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    <title>topic Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page in Community Spirit</title>
    <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1743608#M481924</link>
    <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;U&gt;vicr3000 wrote:&lt;/U&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Am posting this in here even though the original spat re Abbott and Job creation was over in the other gov't thread.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT color="#FF0000"&gt;am3 &lt;STRONG&gt;was complaining&lt;EM&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;FONT color="#000080"&gt;( not true, was stating facts about the high unemployment rate in the area I live in, particularly the very highyouth unemployment rate)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&amp;nbsp;about Abbott not creating enough jobs&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;FONT color="#0000FF"&gt;That is your spin on it. I referred to &lt;U&gt;Abbott's &lt;FONT color="#339966"&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;election promise&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt; 1m jobs created by Govt in 5 years.&lt;/U&gt; - you are the one that ran off on your own tangent about Geelong.&lt;/FONT&gt;and in one of our heated discussions &lt;STRONG&gt;I pointed out it is not&amp;nbsp;just Abbott that has to do the lifting (&lt;FONT color="#FF0000"&gt;yes it is, he/his govt has a promise to keep)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&amp;nbsp;but also State Gov'ts AND LOCAL COUNCILS.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I used &lt;FONT color="#FF0000"&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Geelong as an example&lt;U&gt; that is *or was) very similar to am3's area&lt;/U&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt; of NSW, Wollongong and surrounds&lt;/FONT&gt;. &lt;FONT color="#0000FF"&gt;No, it is not. Not in anyway at all.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Geelong effectively re invented it self and has kept it going for 15 years or so (which covers a period of both&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Labor and Lib councils and State Gov'ts).&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Anyway, 2+ years ago, a new young upstart Mayor was elected, ex papparazzi, way out, breaks every mold in the book.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He has continued this "transformation" or more like put a rocket under it and putting Geelong even further on the map.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Anyway, I noticed the other day that the Geelong Mayor is giving advice to my local council on how to do it.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But what struck me was how much money he has managed to get out of the State Gov't, for roads but also for jobs.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;These figures will be on top of what would have been budgeted for.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;"In contrast, since the start of Cr Lyons’ term in November 2013, the City of Greater Geelong has received &lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;$23.4&amp;nbsp;million from the governments for road upgrades, "&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;"It has also been given $15.15&amp;nbsp;million from the governments to help create more than 500 jobs."&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Anyway, have a read, if youn can stand the pink jacket and yellow and pink hair &lt;img id="smileylol" class="emoticon emoticon-smileylol" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-lol.png" alt="Smiley LOL" title="Smiley LOL" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/west/geelong-mayor-darryn-lyons-advises-wyndham-councillors-to-be-more-like-him/story-fngnvmj7-1227244440844"&gt;http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/west/geelong-mayor-darryn-lyons-advises-wyndham-councillors-to-be-more-like-him/story-fngnvmj7-1227244440844&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Leave my id out of your posts please, when referring to posts from other threads, which you are putting your own 'spin' on as above. You can make posts about Geelong without bringing me into it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;For starters people reading this post, can't see the posts you are referring to. They only get &lt;EM&gt;your view/spin&amp;nbsp;&lt;/EM&gt;of the previous posts. Which is why you should quote the post you are referring to and reply to it in the same thread. So people can read the whole discussion for themselves.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The main point in the other thread was that &lt;STRONG&gt;Abbott made an election promise to create new job&lt;/STRONG&gt;s &lt;STRONG&gt;a promise he hasn't met so far, and not likely to&lt;/STRONG&gt; (200 000 jobs each year for 5 years.. then same for next 5 years)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;During the 2013 electoral campaign, now-prime minister Tony Abbott &lt;STRONG&gt;repeatedly pledged&lt;/STRONG&gt; to create two &lt;A target="_blank" href="https://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2013/09/02/tony-abbott-address-national-press-club-election-2013"&gt;million new jobs over a decade&lt;/A&gt;, if elected. In its &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://lpa.webcontent.s3.amazonaws.com/realsolutions/LPA%20Policy%20Booklet%20210x210_pages.pdf"&gt;Real Solutions Plan&lt;/A&gt;, released earlier last year, the Coalition promised to generate one million new jobs over the next five years and two million new jobs within a decade.&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Abbott promise to create $1m jobs ... that doesn't&amp;nbsp;have&amp;nbsp;anything&amp;nbsp;at all to with any specific&amp;nbsp;region in Australia. &amp;nbsp;The point was he has failed to do so.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Geelong is nothing at all like the area I live in. That is your assumption only, you provided no details at all&amp;nbsp;on how you arrived at that conclusion.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size="3"&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Jobs goal slips out of Tony Abbott’s reach&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Jan 2015&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;DIV class="story-intro"&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;THE federal government is falling behind on a key election pledge to create one million jobs over five years, in a blow to its economic agenda &lt;FONT color="#FF0000"&gt;as experts warn that the target may never be achieved.