Question for Liberal Party supporters

[Sojourner]

Just wondering how people that are likely to vote for the Liberals or who are Rusted on Liberals feel about the Policies of "Katters Australia Party" who are currently polling one in four votes in North Queensland and are a genuine possibility of holding the balance of power in the Qld Parliament.

The policies are,

1, Opposition to carbon taxes,
2, Support for 10% minimum Ethanol to be added to Australia's petrol supply,
3, Legislate to limit Woolworths and Coles to 22.5 per cent market share each,
4, Halt any privatisation, renationalise privatised assets,
5, All government spending on goods to be on Australian products where possible.
6, Significantly increase customs duty on products coming into Australia.
7, Restore individual rights, such as "fishing freely and boiling a billy without a permit".

I can see most Libs going for no 1, yet after that I cant see anything that the Liberal Party would likely go for, yet I can see several policies there that a number of people in the community may be in favour of.

How will the Liberal Party respond? As I recall they eventually responded to One Nation by moving towards some of their policies. Its a little harder to paint Katter as a Racist as he is pro Aboriginal Rights.

Will the Liberal Party simply ignore the contents of the list, or try and make some effort to answering the challenge?

[Hondo]

Number 7 is so vague it's lame - Ok all parties at times dumb policies down for the lowest common denominator but that's ridiculous.

Is number 3 a form of communism? Why not legislate to assist a new entrant to the market instead?

I'd like to see his economic justification for hiking up the prices of imports! Bob, there's not an Australian made alternative for everything.

Populist politics to me

[Squawk]

re number 3 - market share of which market? groceries, liquor, petrol, insurance (it's coming), or overall?

[The Sleeping Giant]

Number 7 is so vague it's lame - Ok all parties at times dumb policies down for the lowest common denominator but that's ridiculous.

I can see why you would think that. Maybe look into more than what has been watered down in the OP.

http://www.ausparty.org.au/issues/end-to-nanny-state.html

I agree with his views on this.

[Sky Pilot]

Number 7 is so vague it's lame - Ok all parties at times dumb policies down for the lowest common denominator but that's ridiculous.

Is number 3 a form of communism? Why not legislate to assist a new entrant to the market instead?

I'd like to see his economic justification for hiking up the prices of imports! Bob, there's not an Australian made alternative for everything.

Populist politics to me

Perish the thought that a democracy would want to introduce policies that the majority of punters would agree with.

[Hondo]

I know, but you've got to have some substance behind the populist headlines. If a politician promised to give us each $50,000 it would be popular and we would all agree with it but in 12 months the country would be broke. Extreme example I know.

Let's just say that I think Katter knows what buttons he needs to push in country QLD.

[Sojourner]

My responses to each would be,

1, Not opposed providing I see it going into Green Infrastructure for Australia be that Green Power stations or the High Speed Rail link off set with Green Power and so on,

2, Totally agree, all new cars should run on E85, the technology is not that hard and Ethanol production is a good use of previously wasted crops of fruit and so on. Would rather produce our own fuel than import it. plus Ethanol although still polluting has less nasties in it.

3, Think the horse has bolted, don't have a problem with legislation to stop Woolies and Coles buying up land and not using it to keep ALDI and COSTCO out of SA as is the current situation, think that to have two firms controlling 80+ % of the market is ridiculous and its already proven that groceries in Australia are generally dearer than in Europe for the same items, think one way of fixing it would be to make a law that x no of % of Coles Woolworths profits should go to a fund enabling the others to start up stores to compete with them to reduce their market share.

4, Agree, think the Government should run Trans Adelaide not private operators. Think the State and Federal Government should invest in a partnership with a Tram Building company in the Northern Hemisphere to build Trams out of Whyalla Steel at Tonsley, if its a two year wait to get a Tram then the market is clearly there to sell them.

5, Sick of seeing Australian manufacturers going broke competing against crap made in sweat shops imported for 0 tariff whilst exports from Australia are subject to steep tariffs, think all tariffs should be level pegged, if its 30% to export furniture to Malaysia then it should be 30% on any of their stuff likewise.

