The Gillard Government

[sails]

Thanks for the considered reply, Mofra, and appreciate your viewpoint..

Yes, I didn't word that paragraph well re Muslims preferring their own schools and didn't mean to imply painting them all with the same brush. I shouldn't have assumed their preference. I do know there are many muslim kids in state schools around where I live. Whether that is their preference or whether it is due to them having a lack of muslim schools and they don't have a choice, I don't know.

I guess the other concern I have and has been raised by others is whether the funds will actually reach the purpose for which they were given. And do agree with your point that the funds would not necessarily be used wisely in NSW or anywhere here in Australia for that matter.

 

[Mofra]

I guess the other concern I have and has been raised by others is whether the funds will actually reach the purpose for which they were given. And do agree with your point that the funds would not necessarily be used wisely in NSW or anywhere here in Australia for that matter.

That is a concern, however I would hope that given the International spotlight that this particular stream of funding would attract there would be more stringent demands on the output.
Thankfully it's not the NSW Gov in charge of the spend

 

[IFocus]

Sails, you can't simply paint all muslims with the same brush as it appears in the second paragraph. If a condition of funding is that both males & females are given the same curriculum (as I understand they are) and that moderate Islam is to be taught, than it can only be a positive in avoiding a vacuum in essential services - the exact vacuum that the Taliban are exploiting amongst the Pushtun peoples in Pakistan & Afganistan by providing medical care and education to win over the population.

Levels of basic literacy amongst the Phushtun people in some areas is as low as 5%. Hence a large group ripe for radicalization something the Pakistani ISI exploited to the fullest to form the original Taliban.

 

[noco]

Another broken promise by the Goose whose Labor Party's promise was to bring the budget back to surplus by 2013. He is now looking for the 'scape goat' to cover up his mishandling of the economy. He has no idea. As Richo said on AM Agenda this morning when Labor get themselves into trouble they somehow make a bad situation worse. But is it not history repeating it self with Labor again and again.

http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermai...s_promised_surplus_threatened_by_a_scapegoat/

 

[Mofra]

Levels of basic literacy amongst the Phushtun people in some areas is as low as 5%. Hence a large group ripe for radicalization something the Pakistani ISI exploited to the fullest to form the original Taliban.

Bingo - especially if you take into account the low level of international news exposure these people are likely to receive. They are ripe for the first "educators" willing to help and the Taliban are providing that in the absence of an Afgan government presence.

 

[explod]

Levels of basic literacy amongst the Phushtun people in some areas is as low as 5%. Hence a large group ripe for radicalization something the Pakistani ISI exploited to the fullest to form the original Taliban.

Which is the very reason why the west ought to be putting all efforts and money into schools and educational opportunities in these countries instead of choosing a side and shooting the other side. We are all the same humans we just should all be given the chance at the same opportunities. You cannot change the parents but sure can gradually influence the next generation.

Julia seems to have these sorts of ideas in mind. It is early days so we shall see. As a woman not sure that she will follow the old ALP status quo.

We live in interesting times and we do not take kindly to change..

 

[sails]

Soon Ms Gillard will be able to boast of a higher record than Howard but still refuses to back down.
Sadly, coalition's motion was defeated by one vote.

Asylum boat numbers outstrip Howard peak

As a follow up, labor's boat arrivals have now exceeded the coalition's peak in 2004. The article heading only mentions the last two boats, however as mentioned in the article, there were four boats in that same twenty-four hour period. They are still coming, thick and fast...:

Two more boats push arrivals to yearly record

The first boat contained 11 passengers and one crew member, while the second vessel had 71 passengers and one crew.

The additional 82 asylum-seekers pushes the yearly figure to 5548, setting a new record.

The arrivals ended a busy 24-hour period for Australian Customs vessel Ocean Protector, as it was called upon to intercept four boats within 24 hours.

It seems a lot of people with no identity are paying their way here and jumping the queue. Some are now being brought to the mainland - and how many more will this government allow in? How can we know what sort of citizens they are likely to be when effective background checks would be almost impossible? When watching shows like Border Security and how strict they are, I certainly don't understand Ms Gillard's intentions on having such an easy, open door policy.

The people of Northam are extremely angry: Northam fires up over detention centre

Are labor or green supporters OK with this? ...

 

[IFocus]

Which is the very reason why the west ought to be putting all efforts and money into schools and educational opportunities in these countries instead of choosing a side and shooting the other side. We are all the same humans we just should all be given the chance at the same opportunities. You cannot change the parents but sure can gradually influence the next generation.

Julia seems to have these sorts of ideas in mind. It is early days so we shall see. As a woman not sure that she will follow the old ALP status quo.

We live in interesting times and we do not take kindly to change..

Explod read up on this guy absolute legend Greg Mortenson listen to an interview on the BBC blew me away

http://www.gregmortenson.com/biography/

 

[trainspotter]

Tempers flare at detention centre meeting

The meeting was held to address the residents' concerns after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced two weeks ago, Northam would house up to 1500 single male asylum seekers.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...-detention-centre-meeting-20101104-17fbl.html

Noice one Jooolyah ..... Not happy with the East Timor solution after she had her pointy large nose rubbed in the carpet she is now dumping asylum seekers into the wheatbelt of WA.

