The Abbott Government

[Tisme]

He is certainly not capable of making hard decisions.

You had better hope he doesn't learn by the next election, because he is likely to start up witch hunt commissions, Abbott style against your team in two years....and given the extensive corruption of the NSW Lib party and his broken pledges there is a very high probability there is something fishy in Denmark and to paraphrase another Shakespearean quote, Abbott protests too much about the notion of honesty.

 

[sydboy007]

You had better hope he doesn't learn by the next election, because he is likely to start up witch hunt commissions, Abbott style against your team in two years....and given the extensive corruption of the NSW Lib party and his broken pledges there is a very high probability there is something fishy in Denmark and to paraphrase another Shakespearean quote, Abbott protests too much about the notion of honesty.

I think the correct term is "specific knowledge"

Suitably vague and not categorically saying I didn't know, just didn't know <insert word>

 

[noco]

Typical ad hominem attack showing your bias again.

What's the point of having an "off the shelf" weapons system that other people know the capabilities of ? The work has been done fixing problems, but all the Abbott government is concerned about is money. That is why we will soon have no car industry, and by the end of Abbott's term, no industrial capability at all.

Don't talk to us about "Team Australia" , Mr Abbott, you don't know the meaning of the word.

Rumpy, you have to cleanse your mind of the socialism mentality......socialism believes in industry owned by the state and this why it has failed in the past and will fail again......you just cannot keep propping up unprofitable ventures like the car or ship building industry....if they cannot stand on their own two feet then they deserve to go out of business.....that is what free enterprise is all about....Don't blame Abbott for the car industry closing up shop....that was happening long before Abbott cam on the scene.......you know full well why they are going so lets not pretend you do not know.

It all depends on how it is run.....I have had 4 business ventures in my life time and always succeeded where others have failed.....one show I bought was running at a loss because the previous owners had no idea of innovation, selling or marketing knowledge....they deserved to go broke and the business would have gone had I not taken it over....Many businesses go broke for many reasons and the unions are one of them.

 

[SirRumpole]

Rumpy, you have to cleanse your mind of the socialism mentality......socialism believes in industry owned by the state and this why it has failed in the past and will fail again......you just cannot keep propping up unprofitable ventures like the car or ship building industry....if they cannot stand on their own two feet then they deserve to go out of business.....that is what free enterprise is all about....Don't blame Abbott for the car industry closing up shop....that was happening long before Abbott cam on the scene.......you know full well why they are going so lets not pretend you do not know.

It all depends on how it is run.....I have had 4 business ventures in my life time and always succeeded where others have failed.....one show I bought was running at a loss because the previous owners had no idea of innovation, selling or marketing knowledge....they deserved to go broke and the business would have gone had I not taken it over....Many businesses go broke for many reasons and the unions are one of them.

Yes, a lot of businesses deserve to go broke for various reasons, hard line unions and management incompetence among them.

There are other industries which are important, if not essential to the national interest, and high tech manufacturing is one of them, exemplified by the auto and submarine industries, and they don't belong to the "free market" ideology that you espouse.

 

[Tisme]

Yes, a lot of businesses deserve to go broke for various reasons, hard line unions and management incompetence among them.

There are other industries which are important, if not essential to the national interest, and high tech manufacturing is one of them, exemplified by the auto and submarine industries, and they don't belong to the "free market" ideology that you espouse.

Perhaps we should just educate our young people so they can gain employment overseas and make a quid in countries that give a fig. The auto industries in every country get plenty of govt assistance ....plenty and the bonus for Thailand is they have plenty of peasants who would rather not starve for lack of national income and social infrastructure ... behold Australia's future = seven day work week, scooters, rice and life expectancy not much.

 

[noco]

Yes, a lot of businesses deserve to go broke for various reasons, hard line unions and management incompetence among them.

There are other industries which are important, if not essential to the national interest, and high tech manufacturing is one of them, exemplified by the auto and submarine industries, and they don't belong to the "free market" ideology that you espouse.

Why not?.....we can buy subs from Japan, Germany and France...isn't that the free market?

The Australian Government have made no decision on the Japanese subs so why is Shorten shooting off the rhetoric......That was one huge mistake he made this week.

You say all Abbott thinks about is money, well I am pleased he does because he is taking care of how the taxpayers money is spent.

121,000 jobs were created last month......so I guess you will ask what about the 3000 who may lose their jobs in the ship building industry.....I would suggest we tell their company to look at their costs, innovate and do some marketing research to find new orders instead of relying upon the Government for huge hand outs to prop up and appease the unions.



