I’ve just finished watching Julia Gillard, Greg Combet the Minister for climate change and energy efficiency and our esteemed second in charge Wayne Swan. They were on National TV trying to sell their carbon tax. I noticed while they were crapping on that they had a website, cleanenergy.gov.au as it was listed under the telecast. Don’t bother going there though because at the time of me posting this it didn’t exist. OK, the actual website should be cleanenergyfuture.gov.au! If they can’t even make sure their website goes live on time what hope have we that they got they got their modelling right.

The whole point of that telecast was to get the electorate to believe that they will be better off under the carbon tax. To help sell this idea they’re offering a lot to help sweeten the deal, things like;

• Nine out of ten households will be compensated with tax cuts. That’s around 6 million households! I think they plan to do that by lifting the tax free threshold to 18000
• Single pensioners will get $338 per year whilst pensioner couples get $510 per year.
• Then there was a whole lot of malarky where they will be spending billions of dollars to ensure people in those industries that will get hardest by this tax will not be effected.

Image via Wikipedia

Personally I can’t see how they can factor in all the variables into their modelling. They can’t know how much those companies will pass onto their customers and knowing them they will use favourable figures because they have to make the model look favourable to the Australian public. If say the electricity companies decide to pass it onto their customers, say the manufacturers, who will pass it onto their customers, let’s say the wholesalers who will pass it onto their cutovers and so on and so on. That’s not even including all the steps in between such as transport costs and the like. Do they really believe that an insignificant amount of $500 a year will cover those costs?

No bullshit, I sometimes wonder about the people running this country of ours. What really pisses me off is that the opposition is just as quiet about the latest fiasco to hit Aussie shores. I’m referring to the foreign land grab where foreign investors are being allowed to buy up prime agricultural land and water rights without anyone monitoring what is going on. No-one knows how much has been sold or is still being sold and no-one seems to care.

If this goes unchecked it could turn out to be a catastrophe! You don’t believe me? Then answer me this; What are the most important things that are required to sustain life? The obvious answer is food and water, so by selling off our prime agricultural land and water rights we may as well hand our country over to the foreigners. I’m not kidding, by giving them our most prized possession we are putting our heads on the chopping block. Once they control enough farmland and water they don’t have to invade Australia to take control, they just have to stop the food and water supply until we capitulate.

OK, that may be a little on the extreme side but it’s always a possibility were we to lose control of our land. Our farmers are already struggling because of the cheaper imports that are flooding our markets. Many are going broke meaning less produce being grown causing higher prices leading to cheaper imports.

Image via Wikipedia

We could help our farmers if everyone stopped buying foreign produce, but this is bloody impossible because of our stupid labelling laws, laws which Nick Xenophon, in his Senate Debate, calls a joke.

So, what are we going to do about it? We have to call our local MP’s telling them that this bullshit just isn’t on and that we want it to stop. These dumb ass politicians may be running the country but they seem to forget that they work for us and if they don’t do what we want, and we want what is best for our beautiful country, then we will kick them out.

There is one other thing you can do and that is to visit Leon Byner‘s Don’t Sell Australia Short FaceBook fan page. Go there, leave a comment and like it. To date it has 4371 likes and it can do with a lot more as Leon will be presenting this to the politicians to show them how we feel about this matter.

We are only 5 days away from the 2010 Federal elections and there are still many voters who are undecided which way they will vote. Naturally there are many voters who no matter what they will stick with the same party they have always voted for, whether that be the Labor Party or the Liberal Party. There are also those that don’t like either of the major parties and these are the voters that the Greens are aiming their campaigns at. You could almost say their using the old Democrats idea of ‘Keeping The Bastards Honest’ without actually saying that.

The main reason I won’t vote for the Greens is because I know they’re giving their preferences to Labor. I was disgusted to hear Bob Brown denying this when asked by a listener of the Leon Byner show. I mean what a load of bullshit that was. Almost every news bulletin you listen to you hear that Labor will scrape in on Green preferences and yet he denied it.

As far as I’m concerned Labor has sent Australia backward this term and no matter how often Julia says voting for her will move Australia forward I can’t see it on their past performances. She quoted today that she had 50 or so economists sign off on what a great job they’ve done and how it was their policy that kept us out of a recession. Man, I reckon you could also find 50 to say that it was all crap.

I’m not an economist but I reckon it’s safe to say that we were never in the same trouble as those overseas and while a stimulus was probably needed it could have been done without wasting the billions of dollars that the Labor squandered. Bob Brown says in his commercial that he voted for the stimulus package so he is also to blame for us having to pay $100 million a day in interest. Imagine all the good that could be done with that money.

