Australian Federal Election 24 November 2007

Austicman

catefrances wrote:

OMG!!! ted, dont you know those former union bosses are gonna destroy our economy by kowtowing to those strike loving bastards. and did you not see the 17% interest rate under the labor hawke govt in the 80s? never mind that the whole world was going nuts back then. this is no time for logic. stop just being alert and be very very alarmed. we'll all be ruined i tell you, RUINED!!! a vote for the labor party is a vote for the destruction of australian society as we know it.


i'll be voting green BTW.

Freakin' tree hugger

If I was in a safe Labour seat I'd be doing the same but seeing as my electorate went to the Lib's for the first time since federation last election it's not a wasted vote. Haven't really decided on my senate vote yet though. Maybe Green but probably not. Friggin college know it all Hippies

Oh yeah forgot. When we were paying 17% interest rates we were still paying a smaller percentage of our incomes than they are now thanks to the ridiculous increase in housing prices. Never mind the world recession that was going on then.

Austicman

The Oracle wrote:

I'm in Bennelong electorate and have already voted (postal) to get rid of the little twerp, only hope the majority of the electorate do the same!

Rudd'll do me as leader of our country (he'll get rid of Workchoices), making Pete Garrett a Minister will improve it, and the Greens'll hopefully have the casting vote in the Senate.

Now, how many Coldies do I get for these pearls of wisdom???

Love & peace to you all.

Were you in Bennelong last election and did you vote for Johnny back then? Don't want to hassle you or anything just interested in whether your changing you vote or not.

Peace right back at ya

catefrances

Austicman wrote:

Freakin' tree hugger

If I was in a safe Labour seat I'd be doing the same but seeing as my electorate went to the Lib's for the first time since federation last election it's not a wasted vote. Haven't really decided on my senate vote yet though. Maybe Green but probably not. Friggin college know it all Hippies : p

Oh yeah forgot. When we were paying 17% interest rates we were still paying a smaller percentage of our incomes than they are now thanks to the ridiculous increase in housing prices. Never mind the world recession that was going on then. : D

trees hold the secrets to the universe. dont you ever hear them talking amongst themselves. if you listen they'll share their wisdom with you.


pfft im sure there's something i dont know that you could teach me.

The Oracle

Austicman wrote:

Were you in Bennelong last election and did you vote for Johnny back then? Don't want to hassle you or anything just interested in whether your changing you vote or not.

Peace right back at ya

No hassle at all, have never voted conservative in my life, most of which I've spent in this electorate. Never thought I'd see the day a conservative PM would be thown out of here, and now it is so close.

It's a lot to do with the redrawing of the boundaries though, so that more working class areas are now included here. The state seat has a Labor rep, and has done for some time - John Watkins - not that the State Govt. is doing much good.

NoK

The Oracle wrote:

I'm in Bennelong electorate and have already voted (postal) to get rid of the little twerp, only hope the majority of the electorate do the same!

Rudd'll do me as leader of our country (he'll get rid of Workchoices), making Pete Garrett a Minister will improve it, and the Greens'll hopefully have the casting vote in the Senate.

Now, how many Coldies do I get for these pearls of wisdom???

Love & peace to you all.

Lets wait to see if he gets kicked out first and if he does the answer will depend on how happy it would make me!

What makes me pessimistic is that you've mentioned that you haven't changed your vote ever since you've been in the electorate. I think it'll be really hard to vote him out cause a lot of people still have the idea of "but he is the prime minister" and they would vote for him.

Its funny how all the liberals have to offer is more scare campaigns. Now they are going for the "12 labor candidate nominations" thingy.

catefrances

fanatics. extremists. inexperienced learners.
they will stuff our economy.



this message brought to you by the desperation of the Liberal Party.

NoK

PM John Howard words of wisdom:

"If you change the government, you do change the country"

"There's no such thing as changing the government without changing the circumstances of the country. It's not like a Christmas present you didn't want and you can take it back at the Boxing Day sale."

All these facts are too much for me to handle.. I think i should vote liberal!

Scubascott

http://www.alp.org.au/media/1107/dsidefloo120.php

JOURNALIST: If elected, Mr Rudd, how long would it take you to get on the phone to President Bush and tell him that you want the troops out?


