Gillard never met a tax she didn’t like and hike

TimB says:

05:38am | 25/02/11

Howard took the GST to an election and let the people decide. Gillard has pulled a fast one. I

But you know that already. Don’t try to justify Gillard’s behaviour on this.

If Gillard truly believes that the people are behind her on this why won’t she call an election on the issue? I’ll tell you why. Because she knows it’s suicide.That’s why they didn’t follow through on their bluff of a double dissolution last year with the ETS. Labor would have lost, and lost badly.

Gillard is gone, the minute the next election gets here. It’s just a matter of time.

Phil says:

05:40am | 25/02/11

TC. Am I correct that you agree that Joolya is a lying slag?
Howar said never ever to a GST, but then after consideration took it to an election and won. He then negotiated the legislation to exclude some food and other items.
My money is that Gillard is rushing this, a public outrage will see Shorten in as PM (maybe that and the mother in law) before the year is out. The levy is only as QLD didnt have insurance. If my home burnt down and I didnt have insurance cause I was too lazy to obtain it you wouldnt mind kicking the tin would you TC.
I wonder if it was just a flat tax, say $ 500 a year per house, no compensation would all the environmentalists be soooo keen for its implimentation.

Against the Man says:

05:41am | 25/02/11

TChong your childish behaviour prevails! Your hero Gillard shot herself in the foot yesterday by proving me right again. I know I’m smarter than you which is why I don’t vote for the ALP. Anyway like the rest of the ALP zombies, it must be sad to be wrong again huh? You guys supported Rudd the Dud and now Gilltard the Puppet! Yippie, watch her dance as Bobby Brown and the Independents (A New Super Rock Group) pull her puppet strings! HaHa! The carbon tax lie has set her free (to destroy Australia)!

Faz says:

06:04am | 25/02/11

Poor Tony.

Julia (as Labor Leader) said one thing and, now (as Prime Minister in a coalition government you didn’t have the skill or nous to stitch up) is doing another.

It’s terrible, Tony.

You, on the other hand, have been steadfastly, inspiringly consistent.

Your position long before you got the leadership gig? Climate change is crap.

Your position just before you got the leadership gig? Support Malcolm and, because I’m loyal, support negotiations with Labor about the ETS.

Your position just after you the leadership gig? Great big new tax! (repeat 10,000 times)

You’re certainly attacking Labor from the moral high-ground!

Now you won’t rest from leading a ‘people’s revolt’. Interesting. You are credited for tipping out Kevin Rudd because he didn’t have the cajones to go through with his (greatest moral challenge) ETS and his popularity sank like a stone. Why? Because people wanted something done, they believe something needs to be done. They are the same people who by a bitterly slim majority (from your point of view) voted this government (note: this government, ie , Labor+Greens+Indies) in.

Now, your tactics are inspired by Fr John O’Brien:
‘We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,  “Before the year is out.”’

GregS says:

07:07am | 25/02/11

@ Phil.  I do not care what political persuasion you are, how about you show some basic respect for the office of Prime Minister.  Ok, everyone gets it - you do not like the current PM.  I don’t either, but get a life and stop referring to her as a lying slag.  It’s pathetic and in no way helps the debate. And that works both ways to those using juvenile references to the Leader of the Opposition.

AnthonyG says:

07:13am | 25/02/11

Baaaaaaaaaaa   Baaaaaaaaaaaaa Baaaaaaaaaaaa

Denny Crane says:

07:41am | 25/02/11

Lets start what Mr Abbott had to say and he is correct, the carbon tax will see prices go up throughout the country on everything not just power & Fuel, it will translate into extra costs in the many staples of every Australian, which will then lead to a inflated economy pushing up interest rates.

Gillard categorically said she would not have a carbon tax, but what she then did was to lie directly to each australian, and implement this, how can someone be trrusted to run the country when she lied to the people just to get into the job as PM.

Tony keep the pressue on the government, if something is wrong call them on it, but its also imperative that should they have good legislation option it should be passed.

Now onto you tchong, the question is a simple one, did Gillard lie to us, when she said no carbon tax, i dont need a long winded answer, i dont want to know about other topics, i just need a answer yes or no

Tubesteak says:

07:48am | 25/02/11

Abbott fails to understand that without the balance of power in her favour she has to work with other parties and independents.

This is why Abbott failed to become PM. He doesn’t understand how to be a team player. His actions after the election shows that he’s nothing more than a whining little boy who wants his cake and eat it too.

TimB
We don’t need another election. We elect representatives every 3 years to make decisions for us. In this case, we elected representatives and independents who hold the balance of power. Deal with it.

Anyway, I voted for the Atheist Party but it didn’t seem to have much of an impact on Malcolm Turnbull’s re-election…....

Jack says:

08:29am | 25/02/11

TChong is a TAS. Tony Abbott stalker.

NQ.Noel says:

08:41am | 25/02/11

TChong, when are you lefties going to be honest on John Howards GST.
Firstly, you are exploiting his words not to have a GST which referred to that particular term of Government. He then went to the next election with his policy of a GST and the voters accepted it. Beasley went to the next election promising to wind back the GST.
Gillard went to the August 2010 election stating there would be “NO” carbon tax in her term of governemnt. She LIED THROUGH HER TEETH. just to gain power. Had she been honest in the first place she would have lost the 2010 election. She can’t be trusted and voters will remember.

Rosie says:

08:42am | 25/02/11

Chongy - sad case! How about we put aside what Tony Abbott has just written as his name alone will only cause more headache, heartache and confusion in the minds of the likes of you.

The innocent people of this great land of ours would like to believe that politicans would not blatantly and unashamedly lie to them during an election campaign for the sake of winning votes. Julia Gillard if she has any sense and conscience she should be the one “fearful” to the people she represents.

This has nothing to do with the ETS, Bob Browne and the Greens or the Independents it is all to do with the fact that we have a PM leading this country who unashamedly and blantantly lies because of her needs to gain and remain in power.

The world will be saved, carbon tax or no carbon tax, but who will save Julia Gillard! “Not me said the fly!

It is time dear Chongy for you to take that illusive pill you perscribe to others when you think you are winning the battle.

Ryan says:

08:44am | 25/02/11

Here you go Chongie, here is your leader…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLLUcP7IwiE

Its me says:

08:57am | 25/02/11

@TChong,Your bananas have arrived

Tom says:

08:59am | 25/02/11

@GregS, short memory? Weren’t you one of the haters calling Howard a “rodent”?

Rosie says:

09:29am | 25/02/11

Ryan - absolutely brillant stuff!

Do not fear what Tony Abbott and the Opposition has to say about Gillard’s carbon tax.

Below is what you should be fearful of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLLUcP7IwiE

Thanks Ryan - great and by far the best post!

Troy says:

09:31am | 25/02/11

The crazy thing is TC, you actually believe the rubbish you type. Gillard and Swann have lied through there arses on this, and the best thing is, it is there own voters will be the people who can least afford it. Inner city leftys couldnt give a stuff because it will not hardly effect there hip pockets, upper middle class will grumble, but is the middle, lower and welfare class that will really feel the impact of this tax. Yet the Labor blind mice and the trade unionist still think Labor is the working class party. By the way TC, love Howard ot hate him, he had the ball and the conviction to take the GST to an election. That is what a real leader do, they dont lie, cheat and scam voters to get into power. Gillard is dead in the water, its just how much damage she can do until the voters of this country get rid of her.

Z says:

09:38am | 25/02/11

@ Faz
Rudd lost his popularity for a simple reason.  He said he was going to do something about climate change and then did nothing.  That’s the whole issue - he went against his word. It wasn’t about the topic at hand. 
Gillard will lose her popularity (laughs) because she said there wouldn’t be a price on carbon, then went the other way.
The whole climate change debate will not influence people (except mad greens)....Voters will not agree with all decisions made by politicians.  However, what they do want to see is a politician with the guts to follow through with the tough calls.
Also repeat after me “Woooooooorkchoices will come back after the election” 10000 times please.

TimB says:

09:54am | 25/02/11

Tubesteak, I said next election. *Whenever* that may be. Whether it’s one forced in the next 3 months, or at the normal time in about 2-3 years.

Unless you’re claiming “we don’t need a new election” as a way of saying we should never have an election again. Because that would be stupid. I assume you aren’t saying that.

