What do you think is the most important issue at the next election?

Yes the scum-bag politicians investing $30 billion of tax payers money into a rickety internet scheme, so 95% of the population can enjoy faster facebook games; Youtube downloads, and porn, is really going to add to Australia’s future prosperity.

 

OK before I get booted I will say this.

The world has changed, to my grandson it now includes kindergarten, to my daughter it now includes my grandson. To me, I will be 60 in 6 weeks time,it has changed a lot, I have seen the beginning of television in Australia, I have seen the sexual revolution (and tried to participate), I have seen personal computing grow from clumsy desktops to android phones. To my father, who has just celebrated his 97th birthday and to my aunty (hello aunty Daph) who is about to celebrate her 99th birthday, it has changed dramatically.

I am a scientist. Once if I was sitting under the right tree at the right time, an apple may have fallen on my head. I would have looked at it, probably cursed, then wondered why it happened. I would have pondered that maybe a larger body (the earth) may have attracted the other body (the apple), after all it didn't just "fall down" as there is no down, we have already figured the earth is a globe, so down is in every direction towards the centre of the globe. Hmmm I better write this down.
I went to school. There one of my subjects was economics, well for years 11 and 12 anyway. Here I learnt about capitalism, Laissez-faire, supply and demand etc. It sounded good, I didn't like what I had heard about socialism or communism so I became a capitalist.

So what do these two snippets have to do with each other, a lot.

If today I wanted to make a great discovery, it would most probably at a highly technical level, no longer can we discover the easy things, they have all been discovered. Science has changed since the great discoveries, steam power, I wish discoveries were as easy today as making a cup of tea for example.

The story also says I am a scientist, so I suppose I think a little differently, people I know call me Sheldon for example, it's all about logic to me.

My logical brain tells me Capitalism especially Laissez-faire type capitalism. Yes it had it's place once, but supply and demand no longer run the show. It's advertising and our belief that we need something better, faster, smaller, more efficient. There is nothing wrong with this, butit is not supply and demnd, it's Create the demand and supply on your terms.

Lets look at food, milk in particular, we probably waste enough milk on a daily basis to supply all the needs of a third world country, you know, those countries where we get our oil and timber etc from, but pay them next to nothing for it. We waste the milk because you and I want it wasted, well not wasted exactly, but we want it when we want it, at the price we want to pay for it, seeing we have to. So the big players, those like Coles and Woolworths who have a huge percentage of the market, corner the poor farmers into selling it for about 10 cents a litre, threatening to import the constituents and re-assemble it here as fresh milk. So because they get it so cheap, if it's out of date (usually because it has been stripped of any natural preservation materials) it is tipped out.

So spread this across all foods, goods, cars etc and what do you have, a market manipulated by business to give us what they tell us we need.

Need is a word we shouldn't use, it's more want. We don't need 3 widescreen TVs per house, we don't actually need any. I only need to watch the news and that is just as informative on my small TV as any widescreen, blue rayed, smart TV. Oh and I don't need an internet terminal in my refrigerator either, most people have long past the need stage and even past the want stage, they are deep into the greed phase.

Capitalism is fast passing it's "Use by date". We can't all succeed, we can't all get to the top of the ladder, so some will get left behind. Some of them won't like that so they will start fighting, cheating and lying to get past the guy in front. Let it be ..... we did that, it's like saying "let them be"when talking about our children, oh we have said that, and look where that is going.

Capitalism, Socialism and Communism do not exist, just what we call Capitalism, Socialism and Communism do. None of them have the answer, we need something new, Humanitarianism sounds good. Thinking sounds good, pulling our collective heads from the sand sounds good.

 

Common freddy, there'd be no use businesses and public services having you beaut opportunity to utilize futuristic technology and not having anybody capable of accessing it due to slow speeds. This is where the coalitions plan is simply such a waste of time and money!!!! We may as well invest in wireless technology, which is nowhere as fast but much cheaper It is simply a silly argument to only take fibre to the NODE. It is also all about allowing "POTENTIAL" not simply spending billions to meet short term political goal!!

 

I`ll spell it out to you again. What I`m saying is. To be a union official, or union lawyer, only gives one experience in STOPPING people from working, EXTORTING business with the threat of the destruction of the livelihood of business people. As for corruption, there is no group of people in this country, more skilled in the "art" of corruption than union lawyers. Just one example of many, Julia Gillard`s corruption slush fund of 1995, is too common an occurrence, to even be noteworthy. If Gillard really was too dumb to know that she was constructing a vehicle for the prime purpose of union corruption, why did she hide it?

