Well said Reg, and beautifully tight. A pleasure to read. Rudd, besides being a fraud and intellectual dwarf, has also failed, as you say, in his one claimed area of expertise, foreign affairs.
Bruce Haigh

fraud and intellectual dwarf,
Bruce Haigh,
If that doesn't make anyone in the electorate (even the non-thinkers) think, then what are we heading for. Only this morning I spoke with a nurse about the Health Dept fiasco & she didn't hold back on colourful rhetoric but as soon as I mentioned ALP she went on the defensive. It just doesn't add up !

Everything in the article seems valid, but I am still more afraid of Tony Abbott.

Reg

You join the growing media chorus of highly subjective voices baying for the demise of the Rudd Government. "One man, with a few, now grim, hangers on". You need to stop reading The Australian and have a rest.

Of course the Government will be held accountable for its performance at the next election, but what about some sense of objectivity rather than personal malice? At every turn the Government has been thwarted from pursuing a reformist agenda (for which it had a clear mandate) by a reactionary opposition. As a former public servant you would know that Ministers are basically the equivalent of a Board of Directors, setting strategy but not interfering in operational matters. What is the responsibility of the numerous senior career bureaucrats who are meant to professionally manage health, education, defence, indigenous and other Federal programs? How could the Government have possibly anticipated the breathtaking opportunism and dishonesty shown by the private sector in the insulation and school building programs?

The truth is this Government is working in a dynamic, difficult and complex political and economic enviroment, and focusing a stream of personal invective and resentment towards one person provides few real insights other than the growing power of the media to shape public perceptions.

Have a bex and a lie down Reg.I think Reg is a liberal voter, I don't for sure I just get this feeling.

Reg the lesson you need to learn is no game plan has failed until the final whistle is blown. In your love of all things Chinese you have forgotten why the west is so successful. The West is like the Blob, what west cannot take over the west destroys. While you've have engrossed yourself in all things Chinese you not noticed that most Chinese want to be westerners. By the time China becomes a first world country it will look and feel like a western country.
The dragon will not awaken before it's slain by it's keepers.

Donkey,
"The truth is this Government is working in a dynamic, difficult and complex political and economic enviroment...."
And is abundantly clear that Rudd and hangers on are completely out of their depth. A great article.

I am dissapointed with Rudd. Perhaps the process/culture of government is outdated. Some say Turnbull failed because he was not a master at political process, the skills of which takes years to hone. Do we need this skill? The ability to bluff, spin, divide and conquor? Could we perhaps grow up a bit and just want a good presentation of facts.

Rudd has put politics first too many times. It is not working. It is a mess.

Reminds me of those people that get the job due to superior job interview skills rather than skills for the job itself. Rudd was good at selligng himself but that all he had. self love. No real skills.

Rudd has certainly wasted taxpayers money on ‘stimulus’, while denying that the mining industry is the sector which kept us out of the downturn experienced by Europe. Now he wants to tax it a al Chile. All jokes aside, Rudd is the closest thing we ever had to the old ‘Commo” talked about in the ‘50s.

The author mentions “Greeks”, the greatest Left-wing, nanny state adherents still left in the democratic world. Hell’s bells! The Age Pension is almost 70% of the average wage in Greece. It’s 25 % in Australia. Rudd seems determined to lead us down that path. And, yes, I am a part Old Age pensioner.

The author also refers to Paul Kelly. When Paul Kelly chastises Rudd, we are in big trouble.

The author believes that Rudd “… has been a disaster, displaying ineptness that is difficult to believe…”

Yes. But the really revealing side of Rudd is that he knows it – via polls – but ignores it by saying that he “will work harder”.

The author’s paragraph about the failure of the globalised G20, and Australia “…being left forgotten, isolated and vulnerable” is of urgent importance. Given the previous government’s disinterest in the fact the Australia is importing food that we can grow better and healthier, compounded by Rudd, we are, indeed, in danger of being isolated as an Anglo country surrounded by Asia – an Asia which Chairman Rudd has insulted with his waffle about an Australian controlled Asia-Pacific version of the crumbling ECU.

Some people think that Labor would be OK without Rudd. But there are Ministers who have aided and abetted the extreme Left one-man-band Rudd is conducting. They are Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan, Chris Evans (Immigration Minister) and Lindsay Tanner, the last reasonably ‘good guy’ to sully his reputation to keep his job.

