This metamorphosis screams for a thread of its own.

I probably can't put it any better than Michael Pascoe, so I'll quote a few lines from his article.

"A caterpillar emerging from its cocoon as a butterfly has nothing on the metamorphosis of Joe Hockey.

The Hockey of ''budget crisis'' fame, the government debt warrior, the dry who never met a deficit he didn't hate, has turned into the half-trillion dollar man, spent all the $7.1 billion in policy savings he was trumpeting just five days ago and blown out this year's deficit by $7 billion beyond Labor's best efforts. And the financial year is young."

http://www.theage.com.au/business/the-metamorphosis-of-joe-hockey-from-scrooge-to-santa-20131023-2w1nf.html

What's that?

He's blown out Labor's best efforts by $7 billion this financial year?

A further 1.8 billion this week to take the total since 9 September to $14.7 billion.

More like a conservative politician emerging from his cocoon as a "hypocrite".

Hockey gave the RBA all that money to trade on the international currency market, geez, all I can see coming now is higher personal and other taxes amid increased government speculation whilst carbon tax is abolished to satisfy the big end of town.

Hockey and in fact many front bencher's have always been the same hollow and of little substance.
I think many of us knew that.
Again the reason Labor lost was not its policy,s, and not the Liberals ones.
Labor folded under the actions of its factions and highlighting its right both the driver of its defeat, and now in control.
How strange politics is, its best hope of returning.
Leaving out our best friend in that climb back the Liberal Party would be uncharitable.

Here it is, folks.

Straight from the horse's mouth....

http://jbh.ministers.treasury.gov.au/transcript/012-2013/

"....If people lend us money most of the risk is in their hands, but we are AAA rated and we are in good shape."

".....but we are AAA rated and we are in good shape."

"....we are in good shape."

(October 23, 2013)

(he must have been lying earlier in the year)

Stop the Press!

Hold the Front Page!

>>(he must have been lying earlier in the year)<<

A politician lied to us.

Well, doesn't that just beat the band.

Who would have thought it possible.

I'm aghast that something as terrible as this should happen, here, in Australia of all places,

(etc. etc.)

Yes, well, Pericles.

It was a smart-arsed add on in brackets at the bottom of my post.

Just a parting swipe to SM and Co.

Hint: I'm not surprise that a pollie lied to us...but one has to admit, the fraud was long and loud - and successful!

Numbul Davis, welcome to the forum. That post of yours above will draw some fire from the usual suspects. I noticed you posted "dem dar fighten words" around 1pm. for the next few hours the conserve mob will be having their daily nanna nap down at the aged care facility where they all reside. Come later, and after an invigorating game of parcheesi they will take turns on sisters puter and give you some hollie dollie. They normally leave me alone as most of them have come to love and respect my opinions.
Post what you want go for it!

Paul1405. Thanks for the heads up. I think robust debate is healthy and necessary for democracy. I doubt very much if there is a single person whom every person agrees with. I have no problems with alternative views to mine. While i accept diversity in opinions it is within the boundaries of civil dialogue that i do this.

I think robust debate is healthy and necessary for democracy.
Numbul Davis,
Would it not be better then to post this in a democratic country instead of here ?

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minnows-threaten-senate-havoc-20131024-2w4dv.html
This being the only active thread on politics I think this deserves a look.
I hope with every inch of my being Labor joins with the mad hatter Abbott,to forever end the abuse of the Senate.
And the open wound insult it is to by far most Australian Voters.

Surely Pascoe's analogy is inaccurate...

"A caterpillar emerging from its cocoon as a butterfly has nothing on the metamorphosis of Joe Hockey..."

My observation is that we find only one stage in the life cycle of politicians?

As a grub.

I believe you, Belly...

"I hope with every inch of my being Labor joins with the mad hatter Abbott,to forever end the abuse of the Senate."

But seeing as how the method of election hasn't changed in over sixty years and that the majors have held combined majorities throughout that time and not changed anything.

You shouldn't get your hopes up anytime soon.

Grubs, the lot of them. But I can sympathise with those who think not all grubs are the same.

Excellent, WmTrevor...

Belly,

Can you tell me why the fabulous Bill Shorten is nowhere to be seen - while Hockey does his magnificent about face somersault with pike?

...or while Hunt does his imitation of a first day uni student?

...or while Randall and the Libs who drag their feet in deciding which lie to tell?

Or is it so early in the piece that Labor can't be bothered to be an Opposition?

If Joe 'Smokin' Guns' Hackney was serious, then the standing government should repeal the Carbon Tax immediately... on principle and to their election promises - not next July! No ticker, no balls, no real policies with practical solutions. Let's witness Australian government in action, apologies... inaction. Will Joe refund to the big players all the taxes collected from the time parliament repeals it until July 2014? Yep, the snouts in the trough that aren't already overloaded are fuelled and on the tarmac - ready for take off.

Poirot close observation of my history here should see my boot prints on my partys bottom, often.
I must say I after these words must stop refereeing to Stephen Conroy as a maggott.
That term praised the product of unwed parents.
He is taking his wish *power broker that he is* to our next federal ex meeting to remove members voting for leader ship rights!
Shorten shares that power with him.

But hold on give Bill a go and time he is the man [and I never voted for him] to bring us back no room for doubt.
Hockey and others will see that soon.
Poirot as you may know the recent internal election hurt and in truth the member ship is demanding nothing less than true reform.
Bill Shorten is about to deliver it.

Individual. Democracy comes in many forms. The country I live in, and love, Australia, has one form.

Democracy comes in many forms. Australia, has one form.
Numbul Davies,
I didn't realise how wrong I have been all my life by thinking that Democracy meant by majority agreement. I always thought that a handful of incompetent bureaucrats & shifty Law people was a dictatorship rather than a democracy.

