Broken promises
Helen Kennedy writes: Re. “The vindictive budget: how the fiscal burden is loaded on low-income earners” (Wednesday). This is an old, white, misogynist male’s budget. The great proportion of Coalition members of Parliament are old. To take money from the education and health budget to fund medical research is a fraud that seriously affects children, families and the less well-off in society.
I am passionate about science and research — medical, agricultural, technology, etc. This budget is about white wealthy males living forever, sucking on cigars and being hopefully cosseted from dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Greg Poropat writes: Responding to charges of broken promises, Coalition politicians have developed the stock-in-trade fob-off of “Our most fundamental commitment was to fix the budget”. Wrong.
There is nothing of substance about the country’s circumstances that the Coalition did not know before the election. Sure it committed to fix the budget, but that commitment was conjoined at the hip with how the Coalition would fix the budget, including no new taxes, no changes to Medicare, no cuts to the ABC, etc, etc. There was no hierarchic of commitments, nor any disaggregation of them; it was a single, simple pledge. There’s no mincing around this: the Coalition stands condemned for lying its way into office and the legacy of its senior members will be that they are a mob of liars.
What does Labor stand for?
Kevin Hancock writes: Re. “Finally, something to really rally against in Abbott’s Australia” (yesterday). Congratulations, Guy Rundle, you absolutely “nailed” the problem in the Labor Party — no passion — they just go through the motions and stand for nothing. Where are the “true believers” in the leadership of this party when you need them?
GST regressive
Niall Clugston writes: Re. “Crikey says: wrong way on the GST, Joe” (yesterday). Crikey‘s editorial is contradictory. It favours a rise in the GST (though not in so few words), but it deplores “stinging the young via cuts to the dole and higher university fees”. Any rise in the GST inevitably stings the young, the old, the unemployed, the infirm, and the poor. The GST is a regressive tax that impacts most heavily on those of low income. What is “serious”, “mature”, and “sensible” about supporting a crude and unjust tax?
@ Kevin Hancock. I am so pleased you are of such superior intelligence that you could ‘understand’ what Guy Rundle was on about yesterday. As far as I’m concerned it was an anti-Labor rant, with a good dose of denigration of the unemployed and everyone else at the bottom of the ladder. Thoroughly arrogant and uncaring about anyone – except the Greens, who can do no wrong, according to Mr. R!
My reading of Bill Shorten’s budget in reply speech is that it appears to be well received, and believed, by around 80% of those commenting on various blogs (Ltd News excepted!!). How either you or Guy would know if all the Labor members of parliament “stand for nothing”, is beyond me. Do you know them all personally? If not that is a very big call.
At the very least, I will take the word of Labor pollies above the rAbbot and his motley crew.
We all know who the li+rs are after this week!!
A recent but relevant episode of ‘QI’ in prime time ie 630pm
ended with our host saying the best sex was between between
male & female.
How clever is that !
norm
Coalition is normally a term used for groups who after
being elected decide to coalesce.
In Australia the ‘Coalition’campaigns as two separate
parties with different policies for their targeted
constituencies.
Hesitate to say that once snouts are in the trough policy
differences disappear.
“Thoroughly arrogant and uncaring about anyone – except the Greens, who can do no wrong, according to Mr. R!”
Congratulations for not being able to read to the end of the piece, mate.
“As far as I’m concerned it was an anti-Labor rant, with a good dose of denigration of the unemployed and everyone else at the bottom of the ladder”
I’m currently dole surfing in an area with high unemployment and his assessment is 100% right. Some people dole surf, it happens, some people don’t find work and end up basically dole surfing anyway. The references to cone sucking simply acknowledges that Aussies love their cones and guess what we’re going to do with an unwanted surplus of time. If you want to make it more general mentally put ‘/grog/world of warcraft subscription’ behind suck cones when you read it. They’re just ways to fill in the boring meaningless days. The sucking of cones will happen regardless of the state of the dole
I think Rundle was trying to say that rallying around the dole is really hard. What isn’t hard is finding someone like Rundle described, or someone that resents them. The response to this budget should have more substance than that, a validation of fundamental social-democratic values. Decent social security is only a part of these values.
“How either you or Guy would know if all the Labor members of parliament “stand for nothing”, is beyond me. Do you know them all personally? If not that is a very big call.”
It is quite simple, look at what they say they stand for and observe what they do in parliament.
I’m a card carrying ALP rank and file member and from here it looks even worse than it must for regular voters. The parliamentary wing barely represents the rank and file. The small branch I’m in isn’t so bad, go up the chain to things like state conferences and things are much more managed, sometimes in ways that can leave rusted ons like myself wondering why we bother at all.
Even in the parliamentary wing there are people that stand for things, but the party as a whole stands for nothing