Australian Politics (3 Viewers)

[incentivation]

I think she will be a little offended that you called her a man. She may want the same things as men, so I guess its understandable.

And she certainly looks like a man. So I can understand the confusion.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Vic is bull butter because of the fires, it's allways very good publicity for the incubment to be able to be looking sensitive and upset yet remain stoic and commanding. It'll subside.

That doesn't mesh with reality. Brumby's popularity was increasing steadily before the fires. I actually checked just to make sure as those are pretty high numbers. In fact this poll was taken half before the fires (January-February), but the November-December poll still has Labour at 57% to 43% (there was an odd, significant fall to 51-49 for the period directly before that - probably some short-lived scandal).

For reference, though, the National party gets just 2% of the vote in Victoria. Could simply be that Vic just leans strongly to the centre these days.

 

[Iron]

And she certainly looks like a man. So I can understand the confusion.

the confusion is entirely on lentern's part

lolgay

 

[moll.]

Hey Iron, is Penny Wong your anti-Christ? I mean, she's left-wing, lesbian, ethnic, a woman in power and wants to save the environment.

 

[Iron]

Hm. I admit that she does tick the boxes

...

no?

tough crowd

 

[Iron]

Yeah but no but you mistake me Moll. I'm all about women in power. Conservatives are the original environmentalists and we claim no allegiance to either the left or right of politics

Ethnic is overcome by her decidedly Australian accent (refreshing it is too!) She's also keen to hide from her sexuality in public life, which I approve of

 

[Lentern]

I think she will be a little offended that you called her a man. She may want the same things as men, so I guess its understandable.

I think she's probably been called worse by Harradine, Fielding and the christian democrats. And she practices politics like a man anyway, it's true, Tanya Plibersek, Jenny Macklin, Julie Bishop, they bring something feminine to the political arena, Wong seems to think if she combes her hair in a certain way and tries extra hard nobody will actually notice.

 

[Iron]

Sure bud. Wong has a wang

Though Fielding is a meek and mild man who is very uncertain about himself; not a knifer

 

[Lentern]

That doesn't mesh with reality. Brumby's popularity was increasing steadily before the fires. I actually checked just to make sure as those are pretty high numbers. In fact this poll was taken half before the fires (January-February), but the November-December poll still has Labour at 57% to 43% (there was an odd, significant fall to 51-49 for the period directly before that - probably some short-lived scandal).

For reference, though, the National party gets just 2% of the vote in Victoria. Could simply be that Vic just leans strongly to the centre these days.

That's interesting. The leadership change in Vic is probably good for a few points and the election in QLD could explain whyh Bligh doesn't enjoy the lead Brumby does but Victoria still seems to be a bit of a trend bucker. I allways thought QLD was the weird state. Were there any pre fire crisis in Victoria that I've forgotten about?

 

[Lentern]

Sure bud. Wong has a wang

Though Fielding is a meek and mild man who is very uncertain about himself; not a knifer

Meek and mild? the bloke who runs up and down the street dressed as a beer bottle?

 

[Iron]

lol well it was Menzies who said that Qld's not a state, it's a condition
hahahahasded
bring back the biff imo

 

[Lentern]

lol well it was Menzies who said that Qld's not a state, it's a condition
hahahahasded
bring back the biff imo

Really? I think I might like Menzies now. Edit, just checked, Sir Joh was way after Sir Bob.

 

[Lentern]

Gee Kevin's pretty badass this afternoon. I sense this will be a good question time, three points of order allready in the first question(and all retty fair ones as well)

 

[Iron]

? Seems pretty average to me. He had a good wack at Turnbull over the ETS which Turnbull himself used to weaken Nelson

 

[Iron]

Hahaha
KRudd /'come get sum bish' gesture

 

[Lentern]

? Seems pretty average to me. He had a good wack at Turnbull over the ETS which Turnbull himself used to weaken Nelson

It may appear like hindsight considering Rudd's little joust with Pyne just then, but it seemed like he was seeking to flaunt his irrelevance(and his ability to get away with it) to goad Turnbull into a head on dogfight. Perhaps he wants a censure motion so he can have his right of reply.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Queensland gets another House of Reps seat, NSW loses one.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

The IMF just revised it's GDP growth figures for 2009. They're all much worse.

The US GDP will contract at -2.6% growth
The UK at -3.8%
The Eurozone at -3.2%
Canada at -2%
Japan at -5%

Given those figures (especially Canada), it's highly unlikely Australia will still avoid a recession, unfortunately.

CORRECTED - UPDATE 1-Global economy to contract 0.6% in 2009-IMF aide | Reuters

 

[whatashotbyseve]

We will not avoid one.

Why is Kevin railing so hard to avoid the inevitable anyway? It's all cyclical. If he was going to use a stimulus package, it should have been used when the economy had bottomed out.

Politically, he has little to lose by heading officially into recession imo - its what the people expect will happen anyway, government intervention or not. So when the economy does recover, they will have no money to stimulate the economy after throwing billions away on needless stimulus packages now. Nice move, Rudd/Tanner/Swan.

 

[Lentern]

We will not avoid one.

Why is Kevin railing so hard to avoid the inevitable anyway? It's all cyclical. If he was going to use a stimulus package, it should have been used when the economy had bottomed out.

Politically, he has little to lose by heading officially into recession imo - its what the people expect will happen anyway, government intervention or not. So when the economy does recover, they will have no money to stimulate the economy after throwing billions away on needless stimulus packages now. Nice move, Rudd/Tanner/Swan.

Correct sir, Turnbull outplayed Rudd on this one. I'm not debating the economic effectiveness of the package but the political one, Whether or not the package curtailed the extent of the recession matters not, what matters is the Rudd government launched this huge package, the coalition fought it tooth and nail to stop it, it got through and now things will be much worse than they were before the package was passed. He has positioned himself perfectly to say "I told you so". Probably won't be enough to get him to the next election.

Interesting trivia, people often associate internal party squabbling with election loss, it damages the party image etc etc. Three times in post war history has a party/coalition had three leaders in one electoral term Holt-Mcewan-Gorton, Hewson-Downer-Howard, Latham-Beazley-Rudd. On all three ocassions they have won government at the next election. Similarly Hawke and Fraser both lead their respective parties for less than twelve months prior to their forming governments.