Now - That's a good policy!

[Malexander]

Hey guys,

I can't vote, but I am interested in knowing about the election.

I don't want to know who you vote for, your bank account, your religion, but I want to know what policies you think a good from either side?

Maybe you may swerve another AFO members voting.

This is a hot topic, but common. And I haven't seen any post on it yet.

I believe that the oil spill will make a fisho vote in multiple different ways.

-Matt.

I don't want to be subject to flaming, but I just wish to know a fisho's favourite policy. Especially green zones.

[faulked]

i wont be voting for a group that gives a large sum of money away to be splurged when there is a "depression" looming doesnt make sense to me if things are tight you watch your money and hope the profit you made earlier will pull you through

but hell i push a mower not an accounting book lol

jason

[Malexander]

HAHA.

I suppose.

A deficit now will mean a lot for the younger generation now, who are the most "financially unstable". EVER!

[Malcolm]

I do agree and I will take it though. I dont know who you will vote though as both major parties do the same thing.

ie: baby bonus,first home buyers grant,ect doesn't matter what the economy is like give aways have got to distort the economy,maybee not straight away but it will come back and bite you in the ass.

It's called living beyond your means on a massive scale.

I don't begin to think I know the answers but throwing money around surely can't be right

[Malexander]

Yeh, debts aren't a good thing. They take years, because they must be paid back.

I enjoy Australia's freedom, and don't want to be over run. I won't ever vote for the greens. They use aeroplanes to fly. Go and get a pedal powered aeroplane to themm

Keep the ideas strolling. I am enjoying this, because it means I am up to date

[planetfonz]

yeah i sure am annoyed at the spam by both the major candidates - i was accosted yesterday morning at central station by a girl holding something about bligh being evil, then across the street an opposite member doin the same thing but about the borg-head! they are both douchebags - i might just move to new zealand

[Malexander]

HAHA NZ!

You think that's better?

PFft. I hate that - Competing for this election and bickering at each other.

They plan on saving the environment!! THEY CAN start by not killing trees and obtaining ink and spamming on paper and handing to the public.

I didn't think about that fonz.

I wonder if people see someone campaigning, and think let's vote for the other team because they were a complete BLIGH ;)

[bootyinblue]

Any party who promises mandatory gaol sentences for assaults on Police is high on my list.... would personally prefer mandatory actual gaol time, but it seems so hard to put someone away now!

[hulk]

Booty,

just turn off the camera and mike and let them have it.Jail time is not likely but an aggravated copper who can punish may be.(half tongue in cheek til I think more in depth about it

Hulk

[planetfonz]

yeah that is actually a good one booty - corporal punishment and cops with nightsticks need to be brought back - nuthin sorts a ruffian like a beating from a copper .. those views may be slightly old school, but hey they worked

[rastus]

bootyinblue wrote:

Any party who promises mandatory gaol sentences for assaults on Police is high on my list.... would personally prefer mandatory actual gaol time, but it seems so hard to put someone away now!

as long as it tit for tat.

i have witnessed quite a few abuses of power.

[planetfonz]

rastus wrote:

bootyinblue wrote:

Any party who promises mandatory gaol sentences for assaults on Police is high on my list.... would personally prefer mandatory actual gaol time, but it seems so hard to put someone away now!

as long as it tit for tat.

i have witnessed quite a few abuses of power.

shame that it happens - i've seen far more random idiot acts over the years than any abuse of power by authorities

[bootyinblue]

rastus wrote:

bootyinblue wrote:

Any party who promises mandatory gaol sentences for assaults on Police is high on my list.... would personally prefer mandatory actual gaol time, but it seems so hard to put someone away now!

as long as it tit for tat.

i have witnessed quite a few abuses of power.

Ahhh champ, if you feel that way then make an appointment to speak with the OIC of your local station and convey your concerns. If dont feel that you need to do that, then I dont want to hear them!

I would love it to be 'tit for tat'. But it aint going to happen these days.

