Media Buddies Deliver Scathing Assessment of PM’s Performance

They also delivered scathing assessments of Gillard and Rudd, were they right then too?

Mr Abbott said that he tried to avoid scoring himself.

“If I score myself high, people think I’m full of myself. If I score myself low, people think I’m lacking in self-confidence.”

He gave front bench all “A”s. Does that mean that he’s full of themselves?

PM Tony Abbott tells voters to stay positive and just ignore criticism of his Government.

Shouldn’t be hard. Most who voted for him are capable of ignoring facts, they’ve proven that for sure.

lol Ricky 🙂

Julie Bishop a leader of style and substance

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/julie-bishop-a-leader-of-style-and-substance/story-fni0cvc9-1227159937955

julie bishop. A fucken Hypocrite

Good to see Albanese putting this to the flame.

It is almost criminal the way the yabot grubmint tried to threaten the Vics into pushing ahead with this monstrous bulls up

“The Napthine Government chose not to tell Infrastructure Australia about the facts. And Tony Abbott chose not to ask. He funded the project anyway. No checks. No rigour.”

In the letter to the office, Mr Albanese asks the Auditor-General to look at “the actions of the Commonwealth Government in making an advance payment to the Victorian Government of $1 billion for East West Link Stage 2 on or about June 30, 2014 and at a time when the Commonwealth was claiming a “Budget emergency”.”

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/federal-auditor-called-on-to-look-at-east-west-20141218-12a15z.html

How many times did Labor promise a surplus budget?

About half as many times as hockey did. 😉

What’s the bet he’s hung over again 😉

The missing element in this week’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, and more broadly, in current government policy, stares Australians in the face. Revenue needs to be increased. Increasing taxes, reducing tax concessions and eliminating loopholes are all options, which I and other commentators have argued for.

https://theconversation.com/without-revenue-australia-can-only-have-half-a-budget-debate-35537

This is the same mob who are giving tax payer moneys to large multi-nationals.

Priorities?

A community service sector survey shows it is in crisis as 80% of organisations say they lack the resources to meet demand, which is rising due to budget cuts

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/18/welfare-recipients-face-bleak-christmas-charities-warn-abbott-government

“”Sqweal keeps saying this because the Kouk is always on the money, accurate and credible. “”

ROFLMAO

wow!

ROFL

Looks like the libs might be getting themselves a science miniature

Radio journalist and respected scientist Alan Jones told his listeners on 2GB this morning that the Higgs Boson Particle – supposedly ‘discovered’ after almost fifty years of research – is just a cooked-up conspiracy from physics extremists.

http://www.theshovel.com.au/2012/07/05/alan-jones-reassures-australia-that-the-higgs-boson-particle-doesnt-exist/

the shovel ROFL

blewitts finding out how good and reliable his liberal mates* are.

The commission’s recommendations include criminal charges be considered against Julia Gillard’s former boyfriend, Bruce Wilson, and his alleged accomplice Ralph Blewitt for corruption involving an Australian Workers Union slush fund, the AWU Workplace Reform Association.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/bruce-wilson-ralph-blewitt-should-be-charged-royal-commission/story-e6frg6n6-1227161666877

I note they cannot get any story out with bringing up Gillards name. Their sleeze will continue into eternity.

“Perhaps because the death of somebody who made an impact on a large part of community ……….”

Like I said she’s barely known outside of Victoria . ABC24 could be put to better use IF it needs to exist at all

AWU

20 fucken years ago

And theirs already been one of these royal witch hunts between

How much did they piss up against the wall trying to pin something, anything on Thomson?

And even now, Thomson isn’t sure what he’s been charged with (which could be a reason he hasn’t appealed)

Meanwhile, he could run for Parliament again ROFL (but why would he?)

Makes yabot trying to flee the chamber a fucken bigger joke than it was.

make the super rich pay their fair share

We could have a tax that miners pay when they start earning super profits?

