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If Rudd misses out and Abbott gets in he'll be looking at your suggestions along with everything else that can be cut....
I don't get it, everyone is expecting cutbacks if Abbott gets in yet if Rudd cuts something back........
Keith, if you don't think the Liberals are better money managers than Labor over the years, vote Labor.I suspect you will anyway.
Dave, the line often used by conservatives that governments should run their budgets like a household or business is utter nonsense.Governments have responsibilities including foreign aid, providing infrastructure, funding social programs and welfare, etc. They do this with income (money generated by taxes) and borrowings. Households and businesses do not have these non-income producing responsibilities. However, they both use income and borrowings to do what they have to do.Australia's debt is not as disastrous as the conservative side of politics make out and one only has to do a bit of research to find out the facts.
Makes sense to me, Trev. Let's just bring on the austerity measures then. Slash & burn government funding, grind government projects to a halt, sack tens of thousands of people, sell schools, kick people out of nursing homes and she'll all be apples. That certainly worked in Queensland.
Quote from: Ugly Mongrel on July 20, 2013, 03:21:57Makes sense to me, Trev. Let's just bring on the austerity measures then. Slash & burn government funding, grind government projects to a halt, sack tens of thousands of people, sell schools, kick people out of nursing homes and she'll all be apples. That certainly worked in Queensland. I understand what youré saying but give it time.If Anna had been just a little more sensible in her spending, we wouldn't have to slash and burn. We're still paying for the health dept payroll debacle, the damn Traveston and the rusting salt water purifier.
First, I'll agree there needs to be balance to meet all commitments. Next, I'd say its a concept rather than a principle.Lets examine how this concept is working in Queensland where its been widely promoted that labour mismanagement has ruined the states economy although I see no evidence to show that this is in fact the case (agree there was waste - no doubt). First can do has reaped savings by sacking about 14000 public servants. No frontline staff were affected apparently except all the frontline staff that were sacked. Then he has slashed funding for programs intended to assist the marginalised in the community - without reducing or cutting back services. Amazing. Then he rehired a bunch of people but not to shore up frontline staff of course since they were not affected in the first place. Then he and his cohorts awarded themselves a big fat pay rise and later backed down when the word got out.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-09/qld-government-backs-down-on-mp-pay-rise/4809130On the positive side can do's crew are looking at fixing antiquated IT systems that power the public sector and are costing a motza to maintain. That's a good thing when you see how much it costs right now. But wait, a strategy paper was released a full 3 years before can do was elected. So its not really his idea. But he has given the idea a cut and polish and is is taking it for a spin anyway.http://delimiter.com.au/2013/07/05/qld-minister-defends-new-ict-strategy-not-brochureware/In response to the ICT Audit, this afternoon Queensland ICT Minister Ian Walker released what was described as an ICT Strategy to take the state forward in the years from 2013 to 2017. However, the document as a whole is only 16 pages long, of which six pages constitute cover sheets, blank pages, content pages and a glossary.The document does not go into any detail about how Queensland plans to meet its unprecedented level of challenges with respect to its ICT processes and systems; instead it contains only a series of what could be described as ‘motherhood’ statements about the state’s principles about dealing with technology. To be fair, the greatest IT debacle in Australian history, the Qld Health payroll happened under the previous administration. That was definitely a big fat fail. But lets see if can do can match it as the government embarks on a great big IT outsourcing program. Should be fun. Now the proof, are we any better of with this current administration even after such a short time? I don't think so and there's about 14000 people who might have something to say about that as well. Yes, its all about getting the balance right for sure.
Breaking News.......Prime Minister Rudd and PNG's Prime Minister have just signed a Regional Resettlement Agreement. The RRA will see all refugees that arrive in Australia will be processed under existing arrangements (Christmas Island, Naru or Manus Island). Those found to be genuine refugees will be resettled in PNG. Those who are found to not be genuine refugees will be returned to their country of origin. NO refugees will re resettled in Australia.Looks like Kev might stop the boats. Let's see what Mr Abbott has to say about this.