[the_core]

bootyinblue wrote:

Any party who promises mandatory gaol sentences for assaults on Police is high on my list.... would personally prefer mandatory actual gaol time, but it seems so hard to put someone away now!

the reason it is not mandatory is because it is not a mandatory offence to attack me in my car and smash me in the temple 12 times.

unless of course you beleive police are better humans than everyone else?

maybe that question is better left un answered booty.

a lot of hype in my opinion

fuel prices spiked, yet now they are as cheap as 4 years ago.

cars are cheap

houses are expensive but they have been for many years now.

I will not be voting for any fool that claims cutting back jobs is the answer.

thanks

[planetfonz]

u should be retarded after 12 temple smashes

[the_core]

planetfonz wrote:

u should be retarded after 12 temple smashes

don't beleive it I have a hard head

I also had a head ache for 2 weeks

but thats not really the point is it.

This is a politics thread not a medical thread.

[Angus]

Booty I agree with you mate. I hate people that bag out cops with no understanding of the preasures that go with the job. But then who do you think they call when their house is broken into or something of that nature. On a smaller side note I hate people who complain about speeding tickets as revenue raisers. If it is raising revenue good on them for finding a way to do so exclusively from people blatantly breaking well known and publicised laws!

Faulked: Giving away money when there is already a govt deficit? Mate I totally agree with you. Moronic. Anyone not able to see through such shallow mass pleasing techniques deserve the outcome

Anyway my choice is probably clear enough from these two points alone.

One thing I hate though is the two way slander campaign.

If one party was big enough to ignore crap dished out by the other and focussed the tax paying dollars spent on the campign issuing policy and plans I would almost hands down vote for them from respect as a quality leader.

Anyway time will tell. A good leader is not measured by the condition of the country/state/region when they walk in but when they walk away.

Take Johnny Howard. Labor voters still love to take digs at him. But the bottom line is he walked into a deficit caused by a lobor GOVT, was voted out despite a huge surplus which was wittled rapidly away by the Labor PM who took his place. I know there is more to politcs than just that, but im just illustrating one point of many.

Cheers voters!

Angus

[Shrimpo]

I still wonder what it would be like now if Johnny and Costello didnt create a surplus in their 11/12 years.

[hulk]

Will we see history repeat itself this weekend?Little Johnny was leader of opposition, they booted him,tried others ony to reinstate him for him to then go on and be PM.

Borg kicked off as leader, tried others only to be reinstated and then go on to be??????

Hulk

[faulked]

noooo the borg are coming

:laugh: :laugh:

[Malexander]

the_core wrote:

bootyinblue wrote:

Any party who promises mandatory gaol sentences for assaults on Police is high on my list.... would personally prefer mandatory actual gaol time, but it seems so hard to put someone away now!

the reason it is not mandatory is because it is not a mandatory offence to attack me in my car and smash me in the temple 12 times.

unless of course you beleive police are better humans than everyone else?

I believe police are more superior to the regular human. People, who are sober or have some self-respect, will respect and acknowledge them.

Last time your house was robbed, who helped? Wouldn't be the TV, Chair or Jim from down the road. I am sure a police officer would've been involved.

People are scared of people with authority, and it's the majority the feel safe because the cops control the minority.

I believe 3months and a fine would teach em shizbrix well!

Booty, very good point.

[obone]

I must say I was very disappointed with the LNP's decision to take the fluoride out of the water. Have they said they are actually going to do it? Or are they still thinking about it?

Very stupid decision IMO. :pinch:

Joel

[Terry H]

Angus wrote:

Take Johnny Howard. Labor voters still love to take digs at him. But the bottom line is he walked into a deficit caused by a lobor GOVT, was voted out despite a huge surplus which was wittled rapidly away by the Labor PM who took his place. I know there is more to politcs than just that, but im just illustrating one point of many.

Of course.

Liberal are usually more conservative (at least federally), which is how you work up a surplus.