Christian Real says:

10:46am | 25/02/11

Tom
In actual fact it was Liberal Senator George Brandis that first called John Howard “A Lying Rodent”
The phrase just kept being used,by the media, by supporters from other political party’s

James1 says:

11:00am | 25/02/11

Tim and NQ, in the interests of accuracy Howard did say that he would “never ever” introduce a GST.  Never ever does not refer to one particular term, it refers to never ever.  It is also true that the ALP won the popular vote at the 1998 election (where Mr Howard campaigned on a platform of introducing the GST), but the Coalition formed a government because it held more seats in the House of Reps.  Please do not let your partisan views cloud your vision when it come to reality.

If you are angry at Ms Gillard for changing her mind over this, you must also be angry at Mr Howard for doing the same thing, lest you look hypocritical.  If Ms Gillard is a liar, but Mr Howard is not, then you are no better than your opposite numbers in the Labor camp.

Ryan says:

11:21am | 25/02/11

@James1: quick look over there, look at what Howard did.. lets try and divert the conversation away from liar Gillard.

Tom says:

12:28pm | 25/02/11

@Christian Real, I am reliably informed that KRudd once called Gillard a “lying slag”. Using your logic it is now OK for Phil and the rest of us to also call her that.

@GregS. By all means, live by your suddenly acquired standards. However stop whining about others. Your lot continues to set the benchmark for low-life bile. In that spirit, suck it up you hypocrite.

Steve Smith says:

01:11pm | 25/02/11

GregS,
Like Tony Abbott, the Liberal cheersquad, has no manners, no respect, no integrity,it comes with the way these liberal rednecks were raised.
Being rude and using abusive diatribe to attack our elected Prime Minister shows how disrepectful and Un-Australian these Liberal supporters have became,

James1 says:

01:45pm | 25/02/11

You misunderstand me Ryan (as per usual).  I was just correcting some people’s incorrect memories.  I didn’t raise Howard, but lets not wear rose tinted glasses when we reflect on that period.  Despite being a very good time, it also came with flaws, and as conservatives we must be honest about this lest we look like hypocrites.

The fact that Mr Howard also lied in no way lessens the fact that Ms Gillard lies now, nor does it make this tax a good idea.  Just because I criticise Howard and I am honest about history does not make me a Labor voter.  What a simple world you must live in.

TimB says:

02:05pm | 25/02/11

James, you know the difference. Please don’t pretend you don’t. You’re smarter than that.

Howard put the GST back on the table before the election. Whatever the result, the people knew what they were voting for.

Gillard deliberately ruled out her tax before the election. She put it back on the table right after it. It quite concievably altered the result of what was a very close election.

If Gillard had proposed this before the election & the same result had happened,  I wouldn’t be as pissed off.
I’d still be against the policy of course, but I would have accepted the result as legitimate.

James1 says:

02:29pm | 25/02/11

That was my point Tim.  The popular vote was marginally in favour of the ALP at that election, and Mr Howard had to do a deal with the Democrats to get the GST through the Senate.  Hardly a resounding mandate.

As such, while there are important differences I don’t think the situations are all incomparable.

Also, even if she had raised it before the election, I would still be pissed off.  This sort of policy is so bad that one should be angry about it regardless of whether it was canvassed.  We need to start our own version of “Not Happy John”.

Troy says:

02:51pm | 25/02/11

James1 says, Happy to accept everything you say James, as long as Gillard has the balls and the Leadership to take her Carbon Tax to an election. My tip is she wont, because she is not a leaders ar$ehole.

seduxen says:

07:11pm | 25/02/11

I would treat this logic as self destructive, saying: well the Liberal lied to us and gave us a new tax that never be rid off, so to be fair let the Labor hit us too… Wouldn’t it be stupid??? Why we not rather demand Liberal for our support to fulfill all the promises those had not been done - related to the GST - wiping away the other taxes and duties (those were promised to be wiped after the introduction of the GST!) Goolia has clearly no mandate to introduce anything. She was not elected to be a PM! The preferential voting system must go. People did not vote Greens into governing power. Goolia had no primary voting majority. She is an impostor. And the Independents are traitors. I would not be in their shoes when they have to go back to Country Australia and give an account about what they did betraying their voting base with the Murray/Darling case and this carbon fraud tax too.

Geoff says:

08:19pm | 25/02/11

Amazing that when you Liberal Staffers are on the back foot you resort to name calling, grow up, learn to debate without foul mouthing.

Geoff says:

08:25pm | 25/02/11

Got to love the so called MODERATION Allow one Labor reply, as many Liberal as possible, veto the rest. David, you are a disgrace to your so called profession.

Rob G says:

09:58am | 26/02/11

You might all be aware that the GST was enacted with a safety valve; that it could not be increased without the agreement of ALL the states. (Thanks JH)

There appears to be a hidden agenda with Gillard’s legislation. There are no details as yet but if she can get it past Windsor and Oakeshott, she will have no problems getting it past Brown in the Senate.
Once an Act is passed, it only requires Caninet to make alterations to the Regulations. This means Gillard’s “Gang of Four” can increase the carbon tax at their leisure. Sling Bob Brown a couple of hundred million for his pet projects and Bob’s your uncle.
Gillard can then continue with her wasteful spending, blowing taxpayers wages out of her ever increasing pork barrel. (Forget the starving people)
She can now bribe all the asylum seekers (after quickie citizenship ceremonies) to vote for Labor. Get Bowen to gee up the old nag, “Multiculturism” to scrap together a few more votes and who knows. The Australian public are pretty stupid if they are prepared to be lied to!

No more votes says:

07:35am | 27/02/11

OMG!  It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on - both sides do it.  They both love taxes.  Do you really think Tony Abbott cares?  No GST from Howard - remember that?  Australia has lost it’s political leadership now it’s all about how to stay in power and how to line their pockets more.  Neither party could find their way out of a hay stack.  I will never vote again!

Brian says:

11:57am | 28/02/11

Howard is the ONLY Prime Minister ever re-elected on a platform of introducing a GST.

Gillard on the other hand is a liar. She is also incompetent. As are most of her front bench. How many have actually held down a job in the market place, other than as a public ‘servant’ or Unionist organiser?

I believe that under Rudd(erless) there were 3 people who had held real jobs in his cabinet. The majority now seem to be ex ACTU officials (Fergusson, Combet, Shorten to name just 3).

Rudd’s government made Whitam’s look efficient but this one is beginning to make even Rudd look reasonable.  The one constant between Rudd and Gillard is that Gillard one one of the principal players in policy formation under Rudd.
Those policies were all badly managed, and highly wasteful. How do you turn a surplus of $21 BILLION into a deficit of over $40 BILLION in 2 short years?

I don’t care about the global financial crisis. There was no need to blow so much on so little so quickly.

There is nothing that I can see in this government that would suggest that anything is going to change for the better. Look at the NBN! Already Telstra is rolling out a wireless broadband that will have speeds of 42 Mbs! By the time this white elephant is installed it will be redundant. You can see people on their laptops in cafe’s all over Australia now.

Why are we spending $42 BILLION on something which even blind Freddie can see will be a waste of money except for people who like to download movies; Blue or otherwise.

From the beginning it has been waste added to waste and denigration of critics with specious arguments designed to obfuscate. How very Fabian Socialist is she and her cohorts!

Tedd says:

06:10am | 25/02/11

A single lie of significant magnitude is this one

“The Coalition has a strong plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.”

Faz says:

06:26am | 25/02/11

- Mates don’t tax mates (except when it’s a parental leave LEVY).
- Climate change is crap. We must do something about climate change (not sure which is the lie there).
- I will be loyal to Malcolm Turnbull and I’m a dogged advocate for his ETS strategy.
- Payment for refugee funerals is ‘curious’. We went too far.
- Didn’t want to join Julia in the war zone because of ‘jet lag’.

But, as you rightly point out Tim, Abbott has set the benchmark: ‘I sometime tell porkies when it’s scripted’, or is it ‘I sometimes tell the truth when it’s scripted’?

Abbott is a politician. Julia is a politician. They lie. They do stuff which is about getting elected and personal integrity often comes second.

They can both sling arrows at each other about what they say and what they do. When the noise of all that has died down—after they’ve neutralised each other on the ‘he lied, she lied’ tactical front, what will count is if something is being done about carbon. The success of that will make or break this government not the bleating of a man who’s moral compass is ‘shit happens’.

persephone says:

06:36am | 25/02/11

Ironclad rolled gold commitment on the Medicare safety net.

