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-- [Politics] Election 2007
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| Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN Maybe im too busy to fill the 50 boxes below the line? ;p and to be honest, what the hell have the dems done since they sold us out over the GST? do we want another "yeah, ok johnny" party with the balance of power? |
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| Originally posted by DIDI You don't have fill in the fifty boxes . |
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| Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN isnt it 1 above the line or 50 (whatever) below? sorry, i didnt vote in the last fed election. |
i so don't want to vote
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| Originally posted by RaverSpike i so don't want to vote |
put a sombrero on lil johnny and he'll look like pedro
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| Howard's Assault on Democracy (and Why We Should Care) 5:35pm Wednesday, Oct 24 The website, Howard Facts, provides the truth about Work Choices, Climate Change, Nuclear Reactors, Iraq, and Interest Rates. John Howard says that "working families have never been better off". Well, this website shows just how hopelessly out of touch he has become... I think the really scary stuff hasn't even been mentioned on that website. Howard has systematically changed the face of Australian politics very slowly over a decade (like slowly boiling a frog in a pot) in the following ways: * Scientific research now finds itself without funding for areas that might go in contrary to the government's own ideas - especially in the areas of alternative energy. * Non-government organisations have experienced fund cuts if they don't comply with Howard's own ideals, or management fired and changed out for Liberal-friendlies. * Many government agencies and public offices have been augmented or disassembled so that decision-making, along with the enforcement of policy, is re-routed through the Howard office. Nothing happens without Howard's say-so. A culture of intimidation and fear exists where people are unable to question or make a stand for anything without fear of losing their funding or their jobs. An example of this is the disbanding of Unions and the subsequent Work Choices legislation where the employee no longer has a voice. A flow-on from this move is another example that went under the radar: the complete demolishing of the Office of Workplace Services and the Office of the Employment Advocate, replaced by the Workplace Ombudsman and the Workplace Authority respectively. Most people would see this as a simple name change. However, whereas before they were independent Government-funded agencies designed to stand up for employers and employees in regards to wage and conditions disputes, there are now two new agencies in their place, completely owned and operated by the Howard Government coinciding with the WorkChoices roll-out. One can easily guess the effect this has on government accountability and the so-called "fair go" for Australian workers. * Freedom of speech has been limited by Howard's use of "attack dogs" - MP's whose purpose is to attack the reputation of opposing MP's or even citizens like journalists, in order to counter their arguments - often resulting in reputations and careers being destroyed. * Howard has not, for a long time, held Q&A times with journalists but rather has confined his contact with them to highly structured announce-and-run press meetings, or to morning talk-back radio with Liberal-friendies where he can control the situation. Further, it is often a government spokesperson who does the announcing and running. Journalists are having to rely more and more on press releases for their information, without the opportunity to question or probe for answers. Ask anyone who has worked for more than 10 years in the parliamentary press gallery and they will tell you how much of an exercise in futility it has become. * Government-funded institutions such as museums have been ordered to change their exhibits to fall in line with Howard's preferred 'sanitised' portrayal of Australian history. HISTORICAL EVENTS in Australia's checkered past have been omitted from education curriculum, such as: o the systematic culling of Aborigines by white settlers o our first Prime Minister's (Sir Edmund Barton) blatant racism towards Asians ('White Australia' policy) o the slave trade (our cane farming industry was built on the backs of South Pacific Islanders who had been torn from their homes) o the Stolen Generation Instead we're left with stories about Burke and Wills having to eat raw Koala when they ran out of food and their matches were wet. Cute, but not that crucial to understanding our path to where we are today. The only way we can avoid making the same mistakes over and over and therefore forge a modern nation is by keeping past mistakes in recent memory. * The Senate is now, for the first time in Australian history, a Liberal majority. That means they can control which bills get passed and which don't. In recent years they have even done away with the initial approval process by a review board and have moved bills straight to the Senate for passing. A Liberal majority Senate in this political environment will of course pass legislation that agrees with the Howard agenda and block those which don't. This is a DIRECT AFFRONT to the Democratic System. The above points are just some of the many checks and balances built into Democracy to make governments accountable for their actions - or in other words, to "keep the bastards honest". Without these the Opposition Government is left to be the lone voice of dissent against Howard, and they have to work HARDER to do it without support from all quarters. These attacks on Democracy are largely noticed only by nervous political commentators and some journalists, while Jim and Jan Citizen from Wedgeville really only care about Education, Health and Jobs and wether or not they can get on the internet