Category: Politics

My, Julia is doing well isn’t she? Boaties First she says we are going to process boat people off-shore in East Timor – “I’ve already spoken to the President,” she claims. The media point out she should have spoken to the Prime Minister – speaking to the President is like speaking to our Governor General; neither of them have executive power. “Oh, OK then, I didn’t actually say East Timor!…mumble mumble …PNG and Manus Island” It’s getting good. East Timor has a vote and says no thanks. PNG has a vote and says no thanks. Oh!. Well back to East Timor. I really did say East Timor – why are you doubting my words? – raising the question of what part of NO doesn’t she understand – the N or the bloody O? Nauru puts her hand up. Pick me…we’ll do it. Not interested say Julia. not interested says Foreign Affairs Smith.

Reporter: “Why not consider Nauru” Smith: “Because we are focusing our efforts on East Timor”. Reporter: “Yes, but why not consider Nauru, they have indicated they would sign up to your UN resolution on refugees. ” Smith: “Because we are focusing our efforts on East Timor! ” Reporter: “Yes, but why not consider them. ” Smith: “Because we are….” you get the drift.

Let’s presume East Timor folds and say yes they will have lost face and it doesn’t matter what the final outcome is, Gillard has lost creditability. We now need to spend millions on infrastructure when we could use the already set up Nauru enclosure all because the ALP needs to save face. Having lambasted Howard for years over his inhumane off-shore processing they are now doing the same but on a different island. Tax the rich program. The Minerals Resource Rent Tax cut the percentage from 40% to 22% and yet the receipts only move from $12b to $10.5b. Either my sense of high school maths is failing me or someone is telling lies. A tax designed specifically to fill in the huge hole the ALP have left in our bank balance now looks shakey.

Treasury secretary Ken Henry revealed yesterday that his department relied on modelling provided by the three big resources companies BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata for its estimate that the new tax would deliver $10.5 billion in the first two years.

I wonder how much clever accounting went in that estimate? Next problem…the ETS. I wonder if, on his return from the G20 meeting in Toronto, Kevin Rudd told Julia about the G20 losing interest in apocalyptic global warming Last week’s G8 and G20 meetings in Toronto and its environs confirmed that the world’s leaders accept the demise of global-warming alarmism.

One year ago, the G8 talked tough about cutting global temperatures by two degrees. In Toronto, they neutered that tough talk, replacing it with a nebulous commitment to do their best on climate change — and not to try to outdo each other. The global-warming commitments of the G20 — which now carries more clout than the G8 — went from nebulous to non-existent: The G20’s draft promise going into the meetings of investing in green technologies faded into a mere commitment to “a green economy and to sustainable global growth.”

Let’s summarize the first couple of weeks of Julia’s reign. Aim: Stop people panicking about overpopulation Answer: Change Tony Burke’s title from Minister for Population to the Minister for Sustainable Population. Result: Box ticked. Aim: Stop people worrying about boat people Answer: Change Howard’s off-shore island processing to Gillard’s off-shore processing. Result: Box ticked Aim: Stop people worrying about the huge deficit. Answer: Invent a new tax…oops the miners are complaining and we are bleeding votes….Sack the PM and have the new PM say some different words. $10.5b coming in…stop worrying! Result: Box ticked (penciled in only) Aim: Get back votes lost through ETS backdown Answer: Don’t know but in any case must delay as long as we can…maybe after the election Result: Jury still out. Last word I leave to cartoonist Zeg; Hmmmmm, if elected? let’s see, if we vote for Julia Gillard we will get a mining tax that will go nowhere to settling the massive billions of dollar debt that her Kevvie set up for our children, along with a loss of jobs and industry. We will also get another failed border security policy or the same one that worked when John Howard was PM (as long as it doesn’t look the same and doesn’t involve the introduction of temporary visa) and we can also expect a massive rise in the costs of living due to the feel good tax (ETS) that will be imposed on us all so as not to upset those good folk in the Green Party (who are providing preference votes to the ALP at the election). Seems like a no brainer to me then……. hand me the how to vote Liberal card please.

Gusmao advises Julia Gillard to firm up boatpeople plan before she calls.

He said he had “open mind” on the proposal, but warned that he would need to see the detail of Ms Gillard’s proposal. Even then, he said at a press conference in Dili, the plan would require extensive investigation by his government and lengthy debate in the parliament before the measure could proceed.

That should take it through to the Australian elections which is most probably all she wants anyway. It’s just another thought bubble type plan as in – We need a plan to get all of Burnsides “rednecks” back on side….let’s see…I know, I’ll phone NZ and Timor this arvo and announce the Great New Plan on boat people tomorrow night. There, another of Rudd’s problems fixed. UPDATE: Just in from News.com

JULIA Gillard appears to be backing away from plans for a regional refugee processing centre in Timor, telling 4BC she never committed to a location.

The plot thickens. Should make The Australian an interesting read tomorrow. UPDATE II The ABC’s tag line is Gillard keeping asylum options open. How can they say that after Tony Jones elicited from her last night that there wasn’t a Plan B other than to ring around some more.