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;P&gt;Jobs are being created too slowly to reach the goal, just as Tony Abbott names “jobs and families” as his top priorities for the year ahead after a punishing political fight over last year’s ­budget.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;In the next test of the policy, offic­ial figures to be released today are tipped to&lt;STRONG&gt; show monthly jobs growth that is too low to meet the government target.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;&lt;U&gt;Mr Abbott needs job creation to jump to 18,000 every month for the next four years to deliver on his promise,&lt;/U&gt; a huge rise that economists now consider to be unlikely.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;But, with challenges mounting, economists said &lt;U&gt;t&lt;/U&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;U&gt;he government had been “misguided” to make the promise to voters&lt;/U&gt; when it needed a lift in economic growth that was yet to materialise.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;LI-SPOILER&gt;&lt;P&gt;The setback highlights a broader challenge for the nation as the resources boom fades and the economy cools, forcing the government to consider new ways to balance the budget at the same time as it wants to use public spending to shore up growth.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;With job insecurity high and job creation below long-term trends, the nation is set for a steady rise in unemployment that could harm consumer confidence and retail sales.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The government admitted yesterday that there were new pressures on tax revenue after &lt;EM&gt;The Australian&lt;/EM&gt; revealed a $2 billion hit to major gas projects as a result of falling oil prices, compounding the problems of falling iron ore and coal prices.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Employers created about 11,700 jobs each month during the government’s first 12 months in a continuation of the relatively weak jobs growth since the global financial crisis.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Mr Abbott needs job creation to jump to 18,000 every month for the next four years to deliver on his promise, a huge rise that economists now consider to be unlikely.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Employment Minister Eric Abetz stood by the jobs pledge yesterday but conceded that it was going to be difficult to deliver and sought to blame Labor and the Greens for preventing new jobs schemes getting through parliament.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The jobs pledge was one of the first priorities in Mr Abbott’s Real Solutions plan before the last election,&lt;BR /&gt;promising to generate “one million jobs over the next five years” by forging a bigger and more productive economy.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But, with challenges mounting, economists said the government had been “misguided” to make the promise to voters when it needed a lift in economic growth that was yet to materialise.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“It is hard to see it being achieved, even though 200,000 extra jobs a year doesn’t seem much more than what is implied by population growth,” said Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research principal research fellow Roger Wilkins.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“Lower oil prices will probably help growth, but unemployment seems to be inexorably edging higher over the next year or two.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“In any case, it is a misguided — and close to meaningless — policy goal.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“ The real policy targets should be things like economic growth, employment-population rates and household income growth.”&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Australia had 11.5 million people in jobs when the Coalition came to office so its formal target needs jobs growth of just less than 1.75 per cent a year, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist Saul Eslake.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“That would imply that real GDP growth needs to be at least 3.25 per cent per annum in order to achieve the government’s promise,” Mr Eslake said.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But, instead, economic growth this year is expect­ed to be 2.5 per cent.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The government trimmed its forecast for employment in last month’s budget update while it warned of higher unemployment.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Mr Eslake warned that trends in productivity could mean the government would have to boost real economic growth to 4 per cent a year to reach the target, well beyond the levels foreseen in the budget.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“The bottom line is I think this will be a difficult promise to achieve, and one that really shouldn’t have been made in the first place,” he said.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Others praised the government for being ambitious and said the nation needed a big target to keep Australians in work as the population increased.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“We haven’t got enough employment growth to soak up all the people entering the workforce,” said HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham. “I do think the government’s target is achievable.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“It’s a challenging time to get the economy to grow at its trend levels (about 3 per cent a year) but we remain optimistic that growth will continue to rebalance from the mining sector to the non-mining sectors.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“And, as the economy rebal­ances, employment should continue to grow.”&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The latest monthly jobs figures will be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today with Deutsche Bank chief economist Adam Boyton tipping the addition of about 10,000 jobs.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The weaker jobs growth could give Labor a powerful political weapon against the government at the next election, although Bill Shorten has not outlined any altern­ative policies to produce better growth than the government. While business groups and economists note that employers — not governments — actually create jobs, the Prime Minister’s message to voters was that the Coal­ition’s economic agenda would generate more growth and encourage employers to hire more staff.