It’s back to the future with Malcolm

Mach says:

02:42pm | 01/05/10

I have been a Labor supporter all my life, but will vote for Turnbull. He seems to stand for his principles.
I am very disappointed with Rudd, he has changed his position too quickly. He seems to knows what voters want, and adjust accordingly.  I am now very confused about what Rudd stands for.

Peter says:

08:57pm | 02/05/10

Turnbull can be deputy and leader he was leader in the Liberal camp but he “turncoat”.  He shouls start his own Party.

robert smissen says:

11:30pm | 02/05/10

BACK OFF Andrew! ! ! This wuss will NEVER be leader again, how could we trust him? ? ? Go Tony! !

Ben G says:

11:57am | 03/05/10

Andrew, the only people who want Turnbull to be leader is Labor voters.
I don’t mean that just because he’d be a spectacular failure (again), I mean it because he’s Rudd-lite. They think “I’d vote for him, if I was a Liberal voter”.
The Liberals figured out that this is not the path to victory sometime around when Tony Abbott became leader.

L. says:

03:58pm | 01/05/10

“At least his change of mind hasn’t resulted in huge broken promises which have cost the country billions.”

No..it will result in a n ETS champion on both sides of politics, which will cost the country billions.

Peter says:

08:53pm | 02/05/10

If Malcolm is serious he shouls start a new party and call it Flippez.  He is not A Liberal nor a true Labor.  He could stand as an independant and learn the truth about himself.

Seano says:

09:55am | 02/05/10

Abbott’s influence on the electorate has largely been zip. He had a poll bounce which has dissipated. Since then he’s found ways to alienate large segments of the voting public.

It’s a shame Turnbull didn’t do a better job as a leader because actually may have actually provided a viable alternative government. All we are doing at the moment is marking time until the end of the Abbott experiment.

True Believer says:

03:13pm | 01/05/10

He sure is, as evidenced by Malcolm’s portentious decision!

Barry says:

03:16pm | 01/05/10

You don’t need God Julie because you’ve got your mate Kevin ‘07 saving the country!

freeman says:

07:53pm | 01/05/10

Of course, the art lover Julie is a conservative hater.
God helps those who help themselves Julie (well, he would if he existed) so do yourself a favour and vote Liberal.

Julie Coker-Godson says:

11:00pm | 02/05/10

@Barry:  Kevin 07 is no mate of mine and I already do vote Liberal and have done for all my voting years.

@freeman:  You don’t know me at all - I already vote Liberal (see above comment @Barry.)

Freeman says:

09:18am | 03/05/10

Julie,
Good to hear, on a previous post you claimed to BE a liberal, which is very different from voting liberal.
Don’t worry about Malcom, his views are minority views within the coalition.

Anti Major Mistake Man. says:

02:10pm | 01/05/10

@ Ken, you must be joking, love her or hate her, Bronny is, like Tony Abbott himself or Barnaby Joyce, one of the best attack dogs the Liberal/National coalition have. We desperately need them to savage the red/green/getup/labour coalition as viciously as possible.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Seeking-justice-for-a-forgotten-victim/

Malcolm Turnbull would make an excellent treasurer or finance minister. Having said that, if the conservatives want to win the next election? Then an ETS, Economic Treason Scam, must be as hung, drawn, quartered & cremated, as Work Choices.

Regards the former snag & swinging voter.

OldBoots says:

04:10pm | 01/05/10

Agree with you there Ken, Bronwyn Bishop had her day about 20 years ago!! She should be in a retirement home , shes 68 years old and she can’t go on forever..thank God I am glad to see Malcome back, hes showed his courage with the ETS. Shame Godwin Grench has put a huge stain on his record

Polywatcher says:

07:20pm | 01/05/10

You have the wrong Bishop,  Anti Major Mistake Man - try Julie!!!.

Seano says:

10:12am | 02/05/10

@Crazydudewhoconstantlychanceshistagnameandspoutsweirdrightwingrehtoricwhisltpretendingtobeimpartial

I’m not sure to which Bishop Ken is refering but funny how you rushed to Bronny’s defence. Is that a compliment to the competence of Julie or does Bronny really need defending? As far as attack dogs go she’s not made much stick since the Libs lost control of the speaker…funny that.

Comparing the ETS to Workchoices is also funny considering Workchoices was slammed through and forced on workers whilst the ETS has been put up twice and rejected by the Libs and Greens and therefore shelved.

Your grip is a firm as ever.

Colin says:

02:55pm | 01/05/10

It’s easy to appear “brave” and keep fighting tooth and nail for one policy alone… when a very, very powerful mob have you firmly by the balls.

The only reason Turnbull is back is because of the machinations abroad vis-a-vis Goldman Sachs and impending criminal charges over their many fraudulent roles in the GFC. They can’t give up on global carbon trading… now moreso than ever.

