested most Australians will accept that health is becoming more expensive and that it simply has to be paid for. He thinks the GST should be increased, though doesn't think it will happen.

I think, yes, most Australians would recognise the need for more tax to fix the ailing health system if we were not every single day witnessing more and more wasting of our tax dollars on 'stimulus' programmes designed much more to make the government look good, than to actually do any real good.
(In my local school, they'd much rather have had some basic repairs done around the school, new toilet block, functioning drinking fountains, extended library, than the overpriced shade structure in an area that really didn't need it.)

And then there's the ludicrous situation whereby the Reserve Bank is putting up interest rates in order to pull back the over-stimulated economy!!

Question: if the Feds are going to take part of the GST that has been going to the States, may we reasonably expect the re-introduction of some of these sales taxes etc?


That's a good point, that the States, certainly Queensland, has been immensely neglectful of keeping infrastructure up.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Julia said:
A
Question: if the Feds are going to take part of the GST that has been going to the States, may we reasonably expect the re-introduction of some of these sales taxes etc?
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good question!!

I live in Vic so i agree with Brumby, and i'm not keen to have to suddenly start paying more tax so that i can watch our already adequate health system get downgraded. (I'm still pished that we have to keep paying stamp duties here though, that's just rude.)

Honestly, my household already pays a shedload of tax, and we have private health cover as well. Which is fine, because we get great service here. But if i have to start paying even more darn taxes so that the local level of service can either stay the same (or worse, be downgraded) then i'm going to be severely put out. I have no confidence whatsoever in this government. They have cocked up every single scheme so far, broken things that didn't even need fixing... for heaven's sake, the gotta stay away from health. And schools. They have demonstrated beyond any doubt that they simply cannot handle this job.

If they need more money in taxes, i'd rather it came from an increase in household WAGES. I haven't seen salaries rise much in the past decade or two. (Yet property has gone up by, what, 200% or something ridiculous). i don't mind paying SOME tax if it's being used for good purposes, but i object to being milked like a dairy cow just to watch the government pour it all down a wishing well.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

The whole Health funding thing is just a big load of pre-election nothing.

What difference will it make if the money gets taken from the punters in tax and then services are paid for by government A or government B after it runs through a heap of bureaucracies?

There's nothing in it. No efficiencies, no radical plan to change the course of increasing demand, no introduction of technology to save time and expensive duplication. No significant extra skills or personal.

Just another Kruddism.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Julia said:
And then there's the ludicrous situation whereby the Reserve Bank is putting up interest rates in order to pull back the over-stimulated economy!!

.
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Yes, remember the arguments before about how governments have no effect on interest rates. Didn't someone say that labor would make rates rise, but then the media and gurus jumped in and said that isn't how it works
Funny how Labor proved em wrong in this instance.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

trainspotter said:
Even so, the Rudd Government’s main economic legacy has been to roll back the workplace reforms of the past two governments and to blow the Howard Government’s painstakingly achieved surplus.
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Just keeping things in a bit of proportion, the Telstra sell-off accounted for $30 billion in the late 90's and another $15 Billion in 2006 (arguably a rip-off at bargain base prices to pay back the top end of town), $45 Billion in total.

Then I think there was about another $5 Billion for the sale of Sydney Airport in 2001.

Not sure how "painstakingly achieved" all that was.

It's interesting how easily we tend to forget the past cos there was also bad expenditure under the howard government. One of the bigger, the Iraq war, must be near $5 Billion too... and arguably the major initial cause of the 'Boat People' asylum seeker issue/costs.

OH and don't forget the Baby bonus debacle. Maybe more a looming social than financial debacle not putting a reasonable age limit on availibility of the payment.

However, having said that, I would (extremely) hate to see the Rudd gov start talking Asset sales to reduce debt, at least before they got a decent hold on accountability/audit of spending progams.

Aren't the current spending debacles more pain-stakingly achieved than Howards budget surplus.

After all it's relatively easier to not spend and sell some assets than to spend more rather urgently, albeit to update run-down infrastructure etc.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?


You've put your finger on it. Rudd and the States premiers think that pouring more money into the hospitals systems is is the answer to all their health care woes.

This has always been the case, in spite of it being obvious that the money just disappears into a bottomless pit. It doesn't change anything in the wards, where the doctors and nurses do the best than can while carrying a heavy burden of administrative excesses, waste and gross mismanagement.

Rudd would just put in another overlay of bureaucrats.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Antractica? Could be some minerals there that could be mined for a profit?
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Julia said:
Question: if the Feds are going to take part of the GST that has been going to the States, may we reasonably expect the re-introduction of some of these sales taxes etc?
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If the Rudd Guvt takes away 30% of GST Revenue from the states to fund Health promises then a good argument could be mounted by the states to reintroduce sales tax to assist in budgetary matters for the individual states concerned?

Also if a state like WA is supplying the majority of income due to mineral royalties but has the least amount of population does this mean that WA will have the best Health system or is it funding the rest of Australia Health woes?
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Julia said:
And then there's the ludicrous situation whereby the Reserve Bank is putting up interest rates in order to pull back the over-stimulated economy!!
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Lol; don't forget the Reserve Bank raising interest rates to curb runaway house prices when Krudd opened up a Pandora's Box by allowing cashed up foreign investors on temporary visas to by residential real estate.

The great irony is that those that will be hurt the most the the legion of first home owners who levered their futures to pursue the great Aussie dream.

Housing affordability, insulation, BER, retail stimulus, half-cocked federalism via the health care system all delivered with that Baker evangelical smirk. Then there is pulling the nasty 'boat people' card trick straight out of the Johhny Howard 'working families' manual.

UFB really if it wasn't my tax dollars being frittered away.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

nioka said:
Do we actually have anything left that could be sold.?
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Well, Australia Post has been mentioned in conversation a couple of times over the years, but I don't recall any serious consideration being given to it yet.

You can bet the states will be looking for more income if they loose a substantial chunk of GST. Queensland is in a bad way and trying to sell the railways even before this latest threat to their GST stream. Other states have been squealing short changed from the current system for some time, so this could be just the trigger they need to do something relatively 'unorthadox'.

Apart from that, I suppose for the states, revisiting mineral royalties might also be a consequence of any reduced GST proceeds.
 
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