A bit of good news - political

[boris1gary]

it's a start......

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/budget-2014-reply-bill-shorten-says-labor-w...

Making his first post-budget address-in-reply speech as Opposition Leader, Mr Shorten rounded on Prime Minister Tony Abbott for breaking promises. He vowed  to block punitive changes to Newstart that would force some young unemployed people to exist without the dole, along with a shift in the pension age to 70, tightening of Family Tax Benefit Part B eligibility relating to children aged over six, and the move to restore twice yearly indexation to fuel excise.

The planned $7 per visit charge for seeing a  GP will also be blocked, with Mr Shorten slamming it as “ideological” and more akin to the hardline right-wing policies of the Tea Party in the US. However Mr Shorten declined to propose alternative savings.

In a hard-hitting speech emphasising what the opposition says were “wilful” lies told to the Australian people, Mr Shorten told Parliament Australians were both shocked and angry “at a prime minister who pretended he was on their side”.

[lakeland27]

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@kilroy_is_here wrote:
So you see blocking supply as a good thing , you see a double dissolution election that will send as back to the polls as a good thing , you see the millions of dollars it will cost for another election as a good thing ,you see all this to stroke labor ego as a good thing, you see measures to lower debt as a bad thing.

Even tho I will cop a hammering in this budget it is far better than the billions to be payed to overseas countries in interest payments, even good debt becomes toxic when the cost of the repayments outstrips the ability to pay it back.

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He isn't blocking supply . the two major parties have a convention on that one (think written treaty , agreement) money bills supply bills are never blocked due to real (and not imagined as hockey used it pre election) sovereign risk. it doesn't happen.  howard had to deal with harradine and the democrats .  where are they now.the real question you guys should be asking is palmer. he's got abbott by the throat.

[freshwater-2]

I have never been a fan of Bill Shorten.   However....

I was absolutely gobsmacked by his response to the Budget tonight.

Articulate, and all inclusive and spoken from the heart. 

Covered all the important issues which concerned decent Australians.

He showed up the heartless and arrogant federal government for what it is......a bunch of bogan cretins.

The Libs looked very uncomfortable judging by the body language.

Onya Bill.

[freshwater-2]

Incidentally, NW, Shorten was there to respond to the Federal Budge, not to offer alternative solutions..

And he did that job very well.

And would you please stop shouting....it doesn't add credibility.

[debra9275]

He's gone up in my books too Freshie, we were impressed, didn't think he had it in him

[izabsmiling]

Australians are pulling their heads out and seeing that they have been conned and robbed and that what has occured is straight out of the playbook of  American 'Peter Peterson's FIX THE DEBT' .See ALEC 

Australians are seeing that everything which was promised was a lie.

Governing for all Australians means helping wealthy multi national and national corporations take the rights of Australians,more privitisation,less protection for us and our environment (tape) away in order to make more $'s.

Australians have seen what the Asylum seeker crisis meant to the Coalition government....Tony Abbott's first trip was 'business' not Asylum seekers.Chosen business people accompanied him to Indonesia to establish business ties.What about the Asylum seeker crisis?What was the payoff for these business people and how did Tony Abbott 'select' which ones?Did they make donations?Where they to set up their Australian business operations on the books in Indonesia? Similar to how Google avoided paying tax here?Why was 74 million in debt to Indonesia wiped recently..if we are broke?ICAC is revealing a lot and the legally of Manus is and matter of Human Rights abuse are in Court!

The spending has doubled and the debt ceiling has been removed since the Coalition came in.Their spending is not as they said it would be pre-election.

At the moment we have lots of Court action going on.Our Government should stand down and we should have an election.

NEVER would I believe that a Government Elected by the Australian people would serve the people who elected them by ignoring their responsibility to meet their own people's Human Rights and planning to violate the human rights of Australians by DEPRIVING AUSTRALIANS THE MEANS TO LIVE.

Nero_wulf, you support Australia's Tony Abbott Coalition Government abusing the citizens who it is paid to serve as a Government? 

These sorts of things happen in 3rd world Countries.It would be a case for Amnesty International

Shame!

[freshwater-2]

Great post Izab.

Australia is no longer the nation that my family has been so privileged to belong to for eight generations.

This is a nation I no longer recognise.

Brought down by a PM who wasn't even a citizen until he was in his 20's and only then (it is reported)  to get government  funding for a Rhodes Scholarship study.....now that is ironic.

[izabsmiling]

Freshwater, I don't how we right this wrong.I take heart in knowing that most of 'attitude' which makes me sick is an illusion.I would like to see Justice done and for all Corporations who are members of ALEC in Court along with those paid to promote the lies/propaganda especally those with direct links to the Liberal Party as media advisors.

I would also like to know who was in the running to buy Australia Post?

Money can be made from postage can't it?

[izabsmiling]

Fix the Debt’s Last Harrumph

The Campaign to Fix the Debt – billionaire Pete Peterson’s Wall Street-backed austerity front group – is scaling down and shedding staff after failing to achieve any of their toxic goals.

Their fake youth group, “The Can Kicks Back,” is in debt and about to kick the bucket. They are packing up their phony “can man” and their Mercedes BMW tour mobile (bizarrely called the AmeriVAN) and putting Simpson-Bowles in mothballs. Read our piece on how astroturf got mowed by real people.

Since our February 2013 front page expose on this “astroturf supergroup” in the Nation, you helped us spread the word and call out the tax dodging hypocrites with platinum plated pensions pushing harmful budget cuts. Fix the Debt failed because Americans aren’t interested in cutting Social Security or Medicare to offset more tax handouts to big corporations.

Now we learn that President Obama has struck “chained CPI” Social Security cuts from his budget proposal. It is time to take advantage of this important victory to pivot to a discussion on how to improve and strengthen these lifesaving programs to preserve them for future generations.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt

[izabsmiling]

Big waves to the Australian citizens who've had their public voices taken away 

[bluecat*dancing]

Same here. That was a most impressive speech and definitely deserved the standing ovation. I think that Labor has taken a huge step forward in terms of credibility.