(*note – apparently it is a “duplicitous sexist attack” to refer to Gillard as “her” or “she”)

But it is one to refer to her repeatedly as “she” instead of her title

#justsayin

meanwhile, Australia’s self proclaimed “heart continues to naval gaze back from the future.

Rather than Link to satirical sites and claiming factual content why dont you actually link to proof he said that ?

This is way more fun 🙂

You are an absolute Idiot

I think you mean – You’re an ABOSLUTE IDIOT!!

Yep I agree.

Gillard/Rudd did everything that TomR said a govt should re: car manufacturing. They gave them millions perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.

And all that happened was that locally made cars hit a record low of 10% of the market. All subsidies did was produce cars that nobody wanted to buy.

But TomR said we should give Holden even more money.

So your very last bastion of defence is that the Judge is corrupt ?

You’ll have to point to where I said that.

Can you explain why a judge would amended the charges though. It seems quite strange

(At a vague guess, it could be an efficiency in the administration of justice thing; a rehearsal of what would likely happen if the matter went upstairs, and/or if the matter went upstairs only to be kicked back downstairs; and a means of affixing the terrain and terms of engagement(s), either (or both) way(s).)

For comparison, hows the media been with this one

I didn’t say conspiracy yomm, see my above 😉

Anyway, I’m off for xmas beers

enjoy whatever it is you are doing 😉

There is just so much credibility for Tom R and his “Craig is innocent” ilk…

• It’s a media beat up
• He “settled with Fairfax”
• Craig is innocent
• Wait until he makes his statement in parliament
• Think of the baby!
• Wait until FWA has finished the investigation
• FWA is wrong/corrupt/they’re “sharing an office”
• There have been no charges
• Wait until the charges are dealt with
• That decision is so wrong
• Wait for the appeal
• The appeal judge is incompetent/corrupt/he “shares an office”
• Think of the baby!

I forgot to add

* Look over there at that slut Kathy Jackson!!

“Decency would require those who falsely accused me to apologise.”

ROFLMAO

Is this the most ridiculous statement a judge (or anyone not nil or wally) has ever made?

Heydon also said he had found it hard to judge Gillard’s credibility as a witness because she was well-prepared.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/19/union-royal-commission-finds-no-evidence-of-serious-wrongdoing-by-julia-gillard

So, in this dimwits eyes, the fact that Gillard; who has been pursued over this matter for twenty odd years, and feverishly attacked and badgered for the past two or so years, to the point where she was forced to stand in front of every journo available (or able to phone anyone else) and answered ALL their questions in two marathon interviews; is for some reason “well-prepared” 😯

He even goes on to further claim that he took the word of an 83 year old ex builder over Gillard (who has to date been correct in everything she has stated) because she got angry during the cross-examination. 😯

Well, no shit dimwit, in fact,I recall himself getting angry at the prosecution badgering and repeatedly accusing her of the same thing over and over and over even after the dimwit had ordered them to stop.

Now he claims she got “testy” (my words). Who the fuck wouldn’t!

The political and biased nature of this royal witch hunt is becoming clearer the longer it drags on.

Failure to deal with Kathy Jackson undermines credibility of Royal Commission

http://www.smh.com.au/national/failure-to-deal-with-kathy-jackson-undermines-credibility-of-royal-commission-20141219-12aof9.html

And, from the tone of this statement from Gillard, you have to wonder if the lawyers are about to be let loose again should not some grovelling apologies be offered up by some sniveling worms both in the ranks of the libs and their media magaphone (I don’t think that she will be so concerned with cranks and crazies on the internets, so breathe easy fellas 😉 )