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Senator Abetz said the promise remained government policy. “The government is confident of reaching its job target of one million jobs over five years,” he said.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“However, we do not underestimate the task and the difficulty in achieving it given the ALP/Green tactics of blocking and delaying our job creating initiatives.”&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The budget last May forecast employment growth of 1.5 per cent this financial year but this was cut to 1 per cent in the mid-year update in December.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The gloomier outlook has led the government to scale back its hopes for revenue from personal income tax, at the same time that it expects to collect less company tax than planned because of the slump in iron ore and coal prices.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg acknowledged the challenges and hinted at more savings in the May budget to respond.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“The numbers will be reviewed when it comes around to the next budget in May but there’s no doubt this is putting pressure on government revenue,” Mr Frydenberg said.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Labor’s assistant Treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh claimed that meant the government was flagging a “fresh round of cuts” in the budget.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;“The Abbott government has today confirmed that its only economic strategy is to cut and keep cutting,” Dr Leigh said.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/LI-SPOILER&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/jobs-goal-slips-out-of-tony-abbotts-reach/story-fn59noo3-1227185170795"&gt;http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/jobs-goal-slips-out-of-tony-abbotts-reach/story-fn59noo3-1227185170795&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
    <pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:07:35 GMT</pubDate>
    <dc:creator>cherry*135</dc:creator>
    <dc:date>2015-03-08T00:07:35Z</dc:date>
    <item>
      <title>Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702330#M458799</link>
      <description>&lt;DIV class="_5pbx userContent"&gt;&lt;P&gt;A reminder of the debt that Australia has, while Labor can bury their heads and deny it exists the fact remains we have a huge problem with debt and sooner than later the chips will fall, no business, no state and no country can keep operating in the red, eventually those we own the money to will own us. Who will own us?&lt;BR /&gt;The state of Qld has debt of $80 billion dollars, Labor are saying they don’t think it’s that bad, Bill Shorten on Australia’s debt, there is no debt crisis, there is a crisis and we are in this situation because of Labor, no one else and the bottom line is Labor can’t fix this problem, their speciality is creating debt not fixing debt.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class="mtm"&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class="_5cq3"&gt;&lt;DIV class="_46-h _4-ep"&gt;&lt;IMG border="0" height="332" width="480" src="https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/s480x480/10408115_818099328257705_1760405811075724819_n.jpg?oh=f068dc61f17c39a8b8bdf3e516a1a06b&amp;amp;oe=5528E99C" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class="_5pcp _5vsi"&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 05:38:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702330#M458799</guid>
      <dc:creator>icyfroth</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T05:38:01Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702343#M458804</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;'Labor can’t fix this problem, their speciality is creating debt not fixing debt.'&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I've been saying this for 30 years, but oddly, ALP supporters deny it. Strange how they can do so, even when statistics clearly show it!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But, they'll probably tell us that those figures were released by the Libs - to make the ALP look bad, and after all, figures can be manipulated!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;IMG border="0" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/69327iE6961A01699F055E/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&amp;amp;px=-1" title="6a01538f1adeb1970b017eeb1b9bf1970d-800wi.jpg" alt="6a01538f1adeb1970b017eeb1b9bf1970d-800wi.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 05:48:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702343#M458804</guid>
      <dc:creator>evil_akuma_2002</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T05:48:06Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702354#M458805</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;You can use this for all the supporers signatures..............&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;IMG border="0" alt="Cap.JPG" width="106" height="87" title="Cap.JPG" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/69330iD641A55DDBC1F712/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&amp;amp;px=-1" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Let me know if you need a smaller page........&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;glad to help&lt;img id="smileyhappy" class="emoticon emoticon-smileyhappy" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.png" alt="Smiley Happy" title="Smiley Happy" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 05:59:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702354#M458805</guid>
      <dc:creator>2106greencat</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T05:59:14Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702357#M458806</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;Victoria has a new Premier that makes Rudd and Gillard look like rank amateurs when it comes to blowing a surplus, under two months the newly elected Premier has blown the surplus.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Being a Labor person it’s understandable that maths would not be a strong point but this fellow leaves most of Labor’s worst for dead, he is spending $1 billion to tear up a contract that was going to cost $2 billion to build the biggest project the state is crying out for.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The state will most likely be sued into the bargain. The federal leader of course after backing the project is now supporting the lunacy of blowing a billion dollars.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;IMG border="0" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/69331i0102B4DFCA8F9CAC/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&amp;amp;px=-1" title="shortnbilly.jpg" alt="shortnbilly.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 05:59:57 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702357#M458806</guid>