Made before an election, broken immediately afterwards.

Promise made as Opposition Leader that there would be no tax rises under his leadership, immediately followed by a levy on businesses.

We don’t know what promises he would have broken if he’d been elected PM (being Opposition Leader, he doesn’t really have any of the opportunities you describe) but we can be fairly sure, given his track record and his declaration that we can’t trust anything he says, that there would have been some.

And given political realities, which mean that there’s never been a PM who hasn’t broken a promise, or one who hasn’t introduced something they hadn’t taken to the previous election.

Gillard promised action on climate change. She put her preferred option before the people.

They failed to give her a mandate for that option, but indicated - by a majority voting for MPs who were firmly advocating action on climate change - that they wanted the issue tackled.

So there’s plenty of justification there.

jade says:

06:54am | 25/02/11

@ Tedd, planting trees WILL reduce carbon emissions though so he isn’t really lying.  Co2 is plant food, the more trees we have the better.  And it benefits everyone, instead of crippling people.

TimB says:

06:55am | 25/02/11

Faz you missed the key part in my challenge.

“find a single lie Tony has told that anywhere near approaches the magnitude of what Gillard has done”

Exactly what on that list (which in and of itself is laughably poor) comes close to unleashing a tax on everyone when it was explicitly promised that it wouldn’t happen?

Try again. That goes for you too Tedd.

Tedd says:

07:17am | 25/02/11

TimB,

straw ... grasp .... clutch .... .

You say “for absolutely no gain ... with absolutely no justification whatsoever”. Got grandkids, TimB?

jade, read my response in the thread below.

TimB says:

07:36am | 25/02/11

Tedd, are you truly naive enough to believe that India, China and the US are going to follow our lead? Or stupid enough to believe that Australia can make a significant impact on the problem (assuming there is one),

Australia’s actions will have no benefit. Not for me, not for you, not for any non-existent grandkids.

Perse you know full damn well that the Medicare thing wasn’t Tony’s decision. He was overruled on that.

The company tax I’ll give you half a poiint on. But it was a temporary levy (one which I didn’t agree with by the way) AND he did it during the election campaign not after. More importantly it would in no way has the widespread impact and cost that Julia’s callous lie will have.

The other part of your posts opf your post seems to be nothing more than ‘Oh I’m sure he WOPULD have lied like this if he got the chance! Really!’. Please.

And as for your “mandate”, I highly doubt the people of Lyne and New England agree with your assessment.

Keep trying guys. The spin is strong with you.

Faz says:

07:36am | 25/02/11

@ TimB

“find a single lie Tony has told that anywhere near approaches the magnitude of what Gillard has done”

Magnitude? This is a self-serving benchmark because, as you know, they both lie. You set a self-serving benchmark to try and make Tony’s lies more acceptable than Julias. Good luck on that score.

Even the terms of your benchmark, particularly ‘... what Julia has done’ is dishonest because it’s not a comparison of what she ‘has done’ because the details aren’t there yet.

Abbott supported a negotiated ETS before his loyalty (and integrity) were tested by the temptation of leadership. Are you suggesting this would have had LESS impact than the current government’s scheme?

What curous benmark allows you to rate that lie as any worse than Julias?

I hate it when opportunist politicians tell bald-faced lies for political reasons and I hate it when they reduce complex issues to slogans, but don’t pretend Abbott is a champion of truth and integrity. Abbott’s hypocrisy is particularly gauling though because, when it suits him, he’s Captain Catholic. Most times though, he’s as much of a liar and cheet and schemer as the rest.

Tactically, if this article is a guide, he’s going for the big play early (even though he doesn’t have any details) and will hammer it as hard as he can. This is great for a short burst of an election campaign—and he proved it—but even on this issue I doubt that he can keep up the ‘we’ll all be roooned’ line until the middle of next year. He’ll over-hype the bad stuff and be left looking like a fool when people find that it’s not as bad as he’s made it out to be.

Hamish says:

07:52am | 25/02/11

C’mon Perse, why is it always about the opposition…?

Julia Gillard - 16 August:
‘There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.’

Julia Gillard - 20 August:
‘I rule out a carbon tax.’

Swanny also said there wouldn’t be a carbon tax under a Labor government. They’re both just liars who are too weak to stand up to The Greens. They’re gutless and pathetic.

I have no idea why you’re defending her. The ALP is dead and buried after this and Gillard’s career is as good as over. If I was as dyed in the wool as you, I’d be so pissed off it’s not funny. Don’t you actually want Labor in power?

TimB says:

07:55am | 25/02/11

So Faz in your eyes, Tony upporting an ETS and then NOT supporting it is somehow equivalent to saying no carbon tax ,and then saying yes to one?

One “lie” avoids putting a burden on the tax payer. the other adds to it instead. Are you capable of seeing the glaring difference?

All lies are not created equal. Someone breaking a promise to you to not be late for a lunch date is not the same as them breaking a promise of not to beat you up and steal your wallet.

Magnitude is an entirely appropriate concept here.

mary says:

08:00am | 25/02/11

What’s the chances of introducing penalties in parliament for blatant lies? Get some accountability happening.

mary says:

08:39am | 25/02/11

So we’re benefiting how? by deciding which of our leaders is the biggest liar?
How about coming up with a way to hold all politicians accountable for their words and actions other than just at election times.

Faz says:

09:45am | 25/02/11

@ Tim B

The ‘magnitude’ of the lie reflects your bias and, you may be suprised, my bias rejects your measurement of magnitude.

On the more objective notion of politicians lying, they both do it. It’s a pretty unedifying specticle and it has cycles of audacity, but they’re both rowing in the same boat.

Tactically, we’re in for a b*tch-fight and you may remember that Julia wiped the floor with Tony, when she was deputy, on a regular basis. It’s not like the election campaign. She’s the PM. She has majority support on this issue with more of a majority coming when the Senate changes over. On this issue (and probably most now) she doesn’t have to worry about Rudd-leaks.

Tactically too, Abbott has provided so much ammunition himself and we know that when he’s under pressure he wobbles (starting with the head in more ways than one).

In short, this is not about lying because people forget (remember the GST?) it’s about who wins the fight and what is left when the dust settles.

Despite what Abbott says about a ‘popular revolt’ it’s clear that most Australians want something done about our carbon-dependant economy (and they’re not all tree huggers). If that can be ticked off when the dust settles, Abbott will be stuffed. The Liberals will then look to someone (who could that be?) with some sort of green cred in the electorate.

Tactically its a very risky time for both of them. I think the ‘last man standing’ headline is on the money. But the moral high ground will have very little impact.

Tedd says:

10:11am | 25/02/11

TimB,  07:36am;

I agree action is Australia is unlikely to have much global impact on its own, and we should not have to lead the bigger emitters, but given the emissions per capita in Australia, and the worlds failure to act after Copenhagen, it is better to act in principle than not, especially in a relatively rich country like Australia. 

The politicking has to stop sometime, certainly before the close-minded, crap-policy Liberal-National coalition get their hands on govt again.

Troy says:

10:44am | 25/02/11

Faz and Ted you have only come up with statements? Still cant find a lie in there anywhere, and Ted the Liberals do have a strong plan to reduce Carbon Emissions or havent you heard, the fact is Abbott and Liberals have had there plan in place for the last 2 years and where the only main stream party with a policy at the last election, its called Direct Action. You Know, actually doing something about reducing Carbon instead of taxing the voters into submission. Regardless of what Global Warming religion you subscribe to, the fact that Gillard and Swann repeatedly and blatantly lied to the voters of this country is despicable and unforgivable.

Ben81 says:

01:22pm | 25/02/11

Tedd “I agree action is Australia is unlikely to have much global impact on its own”
Congratulations you’ve seen the light, change that to *zero* impact and you’ll be on the right track. 

But oh wait a minute
“it is better to act in principle than not”
Oh god, just listen to yourself!  How the hell is inflicting a serious cost of living increase on everyone justified by the “principle”?!?
What the hell goes on in the heads of people who actually support this or force themselves to justify it?

Tedd says:

03:42pm | 25/02/11

Ben81,

The cost of living increase is not ‘serious’ relative to the average wage, nor relative to the tax cuts the Howard govt gave.  Better the Labour govt scheme than some non-specific soil-repatriation scheme that will still cost the overall economy, and the wishful thinking that just planting trees per se will work.

