What do Labor need to do to turn it around?

[Sky Pilot]

tee hee

[fish]

After the Malaysia debacle I reckon the only thing that can turn it around is to replace their leader. Not sure where this leaves the minority government though as I heard on the radio that the independants have a deal with Ms. Gillard and not the Labor party. If Ms. Gillard is replaced then do they need to renegotiate with the independants or not?

Interesting times...

[Psyber]

Mike Rann is looking for a job to move on to...

[southee]

Can this man do it once again??

[Media Park]

My thoughts are that these are the senior Labor types:
Gillard- A big part of the problem
Albanese- The Labor equivalent of Christopher Pyne
Swan- Mismanaged the budget
Crean- Tried and failed
Rudd- Outside of QLD, where he is loved, he is not as popular, the stabbed in the back garners him some support though
Smith- Solidly and quietly performing.

Similar to when Kev was the shadow foreign affairs spokesman drilling Mark Vaile and John Howard, Smith is the only senior Labor person not possessing a down side.
Most shudder at the thought of Tony Abbott becoming the Prime Minister, but he is the winner should a leadership change not occur.

[bulldogproud2]

#

[GWW]

My thoughts are that these are the senior Labor types:
Gillard- A big part of the problem
Albanese- The Labor equivalent of Christopher Pyne
Swan- Mismanaged the budget
Crean- Tried and failed
Rudd- Outside of QLD, where he is loved, he is not as popular, the stabbed in the back garners him some support though
Smith- Solidly and quietly performing.

In what ways did he mismanage the Budget?

How do our debt levels compare to other similarly developed country's debt levels as proportion of GDP, and how does our unemployment rate compare to other similar economies?

[Sky Pilot]

My thoughts are that these are the senior Labor types:
Gillard- A big part of the problem
Albanese- The Labor equivalent of Christopher Pyne
Swan- Mismanaged the budget
Crean- Tried and failed
Rudd- Outside of QLD, where he is loved, he is not as popular, the stabbed in the back garners him some support though
Smith- Solidly and quietly performing.

In what ways did he mismanage the Budget?

How do our debt levels compare to other similarly developed country's debt levels as proportion of GDP, and how does our unemployment rate compare to other similar economies?

I think you will find the outgoing Howard government left a $20bn surplus and no debt? And I reckon there was an equally large amount of money in a futures fund or something. Labor (or the Libs) had nothing to do with the mining boom which is driving our economy so we are performing well because of our resources exports. Swan - as treasurer - has squandered all that money we had and now we in a staggering debt position so I think that is how he mismanaged the Budget

[Media Park]

The team Howard (who is easily the best Prime Minister in my lifetime) had, Downer, Costello, Nelson and Abbott (as ministers only), Bishop, Vaile (only doing Trade), Ruddock, Brough, Andrews, et al, was simply a fantastic government.

Labor had Beazley, a fantastic politician, but not the best leader, Gillard (as a bit part player), Albanese, a rising K Rudd- and a lot of passengers.

Abbott and Bishop are the only two Libs we hear about now, and it's Pyne and Hockey that have risen- competent politicians, but no replacement for Costello or Downer.

Labor have only got Stephen Smith who has not bungled anything... Yet.

[bulldogproud2]

My thoughts are that these are the senior Labor types:
Gillard- A big part of the problem
Albanese- The Labor equivalent of Christopher Pyne
Swan- Mismanaged the budget
Crean- Tried and failed
Rudd- Outside of QLD, where he is loved, he is not as popular, the stabbed in the back garners him some support though
Smith- Solidly and quietly performing.

In what ways did he mismanage the Budget?

How do our debt levels compare to other similarly developed country's debt levels as proportion of GDP, and how does our unemployment rate compare to other similar economies?

I think you will find the outgoing Howard government left a $20bn surplus and no debt? And I reckon there was an equally large amount of money in a futures fund or something. Labor (or the Libs) had nothing to do with the mining boom which is driving our economy so we are performing well because of our resources exports. Swan - as treasurer - has squandered all that money we had and now we in a staggering debt position so I think that is how he mismanaged the Budget

Another one of Abbott's furphies. Australia has one of the LOWEST government debts in the world, ranking 107th out of 126 nations when it comes to the level of government debt. The debt level during the Howard regime averaged much higher than it is now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_so ... ublic_debt

This despite the GFC impact.

[bulldogproud2]

My thoughts are that these are the senior Labor types:
Gillard- A big part of the problem
Albanese- The Labor equivalent of Christopher Pyne
Swan- Mismanaged the budget
Crean- Tried and failed
Rudd- Outside of QLD, where he is loved, he is not as popular, the stabbed in the back garners him some support though
Smith- Solidly and quietly performing.