6, Agree to some extent, don't see how government officials should be able to have more power than the police to enter a farmers property, think Australia is over governed and could do without State Governments to get it started.

[Hondo]

On Coles and Woolies I would support denying them access to the retail petrol market. The more different retail markets they can participate in the more they can cross-subsidise their products to barr new entrants be it independent petrol retailers or supermarkets.

The Govt stopped their push to get into pharmaceuticals retail.

All that said, it's just not as easy as that because Coles for example are owned by Wesfarmers so if Coles are limited to 22.5% then what about another supermarket retail company controlled by Wesfarmers? What about one that is not controlled by Wesfarmers but related to it.

Incentives to promote more competition or restrict anti-competitive behaviour could be better. That said, as someone said today on radio it is us consumers that ultimately support Coles and Woolies to have so much market share. Unfortunately a lot of us are ambivalent about our weekly shopping bill and are happy to stick with the local supermarket whatever it is. Granted Coles and Woolies do everything they can to ensure we shop with them.

[Sojourner]

Think its not as hard to break up Woolies and Coles as people might think, Romeos Foodland took over Coles at the Modbury Triangle and took over all its staff and stock and transitioned it over pretty well. Over at Ingle Farm Shopping Centre they have two supermarkets, both are Coles - clearly they really compete heavilly against one another! Situations like that should not be allowed to occur and Coles should have to sell one of them at cost price to a competitor to ensure proper competition!

[Psyber]

1, Opposition to carbon taxes,
I'm concerned about taxes or trading schemes that don't actually reduce pollution or emissions, but let you just buy offsets - probably overseas.
So I'm opposed to these, but in favour of real reduction policies, with support for the cost of making the change, perhaps funded by a Pollution Tax or Levy - not just a Carbon one.
I'm concerned we are so preoccupied with Carbon we are overlooking other "nasties".
I'm not sure polluting industries should be allowed to pass these costs on to the end user, as that dilutes motivation to make change.

2, Support for 10% minimum Ethanol to be added to Australia's petrol supply,
Not all cars can use 10% Ethanol or even 5%, because of increased corrosion of some alloys and a tendency to dissolve slowly some rubber or plastic components.
Alternative fuels would have to remain available for vehicles that cannot use ethanol.
Also, some pollutants are reduced by using an ethanol mix and others are increased.
Then there is the risk of market economics causing land to be converted from food production to fuel source production.
This one is a mixed bag that needs working through until much cleaner hydrogen fuel is an option. (It is being deployed in Germany now.)

3, Legislate to limit Woolworths and Coles to 22.5 per cent market share each,
I'd support preventing monopolies being set up in any industry.
I also share Nick Xenophon's concern about Woolworths strong indirect and semi-hidden presence in the pokies industry.
(And I say that as a shareholder in Woolworths, and Coles via Wesfarmers.)

4, Halt any privatisation, renationalise privatised assets,
I'd like to see some core infrastructure like electricity generation, rail infrastructure, and telecommunication and Internet infrastructure, nationally owned.
However, I'd want to see it administered by a Trust, or a Licensee, at arm's length from political manipulation and day to day political party control.

5, All government spending on goods to be on Australian products where possible.
Yes I'd support that, and support changes to make sure any industry survives in Oz.
At this stage it looks like we will gradually lose all manufacturing capacity - so, Tariffs - "bring 'em back" - but gradually.

6, Significantly increase customs duty on products coming into Australia.
As for 5 at least to the level other countiries apply them to our goods to level the playing field..

7, Restore individual rights, such as "fishing freely and boiling a billy without a permit".
I'd need to know more about the details intended in this. We probably do need to control some regions where some species may be fragile.

DISCLAIMER: These views are purely personal and should not be read as those of any political party to which I may belong.

[straight talker]

i think we have bigger problems with the peanut we have running our country at the moment! what do you bloggers think about that has it some merit?