      <dc:creator>icyfroth</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T05:59:57Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702390#M458824</link>
      <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;A target="_self" href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/lets-not-play-pass-the-parcel/story-fni0cwl5-1227195275890"&gt;Let's Not Play Pass The Parcel&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;This article had me shaking my head all day yesterday.&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;Prime Minister Tony Abbott is not a victim.&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;Because we had the Rudd and Gillard circus rotating Prime Minister’s like it was some sort of national sport doesn’t mean that’s the way Australia should operate, they were there for the power grab and to wreck our country, Australia came last with those two and now the media are thinking that’s the way it’s going to be in this country, I don’t think so.&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;When I vote at an elect&lt;SPAN class="text_exposed_show"&gt;ion I expect the person I helped elect as Prime Minister to be Prime Minister, I don’t expect some union thugs in a back room to change leaders because they think they are losing power. Rudd was ditched by his party because his colleagues couldn’t work with him remember what his party leaders said about him, Gillard was ditched because she as a popular as VD in the Vatican and the party wanted to hold an extra ten seats, Australians came last with the Labor Party.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;SPAN class="text_exposed_show"&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;Speaking with several people this past week I received feedback from one, we just wanted the boats stopped and nothing else to change, then this from a couple who had lost their house, under Gillard this was, their accountant had told them the banks should never loaned them the money in the first place because there was no way they could ever meet the repayments **bleep**, blaming others and government for their mistakes has to end.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;SPAN class="text_exposed_show"&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;The back benchers suffering the jitters because they are worried about their jobs need to wake up and get on board it’s not about them it’s about us.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;SPAN class="text_exposed_show"&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;I like this part:- Coalition MPs need to take a cold shower, an aspirin and settle down. There’s no doubt Abbott has battled to sell the message as PM.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;SPAN class="text_exposed_show"&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;His relationship with the shambolic crossbench, as nutty as some of them are, is not as good as it should be.&lt;BR /&gt;Public pressure on the senate to pass key pieces of legislation is not as great as it should be because the government hasn’t sold the message well enough.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;SPAN class="text_exposed_show"&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;No one can work with a nut case, those moaning need to wake up see the big picture and step up to the task, self interest is not going to cut it for them and wishy washy doesn’t win at the end of the day. Get off your butts high light the loony senate and the opposition leader who is only interested in destroying this country even further.&amp;nbsp;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 06:29:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702390#M458824</guid>
      <dc:creator>icyfroth</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T06:29:20Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702398#M458827</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;I will&amp;nbsp;put my name to the list without hesitation.His election platform was to stop the illegal&amp;nbsp;immigrants and to rid us of the carbon tax rip off&amp;nbsp;he did what he said he would do against all odds.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Australia's net debt is slowly being clawed back&amp;nbsp;which is a step in the right direction (no pun intended)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 06:35:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702398#M458827</guid>
      <dc:creator>poddster</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T06:35:33Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702441#M458848</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;Abbott also stated/promised that there were a lot of other things he would do and would NOT do.......look at all the lies!...... he lied and lied and lied whilst SLEDGING everything.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This is what Libs do. Sledge.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;They don't make anything good 'happen' or create anything useful or even&amp;nbsp;creative&amp;nbsp;or improve conditions for everyone.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;They do have special concessions though just for their rich corporate maaaaates.&lt;img id="smileywink" class="emoticon emoticon-smileywink" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.png" alt="Smiley Wink" title="Smiley Wink" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I laughed when read thread topic : &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT size="2"&gt;Tony Abbott's Support Page&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Lots of supporters ....just flocking to post LOL &lt;img id="smileylol" class="emoticon emoticon-smileylol" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-lol.png" alt="Smiley LOL" title="Smiley LOL" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;....maybe all the supporters are too busy supporting Campbell Newman, on his support page &lt;STRONG&gt;...*PPPPFFfffffTTtttt!&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:09:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702441#M458848</guid>
