I know politics shouldnt be on here... but this election just made me down right mad!
How the *uck did he get back in power? what the *uck? whoever voted liberals... I hope your now happy with the blood of thousands of innocent Iraqis on YOUR hands!
I think there are a few too many leftist commie pinkos in the world :-P
And if you're so pissed off about the election then you should obviously do something about it. And if you felt so strongly about it why didn't you?.. You really have nobody to blame except for yourself, the people have voted, get over it.
Australia did screw up this election, however liberal controlling the lower house is not the problem. The problem is they now control BOTH the lower and senate, so they can pass any bills without a second thought. This is due to people not understanding the australian political system at all. Fools!
Also, pretty much every party except liberal are morons for giving their preferences to the FFP.
CYer, Blitz
I think most people only care about $$$, hence the election results. Every time Labour gets in, all the big investors seem to pull their money out of the county. Though it?s a scary thing that they control both houses?
Australians don?t understand the system.
I saw on TV that Bush was quite happy that Johnny?s back in. He finished his speech congratulation Australia and Howard, and the large crowd gave a roaring cheer! I guess they are happy that we?ll continue to brown nose them for another three years.
God, how many wars are we going to be forced into now?!?!?
tbag - we only have 20 million people, so unless everyone votes, the system will be easily corrupted. It's not as bad with 240 million like in the States. At least that's how I understand it.
quote:Originally posted by Me109
I hope your now happy with the blood of thousands of innocent Iraqis on YOUR hands!
That is the most offensive statement I have ever read.
That is just like saying it's the car manufacturers fault for every car accident that has ever been had.
Sorry to tell you that politics are a lot more grey then that. If you want black and white then this isn't the country for you.
quote:Originally posted by Me109
How the *uck did he get back in power?
short answer .. lies and deception
labour really need to start the campaign now to change ppls view of them ... theyll need the 3years
howard will be out b4 the 3 years r up .. i give him 1
@bullet21 .. how can u b for howard and be a communist ... isnt that the opposite?
Well, its not really the fact that Howard is an absolute fool. The thing is, he has been in this game for a LONG time. So has Costello, they know the system back to front, its their job.
People caring only for their back pockets? Well, if Australia's economy was crap it would be incredibly hard to produce and publish the games we make for the international market!
War? Everyone knows it was a stupid mistake to go to war, a real waste. However, the Government has had, in the first time for AGES, a 6 billion dollars excess. It was that excess that was used to pay for the troops heading to the middle east. If the Gov didnt have the money lying around, the taxes would has gone through the roof!
And, Mark Latham has only been in the position for 10 months. Do we really want someone with only 10 months experience managing Australia?
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But the point is it should have been decided in parliament, not by the PM alone while he was in the States sucking up to Bush. It?s not so much the fact that we committed troops that?s disturbing; it?s the fact that Howard himself committed troops without a vote. He didn?t have the authority to do such a thing. So what if the Liberals now control both the Senate and the Lower house? He was doing what he wanted without a vote before the election anyway. It?s a real worry that the Liberals now hold the majority of seats in the lower house.
Exactly, John Howard even had an ad prior to the election saying he would do what is necesary even if it wasn't popular with the public.
Not popular with the public?! little Johnny the public pay your salary! We are your bosses!! YOU do what WE say, not what George Wubbya says!!
I believe it came down too better economic benefits and the "better the devil you know" vote for most liberal voters.
Labour voters aren't as stupid as we are made out, we knew the risks of having a younger, less experienced primeminister, especially economically, but even with the expected backlash from the States if Labour won we still chose to vote morally instead of with our hip pocket.
But in the end Liberal won, they managed to get majority control of government and the right wing religious family first party gained some power also...bless.
So now we get to look forward to an economically stable but socially and morally retarded few years.
Hope minorities, gays, lesbians, single mothers/fathers, immagrants, the poor, the non religious and aboriginals have enough canned food to wait out this long winter.
Thanks A-US-tralia. [;)]
I think anybody that has more than 10 years experience in the world will be more concerned about their hip pocket than some moral opinion or other. And in my case I believe that it was right to go into iraq and free those people, weapons of mass destruction or not. My parents and myself (somewhat) grew up in a communist state, so they know what it's like to have a tyrannical system ruling the country. However it would have been nice if they went into some other country that is more dangerous to the world, say Iran, North Korea, etc and flushed out those vermin in charge. Ough I hate organised religion, esp extremists.
