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The Forum > Article Comments > Fairfax follies > Comments

Fairfax follies : Comments

By Alan Austin, published 21/2/2013

Now even the Fairfax media are running a campaign against the prime minister.

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>"The Fairfax media group has ramped up its campaign against the Gillard Government. It appears now to have abandoned any pretence of reporting fairly on its successes and failures."

Surely you must be joking. The Fairfax press is as biased towards Labor and Greens as the ALPBC (the taxpayer funded Labor-Green propaganda agency).

Fairfax and ALPBC are blind to the reality that, on an objective basis, this is the worst government the country has had in probably 60 years. The damage Labor has done to this country will take decades to undo.

But you can't continue that blindness forever and expect to stay in business (or continue to be funded by the taxpayer in the case of the ALPBC).

Fairfax maybe, perhaps, starting to wake up and reveal to its readers that this country needs gets rid of this incompetent government, and put Labor out to pasture for at least a decade.
Posted by Peter Lang, Thursday, 21 February 2013 8:17:30 AM
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Good article and right on the money!! By the time I avoid right wing columnists in the SMH there is not much more to read. Now even Hartcher and Taylor have joined the Greek chorus. So thank goodness for alternative media like this. For another good exposition of how the "story" dominates the facts read Green's article in the Drum. This is quite a good government and if they do no more than keep Abbott and his crew away from power for as long as possible, they will have done well by the country.
Posted by Stevenroger, Thursday, 21 February 2013 9:00:50 AM
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You're a funny guy Alan; Fairfax biased gainst the ALP and the Greens.

Joke of the year.

And your mate stevenroger says:

"This is quite a good government"

New joke of the year.

Consider national debt; from $40 billion in the black when Howard lost to $260 billion in the red:

http://www.aofm.gov.au/

1/3 of the annual GDP down the drain and not a thing to show for it.
Posted by cohenite, Thursday, 21 February 2013 9:31:23 AM
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I can understand your anguish, Alan.

Fancy Fairfax having the hide to publish truthful articles, about our psychotic corrupt Prime Minister.

In fairness Alan, they were going broke publishing the Labor supporting lies of the past decades.

I know the rage that the truth generates in Labor supporters like yourself, but show some consideration for Faifax, your lying ally for so many years, and now in trouble because too many people woke up to it, and experienced the revulsion caused by such an awakening.

Have you decided to desert a sinking ship, Alan?
Posted by Leo Lane, Thursday, 21 February 2013 9:53:25 AM
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Good morning all,

Thanks for the comments.

The latest data from the World Bank and national statistics bureaus shows Australia is now even further ahead of the rest of the world with the best-managed economy.

Canada has just snuck ahead of Switzerland to be second, but both are still way behind Australia.

The figures are all here: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/

Can someone there in Australia please point me to an article on this in the Australian media?

Thanks so much.

AA
Posted by Alan Austin, Thursday, 21 February 2013 10:59:07 AM
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Judgements about the Gillard Govt. Austin, the media, or the people.

I think i will go with latter two.

I have been asked to contrbute to an university book on Gillard's record; perhaps they should have asked Austin for the sake of balance against truth.
Posted by Chris Lewis, Thursday, 21 February 2013 11:32:15 AM
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Having said that, i think the Gillard govt's record is mixed, not brilliant and not poor. These are difficult times.
Posted by Chris Lewis, Thursday, 21 February 2013 11:39:03 AM
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I don't vote Labour!
But, agree with Alan.
To be fair, what more can a government do than give us the best performing economy and the best economic position on the planet, and from a position as a minority government!
What ever happened to a fair go?
One hopes that Tony wins the election, with a paper thin majority, that can me rendered null and void, with a single heartbeat; or, by election.
And see just how well he does.
It's said you get the government you deserve, and many whining, poor me, Australians, deserve the coalition and the austerity program it will surely bring with it.
When the austerity bites, discretionary spending disappears out the window; and the economy starts to tank, the Murdoch/Fairfax alliance, with its patent hate campaign, will really have something to complain about!
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Thursday, 21 February 2013 12:04:00 PM
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Show me a Fairfax story with pro-ALP/Greens bias and I'll show you many more stories slanted against them.