      <dc:creator>fourandsixpants</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:09:26Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702460#M458855</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;So paints, are you saying that stopping the ever increasing tide of illegal immigrants, that are a&amp;nbsp;burden on all the taxpayers is not a good thing? Likewise with the carbon tax, that millstone around the neck of Australia' economy, getting shot of that was not a good thing?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;And clawing back the level of debt is not good too huh ?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Sledging what Labor has done, you know the mess they created that will take a decade to clean up, is bad.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Stopping the illegals&amp;nbsp;didn't 'Just happen" it was MADE to happen.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Creating a healthy&amp;nbsp;corporate sector leads to a healthy economy, no?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;But I guess anything but a hand-out&amp;nbsp;mentally is against the Labor ethos&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;In that environment where do the hand outs come from? Government borrowings?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Try running a household on no income and nothing but a credit card, sustainable?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:31:48 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702460#M458855</guid>
      <dc:creator>poddster</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:31:48Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702462#M458856</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;The IMF (International Monetary Fund) recently stated Howard was the &lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/hey-big-spender-howard-the-king-of-the-loose-purse-strings-20130110-2cj32.html"&gt;most profligate Australian Prime Minister in history&lt;/A&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;. If you take issue with that&amp;nbsp;statement, talk to the experts. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Australia took decisive action to stem the impacts of the GFC on jobs and economic growth. The economy is now at trend growth and 926,000 jobs have been created since the GFC. An outstanding result no matter how you slice it.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This meant stimulating the economy with a significant stimulus package of around $52 billion (3% of GDP in today's terms). A response that was heralded as a model targeted and effective response by the IMF, OECD and World Bank. The OECD &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.theage.com.au/business/oecd-praise-for-canberras-stimulus-package-20090916-froi.html"&gt;praised the package&lt;/A&gt; stating it would save 200,000 jobs.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;World experts such as Nobel Prize laureate &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz"&gt;Professor Joseph Stiglitz&lt;/A&gt;&amp;nbsp;also said the stimulus "&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-08-06/stimulus-served-australia-well-despite-waste/935002"&gt;served Australia well&lt;/A&gt;". &amp;nbsp;&lt;SPAN&gt;To maintain surpluses over the GFC period&amp;nbsp;–&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/pyne-delusional-surplus-claim-swan-014208962.html"&gt;as some in the&amp;nbsp;Coalition&amp;nbsp;seem to suggest Labor should have done&lt;/A&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;&amp;nbsp;– would have been irresponsible.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The remainder of our gross debt is about $50.5 billion over five years. This is equal to 0.6% of GDP&amp;nbsp;each year in today's terms.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The numbers sound big, but in the context of our almost $1.6T trillion economy, they are small. The Coalition try to take interest payments and debt out of the wider context because they are large by historical standards. However, to do this without reference to the wider economy, the global scenario and the GFC is just plain deceptive.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Fitch &amp;nbsp;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/article/16473230/fitch-reaffirms-australias-aaa-credit-rating/"&gt;affirmed their AAA rating&lt;/A&gt; for our economy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;A point only further underlined by Dun and Bradstreet's recent release entitled &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://dnb.com.au/Header/News/Australian_economy_ranked_among_worlds_safest/indexdl_8615.aspx"&gt;Australian economy ranked among world's safest&lt;/A&gt;, in which it says:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;"Solid GDP growth, relative to other developed economies, contributes to Australia's status as one of the world's safest trade destinations. Likewise, the nation's unemployment rate is low, and its annual average inflation remains within the Reserve Bank's target band. Terms of trade at historical highs and solid commodity prices have also helped Australia avoid much of the turbulence experienced within other advanced economies."&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;All this when LNP took over.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Even Joe Hockey, July 2014 -&amp;nbsp;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Joe Hockey has told New Zealand that there is no crisis in the Australian economy, nor is it in trouble.&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;Read more: &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/australian-economy-is-not-in-trouble-joe-hockey-tells-nz-20140726-zx6ie.html#ixzz3PoeeReFq"&gt;http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/australian-economy-is-not-in-trouble-joe-hockey-tells-nz-20140726-zx6ie.html#ixzz3PoeeReFq&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So who do we believe? &amp;nbsp;World economic experts and&amp;nbsp;our own Treasurer? &amp;nbsp;Or the murdoch press and posters on an internet forum?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:32:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702462#M458856</guid>
