The Abbott Government

IFocus · 29 November 2013

Some more balance rather propaganda from the ABC not like the Liberal Party daily aka "The Australian"

See even Bolt is saying its to early for broken promises.....for those that dont know thats Coalition party parlance for lying.

A wrecking ball won't help you in government

rash talk and calculated deception can bring a party to power, but once it is there, these ploys are empty and ultimately self-defeating,

"There will be no change to school funding under the government I lead."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-28/green-a-wrecking-ball-wont-help-you-in-government/5121528

drsmith · 29 November 2013

"There will be no change to school funding under the government I lead."

A bit of a stretch comparing it with Labor's carbon tax lie.

Firstly, the latter was a broad based tax. Secondly, it was Labor that pulled the $1.2bn of Gonski money from the education budget, not the Coalition so if that stuck with the $1.6bn/4yr as opposed to the $2.8bn/4yr that was Labor's Gonski, there would strictly speaking be no change to school funding under the government they lead.

There has since been change in that the non agreement states will be topped up in 2014 ($230m I think), but the way it was subsequently announced made it look like policy on the run.

Where Christopher Pyne has got himself into bother in terms of pre-election commitment was with his commentary in relation to funding for individual schools. Any change to the funding distribution or quantum from what Labor originally promised and that strictly speaking a porky, but it's no where near up there with the carbon tax despite the wishful thinking of some.

The only potential strategic sense I can see in the way Christopher Pyne has handled this is a tough starting point in terms of negotiations with the states over the structure and then concede ground with the funding in return for concessions on structure. Perhaps the belated concession for 2014 to the non-signed states was part of that. Publically though, it looks like policy on the run.

IFocus · 29 November 2013

Hang on isn't this the behaviour of a left wing greens socialist party

Treasurer Joe Hockey rejects ADM takeover of GrainCorp

Nope its the "Bush Socialist Coalition" or Liberal minority government.

Further poof (Yawn..god this starting to get boring) of say one thing "Yes we are open for business" and do another no you cannot buy into Australia.

Now for the excuses fire away folks

Calliope · 29 November 2013

noco said:
This Mark Scott has caused untold damage to Australia and has not been in the National interest.

He should resign or be sacked.

On ABC Radio this morning they were quite exultant that the ABC's scheme to destroy Australian/Indonesian relations is back on track.viz.

. SBY was disappointed with Abbott's letter

. relations will take years to mend

. Indonesia will do nothing to deter the passage of illegal immigrants through their country and their embarkation for
Australia on Indonesian boats as usual

. drafting a Code of Conduct is only the beginning. A six step road map will ensure that the process will be drawn out.

IFocus · 29 November 2013

drsmith said:
A bit of a stretch comparing it with Labor's carbon tax lie.

The stretch is yours no one is comparing it to Gillards broken promise.

Firstly, the latter was a broad based tax. Secondly, it was Labor that pulled the $1.2bn of Gonski money from the education budget, not the Coalition.

Your or Pynes funding argument is not worthy of comment Liberal state premiers aren't buying it.

Where Christopher Pyne has got himself into bother in terms of pre-election commitment was with his commentary in relation to funding for individual schools. Any change to the funding distribution or quantum from what Labor originally promised and that strictly speaking a porky, but it's no where near up there with the carbon tax despite the wishful thinking of some.

Disingenuous is the best to describe this argument again given the conservative state premiers condemnation they aren't buying it.

Say one thing, or promise the world and do the opposite, fast track one term movement if they keep this up.

Your worst nightmare Bill Shorten PM

IFocus · 29 November 2013

Calliope said:
On ABC Radio this morning they were quite exultant that the ABC's scheme to destroy Australian/Indonesian relations is back on track.viz.

. SBY was disappointed with Abbott's letter

. relations will take years to mend

. Indonesia will do nothing to deter the passage of illegal immigrants through their country and their embarkation for
Australia on Indonesian boats as usual

. drafting a Code of Conduct is only the beginning. A six step road map will ensure that the process will be drawn out.

More balance from the ABC

Indonesia never controlled the flow of boats anyway

ndonesia was already ineffective in preventing asylum seekers from reaching Australia, pouring cold water on claims that its recent diplomatic rebuff will undermine Operation Sovereign Borders, writes Antje Missbach.