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-po...union-slush-fund-rejected-20121029-28dqt.html

As for living as a dependent salary / wage earner. This pampered lifestyle, also teaches people NOTHING of the responsibilities of authority.

These are simple facts. You wouldn`t let anyone drive a truck without training, without supervised experience, so how can it be OK to run the Nation with no qualifications? Join the dots, recognise that envy is no qualification.


FYO, I don`t press the mummy button. That`s another sooky, lefty "tactic".

 

That`s obvious. Fibre to the node copes with all non residential needs. They just want another freebie, luxury charity at the expense of the country.

 

What Tony Abbot is promising is a minimum speed of 25 Mb/s & that is overkill for a single user at the moment.
* Basic TV requires 1.5 Megabits/second.
* Online DVD quality TV requires 3 Mb/s.
* High definition TV requires 5 to 7 Mb/s.
* 3D TV requires 12 Mb/s.
* Computer gaming 8 Mb/s recommended.
In the UK 2 Mbits/s is the current standard they are aiming for.
http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2013/05/17/how-fast-does-your-internet-really-need-to-be/

If you can view a 3D online TV show with 12Mbits/s then 25 Mbits/s is not going to stop a home owner accessing information that is publicly available on a company website.

If a family has two kids & both are online gaming at the same time consuming a total of 16 Mb/s that still leaves 9 Mb/s for the parents.

 

I think most miss the point that they will see very little difference over this issue. After all they talk about how fast their computer is but they never really need that speed. Speed difference is hardly noticeable when they do not use the entire bandwidth, but if it sounds good go for it.

 

The coalition are Promising a 'Maximum Speed" of "25mb/s NOT "minimum! The word is POTENTIAL......we'd be foolish to limit technology based on our current knowledge and experience!

As for the negative stigma surrounding gaming.....gaming is worth 10's of billion of dollars of which Australia is increasing its slice of the pie! In other words it's a massive industry we must embrace and encourage further growth in despite our personal thoughts!!

 

Malcolm Turnbull says it will be 25 Mb/s minimum.

http://www.zdnet.com/au/turnbull-promises-more-nbn-nodes-to-get-25mbps-7000014923/

 

Corruption, deceit, lying, cheating usurping the law. If you really want to see the experts in these fields, go to some of the boardroom meetings of the big mining and other companies like Coles and Woolworths who work within the legal guidelines by mere millimeters, pushing boundaries constantly driven entirely by creating a huge bottom line and using deceptive marketing ploys to make us believe that they are acting as good Samaritans. Unionism was created by opportunistic people who had other agendas of a political nature who saw in the incredibly vile manner in which employers were treating their employees. We take the good from the bad in life.

 

So true... But what about the part the government plays in these activities? Is it a real problem that the government will not hold to account these companies? Do we pretend one party is better than another in curbing this activity?

True again, but what has that opportunistic people done of late for their members??? Corruption runs wild within its ranks, they run about adding higher worker cost to manufacturing without thought of overall affect. Unions do more harm than good these days over collective arrangements... Not to say, they are totally irrelevant, just management is.

 

All parties are guilty, nearly all politicians actually,maybe even more. (See my next post)

I agree. They have done more good than harm, so far, but as we as people become more enlightened, more educated (also answers someone else's question on why we need better education) we have become more self empowered. Now this education and empowering was given to us primarily through unions, with the help of public media. What we need to do now, as we need to do with a lot of what we have, is to rethink things threw our new enlightened eyes, with a clearer vision that comes from hindsight and our new educated viewpoint.

We have to move on, put away the things of children, for we are growing, we need to look at things through different eyes, that is where IMHO Abbott's biggest fault is. He was born 100 years to late. This is the 21st Century now, and the second decade of it, time doesn't stand still.

 

So we agree on that point... I wait in interest to see if for similar reasons...

They have done more good than harm in the past, but unions of the day do more harm than good due entirely on the education of people. Sure Australians have the ability to gain better education but that education is to the effect of lecturing people into what to think, not how to think. That I lay squarely at the feet of the government present and past.

But as unions have lost the point of their focus and spend more time trying to make themselves important, they have damaged the Australian economy more than should have been allowed by their members. Short sighted gains have increased the cost of manufacture to a point that Australia cannot stand at competitive levels with the rest of the world. This is not entirely the Unions fault, but due to the membership being far too insular they have to accept large percentage of blame.