RUDD: Well I’ve already indicated in my conversations both with the United States President and the United States Vice President what our policy is. And what I’ve said quite clearly is that the withdrawal of Australia’s combat force in Iraq would be concluded at the conclusion of the subsequent rotation by around the middle of next year. It’s been said in black and white to the US Ambassador, the US Vice President, the US President and we’ve said we’d do so in consultation with our ally. That would just occur though the normal process and I look forward to maintaining a close, very close working relationship with the US Administration.


JOURNALIST: Would (inaudible) continue if you have such opposing views on the war in Iraq?


RUDD: Well I believe that if you look at US global strategic interests, they are significant in East Asia, they are certainly significant in Afghanistan and they are significant in our own immediate region as well where Australia provides a range of other important supports for the US overall global strategic stability. Therefore I look forward to maintaining a very close relationship with the United States. Remember having an effective alliance with the United States does not of itself mandate automatic compliance with the United States on every element of foreign policy.


JOURNALIST: How many non-combat troops will remain?


RUDD: Well as I said the combat forces is around 500,550. Looking at the naval units which are offshore, you’re looking at the RAAF deployments; you’re looking at SECDET which is responsible for the security of our diplomatic staff and certain associated staff as well. But as I always said we’re looking at that combat force of 500 to 550.

Scubascott

This is one issue that pisses me off enourmously.

I was extremely dissapointed to see that Labor does not mention the words science or research on its list of policies. Even under education there is no mention of research funding. . .

Australia is in a position to make itself a world leader in science and technology. Instead of blowing billions on tax breaks to buy votes why can't we INVEST in building our research capacity? The world is going to be crying out for new energy technologies in the coming years, so rather than flogging coal to China why don't we lead the way in developing sustainable alternatives, and build our economy on selling great ideas? The libs record for research funding and supporting universities is abysmal. I was hoping labor might give a shit. Apparently not.

I guess its easier to just dig a fucking hole in the ground and sell the contents.

catefrances

Scubascott wrote:

This is one issue that pisses me off enourmously.

I was extremely dissapointed to see that Labor does not mention the words science or research on its list of policies. Even under education there is no mention of research funding. . .

Australia is in a position to make itself a world leader in science and technology. Instead of blowing billions on tax breaks to buy votes why can't we INVEST in building our research capacity? The world is going to be crying out for new energy technologies in the coming years, so rather than flogging coal to China why don't we lead the way in developing sustainable alternatives, and build our economy on selling great ideas? The libs record for research funding and supporting universities is abysmal. I was hoping labor might give a shit. Apparently not.

I guess its easier to just dig a fucking hole in the ground and sell the contents.

yeah but... yeah but... we're all getting broadband. WOOHOO!!!!

catefrances

NoK wrote:

PM John Howard words of wisdom:

"If you change the government, you do change the country"

"There's no such thing as changing the government without changing the circumstances of the country. It's not like a Christmas present you didn't want and you can take it back at the Boxing Day sale."

All these facts are too much for me to handle.. I think i should vote liberal!

um yeah johnny that's the idea. pfft. :rolleyes:

NoK

Scubascott wrote:

This is one issue that pisses me off enourmously.

I was extremely dissapointed to see that Labor does not mention the words science or research on its list of policies. Even under education there is no mention of research funding. . .

Australia is in a position to make itself a world leader in science and technology. Instead of blowing billions on tax breaks to buy votes why can't we INVEST in building our research capacity? The world is going to be crying out for new energy technologies in the coming years, so rather than flogging coal to China why don't we lead the way in developing sustainable alternatives, and build our economy on selling great ideas? The libs record for research funding and supporting universities is abysmal. I was hoping labor might give a shit. Apparently not.

I guess its easier to just dig a fucking hole in the ground and sell the contents.

I'm not sure if you are talking about science and research in general or research with respect to climate change. For the former, even though the changes are not enough and there should be more I think Labor has already put forward greater funding to universities and schools. Judging by how universities function there should be a roll-over of funds and an increase in research funding. For the latter, I think having greens kicking their butt and having Peter Garrett as your environmental spokesman will definitely change the amount of research funding going into climate change.

But these are mainly my opinions. I could be speaking absolute nonsense.