When in Opposition, the Coalition made a commitment to call a Royal Commission into the AWU Workplace Reform Association matter following weeks of parliamentary political attack on me as Prime Minister. At that time, members of the then-Opposition accused me of committing a crime. The Royal Commissioner has rejected any such finding, and I am pleased he has done so. Decency would require those who falsely accused me to apologise.
The Commission’s proceedings on this particular matter have encompassed 11 days of hearings between May and September this year. As a result of requiring a Royal Commission to deal with this matter, the Abbott Government has ensured the expenditure of large amounts of public money. The Royal Commissioner recommends in his interim report that Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt be referred to prosecuting authorities. Both Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt were the subject of police investigation prior to the Royal Commission. Australians may well ask themselves whether the millions of dollars the Abbott Government has spent on a twenty-year-old matter that was already in the hands of the police would have been better allocated to health, education or law enforcement. The Royal Commissioner has made some comments about the evidence before him with which I do not agree. Most specifically, I categorically reject any suggestion that anyone other than I paid Mr Athol James for the work he performed at the property in Abottsford. I thank the staff of the Royal Commission for their courtesy to me on the day I appeared to give evidence.

bold mine.

Just what has this royal witch hunt exposed, except perhaps that any cases of fraud or misdemeanour’s within the union is both extremely rare, and largely historical.

You know, precisely the opposite of what abetz is claiming.

And speaking of apologies, I wonder if the same liberal, media, or dot point addicted internet crazies will be apologising to Thomson now?

After years of allegations about prostitutes, fraud and paying for his own election with union moneys have all come to naught. Every crazy and nutjob has assumed guilt and been free and easy with the declaration that alleged guilt which in the end all turned out to be nothing. The actual illegal charges came from a place no-one considered, probably not even Thomson himself. What an evil genius.

The best lawyers and legal minds the vested interests could buy gathered together and gathered together any and all wrongdoings Thomson “might” have been guilty of and threw them at him, very publicly. A judge even found him guilty of a whole raft of them. How the haterz rejoiced. Unfortunately, on appeal, it turned out this judge appeared to have missed mightily important facets of the charges. That being, they weren’t illegal. What a friggin dope (to put it in the nicest terms)

Another judge laughed them ALL out of court, and, after applying perfect 20 -20 hindsight vision to everything thrown at Thomson, and the hindsight of just what might be legal and what might not be, has now declared him guilty of a small number of different charges from using his own credit card, which he had already charged hundreds of thousands of dollars to and been found to be perfectly legal for to do so.

A total of $3,500 over a period of five years. Almost a third of what yabot rorted from taxpayers to ply his book in one outing! And, considering it took the best legal minds in the country and several attempts to actually decide if these were legal or not, it would be hard to mount a case that Thomson was deliberately “stealing” this money in a major crime operation. It is unclear what this money was used for (which is probably the illegal part). It could have been used for union business, it could have been used for prostitutes (both could still be the same).

We will wait and see if Thomson appeals these new charges or not, but it does appear that he is deserving of a major apology from the tens of thousands of people who have accused him of all of these other far more serious wrongdoings, only for him to be finally charged for wrongdoing over a matter that even many of the best legal minds failed to spot as illegal, which offers up little hope that Thomson himself recognised them as illegal at the time.

All from a person who made many enemies with the HSU for his efforts to try and apply some rigour to the accounting practices of the union.

I don’t smell a rat at all.

There I was thinking that Thomson didn’t contest that he’d used union funds for prostitutes

His excuse was that he’d presumed this was his right

There I was thinking that Thomson didn’t contest that he’d used union funds for prostitutes

He didn’t contest it is all, he also still maintains he didn’t. It turns out he was correct, and those allegations meant naught.

only on whether someone has a criminal conviction or not.

No, I’m only saying that you, amongst many others, have accused Thomson of crimes he has been cleared of.

The crime he was finally, exhaustingly, found guilty of, was only discovered by acute legal minds looking anywhere and everywhere.

‘The crime he was finally, exhaustingly, found guilty of….’

He would have ended up in the clink if the Prosecution hadn’t screwed up.