In what ways did he mismanage the Budget?

How do our debt levels compare to other similarly developed country's debt levels as proportion of GDP, and how does our unemployment rate compare to other similar economies?

I think you will find the outgoing Howard government left a $20bn surplus and no debt? And I reckon there was an equally large amount of money in a futures fund or something. Labor (or the Libs) had nothing to do with the mining boom which is driving our economy so we are performing well because of our resources exports. Swan - as treasurer - has squandered all that money we had and now we in a staggering debt position so I think that is how he mismanaged the Budget

Another one of Abbott's furphies. Australia has one of the LOWEST government debts in the world, ranking 107th out of 126 nations when it comes to the level of government debt. The debt level during the Howard regime averaged much higher than it is now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_so ... ublic_debt

This despite the GFC impact.

As for the surplus, why do you think surpluses are created? They are created to get us through times like we have just been having on a global basis. Also, it is little wonder that Howard ended up with surplus budgets in the end. His administration spent extremely small amounts on infrastructure, running Australia's resources down into the ground, ensuring that growth was unsustainable in the end. Remember, a surplus only means that the government is taking more out of the economy than it is putting back in. It is not really a good thing in itself.
Cheers

[redden whites]

The team Howard (who is easily the best Prime Minister in my lifetime) had, Downer, Costello, Nelson and Abbott (as ministers only), Bishop, Vaile (only doing Trade), Ruddock, Brough, Andrews, et al, was simply a fantastic government.

[bulldogproud2]

The team Howard (who is easily the best Prime Minister in my lifetime) had, Downer, Costello, Nelson and Abbott (as ministers only), Bishop, Vaile (only doing Trade), Ruddock, Brough, Andrews, et al, was simply a fantastic government.

Yes, only nine ministers of that time had to stand down due to breaching the political code of conduct

[Psyber]

Another one of Abbott's furphies. Australia has one of the LOWEST government debts in the world, ranking 107th out of 126 nations when it comes to the level of government debt. The debt level during the Howard regime averaged much higher than it is now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_so ... ublic_debt

This despite the GFC impact.

I'm not sure being less in debt than all the other in debt countries means much.

The "developed" world - including Australia - has stopped developing and manufacturing and industry is moving to the "undeveloped" world.
As a result nations which borrowed expecting growth to fund their debt are slowly slipping into the mire- Europe and the USA for example.

We have been saved by China, India, and Japan's demand for our resources, but we should not rely on that as a justification for debt.
These customers may find cheaper sources of resources in time - I think there has a been a big iron ore find somewhere in the less developed world recently.
We need to be careful that we put away financial reserves and investments while we can, not rely on the world order staying the same.
After all, history tells us it never does...

[Mad Mat]

The team Howard (who is easily the best Prime Minister in my lifetime) had, Downer, Costello, Nelson and Abbott (as ministers only), Bishop, Vaile (only doing Trade), Ruddock, Brough, Andrews, et al, was simply a fantastic government.

At least they had credibility and governed with authority. They didn't go down in 2007 through incompetence.

What emoticon what you put for Gilliard, Swan, Albanese, Combet, Garrett, Fitzgibbon, Thompson etc etc? I've got one for you

[fish]

The lack of obvious options for an alternative leader for Labor is illustrated by the fact that in the current market for leader at the next election "any other candidate not listed" has better odds than any of the other contenders.

[GWW]

The team Howard (who is easily the best Prime Minister in my lifetime) had, Downer, Costello, Nelson and Abbott (as ministers only), Bishop, Vaile (only doing Trade), Ruddock, Brough, Andrews, et al, was simply a fantastic government.

Labor had Beazley, a fantastic politician, but not the best leader, Gillard (as a bit part player), Albanese, a rising K Rudd- and a lot of passengers.

Abbott and Bishop are the only two Libs we hear about now, and it's Pyne and Hockey that have risen- competent politicians, but no replacement for Costello or Downer.

Labor have only got Stephen Smith who has not bungled anything... Yet.

What were the special characteristics that Bishop (presumably you're referring to Julie, not Bronwyn), had as a politician that see her worthy of such praise?

[straight talker]

dont you think the way the liberal government left the countries finances when kevin 07 took over may have also helped save our bacon?

[GWW]

However, the lack of spending on infrastructure in the Howard years caused its own set of problems.

[straight talker]

However, the lack of spending on infrastructure in the Howard years caused its own set of problems.

so i gather you think it did help?