      <dc:creator>alexander*beetle</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:32:42Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702465#M458859</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;Yes he could use some support, here you go tones, some sites that might offer the support you clearly need&lt;img id="womanhappy" class="emoticon emoticon-womanhappy" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_woman-happy.png" alt="Woman Happy" title="Woman Happy" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.aa.org.au/"&gt;http://www.aa.org.au/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.sydneyangermanagement.com.au/"&gt;http://www.sydneyangermanagement.com.au/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://divorcesupport.about.com/"&gt;http://divorcesupport.about.com/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.artofcommunicating.com.au/"&gt;http://www.artofcommunicating.com.au/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.thehopeline.com/how-to-stop-lying-part-1/"&gt;http://www.thehopeline.com/how-to-stop-lying-part-1/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.techrepublic.com/article/tips-for-staying-positive-when-facing-unemployment/"&gt;http://www.techrepublic.com/article/tips-for-staying-positive-when-facing-unemployment/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://money.howstuffworks.com/money-laundering.htm"&gt;http://money.howstuffworks.com/money-laundering.htm&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/"&gt;https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Being-Racist"&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Being-Racist&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Feminist"&gt;http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Feminist&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:34:28 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702465#M458859</guid>
      <dc:creator>boris1gary</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:34:28Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702473#M458862</link>
      <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;a href="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/933591"&gt;@alexander*beetle&lt;/a&gt; wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;The IMF (International Monetary Fund) recently stated Howard was the &lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/hey-big-spender-howard-the-king-of-the-loose-purse-strings-20130110-2cj32.html"&gt;most profligate Australian Prime Minister in history&lt;/A&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;. If you take issue with that&amp;nbsp;statement, talk to the experts. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Australia took decisive action to stem the impacts of the GFC on jobs and economic growth. The economy is now at trend growth and 926,000 jobs have been created since the GFC. An outstanding result no matter how you slice it.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This meant stimulating the economy with a significant stimulus package of around $52 billion (3% of GDP in today's terms). A response that was heralded as a model targeted and effective response by the IMF, OECD and World Bank. The OECD &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.theage.com.au/business/oecd-praise-for-canberras-stimulus-package-20090916-froi.html"&gt;praised the package&lt;/A&gt; stating it would save 200,000 jobs.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;World experts such as Nobel Prize laureate &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz"&gt;Professor Joseph Stiglitz&lt;/A&gt;&amp;nbsp;also said the stimulus "&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-08-06/stimulus-served-australia-well-despite-waste/935002"&gt;served Australia well&lt;/A&gt;". &amp;nbsp;&lt;SPAN&gt;To maintain surpluses over the GFC period&amp;nbsp;–&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/pyne-delusional-surplus-claim-swan-014208962.html"&gt;as some in the&amp;nbsp;Coalition&amp;nbsp;seem to suggest Labor should have done&lt;/A&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;&amp;nbsp;– would have been irresponsible.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The remainder of our gross debt is about $50.5 billion over five years. This is equal to 0.6% of GDP&amp;nbsp;each year in today's terms.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The numbers sound big, but in the context of our almost $1.6T trillion economy, they are small. The Coalition try to take interest payments and debt out of the wider context because they are large by historical standards. However, to do this without reference to the wider economy, the global scenario and the GFC is just plain deceptive.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Fitch &amp;nbsp;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/article/16473230/fitch-reaffirms-australias-aaa-credit-rating/"&gt;affirmed their AAA rating&lt;/A&gt; for our economy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;A point only further underlined by Dun and Bradstreet's recent release entitled &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://dnb.com.au/Header/News/Australian_economy_ranked_among_worlds_safest/indexdl_8615.aspx"&gt;Australian economy ranked among world's safest&lt;/A&gt;, in which it says:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;"Solid GDP growth, relative to other developed economies, contributes to Australia's status as one of the world's safest trade destinations. Likewise, the nation's unemployment rate is low, and its annual average inflation remains within the Reserve Bank's target band. Terms of trade at historical highs and solid commodity prices have also helped Australia avoid much of the turbulence experienced within other advanced economies."&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;All this when LNP took over.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Even Joe Hockey, July 2014 -&amp;nbsp;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Joe Hockey has told New Zealand that there is no crisis in the Australian economy, nor is it in trouble.&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;Read more: &lt;A target="_blank" href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/australian-economy-is-not-in-trouble-joe-hockey-tells-nz-20140726-zx6ie.html#ixzz3PoeeReFq"&gt;http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/australian-economy-is-not-in-trouble-joe-hockey-tells-nz-20140726-zx6ie.html#ixzz3PoeeReFq&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So who do we believe? &amp;nbsp;World economic experts and&amp;nbsp;our own Treasurer? &amp;nbsp;Or the murdoch press and posters on an internet forum?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Don't waste your time AlexanderBeetle, these loyals&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;will continue to parrot&amp;nbsp;the spin regardless of the facts, good news is their number is dwindling very quickly.&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:39:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702473#M458862</guid>
