This is my thoughts on what is happening in politics at the moment.
I have no qualifications or experience in economics or finances. So probably anyone could drive Mack trucks through my defence.
Abbott came to power on the back of a very dysfunctional Labor party with massive in fighting (why the hell did I vote for them?)
He talked of the financial mess and debt that Labor had.
They also talked up their broadband policy and were totally negative towards Labor’s very popular and affordable NBN.
They talked of a budget emergency and how they were going to right it, in general terms, no plans mind you, and they got away with it.
Abbott said,
no new taxes,
no surprises,
no excuses,
Can’t tax yourself to prosperity
grown ups in charge.
They talked of believing in climate change but rejected the market way of combating it with a ETS. They instead have this direct action policy of paying tax payers money to big polluters with no idea of the outcome or any penalties if it did not work. To me they are climate change deniers, well at least Abbott and some of his crew are, maybe not all.
They said they would accept GONSKi, NDIS, no cuts to education, health ABC etc.
Abbott was a great Opposition leader, very negative and obstructionist. He did a good job. He should have gone and handed over the reins to a real leader once he destroyed Labor.
We now know very starkly what we have voted in.
A Government of deceit and lies. A right wing ideology driven government of small government, virtually no safety net. Governing for the rich and bugger the poor.
They went to the last election with a completely confected budget emergency.
The real problem is the structural deficit in the budget.
Labor’s deficit of billions from the GFC to me can be eventually clawed back, it is a once off debt.
The structural deficit is the middle class welfare and 8 tax cuts from John Howard.
The private health insurance rebate
Paid parental leave scheme
Negative gearing
Diesel rebate to miners
Superannuation rebates
The Superannuation rebates more than $13 billion. What a saving to the budget.
Superannuation concessions are unfair ... the top 5 per cent of income earners get a third of the benefit, and the bottom 20 per cent get literally nothing.
Bring back the mining tax.
It is anything but "adult" to create a problem, pass responsibility for it to someone else, and then refuse to talk to them about it. This has to be one of the biggest instances of "buck passing" in Australian history. Of course this is the juvenile and cowardly act of taking 80 Billion from the states for education and health, then telling them to suck eggs and we won't talk about it, unbelievable.
Why the hell did I vote Labor for the first time since 1983 in the last election?
Mad, maybe. But Tony Abbott was the big reason plus Labor's "real" NBN, and of course climate change.
I did not think this Abbott Government would be this extreme and attempt to dismantle Medicare, Public Health, Public Education, have a society of haves and have nots.
I am glad I did not vote for them.
I'll give Abbott one thing - he's shifted policy so far to the right, he's made redundant the old criticism that Labor and Liberal are both the same. John Howard looks like a card-carrying communist next to Abbott.
ReplyDeleteOne big disappointment for me is that The Nationals are silent on on these monumental breaches of trust and so I assume they support them. I'm not completely surprised, because they're a large part of the problem in the WA Government, but I had hoped they'd have some boundaries.
The Nationals are a big disappointment. They do not represent the rural areas anymore. They are a compliant rump of the Conservatives, picking up the crumbs of office.
ReplyDeleteFor a short while, the WA Nationals managed to stand on their own feet and act semi-independently of the Liberal Party, even siding with Gillard on some federal policy.
ReplyDeleteBut more recently they seem to have returned to the old coalition days and now do the Liberal Party's bidding in exchange for ministerial positions. They are making themselves irrelevant and I don't think they'll fare too well in the next WA election. After all, if I'm going to suffer a Liberal Party government delivering Liberal Party policy, I'm probably better off with a Liberal MP representing me.