(6. at least is probably wrong; his lawyer said, as I vaguely recall, something like, and for purposes of a defence, those sorts of claims were irrelevant in law (and also in fact), for both the charges and for a defence of them; those were the charges where that line of reasoning was accepted originally, and also the charges which were thrown out, and formed the basis of the appellate judge’s rehearsal of the very best/worst of those allegations, chapter and verse, to demonstrate their continuing irrelevance to any case the prosecution might have thought it had; the problem for/with the remaining charges perhaps might be that the general defence to a scattergun of interrelated moral claims dressed up in legal rags was a latency of presentation of an active, specific, item-by-item defence to the charges, original or amended; although, that too would seem to discount a notion that a defence team in any way did or didn’t contest ‘the fact that he did did in fact’, generally or specifically, as said per se; and yet, it could be said, that he or his defence always had the opportunity for having to have done so, but can the same be said of the remainder, amended charges now separated out?)

The fix was in on kathy jackson from the start, she has been allowed to treat the RC with contempt, it is obvious that she is being protected within the RC, that is how you can see it is a complete witch hunt.

Seems to be a huge double standard if you ask me. Every Lib govt. instigates a union RC [abbott’s done two of them], this time they were so outraged that gillard became PM that they had to try and pulverise her over ridiculous 20 yo claims.

Slimy sinodinos scurries off to the back bench after he’s foiled from gaining $200,000,000 – not a whisper of his corruption, abott today saying what a great man he is. We’ve still got the ashbygate saga that has gone nowhere under the lib owned AFP.

Abbott has done many dirty and possibly illegal, corrupt deeds over the last 20 years, even while in parliament and he stands up like he’s some kind of puritan, king of the dung heap known as australian politics, all the while being a main player in a liberal party political mafia whose tentacles reach into every system of governance here.

Labor had better start taking down some of these libs and their backers, no more letting them off the hook like the AWB scandal.
Remember abbott during ICAC “it’s only illegal because the rules were changed”, never mind that they couldn’t stick to those rules.

It’s all complete BS and waste of time and our money. I am even more convinced that we need to get rid of them all. What if they held an election and no one voted?

Plain packaging of cigarettes has turned smokers off their habit.

Australia’s world-first plain-package tobacco laws are having the desired effect — with eight out of ten smokers saying they don’t like the look of their ugly packs of cigarettes.

The number of users worried about their smoking has also doubled since plain packs were introduced two years ago, according to the British Medical Journal.

And half of all smokers say they support the new packaging.

This follows another Cancer Institute study which reported a 78 per cent increase in calls to Quitline after plain packaging was introduced in December 2012.

And the latest National Drug Strategy Household survey which found the proportion of the adult population smoking had plunged from 15.1 to 12.8 per cent between 2010 and 2013.

In a world first in 2012 Australia made it mandatory for cigarettes to be sold in drab packaging with graphic health warnings covering 90 per cent of the back of the pack and 75 per cent of the front of the pack.

The rules were designed to reduce the appeal of tobacco products, increase the effectiveness of health warnings and reduce the ability of packaging to mislead about the harm smoking causes.

A new study by the Cancer Institute NSW shows the rules are achieving their objectives.

“We’re seeing some real changes in the perception of smokers and their quitting behaviour,” says Cancer Institute NSW chief Professor David Currow.

The Cancer Institute’s Tobacco Tracking Survey includes around 15,745 adult smokers (aged 18 years and over) in New South Wales (NSW).

Since 2006 it has been interviewing around 50 people a week about their responses to health warnings on tobacco packs.

It found two to three months after the introduction of plain packaging there was a significant increase in the absolute proportion of smokers having strong response to the packs.

The prominence of the new health warnings saw an increase in smokers encouraged to quit the habit from 13 to 20 per cent.

The research found eight in ten smokers no longer thought their cigarette pack was attractive, up from two in ten.

A similar proportion no longer thought their pack was fashionable, influenced the brand they bought or matched their style.

Since the introduction of plain packs, smokers were more likely to report that on-pack health warnings made them worry that they shouldn’t be smoking (from 13 per cent to 27 per cent).