It's good every now and then to have Labour to spend some cash, get projects back on track and then get the other mob in to tighten down on the budget.

That saying, we're close to a recession now, the best thing the government can do economically speaking is spend up big to ensure economic growth continues. Yes, this most likely results in a defecit, but it has to be done.

[Malexander]

Fluoride out of the water? :\

Why don't they post it on the QLD website and ask.

If they protest afterwards... Then have a cry, because it was on website. Lot less $$

[Terry H]

As for state politics.

I'm disgusted at the low personal attacks the bligh campaign is throwing out, along with numerous events that have occured recently.

Bligh for PM? Not on my vote.

The Borg? Not the greatest, but who else is there?

Maybe it's just me, but I think we need a change.

[Malexander]

Yeh.

Bligh based her whole campaign on one thing.

Him saying it's not a recession. Every flipping analyst and economist in the world got it wrong? Noone predicted it this bad, and no1 is saying the R word, except Costello!

And the blunder of the oil spill.

Meh, 1 vote doesn't matter. Does it?

[Malcolm]

Angus wrote:

Take Johnny Howard. Labor voters still love to take digs at him. But the bottom line is he walked into a deficit caused by a lobor GOVT, was voted out despite a huge surplus which was wittled rapidly away by the Labor PM who took his place. I know there is more to politcs than just that, but im just illustrating one point of many.

Johny resided over a boom time world wide There is a massive difference

[Davo_Dinkum]

yeah change is good it stirs them up. scares them and get them on track and working again.

as for politicians i don't really like any,there in the same boat as used cars salesperson and all that group .i have a lot i feel are in that boat.

school yard antics and advertising are a waste of money and time in my book.

politicians,race car drivers ,stars ,celebrities ,coppers, army, etc are all just people nothing special just do what they are good at and believe in.

since every1 is the same and just a human being all should be judged by the same rules .

after all we are all human beings and that make us all equal.

People are scared of people with authority.crap

people are scared of the repercussions of braking the rules.

Last time your house was robbed, who helped? I am sure a police officer would've been

involved.

ok they should be involved and hopefully they can help .but again they are only human

and can only do so much.

i have a example that involves me .this was a house fire.so police and fire service and ambulance was involved.

this is the short version.

i was at my mates across the road having a beer .we saw clouds of black smoke coming from a year ,right near my back yard.we wondered over to investigate.figuring some kids had started a grass fire.as we got to my house we saw the house next door on fire ,we moved quicker now .we went in the yard made sure every1 was ok and the appropriate stuff was done and people called.looked through the door and windows to acess the situation.1 bed room was well on it way up.they had no hose (water restrictions).yelled out to stick to throw my hose over hooked it up and started spraying through the screen .both be every carefull not to breath in the smoke.once there was no fire need the screen i removed it and we put the fire out from the window.

the fire services told the people they where so lucky that we helped and put the fire out then or they would have lost the house by the time the got there.the fire was just started to get into the walls and once it in the walls that it over up in the room and the place is gorn.

so who helped davo and mate down the road being good guys and helping some1 out as much as we can a human thing .

now the fire services and coppers they help to but they are only human and take time to get there .

ok i have rabbeled on a bit ,but i hope u get my points.

[the_core]

I was not bagging police officers

but I think it is a bit hasty to say a certain party deserves a vote based on a promise that they never forfilled any other time?

Ill just say I agrree with Terry, at times of economic recession, it is best to invest in your own country, in infastructure and jobs.

strange he then supports those that want to make cut backs in those areas??

thanks

[Malexander]

Yeh I understand, but if you walked up to someone and said im gonna arrest you. They'd have a laugh.

If a rozzer walked up and put cuffs on you. You'd know they're serious.

Difference between the two? Authority.

Not everything is immediate. And they have to prioritise things as well.

Booty may be able to expand, but as I said.