Peter says:

04:53pm | 25/02/11

Tony is as cunning as Ju-liar. His main man Greg Hunt did an awfull lot of lieing to get a copy the New Technology handed to Gillard brown and Obahma.  After he acheived such his next email said I wont speak with you anymore and barred my contact. Tony’s response to the Gregs lies and how Greg Hunt read anothers email to discover what was happening, was a simple suck it up. Half price electricity no Carbon no Coal, one can smell the dribble down the leg each time they may have to face off with Coal.

Ben81 says:

05:15pm | 25/02/11

Tedd “The cost of living increase is not ‘serious’ relative to the average wage”

Righto Tedd, i’ll remember that one.  I’m sure your comment will be of great comfort to many households when their bills arrive in the mail and many other products and services they use have companies costs passed on to them.

jf says:

08:46am | 26/02/11

Tony Abbott is not the PM and is not implementing policy or legislative change. Thus, for him to change position on any issue bears no resemblance to the Prime Minister implementing legislative change that will have significant social and economic consequences.

Politicians need to be able to change their policy positions. However, Gillard, like Howard before her, should take any significant policy change to an election. She has every right to change her view on carbon tax. As voters, we have every right to elect our representatives with full knowledge of their position on important issues. Gillards position on this at the election was clear and unambiguous.

She should take this to an election. Any other position is wrong and eclipses any lie or deceit that I can remember in my 23 years as a voter.

To compare this to Howard’s never, ever on GST is so different I can’t believe that Gillard’s supporters aren’t embarrassed to raise it. I absolutely support Gillard’s right to change her mind on carbon tax. I don’t support her winning government through base deceit and fraud. This government is a lame sham. They represent the side of politics that purports to represent the workers and the disenfranchised, the vulnerable and defenseless. Sadly these are the very people that are suffering: from refugees who have been told that Australia has the resources to support infinite numbers only to either drown or be interned; to the poor who will pay for Bob Brown’s environmental indulgences; to the workers who will lose their jobs because of this parties clumsy attempts to implement a resources tax.

What a horrible, self-serving mob this Government is.

Tom says:

11:55am | 27/02/11

Australia’s forests and oceans ABSORB many times more CO2 than our small population could ever produce. These are intentionally left out of IPCC CO2 calculations entirely. No Australian should be dumb enough to pay for absorbing the CO2 emissions of other countries.
An accurate CO2 trading system would make Australia very rich for absorbing massive amounts of CO2 through our forests and oceans .

Tedd says:

07:13am | 25/02/11

jade, in comments in thread above -

Yes, CO2 is plant food, and trees suck up CO2, but trees do Not stop *emission* of CO2.

Ben81 says:

01:32pm | 25/02/11

“Your essential truth is that we will pay under a scheme to try to address environmental concerns?”

No, we will all pay under a scheme that will do nothing at all about the ‘environmental concerns’ it is designed to address, that shouldn’t be implemented in the first place because there’s only one person sitting in the House of Reps who actually campaigned for it and didn’t promise not to implement such a scheme.  Got it now?

Tedd says:

03:37pm | 25/02/11

Ben81,

I was referring to the scheme Tony is proposing, not the present govt one.

Steve Smith says:

03:26pm | 26/02/11

B
WorkChoices and Anti-Terrorism laws that the Liberals brought in was on par with laws in Hitlers ‘enabling act, of March 23rd,1933, so that does that mean you follow the Nazi Party or Neo-Nazi party that is disguised as the Liberal/National party?

Joan says:

06:37am | 25/02/11

You mean the sly `flood` levy that sly Gillard is using to susidise Keneally vote buying exercise…. the $2.1 billion rail line deal Albenese/keneally signed -  this week . Abbott too sharp, too smart to fall for Gillard sly misleading tricks…. .

Jack says:

08:33am | 25/02/11

Another stalker.

Dash says:

10:26am | 25/02/11

nossy, I am sending you an invoice so you can pay the other $39 a week I have to pay on the flood levy. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story eh fella! Seems to be the ALP way these days!

CD says:

12:27pm | 25/02/11

I am so fed up with maths retarded fools. Try doing the sums and not blindly following your precious Labor fools

$55,000 x 0.5% = $275 annually = $5.29 weekly. Where the hell does less than $1 come from?

So is that a mistake or another lie?

Steve Smith says:

03:59pm | 25/02/11

Joan
Tony Abbott is using the flood disaster in Queensland as a political football in a blatant attempt to score political points from.
Meanwhile vital infastructure that was damaged and destroyed in the Queensland floods remains unrepaired,while Abbott plays his political little games.
Also Tony Abbott urging a peoples revolt against the government’s price on carbon policy, sounds more like something that you would expect from a dictator, and not from an Opposition Leader in a democratic Country
The fact also remains that Tony Abbott failed to sack two of his Opposition team for their racist remarks (Senator Cory Bernardi and Scott Morrison, so that means that Tony Abbott has condoned their racists remarks and has also condoned racism within the opposition party that he leads.?
I see also where Tony abbott is calling on Julia Gillard to make and honest woman of herself, when he can’t really talk, because he is one the most dishonest people himself sitting in Our Parliament.

B says:

02:29am | 26/02/11

Steve Smith says

God your rich.  Your saying Tony Abbott acts like a dictator?  How about Joolia?

Have you seen the way she and her party acts.  Its like the begining of the USSR or something.  Ever remember the statement “reds under the bed”?  Well they are no longer under the bed, but ruling our country.

Wanna take about democracy?  How about she reliquishes her office, in a goverment that doesnt hold the balance of power and is in all rights illegitimate and actually call and election on this Carbon Tax tripe?  If your PM is so democratically minded she wouldnt need to act so arrogant and try and cover her tracks everywhere she goes.

With Labor in charge the amount of mis-information increases.  Sound familiar?

All I have to say is> DOWN WITH SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM and UP WITH TRUE DEMOCRACY.  GET RID OF OUR COMMUNIST LEADER OR BECOME AN AUSTRALIAN COMRADE.  It will happen if these clowns are let in.

Aussie Born and Bred says:

11:18am | 25/02/11

I will be adjusting the deductions on my tax return accordingly, so that any new taxes (levies) created by Labor will be offset in the return I claim.  They’re not getting one extra red cent out of me.

jb says:

08:01am | 25/02/11

Dear Mr Frellman, ahhhh, have you?
Back your crap up with some facts dude.
You are pathetic the way you make this junk up.
If you have the answer share it with the question or are you afraid of the truth???

Abe Frellman says:

11:27am | 25/02/11

No, not afraid of the facts, jb - in fact I’ll happily do the sums for you when we have the details.

What exactly am I making up? That direct action is a very expensive way of addressing climate change?

Hardly rocket science, pal.

Pathetic indeed!

PTom says:

11:37am | 25/02/11

Jb,

Where does the $1Billion Government fund come from Debt or Taxpayer? Or may will it be Coalition Levy(not a tax)

Reg says:

07:43am | 25/02/11

Pete… relevance? Also… bitter much?

jb says:

08:05am | 25/02/11

oh Pete you sad sorry little man.
I can understand you are a Labor guy but seriously can you truly defend that woman?
She lied , cheated and murdered her way into this job.
Is that the sort of example you set for your children?

Chris L says:

04:58pm | 25/02/11

@JB I agree she lied. Where did she cheat and, more interestingly, who did she murder?

Elphaba says:

07:08am | 25/02/11

Grr… *Keep

AnthonyG says:

07:12am | 25/02/11

Well said, but the problem is that the sheep that vote for the Greens and Labor are that naieve that if Gillard and Brown said we must tax you every time you bend an elbow other wise you will fart to much. They would agree and say bring it on.

Jade says:

07:18am | 25/02/11

Totally agree!!

I wouldn’t ever vote labor anyway though. 

Elphaba says:

07:37am | 25/02/11

@AnthonyG, yes, there will always be voters for Green and Labor, but at least they are casting a vote, and I won’t dispute that.  We have the right to vote for whomever we want.

The people that really make my blood boil with regard to this government, are the people who didn’t vote at all, and stuffed an empty paper or one with graffitti scrawled on it, into the ballot box.  They are to blame for this shoddy government.