“This first-of-its-kind study demonstrates the clear and sustained impact tobacco plain packaging has had on the prominence of on-pack health warnings, as well as negative perceptions about tobacco packs,” Professor Currow said.

“If plain cigarette packs can intensify smokers’ responses to warnings, as shown in this study, we can undoubtedly expect flow-on effects on consumption and quitting as a direct result of plain packaging.

Other countries around the world including England and Ireland are closely watching Australia’s plain packaging experiment and are poised to introduce plain packs.

Professor Currow said this latest research should give them courage.

(Another example for the ‘conviction that unspeakable crimes just are (and are spoken about and spoken about and spoken about, with scant regard for basics like technical or any particular accuracy, and scant regard for the perils of, or the taking of rudimentary precautions against, making potentially prejudicial, trial-by-media-esque statements and/or implications) file’:

Exhibit A: “KATHLEEN Pabai used to see the murdered children whenever they visited their grandfather, George.”
Exhibits B & C: “Mother arrested for murder after eight children found dead in home in Murray St, Manoora”, “She was arrested overnight, but he said it was unknown when charges would be laid.”

Maybe, Grace and Scott and the rest of the NewsCrop gang, that’s why actual charges, if any, concerning alleged crimes, if any, of the kind being claimed in reporting on the circumstances of a current event, (might/will) tend to be couched, ultimately, in language very much like ‘unlawful killing’, aka murder, if that’s how it goes; just like an arrest for suspicion of the same. That children have been killed may be beyond doubt; how, why, by whom, and with what legal significance would seem, and probably is, yet to be determined, and yet to be determined by, and with, relevant authority, after due investigation and consideration, and after the full legal process has been undertaken, and not before.)

…and has Abbott’s version of wall punching changed? I suppose you’ll just have to accept his version now, because he’s a Prime Minister and therefore entitled to assert he’s of outstanding character.

The notion that an individual should be believed because they happened to become a politician (and landed the PMs job) is stupid.

‘What, you’re telling me …’

Yes, he didn’t defraud the credit card people, the lad was being a lad with union money, assuming it came with the job. The man is a renown serial liar, so this leap into corrupt practice was completely in character.

The notion that an individual should be believed because they happened to become a politician

That’s probably why I said that Gillards version might have been more believable is because she has had one story, unchanged, that has been shown to be accurate when and where evidence has come forward to verify or not, whereas the prosecution has changed as evidence unfolds.

Yeah. Gillard is so honest and should be taken at her Gillard’s word – just ask Andrew Wilkie.

She Gillard couldn’t even keep her Gillard’s written word.

(That’s probably why I said that Gillards version might have been more believable is because she has had one story, unchanged, that has been shown to be accurate when and where evidence has come forward to verify or not, whereas the prosecution has changed as evidence unfolds.

No time-machine for Gillard or her detractors; it is what it is, and was what it was; no matter how much a recommended RC, and its Commissioner, might or might not be proceeding with an explicit view to converting (un)lawful conduct into (un)lawful, as norm-ally tasked?)

Yeah!!

Wilkie acted in bad faith! Gillard was right to break her written commitment!!

(So, no, Wilkie didn’t keep to his half of the agreement, strictly-speaking, and, along with Xenophon, overplayed his poker hand, believing that the Gillard government was weak, which it was, when they pushed for reforms of a kind and of a timeframe beyond those to which Wilkie and Gillard had agreed in writing; thereby undermining Gillard’s ability to rely on the Productivity Commission’s general recommendations to build a stronger case for specific reform proposals, within and on behalf of a Gillard Government and on behalf of Wilkie, as agreed, thusly almost sabotaging the lot, beyond what she managed to retrieve as a terrible negotiator and notoriously dishonest woman; especially when the then-Opposition abruptly broke with bipartisanship and reversed its similarly-oriented, long(er)term poker-machine gambling reform policy, because it was convenient to do so if it might bring further harmony to parliament and to all concerned?)