People see police as people who can arrest them, and are scared of the law. Who enforces the law? Who is employed to do so?

Made my point.

Davo, that's more of a firies one, but police would have a similiar story. Firies also protesting for fair pay.

Not having a go at ya mate. Just I think after seeing a cop paralysed in one side of his body is just revolting. He was doing his job.

[Davo_Dinkum]

i like what u have said there and agree that. its there job,i have no prob with cops never in any trouble these day's and the have helped as much as they could when stuff has happened and for that i respect them.i have been on both side getting arrested and getting help from them when something has happened.the getting getting arrested was when i was a young and wild kid/teen.anyways after a few time's of that and the repercussions.made me straight. and i was treated ok too. so no problems there either.

its the only story i had i only use what i have seen /done as examples and not text book stuff.

anyways getting off the point its politics

there is no way throwing a big wad of cash is going to make me vote for them.but hey i'm quite happy to take the money.

Howard did it Rudd did it .and more will do it.only certain people will buy it.

i missed out on all the home buyers grants bought a house year before them.

i missed out on the have a kids big money payments the 2000,3000,4000 etc ones .i had 7 kids way before any of them .but still in good times they would give u 200 to 400 to help start out when u had a kid.and same when they had got all there needles .

if they really wanted to try and buy my vote better back pay me 49 thou lol .that would be the amount of the new style payments about for house and kids these day.

lmao

i still wouldn't vote for them but don't tell them that hey haha

ah mate thats a bugger and really sucks ,hate seeing people get hurt and really bad when it's good people just trying to do the right thing.

[Malexander]

Yeh mate.

They could atleast refund a little bit.

Considering rapists and murderers get 900 bucks for being in jail. And rape... Cos they filed tax return last year. Going straight to tobacco products i spose...

Booty - Just going on stereotypes here mate, you can clear up if u want

I don't want gst rates to be ultra inflated in a couple of years. Cus the economy is "strong and stable" and the gst to repay off our debts. !!

Either way, it'll come back and bite Aus/ Qld in the a (fifty-five) 55.

[shortie]

Lets face it Springborg is right we are not currently in a recession.

You need 2 negative periods of growth to be oficially in a recession.

WE needed a stimulus package. However how it was alocated is the problem.

Should of been used for infrastructure projects. That way the ecomomy is stimulated and well as having infrastructure for the future.

Projects like solving SEQ water problems. A perfect time to build a pipeline from up north to carry water down.

WIN WIn if used correctly.

It was needed desperatelly and bigger and stronger ecomomies have done the same, but how is was distributed is the problem.

Really the choice we have in this election is poor. But anything that takes a vote from Labor in the big picture is a bonus.

[MoparKevUk]

As a recently arrived "import", what percentage of the population actually vote? And if you don't vote, you can't have a moan, or a say. I am utterly dismayed by all the adverts slating each others parties, I don't know who has what policies, all I see is bickering. Are there just the 2 parties? No news about any others.......

Love the stimulus packages though , I help the economy by buying stuff "Designed in Australia, made in China" (Actual sticker on something I saw the other day!!)

[tom]

It is compulsory for everyone to vote.

There is two main parties - Labor and Liberal

Malcolm wrote:

Johnny resided over a boom time world wide There is a massive difference

This is partially correct. The Howard Government took over a $96 billion debt when they took over in 1996 from the Hawke-Keating Government. Worldwide it was not always a boom time during the eleven years of Howard leadership, Australia did experience growth during some of this time (especially in demand for some of our natural resources, but not on all resources), but they also undertook over the course of 6 years massive spending cuts themselves to slowly pay back the debt. It took 7 years to finally get back on track and the country back in the black.

Davo_Dinkum wrote:

there is no way throwing a big wad of cash is going to make me vote for them.but hey i'm quite happy to take the money.

Howard did it Rudd did it .and more will do it.