I remember the vicious Fairfax campaign against Keneally & Co in NSW where they were trying to initiate an early election with day after day of hysterical and misleading headlines - as bad as anything you could expect from Murdoch. Where is the legitimate criticism of O'Farrell? Shootings, toxic spills, public transport woes, broken promises - imagine the headlines if it was the ALP.

Now with the media power of creative omission Fairfax continue to ignore the facts that don't fit their intended political narrative and are complicit in the political stitch-ups we have been seeing for the last few years. There is a multitude of documented facts in the blogosphere and if you ignore the extremists at both ends you can get a clearer picture of what's really happening.

There are no independent political journalists left in the mainstream media anymore - just a bunch of shills working on behalf of vested interests.

Where is the detailed policy discussion and why the obsession with polls, image and personality?

The SMH is likely to be the first paper to close down and go completely on-line, and it's no wonder and will not be missed.
Posted by wobbles, Thursday, 21 February 2013 12:15:59 PM
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Alan, you are beyond reason; there is nothing in your link which places Australia first economically amongst the nations of the world; it should be first by a country mile given our resources and democratic capitalist system.

And that is the point, not a comparison with the rest of the world but what Australia could be if it were not blighted by an alliance between green fanatics and self-serving trade union leaders.

This government has accumulated a debt of montrous proportions for no good reason; nothing it has spent this money on has contributed to Australia's growth by any criteria, economically or socially.

Given our resources and our social and economic structure Australia should be, within 2 decades, one of the World's great nations. We should have a space program, we should have great research institutes instead of mean and small ones which have been corrupted by AGW, we should have a controlled immigration program, unlike the current one which is dictated by criminals in Indonesia, which does the right thing by the millions of proven refugees rotting in camps around the world while the chicanery of the boat people displaces them.

We should be supporting our energy, particularly thorium and gas, while manageing a fairer return from the coal and mineral industries; we should be developing the potential of the North West and really becoming the food bowl for the world and not be the ideological victims of the greens.

We should have truly great infrastructure projects not the irresponsible and ridiculous NBN and mothballed Desal plants.

We should not have a stupid CO2 tax and the enormous waste of money diverted into the chimera of renewable energy.

And all you can drum up is a gobsmackingly ironic critique of Fairfax's alleged bias against this corrupt, useless government.
Posted by cohenite, Thursday, 21 February 2013 3:07:54 PM
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Greetings all.

Thanks for the further input.

Pretty sure those figures show Australia’s economy well in front.

Australia’s debt as a percentage of GDP is 22.9% and the envy of the world. Thirteen OECD countries are now above 80%, including the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Canada. The USA is above 100%. Japan is above 210%.

In historic terms, 22.9% is not extreme. Australia exceeded 50% three times in the last 100 years and went above 100% during World War II.

The critical issues are cost of borrowing – now at historic lows – and what was generated by the spending. In Australia’s case today, the best-performed economy ever - by a street. Both in global terms, and compared with other periods in Australia’s history.

If Canada is the second best economy today, it is well behind. Australia has stronger income, employment, economic growth, productivity, superannuation, economic freedom and much lower government debt.

The Aussie has outperformed the Canadian dollar over the last five years or so. Taxes in Australia are lower and interest rates are closer to optimum. Australia has a better credit rating.

Switzerland is third with lower debt than Canada, but still more than double Australia’s rate. Its growth rate is less than half Australia’s and productivity lagging well behind.

Some emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil have stronger economic growth than Australia. But income, living standards and other indicators remain low.

Australia today compares favourably with any earlier period. There have been bursts of stronger growth, years with less debt and brief periods of lower unemployment. But never has the economy had such sustained growth with high job participation, low inflation, low taxation, laudable economic freedom and security for retirees.

