Australia's Biggest Whinger S02E01

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Prepare yourself for season 2 of... Australia's Biggest Whinger!

Here's your host - the man who would sell his arse to give you what you want as long as he gets the top job - Mr Tony Abbott!

*Cue Liberal hacks cheering and screaming*

"Thank you, uh, thank, uh, thank you, everybody. Boy what an exciting season we uh we have for you this year. Let's get straight uh to uh to business and present the contestants!"

"Contestant number 1 is a close and dear friend of the Liberal party, and I think he has a great chance at taking it home this year... it's... Mr Clive Palmer!"

*Cue Liberal hacks cheering and screaming*

"Contestant number 2 has done nothing but complain ever since he was elected to parliament. He distances himself from us but deep down he truly is another LNP hack... Mr Bob Katter!"

*Cue Queensland redneck bogans cheering and yee-hawing*

"Contestant number 3 is a born-and-bred Liberal stooge who has managed to fool the electorate into thinking he's a moderate... Mr Malcolm Turnbull!"

*Cue cheers from the "moderate" wing of the Liberal hacks, all three of them*

"Contestant number 4 is an outsider. A closeted conservative masquerading as the saviour of the left. He's done nothing but whinge and complain since he was booted out of office... Mr Kevin Rudd!"

*Cue cheers from the swing voters who are easily swayed by a smooth-talking politician, and care nothing for substance*

"Contestant number 5 hasn't been around much lately. He's been described as the biggest "is it my turn yet?" in Australian politics... Mr Peter Costello!"

*Cue cheers from the morons who think he cut spending despite spending increasing more under him than any other treasurer of the last 30 years*

"Contestant number 6 is a returning favourite from last season, out to win it all this year. Having narrowly lost a chance at the NSW upper house and not being able to accept it... Pauline Hanson!"

*Cue cheers from redneck bogans from across the country*

"My what a lovely bunch of contestants, here they are all standing in a uh row. I'm sure they all need no introduction, so let’s move right on to stopping the boats. I uh mean uh uhm uh the first elimination uh challenge."

Essays from a day on Facebook

I may have spent a bit too much time on Facebook and a bit too little time on my thesis today. However, some nice essays came out of it. Now, I call them essays, because no post on any Facebook wall should be this long. Keep in mind that they were only knocked up in a few minutes, and remain unedited. So any grammar/spelling mistakes have not been polished out.


This first one comes from a status update I made this morning.

The rest of the world sees Australia as having one of the best managed and strongest economies in the world. There isn't a treasurer in the western world who wouldn't rather be in Wayne Swan's shoes right now. So why then do we allow the lie that Labor are bad economic managers to persist?

Now this one came as a reply to a discussion about a Queensland poll released today.

It's a shame that Queensland can't see over its own pigheadedness. Kevin Rudd was far from the best PM. He was a great speaker, but lacked conviction. He should have set in motion the trigger for a double dissolution the moment Tony Abbott knifed Turnbull. I don't think Kevin Rudd had the guts to make a good leader.

By contrast, Julia Gillard certainly has conviction. In the face of abismal polling, she stands by the carbon tax. By the next election, she will be seen to have the same strength and conviction that John Howard was believed to have, while two more years of Tony will reveal him to be desperate for nothing more than power, and willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

Say what you will about Gillard, she certainly isn't desperate for power. If she were, she would have given up on the carbon and mining taxes and just gone for popular policy like Tony Abbott. No, she is fighting the hard battles that need to be fought, regardless of where it leaves her political future. I believe that this image will be the one forming come the next election, and Labor will be rewarded for their conviction and balls.

Another reply to the discussion.

But I really do not accept the notion that Gillard, or Labor, have lost their way. If this government goes to full term, and implements all the policy it plans to, it will have achieved more reforms in one term than Howard did in four.

The NBN is a huge infrastructure reform. Between the much needed carbon and mining taxes, we have huge economic reform that will benefit Australia for decades to come. The Malaysian solution is the first refugee policy that is both humane and boat stopping (I say it is humane because we're not just sending the boats recklessly away, and we are significantly increasing our intake of legitimate refugees). I have every expectation that Labor will support gay marriage by the end of the year too.

Throw in some good education reform (something which Keating was the last Prime Minister to have any decent policy on), and I'd dare say that Gillard's Labor government is the best government we've ever had.

Add to all of this the effectiveness with which Gillard has managed the hung parliament. There has been no government legislation which has been blocked (something the Victorian majority government can't claim XD). This government is passing all of its legislation, the crossbenchers support for the government is very strong indeed.

Labor have plenty of direction. They have outlined clear, big reforms which will benefit Australia greatly. For me, it isn't a choice to vote against Abbott, it's a choice to vote for a good, strong government with big ambitious plans to lead Australia into the future, instead of the opposition wanting to take Australia backwards.

Another reply. This one I think alludes to some interesting ideas about sexism in Australia.

I think Gillard's opposition to gay-marriage is just toeing the party line. I'm sure it will change come November (or is it December? I can't remember).

