Is it just me, or has Bill turned on the charisma in an attempt to wow the masses, a la Kevin 07.

If he is, there is one very HUGE difference, that being NO MONEY to waste this time and a HUGE DEBT to be serviced, if not repaid at some point in time.

Surely the masses are not stupid enough to be wooed again.

I truly think we may well have reached the point in Australian politics where we need a 'none of the above' option, because whether the libs retain office, or labor get back in, I cant see much changing. Although I can see labor finishing what they started, that being finding rock bottom.

Who do you think should run our country, and why?

Either way, a vote for labor or libs will see far more immigrants let in than we can sustain.

Is it time for the minors to have a much larger say?

It's just you. Bill's personal approval rating is still low, despite the recent rise.

Australia is a sovereign currency issuer, and the government does not borrow except in the currency it prints. Our debt is still quite low, but even if we had twice as much debt as Greece, we could afford to spend just as easily as if we had no debt at all. Interest rates are at record lows so the cost of servicing our debt is negligible, but if there's one huge difference now it's that there are more shovel ready projects available, so more of the money can be spent on things that make our economy more competitive. And as with last time, most of the money will automatically be recouped through the tax system.

Surely the masses are not stupid enough to be worried about debt again?

We don't need a None of the Above option, as we have independents and minor parties that can hold the government to account. I do hope we get a hung parliament again, as governments can't do as much damage when they're forced to justify every decision they make.

I think Labor are preferable to the Libs overall – at least Labor will avoid false economies like Fraudband.

If you think our immigration rate is too high then I suggest you vote for Dick Smith's party. But personally I disagree; I think we should be working on the problem from the other end, increasing the number of people this country can sustain.

Tony Abbott appears to have more character, common sense and integrity more than any other leader since John Howard. The fact that regressives hate him so much demonstrates he is the best qualified.

Butch, are you getting nervous or something that you had to start an anti Labor propaganda thread. Unless he is a complete dumb cluts (ala the Mad Monk Abbott) Turnballs should be returned, probably with a reduced majority. Just keep your finger on the scales, and fat in the snags, and all should be honky dory,.. or so so,... whatever.

Nobody should run the country.

If you live in this country and someone runs the country, this implies that this person is also running your life - what a sick idea!

Are you serious flesher?
After the procession of lies and corruption from the lying liars party the last three years is there anyone stupid enough to still trust the lieberals?
Thats gotta be some industrial strength stupid to keep falling for their lies time after time.
After all the rabbotts lies and BS now turncoats utter failure to be true to a single thing he has professed to believe in you still think the lying liars from the lying liars party can be trusted.
They wont release any policies because they know if we knew the slightest detail of their real intentions if they win the election they would be wiped out.

Best thing we can do is put lab/lib last. Maybe then with a mass of independents and a permanently hung parliament they might start listening to the majority of us and not their mates in business and the unions.

Who should run the country?
The Proletariat of course.

I think for my first time ever, I will be looking very hard at the minors, as I think what ever happens we need more of them, not less.

My preferences will be towards those who are willing to control welfare waste, drastically reduce immigration, if not shut it down completely for at least a few years.

I will then be looking for someone who will put a stop to allowing those who are born to hate us in, in favour of those who wish to contribute, rather than feed off what we have. That's once we have things under control of cause

I will also be looking for someone with a big stick, because like it or not, that's what we need.

Good luck with that, rehctub,

Maybe you should form your own alliance?

"The Big Stick Party" has a certain ring to it....

Rehctub, I think you need to move to the US and vote for that mad, bad-haired ol' Trump. He sounds like your kind of guy....yours and all the trigger happy racists who follow his madness over there.

A vote for any of those fringe-dwelling minor parties is a wasted vote, but you go right ahead. I can just see all the rats that followed washed-up Abbott abandoning the Liberal's ship in droves. Sore losers the lot of them...

Jay, I am a Catholic, and the one thing Irish Sister Mary tough me in 3rd class was, those worse than Lucifer himself, were the Proletariats, and the C of E's were the worse lot of all. We don't want them in parliament.

Butch, looking at minors, we have enough children in parliament as it is. Do we need more?

