Dear Mr Swan,

No, the Government has not stopped listening. They've just started listening, in earnest! The problem that they've had is that they stopped listening between the last election and about three months ago when they came back from the long Xmas break and your new leader was so far ahead in the polls. Now it's too late for them.

Stay on message, you've been the Opposition's leading performer in that respect.

"But Australians have in-built bull-dust detectors."

We sure do and they are ringing loud and clear. These half truths and statistical nonsense espoused by Swan are his modus operandi. There is so much bull dust in the air around this article that it is impossible to refute all the points......

"Added a staggering $114,000 to mortgage interest repayments on the median-priced home over the life of the loan. This translates to an extra $380 per month"
This assumes that the mortgage was taken out today for the next 25 years - therefore no $380/month can possibly be added to something that you don't have. And it also assumes that there is no CPI wage increases over the next 25 years (as this would cause the 2007 dollar value to go down). And who buys a median priced home? How about the average priced home - a much fairer comparison.

And "eight straight rate rises on Mr Howard and Mr Costello’s watch" what about the rate reductions Swany - or don't those work for your bull dust piece?

"Standing idle while petrol prices skyrocket."
And Swany, what would you propose to be done here? Would you lower the world's oil prices? What about all your spin on global warming? If you are proposing to lower petrol prices people would be encourage to use more petrol. They would buy more V8 powered cars (like the ones favored by our parliamentarians) and lowered airfares would encourage more airline flights to take on the increased passenger loads - or don't you think that far in advance.

With regard to climate change, stay on message but remember that climate change is a softened term introduced in the USA by conservatives to take the hard edge off global warming. The more important problem is resource depletion. Most people do not realise that the onshore oil resouces of the USA are virtually exhausted. There the peak in oil production was over 30 years ago. The North Sea resource is also well past peak production and current production is less than half of the peak. The world is using 8.5 billion tonnes of fossil fuel per year, mostly in the western developed economies with 2.5 billion people in China and India coming up fast. Total grain and sugar production is only 1.7 billion tonnes per year so growing fuel and ethanol production are at best minor help. Whoever wins the next election the problems will remain the same so the public needs some warning that permanent growth is not a possibility. I suspect that capitalism and "the market" will not be willing or able to tackle the problems prior to a major collapse.

Have the Government stopped listening? With all due respects it is a pretty dumb question. A more appropriate question is who is the Government or oppostion listening to? Are they listeneing to the unions and supporters? Are they listening to big business? Are they listening to the Global Warming scaremongers? Are they listening to genuine environmental concerns? Labour is no different to the Liberals. They pretend to listen wherever they think they will get the most votes. That is the form of demcrocacy we have. We have seen this with Mr Beazley, Mr Latham and Mr Rudd. This sort of article is an insult to thinking people.

I am listening very closely to the ALP. I do not like what I hear. I do not like it one bit.

It's interesting to see how pollies consider listening to a slightly different set of groups while ignoring others as somehow more inclusive than their opponents. The cuurent government has been slack when it comes to listening to groups they don't want to listen to, better or worse than Labor? That's hard to get an objective opinion on.

As a male and single dad who went through the family law system (mostly set up by Labor) a few years ago I've seen how disinterested pollies of all persuasions are in fixing the problems there. The Libs have at least made some attempts to look for solutions. Why is Labor silent about the widespread sexism in public handling of DV issues?

Labor does not listen or care about a fair go, they just have different priorities on who to "help" and who to screw over.

R0bert

I would agree there Robert.

The Labour part invented the Family Law system, and that system has evolved into a muli-million dollar industry designed to take money from families and put it into the pockets of solicitors and various other scavengers that feed from the system.

That system has been responsible for screwing countless families into the ground, but the Labour party has done absolutely nothing about reforming that system. The Labour party can not be trusted in anything to do with families

Wayne,
No they haven't stopped listening, how can you stop doing something you don't start. The electorate have stopped listening to the bloke Queeld Liberal Party collegue once described as "the lying rodent" and have already made up their minds that you would be a top Treasurer as long as you don't develop an arrogant smirk.

Don't take my word for it check out The Age newspaper in Melbourne, they show a poll graph, Labor can't be beaten unless a major gafe occurs, hope you enjoy your time in Treasury Wayne.

