Do the Liberals have any good policies?

[nylexbandit]

It's not like the BRW Rich list doesn't exist. Two words sum up this government perfectly; crony capitalism.

Trust me a lot of super rich people don't turn up on those lists. Private companies owned by trusts which then distribute to richie (generally hard working and productive) but also to family members who contribute nothing to society. Not to mention the distributions are calculated to allow maximum benefit claims and tax minimisation.

Want to get rid of leaners - look at the trust rules

 

[Redalert]

This is the biggest load of crap I've read in a long, long time. As has been seen time and again if you put forward good policy it will get through the Senate, plenty of governments have had to deal with a hostile Senate and still had no trouble passing legislation. The problem here is that there is NO good legislation coming from the Liberal party.

So when the Greens blocked the increase in the fuel levy, they weren't just blocking the measure out of spite? This is despite the fact that most of their party supported passing the legislation, its traditionally a core Greens policy and the Coalition was open to negotiation.

And for the record I'm not talking about broadly unpopular legislation, I'm talking about fringe policies which could easily have been passed with semi-competent independents or through a compromise with Labor.

 

[Maggie5]

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...intergenerational-report-20150318-1m2csq.html

How many more lies do we need from this government?

The Treasury has disowned the contents of the Intergenerational Report being used by the government to claim that it is a better economic manager than Labor.
Asked about the political content of the report, Treasury deputy secretary Nigel Ray told a Senate hearing the content was "a matter for the government".

Asked why the Treasury had spent $380,000 on more than 30 focus groups in the lead-up to the Intergenerational Report, Mr Ray said that, too, had been a government decision, and was more closely related to the advertising campaign that followed than to the report itself.

Treasury officials had "monitored" some of the focus groups. He was unable to say whether this had been through one-way mirrors or video recordings. Nor was he able to say whether the people taking part in the focus groups were aware of how they were being monitored.

Asked whether he endorsed the political parts of the report, Mr Ray replied: "The content of the report is a matter for the government."

 

[Gough]

More bullshit from the Foreign Minister. If anybody still believes anything this government says, I have some timeshare on the Gold Coast that may interest them.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-18/fact-check--australia27s-economic-inheritance/6162670

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

If you read the comments from the people on the ground at the time of the war they tend to disagree with Prof Stanley.
Union were smart enough not to write it down.

But you're not smart enough to consider why anyone would write down a crime they committed? I have heard rich tycoons kill people for sport. They didn't write it down, so it must've happened!

You can earn $100 million if you set your mind to it.

Fan of The Secret?

How the left love to scream about the rich ignoring that all the heavy lifters taxation wise are in the top 20% who pay 70% of tax

How the right love to forget their Primary school percentage classes... Who'd have thought those that earn more, pay more? It defies belief!

So when the Greens blocked the increase in the fuel levy, they weren't just blocking the measure out of spite? This is despite the fact that most of their party supported passing the legislation, its traditionally a core Greens policy and the Coalition was open to negotiation.

And for the record I'm not talking about broadly unpopular legislation, I'm talking about fringe policies which could easily have been passed with semi-competent independents or through a compromise with Labor.

Didn't they say it was because the excise was going to go to road-building or something, and so that's why they didn't support it? I agree that the Greens are just as political as the major parties, but there is some consistency there given Abbott's stated principle of only using Fed funds for roads and not Public Transport.

And as for being 'open to negotiation', I think we can take some of what the Coalition say with a grain of salt when senators are saying they've only been visited twice by the PM. Of course pretty much anything they say should be taken with a grain of salt considering their form, but backbenchers say everything is done through the PMO and if Senators aren't getting the attention of the PM and he's taken to calling them "feral"... I mean, it's almost like they want permission to whinge like they whinged in opposition without taking on the responsibility of actually acting on their complaints.

 

[Todman]

Fan of The Secret?

There are things you could do that are more constructive than wasting your time on bigfooty.

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

There are things you could do that are more constructive than wasting your time on bigfooty.

I agreed. Then Tony Abbott looked like becoming PM and I knew there was something drastically wrong with people's understanding of politics.

