I'm with 579.
The prospect of Abbott as PM is an invite to disaster.
And what's worse is that there's no depth to his Shadow team.
Hockey, Pyne, Bishop, Andrews, et al; an extraordinarily inept group.
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

R0bert,

According to Alan Austin our international credit rating is more important than such things as alcoholism/drug addiction, suicide, poverty etc, they don't get a mention, in fact the first 9 of his top 15 are economic based, his other 6 are a political attack on the government itself. According to the conservatives, who cares about a poor glue sniffing child who necks himself, as long as we have a AAA credit rating so the big banks can borrow O/S at the best possible interest rate.

Hi Paul,

Are we at cross purposes here, perhaps? Probably my fault for being less direct than I might have been.

The 15 supplementary variables were not posited as a list of important values at all. You are absolutely right that generosity, sharing, integrity, love, sacrifice, truthfulness, leisure, creativity, music, dance and telling stories to children are way more vital to a healthy community than economic growth and interest rates.

I’ve also spent enormously rewarding periods working in Aboriginal communities, in New Guinea and in the outer Eastern islands of Indonesia. Have learned heaps from people in these amazing communities about what life should be about - as it seems you have also.

That list was simply 15 factors on which it can now be positively demonstrated that the current reformist Government of Labor, the Greens and the Independents has performed much better than earlier Coalition Governments. That’s all.

This was to challenge the view, above, that “Labor leaders … simply have no idea about the most basic elements of how to run an effective organisation, how to budget accurately and deliver according to those budgets.” I think that can be shown to be not true.

Which is not to say everything the present Government does is to be applauded. Far from it.

We are probably in agreement pretty much, Paul, on most things. Including on the wish that both sides of Australian politics valued non-material aspirations more than the financial.

Cheers, AA

My apologies Alan, your last post shows that I misunderstood your position. I was wrong about what I perceived to be your views, and again I say sorry.
I love the people of Vanuatu, I'm jealous of them, in many ways they have everything, and many of us, rich in materials, yet oh so poor in so many other ways.

Cheers Paul.

No problem, Paul. All good.

You are greatly blessed to have been to Vanuatu. I worked in New Guinea (Churches of Christ missions) many years ago with a couple from New Hebrides - as it was then. Just the most wonderful people.

My Dad has been there several times working as a volunteer, and my son was a teacher there for a short time recently. So I have heard lots about the people and seen heaps of photos.

I agree with you that we in the West - I'm now in France - have much to learn from less materialistic communities.

Hope to get there myself one day, Paul. We shall see.

The coalition have lost the plot, they continually divert away from the politics that matter to AU.
A mob of six graders could do what Abbott is doing.
Their front bench are not with the program at hand, or they are not allowed to talk politics.
The same negative agenda, every day.
I believe they are running a DLP agenda, they are certainly not running a liberal agenda.
The last liberal in parliament was Howard.