Wayne,
No they haven't stopped listening, how can you stop doing something you don't start. The electorate have stopped listening to the bloke Queensland Liberal Party collegue once described as "the lying rodent" and have already made up their minds that you would be a top Treasurer as long as you don't develop an arrogant smirk.

Don't take my word for it check out The Age newspaper in Melbourne, they show a poll graph, Labor can't be beaten unless a major gafe occurs, hope you enjoy your time in Treasury Wayne.

Mr Swan you and your party are third rate dinosaurs. You are still pushing the old"victim" line you wheel out every election.All your ads on TV should be accompanied by sobbing violins, grow up, get a bit of dignity.
Be a party that will equal the other lot in intelligence,demeanour and please stop telling a very well paid,affluent mob of Australians how badly off they are.They may start to believe it, elect you then all your ads will come true.
The unfortunate fact is we need a good party in opposition, not the mob of 'stars' that we have now.

Self governance is in the hands of every voter, more this time than ever before.

We ALL understand the need for a Fresh Approach.

Yes - we call for a 21st century Australian leadership AND an Australian community that CHOOSES to understand that taking firm action now is the only way to protect both our jobs and our environment in our FUTURE, and OUR CHILDRENS FUTURE.

Our system is archaic of the 18th - 19th and 20th Century. Much of the red-tape is obsolete... a costly and wasteful burden to government, business and citizens alike. We need to up-date the ways we communitcate, especially through the administrations so we can deal with the realities of today from what we learnt yesterday... for tomorrow.

I am PLEASED the "responsible" issues impacting us ALL (from within our own communities) is finally on the Federal Agenda.

We need to REFORM our services across the board.

We need a "whole" of Government INSTITUTIONAL REFORM.

We are an Innovative Aussie Society.

We need to unleash the innovation possible from ALL social economic sectors - if we seek to engage - productively, to nourish our individual possiblities through our communities, as NATION BUILDERS.

I know the Federal ALP will tackle REFORM and I know the economic challenges are also up to US, as a "whole" public as much as any one government.

It is up to ALL of US!

http://www.miacat.com/
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‘But Australians have in-built bull-dust detectors’ says Mr Swan. I agree wholeheartedly. We are not amused when politicians trot out pathetic excuses to explain the quaint Queensland game of ‘Pass the Parcel’ which involves putting sums of cash in brown paper bags and handing it on. All done without a business activity statement mind you. And that bull-dust detector reads ‘high’ when we are told that our treasurer forgot to lodge his tax return. We had the amusing Minister for Smuggling Teddy bears episode and his excuses which kept our machines fine-tuned. The needle on my machine went into the red band after the famous whiteboard devoured $30 million of our taxes without a trace. And imagine my utter frustration when my bull-dust detector exploded after being subjected to the ‘no child will be living in poverty’ cant of the narcissistic Mr 60%.

I’ve tried brand X and brand Y and guess what? Both taste like that stuff that the bull-dust detector runs on: S**T.

No Mr Swan they have not stopped listening. They have been unable to get some important initiatives off the ground because the Labor States and the Federal Opposition have blocked them at every turn.
How do you suppose it feels Mr Swan to be one of those people who volunteers hundreds (or in my case thousands) of hours on projects only to have them halted by the refusal of the Opposition and the States to cooperate. Being in Opposition should not mean trying to prevent an elected government from governing. This is what you and your ALP mates have been doing for the last eleven years. The saddest thing of all is that you may well win the next Federal election on that record...and then you will expect the Coalition to cooperate with you.
It's no good arguing that you make all the decisions on what is best for the country - you are making decisions designed to get back into power. You will do whatever it takes. I am sick and tired of hearing that everything in the garden will be rosy when the ALP is back in control, that the economy will be in better shape, the environment will no longer be a problem, that education funds will be better and more equitably spent etc etc. It simply is not true. The Coalition has spent more on some areas that are traditional Labor areas - and they still get given no credit by you or the media.
I am fed up with your holier than thou attitudes,

Do you also promise Wayne not to increase the GST that our Labor State Govts have wasted on growing their bureaucracies.Will you also control your Govt spending and keep the Unions under control?

