Re: Aus Federal Politics thread (XII)

[Ethics? The Gall!]

Is there any "solution" for the Health system that might actually work?

euthanasia

[horace]

cannot unpick the past S...the filth that was Krudd and Gillard of course were dire

I'm highly amused that you seem to be assuming that deadhead Shortarse will be any better than Krudd and the Vulture. He's a drip and will be as bad if not worse than his former Pinko dills.

even at their worst, employment and eco gth was better under those two dropkicks compared to the complete skidmarks of the brownies...then there is the sense of fairness which under the brownies is restricted to the top end of town...MM's interventions on the international stage are marked by pratfalls and an idiocy that is laughed at by Cameron and Obama, contempt by Putin and Merkel ...worst of all he has p55ssed off the Chinese....the only State we have not managed to offend to date is the Vatican...

of course Shorten is a right wing loon...but he is a competent one (as is Turnbull)...the MM and his sidekicks are the Laurel and Hardy's of brownie politics...except they are not funny...they are driven to reward the rich and punish the poor...but hey that is this nation

[lardbucket]

"better a rapist than a failed priest"

[lardbucket]

In sad news, John Faulkner is retiring from Parliament early. Presumably this is for health reasons; as he still had much to offer.

He's been one of the best Oz parliamentarians of the last 25 years.

[horace]

aye...an honest red...not a pallid pinko ...great contribution to public life

[Bradman]

During the Rudd/Gillard mess they should have installed him as PM.

[JGK]

In sad news, John Faulkner is retiring from Parliament early. Presumably this is for health reasons; as he still had much to offer.

He's been one of the best Oz parliamentarians of the last 25 years.

Absolutely loves his cricket too.

[skully]

even at their worst, employment and eco gth was better under those two dropkicks compared to the complete skidmarks of the brownies...

The only things that grew fast under the hateful Pinkos were the deficit - to $300 Bill from a $50 Bill Surplus - and boaties - from none to thousands per month (along with those that drowned at sea).

Useless qunts.

Worst.Govt.Ever.

[horace]

ROFL...how is the share market doing S?

even the Lab dropkicks kept the Oz economy ticking over during the GFC....the current ideologue monetarists would have cut spending (as Bruce Govt did during the 30's)

They were useless on social policy...unforch the brownies have signed up to some of their crazy measures - inc the NDIS where the Productivity Commission again proved it needs a massive kick in the backside

[horace]

and of course the current mob want a return to the 19thC pre Poor Laws....refugee concentration camps are a forerunner of the expansion of prisons and workhouses

[skully]

ROFL...how is the share market doing S?

What a weird thing to say.

I don't care, I got out months ago.

[lardbucket]

In sad news, John Faulkner is retiring from Parliament early. Presumably this is for health reasons; as he still had much to offer.

He's been one of the best Oz parliamentarians of the last 25 years.

Absolutely loves his cricket too.

Annabel Crabb article on the ABC website today:

>>

For Labor leaders over the years, Senator John Faulkner has been a mixed blessing.

On one hand, he is a tremendous asset: principled, punctilious, hard-working and circumspect, with the memory of an elephant, and a clean-living elephant at that.

On the other, he is a frank and unswerving harbinger of doom.

If - as a Labor leader - you peep out into the office waiting area and spot John Faulkner looming there in the company of your leadership rival, it's roughly 98 per cent certain you're about to be whacked.

At the messiest existential junctures of a Labor leader's life (their violent births, ignominious deaths, and the grinding election campaigns that so often serve to contract the period of time elapsing between the two first-mentioned events) solemn-faced Faulkner has a priestly ubiquity.

He is not the author of political violence; rather, its umpire. The guy that everyone wants in the room, for insurance. And yet, his sudden appearance has something of the maritime albatross about it.

This is also true for public servants, who at Senate estimates sessions have faced thousands of hours of patient Faulkner invigilation, his long and fluent periods of courtesy terrifyingly punctuated by the odd burst of cogent annoyance.

Senator Faulkner gets the hard jobs. The intricate unravelling of portfolio expenditure, the telling of difficult truths to difficult people, the tidying-up of epic political messes.

He was the party's messenger to Simon Crean, when Crean's leadership was at an end. The night-watchman over its trickier recruits; he accompanied Mark Latham on the 2004 campaign, and looked after Cheryl Kernot in 2001. (Later, after the shedding of many tears, he was the only member of Labor's leadership to show up to the launch of Kernot's infamous biography).

