I just had dinner with Tony Abbott

[catsnknots]

With a small group of 28 others... 

It was awesome.... 

He is an amazing man with a great heart.... great ideas.... great sense of humour.... 

I liked him before but am now very impressed. 

It was a privilege to be there and a night I will remember for a long time. 

[cherry*135]

As an employee CM, would you not appreciate the increase in you own super funds brought about by the increasing the SGC to 12%

Will the inreases to SGC, not mean  workers will  now have a lot more in their super funds and be less reliant on Govt  ged pension in their retirement years?

TA is still going ahead with Labor's planned increase (from 9-12%) just delaying the start by two years.

For someone who is 30yo now they delay will mean an approx loss of $128 000 in their super fund.

A Coalition government will delay increases to the superannuation ­guarantee for two years and abolish a top-up payment for the unemployed to help fund a new promise to retain $4 billion in tax cuts and pension increases designed as carbon tax ­compensation.

[freakiness]

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@catmad*2013 wrote:

He is so much better looking in person... and at the end of the evening when I went to get a photo with him he even remembered what I talked about and wished my son luck on his small business...

A lot of things were talked about and even the difficulty in getting the woman vote... I think if women met him in real life they would decide to vote for him... (not all women but a lot more)  

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Nice to hear you enjoyed your meeting with Tony Abbott and that he showed interest in your son's ambitions.

His looks are really not something that turns me off voting for him, however.   

I judge on policies and attitudes. Unfortunately he has an appalling record on things I consider important.  The question of giving a character reference to a priest who was clearly not of the character described, the comments about women over a number of years, the attacks on public education and health plus his instruction to Turnbull to destroy the NBN.  Add to that his incapacity to view asylum seekers as people and his refusal to co-operate with the current government on the issue lead me to believe he is not what I want in a PM.

[cherry*135]

Our region has it's new unemployment rate and it is 9.9%.....  not looking good for us right now. 

I also live in an area with a high unemployment rate. No poliical party ever seems to have any concrete plans on how they are going to address this issue, increase jobs etc, even though they might say they intend to do this.

[1sweetap6v8]

@am*3  The NBN is a dud just Like Rudd. It will be over taken buy wireless for the average user buy the time its all implemented. Anyone with just a small insight to the future in electronics can see that.  Cable is yesterdays hero.  And wireless was invented buy an Aussie.

OH and a tip, in all this time its only in 200,000 properties out of more than 23,000,000 it needs to be in. Then theres the COST.

I wouldnt be waving and shouting about that one to much if at all.

[freddie*rooster]

Well sweet, I hope you feel better now you have all that off your chest.

You sound like someone Tony would have loved to had dinner with.

[catsnknots]

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@am*3 wrote:

Our region has it's new unemployment rate and it is 9.9%.....  not looking good for us right now. 

I also live in an area with a high unemployment rate. No poliical party ever seems to have any concrete plans on how they are going to address this issue, increase jobs etc, even though they might say they intend to do this.

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When Howard was in unemployment rate was 3.7%.... 

our area really is a barometer for the rest of the country... when it does well it goes really well and when it goes bad we go really bad. 

I have to go out but when I come back I will let you know what i think is a really good idea from the Coalition that might save the Northern parts of the whole country from this instability. 

[polksaladallie]

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It was very interesting to hear what Peta and Tony had to say on the subject. 

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The identical script, I would guess.

[polksaladallie]

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@lakeland27 wrote:

 i seem to remember a certain Rudd up to his chest in brisbanes floods.   ..

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He was, LL.  And the premier squatted on a park bench for his photo ops, so he wouldn't get dirty.

[cherry*135]

I don't agree with your assessment of the NBN at all sweetp. You do realise the NBN is laying of optic fibre cable don't you?

Why is the LNP going ahead with the NBN if elected, if it such a big lemon for Australia?  Even Tony saw sense and changed his mind about it.

I am in an area that was one of the first test stages for NBN in NSW (completed in Nov 2011) now they are in the 1st stage rollout of the rest of the town. The NBN workers are in fact busily working outside the building I work in at present - yay.

The NBN will survive the federal election

Whoever wins the election this year there will be an NBN. The difference between the ALP's NBN plan and the Coalition's plan comes down to who borrows the money for the last bit of fibre - the Government or you, writes Alan Kohler.

It is easy to forget that the national broadband network is basically a bipartisan project that's going pretty well, considering it was more or less impossible.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-17/kohler-nbn-debate/4824756

[izabsmiling]

QLD has had a Liberal Premier hasn't it ?