I don't want the American political disease taking hold here, and pointing out the utter BS of most Koch Brothers-style posters has become more important. Helping to stop that brand of politics from stupifying voters will hopefully help stop the undermining of the power of democracy.

 

[Xsess]

Labors senate blockade is them fighting for their very existence (with Australia as collateral damage). The Howard government was by any reasonable standard, very successful with Australia going from strength to strength. Illegal boat arrivals were dealt with efficiently and exceptionally. International relations were good. Business thrived, real pay rates were high, living standards and personal wealth were brilliant.

Then along came Rudd/Gillard/Rudd who were utter failures.

Stupid economy wrecking taxes, handouts to tourists and dead people, homes burned, debts reached record levels despite record government income. Boat loads of illegals arrived at such a rate that all semblance of border control was lost. Businesses closed, jobs and entire industries were shut down. Imagine if Tony Abbott’s government were allowed to fix the problems Labor created - and could not fix? Labor would have to go back to being a political party with morals and policies - like it used to be - instead of the extension of the union scam they are now. Unthinkeable!!

 

[Maggie5]

You can earn $100 million if you set your mind to it.

You have given me an idea though, If I had a dollar, every time dear old Tony says, "Madam Speaker, we stopped the boats, repealed the carbon tax, repealed the mining tax, Labor's Debt and Deficit Disaster", I would have the 100 Mill in no time...
And better still, I will give a dollar back each time any member of the Liberal Party can complete one sentence without blaming, Labor, Greens or the Senate.
Sound fair? Reckon, I will still be in front at the end of the year.

 

[Slax]

More bullshit from the Foreign Minister. If anybody still believes anything this government says, I have some timeshare on the Gold Coast that may interest them.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-18/fact-check--australia27s-economic-inheritance/6162670

But we already know that this government isn't interested in letting facts get in the way of a two-second headline grab

 

[Slax]

Labors senate blockade is them fighting for their very existence (with Australia as collateral damage). The Howard government was by any reasonable standard, very successful with Australia going from strength to strength. Illegal boat arrivals were dealt with efficiently and exceptionally. International relations were good. Business thrived, real pay rates were high, living standards and personal wealth were brilliant.

Then along came Rudd/Gillard/Rudd who were utter failures.

Stupid economy wrecking taxes, handouts to tourists and dead people, homes burned, debts reached record levels despite record government income. Boat loads of illegals arrived at such a rate that all semblance of border control was lost. Businesses closed, jobs and entire industries were shut down. Imagine if Tony Abbott’s government were allowed to fix the problems Labor created - and could not fix? Labor would have to go back to being a political party with morals and policies - like it used to be - instead of the extension of the union scam they are now. Unthinkeable!!

And it has only got worse under Abbott with no sign of it improving in the medium term future either.

Rudd was bad but Abbott is simply the worst PM ever. For a bloke struggling with a hostile Senate to go and call the feral just shows how dumb the bloke is, how does he think he can negotiate with someone when everything that this government does in regards to the Senate is show total disrespect to them.

 

[Maggie5]

And it has only got worse under Abbott with no sign of it improving in the medium term future either.

Rudd was bad but Abbott is simply the worst PM ever. For a bloke struggling with a hostile Senate to go and call the feral just shows how dumb the bloke is, how does he think he can negotiate with someone when everything that this government does in regards to the Senate is show total disrespect to them.

Re; the bold, got it in one.

 

[pazza]

Labors senate blockade is them fighting for their very existence (with Australia as collateral damage). The Howard government was by any reasonable standard, very successful with Australia going from strength to strength. Illegal boat arrivals were dealt with efficiently and exceptionally. International relations were good. Business thrived, real pay rates were high, living standards and personal wealth were brilliant.

Then along came Rudd/Gillard/Rudd who were utter failures.

Stupid economy wrecking taxes, handouts to tourists and dead people, homes burned, debts reached record levels despite record government income. Boat loads of illegals arrived at such a rate that all semblance of border control was lost. Businesses closed, jobs and entire industries were shut down. Imagine if Tony Abbott’s government were allowed to fix the problems Labor created - and could not fix? Labor would have to go back to being a political party with morals and policies - like it used to be - instead of the extension of the union scam they are now. Unthinkeable!!