NoK

catefrances wrote:

um yeah johnny that's the idea. pfft. :rolleyes:

But.. but.. its gonna change the country :eek:

NoK

How can people still vote for this shit... its absolutely pathetic


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=327460

Lib volunteers sacked over Muslim flyers
Thursday Nov 22 00:04 AEDT

The Australian Electoral Commission has been asked to investigate whether Liberal Party members acted illegally by handing out leaflets designed to appeal to anti-Muslim sentiments.

Labor has alleged the husband of retiring Liberal MP Jackie Kelly, Gary Clark, was involved in the scandal, along with a member of the Liberal Party's NSW executive Jeff Egan.

A group of Liberal Party supporters has been kicked off the campaign for handing out flyers purporting to be from an Islamic group calling on people to vote Labor in western Sydney.

Two of the group who were Liberal Party members have been kicked out of the party.

Labor has written to the electoral commission asking it to investigate, and refer the matter to police if necessary.

The Labor Party's complaint names Mr Clark and Mr Egan, the opposition's campaign spokeswoman Penny Wong said.

"That is my understanding," she told ABC TV.

"This is scandalous. The Labor Party has written to the electoral commission asking them to investigate what we think is a clear breach of our electoral laws. And more importantly, or as importantly, we've also asked them to consider whether the matter should be referred to state or federal police."

Senator Wong said it appeared people who were "very senior" within the NSW division of the Liberal Party were involved.

"(Prime Minister John) Howard tomorrow at the press club should front up and disclose all that he knows and all that the Liberal Party knew about this scandalous affair."

She said Mr Howard should disclose who printed the leaflet, how it was distributed, any knowledge Liberal Party headquarters had of the events, and whether any public funds were used.

But Vocational and Further Education Minister Andrew Robb said Senator Wong's comments were offensive.

"This is absolutely and quite inappropriately offensive, what Penny has said," he told ABC television.

"To try to implicate senior members of the party with this piece of literature - which I understand was amateur in the extreme and offensive - and to suggest it's part of an orchestrated campaign is offensive in the extreme. Penny should apologise."

Mr Robb said he did not know the names of the people involved.

He said the party had taken swift action to demonstrate the actions were unacceptable.

"To the party it's offensive, it's very inappropriate," he said.

"It was in no way authorised, there was no knowledge of this. This is something that's been constructed and carried out at a local level amongst a number of individuals.

"They have been appropriately dealt with and that's the end of the matter as far as I am concerned."

But Mr Robb said it was appropriate for the electoral commission to investigate.

"The authority should look at any misdemeanours that's been caused here, if that's the case," he said.

"People are accountable for their actions."

Liberal Party NSW director Graham Jaeschke earlier said he became aware of the incident at St Marys in the marginal Sydney seat of Lindsay on Tuesday night, after Labor members raised the alert.

Four or five people were involved in the incident, two of whom were Liberal Party members.

"They were trying to distribute a flyer that purported to come from the Islamic Australia Federation calling on Muslims to vote Labor in the suburb of St Marys where there has been some controversy over a proposed mosque," Mr Jaeschke told AAP.

"I've provided all the information, the flyer and a letter to the electoral commissioner.

"They were not authorised. We condemn the action and the people involved are no longer members of the party."

Any non-member volunteers involved in the leaflet distribution have been kicked off the campaign, he added.

Jackie Kelly has held Lindsay since 1996, but Labor needs a swing of just 2.9 per cent to take the seat from her replacement Karen Chijoff.

Labor's candidate David Bradbury said the latest scandal came in "one of the dirtiest campaigns this country has ever seen".

"If what is alleged did occur, it is a very serious personal attack on me and a serious personal attack on the Labor party here in Lindsay," he told ABC television.

"These actions, if proved to be true, have been directed at nothing other than destroying our chances here in Lindsay."

catefrances

NoK wrote:

But.. but.. its gonna change the country :eek:

and australian families have never had it so good. :rolleyes:

Austicman

NoK wrote:

How can people still vote for this shit... its absolutely pathetic


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=327460

Lib volunteers sacked over Muslim flyers
Thursday Nov 22 00:04 AEDT

The Australian Electoral Commission has been asked to investigate whether Liberal Party members acted illegally by handing out leaflets designed to appeal to anti-Muslim sentiments.

