What’s kept Australia going through the financial crisis is all the policies she opposed - paying off government debt, the GST, the Future Fund, deregulation of the labour market.”“The Prime Minister is a socialist at home and free marketeer in Mexico,” jokes Costello. “She crosses the International Date Line and has a cathartic experience.” Gillard’s championing of labour market flexibility was what Costello found most “hilarious” in her G20 pronouncements at Mexico’s Los Cabos. “She, of course, is the person who introduced Fair Work Australia, the whole essence of which was to reduce flexibility… How she could lecture anyone on that is weird.
Gillard’s small audience was none too impressed, either. The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso snapped at reporters: “Frankly, we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.
Classic Miranda, 2011: “The 90-second video was played to much applause at the NDP convention last weekend. “I look forward to building even closer ties between our two countries and our two parties. Together we seek a more just and prosperous world,” says Gillard. “For all the great days that lie behind us, even greater days lie ahead.” That should send a chill down every Australian spine. The NDP, which became Canada’s official opposition party this year for the first time in its 50-year history, is not a mere tame social democratic party. It is avowedly socialist, so much so that its members could not agree to take the word “socialist” out of its constitution last weekend. Its Marxist-flavoured constitution includes the goal: “That the production and distribution of goods and services shall be directed to meeting the social and individual needs of people within a sustainable environment and economy and not to the making of profit.” The NDP aims to “modify and control the operations of the monopolistic productive and distributive organisations through economic and social planning”. And the party is committed to socialising all industries, including the media and primary resources, and in 1998 advocated a policy likening Canadian soldiers to terrorists.
“
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“Canada’s troops in Afghanistan have been “acting like terrorists, destroying communities, killing and maiming innocent people”, according to a resolution that will be voted on by New Democrats at the party’s convention in Quebec City this weekend. The resolution is one of 104 proposals on international affairs from local riding associations that will be presented at the convention.”
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2d1586cd-646f-4358-93e5-567e77d87b59
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Classic Miranda, 2011: “So we were treated last Sunday night to the sight of the PM standing patiently on a concrete pad outside the shed, perfectly comfortable with being barred from entry while Mathieson and Wooley and the camera-MAN strolled inside. It was gobsmacking. Here is a woman regarded as a shining light of Australian feminism, the most senior female politician of all time. And here she was humiliating Australian women by belittling herself. She should have railed against the sexism. She should have stalked inside in her high heels and smoked a cigarette. The image of the Prime Minister waiting outside Tim’s shed will endure as her greatest shame.
Classic Miranda, 2011: “Regardless of her shameless bluster last week, there is no difference between a carbon “price” and a carbon tax. Whatever it’s called, it is a tax on carbon dioxide emissions – and pain for households struggling with energy bills.
Classic Miranda, 2011: “WHEN Alan Jones called the Prime Minister “Ju-liar” on air last week during a combative interview on his top-rating radio show he was denounced for the disrespect. But what else do you call the government’s backflip over a carbon tax but a lie?
Classic Miranda, 2011: “IF YOU are the Prime Minister you shouldn’t find yourself telling a radio talk show host, “you don’t need to patronise me”. Your dignity and authority should be so established that you are above such petty bickering. But Julia Gillard is a woman and her uncharacteristically angry comment to radio 3AW’s Neil Mitchell on Friday betrayed, just for a moment, the burden of her sex. When a woman says she is being patronised by a man, what she means is that he is treating her politely, but as if she is a lesser person. It is the most subtle form of sexism and the most difficult to combat, since it is usually done unconsciously and without malice. But when it occurs it is an unwelcome mirror of how the world perceives you, no matter what your status.
“
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I know how Neil Mitchell feels about the Prime Minister doesn’t reflect how I feel about her; and the polls often show that she’s preferred Prime Minister over Tony Abbott who the shock jocks treat like a son. As Bob Brown said the sexism directed at the Prime Minister comes from male “commentators” ie. the shock jocks; and their minuscule anti-carbon tax rallies show how fringe and unrepresentative of the majority of Australians they are.
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Classic Miranda, 2011: “Their fury is not entirely about money, although coming at a time of fragile consumer confidence and soaring prices for electricity, water, food and fuel, the sum is not insignificant, especially in Sydney. It is driven partly by the principle that we already pay so much tax a competent government should be able to cover contingencies like floods. And there is the deflating suspicion that, judging by pink batts, school halls and $900 cheques, money diverted to flood reconstruction won’t be prudently managed. But anger over the levy is also about bedrock values. It’s what happens when you turn self-reliant individuals into rent-seekers and supplicants to government. While you might make people dependent they won’t thank you for it. They will hate you.
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“The former conservative prime minister John Howard was a great defender of “middle-class welfare”, although he hated the term. His government famously worked the budget for all it was worth, delivering family tax benefits, baby bonuses and private health insurance rebates in return for a swag of votes from working families who preferred not to think of such gratuities as “welfare”, but rather as support for well-deserving families like … well, them.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/tough-past-makes-a-mockery-of-the-culture-of-entitlement-20120215-1t783.html#ixzz1mXbrk1XF
” In a report to be released on Wednesday, Tax Watch says Australia ranks in the bottom third of oeCD countries in terms of tax levels. ”
…
“Tax Watch says it is also striking that Australia’s government expenditure, as a share of GDP, is very low.
“”The oeCD only gives data for 28 of the 30 countries, but of those 28 we’re the third lowest in terms of government expenditure,” Professor Disney said.
“So we’re not a big government-spending country.”“
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-13/top-economists-want-tax-loopholes-closed/394514
“Before the program, the industry experienced around 1 fire per every 765 odd installations – or 1.3 fires per every 1000 installs. Under the insulation program, even though the number of total fires increased by 2.3 times, the number of installations increased by 18.7 times compared to what happened before the program. As a result, under the program the industry experienced 1 fire per every 6158 odd installs – or 0.16 fires per 1000 installs. That makes the insulation program around 8 times safer in terms of fire incidents compared to the state of the industry before the program.”
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2010/10/19/insulation-fire-risk-%E2%80%93-the-data-is-in/
 http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/anao-report-on-ber-fact-meets-narrative.html
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Last night on the ABC’s Q&A panel show, she mocked the Prime Minister’s figure, saying Julia Gillard should face the fact she has a “big bum”. Greer thinks the PM’s jackets are all wrong because from behind they go “horizontal”. According to her the jackets are cut too narrow at the hips. Nice, really nice. No matter whether or not you support the PM’s policies, this is the lowest criticism. Because of her status as a feminist icon, Greer has just legitimised every misogynist to attack Gillard’s appearance. As if they need any encouragement.