2nd paragraph is clearly incorrect.

How many people lost jobs under the last Labor Government? I'll give you a clue..it wasn't many. More jobs have been lost since 2013 than the previous 6 years. Don't believe me? Check the figures from the ABS.

Debt was not at record levels. Anyone who believes that tosh is clinically brain dead. In fact, the OECD records that Australia's debt is actually the second LOWEST!!!

The carbon tax DID NOT wreck the economy - it contributed to it. That's right. The revenue collected was actually contributing to the budget bottom line. The main and proven reason behind higher energy bills was the unrestrained price gouging by public and private energy providers. Hence why the "savings" promised from the removal of the carbon tax haven't flowed through, just lined the bottom lines of the energy providers even further.

The mining tax DID NOT destroy the mining industry. What has killed it off is the dramatic drop in commodity prices.

And as for stopping the boats...maybe. But at what cost to our legal obligations internationally and respect from outside of our borders. We are the laughing stock of the world because of our pathetic treatment of asylum seekers, and for this morally bereft joke of a policy in closing down Indigenous communities to appease the mining lobby. Just tonight, 2000 people gathered in Melbourne, at very short notice, re the last issue there. What right has the mining lobby and it's shareholders on the Government frontbench got in closing down the communities and placing the people from them in the too hard basket.

Anyone who supports this morally bereft government should hang there head in shame.

 

[medusala]

Rudd was bad but Abbott is simply the worst PM ever.

Nowhere near Gillard let along Gough who was in a class of his own. If and when he mentions textbook Keynesian stimulus I will happily concede he is as bad as Gillard.

The carbon tax DID NOT wreck the economy - it contributed to it.

Where to start.

In fact, the OECD records that Australia's debt is actually the second LOWEST!!!

Really?

 

[sherb]

And it has only got worse under Abbott with no sign of it improving in the medium term future either.

Rudd was bad but Abbott is simply the worst PM ever. For a bloke struggling with a hostile Senate to go and call the feral just shows how dumb the bloke is, how does he think he can negotiate with someone when everything that this government does in regards to the Senate is show total disrespect to them.

Easily the worst I have seen.

 

[Gough]

Nowhere near Gillard let along Gough who was in a class of his own. If and when he mentions textbook Keynesian stimulus I will happily concede he is as bad as Gillard.



Where to start.



Really?

How about you start? Carbon Pricing raised money, the economy continued to grow, and carbon emissions dropped. Where is the failure in that?

 

[medusala]

How about you start? Carbon Pricing raised money, the economy continued to grow, and carbon emissions dropped. Where is the failure in that?

A large tax rise is great for the economy. Are you actually serious? Why do so few people grasp basic economics?

 

[Gough]

A large tax rise is great for the economy. Are you actually serious? Why do so few people grasp basic economics?

Explain why it was a failure Meds, I've suggested why it worked, and you just come up with rhetoric.

 

[medusala]

Explain why it was a failure Meds, I've suggested why it worked, and you just come up with rhetoric.

Gough, mining is the one industry where Australia has a competitive advantage. The industry is responsible for a very large % of exports. If the AUD falls then basically Australian workers take a pay cut ie their earnings buy less.

This is not a simple left / right issue. Martin Ferguson is hardly hated in the business community despite his union background. He supposedly understood ie it would hurt workers wages / conditions. Nearly all of the cabinet could not. Hardly surprising given the lack of experience in the real world private/sector

Are you aware of the basis of the original mining tax? Are you aware of what happened to emission under the proposed ETS and the Australian prices cf the rest of the world, reliance on an international system, trading of credits etc?

Also are you aware of the Euro carbon price and background to it? Ditto the fraud. Ditto GS involvement etc

I don't have an issues with Australia being part of a binding world wide effort to reduce emissions. That makes sense

That was Liberal policy. Abbott is just another Mick in sheeps clothing. Liberal in a statist jacket. His direct action policy is disgraceful

Lets not, however, pretend a carbon tax made any sense at all

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

Gough, mining is the one industry where Australia has a competitive advantage. The industry is responsible for a very large % of exports. If the AUD falls then basically Australian workers take a pay cut ie their earnings buy less.