We only have to look at our various State Govt's lack of discipline with no money for infrastructure/services in times of plenty.

Govt policies set the climate for interest rate changes and your party does not have a good track record in this area.

Just pray for another cyclone to wipe out the rest of our banana plantations and then we cannot become a "Banana Republic" if Labor rules us again.

Banana Republic, you obviously don't understand what Keating was saying, given our current account deficit we made banana republic years ago.

Look at our disasterous export performance over the last decade, maybe we are a dessicated coconut republic.

No Wayne Swan, the Government haven't stopped listening. And I think your mob could do a lot better at listening to the public mood. Most Australians don't mind the workplace reforms - there have not been mass sackings as you and your union mates thought inevitible.

Indeed - and it may not have occurred to you - sackings occurred before Work Choices and even AWAs! Indeed, more people were out of work when your old mate Keating was in the Lodge. I'm not sure how you come to the conclusion that Howard and Costello have done a bad job when it comes to employment/IR.

Runawake has a selective memory.Labor left us with a debt of $80 billion or $10,000.00 for every working person.In todays money it would be $20,000.00 for every working person.Now this debt has been paid off and The Coalition now have $80 billion in a future fund.

The real "Banana Republic " scenarios were happening right in Labor's back yard!

Arjay (21 May 2007 6:52:10 PM),

Unsubstantiated claims are not convincing. Please supply detailed figures to back your assertion that “We only have to look at our various State Govt's(sic) lack of discipline with no money for infrastructure/services in times of plenty.”

The Victorian Labor Government has invested substantially in infrastructure. Below is the capital spending each year on schools from the all-party Parliamentary Public Accounts and Estimates Committee Report on the 2006-07 Budget Estimates:
97-98 $58 million
98-99 $90 million
99-00 $112 million
00-01 $216 million (Labor’s first budget)
01-02 $265 million
02-03 $200 million
03-04 $125 million
04-05 $307 million
05-06 $287 million ($1.4 billion already invested by Labor in school building)
06-07 $379 million

The government has also improved services; e.g., it has employed an additional 5,193 teachers to make up for most of the cuts the previous Liberal Government made and to allow prep to grade 2 classes to be capped at 21 pupils each. It has made similar improvements to police and nurse numbers.

Wayne Swan,

I am concerned that, according to news reports, you have stated that you will not be taking a tax policy to the election. The Labor Party took my idea for two tax-free thresholds to the last election, but it did not adopt my related proposal that at least the tax-free threshold be indexed in movements to the minimum wage so that low wage-earners get the full value of minimum wage increases. This issue needs to be dealt with.

"All of a sudden, hey presto - after 11 years of neglect, Mr Howard suddenly rediscovers education".

I could say exactly the same thing about the Labor party's newly discovered focus on responsible economic management.

Yep, my bulldust detector is working fine.

Mr Swan,

You say that "Education has been a core Labor value for over 100 years" and that your "Trades Training Centres" will adress the skills shortage. If this is such a core Labor value, why then has the Labor state government in NSW been closing down TAFE colleges?

Mr Swan, you also talk about housing affordability and refuse to acknowledge the state Labor governments' role in applying land tax and stamp duty. Stones and glass houses come to mind...

One wonders also how you can talk about a Labor government that would "invest the wealth of the mining boom" while blindly ratifying the flawed Kyoto protocols and adopting backwards looking IR policies that will help to destroy this very boom.

As for Chris C's breakdown of education spending by the Victorian Labor government, did it not occur to him that the increase in spending in 00/01 was due to the introduction of the GST revenue being passed on to the states?

Regards,
d

I don't think John Howard and Peter Costello have stopped listening. On the contrary, they're listening like mad.

They just don't understand what they're hearing. People have stopped sounding like economic units and started sounding like members of a society, and that's a language they don't understand.

Lies and spin
“extreme workplace regime that cuts penalties and overtime.”

Offset by negotiated increases to base rates !

“This is despite health and childcare costs that have spiralled on Mr Howard’s watch.”

It was Hawke who was first to introduce "Health Tax", with medicare levies, they put a dent in everyones budget.

It is peoples own responsibility to have children, if you cannot afford them, don’t become parents.