I also remember him being pissed off because of Labors back-flip on the miners super tax. What a bloody wanker! That was the wrong move and should have been opposed not supported. I’m pretty sure I also heard him say after hearing that the banks made a record profit that they should also be hit with a super tax. Sure Bob, why not hit every company who manages to do well with a super tax.  As to the banks I would rather that make a profit than suffer the financial difficulties of the overseas banks that caused the financial crisis in the first place.

Speaking of banking I noticed the following on the Green’s blog;

The Greens introduced their Banking Amendment (Delivering Essential Financial Services for the Community) Bill 2010 in the last period of sittings. The Bill provides legislative protection for banking customers in a number of basic banking services:

• Minimising or removing fees from basic services;
• Ban $2 ATM fees;
• Introducing a variable rate mortgage product that will only permit genuine changes to the lender’s cost of funds to be passed on to customers;
• Capping the level of mortgage exit fees.

Yeah, let’s remove fees from basic services. That’s like asking someone to go to work and not get paid a proper hourly rate. Ban $2 ATM fees. Man they wouldn’t even have to pay that if they took the time to use the right ATM’s. The other two sound fair though.

He also quoted Fujitsu Consulting who estimated that, “on average, Australian households pay about $1000 per year on bank fees – roughly 22% more than UK householders and 10% more than the US.” Reckon I must be doing something wrong then because I only paid $286 in bank fees last year and if I took the overdraft service fees off that it would only have been $118. Shit, I’m happy with that. Perhaps all that’s needed is for people to shop around for the best deal. As for the last two, well I don’t see anything wrong with them.

While the Greens say that the Liberal policies will end up costing Australian more it seems that they’re really no better, miners super tax just one thing that springs to mind. It seems that the Greens are intent on Australia taking the lead in regards to climate change, the only problem with that is there doesn’t seem to be any point if we’re the only one doing it. Seems to me that it will only make us more uncompetitive costing us money and jobs.

I was really interested in their nuclear policy, as I see that as a step in the right direction as far as green energy is concerned, but they seem to be a bit antiquated as far as nuclear energy is concerned stating it is “not a safe, clean, timely, economic or practical solution to reducing global greenhouse gas emission.” I think they are wrong and that Australia is in the best position for nuclear energy and are lagging behind other countries by not taking it on.

It seems the the Kevin Rudd’s political career has ended as dramatically as it started exactly 2 years 6 months and 21 days after becoming he Prime Minister of Australia. He would have had to have been the most popular PM we’ve had for a long time and his Labor colleagues couldn’t praise him highly enough.

Yet those same colleagues, especially the power brokers from the right faction, planned his demise. Almost Judas style they delivered the coupe in 24 hours not seven days after Kevin said, after asked about rumors of dissent from within the party, that he would lead the party to the next election. To say he was shocked about the whole thing would be an understatement.

And so we have two historical moments in Australia history. The first being that Kevin Rudd was kicked out by his own party before completing his first term and while still holding the lead. The second being that Julia Gillard is Australia’s first ever female Prime Minister. After listening to Mr Rudd’s very emotional final speech I must say it is Rudd at his best, probably because it was from the heart and not something put together for him.

Those of you who have been following this blog know that I haven’t been all that positive about the way Labor has lead this country over the last couple of years and most of that blame has fallen on Rudd, but that’s only because he’s the leader.

The real culprit is the Labor Party itself, and the only reason they ousted Rudd is because they’re hoping the Australian people will be fooled into thinking that having a female PM will make everything OK. It won’t because it’s still the same party, and let’s not forget that Miss Gillard didn’t handle her portfolio all that well, pretty dismally in fact, and a lot of the mistakes must be shared by her and the rest of her cohorts.

There is no doubt that Julia Gillard will have a honeymoon period, especially being the first ever female Prime Minister, but whether this is enough to win the next election remains to be seen.

What I find really amusing is how the Labor party in the last election said a vote for Howard would be a vote for Costello and here we are not three years later having a PM we didn’t vote for. Considering how the right faction has put someone from the left faction into power one has to wonder what it would take for them to knife her in the back, just as they did to Kevin Rudd, if she doesn’t act according to their wishes. And here I was thinking that as an Australian citizen I could choose who I want as a leader only to find out that I really have no saying the matter at all.

I remember well not so long ago when Kevin Rudd won the election how he was the flavor of the month. The guy could do no wrong because the Australian public was so forgiving. But there is only so much even a tolerant Aussie can stand and it seems that good old Kevin has broken one promise too many. Come to think of it I can’t think of any promise that he has kept.