Suggest everyone carefully review each one of the links in the 2nd half of the post linked below.  Learn just how Turnbull’s role as head of GS Australia connects directly to:  the collapse of HIH in 2001, his being named a co-defendant in a $500million lawsuit over HIH, his entree into parliament in 2004, his rapid rise to Environment Minister pushing for an ETS, and finally… GS keeping him out of court when Opposition Leader pushing doggedly to support Rudd’s ETS by making a “confidential” settlement on his behalf -

http://barnabyisright.com/2010/04/28/rudd-destroys-his-ministers-beliefs/

Turnbull’s back because GS own his testicles… and with Rudd going to water, he must deliver their ETS.

Julie Coker-Godson says:

04:07pm | 01/05/10

Here, Here!  I second that post.

Seano says:

10:04am | 02/05/10

Abbott’s entire political style is about divisive politics. He can’t even stop himself when it comes to the party where he issues his policies (sorry ideas, Abbott doesn’t actually have to formulate policy apparently) without even consulting his shadow cabinent.

Wishful thinking maybe nice but the bookies still have Labor at short odds to be returned. The bookies are rarely wrong and I can’t see Abbott with his brilliant tactic of pissing off different segments of the voting public changing that prediction.

Polywatcher says:

07:24pm | 01/05/10

At which time I shall return to become a Party member again where I a post I have held for the 20 years - resigned on the day of Abbott’s elevation - Dec 1, 2009

Marlene Woods says:

03:04pm | 01/05/10

No contest, Gillard would bore you to death with her monotonal, nasal austraiin accent long before then

Alice says:

01:25pm | 02/05/10

I suspect Turnbull & his supporters smell blood. Not ALP blood but Abbott’s. Afterall, it was not Abbott who cajoled Turnbull to return.
Whispers of discontent about Abbott’s leadership are starting to gain traction.
That is the carrot luring Turnbull back.

Mmmm….............

Barry says:

03:23pm | 01/05/10

Sorry mate, With your mate Kevin at the helm in 3 years we will be looking like Greece, Portugal and Spain in a very short time.Of course a massive tax hike on working families will help. Not that will worry you. I doubt you pay tax.!.

Mazzy says:

04:04pm | 01/05/10

oh well put , can i just add ditto

Greg Hunt says:

06:25pm | 01/05/10

Dear Marilyn,

as the author of the thesis you quote I know a little bit about it…my commitment to Climate action is clear and absolute.  But there is an enormous difference between the purpose and the means.  You can have a good purpose and a bad law.

There are two ways to clean up emissions.  First use electricity price rises in the hope that this might actually lead to changes in production and consumption.  The price rises in NSW are the equivalent of a $40 per tonne carbon tax and have been met by the NSW Government planning more coal fired power.

Or you can just clean up the power stations directly such as through supporting conversion from coal to gas.  In fact this was the argument I presented 4 years ago- it is about using an emissions reduction fund to find the lowest cost abatement.  Rather than taxing an inelastic good such as electricity with enormous collateral damage. It is the difference between $114bn of revenue raising (the Government’s own figures) in which only $3bn is actually spent on reducing emissions and a system where every dollar is spent on directly reducing emissions.

There is no example in the world where an indirect tax has dramatically reduced CO2 but there are examples of direct action such as renewable energy where direct action has cleaned up emissions reduction.

Please do not equate climate action with only one path…consider the practical common sense of actually cleaning things up directly- but with a market mechanism in the form of an abatement purchasing fund to find the lowest cost abatement.
In essence an ETS is simply using electricity and grocery pricing to cause pain in the hope that the power stations might change over rather than simply passing it through to consumers.

Greg Hunt

Ben81 says:

07:06pm | 01/05/10

No Marilyn, a North Korean style media would have covered up the waste and ripoffs in the schemes you mention (and the money down the drain from the many pathetic failures and dropped policies we’ve seen), and if you think we’d be in the same boat as some European countries right now if the Coalition was in power it shows you don’t have any idea of what’s going on over there or the cause of their problems, or how it relates to us.  The economic crisis in Europe has barely even touched Australia, and I don’t see how some percieved “love” of Alan Greenspan would change that.
It sounds like you’re complaining because the media isn’t just passing on government propaganda without scrutiny. Don’t worry, there’s a few popular sites you can go to where you’ll be happy and not have to read anything you don’t want to read..

re. the wars, no matter what happens there you’re going to call it a “total failure” because that’s what you want it to be.  Isn’t hindsight wonderful too, just ask Rudd who in 2002 said “Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. That is a matter of empirical fact”

Joan says:

07:27pm | 01/05/10

Biggest failure of all is Rudd as he retreats, retreats, retreats, with every difficulty faced, as he tosses out all his policies as he encounters another difficultyc scared the voters may be displeased -  the classic appeaser of “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile—hoping it will eat him last”—Winston Churchill

freeman says:

08:18pm | 01/05/10

hehehehe,
as soon a someone starts defending the insulation debarcle you know
they are loopy. even the goverment doesn’t deny it’s failure. the benefits
of a house having insulation aren’t actually that great. sure, your heater
and air conditioner may work better but you still have to use the.
our finacial position is australia is a product of;
*the budget surplus left to us by howard/costello,
*the resources boom,
*the RBA’s quick action on rates and to a small extent the stimulus spending which could have been spent MUCH better.
now we are in record debt and will still be in debt when the next recession hits so there will no stimulus payments then.
*BER, we could have got much more for our borrowed money.
*Iraq and afgan war, Labor endorsed howards involvment of the war. we’d still have gone to war under a labor goverment.
*Illegal immigrants? don’t you get that people smuggling is a business
marketing quick and illegal migration to australia? these people are
not the genuine refugees! they are jumping the que!

