Who was the best Prime Minister?

Jul 5, 2012
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Kidding, right?
There is a lot of stuff we take for granted now that came in during the Whitlam era.Sadly a whole heap has been chopped and gutted by the LNP.
The Coalition of 2021 is still fighting the Whitlam government. They will not rest till any glimmer of the progressivism of 72-75 is snuffed out for all eternity.

On the one hand, I am flabbergasted at the vindictiveness of "conservatives".

On the other hand, I take my hat off to their tenacity, and we progs need to take a leaf out of their book. If and when a vaguely progressive government ever takes power in Australia, we need to be united in smashing any trace of what these neanderthals have done to our great country since 1996.
 

anchor man

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The Coalition of 2021 is still fighting the Whitlam government. They will not rest till any glimmer of the progressivism of 72-75 is snuffed out for all eternity.

On the one hand, I am flabbergasted at the vindictiveness of "conservatives".

On the other hand, I take my hat off to their tenacity, and we progs need to take a leaf out of their book. If and when a vaguely progressive government ever takes power in Australia, we need to be united in smashing any trace of what these neanderthals have done to our great country since 1996.
It is going to be hard to do with such powerin the hands of the maniacal Right wing media.
Even if the Devil himself, Rupert drops off the perch, there is Little Lucifer,Lachlan there to keep the fire burning.
We, as a nation have been ruled by and dictated to by Right wing media for a long time.Previous, the Packers.
 
Jul 5, 2012
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Kidding, right?
It is going to be hard to do with such powerin the hands of the maniacal Right wing media.
Even if the Devil himself, Rupert drops off the perch, there is Little Lucifer,Lachlan there to keep the fire burning.
We, as a nation have been ruled by and dictated to by Right wing media for a long time.Previous, the Packers.
True. Letting that malevolent prune Murdoch begin his takeover of this country’s discourse was Keating’s greatest failure.

The standard of political discourse in New Zealand or Canada is so superior to comparable anglophone nations like us, the US or the UK. The fact that Murdoch has never been allowed to dominate their media must surely be more than coincidence.
 

anchor man

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True. Letting that malevolent prune Murdoch begin his takeover of this country’s discourse was Keating’s greatest failure.

The standard of political discourse in New Zealand or Canada is so superior to comparable anglophone nations like us, the US or the UK. The fact that Murdoch has never been allowed to dominate their media must surely be more than coincidence.
I dispute the fact that Murdoch had no influence over the media in England.
Look at how he and his cretins taped phone calls.
That should have been the end of his evil power grab, but some how he was able to get a reprieve and still spew his bile all over us.
His sky news here in Australia is total libe bullshit and make up stories.
Bolt makes me feel physically ill.Cretlin is just that.Kenny is an idiot. Jones is a self serving dick head.And the rest are total morons with no morals.
 
Jul 5, 2012
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Kidding, right?
I dispute the fact that Murdoch had no influence over the media in England.
Look at how he and his cretins taped phone calls.
That should have been the end of his evil power grab, but some how he was able to get a reprieve and still spew his bile all over us.
His sky news here in Australia is total libe bullshit and make up stories.
Bolt makes me feel physically ill.Cretlin is just that.Kenny is an idiot. Jones is a self serving dick head.And the rest are total morons with no morals.
Totally agree mate. I think you misread my post. I was saying Murdoch has way too much influence here, the US and the UK. Hence why the standard of politics is so schitte. Canada and NZ were the only anglophone nations with the good sense to keep his loathsome malevolant presence at arms length, and consequently their politics is so much more advanced.
 
Jul 5, 2012
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Kidding, right?
Thanks to E Shed for posting this brilliant Jo Dyer article on the Scott Morrison thread, which included this withering summary of John Howard's true ranking as a prime minister.

"When did this shamelessness begin? It wasn’t always this way. Back in the Fraser Government, Michael McKellar resigned from the Ministry for a Customs form that listed a colour TV as black and white. Mick Young resigned from the Hawke Cabinet when his wife failed to declare a Paddington Bear. Before whiteboards were shields for a cowering Senator Cash, Ros Kelly used one to map out her own version of sports rorts and had to resign from the Keating Cabinet for her trouble. As with so many of our worst traits, the origin of our current plight can be traced back to the Coalition’s previous Dark Wizard, John Howard. As well as infamously unleashing division and disharmony with his call for racist immigration policies and his rhetoric against refugees, his evocation of a black armband view of history as he hectored delegates at Reconciliation Convention, not to mention kicking off the Coalition’s love affair with the military and its attendant uniformed props, he trashed the idea of Ministerial standards when his first term Ministers kept inconveniently breaching a much vaunted new Ministerial Code of Conduct. After losing seven ministers – seven! – in less than one year for everything from conflicts of interest, to travel rorts, to fraud, Howard took decisive action and watered down the Code. Recall, too, that after hanging workers in failed companies out to dry for years, he introduced an Employee Entitlements Support Scheme to bail out his brother’s failing company, one of the early, glaring examples of the Coalition’s fine tradition of using taxpayers’ money as its own."

She then goes on to show how that terror of accountability by Howard has its dismal modern manifestation in the far less accountable Morrison government. Some legacy, Mr Howard.

 
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the electorate decided this man's fate

I'd suggest a one term PM , rejected by the electorate, can't be ranked very high.

I think they can be if they had an agenda of policy reform that was clearly targeted at long term over short term benefit, provided such reforms in hidsight can on balance be considered a success.

Looking through the list some of them are just no brainers by today's standards - but someone had to step up and do it.
 
I think they can be if they had an agenda of policy reform that was clearly targeted at long term over short term benefit, provided such reforms in hidsight can on balance be considered a success.

Looking through the list some of them are just no brainers by today's standards - but someone had to step up and do it.

Some of his achievements were adoption of UK and or US policy leads.
Others had corrupt objectives such as undermining democracy
Then the corrupt loans

This was a dangerous man's who saw himself as god. He who believed the ends justified the means.

If he had his way, he would have bankrupted Australia.

Bob Hawke and Paul Keating is the window we should celebrate.
 
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