Labor has alleged the husband of retiring Liberal MP Jackie Kelly, Gary Clark, was involved in the scandal, along with a member of the Liberal Party's NSW executive Jeff Egan.

A group of Liberal Party supporters has been kicked off the campaign for handing out flyers purporting to be from an Islamic group calling on people to vote Labor in western Sydney.

Two of the group who were Liberal Party members have been kicked out of the party.

Labor has written to the electoral commission asking it to investigate, and refer the matter to police if necessary.

The Labor Party's complaint names Mr Clark and Mr Egan, the opposition's campaign spokeswoman Penny Wong said.

"That is my understanding," she told ABC TV.

"This is scandalous. The Labor Party has written to the electoral commission asking them to investigate what we think is a clear breach of our electoral laws. And more importantly, or as importantly, we've also asked them to consider whether the matter should be referred to state or federal police."

Senator Wong said it appeared people who were "very senior" within the NSW division of the Liberal Party were involved.

"(Prime Minister John) Howard tomorrow at the press club should front up and disclose all that he knows and all that the Liberal Party knew about this scandalous affair."

She said Mr Howard should disclose who printed the leaflet, how it was distributed, any knowledge Liberal Party headquarters had of the events, and whether any public funds were used.

But Vocational and Further Education Minister Andrew Robb said Senator Wong's comments were offensive.

"This is absolutely and quite inappropriately offensive, what Penny has said," he told ABC television.

"To try to implicate senior members of the party with this piece of literature - which I understand was amateur in the extreme and offensive - and to suggest it's part of an orchestrated campaign is offensive in the extreme. Penny should apologise."

Mr Robb said he did not know the names of the people involved.

He said the party had taken swift action to demonstrate the actions were unacceptable.

"To the party it's offensive, it's very inappropriate," he said.

"It was in no way authorised, there was no knowledge of this. This is something that's been constructed and carried out at a local level amongst a number of individuals.

"They have been appropriately dealt with and that's the end of the matter as far as I am concerned."

But Mr Robb said it was appropriate for the electoral commission to investigate.

"The authority should look at any misdemeanours that's been caused here, if that's the case," he said.

"People are accountable for their actions."

Liberal Party NSW director Graham Jaeschke earlier said he became aware of the incident at St Marys in the marginal Sydney seat of Lindsay on Tuesday night, after Labor members raised the alert.

Four or five people were involved in the incident, two of whom were Liberal Party members.

"They were trying to distribute a flyer that purported to come from the Islamic Australia Federation calling on Muslims to vote Labor in the suburb of St Marys where there has been some controversy over a proposed mosque," Mr Jaeschke told AAP.

"I've provided all the information, the flyer and a letter to the electoral commissioner.

"They were not authorised. We condemn the action and the people involved are no longer members of the party."

Any non-member volunteers involved in the leaflet distribution have been kicked off the campaign, he added.

Jackie Kelly has held Lindsay since 1996, but Labor needs a swing of just 2.9 per cent to take the seat from her replacement Karen Chijoff.

Labor's candidate David Bradbury said the latest scandal came in "one of the dirtiest campaigns this country has ever seen".

"If what is alleged did occur, it is a very serious personal attack on me and a serious personal attack on the Labor party here in Lindsay," he told ABC television.

"These actions, if proved to be true, have been directed at nothing other than destroying our chances here in Lindsay."

Well well. This is a fear and smear campaign on a whole new level. The Lib's have really outdone themselves this time. But of course these people acted on their own and no one else in the party knew anything about it. :rolleyes:

catefrances

Austicman wrote:

Well well. This is a fear and smear campaign on a whole new level. The Lib's have really outdone themselves this time. But of course these people acted on their own and no one else in the party knew anything about it. :rolleyes:

it is an unsult to suggest that anybody high up in the Liberal Party was aware of this happening. :rolleyes:

NoK

catefrances wrote:

it is an unsult to suggest that anybody high up in the Liberal Party was aware of this happening. :rolleyes:

You would never :eek:

catefrances

NoK wrote:

You would never :eek:

certainly not i.


remember when john howard said he'd never bring in a GST? i do.


liar liar pants on fire.

Austicman

catefrances wrote:

certainly not i.


remember when john howard said he'd never bring in a GST? i do.


liar liar pants on fire.

He was unaware of the unedited photo's of the children overboard affair.