As for her "losing her way", I'm not sure that's true. She has maintained very good relations with the crossbenchers and is staying the course with her policy. I think she is a very good PM, a very good leader of the government and of the ALP, but I don't think she is a very good politician. She doesn't have the 'statesman' qualities we like to see in our leaders (Rudd had plenty of it).

I wonder if it is because she is a woman. Australia does not seem like like female leaders. Look at what happened to the female premier in NSW. Look at what will happen to the female PM in QLD. Granted, NSW Labor did need to lose, Bligh has done an excellent job as premier in QLD.

I think it might all boil down to sexism. We don't think Gillard is a good leader because she doesn't have the same masculine qualities we are used to in our leaders.

This one came as a reply to a poster making some claims about the NBN and the influence the Greens have had on Labor policy.

I don't live in a rural area, but our internet still runs on very old and very dodgy copper cables. Can't even get ADSL2 out here, and I live half an hour from the city.

As for the Greens, any government over the next three years will have to contend with either the opposition or the Greens, since the Greens have the balance of power in the senate. The Greens primary vote is at record highs in the polls, and they will most likely gain more senate seats at the next election. The Greens are part of the political reality for whoever is in government, and will be there for quite a while yet.

I do agree that the present form of the mining tax is far from ideal. I'm hoping the Greens will push it into a better policy.

But I don't think Malcolm Turnbull will ever be PM. He's a great politician, a great leader, but he's not a douchebag like Abbott and Howard. He has integrity. He wouldn't fight an election dirty, and the only ways Howard was ever able to win was by playing dirty. He would make the election about policy and debate, not three-word-slogans. And, of course, on a policy v. policy comparison, Labor always win, by large margins. Because Labor have almost universally better policy than the Coalition, and when people are objectively presented with Labor and Coalition policy, they far more often than not support Labor policy. An example of this is this very Queensland poll, which polled some policy questions, and found that Labor did quite well in everything except the carbon tax and Malaysia.

Woah, I never thought I'd say this

Fielding kills Abbott's carbon plebiscite 
"Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's push for an $80 million non-binding plebiscite on the proposed carbon tax is dead in the water after key Senator Steve Fielding rejected the proposal as a "political stunt"."

Damn Fielding, you just done good.

Although I wouldn't mind a plebiscite if it included a question on the Coalition's policy, and a question on which of Labor's and the Coalition's policy is most likely to make a difference and which is more cost effective.

This is also a good example of why Australia needs compulsory preferential voting. I am long overdue for a rant on why compulsory preferential voting is better than optional preferential voting.

What has the boom ever done for us?
"While all the focus is on the first anniversary of the knifing of St Kevin, another milestone is slipping through largely unnoticed: the scrapping of his contentious plan to impose a Resource Rent Tax on the mining industry."

Fairly good read. Does have a bit of opinion, but presents it after presenting some good hard facts.

I just hope the independents in the lower house have the testicular fortitude to do what's right and vote for a mining tax, with any amendments the Greens may slap on it.

Predicting elections several years in advance is stupid

But here I go anyway.

Australia 2012 - 2013
Assuming no by-elections occur and the election is held at the discretion of the Prime Minister, I predict that Labor will win the next federal election.

As the election looms closer, the government will start selling their policy more. I already outlined a few points on that, so I won't elaborate further on those. Labor will start pushing their side of the story more, the carbon tax won't be as bad as the naysayers would have us believe. The polls will swing closer and closer to Labor's favour.

I'll do a brief partial state-by-state breakdown of what I think will happen at the election.

Gay marriage is a no-brainer

Gay soldier says career is almost certainly over 
"A GAY member of the Australian Defence Force who served as an army psychologist says his career is almost certainly over after he was subjected to a death threat and hate speech online by other soldiers, which he says were not investigated properly for a year."

What I don't understand is why any Australian who prefers people of the same gender would join the Australian Defense Force. Given the strong anti-gay sentiment on both sides of parliament at the moment, with both Labor and the Coalition rejecting equality for homosexuals by opposing gay marriage legislation.

Why?

I read this, and loved it (also, mining tax)

Abbott can’t shake the stink of the tobacco lobby

Sure, it's an opinion piece, and a partisan one at that. But it's hard to disagree with the message. You really have to wonder where the vested interests of the Liberal party lie when they're accepting millions of dollars in donations from a company that literally sells poison to drug addicts who inject the poison directly into their lungs.

Non-political news week

More than 1,000 jobs to go at Colorado
"The receivers of the Colorado Group have announced that 140 under-performing stores will be closed, affecting 1,042 staff."

My wife works at Colorado.

UK, Bill Gates lead $4b vaccination drive
"The United Kingdom and philanthropist Bill Gates are leading a multi-billion-dollar international campaign to vaccinate children in poorer nations."

Wouldn't see Steve Jobs doing that.

Scientists create hottest substance on Earth
"Scientists using the world's largest atom smasher have made some of the hottest and densest matter ever achieved on Earth."

Cool.