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Tony Abbott for PM

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Abbott's idea of taking the sports betting off TV before/during live games is a great idea.

I've actually 'almost stopped' - 'cut-right-down' on watching the NRL because of Tom Waterhouse and his constant 'updates/odds'.
 
A suggestion for those who are opposed to Mr Abbott's parental leave scheme:
support his backbenchers who have had the courage to speak out publicly against it and email your local federal MP. A deluge of such messages is probably about all that will sway Abbott's obsession with this.
 

I've just emailed Julia Bishop, who is my local MP. I expressed my opposition to the parental leave scheme and also using "The Gillard Experiment" (the headless chooks) ad in their campaign.
 
bellenuit said:
I've just emailed Julia Bishop, who is my local MP. I expressed my opposition to the parental leave scheme and also using "The Gillard Experiment" (the headless chooks) ad in their campaign.
Click to expand...

Those who don't like seeing Julia being depicted as a headless chook may like this one.

 
Tony Abbott's parental leave scheme won't go ahead.
Big business were prepared to advertise against the present government. You can be sure they won't roll over on this.
Tony will be forced to change.
The present action will be just the warm up if he resists.
 

I just heard him on the news categorically stating that it was going to be Liberal Party policy and will be implemented in their first term if they win. He left himself no room for manoeuvre. I just hate how they paint themselves into a corner and then we, the taxpayer, have to pay for their idiocy because they don't want to lose face by backing down, even when they and everyone else knows they should do so. I know it's big business that will be levied, but it all hits the taxpayer eventually one way or another.
 
Are you referring to this,


I reckon he'll go to the election with a start date of either July 1 2015 or a year later in a hope that the budget position will improve. If not, then he's either faced with watering it down, abandoning it of slugging out with big business.

He'll essentially find himself in the same fiscal predicament as Labor if he takes this policy into government. What he's lost sight of is that leadership is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...-parental-policy-disunity-20130507-2j4fi.html
 
consistent with budget responsibility".
Click to expand...
This phrase would seem to give him an out in due course.
I expect he's unwilling to be seen to be immediately giving in to demands from both big business and his back bench and would regard that as failing to demonstrate authority.

Or maybe he really does just passionately believe that it's his version of Labor's cliche "The Right Thing to Do".
 

My guess is he is trying to be as small a target as possible. No matter which way he responds to the issue, he will be hammered by the press.IMO
Best thing he can do is be non commital, then it all boils down to speculation. The press then have to walk carefully and be vague in their criticism, as it isn't based on fact.
 
So which is the socialist party handing out middle class welfare and which is the conservative party with fiscal responsibility? At the same time Tony Abbott is refusing to budge on his reckless paid parental scheme Labor is tightening the belt on middle class welfare by scraping the family tax benefit increase. If Abbott is to stay true to Liberal party values he will drop this inept paid parental leave policy.
 
Any reactions to the Coalition's workplace relations announcement yesterday?

As the business community has noted, it seems timid.

Is Mr Abbott - in his concern to remain a small target - going to be an 'achieve very little real reform' leader?
Apart from his extraordinary PPL scheme he's coming across as trying too hard not to upset anyone.

It seems to be small business that so needs assistance, especially on penalty rates etc which he's fobbing off, as I understand it, to FWA.

How do small business owners here feel about the Coalition policy announced?
Dock, I guess you're less affected in your line of business than, say, cafe owners on the penalty rate issue?
Are there other issues you'd have hoped to see some movement on?
 
Judith Sloan as usual gets it right. Abbott's Claytons policy is gutless. He is like a scared rabbit in the headlights. He is so far ahead in the polls that he could kick the **** out of the unions that are a brake on productivity, and get away with it. Now is the time for a bit of aggression.

Read more,
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...-need-for-reform/story-fnbkvnk7-1226638936698
 
It's easy to say small business want labour reforms but it is big business that want it so they can further out compete small business.
I'm glad Tony hanging out.
If you work Sundays or on holidays, you should get paid more.

Productivity experts rightly say wages only make a small proportion of possible gains.
Making the average person poorer, as has happened in the USA, has hurt their society. Abbott is not silly. Just because he will be voted in doesn't mean he has to cave in to foreign multi-nationals.

I for one am heartened by his attitude. That does not mean I don't expect him to tackle the power of some unions.
 
If everybody is whinging about Tony's IR policy then its probably reasonably balanced
 
I dont have any high expectations of Abbott whatsoever.

However he has to do one thing right to get the tick of approval and that is rein in government spending and cut back the welfare state mentality. That means family allowances, over generous benefits to pensioners, baby bonuses need to be severely restricted.

If he gets that right I will forgive most other things.

It remains to be seen whether he has the fortitude to handle the tough challenges.

Should he be elected the first budget is the ideal opportunity to wield the axe.

After that it becomes more difficult to make hard changes with our short electoral cycle.
 

I'm a shift worker, and on the worst kind of shifts as I do 24 hours with constant changes so it's hard to get a decent sleeping pattern.

To be told that doing something not healthy - go read about the long term nurse study on the health affects of shift work - is not to be compensated with shift penalties would probably see me change jobs. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a big retreat from unsociable hours. Base pay would certainly have to increase if management wanted to get competent staff.

I sacrifice time with friends on weekends and have missed out on family events too. Why make it easier for management to push workers to work unsociable hours? Yeah, during a down turn it wont be too big an issue, but once jobs are easy(ish) to get then base pay will have to go up, or service levels will fall due to only those unable to get a normal hours jobs willing to work weekends and nights.
 

I'd argue management in most industries - especially IT and white collar - are the main impediments to productivity improvements.

I've highlight so many small issues, that all together add up to HUGE productivity losses - and have yet to see them take the issue seriously.

How can you increase productivity when - IIRC - something like 60-70% of companies in Australia DON'T measure productivity? If you don't measure it, then how do you know if you have a problem?

Lets not forget that the lowest productivity levels for the last decade occurred under work choices!

Yes, unions in some industries are productivity destroyers, but just as many managers are too.
 
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