Now as unions try to set minimum wages they pursue far greater wages at every opportunity, pricing many of their members out of work. Unions also pursue other benefits from their membership in pursuit of claimed better working conditions. Fact is, unions will use any excuse to pursue higher cost to production given half a chance. Talks in the past with many union representatives about paying for increased productivity have demonstrated to me that the union does not care how that increased productivity is made, they believe they deserve a cut of the action. It does not matter if the company spent millions to improve systems, which increase due to spending should flow through to them, without any improvement of membership productivity.

Unions have cost Australia much with their short sighted views and total lack of consideration of the real situation just to make themselves relevant to their members... Yes education needs to change this as there is still a place for unions, just not in its present form.

Yes we do have to move on. We need to let go of unions that simply will not work together with people and companies for the betterment of Australia. Australia needs to move away from welfare dependency, of people and business, as from present situation surely you can see that Australia cannot continue to maintain such spending... Money is not unlimited. Business needs to stand on its own two feet in a competitive global market and people need to be able to live without relying on government welfare. Abbott may not be the right person for you, but party politics (in general) would be for better on these points.

So far all I have seen from this election is Rudd wanting to spend money Australia has not got, compared to Abbott who wants to cut the government income (and spending). Both intentions are to build business, but spending money has its limits to the fact there is only so much...

 

Garry, do you think Australia can cure itself of the disease of welfare dependency, or have we bred too many parasites to recover?

 

Unfortunately I do not think Australia can… this is a problem of the entire system and every facet needs to be addressed.


For example, incentives are needed to induce people to work rather sit on dole or unnecessary disability pensions. For this to work wages have to be much greater than welfare. For this to occur rises to manufacturing would be necessary… Rises to manufacturing need to be off set with subsidy from government (corporate welfare) to remain competitive on the global economy… with these increases cost of living rises thus welfare to recipients need to be raised… This excludes the revenue the government needs to raise…

The only way welfare dependence can really be broken is by Government committing political suicide (major austerity measures) or major economic adjustment which would see major cost cutting, creating a condition where a majority of people will become poor(possibly creating third world conditions).

Australians have been their own worst enemy on this point. Greed of the populace has created governments that can (and do) buy votes with welfare.

Australians do not realise that only so much money exists so there is a roof to the amount of free money available. This current government have increased welfare in amounts that should alarm everybody. But the only real difference between the parties is the speed of this increase and the focus of their welfare initiatives. As welfare has reached parity of income tax the problem has reached boiling point and nobody is prepared to address it.

They discuss productivity levels as being the focal point of this but ALP has seen reductions of 20% odd in six years. Under the Howard government increases of 20% took Eight to ten years during good years with 0.4% unemployment. This meant the only way for a workforce to continue to grow was with increases in productivity. So I am not saying Howard created this growth but he did not impede it in any fashion. So simply to return to the same levels of productivity with equivalent cost benefit will take double this while welfare continues to increase, at a rough guess will take twenty odd years. So now Australia will be twenty to thirty years behind the starting point in attempting to create an economy that can simply sustain the welfare commitment of the current situation.

This is an extremely alarming situation for any government and the fact that the ALP wish to ignore it and continue to propagate the problem should be condemned. However, I did have heart that the Coalition would address the situation when year or two ago shadow treasurer talked about this issue is several speeches to business and heads of states around the world. BUT during this election campaign, they appear to be moving in the same direction as the ALP with their welfare direction.

Australia is in real trouble with this and nobody wants to address it.

BTY, the example used is simply one area and not a direct challenge just at that, people have to remember welfare consists of many facets that include family payments, education payments and many other payments that need to be reconciled as well…

 

I agree to a point with some of your comments, but also feel consecutive governments wasting and squandering untold $billons over the past four decades has contributed to Australia’s current economy. Incompetent management; unnecessary public owned assets sold, and a complete lack of any future long-term sustainable plans for the Australian people’s welfare and prosperity have also contributed to our current crisis.

I don’t think its fair or reasonable to blame people who claim welfare benefits to be the main contributing factor to Australia’s current economic woos.

Before the introduction of the carbon tax, politicians nearly doubled all their salaries in one hit - Gillard’s salary was higher than the US Presidents and UK‘s PM.

No ordinary worker or person on a welfare benefit has ever been fortunate enough to receive this magnitude of a single pay increase. Individuals on welfare benefits were given a generous $200 to cover the increase of the new carbon tax, but two weeks before the start of the carbon tax; politicians gave themselves an additional $5000 pay increase.