where they live. So naturally, the election is going to be ALL about Education, Health, Workchoices and Broadband in regional areas, followed in distant second by the Troops in Iraq, Global Warming, and Nuclear Energy. The reason more people aren't as absolutely horrified by the state of Australian politics is that they simply don't know and don't understand and therefore don't CARE to know the truth. They want to hear the two sides talk about stuff they relate to. Unfortunately this election is not just about those issues, although those issues are the very aspects of Australian life that are affected by a bastardised Democracy at the end of the day. Without a proper Democracy the Australian people are at the mercy of the government. They have had NO choice in "WorkChoices". NO choice in the GST back in the 90's. NO choice regarding treatment of Asylum Seekers. NO choice on wether or not to go to war. NO choice on Aboriginal Reconciliation or the "Intervention". NO choice on wether we want to support the Kyoto Agreement and fall into line with the rest of Planet Earth on Environmental issues. Howard has systematically destroyed and reconfigured the agencies, organisations and government departments that have power to question policy-making and has silenced critics in the public sector, essentially killing public discussion and involvement in the shaping of the country. The result is of course (and was always intended to be) complete power. This, my friends, is called a Dictatorship. The worst part is that, as we all know, Howard is directly influenced by American policy on Global issues through his close relationship with President George W Bush, arguably the most unpopular President in United States history. Please vote Labor on November 24 to bring balance and sense back to the Australian way. |
found the best application on facebook 
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| Originally posted by eRRaTiK (source) Thoughts? |
I live in the 2nd most marginal seat/electorate in the whole country, Bonner.
I used to vote for Liberal here, but now I'm voting Labor. Labor may have adopted an American style of spelling but the simple fact is we didn't rush off to join America in the "War against Terror".
Having said that I'm not a hippy either, but there are better ways of doing what needed to be done in Iraq, and invasion wasn't it. The Americans should've just focused on finding Osama in the first place because he's still out there and has done more damage than Saddam has done.
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| Originally posted by AParajuli The Americans should've just focused on finding Osama in the first place because he's still out there and has done more damage than Saddam has done. |
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| Originally posted by eRRaTiK How bout they just focus on their own internal issues (health care, racism, psychos going round on shooting sprees, etc.) before sending everybody else on a wild goose chase? Without the exposure, Saddam, Osama and co. would be nobodies. |
america has every right to be in afghanistan.
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| Originally posted by Trance Nutter Are you seriously suggesting that Saddam and Osama were nobodies before the US went on their current little rampage? |
i got
1.labour
2.greens
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| Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN america has every right to be in afghanistan. |
How people can factor the war in iraq as an issue regarding the upcoming election amazes me. Regardless of which government was in term (Labor or Liberal) the fact of the matter is they would of both sent troops in.
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| Originally posted by Paulie How people can factor the war in iraq as an issue regarding the upcoming election amazes me. Regardless of which government was in term (Labor or Liberal) the fact of the matter is they would of both sent troops in. |
As far as im concerned for myself 2 major issues in this federal election.
Tax Cuts and Interest Rates.
As far as our health system and education system goes and such issues they definately should be left for state politics and we should be bitching to the state governments. They have been cleaning up since the GST and still cry poor to the federal government.
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| Originally posted by Paulie As far as our health system and education system goes and such issues they definately should be left for state politics |
And what happens to all that GST the states collect? Increase their supers?
yeah health and education should probably be federal. Especially education. Its retarded that students aren't taught the same stuff in each state and that a year 12 from one state has done a completely different system to another.
um, i dont really know enough about the health system, but in my experience the federal government do seem to be more efficient.
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| Originally posted by Trance Nutter Especially education. Its retarded that students aren't taught the same stuff in each state and that a year 12 from one state has done a completely different system to another. |
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| Originally posted by Paulie How people can factor the war in iraq as an issue regarding the upcoming election amazes me. Regardless of which government was in term (Labor or Liberal) the fact of the matter is they would of both sent troops in. |
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| Originally posted by Paulie As far as im concerned for myself 2 major issues in this federal election. Tax Cuts and Interest Rates. As far as our health system and education system goes and such issues they definately should be left for state politics and we should be bitching to the state governments. They have been cleaning up since the GST and still cry poor to the federal government. |
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