Got that off my chest, been a very busy weekend but dropped in to just look had to stretch it a bit.
I get a kick out of commentators who so clearly are ill equipped to? comment, if the intention is to show what they know.
My intentions for the thread? just once leave our biases in the bucket at the door.
And look at both sides.
Ask why we are lead by two failures.
Why folk with disapproval numbers over 55% are not removed.
What is driving both sides to BETRAY VOTERS?

Judgements should be clearly
labeled merely as personal opinions (or value
judgements), and should not be taken too
seriously.

Therefore anyone commenting on another's
"intellectual capacity," should be careful
lest their own be judged. One shouldn't want
to be the kind of person
who picks his friends - to pieces.

Dear Belly,

My previous comment was directed at SOG,
because of his insult to you which was
unnecessary and totally out of line.

Anyway, back on topic.

Barrister and human rights advocate -
Julian Burnside tells us that:

"Policy formation is one of the most important
functions of government and opposition.
Democracy assumes that the governing party best
represents the policy choices of a majority of
the people. Most people vote for a party rather
than for a person, although sometimes it seems
that they vote for a PM. regardless of the identity
of the candidate in their electorate. The party is
a priority for the voter's political philosophy -
and there was a time when the policies of each major
party were fairly predictable."

These days are long gone.

Burnside says that:

"Now it is difficult to see significant differences between
the policies of the major parties except on a few issues.
It is impossible to predict with any confidence how either
party will respond to changing circumstances. This modern
fact of political life is a result of new technology which
allows political parties to see what policy responses will
produce an electoral advantage in key marginal electorates."

The mainstream media plays, a part in this process, since
the loudest voices in the dominant outlets play a major
part in shaping the views which will be expressed in news
polls. Founding principles and philosophies of the major
parties have disappeared as significant forces in policy
formation, it seems.

Lexi, policies are simply a plan and, when passed in the parliament, they become approved plans.

However, as I have said many times before, the best laid plans can, and do come unstuck, when the implementation is wrong.

This is where labor have time and time again, been proven to be left wanting, as they simply have no idea.

You don't stimulate an economy by allowing million, if not billions to be flushed down the pokies toilet.

Just the same as it's pointless have a plan to insulate houses, when you allow cowboys to perform the work, totally without appropriate compliance governance, you know, mowing lawns one day, insulating houses the next.

It's nit so much the ideas that have let labor down, so much as the way they implemented them.

I say time and time again, if only ALL POLITICIANS were accountable.

So, are you voting this time for Tweedledum or for Tweedledee?

The one will eat you with salt, the other will eat you with pepper - so don't say you didn't have a choice!

Soggy, thanks for the explanation…. I think ( :>?

I could never have imagined that this is what you were referring to.

So you reckon the Liberals have a:

<< …track record for sound management and firm social expenditure policies. >>

Really?

I don’t see a hoot of significant difference between Lib and Lab. Sure they’ve both had their share of good policies. Neither of them is all bad. But I just can’t see that one is realistically better than the other.

And for as long as they both worship very rapid and never-ending expansionism, and live in the pockets of big business, I certainly won’t be voting for either.

If you think I’m intellectually challenged for holding this view, well go right ahead and thing that.

Of course, I would hold the view that anyone who thinks that I’m intellectually compromised is a couple of sandwiches short of a full picnic. But then I suppose I’d be a tad biased there! ( :>)

And as for Belly’s intellect, I can’t say if he’s any less intelligent or intellectual than you or me or anyone else on this forum. What counts is his great enthusiasm for debating a wide variety of issues and not being afraid to present his views just as he sees them, despite pretty frequent insults. And he is willing repeatedly to say that his party is not perfect and has a variety of problems. I consider him to be one of OLO’s best contributors.