Plus don't blame Bush Jr. for the war, his daddy told him to do it :-P
His Dad should have finished it back in 91 (or whenever it was). They royally screwed up by letting saddam sit there for another 10 years. You should also remember that not everyone holds the same beliefs. As some people may believe it was better (and morally right...) to ignore what happens in other countries such as Iraq, other people believe that freedom is worth dying for. If not, there would not have been much of a world war 1 or 2, or if there was it would have been fought by very different sides for very different reasons.
I think theres a nice saying that goes along the lines of "Better to live one day as a lion, than a lifetime as a mouse"? It can be applied somewhat to the situation that these people face if they are willing.
CYer, Blitz
If the reason to go into Iraq was to free the people from a tyranical leader then "maybe" I would be more sympathetic to Bush, Blair and Howards cause, as it is it has been time and time again shown that the war with Iraq was fought for economical and geographicaly strategic reasons (gee I wonder if having a US sympathetic country deep in the middle east wasn't a big reason for that war).
This war was then disguised in a rich tapestry of deceit to fool the general public, Sadam has been proven by the US government itself to have no links to the Taliban or Al Quieda, the CIA has proven that he had no weapons of mass destruction or any infrastruction to start making them. Its only now that these reasons fall flat that the "oh hes a tyrant" reason comes to the front as the 'just' cause, come on guys make up your mind.
Yes he was a vicious dictator, one who needed to go, but do you think killing hundreds if not thousands of innocent Iraqi, US and allied people was a more morally upstanding way to go than say taking him out soley?
We all know the greater politcal climate frowns on such actions as assassination but to invade a whole country to topple one man is a tad on the eccessive side unless you have other agendas? Connect the dots.
quote:I think anybody that has more than 10 years experience in the world will be more concerned about their hip pocket than some moral opinion or other.
I'm honestly sad for you that you believe that, so a world full of greed and an ever increasing poverty gap is more important to you than say a free and open society were every race and sex are considered equal, do you really think that we will ever find any form of lasting peace when money is our sole motivater?
Im 29 and although I come from a reasonably well adjusted white lower middle class family who has benefited more than most of the Earths populous socially and economically from my luck of birth I still understand that there are way more important factors to life and how we judge our success in life. I would happily give part of what I have if it meant that by me having less the rest of the world has more.
You have to remember that who we vote for doesn't just impact on our country, we aren't a small pacific island nation, we are one of the more powerful countries on Earth and when we make major decisions about how 'our' world should be we need to realise this.
So yes I totally understand and respect that people may have over-extended themseleves financially during the last few years of prosperity and a factor such as interest rates rising may be a big and fair factor too you, but your vote doesn't just affect you and your naive and irresponsible as a human being if you just look after "your" hip pocket.
You have to love how politics brings out the best - and worst - in people. :)
As someone who really doesn't care about politics and chooses not to vote, I'm always amused by how passionate people get about their chosen parties. It's great to see people still arguing and debating, even if they take dirty swipes now and then.
In all honesty, I was quite surprised at the backlash against Labour. I thought it would've been a close call, but then again I wasn't paying much attention to the media prior to the election. I will be interested to see their analysis of what they think went wrong.
Part of the problem I see with Australian politics, and politics worldwide, is the lack of choice as party policies begin to converge around the same pole. Labour has gone head-to-head with the Liberal Party on their own turf (e.g., economic management), without offering anything new or significant. On first glance, they appear to be home-brand Liberal. While I know this not to be true, at a national level, the differences between the two parties' policies are insignificant. People will stay with what they know and trust, and despite the lies and deception, Howard has managed this country well, even if he hasn't done the popular things. You can't afford to be a populist all the time in politics; people just don't have a clue how big a job it is to run a country.
I do stress the word managed, however, because he has certainly not led this country. That's why I believe he won't relinquish his leadership willingly, as the public won't support Costello as a leader and he knows that. Costello has never shown any guts in his long-standing career, and while Howard has catered to many of the Bush's wishes, Costello would instantly fall in line with America's march to cultural obscurity, a march which is already having an impact on our way of life.
Until such time as a politician has the guts to stand up and say we need to forge a uniquely Australian trail through this world, instead of blindly following the ally of the day, then so we shall be stuck with managers in place of leaders.
Cheers,
Paul.
quote:
As someone who really doesn't care about politics and chooses not to vote [...snip...]
Part of the problem I see with Australian politics, and politics worldwide, is the lack of choice as party policies begin to converge around the same pole.
Do you see a cause/effect here at all? The fact that "people" don't pay attention to issues means that politicians need to appeal to the basest and most banal instincts of people. Hence, it's only if you become more informed that you can make politics work.
I think there are just too many people who dont think think, or take any notice of outside the square. too many ignorant people in australia, and the world.