Yes, Pelican,

Talking of infrastructure. Australia is only second to South Korea amongst OECD countries in its expenditure on infrastructure.

http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au/aa/releases/2013/March/aa057_2013.aspx

It's strange that Tony Abbott should choose that particular theme for his election campaign (besides "Turning the Boats Around" the musical)

So Australia is already a world leader in investing in infrastructure.

One would think he'd choose a theme where Labor has been lacking.

Here's Mr Abbott waxing lyrical.

I'll have to add that I'm none the wiser as to his and his team's substance than I was before the interview (but that, it seems, is to be expected)

So the upshot according to Tony is...

"We are better than them."

"We are more stable."

Okay....

"We are going to implement an emissions reduction fund."

Electors will lose the carbon tax (you know the one which hasn't affected people)...but, wait for it, "People will lose the carbon tax 'but' they will get to keep the carbon tax compensation."

Excellent, Tony. Care to tell us the reasoning behind that?

His US style presidential campaign launch was to say "Here I am - and we stand for certainty and stability."

Okay.

"Rudd can talk the talk."

Tony can't.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/17805418/abbott-unfazed-by-labor-polling/

"If we are to be tolerant as required by Australian legislation and the UN Charter of civil rights, we cannot discriminate or sledge on the basis of religion as you make a habit of doing." Habit! I do it all the time, I consider the Catholic Church a criminal organisation akin to the mafia, certainly not a religion.

Beach person, is referring to some women as the "handbag hit squad" covered by the above.

I am not a Rudd supporter, As a clear cut conservative and a supporter of the "turn back the boats" policy how about putting your answer to Rudds questions.

Q1 What happens if you turn back a boat and it sinks, and a couple of hundred people drown, how do you explain that to the rest of the world?

Q2 What do you do if Indonesia also turns the boat around, or is boat turning an exclusive right of Australia?

I'm very interested in your answers.

Without climate change Tony Abbott could not have become leader of his party.
At that time much like Americas Republican party it was cool, for some,to say climate change is crap.
Now look at Tonys plan, overall it will reward land owners/farmers for growing trees.
And tax us not the polluters.
Any room for thought here?
Has the time in between Abbott,s rise and now changed the views on climate change.
Labor did not get it right, hamstrung by the greens we followed orders, tax not trading scheme.
See we all, both party,s all leaders other than Tony wanted a trading scheme.
Polls clearly say Labor has not yet got it right, but watch this space.
Those polls too, show most want action on climate change.
Now Rudd, bless you Kev!is on the move, can Tony take us in the other direction?
Tony me mate you must avoid giving speeches near cliffs sandy beaches you could be part of the sand slide in to the sea.

Poirot,

If you imagine that Australia is keeping on top of its infrastructure needs you really haven't had a look around the State capitals for at least 10 years. There is a desperate need for new infrastructure.

The cause was and is over-enthusiastic migration. Mr Rudd, as many will recall, is BIG on his "Big Australia". In fact, it was Kevin Rudd's one man band crusade for high migration and population growth that was one of the crucial factors that drove Julia Gillard's challenge against him and she promised a reduction on becoming PM. Growth is good says Kev and forget sustainability.

Population growth,
<..demographer Mark McCrindle says the growth in the population is being driven by net migration, and he says the 40 million milestone will come earlier than the ABS estimates.

"The proportion of the net migration to our population growth has increased from 54 per cent a year ago to now 60 per cent of our growth," he said.

"We can say that Australia has world-beating population growth right now. The world is growing 1.1 per cent per annum and Australia [at] 1.7 per cent is really out in front.

"When you compare us to comparable developed nations, we really are ahead of the comparisons."

And he says the population is on track to hit 40 million by the middle of the century>

Any wonder that for years State premiers have been demanding a reduction in migration. They just haven't been able to keep up with infrastructure demands. The public are feeling over-taxed because of the costs of providing new infrastructure. There are practically public revolts over the increases in price of energy and water. In some cities, council rates have blown out by over 60% over several years.

Has Kevin Rudd forgotten his "Big Australia"? Probably not! But Kevin Rudd is not saying, is he?

chrisgaff1000, "Did any body else apart from me notice the prominence Rudd gave for the well worn Bible he was carrying all through the swearing in ceremony?"

That is Kevin Rudd to a tee. He does like to flaunt his religion. This from his previous time as PM,

<Shriven, blameless, fresh from Communion, the Prime Minister [Kevin Rudd] stands at the lychgate of St John's Canberra and takes questions from the media. Although he rarely does the rounds of the Sunday current affairs shows, Kevin Rudd stands at the weathered gate of the old church on Constitution Avenue, available for the cameras, whenever Sunday finds him in Canberra.

The message is clear: Rudd is a Christian. To find a Labor leader as openly of the faith takes something like archaeology. Keating was tribal Catholic but not devout. Hawke was agnostic. Whitlam wasn't a believer. The last man to fill the bill for Labor was Andrew Fisher in the First World War.

But Rudd is the full box and dice: born a Catholic and now an Anglican, he signalled his candidacy for the top job in the nation with a thoughtful essay on Christianity in The Monthly. "It's another day," he told a press conference at the gates of St John's in the Brisbane suburb of Bulimba on the morning after his election. The other day he slipped into Mass at the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in North Sydney as the story of her impending sainthood began to break.>

ww.smh.com.au/national/politics-and-religion-crossed-paths-20091225-lezy.html