Quote from: keith_h on July 20, 2013, 03:49:10First, I'll agree there needs to be balance to meet all commitments. Next, I'd say its a concept rather than a principle.Lets examine how this concept is working in Queensland where its been widely promoted that labour mismanagement has ruined the states economy although I see no evidence to show that this is in fact the case (agree there was waste - no doubt). First can do has reaped savings by sacking about 14000 public servants. No frontline staff were affected apparently except all the frontline staff that were sacked. Then he has slashed funding for programs intended to assist the marginalised in the community - without reducing or cutting back services. Amazing. Then he rehired a bunch of people but not to shore up frontline staff of course since they were not affected in the first place. Then he and his cohorts awarded themselves a big fat pay rise and later backed down when the word got out.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-09/qld-government-backs-down-on-mp-pay-rise/4809130On the positive side can do's crew are looking at fixing antiquated IT systems that power the public sector and are costing a motza to maintain. That's a good thing when you see how much it costs right now. But wait, a strategy paper was released a full 3 years before can do was elected. So its not really his idea. But he has given the idea a cut and polish and is is taking it for a spin anyway.http://delimiter.com.au/2013/07/05/qld-minister-defends-new-ict-strategy-not-brochureware/In response to the ICT Audit, this afternoon Queensland ICT Minister Ian Walker released what was described as an ICT Strategy to take the state forward in the years from 2013 to 2017. However, the document as a whole is only 16 pages long, of which six pages constitute cover sheets, blank pages, content pages and a glossary.The document does not go into any detail about how Queensland plans to meet its unprecedented level of challenges with respect to its ICT processes and systems; instead it contains only a series of what could be described as ‘motherhood’ statements about the state’s principles about dealing with technology. To be fair, the greatest IT debacle in Australian history, the Qld Health payroll happened under the previous administration. That was definitely a big fat fail. But lets see if can do can match it as the government embarks on a great big IT outsourcing program. Should be fun. Now the proof, are we any better of with this current administration even after such a short time? I don't think so and there's about 14000 people who might have something to say about that as well. Yes, its all about getting the balance right for sure.That's all fine Keith but Labor had years to screw things up. And did a fine job of it. You can't fix that in one term. You try to get some of the bad stuff out of the way in the first couple of years and hope you can show some positives in year 3 before the next election. The "balance"can only be judged after Campbell has had as many year sin office as Beatty/Bligh.
Quote from: Ugly Mongrel on July 19, 2013, 07:58:16Breaking News.......Prime Minister Rudd and PNG's Prime Minister have just signed a Regional Resettlement Agreement. The RRA will see all refugees that arrive in Australia will be processed under existing arrangements (Christmas Island, Naru or Manus Island). Those found to be genuine refugees will be resettled in PNG. Those who are found to not be genuine refugees will be returned to their country of origin. NO refugees will re resettled in Australia.Looks like Kev might stop the boats. Let's see what Mr Abbott has to say about this.I dare say this speech by his Immigration Minister may provide some fodder.....Labor committed to abolishing the Pacific Solution and this was one the first things the Rudd Labor Government did on taking office. It was also one of my greatest pleasures in politics. Neither humane nor fair, the Pacific Solution was also ineffective and wasteful. At massive cost to the Australian taxpayer – I am advised that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship expended $309.8 million between September 2001 and 29 February 2008 to run the Nauru and Manus Offshore Processing Centres (OPCs) – the Howard government sought to outsource our international protection obligations to less developed countries when we should have been shouldering them ourselves… The Pacific Solution was not about maintaining integrity or public confidence in Australia’s arrangements. It was about the cynical politics of punishing refugees for domestic political purposes.So which one is it?
According to economists such as Professor Joseph Stiglitz it is precisely the level of stimulus spending Australia opted for when the GFC hit that saved Australia from a disastrous recession. If Hockey becomes Treasurer in September, he will inherit the world’s best- managed economy by a street.
A nice balanced argument guys well done I'm not going to buy into it or take sides .. All I will say is..db08 for Prime MinisterSurferdude for Deputyand..Beerman for Treasurer
Quote from: Dazzler on July 20, 2013, 10:18:10A nice balanced argument guys well done I'm not going to buy into it or take sides .. All I will say is..db08 for Prime MinisterSurferdude for Deputyand..Beerman for Treasurer UM for Speaker???
Quote from: keith_h on July 20, 2013, 02:24:37According to economists such as Professor Joseph Stiglitz it is precisely the level of stimulus spending Australia opted for when the GFC hit that saved Australia from a disastrous recession. If Hockey becomes Treasurer in September, he will inherit the world’s best- managed economy by a street. That did make me laugh out loud.Lucky that they inherited such a good set of books from Liberal then because if they hadn't, they wouldn't have had it to spend on pink batts and school buildings that weren't required.If Joe Hockey becomes Treasurer at the election he will be inheriting a massive task to yet again reel in the massive and reckless spending we have seen since 2007.Don't fall for the spin that Labor put on it. It is just spin.
Quote from: db08 on July 20, 2013, 10:00:33Quote from: keith_h on July 20, 2013, 02:24:37According to economists such as Professor Joseph Stiglitz it is precisely the level of stimulus spending Australia opted for when the GFC hit that saved Australia from a disastrous recession. If Hockey becomes Treasurer in September, he will inherit the world’s best- managed economy by a street. That did make me laugh out loud.Lucky that they inherited such a good set of books from Liberal then because if they hadn't, they wouldn't have had it to spend on pink batts and school buildings that weren't required.If Joe Hockey becomes Treasurer at the election he will be inheriting a massive task to yet again reel in the massive and reckless spending we have seen since 2007.Don't fall for the spin that Labor put on it. It is just spin.Oh they all spin brother.....If only they had have given the schools some cash and let them build what they wanted.....All schools could have managed their own build and gotten what they wanted for far less money.Whilst I'm happy for the coin I received during the GFC, I'm sure that it could have been better spent on the Bruce Highway, upgrades to Brisbane's CBD rail tracks, a hospital or something we could actually look back and say, we have all this debt, and this is what we got for it.