So Indonesia has suspended all joint police and military operations aimed at keeping asylum seekers away from Australia. The move is being interpreted not only as a diplomatic rebuff, but as something that could seriously undermine Prime Minister Tony Abbott's much-repeated promise to "stop the boats".

But will it? Probably not.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-28/missbach-indonesian-cooperation/5122470

IFocus · 29 November 2013

AAhh henm take that back

Originally Posted by drsmith View Post
A bit of a stretch comparing it with Labor's carbon tax lie.

The stretch is yours no one is comparing it to Gillards broken promise.

BC makes some great points more balance and insightful comments from the ABC

The electorate doesn't have buyer's remorse. Yet.

The backflip on education funding makes one wonder if the Abbott government believes it has some good will to spend. It hasn't, writes Barrie Cassidy.

They all do it. They always have. Political parties make all sorts of promises and give guarantees in the run up to elections in order to push aside troublesome issues.

They know full well they might have to renege, and they'll pay a price down the track. But they also see in the middle distance, the spoils of office, and they can't help themselves.

Julia Gillard's such moment was when she promised there would be no carbon tax "under a government I lead".

She did go on to say that Labor intended to put a price on carbon and move to an emissions trading scheme. But no matter. It was branded a tax; Gillard ducked the pedantic argument; and the mother of all broken promises took flight.

I wonder if this is just Pynes idea or the party's sheer arrogance.

Now, just three months into its first term, the Abbott Government has inexplicably gone down the same path.

The Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, has walked away from a key election pledge to embrace the previous government's school funding arrangements.

Is there a better issue to give Bill Shorten, as he tries to build his profile and his popularity, than education funding?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-29/cassidy-the-electorate-doesnt-have-buyers-remorse-yet/5122458

drsmith · 29 November 2013

IFocus said:
The stretch is yours no one is comparing it to Gillards broken promise.

ABC commentary,

"There will be no change to school funding under the government I lead."

Julia Gillard,

"There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead."

The attempted connection of magnitude by the ABC is pretty obvious and for you IF, a little reminder.

sails · 29 November 2013

bunyip said:
In that case you should write to your local ALP branch to express your disappointment at their grubby behavior in bugging the phone of SBY – a man who both Rudd and Gillard proclaimed is a good friend of Australia.
Better still, write to ALP head office.

I think IFocus hasn't yet realised yet that the tapping of SBY and his wife's phone was in 2009 and under Rudd's watch. That specific incident had nothing to do with Abbott.

Calliope · 29 November 2013

IFocus said:
More balance from the ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-28/missbach-indonesian-cooperation/5122470

Indonesia never controlled the flow of boats anyway

Of course they don't. The corrupt Indonesian administration is incapable of regulating anything. As the above article points out the only determinant of the rate of flow of the illegals is through bribery.

I think it is about time we told SBY that he needs us more than we need him. I suspect that most of the aid funds we give to Indonesia are lost in greasing the wheels in the corruption chain anyway.

Now that Julie Bishop has given the Chinese a lecture on how to behave, it should should be an easy matter for her to tell old Bambang to grow up and stop behaving like a spoiled brat.

trainspotter · 29 November 2013

IFocus said:
Hang on isn't this the behaviour of a left wing greens socialist party

Nope its the "Bush Socialist Coalition" or Liberal minority government.

Further poof (Yawn..god this starting to get boring) of say one thing "Yes we are open for business" and do another no you cannot buy into Australia.

Now for the excuses fire away folks

Are you for real? So you would be happy to sell Australia down the path of foreign ownership? Why stop at Graincorp? Let the Chinese takeover the iron ore in the North West, Let the Japs take our whales and fugget ... sell ALL of our uranium to Iran.

Victorian Farmers Federation Grain Group President Brett Hosking, meantime, said Mr Hockey had made the right decision.

"The offer brought with it potential risk to growers... certainly our industry needs further investment, further capital, but the risk factor that came with this offer was just too great in light of what was being offered," Mr Hosking said.

The rejection means grain growers will miss out on a $200 million infrastructure upgrade that ADM was offering.

"While that extra investment would have been greatly welcomed and vastly appreciated, we're certainly not dealing with a broken down system by any means so business will continue as usual," Mr Hosking said.

Mr Hosking said despite the rejection, there is scope for foreign investment in the industry.