You are suggesting people on welfare are a financial drain on the countries economy, but I will advocate that its not the welfare recipients that are a drain on the countries economy, but Australian politicians. At a time when Australia was $200billion in debt, was it necessary and appropriate for politicians to double their salaries and give themselves an extra $5000? Welfare recipients only received $200.

When Australia was/is in $200billion debt, was it necessary or appropriate for politicians to give away $4.5billion of tax payers money in free aid?

My point: if we had competent people that could manage this country correctly, then we would not have to condemn some poor old person getting a miserly $500 per fortnight as bludging on our society, every time the country falls on hard financial times.

The politicians are to blame for screwing this country up royally, and bankrupting us to the point of having nothing left to get revenue from, besides raising tax, after tax, after tax. When these parasites have sold-off everything and we have nothing left to get revenue from, where the bloody hell are these mongrels suppose to get money from - taxing our arses off.

Get rid of politicians completely, and put the country under private management, it cannot be any worse.

 

Culdav, You miss my point. I am not labelling welfare recipients as bludgers. I used the example of dole recipients as it is the easiest and clearest way to show how welfare costs are not easily reduced.

The fact that an average family cannot survive without welfare is much harder to demonstrate and would take far more to demonstrate than dole and pensioners. Greed is one thing, but when government use this welfare system to buy votes they begin the trip through a black hole that is irreversible without policy that critically hurt the people. The population have been too short sighted to see the limitation in the room, finance. Even here on this very forum over the last few years I have seen some very smart people totally miss the long term damage this causes to an economy.

As the population ages there will become less people to contribute to the funding of welfare and governments past and present are remiss in not addressing the problems. I agree that Government is to blame and the fact that this carbon tax scam has been utilised to grant increased welfare to the people (not just dole and pension recipients). Increasing welfare to the population, increasing welfare to business in such dramatic speed that NOW Australia has real underlying problems that nobody seems interested in addressing.

I do get the point of politicians not missing out while everybody else has to make do, but in all honesty, Australia is in incredible danger with this welfare problem. Personally, I think we should cut their wages until they start working for the people and not their own pocket…

Waste is a huge issue in my opinion and the fact some would forgive and condemn governments for such, due only to their political persuasion is simply stupid. But let us face it, even if the waste was not there, the government would only be putting this problem off…

 

Politicians are the number one scourge on our society that we desperately need to get rid of. Their childish, fundamental mistakes have cause untold damage to this country and its people for their own glorification, hidden agendas, and self-interest.

How in Gods name can anyone explain to me, how Australia, with its lucrative natural resources and agriculture, could be reduced and forced into borrowing $200billion in the first place, and now in such a pitiful situation, its having problems funding the most vulnerable members of our society.

These worthless politicians cannot even find enough money to build homes and accommodation for our homeless.

I understand completely what you are suggesting about politicians vote buying, and how their self-interests triggers a dependency, but doesn’t that theory come back to what I have been saying about politicians in general. No politician or political party has been of any use or value to the country or the Australian people since the foresight of the “Snowy Mountains Scheme”.

What has been built by these masterful politicians in this country since the “Snow Mountains Scheme” between 1949 and 1974. The answer is nothing. Nothing has been built in this country for people to have pride in; even our roads and highways are tendered out to foreign owned companies, so the people can be charged road tolls forever by foreign owned companies.

We own nothing, and when we as a country and its people own nothing; revenues cannot be collected from nothing!! Therefore, these scum-bag politicians have no alternative except to tax the arse off the only thing left - human beings, and foreign owned mining companies, who they sold our resources off too, in the first place.

Foreign owned car manufactures have got $billions in subsides from both sides of politics for decades. Not once did it ever occur to these lunatic politician, instead of handing away free aid worth $billions in Australian tax payer funded subsides, to actually put that money into buying shares in those companies, where some revenue could be gained back from the investment.

Incompetence stems form the top. We would not have a problem in this country supporting less fortunate people, if we have competent people running the show.

If I run my business like politicians have run this country for decades, then I would have been bankrupt a long time ago.

 

Yes, I do agree, and under current political position it has only been worsened to the point that now there is only two alternatives who clearly demonstrate similar traits. At least earlier governments have been better if not only that there was a need to see to the future wealth of Australia.