 

[trainspotter]

Yeppers ...... We all love our PM. She gave us the following:

1) BER - EPIC FAIL http://www.theaustralian.com.au/pol...-school-mistakes/story-e6frgczf-1225892389548
2) East Timor Solution - Another FAIL http://www.theaustralian.com.au/pol...-school-mistakes/story-e6frgczf-1225892389548
3) Mining Tax Debacle - MASSIVE FAIL http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...-to-hide-emperors-con-job-20100714-10b6w.html

 

[Logique]

Tempers flare at detention centre meeting
The meeting was held to address the residents' concerns after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced two weeks ago, Northam would house up to 1500 single male asylum seekers.http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...-detention-centre-meeting-20101104-17fbl.html

The footage was very prominently featured on news and current affairs programs. It's a while since I've seen that kind of anger at a public meeting. In Griffith in south west NSW last month, a meeting of local irrigators with the Murray-Darling bureaucrats had similar levels of public anger.

Labor are discovering that governing is hard. It's much easier to stand on the sidelines with exaggerated piety and say '..isn't it awful..' and snipe at somebody else. Even their most diehard supporters must now acknowledge that the Govt has lost control of the national borders.

Interesting similarity to the Northam and Griffith meetings - no Labor pollies. And no Green pollies. Experts on what should happen in the regions, but never sighted there. They breezed in and out beforehand, leaving the bureaucrats to cop the flak.

 

[sails]

...Interesting similarity to the Northam and Griffith meetings - no Labor pollies. And no Green pollies. Experts on what should happen in the regions, but never sighted there. They breezed in and out beforehand, leaving the bureaucrats to cop the flak.

Makes the Labor pollies look like cowards.
Bullies are cowards and find targets they can hurt but ensure they can't get hurt themselves.

Surely labor / green supporters are not OK with this? I can't imagine anyone really wanting the best for our country would want this sort of thing to continue...

 

[IFocus]

Surely labor / green supporters are not OK with this? I can't imagine anyone really wanting the best for our country would want this sort of thing to continue...

Safe state / federal Liberal / Nat party seats perfect spot for a center

There is actual support for the center from local business and local state MPs have been negociting the best deal they can get with the federal goverment funny you do hear about this in the press.

Also there has been a fair amount of stirring coming from outside the Northam community feeding into the stop the boats rubbish.

I can understand the concern the neighbors to the center have.

 

[noco]

How about building a detention centre in the Electorate of Lalor?

 

[noco]

It would appear very obvious the Gillard Government will be short lived when one reads of the adverse comments coming from her own stalwarts. Some dramatic changes will have to be made to the Labor Party if they want to survive the Green push factor.

http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermai...il/comments/labor_doesnt_merely_lack_tactics/

 

[Julia]

It would appear very obvious the Gillard Government will be short lived when one reads of the adverse comments coming from her own stalwarts.

I heard those comments from Karl Bitar on ABC Radio yesterday and was astonished at his candour. They add weight to the comments of Paul Howe in his recent book.

 

[Logique]

What I find most shocking about today's Labor Party is that it doesn't really represent the working class anymore, it's become the plaything of aspirational urban professional elites.

Can anyone believe today that the ALP started under a gum tree in Barcaldine in western QLD?

Remember Howard's battlers. They were rusted on ALP once upon a time. The ALP has become a nepotistic closed circle of careerists. Union organiser - parliamentary staffer - parachuted into House of Reps or Senate. A goldfish would have a better grasp of contemporary Australian life.

It's not the party of Curtin or Chifley any more. I think you'll find that more than one past ALP leader agrees.

 

[Knobby22]

What I find most shocking about today's Labor Party is that it doesn't really represent the working class anymore, it's become the plaything of aspirational urban professional elites.

Can anyone believe today that the ALP started under a gum tree in Barcaldine in western QLD?

Remember Howard's battlers. They were rusted on ALP once upon a time. The ALP has become a nepotistic closed circle of careerists. Union organiser - parliamentary staffer - parachuted into House of Reps or Senate. A goldfish would have a better grasp of contemporary Australian life.

It's not the party of Curtin or Chifley any more. I think you'll find that more than one past ALP leader agrees.

True, same with the Liberals and we know one previous Liberal leader agrees.
We seem to be building a ruling class.

 

[Boggo]

A young woman was about to finish her first year of university. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very labor minded, and she was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs - in other words, the redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch blue-ribbon liberal, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had attended, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harboured an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth, and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing at university.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 90% average, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many university friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 50% average. She is so popular on campus; university for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 20% off your average and give it to your friend who only has 50%. That way you will both have a 70% average, and certainly that would be fair and equal."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Liberal side of the fence."

 

[OllieG]

I guess the important thing is that it doesn't really matter what the overall government is doing. Just look at GST - I remember when that first came about, there was significant dispute from the labor government when it was implemented and was a huge campaign difference between the parties. Now look at them - they are using GST money like its going out of fashion!