Yeah, Wilkie just cannot be trusted, whereas Gillard went to all the trouble of legislating unilaterally in accordance with her commitment in 7.7 of her Gillard’s agreement with WIlkie!!

I think I’m saying Gillard made a range of commitments in order to become Prime Minister. She Gillard wrote them on a piece of paper and then signed it.

She Gillard then didn’t keep to her Gillard’s word.

As far as I can recall, Wilkie was not Prime Minister.

That’s so very interesting.

Does Wilkie has the same national obligations as a Prime Minister? Did Wilkie ask to be entrusted with the welfare of the country ?

But that’s fine. I think it is great that you blame Wilkie for breaking the age mentioned. Particularly given the brave way Gillard legislated unilaterally ad required under the agreement

I don’t think yomm likes data from Meta

It’s a defence Craig hasn’t yet tried – “I blame Wilkie”

“‘Strong performers’ rule! Coz everyone likes getting things taken away from them by vindictive, scowling arseholes”

Toilet you could be talking about yourself.

You lot took away any hope of refugees from UNHCR camps making it to Australia because you voted for Rudd in 2007. Our places were swamped by boat people, most of whom appear to be economic refugees looking for a better life rather than fleeing persecution which is what our humanitarian intake is for. We have other schemes for those seeking a better life.

Under Rudd/Gillard you could buy your way into Australia.

Morrison brought more fairness into a difficult situation.

I assume you lot disagree with the way Morrison runs the refugee program.

Fact is votes have consequences and your vote in 2007 stopped any hope of refugees in UNHCR camps making it to Australia.

Morrison has reopened that avenue because the boats have stopped. He has given hope to thousands of needy people.

“Yep, sending Muslims to a “very” christian PNG … was hopeful …:

I thought it was Rudd/ALP that reopened Manus Island and sent them there?

After the ALP abolished the Pacific Solution we got 50,000 boat arrivals leading to record numbers of people being locked up.

This is what Reb, Toilet, TB et al built from 2007-2013

Curtin (near Derby, WA, reopened in 2010)
Scherger (near Weipa, Queensland, established in 2010)
Yongah Hill (near Northam, WA, established in 2012)
There was also
Inverbrackie Alternative Places of Detention opened 2010
Leonora Alternative Place of Detention opened 2010
Port Augusta Immigration Residential Housing reopened 2010″
Of course i forgot to mention Manus Island reopened in 2012

Morrison has stopped the boats opening up the possibility of taking people from UNHCR camps rather than people with $$$$$$$$10,000.

“Yep, sending Muslims to a “very” christian PNG … was hopeful …”

If you are talking about Reza berati, he was sent to Manus Island by the AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Berati

“Berati had arrived in Australia on 24 July 2013 – just five days after the PNG solution was announced – and was sent to Manus Island in August. He was killed on 17 February 2014.[3″

It was the ALP who locked up record numbers of men, women and children.

Morrison is slowly emptying the detention centers. Now the boats have stopped we can now take people from UNHCR camps.

Actually you are right- i don’t get it.

I think you are saying Morrison is mean and nasty to asylum seekers so he will be mean and nasty to Australians.

I don’t think he is mean and nasty at all. I think he is tough but fair.

I don’t think Australia should have open borders like they were under the ALP.

(Hmmm, really? Abbott’s permanently narrowed Mr Broadband’s prospects, defatted and boned Julie Bishop’s DFAT, and now promoted Scott Morrison as the face of AntiSocial Services?

————————–

Agreed, Neil; Morrison was doing a heck of a job EMPTYING the DETENTION CENTRES…

…and he’s now in an even better place, to breathe fresh life into Kevin Andrews’ strong and secure efforts at building a Green & Gold Army out of dis-carded involuntary no-income management conscripts.)

armchair opinionator permalink
December 21, 2014 8:54 pm

Reposting this type of comment is just nonsense – ”Completely fail to acknowledge that the profligacy of the Howard/Costello years the root cause of the problem”

Swan was Treasurer for 6 years, and it’s still the fault of Howard & Costello??!! What was Swan doing for 6 years if our current problems are the fault of people who lost office 7 years ago?

