More for the list:
1) “CHARTERED flights to move asylum seekers out of the overcrowded Christmas Island detention centre and on to the mainland have cost taxpayers more than $3 million over three months”
2) “Contrary to initial indications by the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, a source confirmed that the asylum seekers who had arrived after the deal was first announced would not be sent to Malaysia.”

http://www.smh.com.au/national/asylum-flights-cost-a-million-every-month-20110716-1hj0d.html

SPQR,
I noted that article this morning. If my memory serves me right, the government originally promised to 'stop the boats' and that there would not be detention centres opened on the mainland. That is the reason for the costly flights.

Somebody must recall the scheme about the Hot water units, I can't, but they were going to motels, caravan parks and sports clubs.

LABORS RECENT STUFF UPS.

Grossly increased Immigration
Invitation for 'illegal' boat entries
Did away with Nauru and TPVs (failure to stop the boats)(200 die)
Detention centres opened on mainland. (promised not to do so)
Home insulation acheme (homes burnt and workers died)
BER schools project (builders early retirement)
grocery watch
petrol watch
Cash givaway ($900 I think)
cash for clunkers
green loans scheme
Live cattle exports
Desalination plants, at least 3 (billions spent, now not needed)
60c kw for home solar power, NSW
Super Medical Clinics
Failure to build promised aboriginal housing in NT

To comrade Lexi my aspiring Baltic Bolshevik, from your Millers Point Menshevik:

Inside Job certainly shows that industry regulation is akin to giving pedophiles the keys to the orphanage, but what that has to do with my response to you in regard to Australia's exposure to the GFC I am unsure.

You said the GFC effected Australia to the extent that a bailout from our Commonwealth government kept us from going under, I said that statement was an ongoing lie spread by Labor to take the citizens eye from the waste and rorts that had seen every single stimulus project underperform dramatically in terms of value for money and the number of projects that after completion were not deemed to be fit for purpose with remedial work required.

I qualified why Australia was not greatly affected by the GFC.
You responded with this:
"Anyway - be happy. I have no wish or inclination to argue with you.
When you're right, you're right! And, I know I am! So a great big
raspberry to you".

Hopefully this forum is about learning as well as espousing and I thought that there was a good chance that you would comprehend what I had proffered and understood that in the terms of initial impact and ongoing ramifications that Australia was not impacted by the GFC. But your response just justifies the regurgitating the rhetoric of others that I suggested you are prone to.

Our core beliefs are not a million miles apart, but those such as yourself and Belly who adopt a “my party right or wrong” and lie to defend a point do all socialistic souls a disservice. As a well read Librarian I expect you understand the reason for the old Soviet terms Bolshevik and Menshevik, just in case I will explain in simple terms. It is important in understanding why the Labor party no longer listens to its branches uninformed souls such as yourself say things beyond simple credibility.
TBC

If you are going to play socialist you have to know something about it, I hope this helps:
“The difference between the philosophies of the two emerging Socialist factions: Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries with a large fringe of non-party sympathizers and supporters, whereas Martov believed it was better to have a large party of activists with broad representation”. Both factions carried the philosophy of Marx, but one wanted to run it exclusively via their little corium and the other wanted the people more broadly represented". The Bolsheviks won and the Russians got a totalitarian socialist state.

Rudd and Gillard are Fabians and their organization is the Western intellectual dregs of the Bolshevik mentality. Before the Labor party was hijacked by university educated socialists there was no Fabian agenda, the leaders of that Labor party had their eye on Australia, not a post in the UN . Within months of the Rudd government taking office there was discontent from the back benchers and all the ministers that were removed from policy making because only the gang of four had input. In fact that is one of the critically leaked snippets they used to discredit Rudd and hail the ex gang of four, but now more democratic Gillard to the post, who now now heads a gang of two I might add.
Lexi whatever you are, socialist, communist, do gooder, understand who it is you serve rather than regurgitating the party rhetoric without qualification. If your just here for a chat, that’s fine, but do not tell me I am devoid of a reality without qualifying why.

>>I remember when librarians were bookish little women, nobody looked at them and they never looked up from their books<< Seinfeld…library cop.lol

Dear SOG,

My parents were Displaced Persons who came to Australia as refugees after World War II. For your information, they lost not only family, and friends but also their country as a result of the Soviet occupation.
We had family members who died in Soviet Gulags, others were tortured mutilated, and put to death by the Red Army and the Soviet Secret Police. . Therefore your name calling and labelling me simply because I don't agree with your point of view I find offensive beyond belief and I therefore refuse to have any further discussions with a person of your calibre. You may not be a heavy-handed creep, but you certainly behave like one on this forum.

Kerryanne:
>> sonofgloin, A question pls.
Despite all of that- the past are you suggesting Tony Abbott has the skills Peter Costello and Howard had.? Even when they were in power the inhouse joke was- Oh Tonys ok at = this and that but bloody hopeless with anything to do with budget. Also remembering this- they sold us out and left us with no industry.<<

Kerryanne, it is fruitless setting up a cheap manufacturing plant in Asia if the country you import to have a tariff that ensures the market price will reflect the price of locally produced products. How you overcome that is by a global free trade agreement. The first comprehensive one was the Lima Agreement signed by Australia in 1973 and passed into Australian law unanimously by both the residing Liberals and the Labor opposition in 1973. From this point on we actively worked to close down our self sufficiency by dropping nearly all trade protection, it took thirty years, but we make bugger all now, as planned.. The motive as delivered via the UN Development Organization, the IMF and the World Bank was to be the sharing of global wealth, it did not happen, subsistence farmers were now subsistence factory fodder, the west got poorer, the east got smoggier, and more wealth has moved to the 10% that hold 80% of the globes wealth.

You see Kerryanne the problem is that both sides of politics have signed our rights to be a sovereign nation away, neither side serves the people they serve those who own the global economy. I have no party allegiance, none of them represent my aspirations for a self sufficient free Australia where all expressions of speech are tolerated and a first past the post electoral system is in place.

Right now Gillard’s Labor party is my target, Abbott is ineffective, and his role is just to be there, Turnbull would fiddle while we burned, so I have no positive things to say about the liberals