Mephisto2

I'm not sure how many Australian members actually check out this board in particular, but if there are I'm curious as to their opinions on the upcoming general election.

I'm hoping John Howard loses. I've always been a Labour man (back home in Ireland), so I am kinda pro Labor here, but I originally thought Latham was a bit of thug to be honest. I have to admit that he has certainly matured in the past few months.

Howard, on the other hand, is just getting worse and worse. He's become so arrogant that he thinks he can lie to the Australian people on fundamental issues of trust.

Thoughts?


Mr Mephisto

almostaugust

Yeah, i agree with you Mephisto. I dont think i could stand another four years with Howard. I dont mind Latham, but think i preferred Beazley personally. I think itll be a very close election. I guess the issues that are key for me are education and health. Never before have i sensed such a palpable discontent with the Libs than over the last couple of years. The Sorry Day march was massive, as were the anti war marches all over the nation. It will be a close one though.

dbcb

latham will ruin the country, look at sydney, and you'll get the result of 4 years of country wide labour, he can sign a giant cheque on interest rates, whoopi, they will still got waay up, plus just think how much GST would rise with country wide labour, every labour state govt voted to raise the gst when the state govt heads met, the campaign will not be won on if the govt will say sorry to the aborginies (i dont say sorry, i didnt do it, i wasnt born, i had nothing to do with, i will not apologise to people for something i didnt do, i will sympathise with them, but not say sorry) or if some kids got chucked over board by some illegal immigrants (send them back straight away). The only thing keeping australia safe and prosperous is the federal govt. I havent seen one labour policy yet, just personal attacks on howard and asking if he is going to keep the job after the election.

irateplatypus

i'm unfamiliar with aussie politics... what has howard lied about?

__________________
If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

Mephisto2

I'm wondering if this is a troll?

Hmmm...

1) What's wrong with Sydney? I just left there after spending four years living in the city centre. Bob Carr is one of the most popular politicians in the country. The NSW Liberals are a joke. Nearly as bad as the WA Liberals and Tasmanian Liberals. Actually, ALL State Liberal parties are a joke. Funny how NONE of them are in power.

When you say "Look at Sydney", what does that mean? I see a prosperous, lovely city. Have there been problems with transport policy? Yes. But are you so naive to think that the Liberals have some special magic wand to fix everything?!


2) First of all, the government doesn't raise interest rates. The Federal Reserve does. Secondly, he has signed a "low interest rate guarantee" to keep the budget in surplus and to reduce government spending and taxes. Thirdly, he has offered to ask the Fed to make quarterly independent audits of his governments performance.


3) With regards to the "Sorry campaign", that's really an issue from the last election. For the record, the majority of people supported a government apology. Second, no one is asking you to say sorry. You can run around saying whatever you want. The issue was a state apology for systematic state run abuse. But anyway, as I said, it's old news.

4) No kids got "chucked overboard" by illegal immigrants. That's the whole issue. Howard lied to the Australian people about it. Repeatedly. Despite being told by his civil servants, analysts and military staff that it was not true. Repeatedly. If you like being lied to by your leaders, why not go to the United States? :-)

5) The only think keeping Australia prosperous is the Liberals? That's a joke. You think the FTA is a good thing, for example? You think Australian troops in occupied Iraq is a good thing? You think Australia starting a local arms race is a good thing? You think buying 50 second-hand, over weight, comparitively useless US Abrahms tanks is a good thing?

6) With regards to personal attacks, you seem to misunderstand the term. Howard's character is being questioned. He's been proven to be a liar. That's not a good thing as a leader of the country. I also refer you to the recent smear campaign, instigated by a so-called "Dirty Tricks Unit" in the Liberal party, that attacked not only Latham, but his family life, accused him of abuse, mucked up his past etc. THAT is a personal attack. Not the media asking why their leader lied to the public, on a critical issue, simply to win an election and then turned around a month later and said "Oh well, we got it wrong".



Mr Mephisto

Mephisto2

Just before the last election, when illegal immigration was a major hyped issue, there was a "people smuggler" ship intercepted off the coast of Australia. The government said that as the Navy ship pulled up, that the immigrants started throwing their own children overboard, so that they would have to be picked up and could therefore claim asylum (the original plan was to simply tow the boat back out of Australia waters).

Turns out that this was a major factor in the last days of the election, as it caused general public revulsion. Howard went on record as saying things like "I don't want this kind of people coming to Australia" blah blah blah. It was enough to win him a very close victory.

The thing is, he lied. No one threw their kids overboard. He not only lied about it, but he was advised by his own department, the military, the intelligence community, that what he was saying on record was not true. Yet he continued to spout it out at the media and resultingly, affected public opinion just that little bit enough, to get into power.

He's a liar.

I think he's a fundamentally good man (as I believe in most in politics), but he's arrogant and he's lied on some very important issues.

He said he would retire when he reached 64. He's 65 now and says he's changed his mind.

He said he would never ever introduce a GST. He did.

It goes on and on.


Mr Mephisto