"What we're saying is that foreign investment into our industry needs to be done right and in this instance Mr Hockey's made the right decision," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-...rejects-foreign-takeover-of-graincorp/5124262

Whiskers · 29 November 2013

drsmith said:
With support from the Greens, the debt ceiling will likely go leaving Labor out in the cold on this issue.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ceiling-to-break-deadlock-20131128-2yc37.html

Might be wishful thinking on your part again doc.

As with the foreign affairs ba!!zup, the devil is in the detail rather than the headline slogan.

Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt has indicated his party could support a return to the pre-GFC convention of not having a specific debt limit prescribed by parliament, in exchange for greater transparency in what money is borrowed for and how it is then spent.

That's also going to be a bitter pill for hockey and Abbott to swallow. But since they have already got a pretty bruised up ego and a bit of a belly ache from their National colleagues stirring, to force the refusal of the ADM takeover of grainco, he might just concede.

But my money is still on Labor and the Greens saying 400bn, take it or leave it... or even taking that offer off the table and forcing a constitutional crisis, since numerous polls are showing dissatisfaction with Abbott and Morrison's performance so far.

Anyway, Good-on-ya Hockey for ultimately making the right decision re ADM, even though you had to be forced into it by the Nationals, for political survival.

The fact that he brought this decision ahead of schedule is further indication he realises they are in deep ****, needing to settle the turbulence a bit before nailing down the debt limit increase before parliament rises on the 12th.

The rherotic and sleigh of hands about paying the $8bn to the RBA has yet to come back and haunt him yet too. More on that later, but maybe you would like to tell me why you think he paid the RBA the $8bn.

Calliope · 29 November 2013

One steely look from Ms Bishop and the tiger will turn into a pussycat.

trainspotter · 29 November 2013

What Tony should have said:-

1. I was shocked by these revelations.
2. I had no idea we had been tapping the phones of Yudhoyono and his wife.
3. I cannot reveal operational intelligence matters but such surveillance is not my government's policy.
4. The Coalition had nothing to do with this surveillance, undertaken four years ago.
5. I apologise, unreservedly, to Yudhoyono and his wife on behalf of Australia.
6. I am distressed that Mrs Yudhoyono was involved and can only imagine the impact on my wife if she was told she was being spied on.
7. You have my undertaking that such surveillance will not be attempted by my government.
8. We are committed to an open relationship with Indonesia, based on trust.
9. I will refrain from criticising the Rudd government as intelligence must remain a bipartisan matter.
10. We want to improve co-operation on intelligence, policing, border security and counter-terrorism because we face common threats.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-...f-this-mess-20131124-2y3se.html#ixzz2lzsaKig0

IFocus · 29 November 2013

trainspotter said:
Are you for real? So you would be happy to sell Australia down the path of foreign ownership? Why stop at Graincorp? Let the Chinese takeover the iron ore in the North West, Let the Japs take our whales and fugget ... sell ALL of our uranium to Iran.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-...rejects-foreign-takeover-of-graincorp/5124262

To be honest I haven't looked to see if the take over is OK or not I am just knocking the Abbott government on saying one thing and doing the exact opposite.

As for selling our mining interests your to late the majority of earnings leave Australia already which makes killing the original mining tax a master stroke.

This decision (graincorp)was driven by the bush socials (Nats) hence my comment about the minority Liberal government.

Ahh here we go Liberal minority government

GrainCorp decision: Joe Hockey caught between national and Nationals' interest

Just one letter and a tiny apostrophe were all that were missing from Joe Hockey's reasoning when he scotched the bid by the American giant, Archer-Daniels-Midland to swallow up Australia's top listed agri-business, GrainCorp (GNC).

Whereas the Treasurer explained the 100 per cent take-over was not in the “national” interest, the more pressing concern for the Coalition under threat of massive internal hemorrhaging over the issue, was that the acquisition was not in the Nationals' interests. And therefore not in the government's political interests.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ls-interest-20131129-2yfw2.html#ixzz2m03qJFUy

IFocus · 29 November 2013

This could be building

Angry education ministers say meeting with Christopher Pyne achieved no certainty

State and territory education ministers are fuming after meeting federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne on Friday, arguing that the Coalition government is not providing enough certainty around schools funding.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli expressed particular concern that the federal government had implied state schools might lose money in a post-Gonski system.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...o-certainty-20131129-2yfta.html#ixzz2m031b1l8

trainspotter · 29 November 2013

IFocus said:
To be honest I haven't looked to see if the take over is OK or not I am just knocking the Abbott government on saying one thing and doing the exact opposite.