Paul2 says:

10:15pm | 01/05/10

Marilyn you really should refresh your memory with the video of Rudd playfully saluting George Bush the Lesser.  Then you’d see the level of sellout of our country that both sides of the House share in.

lindsay says:

10:30pm | 01/05/10

well done marilyn you stick up for a p.m. that just craped all over his loyal base,backflip imigration,e.t.s inulation and then tax smokers to the brnk of strarvation.70 percent of whom wherel labor voters,at least abbot was planning to put5 a tax on the big end of town,unlike kevin who decided to screw the lowest socioecoomic sector of society..nowwwwwww thats a real coward for you.

Tracker says:

10:34pm | 01/05/10

You type too much and should really consider working for the ALP Propaganda Department if you honestly believe the garbage you just wrote. Why don’t you just say you don’t like Turnbull ? It uses much less bandwidth, is in content scope and it is the only part of your text i agree with

bill says:

11:37pm | 01/05/10

Marylin are you a party hack to accuse those of the same crime your dear leader is committing is one of the oldest tricks in the book. When I hear him say “policy on the run” I just cringe what was that tax on smokes about. Just who is proposing to institute an internet filter just like the North Koreans and China? Just who is propping up Australia’s largest private debt bubble in history? Who pumped money and corruption throughout the economy in the name of Keynesian pump priming without consideration of standards of monitoring operating and policing their own policy? Rudds penchant for declaring war has had its real casualties. Who or what will he declare war on next your hip pocket no doubt to fund his other wars. Mr big Australia and Mr moral challenge of our time seem to have spit apart just who is Rudd can’t he spin the inconsistencies of his message anymore or are we just seeing non core promises being shed. Rudd stumbles again with a tactical mistake showing that Malcolm Turnbull has more morals than he supposedly had.

julia says:

09:50am | 02/05/10

Marilyn: the peroxide has either gone to your head or you’ve been reading Noam Chomsky.

Alice says:

02:03pm | 02/05/10

rob
It’s not a matter of believing the spin that has been attached to the insulation program & all the exagerated problems.  The independant review findings are very telling. There, you may be able to evaluate the situation according to reality, errr…not coalition spin.

“Only people who attempt to do or change things make mistakes. The easiest way to avoid mistakes is not to attempt anything.”

What did the Howard government actually do? Marilyn has cited their grand scheme. Participate in the illegal occupation of Iraq. By international standards that is considered the biggest balls up in history.
As for Aust. history. Have a look at the disasterous foreign policy Howard implemented on Timor which resulted in mass murder. It was dubbed the worst foreign policy stuff up in Aust’s history.
Look at Bronny’s aged care policy which saw ‘8’ dead and many injured by negligence & abuse.
Mountains of complaints by health professionals were only enacted on when the media ran with it. Tit for tat?????
You are talking $$$$$$$$$$$.
We are talking something more precious.
Human life.
The count as at 2006
Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000. The Lancet, 2003-2006 puts it at closer to a million.

Alice says:

01:40pm | 02/05/10

Mmmm….....
Shelving? And I wonder why it had to be so. Jump across to Pollytics and you will see that a DD could not be held on the ETS, more complicated than stating a wish to do so.
Now for Greg Hunt.
This is the guy who lectured, myself & others on the virtues & value of an ETS system. Told the audience that the only way forward was with an ETS market mechanism to eventually lower carbon & financially support infrastructure to renewables. This he said was his conclusion after a thesis consisting of years of research.
He was still publically lecturing this position right up until mid 2009.
40 Coalition members were highly supportive. The others were too, but apparently only under a Howard government. In other words. Only if we introduce it. Abbott has flagged nuclear in the future which cannot exist without an ETS. Both Hunt & Abbott refuse to rule out an ETS/Carbon scheme in the future if they win government.
It’s all politics and sleight of hand.
And what a bunch of hypocrits to call Rudd gutless and a backflipper.
This from the somersaulting acrobatic Abbott.

Mavis says:

03:08pm | 02/05/10

Intelligent post, boofa.

Yeah Malcolm!! says:

09:41am | 03/05/10

Who put pressure upon Malcolm to return?. The NSW State Executive I believe of which 85% are Right Wingers. Sure the Right Wing were pleased to see the back of him at Parliamentary level, but not the State Executive now it seems. Particularly as they could smell a loss of Wentworth without him as the candidate.