Probably the only good thing he did was when he said sorry for the stolen generation, but that’s about as far as that went because as far as I can tell he hasn’t done anything to put the plight of Aborigines to right. It seems that even though he promised to do a yearly report on the progress in closing the quality-of-life gap between Aborigines and other Australians he as failed to do so.

The fact is that Kevin and the Labor party have really turned out to be a dud. He’s so unpopular at the moment that there’s rumors his party want to replace him. Funny thing is that without Rudd they never would have won the election in the first place. That’s gratitude for you.

In case your wondering how long the list of broken promises is it’s huge. There’s even a site devoted to keeping track of their broken promises. Don’t be surprised if it’s offline when you go to check because he’s breaking them so fast they may be in the process of updating the site.

I found this cartoon that highlights some of the more popular promises, one that I hope you will enjoy.

The thing that one has to remember coming up to the next election is not just the broken promises but the fact that a lot of their policies, like the latest super tax on the mining companies, is doing the country more harm than good.

OK, that’s not entirely fair because I reckon its safe to say that most politicians, regardless of the party they’re affiliated with, are not well known for their honesty. Before I get into the post proper I would like to set the scene.

Most people would probably agree that honesty and integrity is a very important quality. We look for it in almost everything we do in life from sport to business. That’s why people get so upset when they discover that the only reason their sporting hero or team won was because they took drugs. That’s why people who lie and cheat to profit from others usually end up in court.

Yep, most people get into trouble for being dishonest, unless they happen to be a politician. So, where the heck is all this leading to? Well, last Saturday, the 20th of March 2010, South Australia went to the polls to vote. As it turned out Labor pretty well won the election, and while Premier Rann called it a ‘sweet victory’ it turns out that it was marred by Labors less than honorable tactics.

What Labor did was to have members masquerade as Family First in the most marginal of seats so they could hand out their version of Family First how to vote cards. Where the legitimate family first cards gave their preference to the Liberal party, Labor’s phony how to vote cards gave the first preference to their own party!

This is bullshit because they cheated the voting public out of voting the way they had intended to. They went to a whole lot of trouble to defraud the public, from designing similar t-shirts to printing the phony cards. What is really deplorable is that I heard Kevin Foley saying on TV how that’s “what you do in politics.” This is from the deputy Premier, and he’s saying how it’s alright to rip off the public.

Although he and others in the Labor party are alright with getting votes dishonestly members of the public are really pissed off about it. Even today, four days after the election, people are still making their disgust felt. Apparently it’s even got the public in other states into an uproar. People want to make sure that this never happens again.

What amazes me is how Labor defends their actions, although Rann himself has been rather quiet. I’ve already mentioned how Foley felt about it, well it seems that two of his cronies, Grace Portolesi and Leon Bignell said that although they didn’t know it was going on they didn’t have a problem with it. Just goes to show how much they value honesty and integrity.

I must say that it’s unfair to tar the whole Labor party with the same brush as there were some members who knew of the tactics and decided they wanted nothing to do with it. Sort of makes you wonder how those others didn’t know what was going on in their own electorate though.

Whenever a Labor MP comes across a group of people who are irate about the way labor is governing South Australia they always like to blame it on the Liberals as being some sort of Liberal political stunt. Whether it’s because of the St. Clair land swap deal or the selling of the Chelsea Cinema, both local council problems, for some reason according to Labor, the Liberals are involved.

Only last week the Attorney-General Michael Atkinson tried to introduce a law that was almost draconian in nature, something that you would expect from a communist state and not from a democratic country such as Australia. Atkinson tried to introduce censorship laws that would force people to use their real name, along with their post code, when they were commenting on the internet, via blogs etc., during an election. He defended this law saying that it would prevent people putting bogus claims on the internet under phony names. On Radio 5AA while talking to Leon Byner he claimed the new law was necessary to prevent people such as Aaron Fornarino. Apparently Aaron regularly posts comments on AdelaideNow and according to Atkinson he doesn’t exist and was an obvious Liberal Party plant.

Turns out Aaron Fornarino does exist and lives in his electorate. Naturally after this major stuff up and because of the huge uproar from everyone he did a huge back flip over the whole thing.

Well, it seems that another Labor MP, not wishing to be outdone for stupidity by her colleague, decides to put her foot firmly in her mouth while passing a public rally defending mental health and sexual abuse issues. I’m pretty sure she did not know this video existed when Hon JENNIFER RANKINE MP was talking to Leon Byner on Radio 5AA. She insisted the rally was organized by the Liberals when it fact it wasn’t. it was actually organized by some independents but no, she would have none of that!