The carbon tax issue makes me so angry, it really does.  Disgusting.

kerry says:

08:32am | 25/02/11

@elphaba
India introduced a carbon price from July 1, 2010 - with the money raised to invest in clean energy production:  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-01/india-to-raise-535-million-from-carbon-tax-on-coal.html
And it has been reported that China will introduce a carbon tax from 2012: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1806070/reports-china-impose-carbon-tax-2012

While there is an argument that it is just a money-grab busnesses are actually quite keen for it, so there must be a big buck to be made. And in the meantime the energy companies are jacking up the prices because they refuse to invest because of “uncertainty.”

Chris L says:

08:52am | 25/02/11

@AnthonyG calling people names if they vote differently to you is a common tactic among your side of the divide and is another thing that puts me off joining the ranks (apart from the track record of the Libs under Howard, some blatant lies about BER being a loss and fibre optic cable becoming obsolete).

Mind you I’m not voting Labor myself as long as internet censorship remains on the table and, as this government and the previous Liberal one have both shown, you can’t believe them even if they promise it will never happen.

I think we need a third alternative (the greens don’t count).

the magpie says:

09:06am | 25/02/11

@ Anthony G

The labor and Green sheep may well be naive, but they probably know how to spell it.

@ T Abbott, considering the massive mining profits seen this year, not supporting a mining tax looks very chuirlish.

I do support a carbon tax, it should have been brought in years ago and then Australia might be leading in way in clean energy instead of sending experts in the field overseas.

Tony of Poorakistan says:

09:23am | 25/02/11

The mining boom is now bigger than it has ever been - so why is Gillard introducing more big, new taxes? 

Hint: One side of politics is fiscally responsible, one is not.

Kevin says:

10:33am | 25/02/11

I would argue that neither side is fiscally responsible.  Unless you think that doling out money to the middle class for FHOG and baby bonuses and subsidising property speculation is money well spent.
The point of my post above is to challenge the assertion made by the author that the Howard surplus was somehow the result of “careful” accumulation.

Troy says:

01:38pm | 25/02/11

Kevin says, Do you really believe that crap you are spewing? The mining boom now makes what happened under Howard look like a loose change. Gillard (and KRudd) have squandered away all this countrys wealth, and you want to criticize Howard? The GFC was only a blip and most economist agree that Australia did so well during GFC is because how well off we where because of Howard and Costello. Labor have failed on every single project or policy since 2007 and you still think the Red Hen is one to lead this country? I guess common sense is not a prerequisite to vote.

Justin says:

01:10pm | 25/02/11

No takers?

Too hard to answer?

Fingers in ears going, “la, la, la, la” because you don’t want to hear this?

Or is my assumption wrong?

jb says:

07:56am | 25/02/11

Oh shut up and stop twisting the issue and putting words into other peoples mouths!
You sound like the guy who had no friends at school ....

B says:

02:41am | 26/02/11

Yes.  I certainly think it is appropriate.  When Gillards tax is designed to turn us into a third world country and she is running this country like a Middle eastern/West African dictator it is entirely appropriate.

So there is your aswer and a VERY good reason.

Michael says:

01:29pm | 25/02/11

Perhaps you should save your rants for your regular Liberal party meetings instead of wasting them here.

Steve Smith says:

04:08pm | 25/02/11

Brenda
And Tony Abbott doesn’t lie in order to fulfill his ambitions of ever becoming Prime Minister?

Brainteaser says:

08:14am | 25/02/11

Yes to the first and for the second, cut out all the bullshit and hot air emanating from all the half brained Gillard supporters which will do more for the eliminating of global warming than the great big tax that will be eaten up by jobs for the boys .

iansand says:

09:16am | 25/02/11

Do you think Mr Abbott should let us know this?  Just so we make an informed decision between Ms Gillard’s policy and his.

MarK says:

05:48pm | 25/02/11

1. Yes

2. Question 2 is moot. Liberals will spend less to make you feel good. This means you can be indignant because not enough is being done but happy that some money is being wasted on a lie.

Thank you for your interest. Please do come again.

Jim says:

08:14am | 25/02/11

That’s what they do ZSRenn - they have no real argument based on facts so they come out swinging and spinning.

Watch now for Badger to start trolling under his dozen or so different names, Christian Real to start abusing everyone, and when mary monica roche wakes up and has her usual lunch of valium mixed with gin the real fun starts!

NicoleG says:

09:05am | 25/02/11

Jim, don’t forget Rob r. I swear my five year old daughter has more maturity and intelligence than him.

Tedd says:

10:17am | 25/02/11

ZSRenn,

In my post at 05:35am I discuss all of Tony’s proposals and the “you fool” jibe followed the truth that “Tree planting does not reduce emissions”, and other comments specifically about Tony’s non-specific, non-policy. 

Tony’s article above is pathetic non-leadership of the worst kind.

iansand says:

10:29am | 25/02/11

I glad you people eschew personal attacks and concentrate on the issues.  I would hate to see you in attack mode.

Faz says:

10:52am | 25/02/11

@ZSRenn

The best counter-argument to ad hominem is to stick to the issues. In your own time ZRS.

BTW ‘inspired by Fr John O’Brien’ is not name calling (aka ad hominem). He IS Fr John O’Brien or, more to the point, Hanrahan, would be.

The more substantive point about ‘coming out swinging early’ is very pertinent to Abbott.

NicoleG says:

10:59am | 25/02/11

Not personal attacks ian, stating the obvious.

Ben21 says:

08:52am | 25/02/11

Does anyone find this funny?  It was stale a 2 weeks ago.

AFR says:

09:51am | 25/02/11

I didn’t realise there was a statute of limitations for when people are excused for their gaffes.

Jim says:

02:04pm | 25/02/11

It gives the kiddies something to say other than block-wreck or no. Let them have their girly little giggles Ben.

At least ‘shit happens’ is the truth!

mary says:

09:32am | 25/02/11

I totally agree with Greg and Helen, how about some respect for our PM. Doesn’t matter if you’re for or against, is just common decency to treat your PM with a measure of respect.

Name throwing really says way more about the thrower than the receiver.

Tom says:

09:37am | 25/02/11

Remember when your lot referred to the PM as the “rodent”? Your lot set these standards. Go away!

Adam Diver says:

10:25am | 25/02/11

Are you insane, she lied, bold faced, calculated, lied, before an election no less. Its been less then 6 months since and she could not answer a question, or offer an apology to explain the about face.

Respect is earnt, not given to any particular title. How about instead of worring about what some anonymous internet user called the prime minister, and start worrying about entire election campaigns being compromised.

Haza says:

11:38am | 25/02/11

@ Mary, all humans deserve respect

Christian Real says:

02:14pm | 25/02/11

Tom
Liberal Senator George Brandis was the person who called or nicknamed the Prime Minister John Howard ‘As the lying rodent’
And you Tom, have no standards yourself, I guess that comes with being a Liberal party supporter.

Jim says:

05:42pm | 25/02/11

Technically, slag is the scum formed on top of molten metal…if the Labor machine was hypothetically made of metal, then it certainly went into meltdown last August and has been simmering away ever since.

And she certainly is scum…so calling her slag is appropriate.

Anyway, as Tom said, you can’t have double standards on the silly name calling.

B says:

05:10am | 26/02/11

Well I would agree if she was a legitimate PM.  She was NEVER majoritly elected by the people.  So she has no right to claim the title PM

hermes says:

09:03am | 25/02/11

My exact opinion. Both of them are reactive, bickering, non leaders. Give me someone who has some sort of dignity, gravitas, and who I can respect as a leader. I suggest Malcolm Turnbull from the Coalition, and reinstate Kevin Rudd (I don’t believe half the stories about him, after all, they all originated from the ALP aka the machiavellian Gillard and Swan, who had to justify their patricide somehow). Kevin Eleven has a nice ring to it…

Adam Diver says:

10:26am | 25/02/11

“One day” I am afraid not Grumpy. Logic and Honesty don’t win elections, just look at our last one.

It seems it will remain a perputual case of picking the lesser of two evils.

ibast says:

11:37am | 25/02/11

The sad thing is Abbott is actually in a position to drive policy from opposition with the current parliament.  The independents have only backed the government for supply.  Everything else is up for grabs.  Abbott seems incapable of grappling this concept and just continues his negative “no” approach to everything.  He may have had the right attitude for circumstances before the last election but now he is exactly the wrong type of person to have as opposition leader.