This is not a simple left / right issue. Martin Ferguson is hardly hated in the business community despite his union background. He supposedly understood ie it would hurt workers wages / conditions. Nearly all of the cabinet could not. Hardly surprising given the lack of experience in the real world private/sector

Are you aware of the basis of the original mining tax? Are you aware of what happened to emission under the proposed ETS and the Australian prices cf the rest of the world, reliance on an international system, trading of credits etc?

Also are you aware of the Euro carbon price and background to it? Ditto the fraud. Ditto GS involvement etc

I don't have an issues with Australia being part of a binding world wide effort to reduce emissions. That makes sense

That was Liberal policy. Abbott is just another Mick in sheeps clothing. Liberal in a statist jacket. His direct action policy is disgraceful

Lets not, however, pretend a carbon tax made any sense at all

Another of your basic errors. Despite a very clearly made repeated request from Gough to explain why the Carbon tax was bad for the economy, you talk about the mining tax and the strength of the AUD, and then reduce yourself to dropping short-hand to try and suggest there is an argument out there, but you aren't explaining it in full here. Too many basic errors, Meds. You aren't the smart guy you like people to think you are.

 

[Xsess]

explain why the Carbon tax was bad for the economy,

The highest carbon tax in the world added compounding costs onto Australian business putting us at a huge competitive disadvantage. Sent power costs through the roof which is bad for productivity. Added to the tax burden of higher income earners who already carry the entire taxation load in this country, further reducing their discretionary spend and ability to employ others/innovate/produce. Added to the welfare costs in this country which has proved impossible to claw back adding to our crippling debt. Siphoned money out of the country by sending money to the UN. Siphoned money out of the economy with establishment of stupid Green energy bureaucracies that are have achieved nothing. More red tape and compliance costs all round.

What did it achieve?

 

[swingdog]

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-06-11/carbon-tax-isn-t-killing-jobs-in-australia

 

[Slax]

Nowhere near Gillard let along Gough who was in a class of his own. If and when he mentions textbook Keynesian stimulus I will happily concede he is as bad as Gillard.

Are you for real? You still benefit to this day from legislation passed by Gough.

Gillard actually got a lot of legislation through the Senate, something Abbott is completely incapable of. Just tell me something that Abbott has actually tried to do that will benefit future generations of Australia? something, anything, because there is anything and trying to claim the carbon tax repeal isn't a legacy.

 

[pazza]

The highest carbon tax in the world added compounding costs onto Australian business putting us at a huge competitive disadvantage. Sent power costs through the roof which is bad for productivity. Added to the tax burden of higher income earners who already carry the entire taxation load in this country, further reducing their discretionary spend and ability to employ others/innovate/produce. Added to the welfare costs in this country which has proved impossible to claw back adding to our crippling debt. Siphoned money out of the country by sending money to the UN. Siphoned money out of the economy with establishment of stupid Green energy bureaucracies that are have achieved nothing. More red tape and compliance costs all round.

What did it achieve?

The former has been acknowledged by the majority of companies in their annual reports as not an issue.
Second sentence needs to be truly analysed - the power and gas companies, both public and private, have been engaging in price gouging for years - Victorians under privatised power companies pay some of the highest fees imaginable - compared indeed to the old SEC. since the removal of the tax, guess what? The price gouging has continued. We all knew they would.

As for the rest of it, more red ape = checks and balances on the economy. Take away the red tape and chaos ensues.

 

[Todman]

You have given me an idea though, If I had a dollar, every time dear old Tony says, "Madam Speaker, we stopped the boats, repealed the carbon tax, repealed the mining tax, Labor's Debt and Deficit Disaster", I would have the 100 Mill in no time...
And better still, I will give a dollar back each time any member of the Liberal Party can complete one sentence without blaming, Labor, Greens or the Senate.
Sound fair? Reckon, I will still be in front at the end of the year.

Better idea, Get your friends to give you a dollar every time dear old Tony says, "Madam Speaker, we stopped the boats, repealed the carbon tax, repealed the mining tax, Labor's Debt and Deficit Disaster",