      <dc:creator>boris1gary</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:39:38Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702483#M458869</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;A few million wasted here by Tony. How much is a cuddle with a koala worth?&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;G20 bill still rising as Tony Abbott accused of hollow words on downsizing the hosting spend&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;"A revision of the contract with event services company ExpoNet shows the government was forced to cough up a further $3.2 million for building work, signage and furniture – bringing the bill to $9.6 million.&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;"NSW MP Pat Conroy, who chairs Labor's waste watch committee, claimed Mr Abbott was a "repeat offender when it comes to short-changing the taxpayer".&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;"He was so busy patting himself on the back because he saved money upgrading luxury hotels for the G20 that he forgot to mention the massive cost blowout on G20 expenses like signage, furniture and decor," Mr Conroy said&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;"This is on top of what was spent on other G20 activities like $24,000 koala cuddles for Vladimir Putin or the one-day conference at a luxury resort in Mexico for $45,000."&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;SMH&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:47:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702483#M458869</guid>
      <dc:creator>cherry*135</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:47:44Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702490#M458871</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;How do those figures compare to 43 Billion on the NBN white elephant and all the other Rudd/Gillard failed ventures?&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:51:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702490#M458871</guid>
      <dc:creator>poddster</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:51:07Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702492#M458873</link>
      <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;@paintsew007 wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;P&gt;Abbott also stated/promised that there were a lot of other things he would do and would NOT do.......look at all the lies!...... he lied and lied and lied whilst SLEDGING everything.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This is what Libs do. Sledge.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;They don't make anything good 'happen' or create anything useful or even&amp;nbsp;creative&amp;nbsp;or improve conditions for everyone.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;They do have special concessions though just for their rich corporate maaaaates.&lt;img id="smileywink" class="emoticon emoticon-smileywink" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.png" alt="Smiley Wink" title="Smiley Wink" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Oh, honey, they ALL do it. They are all in it for themselves. And if you believe one side isn't over the others, I have a bridge to sell you.&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:52:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702492#M458873</guid>
      <dc:creator>nevynreally</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T07:52:38Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702616#M458946</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;..to poddster who said:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;1.So paints, are you saying that stopping the ever increasing tide of illegal immigrants, that are a&amp;nbsp;burden on all the taxpayers is not a good thing? Likewise with the carbon tax, that millstone around the neck of Australia' economy, getting shot of that was not a good thing?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;2.And clawing back the level of debt is not good too huh ?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;3.Sledging what Labor has done, you know the mess they created that will take a decade to clean up, is bad.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;4.Stopping the illegals&amp;nbsp;didn't 'Just happen" it was MADE to happen.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;5.Creating a healthy&amp;nbsp;corporate sector leads to a healthy economy, no?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;6.But I guess anything but a hand-out&amp;nbsp;mentally is against the Labor ethos&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;In that environment where do the hand outs come from? Government borrowings?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;7.Try running a household on no income and nothing but a credit card, sustainable?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;.................................................................................................................................................................................&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;well, well, well!!.....................&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;my responses:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;1.&lt;/STRONG&gt; &lt;STRONG&gt;No......Hypocritical&lt;/STRONG&gt;&amp;nbsp;as this &lt;STRONG&gt;govt is now opening the flood gates for more/same as 457 visa foreigner workers (with less&amp;nbsp;restrictions and demands of them too!)&amp;nbsp;to enter Australia-cheap labour for corporate maaaaates but the Foreign Investment Review Board is doing NOTHING about foreign investors buying up (escalating our residential property prices) our residential properties WHICH IS AGAINST THE RULES.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;....the carbon tax was imo just another tax BUT those that made/make the pollution would've been made to pay to make it. This was a good idea.....and would have encouraged cleaner practises and a cleaner environment.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;2.&lt;/STRONG&gt; As you have not clarified which debt I will assume that you mean &lt;STRONG&gt;PRIVATE DEBT&lt;/STRONG&gt; as this the emergency problem in Australia.....&lt;STRONG&gt;and where exactly has this Govt established a plan to 'claw back' here? NONE this govt is only helping the banks .....they should reverse decision made years where banks were de-regulated and REGULATE THE BANKS again.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;3. Don't agree, no. Labor did not make a 'mess' therefore there is no rational reason to sledge everything.....LNP are even sledging that which Labor did not touch before LNP slimed thru the door.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;4. See #1.&amp;nbsp; I bet there are still illegals entering Australia....maybe not by boat but certainly by plane LOL! What are LNP doing about this?&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;.......Has Tony Abbott renounced his DUAL CITIZENSHIP yet?