Adam DIver says:

10:29am | 25/02/11

“The increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters” - evidence please.

Cyclones….No
Floods…No
Droughts….No
Snowstorms….No

You see when you don’t check your sources your whole argument is built on incorrect data.

Muff says:

10:51am | 25/02/11

Adam
try the BOM website and you will find regarding severity
Cyclones….Yes
Floods…Yes
Droughts….Yes
Snowstorms….Yes

It’s really not that hard to find.
Start with cyclones.
I’ll give you a hint look for
“Each of the above studies finds a marked increase in the severe Category 3 - 5 storms. Some also reported a poleward extension of tropical cyclone tracks. “

You see Adam when you don’t check your comments, you look like an ass.

MarK says:

12:42pm | 25/02/11

Oh hai Muff

http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/climatology/trends.shtml

You were saying what?

“Trends in tropical cyclone activity in the Australian region (south of equator; 105 - 160°E) show that the total number of cyclones has decreased in recent decades. However, the number of stronger cyclones (minimum central pressure less than 970 hPa) has not declined.”

Note how they say “not declined” not increased. They are desperate to find something….wnaything to hang their hat on.

Be careful where you send people muff. You end up looking foolish.

glenm says:

01:18pm | 25/02/11

Here we go the idiots claiming one off events are caused by global warming are coming out .

Tim says:

01:20pm | 25/02/11

Um MarK you might want to rethink that.
If total cyclone numbers have reduced but severe cyclones have not, that means that the percentage of severe cyclones to total cyclones has actually increased.
I also note that you seem to have disregarded the rest of the information and links on that BOM page that don’t agree with your point.
I think you should take your own advice and be careful where you send people, lest you look foolish.

Muff says:

02:12pm | 25/02/11

Oh Hai MarK - you found one of the right links. ( which is why I put the quotation in quotes) good work by you. You get an A in search techniques 101.

Perhaps you should have quoted this (which I already did).

“Each of the above studies finds a marked increase in the severe Category 3 - 5 storms. Some also reported a poleward extension of tropical cyclone tracks. “

Notice the marked increase in severe category 3 - 5 storms? - Good.
I gave it to you and you replied as if you hadn’t even seen it.

Remember MarK this topic was about the severity of natural disasters.
Perhaps you should have engaged your brain before you went off and made yourself the fool.

Bye Bye

Adam Diver says:

03:06pm | 25/02/11

Don’t Stop there Muff, there are lots of weather events that have increase in FREQUENCY and severity.

Don’t forget Climate is global so the Australian BOM by itself proves what exactly?

Check global activity on cyclones please. And then point out to me data on these things that go longer than say 100 years, because it may be difficult to prove change without any controls, no problem lets just have faith.
http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/

Muff says:

03:29pm | 25/02/11

Adam
Let’s just have faith

Well, praise the Lord and pass the snakes.

MarK says:

05:45pm | 25/02/11

Oh dear Muff you really are scratching around for a win are you not.

I love people like you grasping at a 1% her a .02 temperature rise there as “evidence”.

Total energy is down.

You are confusing weather over a few years with long term trends. I was so hoping that someone like you would fall into the trap. I linked that page specifically because of the ambiguous signals it gives.

This is the type of rubbish you fools are basing support of a tax on that is designed to redistribute wealth and will not effect the very thing it is beoing touted to stop.

the deceit, the ideolgy and partisan knots you tie yourself in is laughable.

I love your “severity” claims to. Want to back it up with data? Please. Waiting with bated breathe for you gusy to come back.

You don’t even look or comment on the graph. The “severe storms’ number a whopping 3-11 a year.  Looking at the graph and thinking critically (try it it is fun) you are telling me that it shows a marked increase in sever storms.

Lie to yourself. Don’t lie to me. You have proved nothing and look like a twit.

Really. I expect more from people having a go. This is pathetic.

Jim says:

05:48pm | 25/02/11

From what baseline Muff? Cyclones weren’t even named prior to 1920. When did the rating system come in? How much fiddling has the BoM done? It’s well known they have lowered historical temps and inflated more recent ones.
You’re maybe looking at 30 years of cyclone records…not enough my dear.

Chris L says:

12:11pm | 25/02/11

Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth. “Superior economic mangers” “Interest rates will always be lower under a Liberal government” “Never ever”.

I agree with being angry at broken promises and lies from Gillard, but the people screaming the loudest are Liberal supporters. Smell the hypocrisy!

Joan says:

09:08am | 25/02/11

Yeah….. Give Gillard a go on Punch…...I`m all for that or Swan ... what fun the `usual suspects ` would have….....hey`! but don’t hold your breath ..... sly lying Gillard and `proud unionist` Swan are too chicken for that.

MD says:

09:11am | 25/02/11

What do you expect, The Punch is a News Limited site, which literally told its readers to vote Liberal via a front page blurb on its newspapers the day before the election.

Richard M says:

12:23pm | 25/02/11

Thanks for illustrating my point so well, Joan.

Aasq says:

09:32am | 25/02/11

Is that A, E, I, O, or U, Drew ? Perhaps Tony could ride there on his escape goat ?

Rosie says:

06:02pm | 25/02/11

Holly - what Tony Abbott has to say are only words. It is up to each individual to acknowledge it as instilling fear into them.

You should be more fearful towards a PM that unashamedly and blatantly lies and when told about her dishonesty she refuses to apologise to the people she represents. That is something all Australians should fear, not what comes out of Tony Abbott and the Opposition whose job is to make the Govt accountable for all their misdeeds, the latest one being PM Gillard’s dishonesty to gain power and now to remain in power.

Ben81 says:

07:35pm | 25/02/11

“I curse every time I have to pay my electricity or telephone bill”

Wow, you’re going to flip when you have to pay one if/when this tax is implemented.  Why you’d use that as an example on this topic is beyond me.

Daryl says:

09:42am | 25/02/11

Another one sucked in by the ALP Green bullshit!

Adam DIver says:

10:43am | 25/02/11

Carbon or more accurately carbon dioxide is not a pollutant or “smog” as you put it.

It is natural, the argument is about whether this affects climate, none of these arguments actually deal with pollution directly. 

In any case, please enlighten me how the tax will reduce global emmissions?

Ben alla says:

10:02am | 25/02/11

I can explain that.
Howard didn’t really want an ETS and would have broken that promise as soon as he was elected.

Adam DIver says:

10:46am | 25/02/11

I agree the positions of the liberals are incongrous. I suspect they were playing for votes whilst the AGW scare campaign was at its peak. Its spineless and pathetic politics from the coalition.

However with the warmist models and scientific method continually being exposed as incorrect, it seems that a no carbon price policy will be effective, hopefully the coalition can make amends and stick to thier guns on this one.

Jim says:

07:41pm | 25/02/11

Yeah man…gotta hate them slogans…ones like;

1951 ALP - What Labor promises, Labor will do

1961 ALP - Labor puts people first

1963 ALP - Time for Action

1966 ALP - Vote ALP and End Conscription / What Price Freedom

1969 ALP - Labor: Where the action is / Join the swing to Labor

1972 ALP - It’s Time

1975 ALP - Shame Fraser Shame/ Advance Australia Fair

1977 ALP - Get Australia Working / Uranium: Play it safe

1980 ALP - Raise the Standard

1996 ALP - Leadership

1998 ALP - A Safe and Secure future for all Australians / Australia deserves better

2001 ALP - A Secure future for all Australians / That’s what I stand for

2004 ALP - Opportunity for All Australians/ Mark Latham and Labor: Taking the pressure off families/ Ease the squeeze

2007 ALP - Sorry, New Leadership, Kevin07, Kevin24/7

2009 ALP - Moving Forward*, The Rool Joolia, Cash for Clunkers, Rabbit

* I especially love how Keating speechwriter and author Don Watson wanted to hand in his ALP membership card five minutes into the campaign. “Moving forward,” he said, is “a lump of dead meat ripped straight from the corporate world.” and that it “treats voters like imbeciles”
Variants include “Under my leadership we will move forward”, “we’ll move forward together” and “move forwards, not backwards”. Even “moving forward also means moving forward”

Brian says:

10:43am | 26/02/11

Jim Jim Jim, lets face it the Liberal list is just as long, “Non-Core” “Not scripted”, we could go on and on but why bother you already know the truth, both parties are lying bastards.