Howard’s pork now amounts to $30 billion of the budget and the deficit is $40 billion. We would be so much better off, almost at surplus if the Howard costello drunken sailors had not pissed away a once only mining boom with stupid largesse. This can’t be taken back now.

That’s fine, and Swan had 6 years to do something, and didn’t. It is no use blaming an administration that hasn’t held office for 7 years – Costello/Howard – when we’ve had Swan/Rudd then Swan/Gillard then Bowen/Rudd then Hockey/Abbott since, and Swan was treasurer for 6 of the 7 years.

(Like, a rehearsal of blame-shifting nominees is great, but if the root-cause of a problem really was seven and more years ago, and has persisted because conditions have neither allowed for its rectification and because it can’t be talked about fully, how is Jolly Joe going to be in a better position to fix it?)

I you don’t think Labor tried to wind back costello’s profligacy, then you weren’t taking notice yomm, or caught up in the media led “class war” rhetoric

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/the-new-aussie-battlers-earn-150000/story-e6frea6u-1226054249912?nk=090fae38648fe827d2729538dce0a114

They did make many small rectifications. Of course, they shouldn’t have signed onto the dumbass tax breaks howard promised, but, imagine the risk of howard winning that election?

As has been shown, Labor had a credible plan to return us to a balanced budget position. This grubmint has unwound all of that

It was Wayne Swan that gave us tax cuts which allegedly are causing us problems. This from Swans very last budget.

http://www.budget.gov.au/2013-14/content/overview/html/overview_41.htm

“The Government has delivered $47 billion of tax cuts in our first four years since coming to office. In addition, we have provided further tax cuts as assistance for the cost of living impact of the carbon price from 2012‑13. Even after accounting for the small increase in the Medicare levy in 2014‑15 we will be delivering total tax cuts of around $20 billion a year over the next four years compared to the 2007‑08 tax scales.”

In fact Swan is so proud of his tax cuts he has a special column (the last one) showing how much better off we are with his tax cuts compared to Costello’s

However life is never simple. If Hockey put the income tax scales back to where they were in 2007 nobody knows what damage that could do. Fools like Seccombe can say that is what should be done but he does not have to bear the responsibility.

“So, fools like Abbott & Hockey are going to bear the responsibility for what they’ve done to the budget”

I guess so but they are having trouble getting what they want through the Senate.

Best not to trash the budget in the first place that that is impossible for the ALP. It must be a nightmare for any govt following an ALP govt.

Putting humpty dumpty back together may not be possible.

I see lefties all over internet land are quoting the article by Seccombe that the Costello tax cuts are causing us problems.

Well why didn’t Swan reverse them? You govern for the times. Not only did Swan not reverse them he bragged about how great his tax cuts were compared to Costello’s.

But maybe Hockey should do what Seccombe suggests. He should get up and say he has listened to Seccombe and is putting back income tax levels to what they were in 2007. I wonder what that would do to the economy?

“Because, foolishly, they had promised to match them when howard had his brain fart bribe at the start of the election.”

Did Swan promise to match them at the 2010 election??????

No. Swan actually bragged about how great his tax cuts were compared to Costello. he even published a Table showing how much better his tax cuts were.

“Well, if howard was running in that one, then yea, why not”

Howard was not running in the 2010 election

“You forgot to mention “affordable” tax cuts compared with the hammock dwellers profligacy

Tax cuts were affordable in 2010?

And the hammock dweller paid off all the debt you lot created and then some.

TomR you really are a corrupt and immoral human being. You can only teach me one thing- how to be a nasty human being

(Oh, Neil’s woken up to temporary tax cuts potentially being part of a well-designed stimulus package; not the whole package of course, and not permanenently; maybe Howard and Costello just got a bit confused about macroeconomics while they were driving interest rates up and up and up.)

Oh, Neil’s woken up

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves

???????

please speak english