It is one thing to be the person to whom hard jobs are assigned. It is entirely another to keep doing them well after one might quite reasonably have begged off.

When Labor took office in 2007, John Faulkner was one of only two members of the Rudd frontbench who had ever been a minister before.

As cabinet secretary, he dealt uncomplainingly with increasing behind-the-scenes disarray in the Rudd office, as well as sundry public humiliations like being called "Faulks" by the nickname-mad prime minister.

As defence minister after the resignation of predecessor Joel Fitzgibbon, he brought calm authority to an always-difficult job.

It was a job he left after Julia Gillard challenged successfully for the Labor leadership, an act of political violence with which Faulkner seemed unable to reconcile himself even over time, despite having - as usual - been in the room at the relevant moment.

One would think that a man whose career has been so steeped in difficulty might develop a rather grim view of life, and certainly there is much in the Faulkner countenance that would tend to confirm that suspicion.

But one of his subtle legacies is his rich, dark sense of humour, much apparent in this reminiscence about the 1993 election, which he fought as Paul Keating's environment minister.

The anecdote, about Labor's infamous candidate Peter Knott, was told by Faulkner at former Labor national secretary Tim Gartrell's farewell dinner, and reported by Alan Ramsey:

I am still recovering from a grand announcement I made in Kiama to save a threatened species of frog, which had the misfortune of living in Gilmore in an open drain, two metres wide and two metres deep, that ran through a public park. I made the announcement and turned to Peter for a comment. But he'd gone. He'd pissed off, across the park, to where he yelled back to the cameras, 'I've found one!' It seemed unlikely but Peter yelled, 'There it is!' And as the TV cameras swung round for his David Attenborough moment, Peter fell arse-over-head into the drain.

Among colleagues, Senator Faulkner was viewed with admiration, trepidation, fondness and a readily-discernible streak of the annoyance people of rigid principle tend to inflame in others.

It's a rare political obituary in which the words "honour", "integrity" and "service" make such regular appearances.

Thank you, Senator. Long may you live to annoy.

<<<

[skully]

Along with Fergo, another big loss to the Pinkos.

[JGK]

Meanwhile, Abbott plays the gender card in trying to protect Credlin from his own party.

[Bradman]

He'd be gone already if there were someone to replace him.

[JGK]

He'd be gone already if there were someone to replace him.

Credlin is probably most likely!

[Bradman]

Hehehe! I think she can serve as a "minister of the crown" for three months before needing to become an MP.

[JGK]

Fairfax have been having a bit of fun with this photo today:

[JGK]

Apparently this is what happen when you put the adults in charge:

BUDGET deficits will almost double to $100 billion over the next four years as global shocks hit the Australian economy, wrecking hopes that the nation’s fin­ances can improve without unpopular reforms to taxes and spending.

In a wake-up call for all sides of politics, today’s budget update will show a $40bn blowout in deficits forecast just six months ago to be worth $60bn from this year until 2018.

A hit to company tax collections has forced most of the revision but Senate objections have also added to the nation’s red ink, challenging demands on the commonwealth for more generous spending.

The Australian can reveal that bleaker tax forecasts have deepened the deficits by about $32bn over the four years while another $8bn comes from the need to modify controversial savings that were amended in the Senate.

[horace]

time to tax the nobs

[JGK]

In sad news, John Faulkner is retiring from Parliament early. Presumably this is for health reasons; as he still had much to offer.

He's been one of the best Oz parliamentarians of the last 25 years.

Absolutely loves his cricket too.

Further to this:

[JGK]

Holy shit - Craig Thompson avoids gaol.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/politics-news/craig-thomson-sentencing-over-theft-from-hsu/story-fn59nqld-1227159267355

[skully]

Wotaqunt!!

PMSL at his barrister. He claimed that the reason Thompson KNOWINGLY stole from the HSU (to r00t prossies) was his fragility when staying away from home!! Deary me!! Lawyers - what a pack of qunts!!

[lardbucket]

they can't all be bad, and they can't be all bad

[Blackadder]

The LNP going at each other.

http://www.news.com.au/national/liberal-mp-slams-colleague-for-criticising-illridewithyou-campaign/story-fncynjr2-1227160426250

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