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...nes-is-dangerous/story-e6frg76f-1227054441859

 

[IFocus]

Typical ad hominem attack showing your bias again.

What's the point of having an "off the shelf" weapons system that other people know the capabilities of ? The work has been done fixing problems, but all the Abbott government is concerned about is money. That is why we will soon have no car industry, and by the end of Abbott's term, no industrial capability at all.

Don't talk to us about "Team Australia" , Mr Abbott, you don't know the meaning of the word.

If I remember rightly Australia was trying to buy aircraft off the Japanese not long before the start of WWII likely to have been a conservative government as well.

 

[Macquack]

Why not?.....we can buy subs from Japan, Germany and France...isn't that the free market?

Yeah, but where do we get spare parts from during WWIII?

Which reminds me, where am I going to get spare parts for my Falcon now that Ford has pulled out of Australia? Thanks Tony.

Noco, you must have been a supporter of "Pig Iron Bob" Menzies policy of sending crude iron to Japan so they could make weapons to use against us?

 

[noco]

Yeah, but where do we get spare parts from during WWIII?

Which reminds me, where am I going to get spare parts for my Falcon now that Ford has pulled out of Australia? Thanks Tony.



Noco, you must have been a supporter of "Pig Iron Bob" Menzies policy of sending crude iron to Japan so they could make weapons to use against us?

Welcome back Macquack.

I think I was a bit too young to understand about PIG IRON BOB but I do understand just how much iron ore was sent to China between 2007 and 2013.

Maybe the Chinese are building war ships and tanks to invade Australia like Jaquii Lambie states.

You should be able to get spare parts for your Falcon at the car wreckers.....that is what we had to do during WW11.

WW111 will be all over in hours so I would not worry too much about your Falcon.

 

[Smurf1976]

Why not?.....we can buy subs from Japan, Germany and France...isn't that the free market?

I'm not sure about submarines specifically, but in general terms this "free" market is a government subsidised one.

Look at car manufacturing. Now tell me which countries don't assist our outright protect their automotive industries in some way? Nothing "free" about that market.

It's the same with anything of a big engineering nature. As an example, does anyone seriously think that the US would allow Boeing to fail? Not a chance. It may be privately owned as such, but it's government backed in practice. Same with many such industries.

I'm happy with the concept of a free market, however in practice to achieve that just means that we need to adjust our level of subsidies and protection to match that of other countries. The notion that there is no protection at all is just not how the world works, Australia being about the only significant country to actually try implementing such an approach.

 

[Julia]

The work has been done fixing problems, but all the Abbott government is concerned about is money.

Well, about time someone was concerned about money. If your Labor government had been permitted to hold sway, they'd have had no compunction about increasing debt levels with no thought about ultimate accountability.

The Abbott government has made mistakes, but the underlying philosophy of trying to ensure the country in forthcoming years is able to withstand shocks, and to provide the funding for essential services is sound, along with the general liberal philosophy of encouraging people not to depend on governments for what they should be doing for themselves.

Their greatest fault has, imo, been failure to properly gauge the mood of the electorate and therefore to take the people along with their well intentioned ideas. Hopefully, there is now some recognition of this, along with the regrettable need to engage with an inexperienced set of people on the Senate cross benches, and they will improve their public relations from now on.

 

[drsmith]

WW3 ??

Where our subs are manufactured will be the least of our worries if ever there's ever a WW3.

 

[SirRumpole]

Well, about time someone was concerned about money. If your Labor government had been permitted to hold sway, they'd have had no compunction about increasing debt levels with no thought about ultimate accountability.

.

The Labor party say they made $180 billion of savings during their period in office. They also say they reduced the public service by 5,000. I don't believe that the need to reign in spending was unknown to them. Labor also increased revenue via the carbon tax and compensated low income earners for that impost. The Coalition dispensed with that revenue and are planning to add to the social welfare bill and imposts on the business sector by way of a PPL.

Many of the governments problems are more than just public relations, they relate to fundamental mistakes in strategy bought about by a desire to please their financial backers.

 

[sydboy007]

Well, about time someone was concerned about money. If your Labor government had been permitted to hold sway, they'd have had no compunction about increasing debt levels with no thought about ultimate accountability.

The Abbott government has made mistakes, but the underlying philosophy of trying to ensure the country in forthcoming years is able to withstand shocks, and to provide the funding for essential services is sound, along with the general liberal philosophy of encouraging people not to depend on governments for what they should be doing for themselves.