As you can see from the video, the public are none to pleased with what she had to say. The angry uproar prevents us from hearing all of her spin but what is clearly heard is her saying “Happy to address a Liberal Party Rally”. When will they get it through their thick heads that  there are people out their, who are not affiliated with the Liberal party, that are not happy with the way certain things are being handled by the current Labor Government.

Ever since writing the post ‘ Why The Charles Sturt Council Suck‘, I was pretty sure what the outcome was, and it seems I was right. Today the council, lead by now infamous Mayor Harold Anderson, voted to go ahead with the land swap.  It was obvious that they knew their decision would be unpopular, otherwise why would they lock out the majority of rate payers. Part from council members and some empty seats the majority of attendants were council friends and supporters. Hardly what you would call democratic.

For a more complete rundown on what went down you should read the Adelaide Now writeup titled Mayor defends St Clair Reserve Decision. I would like to add some personal opinion to what the Mayor had to say.

Council has made this decision amid difficult circumstances, but we are firmly committed to moving forward, and we encourage the community to feel the same sense of optimism that we feel.

Sure, as rate payers we are ecstatic that you locked as out of the decision making and went against our wishes. How can anyone be optimistic when they have been kept in the dark as to the real reason for the land swap. A deal akin to offering a child a stale moldy donut in exchange for a fresh one.

This decision by council reflects our commitment to improve the quality of living and working in the city and compliments the projects already underway.

Excuse me, you still have not explained how this is so. Perhaps this is because you can’t substantiate the claim?

It also demonstrates council’s ability to work in partnership with both the State Government and the private sector to bring about improved green spaces and public transport.

Ah, now we’re getting to the crux of the matter. They’re in cahoots with the reigning Labor Government. Not surprising when you consider that 12 of the 15 members are affiliated with their Labor compatriots.

Honestly, the whole thing stinks, and I’m not surprised that even now the residents are not going to stand idly by while this rogue council runs roughshod over their constituents wishes. They have taken the matter to the supreme court to appeal against the State Governments approval of the plan. It seems that perhaps Gail Gago’s approval may have been a little presumptuous. Then again it’s not surprising as she is a Labor member and as such is following Labor policies.

I do not normally discuss politics because I think that politics is bullshit. It doesn’t matter what party gets in they all have their own agenda. Take America for example, it’s going to be between Obama and McCain and the big question naturally will be which one will make the best President of the USA?

The thing is it will all go down to party politics and to which man is better able to lead not only over America but over the party that put him there. Don’t think for a minute that neither man hasn’t made any alliance to third parties for helping them in their quest for the top job. Not to mention promises to members of their own parties to help them in their leadership challenge.

The thing is, have they the fortitude to go against public and party opinion to do what is best for the country? The biggest pile of BS is that the rest of the world is left hanging wondering who the American Public will choose and how it will affect the rest of the world.

We are getting close to a year now enough time to judge how Rudd’s team has been managing Australia’s economy. Has he actually been able to keep his promises to all those people who voted him in? Probably the biggest promise was the inference that once in power interest rates would cease to rise and will even decrease. So far this has turned out to be a dud promise and banks have increased interest rates even above that set by the Reserve Bank. Where we can actually expect the Reserve Bank to set a decrease in the near future, it seems that banks will not be passing this on to the consumer.

Now let’s look at Rudd’s promise to supply access to a computer for every child in Years nine to 12. This is another promise that isn’t turning out at all well, and many schools will not be taking up the grant as they can’t afford to actually run extra computers. I wonder if they new this all along and were in fact counting on it or are they really that dumb not to take into account the running costs of all these extra computers.

Something else that Rudd led Australians to believe was that he could put downward pressure on grocery prices. This is another promise that seems to have fallen by the wayside. The long awaited ACCC inquiry into grocery prices seems to have turned into a joke as the ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel seems to be actually struggling to identify that any problem actually exists. This is bullshit when you consider that we actually have a duopoly where the big two, Coles and Woolworths, actually control the grocery market. It isn’t all that hard to come to this conclusion when you realize that they actually control about 80% of the market and are continually trying to increase the margin even further. The Government should really put a stop to this. So, while the inquiry did show Rudd was doing something, in essence it was a total waste of time and money.

We also hear today of those companies who supply solar panels, having to lay off workers because of Rudd’s policy to have the $8000 grant to install solar panels to homes means tested. It seems that this has caused a whole heap of canceled orders and this from a new Government who expected Australia to lead the way in the green revolution.

I day say there are more broken promises out there, but I just do not have time to do an in depth research on the matter. Perhaps you may like to add to the list or even argue for Mr. Rudd’s benefit, but please do not use his gobbledygook.