The Australian politics thread

[Spark]

The federal opposition has abandoned its principle of opposing all the measures the mining tax will fund and support $2.9 billion in welfare increases to be funded by the levy.

BROKEN PROMISE


Pretty meh budget really. Nothing really bad, nothing really good.

thought a lot and read a lot over the past few days. and you know what? i actually really quite like it.

in a few decades time, the two finest achievements of this govt will have found their genesis in the budget - aged care, NDIS. they are properly good policies, esp the second.

[Son Of Coco]

They've done ok for a bunch of fiscal no-hopers.

[howardj]

I actually quite like the look of that budget to be honest. I don't think the Liberals could have done much better.

Won't save the Gillard government though. I highly doubt they can even challenge the Abbott opposition going in to the next election, which is horrible for the country IMO. He'll be a dire PM, and shouldn't be anywhere near the top job.

What, worse than Rudd and Gillard?

As far as character goes, the only thing the Labor party have on him is that he opposes the killing of unborn babies (somehow making him "anti-women").

Oh, and he's now according to Gillard, out of touch with working families - despite having a big mortgage, three kids etc.

Yes, according to Gillard, of all people.

[morgieb]

Abbott will be a do-nothing style PM. He will try and undo the Labor work but it won't pass the Senate unless Liberals get a 1975 style win (not impossible at this stage). He then will play the role of Mr. Populist. Personally, it wouldn't surprise me if he is a one-term PM.

[Burgey]

Some funny Kroger-Costello stuff on the radio in Melbourne this morning apparently.

[social]

Some funny Kroger-Costello stuff on the radio in Melbourne this morning apparently.

Kroger is one of the few people on the Oz political scene that can rival the great man for title of biggest ****

[Spikey]

was the budget reply just the same old same old?

[Son Of Coco]

What, worse than Rudd and Gillard?

As far as character goes, the only thing the Labor party have on him is that he opposes the killing of unborn babies (somehow making him "anti-women").

Oh, and he's now according to Gillard, out of touch with working families - despite having a big mortgage, three kids etc.

Yes, according to Gillard, of all people.

Reckon there's a chance he could be as bad. Although as long as he hands out tax cuts and re-instates middle-class welfare most people will be happy.

Just want to see us lapse into a recession when they get in. Firstly to see how they handle it, and then to watch them blame Labor for some reason or another.

[stephen]

thought a lot and read a lot over the past few days. and you know what? i actually really quite like it.

in a few decades time, the two finest achievements of this govt will have found their genesis in the budget - aged care, NDIS. they are properly good policies, esp the second.

Like all Labor budgets, there's usually a few nuggets of goodness in them. Occasionally the ALP come up with something that revolutionises the country in a good way (Medicare for example). The problem is that in all of the "little things" they totally royally screw everything up. I support the idea of people having children. I have a totally adorable niece. But handing out huge wads of cash to people who made that choice instead of greasing the wheels of business? Terrible budgetary policy.

This is really why Whitlam lost power while his "big reform" still lives on. Labor have the idea, the Liberals make it work.

[Burgey]

Out of interest, what was the last transformative economic reform from the Coalition?

Don't say the GST, it didn't transform the economy, didn't change the way it operated one bit. All it did was change the way indirect tax was collected.

And also, lol Thommo.

[Prince EWS]

Out of interest, what was the last transformative economic reform from the Coalition?

WorkChoices.

[Burgey]

Enlighten me on how that transformed the economy. Productivity didn't rise an iota.

[stephen]

Out of interest, what was the last transformative economic reform from the Coalition?

Don't say the GST, it didn't transform the economy, didn't change the way it operated one bit. All it did was change the way indirect tax was collected.

And also, lol Thommo.

The waterfront reforms.

[stephen]

Oh wait, you said "last" and that was more like the first.

The last major economic reform was workchoices, but that got rolled back. Before that I think it was probably the great taxation reform of 2001 (or was it 02?) where the tax brackets were close to doubled.

[Burgey]

The waterfront reforms didn't transform the economy ffs. You can't say you've transformed the economy when productivity goes backwards or stagnates. Likewise the GST tax changes. They neither improved productivity or materially changed the way the economy worked.

Let's hear about the big ones. Things like, oh I dunno....

Floating the currency
Deregulating the financial markets
Ending centralised wage fixing
Introducing a nation wide savings plan

You know, those sorts of things.

I'm genuinely interested to hear these things.

If you like I'll lower the bar. Name three nationally funded, broad-based infrastructure projects carried out by the Commonwealth between 1996 and 2007.

As far as I can recall there was the Adelaide to Darwin white elephant. There's one. What are the others? I'm not taking the piss here, I genuinely want to hear abut them.