Trashcan man, you can't be serious !
Where have you been the last three years ?
Pink Bats, School halls, cash for clunkers, solar benefits,
boats, set top boxes etc etc etc. It just goes on and on.

Don't you dare try and blame the opposition for all that.
It belongs totally to the government.

Arjay is making the most sense here (although Anti's one-liner was nice work). Suze needs to detail exactly which of Abbott's views are unacceptable and say why. This all seems to be based on stereotyping of catholics. As Poirot mentioned Italy (and Brazil) have societies that are highly influenced by catholicism and neither seems to be too repressed

Dear benk,

This may help.

I've posted it on another thread.

Tony Abbott has been all too happy to embrace
not only irrational rage but even conspiracy
theories in his quest to tear down Julia Gillard
and get his hands on the office of PM. It was Abbott
who marshalled disquiet among the climate denialist
factions of the Liberal Party to challenge Malcolm
Turnbull in November 2009, when a deal with Kevin
Rudd on the CPRS had already been done.

It's Abbott who has regularly tweaked his message
to appeal to those who don't believe in climate
change.

Believing the science? Protecting the environment?
Perhaps not burning quite so much coal? Hardly a
radical agenda. But that's the problem with climate
change and other issues in the politics of 2011.
This is in large part because of politicians like
Abbott, that the issues have become so thoroughly
politicised that many conservatives now really don't
believe Australia's top scientists. They really do see
a sincere attempt by the government to embark on
a moderate reduction in Australia's greenhouse gases
emissions as a kind of conspiracy to withdraw liberties
and increase taxation.

In short, they are irrationally angry and one of the
chief stokers of the conservative rage has been the
utter political expediency of conservative politicians like
the leader of the Opposition and his cheerleaders in the
media.

Driven by ruthless ambition, Abbott in recent times has
entertained few qualms in his pursuit of the government,
to the degree where he has been willing to attack the
government with virtually any weapon available.

Much like the US Republicans, the Liberal Party in Australia
has recently seemed surprisingly content with advancing
positions that clash with the legacy of the party's more
noble traditions of reason and prudence in a libertarian
assault on the foundations of government itself.

It is hard to believe that Sir Robert Menzies would be
happy with the way his party is behaving at present under
the leadership of Mr Abbott.

TrashcanMan, you ask
'Then tell me what Abbott actually has to offer to fix these so called calamities. And maybe let me know what Howard/Costello did that was oh so right, apart from provide surlpluses.'

1. Surpluses are much better than sending us to a 40 billion deficit with almost nothing but a few deaths to show for it.
2. Howard took the GST to the electorate after he changed his mind. Gillard lied and refuses democracy for such an idiotic tax.
3. Howard stopped the illegals while Rudd/Gillard played politics which has led to the drowining of hundreds of people. I have been told this first hand by people smugglers.

Is that enough or do you believe all the Fairfax/ ABC/National Broadcast propaganda?

btw most Australians agree with the above points not just what you would regard as Rednecks.

runner,

"...with almost nothing but a few deaths to show for it."

Well, that's statement issued with a minimum of integrity.

I suggest there's a whole lot (of infrastructure) to show for it - and a reasonably robust response to the GFC compared to other Western casualties.

That's not to say that I'm impressed with Labor's selling out to the big end of town and its role as a media-driven entity, however, you're as biased as anyone from the left (for all your blather about truth and integrity)

Ah yes, "overnight decimation". So we were warned by the alarmists from the right... Although it didn't quite happen like that, did it?

True, I'll concede Live exports to Indonesia are forecast to be down 40% for 2011-2012... Almost half of that 40%, however, was already anticipated due to changes to Indonesian import conditions on weight.

Greg Brown from the Cattle Council of Australia seems to be a little more upbeat about the whole affair than the Coalition and various other interest groups might have you believe:

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/09/21/384281_cattle.html

But I suppose you think Gillard should have ignored the outrage of the majority of Australians. How democratic. (That's right, Abbott was just going to insist the Indonesians improve standards... Genius!)

Bazz,

Every one of the "issues" you mention are media beat-ups and are the typical list we always hear. They are trivial in the big scheme of managing the economy and governing the country. Non-issues when you consider Howard had us going to war under false pretenses.

Boats?? The biggest media beat-up of all time. The Malaysia solution would have been a more effective solution than Nauru etc. and the Coalition know it. The whole solution stunk of Howard's style of policy, I'm sure he wished he'd come up with it until it got tripped up in the courts. However, it's an ongoing, extremely complex issue, one that no government has ever got right. No-one is ever going to "stop the boats".

Carbon tax? 60% of economists support the policy, only 15% support Abbott's.. But the fearmongerers will have you believe otherwise.

Mining tax? Only the Liberals and mainly foreign-owned mining companies seemed to be complaining that Australia getter a better share from the sale of our natural resources.

It's funny that despite a global financial crisis, Australia is not doing too bad at all. Like I said earlier, the ALP just have terrible PR. They probably should have been a bit more prudent when deciding to change leader too...