Aussie wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 6:09pm:


It's not at all different. Gillard made a rock-solid unconditional election promise and broke it for no reason a few days later. Dont come back with the Greens support argument. There was no way Bob Brown was ever under any circumstances going to support an Abbott minority government. Gillard could have offered him absolutely nothing and she would still be minority government.

Libs mining boom , last seen with budget emergency , if found please contact Lib HQ

Quote:


Oakshot and Windsor were Greens?

Aussie wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 6:19pm:


don't argue with Maria, the truth is whatever she says it is .... even if reality says differently

Longy never really disappeared. He just entered a clinic for reassignment surgery.

mariacostel wrote on Feb 10^th, 2016 at 9:41am:


You calling anyone ignorant is a tad ironic.

As this is the case, how do you propose Australia transitions ?

I wish there was a new sector we could concentrate on - like the internet or green tech for instance.

Coal/Oil = Good (ugh) RIGHT?

mariacostel wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 6:13pm:


Er, she formed a minority government in partnership with a minor party, dear. The carbon tax was an interim move to an emissions trading scheme. As she said, there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead...

BUT I AM DETERMINED TO PRICE CARBON.

Mr Abbott promised not to make any cuts while at the same time, he planned to make them. University reform, Welfare reform - these had been years in the planning. The cuts to the ABC and SBS were completely predictable. The massive cuts to forward state revenue, however, were a surprise to all, and were designed as such. They were a political move to shock the states into supporting a hike to the GST. The Libs went into the 2013 election with a GST rise planned for the next election.

Longy used the John Hewson argument for this: Mr Abbott would have been crazy to promise cuts during an election campaign - look what happened to John Hewson. In so doing, of course, Longy supported the use of white lies during elections. Don't tell the electorate anything, but if you do, be flexible with the truth.

Gillard, on the other hand, went into the 2010 election with no intention of a carbon tax. She agreed to an interim carbon tax to form minority government, in much the same way as David Cameron was forced to change policies to form a minority government with the Lib Dems.  The carbon tax was not Labor policy - it was the result of a post-election deal.

If the Libs had formed minority government, they would have needed to change policies too. The reason they were not asked to form government is the independents didn't trust Mr Abbott, who at one point said he'd do anything but sell his arse. Mr Abbott met them in his office, reclined in a chair with his feet on his desk. Windsor and Oakeshot thought he was just the type to go back on a deal.

Just look how right they were. Mr Abbott is now down as being the most untrustworthy politician in Australian history. The Libs themselves acknowledge that they couldn't continue with a PM who had lost such trust with the Australian people. Mr Abbott based his campaign on integrity, and meanwhile, he was planning to do the opposite of his election promises. When he got in, his economic policies proved so different from his election promises, most were rejected in the senate.

How could policies like a 6 month wait for the dole be passed while a tax on the super-profits of foreign mining companies was scrapped? Not only was it a complete turnaround on the stated election promise of no cuts to Centrelink, it was massively unfair. It was also, of course, terrible policy, particularly in a climate of rising unemployment. What were retrenched workers supposed to do for 6 months?

There are too many of Mr Abbott's lies to mention. They put Gillard's shift to a carbon tax "lie" to bed. Mr Abbott's fibs, along with the gall of his "integrity" mantras (under-promise and over-deliver, say what you'll do and do what you say, etc), have had the effect of redeeming Gillard. Until Mr Abbott came to power, Australia had not seen such a scale of lies and broken promises. There is no comparison in Australian history. What the electorate could never fathom was how Mr Abbott could keep pretending he never went back on a promise. To this day, according to journalists who've interviewed him, Mr Abbott doesn't seem to get it. He blames the press. He blames the senate. He even blames sexism for the "attacks" on his chief of staff.

Mr Abbott has outdone JuLiar in every possible way imaginable. Truth is stranger than fiction, eh?

No one could have made this up.