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The Forum > Article Comments > Howard's legacy, Julia's new spin > Comments

Howard's legacy, Julia's new spin : Comments

By Bruce Haigh, published 7/7/2010

How little John Howard learnt or understood from his time as PM. And Gillard, like Rudd, takes us for fools.

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Bruce Haigh's hatred for one of Australia's most successful Prime Ministers is undeniable. It must irk Bruce incredibly that even Ms Gillard has had to concede that Mr Howard was right. She has copied his policies. Oh that's right it is with more 'compassion' as only the left is compassionate despite being responsible for more people drowning of late than the whole of the Howard era.
Posted by runner, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 11:09:07 AM
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<< After her frequent and vociferous condemnation of the pacific solution and off shore processing, she is proposing a similar solution. >>

Yes Shadow Minister, there certainly is a big question over her credibility and integrity. All I can say is that she’s not looking too bad so far... after a very short time and in comparison to a couple of leading pollies that have looked pretty awful in recent times, being Rudd and Abbott.

<< She is truly a politician for the people, and will alter her views and policies on a regular basis to reflect their needs as reflected in the polls. >>

Yes, but is that necessarily bad? Rudd undertook a number of major policy initiatives (or damn stupid changes more like it) that were not indicated as being warranted by the polls and look where it got him.
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 11:33:20 AM
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<< It's called "grab the parcel" - Howard grabbed it from Hanson, and now Gillard has grabbed it from Howard. >>

Poirot, I don’t think Gillard has grabbed anything from Howard. There is only a small set of possibilities for policy development in any particular area. So it is no wonder that Gillard’s border protection policy happens to be similar to Howard’s. When you stop and think about, what other realistic options are there, that would be totally different to Howard’s approach?

Howard’s policy worked. So it is no wonder that Gillard has moved in that direction. Whether it is intentional or inadvertent or somewhere in between is really quite irrelevant. What is important is that the boats need to be stopped and those people caught in the middle need to be as fairly and decently dealt with as possible, but in a manner that upholds a strong deterrence factor to further arrivals.
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 11:35:06 AM
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<< What Gillard said yesterday, about stopping the boats coming, was all lies and spin. >>

You might be proven right Banjo. I think that every PM in my era of political awareness has turned out to be a lesser being than what first appeared to be the case. So I expect Gillard will be the same. But surely not to the same extent as Rudd.

At this stage I’m not willing to think of her in the same sort of negative manner that you apparently do.

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<< The policy isn't urgently needed. There is not a major problem. >>

I beg to differ Grayzie. Please see further comments here:
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10633#176021
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 1:13:13 PM
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Don't you just love it.

The incompetent left cannot produce policy to save themselves so they recycle John Howards Pacific Solution.

Oh the Honeymoon is going to be over sooner than she thinks...

better rush to the polls whilst the gullible among the voters are still enamoured (for some of us we recognised her and the government she leads for what they really are a long time ago) and that is no better than the one she replaced.

Just full of spin and an insatiable lust for power.
Posted by Stern, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 2:01:48 PM
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@Ludwig

Quoting you from the other thread:

"Why don’t they put their efforts into lobbying for a doubling of our formal refugee intake, an increase in our international aid to the UN recommended 0.7% of GDP and related matters?"

Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. But this still doesn't mean that the current arrival of boats is an "urgent problem" that requires immediate policy initatives. It's simply not, by any objective assessment of the figures.

The fact that Gillard and Co haven't done exactly what you suggested above shows precisely that this issue is being used as an inflammatory cynical election ploy, playing on fears and xenophobia within our community. When you take into consideration that almost ALL of the arrivals are later found to be legitimate refugees it becomes clear that those coming on boats are risking their lives precisely because the official channels are not working.

Yes increase our intake. Yes speed up official processing. I am not even necessarily opposed to offshore processing for the boats, as long as it is done in a compassionate and humane way. But don't pedal this crap about this being an "URGENT" issue that we simply MUST address immediately lest our nation face great peril. It's sensationalist rubbish and incredibly dangerous and damaging sensationalist rubbish at that. And that is not so much directed at you as it is directed at both major parties.
Posted by Grayzie, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 2:22:07 PM
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