BUT we must also look to those people who continually vote these people in. Sure the political system has insured alternative parties are eliminated who in the past would hold at least the scare of being opponent to the majors to insure better government. This is squarely at the politicians feet , but the fact that people continue to pander to these clowns ability which clearly is limited.

How in Gods name can anyone explain to me, how Australia, with its lucrative natural resources and agriculture, could be reduced and forced into borrowing $200billion in the first place, and now in such a pitiful situation, its having problems funding the most vulnerable members of our society.
The problem is not really government debt… Although the fact the government has not used this to build infrastructure in a time when the ability was about for the betterment of Australia is a problem. SO really 200b in debt with nothing of worth to show for it is the real problem. BUT again the problem is the fact the government continue to create a consumer nation which pays welfare to companies to export simply to offset the cost of consumer spending to attempt to show their policy is better for people who believe wealth Is in what you own not what you can buy.
As for not having the money to build homes for the poor, I believe that is simply the crust of the situation. They apparently do not have the money to create programs to assist these people better their own situation and continue to ignore cost of living pressures promoted by their own policies which greatly help to put them in this position in the first place.

I do agree with much of what you have said, of course we have had difference, but your basic line is what I agree with. All these mongrels need to be tossed for better people. BUT as this is not realistic, we have to try and choose the best we can out of what is there. Unfortunately, IMO it is simply slowing the demise of Australia and not addressing the real issues. Australia has always struggled to remain globally relevant, but now (when it is most needed) Australia continues to move away from the opportunities that will promote the country.

Some would suggest the NBN is similar to the Snowy Mountains Scheme, BUT you and I would agree (I assume) this would be extremely stretch at best. What return is this infrastructure will have, undetermined by all around and the fact that the technology will possibly be out of date before completion only goes to the fact the government is only interested in buying the votes of the gullible. After all, how many homes will need or even be able to see any real difference to what they have NOW. So in another few years Australia will be able to look to the snowy mountains scheme and say, “look 100 years, and they have produced nothing”
BUT we can blame governments for being so wasteful and flattering the population, but really it is the stupidity of the population from pretending that they look to the future and vote on that regard. They like to pretend they want to build for their children yet every policy they vote on is determined of if they see results in their lifetime. No PEOPLE need to stand and demand more from these politicians, demand decorum, demand respect, demand representation and not leadership and demand they work for the good of the nation and not simply their own interest. We cannot simply blame the politicians for their current situation if we ignore the fact that very few of us, demand better from all of them.

 

I agree with what you have said.

On numerous occasions, I have spoken against the fundamental negative aspects about the “merry-go-round” ride of our current two party political system. I demonstrated the ALP/Union party and the Liberal/National party are the left and right arms of the same distorted and twisted body. You don’t really have to be an Einstein to understand the people are being taken as fools and treated like mushrooms with a system like this.

They do have slight philosophical differences, but when their parties are directly and seriously challenged by anyone, they immediately join forces to destroy the invader at any cost. This was demonstrated when Pauline Hanson seriously threatened their control over the Australian people. They went nuts on her to keep control.

As you rightly say; $200Billion spent, and what is there to show for the money - a few school canteens and halls, and an NBN that’s twenty years from being completed.

Dead people were sent cheques. People living in other countries were sent $1000. I’m sure they were going to return to Australia and spend that $1000 in Australia to benefit the Australian economy during the GFC. What an absolutely brain-dead idea that was giving an Australian living in another country $1000 thinking it was going to help Australia through the GFC. This is incompetence that a 10 year old would not display, and these are the crazy cretins governing this country and the people.

$4.5billion in foreign aid and a $7billion loan to the IMF, when Gillard was telling the people she could only afford $1billon for the start up cost associated with the Nation Disability Insurance Scheme for Australian disable people, and then went State-to-State trying to embarrass them and blackmail them into funding the rest of the scheme. These cretins are not working in the best interests of Australia or the Australian people.

The NBN is a white elephant. It will never add anything to my business, as we are able to effectively Skype and do everything else with our current internet facility, and its not peaked out to maximum download usage.

The NBN will be used primarily by 95% of Australians who will be able to download porn, You-tube videos, and music faster. Gee-wiz, that was $30billion dollars of tax payers money well spent; downloading porn, videos and music faster. Well done you stupid parasites; just wish it was your bloody money you spent on this white elephant, and not ours.

Australia has NO global relevance anymore. I understand not many of them travel internationally, but if they did, they would realise how much of a joke Australia and Australia’s really are on an international level. On an International level, Australia and Australians are taken as serious as a fart in a bottle.