The difference however is that the Howard Government only made payments and tax cuts when they could be fully funded (i.e that is when they had surplus money in the budget to be able to afford to give back without going into more debt). They were economically frugal unlike the Rudd Government which is taking the country further and further into debt without being able to afford it. Also the Rudd Government has failed to follow through on many election promises, including the education revolution, trade training centres, interest rate rises and many more.

Now consider the long-term consequences of the current Rudd proposed package that will put the Australian budget into tens of billions of dollars of debt overnight. Within four years, the country's debt will be $70 billion, and that is the conservative estimate. In the longer term, our debt will be beyond the wildest nightmares of the Hawke-Keating government's $96 billion debt. Whatever the thinking putting a country into so much debt is not good, it will take 10-20 years to pay back at least and that is if it is done wisely.

Irrespective of very craftily written political speeches and promises, i think the judgement of a politician or their political party is by the legacy they have left. I don't care too much for either of the main parties, but just going on the records the previous federal government economically corrected a huge deficit and then provided fully funded tax cuts and then once the country was all good again was voted out. Where on the other hand the Rudd Government are putting themselves in a position that they will not be able to pay back and so will have to leave it to someone else to correct. The current theory of spending out of a recession is unwise and worldwide the UK and US governments are now revisiting this theory that they so quickly acted upon following the late 2008 credit crisis. If spending is required at least spend money on permanent job-creating infrastructure like public transport services rather than just give it out to people who most probably will use it poorly and in the end will not help out the economy much anyway short-term or long-term.

On a State level are remarkably similar to the federal with the Qld treasurer announcing a $170 million deficit in the latest budget.

In anycase, I am not an economist but I do think that a careful look at policies and previous results is absolutely necessary to choose a political party to vote for as too often promises are made that can never be kept to secure votes. Economic policies must be high on any criteria as they are what gives the government the ability to then make other policies.

But of course there are many other current issues that need to be taken into account when choosing who to vote for: environment and marine parks, transport, etc etc.

Just some thoughts.

[jeff f]

i'll just be glad when it's all over 'cause i'm sick of hearing about it

[Terry H]

As shortie mentioned.

Anyway, when did The Borg say that?

We're still not technically in a recession. One small period of negative GDP growth is not a recession.

And that ad where Obama is saying it's the worst time they've faced.

What is that? Gah I feel sorry for anyone that buys that rubbish. USA is NOT AUS. They're economy is not our economy. Yes, they're linked through globalisation - but still, just because they're up the s***er doesn't mean we're right there with them.

By the way: Government controlling interest rates. LOL. Not likely. Ignore any politician that says he/she will drop interest rates. They can't directly control interest rates, at best they can only provide SOME affect to the figures to which the interest rates are determined by. Ie GDP

What has rudd failed to follow through on? I only really knew of one - the NBN, which is apparently still a definite go ahead (without Telstra - yippee!) and has been said they will use extra funds if needed (more than the 4.2bln announced)

I don't like the direct comparison of deficits/surplus/debts between now and then. As you're not taking into consideration inflation.

The idea of rudd giving you cash is for you to go out and spend it. Not for you to go pay back debts (sigh).

Whats this about job cuts?

As for the fact that John resided over a resource boom. So? He had a conservative view. Of course a conservative will pull your budget back into the black. And everyones happy. But guess what? That means they didn't spend a lot of money on other stuff, like infastructure, technology yadda yadda

Besides, IMO state government can't do too much with the economy, so that doesn't really matter. That's just a small part of the nations economy.

[tom]

TerryH wrote:

By the way: Government controlling interest rates. LOL. Not likely. Ignore any politician that says he/she will drop interest rates. They can't directly control interest rates, at best they can only provide SOME affect to the figures to which the interest rates are determined by. Ie GDP

You are dead right, thats why i was very angry at all the lies rudd's campaign was going on about before he was elected and then voila as soon as he is elected interest rates rose and of course he says then they are out of his control - anyone with a brain already knew that.