The shouting and the tumult dies and what are we left with? One of the Gang of Four, the Lemon, has left, one is going and two remain. Of the two who remain both were implicit in all the decisions made by the ALP over the past two plus years. Are Gillard and Swan going to try and distance themselves from the failed ETS, deadly Fruit bats in the ceilings, BER waste and the politics of envy mining tax thought up for no apparent reason other than to fix the huge deficit they have created? How can they? Gillard says the Government had lost its way but she should have added while I was in the chair. The Lemon was certainly a part of why they lost their way but Gillard and Swan are another part of it so what is the difference? And just how did they specifically lose their way? Was it the ETS that she demanded be dumped, Was it her BER that is costing the country billions more than it should; was it the open door boat people policy that has made a joke of our borders or was it Swan’s RSPT tax against the rich that did it? All of these factors contributed to their votes hemorrhaging and she and Swan had a hand in all of these policies. She is prettier, a woman and apparently more inclusive in dealing with others but thats not any reason to vote for her or her party. How is she going to get any credibility back over the ETS backflip? She has said we need more consultation and would look at it after the election. Why the hell then, are the Green preferences flowing back to the ALP. Are they that stupid that they are prepared to believe she will do something after she was one of the Gang of Four who dumped it? Gillard’s background gets very little attention form the media but I have a longer memory. She was a key figure in a socialist group that pushed radical policies and social agendas in the 1980s and early ’90s.

Founded in 1984 as a pressure group within the ALP, the Socialist Forum also wanted to sever Australia’s alliance with the US, remove the spy base at Pine Gap, introduce death duties and redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor.

Her cohorts at the Socialist Forum were a mob of old communists and left wing activists enthusiastically dancing to the old USSR’s tune and getting together with the express aim of getting into the ALP. Gilllard remained a member until 2002 when the Socialist Forum morphed into the Fabian Society. The Honourable Gough Whitlam AC QC is their patron. Our media are all over being “THE FIRST FEMALE PM” but others look a bit further. A kiwi blog is right onto her background Leopards do not readily change their spot nor do old socialists. Jim Cairns, one of Gillards heroes who was a high-ranking member of a communist front organisation and a long-standing Soviet agent of influence would be very pleased.

ALP rusted on supporters love to call Tony Abbott the Mad Monk and I’m happy with that. While they are busy underestimating him he has been quietly tearing the ALP apart. Look! Tony Abbott tells lies (he didn’t)…look! he thinks Global Warming is ‘crap'(some bits are, some aren’t)……look! women hate him (maybe, maybe not)…..look! No one would ever have the Mad Monk as PM (check the polls)….Oops…what happened to the polls…..Oops! Rudd has gone! Yes, Rudd’s demise is somewhat self inflicted but Tony Abbott was the lighting technician and had Rudd’s incompetence well and trully under the spotlight since stopping the ETS in the gate. Now I’m reliably told that Gillard has his measure. We’ll see! Julia does have a few problems that everyone seems to be ignoring while she’s still wearing her honeymoon nightie. I just heard some ALP mouthpiece saying the voters aren’t worried about boat people. Good!, I thought, they still don’t get it and I’ve read that what is really worrying the voters is the population increases recently touted by the press. Good! They definitely don’t get it except Julia does – She changed Tony Burke’s title from Minister for Population to the Minister for Sustainable Population. There – that’ll do it! I’ve just been up country and spent a couple of nights in a country pub and offer this advice to the ALP. Don’t ever, ever go to the Marlborough Pub as the miners and cattlemen have their spurs on, baseball bats with rail spikes in hand and whips cracking. Oh, and another thing – stop the boat people NOW! I read where Julia’s old school is very happy with the BER. Mitcham Primary School headmaster wasn’t in the group of 112 who were told their reports of mismanagement and rorting would not be accepted by the Committee that was established with the express aim of whitewashing Julias BER.

THE $14 million taskforce into the schools stimulus will not take details of 112 new complaints because it cannot assure “anonymity”.

We don’t want “anonymity” we want it on the front page and as the lead story on the 7pm news. One school happy…one school unhappy is not the issue. The issue is billions have been spent and billions more will be spent on schools and we are pretty sure that billions have been ripped off. It’s no use saying State spends the money, not federal and therefore Julia is unmarked. If the federal government give out billions they have the responsibility to ensure the voters get value for money. And they haven’t. Ha ha look at stupid Tony Abbott attacking Julia over BER rorting…….oops! What to do with the ETS. I can see Julia thinking “we don’t really want it as we have run out of money as it is….maybe I can say some words that will get some hippy votes back Thus;

“It is as disappointing to me as it is to millions of Australians that we do not have a price on carbon,” Gillard told reporters. “And in the future we will need one. But first we need to establish a community consensus for action.”

And just after the community consensus for action report is made public then all she has to do is get Tony Abbott and that Green leader whacko to come to the party. Good luck with that one. It’s not all bad news for Julia though as Dennis Glover has written a virtual public marriage proposal with this piece. Good luck Ma’am!

From the Liberal Party

THE Rudd government is refusing to release the results of 57,000 safety inspections of homes insulated under its botched $2.45 billion program. Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said he would not say how many homes had been found to have serious safety issues that could have caused fires or electrocutions, nor reveal how many had been found to have quality issues that meant the insulation was not effective.

“The government will not be providing a running commentary on inspections results,” Mr Combet told The Australian.

Come on guys – release the figures in time for the Newspoll ring around