Their greatest fault has, imo, been failure to properly gauge the mood of the electorate and therefore to take the people along with their well intentioned ideas. Hopefully, there is now some recognition of this, along with the regrettable need to engage with an inexperienced set of people on the Senate cross benches, and they will improve their public relations from now on.

What would you highlight from teh budget as meaningful tax / spending reform?

besides the indexation of the fuel excise what else was good?

PPL - increased tax on big business along with higher levels of tax payer funding than the current Labor initiated program.

Resource / Carbon taxes rescinded - $10B deficit in revenue from this. Compensatory tax cuts for the carbon tax maintained.

Cuts to CSIRO and ABS funding - puts basic research funding further behind our trading partners and makes the stats the Govt and RBA use for determining how the economy is travelling even less reliable.

Funding to state infrastructure without CBAs - against election promises.

Continued to make salary packaging very tax effective.

Doctor copayment to fund a medical (slush) fund - little thought as to what it's supposed to achieve.

$250M for faith based chaplaincy with schools prohibited from maintaining their current non secular counsellors.

lets not forget the extra money borrowed and provided to the RBA last year.

So exactly what well intentioned ideas are you referring to that would help the budget get back to balance?

 

[Julia]

Syd, it's not my responsibility to be an apologist for the government. I've simply observed a preference for their determination not to continue to rack up debt for future generations to pay.

As you will well know if you've read my past posts, I've criticised plenty of aspects of the government's budget and I don't propose to repeat any of it now.

 

[banco]

From a defence perspective, it seems a bad idea to be buying "off the shelf" equipment manufactured overseas. Do that and should we need to use it in anger, well then (1) our capabilities become extremely well known and (2) we are reliant on foreigners for ongoing support.

That sounds a bit like having the plans for your building security system prominently displayed in the front window for all to see. Should anyone want to break in, they'll know exactly how to evade or disable the system. Same concept with foreign military equipment really.

I can accept that there might be some price difference in local production versus imports, but a 4:1 ration doesn't sound right to me given that Japan is a developed country with relatively high costs. Something just isn't right there - in short I have trouble believing that it's really such a huge difference to build a comparable submarine. Are we comparing similarly equipped vessels here? Or are we comparing a postie bike with a limousine?

Economies of scale and not needing to reinvent the wheel explain the cost difference.

 

[SirRumpole]

I can accept that there might be some price difference in local production versus imports, but a 4:1 ration doesn't sound right to me given that Japan is a developed country with relatively high costs. Something just isn't right there - in short I have trouble believing that it's really such a huge difference to build a comparable submarine. Are we comparing similarly equipped vessels here? Or are we comparing a postie bike with a limousine?

Labors NBN was supposed to cost up to $96 billion according to Turnbull before the election.

I don't think we can rule out an inflation of the price of locally produced submarines for the political revenge gained by the Coalition by sticking it up their class enemy, namely Australian unions.

 

[sydboy007]

Syd, it's not my responsibility to be an apologist for the government. I've simply observed a preference for their determination not to continue to rack up debt for future generations to pay.

As you will well know if you've read my past posts, I've criticised plenty of aspects of the government's budget and I don't propose to repeat any of it now.

I'm just not aware of any actions to achieve that goal. Lots of talk but not much in thew way of well created policy. I've yet to see any indication that the budget deficit is under control. The unforseen drop in iron ore and coal prices is going to hit very hard by the end of the year. There doesn't seem to be any acknowledgment as yet that the budget is going to suffer a massive revenue short fall.

 

[noco]

I'm just not aware of any actions to achieve that goal. Lots of talk but not much in thew way of well created policy. I've yet to see any indication that the budget deficit is under control. The unforseen drop in iron ore and coal prices is going to hit very hard by the end of the year. There doesn't seem to be any acknowledgment as yet that the budget is going to suffer a massive revenue short fall.

We must remember team Australia whereby we must all work together.

In the good times we ask for more and in the bad times we still want more.

As John F.Kennedy once said, "THINK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY AND NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU".

 

[sydboy007]

We must remember team Australia whereby we must all work together.

In the good times we ask for more and in the bad times we still want more.

As John F.Kennedy once said, "THINK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY AND NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU".

So what is your definition of team Australia? Is it the same as Abbott's? I've not really heard him describe what it means. Is it just blindly following what the Government says?