Adam DIver says:

10:48am | 25/02/11

I know your a dope, and I know you make light of everything here, but please do not recycle the dreadful piece of garbage that was Malcolm Farr’s piece.

To make that link as Nossy is fine, no one cares but for a political reporter to make it is discraceful (I am using this term a lot lately)

Rosie says:

01:16pm | 25/02/11

Nicole

Thanks for the link - The woman is nauseatingly dangerous and like Brad I have never felt so disgustly sick of another fellow human being.

Gillard was cheeky, impudent and impertinent and if we didn’t know better we could say that Allan Jones lost the discussion against a conniving, manipulative woman trying to mislead not only Allan Jones but the people she represents. I have never known of anyone that can easily and unashamedly go around deceiving people.

Gillard was tough and bold, no lady by any sense of the immagination. A harpy, harmful to the future of this country and its people. A harpy with treacle lips that oozes self defence trying to justify all her wrong doings!

Sad and dark day for Australian politics!

Christian Real says:

09:46am | 25/02/11

Nicole G
A reference to @BG’s website,everybody know that 2GB is the radio arm of the Liberal party

Dash says:

10:11am | 25/02/11

Thanks Nicole. I notice Juliar didn’t answer the question about why she told everyone there would be no carbon tax. And it was interesting to hear the comments from Wayne Swan. This wench has a cheek trying to suggest Alan Jones is misleading his listeners when she has mislead the whole nation and been re-elected on the back of deceitful lies! I feel like the bloke who rang in. I want to march against this as well!

And I also noted Gillards comments about compensating certain working families. Once again, my working family and probably yours will get nothing! If you’re in an ALP demographic you’ll be compensated. If you’re hard working and successful you wont. It’s a socialist redistribution model and an absolute disgrace!

I always enjoy your witty comments on this site! .

Keep up the good work!

Brenda says:

11:09am | 25/02/11

During that interview, Gillard refused to explain her pre-election lie.  Her twisting and turning and word-games don’t work for her.
A shallow woman.
I’m mystified how someone can “legally” mislead the public into giving her a leadership job based on a clearly deceptive announcement.
If that happened outside politics, her union backers would have everyone out on strike.

ZSRenn says:

11:12am | 25/02/11

@Kerry Part of the reason he is not Prime Minister now is because when negotiating for the position with the independents he still would not agree with the Hobart hospital spending or NBN. As for the black hole that was proven as false shortly after the election.

Jooles however seems to have agreed with everything and now she is paying the cost for those making deals.

Catching up says:

11:21am | 25/02/11

Maybe it was one of those things you say in the heat of discussion that does not matter unless you have it in writing.  Quoting Mr. Abbott.

Thomas says:

04:54pm | 25/02/11

Abbott like all of us have admitted to lying all except the mother of all Liars Julia Gillard.

Stephen Smith go and take care of the navy boys and our borders! Like Kevin Rudd you are doing a fantastic job, stick to it and forget about blogging. It doesn’t become you!

Steve Smith says:

07:12pm | 25/02/11

Thomas
I feel honoured that you mistook me for Stephen Smith,the Defence Minister, it made my day, but no I am not the Defence Minister,sorry to disappoint you.

James1 says:

02:18pm | 25/02/11

If they lose the next election now, I will gladly eat my hat.

God I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me…

kerry says:

10:15am | 25/02/11

@ Dave Sag, see my comment below (10.02am) - it was meant to go here, not as a stand alone comment.

Catching up says:

11:07am | 25/02/11

Every time we turn the lights on we pay GST, whats new.

Ben81 says:

01:23pm | 25/02/11

wow you didn’t pay tax before the GST was introduced?  How did you get away with that?

Bill77 says:

02:14pm | 25/02/11

Ben
You must be too young to remember.
The price of everything went up 10% overnight.
What that means is that when your mom was buying you lollies she got less lollies for her dollar.

Z says:

02:53pm | 25/02/11

Bill 77 & Kerry

How many taxes were replaced by the GST on its introduction?
Some homework for you both on the weekend.
Although it’s amazing how electrical goods were cheaper after the GST came in…wonder how that occurred!!

Bill77 says:

03:27pm | 25/02/11

Z
I remember the GST implementation. Prices went up 10 percent across the board.
Many duties and taxes that were supposed to go away didn’t and are still with us. It was a half-assed implementation at best

What country were you living in when the GST went down?

Ben81 says:

05:22pm | 25/02/11

Bill “The price of everything went up 10% overnight.”
Ah yes, it was all an extra 10% tax on everything, no taxes were replaced at all.  Strange memory you have there.

“Many duties and taxes that were supposed to go away didn’t and are still with us.”
Oh, the ones that mainly Labor state governments were supposed to scrap when it was implemented and all the money poured in, but then they didn’t?  Naughty John Howard, he should have stripped them of their power and forced them to play nice…or something.

HeatherG says:

03:58pm | 28/02/11

Bill77, I am older than you (presuming your birth year is 1977: I’m 1971) and Ben appears to be more informed than you, I’m afraid.

Lollies/candy had an 18% (hidden) sales tax on them before the GST. GST abolished sales tax. There was also an, albeit small, wage tax decrease (% rates were finally adjusted to account for pay rises).

I was running a business at the time. Apart from the PITA bothersome crap of suddenly becoming a tax collector (when previously that was done by my wholesaler), I noticed something very different from you. The price of *everything* I sold went *down*, even after the GST was applied. Never mind that the GST is a visible tax that requires agreement from all the States to increase, in the 4 years I’d been in business, the Hawke/Keating mob had raised wholesale taxes twice without informing anyone.

There were also laws put in place to require retailers to pass on the wholesale tax decrease before GST was applied.

Hells, the price of an average 6 cylinder car went down by about $6,000 overnight, iirc.

glenm says:

01:23pm | 25/02/11

RF , Julia’s policy on carbon tax was” NO carbon tax under a government I lead” , No obviously got her a fair way straight into the lodge on the back of a bald faced lie. Now she has the gall to stand up and say “oh no i always supported a carbon tax” this woman is the lowest of the low.

RF says:

02:17pm | 25/02/11

glenm
You voted for Julia because she said there would be no carbon tax?
Really?
Are you sure you didn’t vote for Abbott because he doesn’t believe in AGW?

James1 says:

02:11pm | 25/02/11

Is he incorrect though?  Last time I looked, this was indeed a great big new tax.

James says:

02:29pm | 25/02/11

Yes we all know that what he is doing is scare mongering though, it is total hypocrisy from the side that brought in the GST, he is treating voters like dribbling idiots.

Steve Smith says:

02:02pm | 25/02/11

Gladys
People that urges people to revolt against an elected Government are dictators.
While is unusual to have a dictatorship in a democratic Country like ours,we appear to have a dictator sitting on the Opposition bench as Leader.
Those that approve of a dictator and his methods are not that much better than he is.

Bruce says:

08:46am | 26/02/11

Agree Gladys: Thats how you keep the barstards honest. Thats what democracy is all about. At the moment the labor party and the greens are NOT being honest.

Steve Smith says:

01:55pm | 25/02/11

Tony Abbott is urging a people’s revolt. he is sounding more like a dictator than a Leader as each day passes.
In a democratic country like Australia we don’t need or want a person of his calibre sitting in Our Parliament.
Time to go Abbott!

Cate P says:

02:14pm | 25/02/11

Dear catching up, short of turning off everything permanently, a lot of poor people are already pared back to the bone cutting back consumption of everything, not just energy.  You really have no idea, do you?

Shane From Melbourne says:

01:08pm | 25/02/11

Well, in theory, economics tells us that companies that pollute less i.e. reduce carbon emissions and therefore are taxed less are more competitive than those who pass the cost onto the consumer, but don’t let that get in the way of your beliefs on this “carbon tax thing”

Markus says:

03:21pm | 25/02/11

In practice, the world’s largest economies and polluters will not be implementing this tax, so their companies will continue to be able to run with lower overheads, and providing products to this country at a cost that local companies will now be even less able to compete with.

In theory, communism works.

Ripa says:

05:31pm | 25/02/11

@Shane
Again shane, where exactly is the incentive if they can simply pass on the tax to us? Why would they care about lowering pollution and paying higher taxes when we will just have to foot the bill. The rebate system is unfair, its our money (the taxpayers) in the end middle Australia gets hit again, and seriously since when has Labor ever supported a free market.