The only time foreign companies or foreign governments want to interact with Australia, is when they want to snap up millions of hectares of our prime agricultural land, or buy one of our assets. When was the last time a major foreign company or government based itself in Australia or interacted with Australia; besides mining?

Bonds, Ford, Holden and Target have left or are leaving. Iveco trucks has been brought out by a US company, and will soon be leaving for manufacturing in China. LOL

As my father use to say: you have to hit rock bottom before you can climb your way out. Unfortunately, that philosophy will have to apply to Australians, and its going to happen very soon if the people keep voting in these same incompetent clowns every three years.

Australia has been living off the mining/resource industry for decades, which has inflated an unrealistic housing bubble for three decades, and when one goes “poop” it will make what happened in Greece and Ireland look like child’s play.

We need to employ people who will start buying assets for the Australian people that will start generating revenue, like other governments around the world are currently doing. We cannot afford to keep electing these same incompetent tried old clowns who are only interested in selling everything and not buying and building for the people to get revenue from. If we don’t immediately start buying public owned assets that will generate revenue, then this country is in dire straights.

We need to immediately STOP selling our prime agricultural land to foreign companies, and especially to foreign governments like China. The Government should be buying those properties for the revenue and financial benefit of the Australian people, and if they are not up to the task of managing a simply property for the people, then (*)(*)(*)(*)-off and let someone else with the competence manage it.

Politicians are killing us and our country, they are incompetent and cannot manage anything, but will not step aside to allow someone else the opportunity to prosper.

We need to get rid of politicians completely, or elect politicians who will put Australia and the Australian people FIRST for a change. I want to see this demonstrated before elections, as I don’t believe a word that comes out of their fowl mouths.

 

One of the best posts on the forum, Garry. The welfare mentality, is one of our most threatening weaknesses. Australians have always been handicapped by an envious mindset, knockers, tall poppy syndrome losers. Both sides of politics are guilty of appealing to the greed of bludgers.

 

Culldav
Some people really think there is a difference between these two parties when the fact is they simply want to have their name on policy to say they are the best, simply to be on top. Even to this day both have supplied no real future for Australia except that they want the job and are prepared to buy every vote needed. Can anybody really believe these two? Not on your life. We have the pretenders trying to portray one over the other, but truly many would be appalled to know the truth of the situation if they took their rose coloured glasses off.

The new preference of the Coalition for the ALP is directly and even stated for the eradication of the Greens. I don’t think you will hear the ALP doing the same as the support of the Greens has been paramount to their election chances for years. If you look back, during elections the ALP generally get over the line due to preferences and rarely by their primary vote. NOT to say it has never happened, but it is unusual for this to happen. Now we see the attempt to eradicate another competitor (and I would be glad to rid Australia of such a radical and short sighted party but) by both parties and unapologetic in your face we are going to insure we are the only choices you have… Terrible situation when parties can manage the Australian political scene in such a manner and the people sit on their hands and accept such… SIMPLY STUPID.
Huge borrowings, wasted stimulus, short sighted vote buys have placed Australia in such a stupid position from the potential it could have been. BUT the rapid increase in welfare has begun the crippling of the economy with nothing to address the situation at all. NO, they borrow billions to create a welfare dependant nation to make everybody dependant on the government for survival. This could be said to be pushing an agenda of communism or socialism but the truth is if you can make the population dependant on the government without serious scrutiny, then by the time they see what is coming, it is too late. Are Australians prepared to lose everything to start again??? No, they are too cosy with the glittery things to actually sacrifice for their nation and children and these parasite politicians know this, act on this with complete safety of the ignorance of Australians.

I will always remember my father’s talking about such a scheme as the NDIS. As he was heavily involved with management of disability programs originated in Australia and adopted worldwide. Since the 90’s he had discussed introduction of schemes alike this but more self-funded private concern of non-profit organisation. He would be appalled at the present scheme due to the fact it was not funded and it now falls to the whims of government on implementation and funding. While these parasites blanket the situation to their benefit many of the most venerable will fall through the cracks and what recourse will they have. If people such as my father had been around them, at least they would have somebody but in this greedy world, there are too few people who stand up for the lesser of society for no reward…