We don’t have a good choice in Australia but, Tony Abbott, with his warts and rough edges, is our only hope if we want to restore our pride, economy and culture at the next election.

I don't like Rudd and I don't like Abbott. I do see some justice in putting up a tax on resources that are owned by Australians. I have a suspicion that the mining industry really does fear other countries doing the same thing to them and reduce their profits.

Rudd has not had much chance to spread his wings to some extent as he is hampered by a unfriendly senate. The senate should be disbanded in my opinion, as they are not executing their obligations of being a State representative, clearly they are controlled and vote the way the Liberal party wants, and on some occasions there is a independent in there with some swing!

I do feel that this coming election we should vote the same in the upper and lower house, so that we can get a political instrument that can operate without interference from the other mob.

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10539#173280

Bruce Haigh, agreed about the article up to a point, but, Why are the failings of Krudd's, federal government over the last 2 years, identical to those of all the Red/green/getup/labour coalition, state & territory governments over the last decade or so?

Because its not him, or Gillard, or anybody, the Red/green/getup/labour coalition is rotten to the core, has been for about 5 decades now, ever since it was infiltrated by the CARS, Communist, Anarchist, Radical, Socialists.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8630135369495797236#

http://www.savethemales.ca/000185.html

http://www.cruelhoax.ca/#top

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10539#173283

individual, Leftism is the ability to maintain an argument, while ignoring facts.

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10539#173288

david f, both major parties & the Canberra Press Gallery have been colluding for decades, to fool us all into thinking a change in leadership can make a difference. Presidential politics as they call it, but whatever "Poster Person" is out front you always end up with one of the 2 Major Mistakes.

http://www.australiafirstparty.com.au/cms/

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10539#173299

Donkey, Did you see your namesake on "Sunrise" the other morning?

The Red/greens & conservatives have been obstructionary in the senate, but the government has also been unreasonable towards Xenophon & Fielding.

The Bureaucrookracy is riddled with Loony, Left, aparatchiks.

Your beloved Red/green/Getup/labour coalition knew in advance, they were throwing the cash around in a way that was likely to be ripped off. They were desperate to win back the votes of, "tradies" fingers down throat, Trades"Men".

There is nothing complicated about it, spend too much, wastefully & we all go broke.

I am no Rudd-lover, but I was and remain a Howard-hater, and for all his many flaws I remain glad that Rudd (and not Abbott, the real Howard-lite) is Prime Minister. And I feel impelled to come to his defence from people like Little and Haigh. Talk about self-righteousness, as well as arrogance. They have it in bucket loads. Intellectual dwarf? Compared to whom, Bruce? You, I suppose? Because Rudd won’t get out of Afghanistan? I wish he would, too, but I can see the difficulties in doing so, given previous commitments and statements. Obama is still there, committed. Is he an intellectual dwarf compared to you as well? And where is the incredible political ineptness Little speaks of? There have been failure of communication and of administration, but this sort of excessive, jaundiced, self-righteous rhetoric is just obtuse. In both cases of the pink batts and BER programs, where the conventional wisdom accepts this supposed level of ineptness, two inquiries, relatively independent, by Dr Hawke and the Auditor-General respectively, found the level of Government ‘ineptness’ minimal. But we hear very little of these inconvenient findings in the Press, let alone from Little and Haigh. And Little ends his lesson on China with the most obtuse flourish of all: if he really thinks that a Coalition Government led by Abbott would be less ‘dominated by Anglo-American power and influence’ (think Vietnam, think the ‘man of steel’, think Iraq, think Afghanistan)than Rudd, well, I can only say that he is well named, as far as his capacity for fair and nuanced analysis goes.

Well said, Leigh.

I was upset when I read Abbott's comments on having Australia's population as big as possible, but felt considerably better when the contender said he would put the issue to a panel of experts to consider. That strikes me as a sensible approach. In contrast, Rudd strikes me opinionated and pompous, and more likely to shout at his advisers than listen to them. From the waste thus far, it would seem that a fair bit of sound advice has been ignored. Of course, as someone who would like to see Australia's population stabilised, the idea of advocating a big Australia strikes me as sheer lunacy, and makes me somewhat prejudiced.