Shane From Melbourne says:

06:24pm | 25/02/11

@ Markus and Ripa- I qualified it with “in theory” because that is how economists and Liberal Party describe the workings of the Free Market. If one company gains a competitive advantage by lowering carbon emissions, being taxed less and passing on the savings to the customer then it will do so PROVIDED there is a level playing field and it is not a monopoly. I have always advocated carbon tariffs to make it a level playing field (at least in Australia) I have also advocated population stabilization to reduce carbon emissions but that is an adjunct issue.

Peter says:

04:42pm | 25/02/11

Hello Mikko,
Our little church congregation up in Qld, spent eight years developing Thermal- Hydro in co-joint with the USA, seals in Co2, produces base load electricity from a low of minus 10* Celsius to a high of 100*
Compared to Thermal Steam 550* Celsius 350 megawatts output jumps to 110,000 megawatts, handed to Gillard, Obahma and Brown in Open Technology free copy and use. Obahma is backing it all the way with no Carbon tax, Labor and the Greens wanting to protect Coal fight it all the way.  Web posted Co2 turbine generator.  How its works is any gas highly heat reactive is used to force recycling water through a Francis turbine.

Shane From Melbourne says:

02:36pm | 25/02/11

Umm, no there are clear examples of other taxes designed to modify behaviour. These include taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco. As for governments not propagating ideology, are you seriously suggesting that the Liberal Party does not propagate ideology while it is in power? Don’t waste my time.

Cate P says:

06:30pm | 25/02/11

Love the assumptions you obviously make about posters with no foundation in reality.  Ironic that I post inbetween trips to the clothes line! We are the poor. No clothes dryer, no dishwasher, no swimming pool, car not used every day, kids walk/bus to school, adults bus/train/walk to work as often as possible.  Why do we have to be taxed too?

HelenP says:

04:33pm | 25/02/11

Peter I don’t think an intelligent man like Greg Hunt would communicate with someone like yourself that is not on the same level of intelligence. Check out your English before you make contact with Greg Hunt or Tony Abbott about those emails.

Liar like Ju-liar!

Peter says:

09:45pm | 25/02/11

Dear Helen. Still got the E-mails and persons attending conference call.  What disgusts me most is Greg Hunt went through anothers mail accidentaly landed in his office. To see what had been deleiverd to Kevin and the Greens. His lies to obtain himself a copy are not fitting a Member of Parliament.
Waiting to hear Greg deny darling, waiting to hear Greg deny.
After Gregs little exposure of his moral value, copy of the New Technolgy was made known to Tony, notice he doesnt granstand anymore about playing the paddocks as a cure all.
Note Coal -i (joining letter Oxford)- tion group or party.

Jim says:

07:17pm | 25/02/11

Clearly no-one’s explained the GST to you either.

Howard took it to an election, people re-elected him. The Labor states wanted it. Business wanted it. The low income earners were much better off. And it opened the door to PAYE tax cuts.

Gillard on the other hand, promised us there would be no carbon tax. She fooled everyone who voted Labor or Green. She LIED. She bribed the independents. She has destroyed Oakshotts future in politics (probably a good thing) - he is no more than collateral damage to Labor now, If he had a set he would go down fighting.

3 weeks is all it took for her to back-flip on a promise that without question gave her the slim lead. 3 weeks!

And you idiots continue to defend her.

You cannot continue to justify every f&ck;-up this government makes with whiney little “yeah b-b-b-but, so-and-so did this in 1977”

Against the Man says:

09:03pm | 25/02/11

C’mon people we need to put pressure to get rid of Gilltard and force new elections!!!!!!!!!!!!! People Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve Smith says:

04:24am | 26/02/11

Against the Man
Your comment sounds more like something that you would expect from a dictator in an overseas Country,  and not a democratic Country like Australia.
Your ‘People power” sounds like something you are echoing from what Tony Abbott has said and clearly is not the way things are done in a democracy.
Australia is not a dictatorship, and the only one close to been seen as a dictator is Tony Abbott by his antics of urging People to revolt.
Also this “dictator style”  Liberal idealism should not be tolerated or accepted in a democratic Country like ours.

Rosie says:

05:43pm | 25/02/11

Oh how I wish! I a die hard Liberal voter will be happy if Gillard was replaced by any other Labor MP! Do to her exactly what she did to Rudd and abruptly dumb on the back bench. The only way this bad Labor govt can dig its way out of the big hole that they leader has solely dug for them is to terminate her place in high office.

Australian doesn’t deserve a dishonest, untrustworthy,disloyal, leader who we now know stole the election with her false promise!

Catching up says:

07:21pm | 25/02/11

“absence of Shorten and Swan at the press “

Maybe you can enlighten me to why they needed to be there.  Maybe you would have like the whole ministry to attend. 

It appear to me that all the people involved were present.

TheRealDave says:

10:27pm | 25/02/11

ROFLMAO! Stolen an election with a false promise now Rosie?

Just checking my meter, yep, you went past shrill about 15 decibels a go

I love the smell of Liberal hypocrisy in the morning. The same Party that gave us: the non-core promise. The same party leader that said that you couldn’t believe anything a politician says unless its written down.

Shit happens

Steve Smith says:

03:40pm | 26/02/11

Rose
It is obvious that you do not know and understand Democracy in a Democratic Country like ours,
You liberal lot keep echoing that Julia stole the Election when in fact that isn’t true.
It was a hung Parliament, Julia got the numbers she needed to form Government from the Independents and Greens.
Would you Liberal lot have whinged and moaned and said that Abbott had stole the election if the Independents and Greens had backed him instead?,I bet you would not have said a word!
No you wouldn’t, you would not have said boo, because you are all narrow-minded, tunnel visioned Liberal supporters.

Darren Prime says:

08:04pm | 28/02/11

Liberal?/ no Coalition,, The liberals could never win any election without being in bed with the Nationals.

Steve Smith says:

03:17pm | 26/02/11

Bruce
It is Julia, and she is our Prime Minister whyether you Liberal riff raff like it or not.
It is obvious that your parents never taught you Respect, they must have been redneck Liberals like you

Matt says:

07:30am | 26/02/11

It’s very simple Darren. Let’s have an election now, like Howard did before introducing the GST. Julia can go to the polls telling the truth about introducing a carbon tax and sell her policy like Howard did. Then she can claim a mandate to introduce it.

Rosie says:

07:35am | 26/02/11

No TheRealDave we don’t need the government to reply because it will be nothing but big fat lies trying to dig their way out of the deep dark hole their fake liar leader has dug for them.

Sadly she is our PM. Faceless men please do to her what you did to Rudd and bring in a happily married Labor MP to be our PM. One with a beautiful wife so the new couple can represent us at the royal wedding. Bill Shorten will be a good choice, they can go with his mother - in - law. Now that would be a wonderful sight unlike Fake Lair Gillard and boyfriend Timmy - a sight for sore eyes!

Rosie says:

10:55am | 27/02/11

John Water

Surely you want the Labor Party to remain in power. Let me tell you it ain’t going to happen with the Lying Julia Gillard supposedly leading a minority govt. This is what Gillard wants the public to see and believe but smart people know that it isn’t so, Bob Browne sets the agenda and Gillard has no choice but to obey!

Grow some spin, fight to have her replaced for a credible Labor MP, someone who believes and stands for the Labor Party’s idealogies.

Howard and the GST is way past its used by date so it isn’t an issue! We are still waiting for the Gillard govt to “fix” something for this country. So far it is all talk and no action eg mining tax, flood tax, health reforms, carbon tax etc etc etc.

The woman is useless, for all our sakes have her replaced as it will allow the Labor Party to start again. Only chance they have to remain in power!

Darren Prime says:

04:02pm | 01/03/11

His comment (James) is far from being irrelevant, A lie is a lie no matter when it is said.You Liberals sure dont get it do you? the point from most is that ALL Pollies lie,that is ALL OF THEM!..Your great Liberal hope in Abbott has been on record as saying, he himself lie’s, or has the memory of this faded?  something you Liberals also forget is that without the Nationals your mob would never ever ever (lol) get into power. any chance your mob could go it alone? or is that fear we all smell? In finishing prior to the election all you Liberal supporters on here against this so-called tax were in support of it, via your mateTony,now you all change with the wind to be opposite just for the sake of being opposite,just like Tony does with everything.