Keating Making His Move

[Jimmy_041]

He hasn't got long to get his ultimate aim

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/12370203/queen-in-way-of-aussie-greatness-keating/

Funny, I only see one "I mean" and no "You know"- must have been heavily edited

[southee]

Boring !!!

No surprises there with this statement from this bitter twisted man !!!

Get over it Paul and move on !!!

[smac]

Has he forgotten he was PM at one stage and could have done something about it then?

I agree with his sentiment, but he's far too quick to dish out criticism of others who have done the same thing he did - nothing.

[CK]

When I first saw the thread title, I thought the ALP leadership issue was really starting to get out of hand.

[Jimmy_041]

He wants the job as our first President

Of course, this could all be just a con job - it was on Sky News after all

[redandblack]

I agree with all of what he says about us being a republic.

Especially that those opposed are either monarchists or dropkicks

[redandblack]

When I first saw the thread title, I thought the ALP leadership issue was really starting to get out of hand.

So did I, then I got disappointed

[Jimmy_041]

I agree with all of what he says about us being a republic.

Especially that those opposed are either monarchists or dropkicks

So, Keating has said that the majority of people in States are either monarchists or dropkicks because they dont agree with him.
About as arrogant as you can get, but just normal for him.
We are all wrong except him

The people voted as to what they didn't want, and that was a system that would also treat us as dropkicks.
We cannot be trusted to have the intelligence to elect our own Head of State.

I want a republic, but not at any cost

[Q.]

I think you hate Keating more than I hate Abbott

[redandblack]

Jimmy hates anyone who disagrees with him.

Especially people who hate people who disagree with them

[southee]

I think you hate Keating more than I hate Abbott

I do !!! I was at the bay when I saw him yell "go get a job ..."

Arrogant , ego driven prick of a man !!!

[redandblack]

Did you get a job

[southee]

Did you get a job

Not then......but under the Howard years...life was great!!!

[redandblack]

So it took a while but you took his advice and prospered.

You owe him a lot

[Jimmy_041]

Too bad Keating hasn't got a job - might shut the mofo up

[Jimmy_041]

Hawke has 'diminished memory': Keating
by: Samantha Maiden
From: AdelaideNow December 31, 2011 11:06pm


Bob Hawke with Paul Keating the ALP federal election campaign launch at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane in 2007.
PAUL Keating has accused Bob Hawke of having a "diminished memory" over his role in the decision to float the dollar in 1983.

The enduring history wars over who who was the chief architect of the decision to float the Australian dollar - Hawke or Keating - has been reignited by the release today of the 1983 cabinet papers by the National Archives.

Writing exclusively in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Keating said Mr Hawke's memories are faulty and that far from being a reluctant conscript, he first raised the idea of the float in May 1983.

It was a momentous decision celebrated as one of the Hawke-Keating government's greatest achievments that paved the way for the further deregulation.

But much of the critical discussions happened behind closed doors, with the cabinet papers failing to settle the matter.

Speaking at the launch of the 1983 cabinet papers at the National Archives last month, Mr Hawke again pressed his argument, explored in his memoir Hawke: The Prime Minister authored by his wife Blanche D'Apulget.

"I am not going to get into a Paul slanging match," Mr Hawke said.

"The realities were that Paul, to some extent, was influenced by the views of Treasury at the time. That they were opposed and expressed that opposition. But the important thing is that after discussion in the cabinet and when Paul had that meeting with the Reserve Bank officials and the Treasury....that decision was made and it was supported by all the relevant ministers in the end including Paul."

Treasury secretary John Stone, has savaged Keating's "bile ridden version" of events in his own memoir to be published this month in Quantum: Floating the Dollar: Facts and Fiction. He argues Keating has overstated his own role and over-egged Mr Stone's opposition,

But writing exclusively in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Keating said Mr Hawke's memories are faulty and he first raised the idea months before.

"Bob Hawke has a very poor memory of the sequencing of all this; including my first introducing the matter to him alone in May 1983. I am trusting that his utterances on this subject arise from diminished memory of events thirty years ago, rather than from any express intention to diminish my role, central as it was, in this seminal event," Mr Keating writes.

"In May 1983, as Treasurer, I told Bob Hawke that the existing managed exchange rate system was no longer appropriate to Australia's economy and that the Government should consider moving to a floating rate," Mr Keating writes.

"I told this to Bob Hawke privately. This was the first Hawke had officially heard from the Treasurer of a propensity to move away from the existing managed system. But it was a view with which he broadly concurred.

"At around the same time, I authorised the Reserve Bank Governor, Bob Johnston, to have the Reserve Bank prepare what he called `A War Book' to lay out the field of action the Government and the authorities might take when the moment in markets was propitious to move to a float of the spot rate.

"The time between May and the announcement of the decision on 19 December 1983 was simply about getting the circumstances right."

Mr Keating argues his main concerns were "the persistent over-appreciation of the dollar relative to that which officials believed the economy's fundamentals warranted that is, floating, but off an already over-valued rate. The preparedness of the banking system, or lack of it, was also a major concern."

"The released Cabinet papers will confirm that I introduced the matter to Cabinet. And that I recommended the Government abandon the managed exchange rate system in favour of a floating rate quantity-based system," he writes.

Former Treasury secretary John Stone writes in his essay to be published this month that much of the history written about the float is wrong. He writes that he is now breaking his silence on Keating's version of history and claims Treasury opposed the float, because of the release of the cabinet documents.

"Does any of this matter? It does, on three levels," Mr Stone writes.

"On the most general level, it matters because history matters; and because, in the writing of history, the truth matters.

"On an institutional level, it matters because for twenty-eight years it has been conventional wisdom among those who take an interest in these things-politicians, public servants, economists, bankers, journalists-that the federal Treasury opposed those decisions."

Does this person ever stop trying to talk himself up?

I am going to love his reaction to John Stone's essay

[dedja]

I'm not arguing Keating is an anagram of figjam, but John Stone ... the same John Stone who was an adviser to Sir Joh and a National Party Senator?

The fella was and is still is a raving looney ...

[Jimmy_041]

Here's a good essay on the subject

I wonder if this bloke has been receiving late night phone calls full of invective from PJK

http://apmc.moadoph.gov.au/lib/docs/dale-atkinson-essay.pdf

[redandblack]

Well, Jimmy, what an interesting article.

I wonder whether you thought twice about posting it, as it certainly backs up your case against Keating, but also contains several inconvenient statements

Fists, it definitely strengthens your point about Keating's involvement in the floating of the dollar, although it has to be said that most of the reference material quoted is by Hawke and there's nothing from Keating. However. let's accept it and note that John Stone comes out of it exactly as dedja notes, totally wrong and a reactionary, conservative twit.

We also have to accept from the article that Hawke led a great, achieving government.

Not only that, but he inherited double-digit unemployment and a stuffed economy from the Fraser government

I wonder who Fraser's Treasurer was?

Surely not John Howard, or "Honest John' as he was then dubbed for his 'fistful of dollars' lie

As I said, interesting article, it certainly supports your case, though.

[Jimmy_041]

It wasnt meant to bäck up my case" It is just interesting reading about the time, but it will be interesting to read if Stone's version supports Hawke, and Keating's reaction as he continues to try to rewrite history

Actually, a lot of the award for causing the "stuffed" economy, was the scorched earth policy of the unions at the time.
People's jobs were expedient as long as they achieved their political aim.

by the way, I liked Hawke as Prime Minister - I wish there would be another one come out of the current crop