Donkey: >> Ministers are basically the equivalent of a Board of Directors,
What is the responsibility of the numerous senior career bureaucrats <<

Donkey, these are the same bureaucrats that implemented govt policies for all the previous govts, the only thing to change is the operational guide lines and constrictions sent down from the ministers. Remember the govts response to their myriad of failings " we wanted the money into the economy asap so we did not worry about dotting the I's or crossing the T's.
The public service is akin to a box of thermometers being transported on a train. They go where the track laid down for them goes, and their reaction depends on how much heat you apply to them. You cannot blame the public servants for the unprecedented waste of public funds that this govt has paraded before us, and in less than one term.

>>How could the Government have possibly anticipated the breathtaking opportunism and dishonesty shown by the private sector in the insulation and school building programs?<<

I could have anticipated an exploitive run on the funds given that all I needed was an abn and a bank account to start billing them. Whether I did the job or not, whether I did it to standard or not, whether I inflate the costs astronomically or not, I would have been paid, and in a timely fashion as well.

Donkey I do not believe we have the caliber of politician (shifty or not) that we had previously. I vote for the party that I believe will take care of the country at a basic level. Healthcare, Education, Utilities, Military, Infrastructure, and foreign debt are the primary task of the govt. Given all that I vote on performance, so my quandary has always been to understand why a supporter of a Party defends obvious failures, and discredits opposition’s achievements. You can agree with one ideology over another, but why should incompetence and failure not be addressed and attributed. It is core dishonesty and certainly does not reflect "to thine own self be true".

Sonofgloin, although I can agree completely with your voting principles, & apply a similar system, I can not agree with your excusing public servants of all responsibility in the areas of waste. In fact, I think their incompetence, & lack of diligence has been, for a very long time, the cause of massive waste in Oz.

Over 20 years ago I complained bitterly when I found that a 5 pedestal & 1 urinal toilet block, at a small country school, had cost more than five 3 bed 2 bathroom homes would cost.

Our little school was growing quickly, & needed many things that waste could have paid for. The reason I was given, it was easier to take the highest tender, & use the same people, than check out other tenders.

I was later to find the same philosophy in other departments, with the Housing Commission a prime example.

When I asked my local member why nothing was done about this attitude, his excuse was "It's hard enough to get anything out of them, without trying to get them to do a decent job". At my amazed response he said that when you can't sack them, how can you control them?

So mate, I think we have, with Ruddy, & our public servants, the perfect coalition to waste our taxes

Hasbeen, some substantial truth speak in that little lot, a well coined sentiment "a coalition of wasters" it has a certain repetitive ring to it throughout the generations. I am astounded that the "Sir Humphrey" mentality has come to fruition, as opposed to when the scripts were written as a satirical extension of beaurocricy.

Rather than defending the PS I was bagging the incompetants in the cabinet.

I'm somewhat amused by this tendency toward the Cult of Personality, as if one person is the sum total of an entire government or nation.

On one side we have a obsessive control freak who speaks in a carefully scripted way and tries too hard to sound sincere.

On the other we have a rabid right-wing reactionary hypocrite who will say or do anything to get what he wants.

I wouldn't care if our Prime Minister was a blind one-legged hermaphrodite with Tourette's Syndrome as long as he/she did their job.

As much as Rudd has made errors - big and small, he's still acomplishing much and kept us our of depression. If the Libs had been in power they would have just given money to the banks and tax cuts to the wealthy and cut more services to pay for it.

The country decided to reject Howardism less than 3 years ago and I can't see why they would want to go back to something even further to the right.

Wobbles,
If you care to think you'll find that Howard didn't lose the election nor did Rudd win it. Stupidity was the big winner but already, after 3 years some of the then voters are becoming more enlightened.
Because a great many young voters have been indoctrinated in their Universities it is only natural that they'd be impressed by Rudd's so-called intellectual smoothness rather than realise that substance accounts for far more than impressive rhetoric. Unfortunately for the country Rudd's rhetoric is not matched by his substance. It's alll nice & good whilst the money lasts but when the cash flow starts to ebb mere words just don't cut it. And it's words that the ALP is all about unlike Labor which stood for some substance. Conservatism is self explanatory. Well, to the thinking anyway.

Individual,
I think Howard certainly did lose the election very decisively, as well as his own seat, and it was more to do with Workchoices and other repressive policies than a bunch of naive Uni students having a fling.

Just like the Obama phenomenon in the US, there has been a big backlash - due in part to unrealistically high expectations but also to a very hostile press. Even the ABC is on the anti-Rudd bandwagon.

Rudd's failures don't mean that Abbott is automatically correct about anything - as the polls have shown.