TerryH wrote:

What has rudd failed to follow through on? I only really knew of one - the NBN, which is apparently still a definite go ahead (without Telstra - yippee!) and has been said they will use extra funds if needed (more than the 4.2bln announced)

There are heaps that he committed and promised and none have seen any action, and dont seem likely to in the near future or probably ever. Computers in every schools, trades in schools etc etc off the top of my head but if you looked into it there is heaps not done.

TerryH wrote:

The idea of rudd giving you cash is for you to go out and spend it. Not for you to go pay back debts (sigh).

The idea of giving away money to everyone to spend is ridiculous. Even the UK which is way harder hit, i mean massively more worse than australia isnt doing this, because it is just irresponsible and does not have any long-term benefits at all. 42 billion could be put to use in many more ways to stimulate the economy that would create jobs and also have something to show for the money, instead of just giving it all to pokies and harvey norman.

TerryH wrote:

As for the fact that John resided over a resource boom. So? He had a conservative view. Of course a conservative will pull your budget back into the black. And everyones happy. But guess what? That means they didn't spend a lot of money on other stuff, like infastructure, technology yadda yadda.

Yes you're sort of correct, because they had no choice, the country was so ruined they had to first get it back in a position to start to investing more heavily in infrastructure, techonology etc etc. Now Labor comes along and undoes all the hard work and now if liberals dont come in and clean up the spending spree who will? you cant have an attitude that let labor go crazy and spend and someone else will fix it because thats what they do. I bet the liberals would have loved to take over a great economy and then have had the opportunity to invest and spend wisely. Instead they have to do the dirty work and fix the economy, never a way that is going to make people happy. Anyone can promise the world, spend other peoples money willy nilly just to make people happy and get elected. But this is not sustainable, at some point it has to be corrected.

TerryH wrote:

Besides, IMO state government can't do too much with the economy, so that doesn't really matter. That's just a small part of the nations economy.

Actually Qld has a huge economy, one of the biggest in the country and also one that directly influences the economy of the country heavily. Their choices make big differences. Actually after a quick research i got my facts wrong it is not $170 million qld deficit, the Queensland Budget will plunge into a $1.6 billion deficit this financial year!!!!

[Terry H]

tom wrote:

There are heaps that he committed and promised and none have seen any action, and dont seem likely to in the near future or probably ever. Computers in every schools, trades in schools etc etc off the top of my head but if you looked into it there is heaps not done.

I didn't follow the Rudd campaign too closely, which is why I asked the question.

tom wrote:

The idea of giving away money to everyone to spend is ridiculous. Even the UK which is way harder hit, i mean massively more worse than australia isnt doing this, because it is just irresponsible and does not have any long-term benefits at all. 42 billion could be put to use in many more ways to stimulate the economy that would create jobs and also have something to show for the money, instead of just giving it all to pokies and harvey norman.

I've said before (not publicly on the forum - in the chatroom) that I believe there are far better ways to spend $42bln to stimulate the economy. It's a great opportunity to do a host of things, like build a fully national rail network for example

tom wrote:

Yes you're sort of correct, because they had no choice, the country was so ruined they had to first get it back in a position to start to investing more heavily in infrastructure, techonology etc etc. Now Labor comes along and undoes all the hard work and now if liberals dont come in and clean up the spending spree who will? you cant have an attitude that let labor go crazy and spend and someone else will fix it because thats what they do. I bet the liberals would have loved to take over a great economy and then have had the opportunity to invest and spend wisely. Instead they have to do the dirty work and fix the economy, never a way that is going to make people happy. Anyone can promise the world, spend other peoples money willy nilly just to make people happy and get elected. But this is not sustainable, at some point it has to be corrected.

I could be wrong, as I can't be bothered doing some research but when was the debt paid off and budget into a surplus? Did they do anything in their last few years? Tax cuts and offsets come to mind.