I love the NBN debate and the fact you see so many people sitting on their freckle saying Australians need this huge investment to catch the rest of the world. Speeds that make the eyes water when reality is they use less than half the bandwidth open to them now. Oh it would be great to stream video, Skype and just general downloads. In fact tell them to pay their own money to run a glass tube from their house to the gutter and install all the electrical equipment to turn electronic pulses into light pulses as business already has done today on their own pocket. They would decide they did not need it or want it as they already can do what they want. You know TEVO.. etc. (spelt that wrong but I could give a crap) No, we cannot do anything alike because suddenly we need NBN. Funny how sales of the equipment was high well before the policy was even drafted… Such stupid people…

Try telling some here the relevance of Australia on the international scene… Australia has been batting well above its weight for decades on the international political scene but since the problems of AWB and the later inept government of the present Australia is now being told to pull its head in and stop telling the world how to run its business. Nothing was more apparent when Gillard was told publically in the UN that other nations did not want to hear lectures from Australia on how things should be done. No bigger slap in the face from the world could be had, BUT what are those drones saying?

Foreign companies enjoy one of the most corporate welfare countries in the world… Payed to export into a global economy without return to Australian population. I have worked for years with some of these companies that sell to the wharf at cost and make their profits over seas. They make no money in Australia so no tax is forthcoming but the government still pay them millions just to bolster their export sails. The government pay them to employ people for that export and subsidies their entire operation to insure they remain. Sure this is reasonable practice that other nations do, except they do it to their own corporations and not to foreign owned business. With the removal of most import tariffs it is more lucrative to export your product to the world and import the domestic product for far less than can be produced in Australia. Thus taking all their money away from Australia and extremely low tax benefit to the Government decreasing the revenue. How stupid are Australians when they want to wallow in their own ignorance (which is the question the rest of the world use)

Your father has not said anything many very intelligent people have been saying for years. The problem is that now the current government with their short sighted policy has placed Australia in an extreme predicament. Can Australia avoid the problems associated with Greece and Spain without a fall back of Euro funding to save Australia’s arse. The long term outlook is dismal and most Australians are oblivious to the situation because they believe there is enough accountability for these scumbags to insure they don’t allow this to happen… In other words Australians love to live in their own ignorance.

I believe that Australia has placed itself in such a huge predicament with welfare that no amount of business purchases will protect the Australian system. Fact is, I believe that Australia is only putting off the inevitable. Now welfare has hit the 100% of income revenue, Australia has put itself into a predicament it cannot afford purchasing itself out of the welfare black hole. Drastic measures need to be attempted and due to the mentality of the Australian people, I do not think Australia can survive in its present form. For Australia to survive they will need far more people who help those who need it without thought of reward or benefit. Australia needs the type of people who do not question why they should help others less fortunate. Australia has created a mentality of demanding a cut of somebody else’s hard work because they are getting more. The tall poppy syndrome and we have an us and them attitude that kills any thought of looking to help the less fortunate for the benefit of Australia.
Australia needs to protect its sovereignty in not allowing land to be sold overseas. Fine if they want to lease the land or rent it, but selling it??? Seriously, Australia has been selling its dirt for decades and now they want to sell the title??? Where will it all end??? I agree with your ideas here, BUT I still feel it is drop in the ocean for the future of the nation.

Politicians rid the wave of the minority who do not understand how to manage a business let alone a country. They pander to the tall poppy syndrome because it buys them votes creating an animosity between the classes so upper class ignore the lower, middle class ignore all and the lower (growing class) simply hold their hand out demanding more free money without input into the community but the audacity to attack the people that feed them. Even a dog knows not to bite the hand that feeds it and FFS Australians think they are smarter than dogs. Here we have a group of politicians propagating these thoughts to make themselves look far better. Go figure.

 

Thank you Aussie,

The problem with the government pandering to this mentality is that people now have so much animosity to others that the true nature of Australia is dying.

For example, I know a program that was created by one person, actioned by three. That the current government wants to now take credit for... ONE nurse had the idea of community nursing and with the aid of her husband began to raise funding to begin the program. During the time of hospital auxiliaries they fronted a private hospital and for help and pushed hard with funding initiatives until enough to run for a year was created. She then gained the aid of three other nurses and a back room in the hospital as a base began unpaid operation of the very first community nursing program in Australia. Buying their own equipment in a time the most basic blood pressure machine cost $500 and income was less. Great sacrifice by all three women to create an incentive that had immediate results of reducing the cost of hospital care. After the first year savings from the program was used to buy a car for the program and more equipment but no wages for the nurses.

After two more years, the government of the day decided to get on the band wagon and suddenly the women had an income for their hard work. No reward for three years without income and no complaint from the people involved. This program spread around the nation and eventually across the world to other nations.

