Rudds in Howard out.

[kawasuki]

Lets see what happens ..........

[GCBusa]

We knew that at 9 o'clock last night??
Don't know if his acceptance speach excites me. Let's see what he puts into action

[tenacious]

............ and John Howard looks set to lose his seat, that's just the icing on the cake.

[BUSGO]

YEP, I can't wait for the GST and other taxes to now go up instead of down for a change.

[slowandsteady]

YEP, I can't wait for the GST and other taxes to now go up instead of down for a change.

Oh. hang on. who introduced the GST?

Well I'll be happy to pay a bit more GST if it means the MAJORITY of Austrlian workers are no longer going to get raped by unscrupulous employers forcing them onto AWA's.

Of course the fact that John Howard's (yep the man who f****d the country as treasurer under Fraser) government has seen interest rate hikes by the score is beside the point though........

Here's to a party with a social conscience. Here's toa party that looks after more than just private enterprise

[kawasuki]

Yeh it will be intersesting to see the work place agreements turned back, it might go like this
Union official,, Hellow boys,, well we have spoken to the company about our penalty rates being reinstated(all of them) and the company officialls said fine, but u will have to receive them in China cause thats were we are setting up shop if u want them.Union,,, men u see we will have to keep the status quo as per the Howard Gov. other wise we wont have a job. Its up to u the members which way u want to go. Memebers ,,, but Mr Rudd (our little china doll) said we can have it all back..?????????

I reckon the only workers that get the good money and the good conditions are all associated with the biulding industries. The rest get the crumbs.

[slowandsteady]

Not far off it with your last comment kawasuki. But that's only because the The trade union movement is only as strong as it's membership.
Interesting to note that the first option when wages increases are discussed was "offshore"
Management and CEO's never flinch from bigger payrises for themselves but always scream when the workers want it and use the offshore threat as a way of getting people to back down, then again how many businesses (big and small) actually give a fark about their employees these days?
Don't think it's unreasonable to expect that people should be adequately renumerated for their work, or being required to work after hours/weekends etc, and the statistics show that workers under AWA's are definitely worse off in the $ department (gee who pockets the difference?).

[abusa]

Better lock in your Mortgage Rate as if the wages go up so will it to offset them.

I find it interesting Australians voted out a Government that has put the country back in the Black financially on the premise its time for a change!

10-15 years ago it was a rarity someone bought a new car or bike, now everyone seems to be buying them, young and old.

Lets see if he can deliver on his promises, I expect there will be a few he cant!

[slowandsteady]

10-15 years ago it was a rarity someone bought a new car or bike, now everyone seems to be buying them, young and old.

Yep, with personal debt at the highest it's ever been. Everyone talks about the "country" being in the black because there's a budget surplus, but individual debt (often to banks with off-shore interests) is at record highs. but:

1. Since when has the country been a business with a requirement to make a profit?
2. what cost/damage to social infrastructure (hospitals/education/social services) has been done to get us "in the black"?
3. Only in the lead up to this election did the coalition start talking about spending money on these services.
4. It's also hard to suggest that people who can afford to buy new motorbikes/cars represent a true sample of the Australian demographic. There's just as many people out there that can't even afford to put food on the table for their kids......

(Steps off "social justice soapbox" and quietly removes himself from thread....)

[BUSGO]

Whoa....

Some short memories out there.

The situation that bought us the Labor party came about as a result of the industrial revolution some 100 years ago, or thereabouts, when the majority of the work force was totally dependant on the Government and large industry for its livelihood. Yes, there was a place for unions and the benefits that they bought to the workforce who were often treated as slaves. Those days are long gone buddy.

The large corporations that ran the empire are now replaced by masses of small to medium businesses that employ the majority of those people in more technically skilled roles.
It is a competitive world where small businesses compete to create an economy driven by customer demand. Gone are the business empires that employed hundreds of thousands of employees doing mundane work that the unions represented.


To answer your questions,
1. Since when has the country been a business with a requirement to make a profit?