Of course, a lot of costs have tumbled since gst came in, from savings in the excessive sales taxes which Hawke and Keating perpetuated.

The liberal contention is interest rates will always be lower under the coalition than under a labor government. You should know the primary reason for inflation is government spending in excess of government income and the labor party is notorious for that. Hence the huge debt which the incumbent government worked down / retired from the dead albatross left by Hawke and Keating.

Let labor hold the steering wheel of the national economy and they will be smashing it within a year from government largesse for their union bosses and to employing more hopeless cases with tax payers subsidies and unrestrained indulgences on infrastructure which satisfies no social or commercial benefit.

As for “nation-building” that’s a nice unaccountable catch phrase but what does it mean?

Spend money on “nation building” and what is the real return?

Maybe a warm cosy feeling as we shiver, unable to afford food or heating due to excessive taxation in the socialist nirvana state which we built?

Margaret Thatcher had it right when she said

"There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families."

And she also said

"We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. This is what we mean by a moral society; not a society where the state is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the state."

Leave us to build our own lives and through that effort a "nation" will be built.

Yes, Australians are equipped with the built in bull dust detectors since they know the nature of democracy.
They are also aware that a "new broom sweeps well for a while".
Thus an elected government becomes more and more arrogant with each passing year.
Just look at King Howard, he use to be a humble man before tasted real Power and now his ego is ready to eliminate him!
Power corrupts!
More power corrupts more!
Absolute power corrupts absolutely!
The ALP is out for POWER SWEET, SWEET POWER!

We all have our opinions, those who have expressed their opinions so far to the pollsters are Labor 57% Coalition 43% it is pretty clear the general public have had enough of the man Queensland Liberal Senator George Brandis once described as "the lying rodent" he has to go, it's that simple.

Mr Swan

I have a friend who was a wharfie all his life. His union appeared very supportive of its members, since my mate always made it home for lunch.......and stayed home!

He was aptly named "half a day Dougie."

dickie,
So what you are saying is he had the life of a C.E.O. playing golf while supposed to be working only the wharfie worked twice as hard for 10% of the income. Should be more of it, or at least bring the C.E.O.'S under an award.

Deryck,

I certainly was aware that the GST contributed to the Victorian Labor Government’s spending, but this does not change my point; namely that the statement,“We only have to look at our various State Govt's(sic) lack of discipline with no money for infrastructure/services in times of plenty”, is untrue because Labor Governments have in fact spent billions on infrastructure and services. In the townships near my home, we have a new primary school, a new police station, an new CFA station, another new police station and a new combined police/CFA/ambulance station. In my last school, there are brand new science labs, and the primary school over the road from it has also had extensive new building work. Criticise governments by all means – they all deserve it – but have some factual basis for the criticism.

Most of our Labor State Govts grow more bureaucracies than growing infrastructure.Of the $21 billion spent on employing PS in NSW $7 billion is spent on bureaucrats.We have one bureaucrat for every 4 or 5 workers.This is not sustainable economics.Every worker in NSW must pay $2,300.00 pa in tax just to employ bureaucrats.Where has all the money gone indeed.You will find these scenarios replicated throughout our Labor States to a lesser degree but still wanting to emulate the NSW debacle.

When Labor gets in power Nationally there will be a rapid process of decay with the heralding of the growth of the welfare State.Wall to wall Labor will destroy this country.

It might be time to sell up and move to greener pastures.

Arjay,
Stating the obvious public servants spend money in the economy helping small business remain afloat, along with very generous tax deductions not available to working people. You take their money and critisise them similtaneously typical tory.

You are a fool Shonga ,much like your Labor lackies.Ireland enticed business to their country by almost abolishing business taxes and investing in education,your philosophy wants to do the absolute opposite.

Ireland has almost no natural resources and we in NSW who have seemingly everything,languish in poor economic growth.We lack Ireland's discipline born out of hardship and are now paying the price of our self indulgence.

The socialist's state will not save your children Shonga.Discipline and dedication will always outshine well meaning Hollywood worshippers of image over substance.

Arjay,
You haven't got a clue have you, your in the majority who no nothing of life only text books. I feel very sorry for you Arjay, perhaps one day you will realise your folly untill then I wish you the best of luck, with your attitude you will need it.