Well, of course a Left wing ideolog like Bowden would say “..these new right wing objectives have not been  in the best interests of this country. They obey the agenda only of far right wing politicians.”

Is he expecting us to believe that his beloved left wing objectives are very much in the best interests of this country, and they do not merely 'obey' the the agenda of 'left wing politicians? Phooey! For an old man, he is certainly naïve. He knows nothing. Right wing inclined voters will require right wing politicians to look after their interests, left wing voters will do the same with their choices. Somewhere in there, the good of the country has to figure, but Bowen is suggesting that this would happen only with the Left. History has proved him to be entirely wrong on that score!

He has been proved wrong time and time again on his claim that high immigration does not increase house prices – and, in fact, increases the cost of living of the native population in general. Yet, he blathers on, advertising ignorance as a virtue!

I realise that it must be difficult to get good contributors. But Peter Bowden is a thorough menace of misinformation.

Tony Abbott a conservative to the very bone in every true sense of the word, with only his acceptance of the NDIS exposing the conservative Christian progressive hiding within?

I get that a bigger pie is the way to improve the common lot. And just not doable with a quite deliberately created smaller pie, with larger slices cut off for the most privileged; in the forlorn hope that they will share with the less fortunate!

And the very disgraced trickle down theory, that turned a post war period of post war prosperity on its head, to ultimately culminate in the GFC!

There is a way forward, just not his way, but rather, with a return to those fundamentals, we had when we were the third wealthiest nation on the planet, and a creditor one at that! Some of which include, the roll out of widespread Commision housing, Public not for profit essential services, deprivatized public power generation and reticulation; and a people's bank. We used to have a telco and airline, the latter with the very best safety record in the world! [When pragmatists last ran this country]. And in danger of being trashed by the myopically focused on, profit curve.

Thorium power in public hands or competing cooperatives, linked to new space age desalination rolled out as publically funded projects, will massively grow the economy and jobs, plus keep all the profits plus all tax liabilities right here at home!

Where they can assist with the usual flow on factor that sees one dollar doing the work of seven, in turbocharging a reactivated booming economy, positioned to take full advantage of the next boom, the food boom!

All affordable with the creation of popular elsewhere, just never ever tried here, for (ideological) reasons that simply escape me, self terminating 30 year bonds that offset comparatively modest returns, with a government guarantee and a tax free status on the income.

After all we have over two trillion in our own super fund just looking for visionary nation building projects to invest in!?
Alan B.

Well, along with reduced immigration, there also needs to be tariffs on imports to make manufacturing more competitive, thusly increasing the birthrate about 3 fold to where a sustainable society needs it to be. It's actually amazing to think how much fun it would be to live in hopeful place for a change.

Tony Abbott's energy policy puts, I believe the needs of debt laden, foreign speculative energy investors ahead of the economy, which then becomes a second order issue?

Instead of one of the two foundational pillars that support ours and indeed every western style economy! The other one being capital!

Any discussion on energy and our future needs that just doesn't include nuclear, is not only fundamentally flawed but captive to, rank ideological imperatives!

Nobody with half a brain is going to invest in coal but may invite a tarriff regime based on the carbon footprint! And easily avoidable if our energy future is #1/ carbon free and #2/ clean safe and cheap. With the cheapest energy option supporting the most competitive production or processing in a future world of mostly Automated production!

And a world where nothing is exported raw, but with considerable value adding! And an essential if we are to pay everyone a social wage! Or just replicate third world countries, which may soon be competing for arable ground and water?

You don't have to be a hard right conservative to just focus on white-anting those same support pillars, without being able to imagine the foreseeable extremely negative consequences, but it has to help?

Conversely, progressive conservatives are not only true entrepreneurs in every sense of the word, but pragmatists into the bargain who understand that these support pillars cannot wind up in monopolistic foreign controlling hands; but are either socialized for the social and superior economic benefits that that paradigm alone confers, especially on the remaining bulk of the capital risking private sector!

Or rolled out as government financed, supported and facilitated, competing for market share cooperatives and for the aforementioned reasons/pragmatic/superior economic objectives! Alan B

Applied "conservative" politics & "culture" 101.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~spanmod/mural/panel13.html
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~spanmod/mural/panel21.html
http://www.logosjournal.com/hammer_kellner.htm

The philosophies proposed by both scientism and conventional exoteric "religion" are neurotic psychologies grounded in fear, misunderstanding, recoil, alienation, horror and death.

With very rare exception all human beings are now dwelling in a separative and self-destructive mode. This is why human life on Earth suffers its present complexion as described below.

The entire pattern and trend of current human culture (or what remains of it), including scientific materialism, all modes of false reductionist philosophy, and everything relating to the current domain of ego-based consumer politics, social egoity, competitive social systems, tribalistic national systems, un-regulated economics, and conventional exoteric institutional "religion", is about death.

The Earth-world and all of the global human domain have already collapsed far enough. If the pattern of the whole collapses much further, the human life-sphere will not be retrievable.

The calamity that everyone fears has already happened.The old "order" which was only ever workable up to a very limited point is now thoroughly dead. And as such, the now obsolete "order" only serves to perpetuate the calamity, while simultaneously preventing the necessary emergence of something entirely new.

Strangely enough all of the usual "conservative" suspects are fully committed to the perpetuation of this now universal psychosis, even claiming that this is a "no-other-way" cultural imperative.

And of the Trumpenfuhrer and his denizens from the dark depths of the swamp are fully committed to ramping up at turbo-speed this "culture" of death.

All human beings are defined, patterned and controlled by everything that is presumed to be "objective" to them and everything that they have not transcended.

The cost of housing lies in a few supply side fundamentals and little else! Starting with rationed rezoned urban land that instead of being developed is banked while unearned capital accumulates in a risk free paradigm! And exacerbated by front end loading of state tax impositions! Imposed in the mistaken/diabolically dumb belief, this will provide a superior funding model for state revenue streams! And a quite deliberate failure to decentralize!

Anyone doubting this and the rationale, need look no further than the reported widespread corruption and backhanders allegedly proffered for this or that city centric development approval?

And the quite telling failure to roll out timely rapid rail as part of decades overdue, nation building.

Front end loading needs to be replaced with a capital gains tax adjusted for inflation to return residential housing to the area of shelter as a basic human right!

Capitalism is founded on the idea of risk, not safe as houses investments that have to grow massively and disproportionately when compared to wages growth!

Housing shouldn't have devolved, with the help and involvement of the political class, into an industry supporting all manner of parasites! Arguably the only ones cashing in on improved comparative values!

Home owners just get slugged with bigger insurance and maintenance bills, and ever higher replacement costs, which can and does lever some folks out of the market, if they wait too long to get back in after selling!

The term market needs to be replaced with supply with regard to essential services , water, gas electricity and residential housing!

None of which should have ever been allowed to grow into bonanzas for all manner of middlemen profit takers/ brokerage barons, placing themselves between the supplier and the consumer for a maximised unearned risk free profit. Word limits fail me!
Alan B.