Realistically the best you can expect from Liberals is tax cuts when the going is good. Afterall, everyone likes tax cuts!

tom wrote:

Actually Qld has a huge economy, one of the biggest in the country and also one that directly influences the economy of the country heavily. Their choices make big differences. Actually after a quick research i got my facts wrong it is not $170 million qld deficit, the Queensland Budget will plunge into a $1.6 billion deficit this financial year!!!!

Queensland is the 3rd largest economy in Australia, and comprises approximately 20% of our national GDP. Even still...

What??

GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports), or,

GDP = C + I + G + (X − M)

What is your point about the budget plunging into a deficit? That means more government spending, which is good for the economy. I won't deny it will affect future years, as we have to cut back on government spending to pay these debts, or increase tax which can reduce consumer spending.

The budget is not the economy.

[Tybo]

Politics, discussions on politics should be called Redheads...'cause all they do is start fires. My Grandma used to have a no politics sign in her kitchen because my Dad and Grandad used to be at it all the time. I'm thinking of incorporating one myself.

But hey! it's a good thing to be able to live in a democracy with each to their own. Can you imagine if we were living in China, North Korea or some of the middle eastern states. Discussions like this would be forbidden, and we'd probably answer before a court where we could be executed for our little thread.

I'm with Angus on agreeing that if government(state or federal) was to come out and say what they're going to do, and not point the finger at other parties for their opinions and failures. They'd have my vote in a second. Despite being like many others and tired of the constant battle between political sides, I still have my opinions about certain elements, firstly clearing up a couple of common myths.

Firstly, we are not in a recession.(Springborg is right about Qld and Australia). Barrack Obama only just this week praised Rudd and the Australian Government for 'taking the necessary steps to aviod negative growth, and were an economy to look towards.

Secondly, the Howard government did take over a debt from the Keating government of somewhere around $90 billion. It cleared this debt by cutting back on spending on necessary items such as Medicare, and also approving the sale(or proportion) of public companies such as Telstra, Australia Post and Qantas. However when the Howard Government left, despite their claims of reducing debt, Australians foreign debt was near $400 billion. Where did the money go, despite having such a great economy at the time propped up by growing foreign interest in Australia and a massive mining boom? I don't know, but defense spending increased dramatically in order to finance Australia's overseas coalitions. Don't believe the hype, the Howard government spent more than the Keating Government.

Thirdly, Interest rates are the lowest they've been in a very long time, despite once again the Howard Government claiming to keep interest rates low(they did keep them low comparative to the former Keating and Hawke governments though). I have a mortage and it's fabulous, I making extra repayments and with a variable rate am cruising through the loan. 3 years ago interest rates were rising so fast, only shadowed by the looming increase in house prices and their affordability. These days property investors may not be too happy, but house affordability is stable and interest rates are dropping.

Lastly, I agree with TerryH fuly on a lot things, but mostly on government spending. You can't just lock up, not spend anything and claim to be great because you've got no debt. It's ironic how some people are saying that government spending is ridiculous then wondering where all the jobs have gone.

I ran it through two old guys here at work the other who were bitching about the governments 'giving away money to people'. They claimed that the Whitlam government did the same thing and nearly sent the country broke. Ungrateful I thought. If you dont' want the money, give it to someone else who wants it like the Bushfire victims or the flood victims. If the government gave out money in any other country, queues would been 'round the block. What a bunch of whingers we've become, the governments giving us money saying spend it 'til your hearts content, and we don't want to. I've never been on the dole, gotten austudy and have never been given any bonuses, awards or incentives by any government. I don't need the bonus, I have enough savings, I'm comfortable in my mortage, I live within my means and have everything I need. I'm fully employed, am flat out at work and therefore am 98% confident of employment. Either way, I'm highly skilled and am hardworking, so therefore having no fear picking up a job here or overseas. So..

..if someone wants to give me $900, I'll take it with a smile on my face and say thanks! I'll do my bit for the economy by having a jolly old time. I think I'll spend on either a yak or a trip to Perth. Good times!