Wobbles,
When you look at the seat of Bennelong I find it rather difficult to conceive that work choices had anything to do with it. Bennelong isn't exactly the kind of neighborhood to be affected by that policy. Maxine McKew is purely a product of academic media hype. What have we seen or heard of her since the election ? Nothing ! Can you cite just one policy or whatever she has brought forward that is of benefit to us all ? I saw her on a TV discussion a few weeks ago & she just didn't have anything of substance to argue about. She was utterly lost when she realised that she couldn't simply say "sorry, we're out of time" & change the subject when she had nothing to say. No-one, not even Abbott himself would claim to be automatically correct about anything. That in itself is a stock standard stereotypical ignorant academic defensive phrase. Abbott would make a good PM. Why ? If you listen to what he says rather than hear what you want to hear you'll find that he has a far more realistic outlook & expectation than Kevin Rudd. We all know what Bureaucrats are like & Kevin Rudd was a "senior" bureaucrat. In a way he still is.

Wobble
I hated, detested and voted against John Howard but I am so tired of hearing how Rudd kept us out of recession. Without the strong financial legacy the Howard government left we would have had no ammunition to start with. Bank regaultion also was not his making. Now we are seeing the waste, pillage and plunder of our nations wealth by Rudd. Mortgaging the house to the pay the butcher. We have not escaped anything until the debt is paid off. The interest bill alone is astronomical. He is one huge economic gamble at the moment.

Despite not wanting to hear about it, the fact remains that the economic stimulus package worked.

It's easier the pay the mortgage when you have a job than if you're unemployed and it's been widely agreed by both sides that it prevented a depression and massive unemployment.

At the time, both the package and the bank deposit guarantee were wholeheartedly supported by Turnbull but only opposed in part afterwards for political reasons.

As for what Abbott has to say, that changes when in suits him politically. He's even further to the right than Howard was and only beat Turnbull for the leadership by one vote and I can only imagine what he has planned when he drags the country back even further to the right.

Despite not wanting to hear about it, the fact remains that the economic stimulus package worked.
Wobbles,
That's like saying we can sell the house to pay the mortgage.

Selling the house to pay the mortgage? That's what Howard did as I recall. Abbott will sell Medicare and leave the Health Fund industry to do as it pleases. Great stuff.

Donkey “The truth is this Government is working in a dynamic, difficult and complex political and economic enviroment,”

Yes, most of the difficulties are of their own making with situations which are only “complex” to socialists.

Fact – Australia did not need a stimulus package, purchased with debt which our grandchildren are expected to pay off

Fact – more houses burned down as a result of stupid environment policies

Fact – boat people by the score because of Mr Rudd & his governments daft line on people smuggling

Fact – changing the tax system does not mean increasing the government take by increasing taxes or inventing new ones, like the opportunistic super-tax on mining profits

Prediction - If Rudd & co are let loose to “manage” the health system form Canberra –the best thing anyone could do is sign up for a fixed price funeral now.

Rudd negotiate?

His style is to issue "final" edicts, and is surprised when all hell breaks loose, and he is forced to back down.

The only example of his following a consultative route was with the labour legislation, and it is the only example where he did not get a pounding.

Even blind Freddy could learn from this. Is Rudd too stupid or too arrogant?

Wobbles, when I see statements like:

"Despite not wanting to hear about it, the fact remains that the economic stimulus package worked." I despair of your naivety.

Brungle school got a library for free under the BER. No one can deny that.

That it was smaller than the one they were quoted for $75 000, and the state paid $250 000 is more the point.

The stimulus package was roughly the same. For the questions:
Did we need that much stimulus? the answer is NO and:
Could we have got the same effect with a fraction of the $42 billion, the answer is YES.

Considering that Rudd promised to continue the fiscally responsible, his economic record is an abysmal failure.

Reg Little's excoriating article on our unclothed PM, is a timely reminder that even one time Messiah's, have their use-by date. Remarkably, his very own Labor back benchers have pulled a Brutus soiree, and without much subterfuge and conniving, elevated buxom, accident prone Gillard as likely contender for the Lodge.

Notwithstanding the innumerable gaffes, and debacles e.g. Ponzi stimulus, ETS, Copenhagen,insulation fiasco etc. A litany of reckless profligacy which knows no bounds, and unlucky for us - will hasten our demise as : " the banana Republic of the Antipodes."