But here’s the thing: you actually have to go and look for the data these days. You will never find analysis of the actual state of Australian economy anywhere in the mainstream media.

Once upon a time we would have found these facts and figures prominently in The Age, the SMH and the Australian Financial Review. Alas, no more.
Posted by Alan Austin, Thursday, 21 February 2013 5:49:54 PM
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Alan

It doesn't matter what you say, just as it doesn't matter what any of the media say.

Most of us have made up our minds.

Huge numbers of us have become disengaged.

Almost 60% of us are no longer listening.

We are all just waiting for the election. None of us love the ALP or Gillard. We just want rid of them and her.

All your propagandising is only being cheered on by the 30% of us who are likely to vote ALP.That's the only audience taking any notice of you.

Keep up what you are doing, mate. Abbott and his mates absolutely love you, for your spruikings are simply highlighting the ALP malaise.

Remember how Julia called an election and the next day Thompson was charged, Williamsen faced court and the ICAC continued it's horrific revelations in NSW.
Then Roxon and who-ever? resigned.
Then Kevvy started popping up everywhere denying leadership ambition.
Shorten bolted to the out back and the Greens dumped them. That's the way things are going to continue all year.

Julia's campaign is completely off the rails.

And you should read the latest media reports of the police fraud investigation into Wilson, Blewitt and associates. Particularly about a certain $5,000. You're probably not seeing them in France.

Abbott hasn't had to say a negtative word, as I predicted.

It's all over Alan. All that remains to be seen is the size of the wipeout.
Posted by imajulianutter, Thursday, 21 February 2013 8:25:55 PM
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Prediction: in a month, the polls will have Labor on 28 % and the Greens on 8 %.

In two months, if gthis all lasts that long, Labor will be on 25-26 % and the Greens on 7.5 %.

By election time, whenever that might be, Labor will be on 22-24 % and the Greens on 6-7 %.

With thirty weeks to go, in which week will Gillard be rolled ? Soon ? later ? In the next ten weeks ? Five ?

And who will be the patsy to take on the death-dive job ? Rudd and Shorten will both run a mile, until after the wipe-out. So who will go down in history as the one who planted the knife between the shoulder-blades ?

My money is on Crean, at 3 to 1, and Smith at 5 to 1.

Interesting times all right.
Posted by Loudmouth, Thursday, 21 February 2013 11:05:16 PM
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Alan Austin makes some good points, but, in my view, Cohenite makes some better ones.
Average wages across Aus have been increasing steadily (av 4.5%? annually), with unemployment steady at around 5%, and demand for further wage increases continuing; housing prices on the rise, making home ownership actually less affordable than ever; schools still needing billions to bring them up to scratch (in spite of the 'wonderful' Ed Revol(t)ion); the NBN is floundering under its own weight; NDIS is yet to get off the ground; Gonski on the back-burn; Carbon Tax is doing nothing but increasing energy bills; MRRT is punishing our biggest (and most productive) miners, without adding much to the coffers - and possibly the reverse in overall terms; single mums getting a chop in the neck, to 'balance the budget'?; R&D funding getting the chop to build 'fantasy jobs' and 'castles in the air'; and our Heritage budget deficit is increasing nicely.
Labor has indeed done what Labor does.

Aus with the soundest economy against all of the 'failed' states? Marvelous. But, given the state of our economy pre- the GFC, and our continuing booming mining exports, could even a blind donkey have done any less? (And without a lot of the hoopla and the down-sides?)
Posted by Saltpetre, Friday, 22 February 2013 4:12:14 AM
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Alan,

The nice thing about ideology and humanities is that they are emotionally based. This means you are not required to invoke any form of cognitive processes. That’s why ideology is so well suited to lazy thinkers.

You don’t even have to do any serious research on numbers, you just “feel” them. Whilst you are busy feeling things, the majority of Australians are just about to trash your feelings, big time
Posted by spindoc, Friday, 22 February 2013 11:16:38 AM
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