Individual. Sorry to be the one to break the bad news to you but yes dictatorship is a variant but I don't agree that this applies to Australia but if you do and you have strong feelings about this variant being the norm here then you should think about whether you want to remain here.

think about whether you want to remain here.
Numbul davies,
You may prefer to stick your head in the sand & pretend to be an ostrich, I don't & from what I see around me is that things are not as blissful as some prefer to believe. I'm of the opinion that telling a fact up front is far more productive & proactive than playing ostrich. Just because some Johnny come-latelies want to change everything for worse for the sake of change just doesn't cut it. Make changes to improve things & I'm in.

Individual. I will voice my opinion whether you or others like it or not. I come from a long line of fighters, stretching back to 1770 and beyond in this country. So telling me to consider where i want to be just doesn't mean a thing to me. If you don't like Australia then leave, but i've been here for the past +40k yrs and i am not going anywhere else.

So telling me to consider where i want to be
Numbul Davies,
Where exactly did I suggest that in my post ? If you don't understand something then at least try to read again istead of flying off the handle like this. It's not intelligent.
I'll say it again in the hope you might get it this time round. Just because some people choose not to see obvious problems does not mean there are no problems. I see huge social corruption everyday & I for one feel an obligation to make others aware of this as there are many who will also try to rectify things because the huge number of hangers-on won't take the chance of shaking the system.
Ignoring problems doesn't solve them & the longer you leave it the sooner the problems of others become our problems also. Have you visited Sydney lately ? If you did you should know what I'm on about.

I think it would be better maybe that we rounded up your kind Numbul and shipped you back to where you and yours came from. Hahaha

..

As for *Hockey* well, he often did couch his position with a need to to get the full picture once assuming guvment.

Additionally, I did hear what I considered a rather compelling series of arguments advocating the need to retain a structured deficit in the short to medium term by what appeared to me to be a very switched on female with skill in economics, amongst other things.

And of course today, to see his face with the BANG BANG BANG of the demo going off outside now that they have hiked the fess up substantially for education was absolutely priceless. It goes to restore my faith in the value of some Australians. ;-)

I do not expect the politicians to be perfect, but rather I expect them to Pony Up , take the rap and take corrective measures when they have messed up, providing it is not something of the heinous variety.

Re: education, the single biggest failure of the system is the refusal of some of educators to provide homework on an ongoing and regular daily basis.

It is not enough to listen in class, but rather one must do some time at home in review and consolidation. My daughter for example is at a public primary school, she has her main stream teacher, a good share of 1 on 1 with the mainstream EA, she has a Special Needs EA and once a week with an external specialised teacher for the hearing impaired, but regular homework, and she indeed does need additional iterations prior to new information being well formed in memory, is just too much for some reason.

Hopeless .. Further, sport is patchy and it oughtn't be and the cognitive beneficial effects of music training are simply too great to be ignored and it must be incorporated into the mainstream. None of that need cost a dime as you can use par filled bottles and sticks and still get the benefits.

Further, I like NAPLAN but it needs to be for all years, there needs to be lots more practice exams put up on the web, and in the numeracy area, if the questions are embedded in advanced language and the kids are failing to understand the question, then it it is not really a numeracy test at all.

Regarding the Asian Century, educational delivery techniques need to be moderated to place less emphasis on information uptake via the auditory memory and more emphasis placed on visual delivery techniques.

Yo, Dream on...thanks for your input.

I detest NAPLAN which is mainly a tool for pitting school against school and whacking teachers over the head and less about addressing student outcomes.

As for homework, I believe that institutionalised "schooling" usurps enough developmental time from children. There's a good case for giving them back their afternoons (especially in primary school) and impinging less on their private unstructured time. It's interesting how we don't like to give each other much time for reflection and recreation these days.

Poirot,
I get the impression that you would favor the Rudolph Steiner model over the Japanese or Chinese model of more school and less holiday time. Oops, that would impinge on the teachers free ride holidays wouldn't it? Sorry it just slipped out.

Haven't given an update for a while.....

According to Stephen Koukoulas, the govt has just borrowed another $800 million, tenure - 11 years, yield - 4.08%

Total gross borrowing since 9 September is $18.0 billion.

Hi Poirot,

I've been having computer problems for the past week
so have been unable to post.

As for the metamorphosis of Joe Hockey?
Virginia Trioli had an interesting article in
"The Weekly Review," October 23-29, 2013.

She points out that "politics has changed in Australia
to the point where voters have been required to see an
entire party as embodied by one person only - one
leader - and where voters have treated these parties, and
their potential as a government, as the vision and
ambition of one person only. It's their triumph if they
get it right; it's entirely their fault alone, if they
don't."

Trioli tells us, "It's an absurdity. It's untrue,
and it's a wasteful disavowal of a parliamentary system
that has served this country well for so long."

"Australia is not a presidency, despite the now entrenched
style of our federal election campaigns. Despite the way
an election is pitched now by all - by the media, the parties
and the leaders themselves. We do not elect a prime minister,
we elect a parliament of individuals who are mostly aligned
by party connection and form themselves into a representative
government."

"Our governments are at their best when there is a vehement
contest of ideas, when, cabinet labours and struggles over
policies, when individuals dissent and speak out and sometimes
even step down because they strongly disagree with the policies
adopted. The strongly argued dissenting case is one of the
great contributions a politician can make to posterity and
to future good policy."

I agree with Trioli that it would
be great to see the return of the true ministerial
system, with clear delegation, clear autonomy and authority,
and the ability for all to be heard within a robust and
respectful group. It takes a particularly strong individual
to allow all that. A thoughtful, smart, secure, emotionally
intelligent adult. As Trioli states, "Let me know when you
next spot one.