&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;5. No. ....you start at the base and work up. You need jobs for workers to go to before you need bosses and supervisers and CEO's. &lt;EM&gt;*Der!&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;6. not sure what you are trying to say here. Guessing you are anti-welfare and complaining that this Govt cannot budget for welfare, therefore YES this Govt is INCOMPETENT.....maybe they should cut corporate, bankster and politician&amp;nbsp;maaaaates perks to help pay for those that are jobless.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;7. Govt budgets are not run the same as household budgets. &lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;This present Govt is not sustainable either&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;....shut the back door on the way out please&lt;STRONG&gt; &lt;img id="smileywink" class="emoticon emoticon-smileywink" src="https://community.ebay.com.au/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.png" alt="Smiley Wink" title="Smiley Wink" /&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 09:32:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702616#M458946</guid>
      <dc:creator>fourandsixpants</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T09:32:04Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702699#M458990</link>
      <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;a href="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/437353"&gt;@poddster&lt;/a&gt; wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;P&gt;How do those figures compare to 43 Billion on the NBN white elephant and all the other Rudd/Gillard failed ventures?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Who declared the NBN a white elephant, apart from your good self?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The LNP are continuing on with it...............................in a slower, less efficient way.&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 10:22:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702699#M458990</guid>
      <dc:creator>cherry*135</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T10:22:06Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702735#M459016</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;A target="_blank" href="http://youtu.be/b-6E5yX1E0U"&gt;http://youtu.be/b-6E5yX1E0U&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 10:45:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702735#M459016</guid>
      <dc:creator>crosbystills</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T10:45:50Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702760#M459030</link>
      <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;@am*3 wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;a href="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/437353"&gt;@poddster&lt;/a&gt; wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;P&gt;How do those figures compare to 43 Billion on the NBN white elephant and all the other Rudd/Gillard failed ventures?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Who declared the NBN a white elephant, apart from your good self?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The LNP are continuing on with it...............................in a slower, less efficient way.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Plus NBN Co was set up as a GBE (just like the old Telecom and Auspost) that borrows the money for the build and repays it as it's revenue increases so it never would have been a burden on the taxpayer.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If we follwed some people's logic we'd still be using candles and the dunny man at dawn.&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:07:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702760#M459030</guid>
      <dc:creator>gleee58</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T11:07:52Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702765#M459032</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;Then we have Abbott using 'scare' tactics by saying we will end up like Spain or Greece to try and get his dud Budget measures passed in Senate. (quote:&amp;nbsp;&lt;SPAN&gt;"&lt;EM&gt;We are at risk of succumbing to the European disease&lt;/EM&gt;.)&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;e.g.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Spain with 50% unemployment rate&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size="2"&gt;Spain&amp;nbsp;with&amp;nbsp;Debt to GDP of 92.10 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2013&lt;/FONT&gt;.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:17:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702765#M459032</guid>
      <dc:creator>cherry*135</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T11:17:06Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Tony Abbott's Support Page</title>
      <link>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702775#M459037</link>
      <description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;a href="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1009629"&gt;@gleee58&lt;/a&gt; wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;@am*3 wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;a href="https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/437353"&gt;@poddster&lt;/a&gt; wrote:&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;P&gt;How do those figures compare to 43 Billion on the NBN white elephant and all the other Rudd/Gillard failed ventures?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Who declared the NBN a white elephant, apart from your good self?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The LNP are continuing on with it...............................in a slower, less efficient way.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Plus NBN Co was set up as a GBE (just like the old Telecom and Auspost) that borrows the money for the build and repays it as it's revenue increases so it never would have been a burden on the taxpayer.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If we follwed some people's logic we'd still be using candles and the dunny man at dawn.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;HR /&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;P&gt;Yeah, thank God Labor isn't in power atm.&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:24:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/Tony-Abbott-s-Support-Page/m-p/1702775#M459037</guid>
      <dc:creator>nevynreally</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2015-01-25T11:24:27Z</dc:date>
    </item>
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