The Australian politics thread

[Robertinho]

I don't care who wins as long as there's healthy opposition and the Premier/PM isn't an absolute nut. It's really about choosing the lesser of several evils...

[pasag]

Originally Posted by Robertinho

I don't care who wins as long as there's healthy opposition and the Premier/PM isn't an absolute nut. It's really about choosing the lesser of several evils...

A 'douche and a turd' as they say

[age_master]

Originally Posted by Matteh

I think the education system in NSW needs looking into as more investment in grammar is needed.

Education does need investment in NSW, but not as much as environment and health. The police are criminally under funded too. And the roads are a mess... to sum it up NSW is struggling to cope with the influx of people for the last 15 years and the infrastructure is starting to break down. And both sides of politics are pathetic at the moment.

[pasag]

Bracks just promised 2bn for schools. Baillieu's party speech yesterday was meh, despite big guns like Howard and Costello showing up for support.

I just realised the election is on the second day of the first test, couldn't imagine anything more annoying. Also still havent received my postal ballot yet.

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by Matteh

I think the education system in NSW needs looking into as more investment in grammar is needed.

I think you can say that for the whole country...and the UK! On a positive note, the Federal government has decided chaplains would be a good idea! That way they can basically donate $20, 000 to private schools (many of whom already have chaplains) while giving public schools something they don't need. We're on our way back!

[Matteh]

Erm, guys....i wasn't being seri....meh whatever.

[vic_orthdox]

Originally Posted by Son Of Coco

I think you can say that for the whole country...and the UK! On a positive note, the Federal government has decided chaplains would be a good idea! That way they can basically donate $20, 000 to private schools (many of whom already have chaplains) while giving public schools something they don't need. We're on our way back!

Love the way that Howard refers to them as "chaplains", rather than "counsellors" or something slightly more, er, secular and non-denominational.

[FaaipDeOiad]

Par for the course for Howard really. The Coalition's treatment of public schools has been criminal. Actually, I find it pretty hard to fathom how anyone could justify the huge bias in funding increases to private schools that Howard and Nelson have overseen. It simply defies common sense.

[Jono]

I distinctly remember this debate coming up in the 2004 election thread. Was one of the big issues discussed on the forum at the time.

[vic_orthdox]

Originally Posted by Jono

I distinctly remember this debate coming up in the 2004 election thread. Was one of the big issues discussed on the forum at the time.

How'd you OB go? I screwed up Organization Communication massively.

I don't know about Bracks' pledge to open up another Melbourne High-esque school, where you have to be at a certain academic level to get in. That's almost as bad as scholarshipping (outside of Hailebury, who are the bum end of the world.)

[FaaipDeOiad]

Originally Posted by Jono

I don't like the Liberal Part at all, and see myself pretty left with most issues (barring a few economic ones), but I can't for the life of me see how anyone with any knowledge of politics could have voted someone like Latham in. Someone so volatile like him was never going to win. Howard may be awful, but from a leadership P.O.V, I'd rather him at the helm than Latham, and in hindsight its fairly obvious why.

Missed this. Latham was an inspirational leader, I think. It wasn't so much his personality, but he's the only leader the ALP have had in my political lifetime that actually appeared likely to achieve anything particularly positive. I like Keating, but he wasn't exactly the sort of guy who made you desperately want to vote for him, and I was 10 when he lost anyway.

Latham's campaign derailed a bit at the end and he turned out to be a bit of a questionable character, but there's no doubt that during the brief period of his leadership the ALP had more direction than they've had in a decade. And as far as him "never going to win" is concerned, that's certainly fine in hindsight, but it didn't appear that way during the early part of his leadership. Even a month or so out from the election he looked a very good shot, it was only towards the end that the result became obvious.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "leadership" here. Neither of the last two PMs before Howard were particularly straight-laced, and you could describe them both as "volatile" to some degree or another. Australia has never been particularly invested in having the most boring guy available lead the country, so Latham was always someone who could have won. He certainly wouldn't get anywhere in, say, the US, but then neither would Keating. If anything, if you look at the way he mobilised his party from being virtually unknown to the general public, it was Latham who showed strong leadership qualities during the campaign. Howard got in as the "safe" option, and because he's a very skilled politician, has has a better organised party. He's not exactly inspirational.

[Dasa]

Originally Posted by vic_orthdox

How'd you OB go? I screwed up Organization Communication massively.

I don't know about Bracks' pledge to open up another Melbourne High-esque school, where you have to be at a certain academic level to get in. That's almost as bad as scholarshipping (outside of Hailebury, who are the bum end of the world.)

I won't defend their 'recruitment' policies.

Aren't there quite a few selective entry schools in NSW? Anyone know how well it works, and whether it's worthwhile having them?

[Burpey]

Originally Posted by Dasa

Aren't there quite a few selective entry schools in NSW? Anyone know how well it works, and whether it's worthwhile having them?

We have quite a few selective schools here in Sydney. I reckon they're pretty good, allowing kids to feed off each other and what not, especially for bright kids whose parents can't afford high-quality private school education. I attended a selective school and I think as a result I've performed much better than I would have in my local comprehensive school.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by vic_orthdox

How'd you OB go? I screwed up Organization Communication massively.

Haha you never told me you were doing OB too. I gave Jennifer Frahm the biggest roasting ever in the teacher feedback form. I despised that woman. I believe the word 'gestapo' and 'nazi' came up once or twice.

Regarding the exam, what a joke. The communication section was ridiculous. I never even bothered to even attempt to memorise types of 'functional communication', I just figured there'd be questions as to either how to apply functional communication to the case (LOL @ it being Solaris by the way) or define functional communication.

[Slow Love™]

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

Missed this. Latham was an inspirational leader, I think. It wasn't so much his personality, but he's the only leader the ALP have had in my political lifetime that actually appeared likely to achieve anything particularly positive.

I didn't find Latham personally inspiring, but what an indictment of Beazley that last sentence is (and how true). To be honest I didn't like a lot of Latho's ideas (of which he had many, he was a veritable powerhouse of published thoughts on policy), but some of his policies in that campaign I thought were fairly decent and where Labor should have been heading. And for a period close to a year, he practically controlled the political agenda when it came to federal policy.

And to be fair, Jono, IIRC, you came pretty close to voting for Latham, and your reasons for not doing so were more about Labor's previous economic record at federal level than anything else. Near half the country did vote for him and he just about looked the goods a week out.