Of COURSE the country is a business - just as every household in it is a business. How the hell else do we make ends meet on this planet of limited resources. Our country has to compete with the rest of the world. The coalition has placed Australia at the forefront of modern economies by exploiting the natural resources available to us as a country.
On the other hand, the previous Labor government was happy to simply sell everything and anything to the highest bidder, take the money, split it up and spend it on something that would make the people happy. No need to plan for the future mate - She'll be right.

2. what cost/damage to social infrastructure (hospitals/education/social services) has been done to get us "in the black"?

The social services you refer to are the responsibility of the STATE governments - yep LABOR - not the federal government. You see along with the GST that was introduced to recover the country from the financial ruin bestowed upon us by the social welfare big spending and no forward planning of the LABOR government, the GST income is divided and redeployed to the states for the purpose of providing those services. The enept money management of the state treasuries blows their share on huge beurocratic empires and the employment of an endless stream of consultants to try and handle the constant reinvention of the wheel to try and get public services to function properly and economically.


3. Only in the lead up to this election did the coalition start talking about spending money on these services.

You are correct, just before every election the Coalition takes some of the surplus that they created out of the bucket to give back in the way of reductions in taxes and other public spending. This PORK BARRELLING as it is often called is planned and calculated to win back those voters who fail to recognise the good work being done to make the country a better place to live and need a reward to keep the status quo. It appears that after 5 or 6 consecutive reductions in income tax, huge leaps forward in the area of superannuation benefits for every one, not to mention the baby bonus that has driven the country to a population growth that hasn't been seen since the 50's and 60's, the majority of the "downtrodden" workforce is not happy that they have gotten themselves into debt by overspending and have decided that a change of government is the answer.

4. It's also hard to suggest that people who can afford to buy new motorbikes/cars represent a true sample of the Australian demographic. There's just as many people out there that can't even afford to put food on the table for their kids......

Yep, the hard drinking, smoking, gambling drug addicted ferals that live in every neighbourhood. The welfare is drying up because of crackdowns on welfare cheats and the creation of an environment of nearly full employment where people are actually required to have a job to make a living.

The reductions in income tax levels over the past 10 years or so have created a position where you actually get value for working hard and an incentive to make a better life for yourself and your heirs.

As I said in the earlier post, just watch the new government turn it all around and rape the surplus created to enhance the future for all Australians.

Now, I step down from the soapbox.

[edris]

Lets see what happens ..........

Both parties same thing, at the end of the day they get their 300k salary and we get jack all, I so don't have any interest in politics, we can afford to give away billions of $$$ to sunami or whatever but don't have any money to fix our road.
Once I was riding from Parramatta road and kinda fall into this hole they had to come and kinda dig me out puahhhhh :)

[TimF]

[quote=BUSGO]
4. It's also hard to suggest that people who can afford to buy new motorbikes/cars represent a true sample of the Australian demographic. There's just as many people out there that can't even afford to put food on the table for their kids......

Yep, the hard drinking, smoking, gambling drug addicted ferals that live in every neighbourhood. The welfare is drying up because of crackdowns on welfare cheats and the creation of an environment of nearly full employment where people are actually required to have a job to make a living.
[/quote=BUSGO]

Amen. I used to reckon "you can tell a lot about a society by how it treats it's least fortunate" ....

But why not survival of the fittest to some degree? At least, you only get out what you put in...

[ROD]

Was there a erection

[mechanx]

Both governments will f*** us over ? Which ones useing K.Y. thats the question? maybe you could sell them some militec ray ?

[spamanglenn]

labour state and federal govt.If they wind back work place reforms we,ll need more border security to keep everyone out.Interest rates will go up,unemployment will rise as everything is privatised,petrol will rise as the dollar falls,more will default on there housing loans as house prices fall .Well done australia.Judge a govt on unemployment rate,national debt and interest rates(to some extent).What fed labour govt has provided a surplus.Promise the world and shaft you with bills passed on christmas eve.Seen it all before.