After 40 years of a successful program the Rudd government decides to CUT the program claiming a 1.1b saving to government. This mind you was not the only thing cut, total savings was around 2.8b. NOT three months later announce a 1.5b injection into the health system and proclaim they are raising funding when in reality they cut it by 1.3b. The clowns jump around claiming this to be the greatness of this scumbag.

NOW scumbag tells Australia it wants to introduce a NEW program to allow people to be have treatment at home and people wish to return home to die and suddenly it is a great idea. The clowns jump about saying what a genius he is and what a great person he is. FFS this program was began by a simple nurse without political persuasion, just a wish to help the community, action by the same people which worked well for 40 years in various forms already. This scumbag cut it in more short sighted understanding.

I wonder if you will see the sacrifice these people and their families gave not to be rewarded but for the community. Nobody in Australia even consider these people in their greed for welfare but accolades have been presented around the world to them for their selfless and intelligent actions that created a worldwide program for the less privileged. Where these people rich??? NO. they sacrificed a hell of a lot to help their community and surrounding communities.

NOW we have this clown spouting about HIS new program… It does not take genius to work out what sort of scumbag he really is. I could tell you more as to why nobody could accuse Abbott of the same, but I this is getting far too long.

Needless to say, thanks to government, Australia has been put in a very serious situation with the People’s attitude of deplorable expectations.

 

You bring up a number of very valid points and in large i agree with you. Welfare and big govt is killing us, that i did hear Abbott say today that govt payrolls would be significantly smaller after 3 years, along with other pro business policies, the food bowl idea, less refugees and absolutely stopping the boats are far better proposals than Krudd. While not addressing the longer term issues you talk about they are a step in the right (both right and correct) direction.

To do whats required and what ill suggest below would be suicide, because as you say Aussies (and the Western 1st world) are addicted to the govt teat. In many ways our (the West) democracy is biting us in the arse, people vote for who offers the most benefits. its really just human nature from both sides. If we look at China who i now consider fascists after their failed communism experiment (as it does), they dont have to pander to the people, they use the money of today to buy a better future for their people/ country. We as the West we spend every penny we have and even the next generations money to fund lifestyles we became accustomed to - only now manufacturing is disappearing as we cant compete with either the wages or scale.

Even saying we need to invest in education i wonder just how much that will achieve. Look at the number of engineers, physicists ect they churn out, will we really make the big breakthroughs to keep us ahead of the world? Odds are stacked against us big time. We could probably get by if we remain small (population) and make better use of our natural resources (that reason im not against the mining tax, but it appears to favor larger miners), minerals, gas, uranium and agriculture. However for some reason (without a say in it) we want to flood in 3rd world immigrants while watching manufacturing jobs disappear.

Its exactly these issues is why ive become such a huge fan of Milton Friedman, i believe many of his ideals best for competitive free markets while provided some welfare. Otherwise it might be collapse and becoming fascist ourselves (or worse world socialism/ communism.

• Govt and welfare has to become as lean as possible, Negative income tax and voucher systems for education/ health help achieve this
• No min wage: With the NIT benefits even $5/h becomes livable and is . We become more competitive in manufacturing and keep the higher paying jobs those businesses also offer.
• Use the positive money system: debt free money
• Smarter use of natural resources
• Id also look at an additional lower tier for corporate taxes, say 20% for businesses under 100m profit. Break up or apply some pressure to some of these monopolies that screw our farmers/ mum and dad shops.
• Immigration: Only those who can positively contribute. We'll never be the biggest so we'll never have scale on our side, we must simply have to be smart and lean.

 

Those three nurses, and their families deserve credit for their selfless sacrifices, but as you say, it won`t happen here. For example, Rudd even changed the name of the bipartisan NDIS, all for the sake of his own pathetic ego. A leopard won`t change it`s spots, neither will Rudd ever be anything but a narcissistic low life. Abbott on the other hand, is a completely different type, he may not be a show pony like Rudd, but he has depth.

We constantly see examples of the parasitic welfare mentality, it`s like an infection. The National Broadband Network, as opposed to fiber to the node, is just one example. Fiber to the node, is the sensible option, and less drain on the economy. Those who howl for the NBN, have no thought for the good of the country, they only want a government freebie for themselves. To ignore our rising debt levels, is the same selfish mentality again.

Since Whitlam, Australia has been over breeding the shallow end of the gene pool, people who have no conscience, no thought for the good of the country, selfish parasites.