As for selling our mining interests your to late the majority of earnings leave Australia already which makes killing the original mining tax a master stroke.

This decision (graincorp)was driven by the bush socials (Nats) hence my comment about the minority Liberal government.

Errrmmmm NO ... it is not OK for a US company to buy Graincorp for several reasons but when their OWN spokesperson for farmers comes out and says this:-

One of the oldest farm organisations in the US earlier this month warned that increased concentration in the industry would be bad news for Australian farmers.

The National Farmers Union said it had watched the negative impact of foreign takeovers in its own country.

"Any time a group of companies, or one or two companies, corner a market and infiltrate it by 40 to 60 per cent, economists will tell you you've lost competition," Chandler Goule from the National Farmers Union told the ABC.

"And as you lose competition, then what happens to your producers is they're limited on who they can sell to, therefore they get a lower price and your end users are limited on who they can purchase from."

Last time I looked BHP Billiton is an Anglo Australian multinational mining and petroleum company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and they pay their taxes here. Gina Rinehart ring a bell? Pretty sure she pays her taxes here? Twiggy ... anyone ... anyone ... Forrest what did he do again? Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, and his wife Nicola, top the league table of generosity with their $65 million gift to the University of Western Australia, just pipping the $60 million Sydney Arts Fund set up by James Packer. Yep ... lest we forget.

This decision to NOT sell to ADM was for the good of the country and for our farmers. Our farmers vote for the Nationals. If the Nationals had NOT squawked about the sale I would be pretty upset if I was a farmer.

drsmith · 29 November 2013

IFocus said:
To be honest I haven't looked to see if the take over is OK or not I am just knocking the Abbott government on saying one thing and doing the exact opposite.

In relation to Graincorp, what specifically did the Coalition say that was the exact opposite to what they have done?

What was Labor's position prior to the announcement and for the matter, prior to the election? I recall an Insiders interview between Barrie Cassidy and Bill Shorten a few weeks ago where this issue was raised, but while Bill offered a commentary on the Coalition, he didn't say what Labor's position was.

overhang · 29 November 2013

drsmith said:
In relation to Graincorp, what specifically did the Coalition say that was the exact opposite to what they have done?

What was Labor's position prior to the announcement and for the matter, prior to the election? I recall an Insiders interview between Barrie Cassidy and Bill Shorten a few weeks ago where this issue was raised, but while Bill offered a commentary on the Coalition, he didn't say what Labor's position was.

No of course they wouldn't because then they can't criticize the coalitions policy. I haven't heard a response yet but no doubt it will be opposed to their decision. I swear The Age had written two articles allowing for each of the narratives to disagree with the coalitions position. No matter what they were going to be criticized for which ever way they decided. I personally fully support Joe's position and believe its integral that we hold on to such important agricultural assets. Even if the Nationals did twist their arm its still good to see the Nationals representing their voting base, I hope they can also have some influence on CSG.

Knobby22 · 29 November 2013

overhang said:
No of course they wouldn't because then they can't criticize the coalitions policy. I haven't heard a response yet but no doubt it will be opposed to their decision. I swear The Age had written two articles allowing for each of the narratives to disagree with the coalitions position. No matter what they were going to be criticized for which ever way they decided. I personally fully support Joe's position and believe its integral that we hold on to such important agricultural assets. Even if the Nationals did twist their arm its still good to see the Nationals representing their voting base, I hope they can also have some influence on CSG.

I am 100% for this. A good decision, up with the decision of Peter Costello to not let Shell buy out Woodside.
There will be criticism from the free traders just as there was with Woodside.

The Abbott Government

IFocus

You are arguing with a Galah

drsmith

IFocus

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Calliope

IFocus

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IFocus

You are arguing with a Galah

IFocus

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trainspotter

Whiskers

It's a small world

Calliope

trainspotter

IFocus

You are arguing with a Galah

IFocus

You are arguing with a Galah

trainspotter

drsmith

overhang

Knobby22

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