Pompous Kevin ( VIND ) vain,introverted,narcissistic, duplicitous, is never short of reminding the electorate he is in total command. Paraphrasing JW Bush: " the buck stops here ." Lot's of hollow eructive jargon and hubris - all fluff and puff !

By extension, the GFC, ETS, Hospital & Health milieu, Miner's conundrum etc just happened on his watch, and arguably his responsibility. Even though you will never know it.

The surreal absurdities emanating from Canberra, under the auspiciou guise of " creating jobs ", is mind boggling. Money seems to be no option, when it comes to featherbedding the ten's of thousands of youths who prefer to go surfing, play the pinball machines, etc rather then complete their Education, seek an Apprenticeship or produce an honest day's work. This statistical slight-of-hand is ultimately reflected in the Aust Bureau Statistics, which invariably conceal the growing legions of youth employment. Anyone on Youth Allowance is classified as employed !

The Bulletin recently revealed figures relating to the latest batch of Asylum seekers, residing in 5 Star Hotels, in Brisbane, and a mammoth Housing development complex being completed in Dalby, specifically for them. Of over 70 chartered aircraft at $ 134,000 each to ferry them here, to ease the congestion on Christmas Island ?

Just when hundreds of homeless men and women sleep in parks, sidewalks, and alleyways, because there is no where to go, and no one will have them. The social disparity is a bloody disgrace.

Over the weekend, two Chartered Qantas flights, flew 2000 klms

cont..

into the Indian Ocean, to seek out teenager yachting hopeful, Abby Sunderland, and pinpoint her location. The people, presumably SES personnel could render no assistance whatsoever. It was purely a "gwack" PR taxpayer exercise. The Aircraft carried over 30 working individuals who were on duty and drawing overtime rates.Subsequently, the RAAF sent out two Orion's to reconnoiter the scene. All at Govt expense. Can we recoup the cost from the Sunderland family ? Hardly think so.

The irony is not lost, when not even the assiduous RAN, and dozens of Maritime surveillance a/c cannot identify, nor intercept boatloads of Sri Lankan / Afghan boat smugglers broaching our Northern shoreline ?
Paradoxically, it's our Aboriginal Coast-watchers, who fulfill the onerous role.

The latest fiasco emanating from Treasury apparatchik Ken Henry's 138 Tax reform proposals, including the MST ( Miners Super Tax ) may tellingly be Kevin's apocalyptic Waterloo. Significant changes in the fine print appears to have been lost in the translation ? How else can we explain Henry's mathematical Modeling ( requiring 15 years of Applied Science ) gone so horribly askew ?

Overall, there is another agenda unbeknown to all and sundry, which beggars belief ? Why else would you gamble $ 38 B unless one is hopeful of deriving substantial returns ? How do we recoup the frivolous expenditure ?

The dynamic, disingenuous amateurish Marx Brothers : Ruddy, Swanny and Tanny have through obfuscation, weasel words, and shyster's chicanery mounted a blitzkrieg of disinformation, and half-truths to advance a lost cause.

Why would you outlay $38 B on TV commercials and Ads, that you could ill afford, if you believed you were on a Winner ? There is little justification for this type of largess when there are so many disfranchised Australian bleeders trying desperately to make ends meet,and relying on Charities. This shenanigan could well have been avoided, had they done their sums, dialogued, and negotiated with the Industry's NGO's and Reps.

Abbott rightfully denounced Rudd's profligacy, as an act of desperation. Like a drunken sailor !

Imagine what this could do providing suitable Public Housing,

cont..

for those unfortunates, and a decent standard of living for the battlers and destitute. Many, too proud to beg on the streets.

At the end of the Day, and in a Real World scenario, despite the grandstanding rhetoric, spin and bluster, everyone, including the Superannuation Industry, ASX, Insurance cartel, and 600,000 BHP Shareholders, Rio Tinto, and other Miner's shareholders, would be any the WORST off.

Inexorably, they will pass off the MST, and any other tax impost as just another Capitol Expenditure, which is Tax deductible. As for those denuded patriots, who believe Swan's spin, that they own the Mines, it should patently be obvious, not even the avaricious stock-holders can stake a claim. Ownership titles belong to the State's; not the Commonwealth. The Miner's are only prospecting on leasehold's held by their respective State Authority.

If one is prepared to work the lease, and many have with dire negligible returns. By all means, GO FOR BROKE.