Poirot, Butch wants minors in parliament, will they be the little sticks, will women in the party be known as twigs, Will the big sticks be part of the branches. The Big Stick Party, catchy must be worth 2 million vote just on its name alone. I can see the forums rabid right lining up right now to vote 1 Big Stick, Big Clive could get the gig to run The Big Stick Party, he's been a Big flop. Just what we need!
BTW, Beach wants to play Big Brother in society, does he qualify as well. The Big End of town can finance the whole thing, money from Big coal, Big oil, the possibilities are endless! Our mascot can be the Big Buffoon, We get May West to do our advertising with the slogan 'Big Is Beautiful'. Sounds good to me, what do you think?

Butch says someone with a big stik. With Abbott lurking around you are not going to ever get such a wish. He is all bad for the coalition.

Turnbull did not shine so well as i was hoping. I think he is hamstrung with the far right faction. Abbott said that 60 % of debt to GDP would be acceptable, after he was elected of course. Who is going to forget the mass of blatant lies that Abbott told, any thing to win power, then he fluffed it.

It would have to be people we don't yet know. The current bunch of no-hopers of all shades are certainly no good. Neither Shorten nor Turnbull are inspiring. If Abbott hadn't been stabbed on the back, the Coalition would have been returned and, with a cleanout in the Senate, could have set us back on the road to recovery. As it is, we have two gangsters blatantly buying votes with money that does not exist. There is little hope for Australia in the foreseeable future.

*rehctub If he is, there is one very HUGE difference, that being NO MONEY to waste this time and a HUGE DEBT to be serviced, if not repaid at some point in time.*

The debt can be written off quite easily.
It only involves cancelling the ridiculous orders for billions of dollars worth of clunky F35 aircraft that were only ordered to make even more profits for Lockheed Martin and also the fleet of 12 subs that have no conceivable purpose other that to inflate the ego of an admiral and of course our ex-Prime warrior Abbott.
If the tax rebates for the rich end of town were also cancelled we would find that there was squillions in the kitty.
Bringing back our ADF from it's various illegal wars would help a lot and stopping the enormous outflow of cash for the offshore concentration camps.

Paul1405, how very droll LOL.

I cannot understand why some of you people think we can continue to run up debts with other countries? At some stage we will have to repay this and before that we will get inflation or deflation. Inflation will result in the theft of all the baby boomers savings. Deflation will result in a depression.
This problem is increasingly serious and I ask anyone who thinks it isn't to tell us whether they have borrowed money but not expected to pay it back.
The problem is being passed into the future which could be here this year or next, then what?
This is a serious question, let me know what you think will happen.

Someone who will build more hospitals and fill them with doctors to treat the people who are screaming for help
Someone who will build bigger and better prisons to lock up the multitude of miscreants that terrorize our communities and return them to 'hard labor'
Someone who will stop buying arms and weapons that compliment the 'American way of life'
Someone who will give us back our guns so we can protect our lives our property and our families.
Someone who will leave our superannuation and pensions and Medicare alone.
Someone who will get rid of the Carp in our rivers and the Dengue menace.
Someone who will get rid of local government.
Someone.......
We need a dictator rather than a Prime Minister.

Well said, JBowyer!

Sooner or later this debt will bite into our savings, thus before interest-repayments make it even higher, we should raise a voluntary fund, by concerned individuals, which will repay at once all the government's debts - on condition of a new constitutional clause that will prohibit government (at all levels) from ever again taking on any debt.

At the moment we are talking about ~$33,000 per person. If we do nothing, it's only going to grow.

Robert, what about we cut tax concession to the rich end of town, as well as stop all forms of welfare, other than the extreme basics, food, water, lodging, you will note I did not say housing. Of cause immigration will have to stop as well.

By doing this the big end of town will at least know their taxes that the likes of you are calling for consistently, wont be pissed away and they will at least have a reward at the end of their working life in the form of a pension. Because after all, they contribute the most, receive little to no respect for doing so, and get shafted in the end.

So yes, lets have them pay more tax, but for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.

Suze, a vote for a minor party could see them win seats, because after all, that's what matters as they will never run the country.

Turnbull would make a great labor leader.
As for my big stick fans, like it or not, this is what we need.

Butch, The Big Stick Party, are you supplying the big sticks, or will I need to bring me own bit of 4" x 2" hardwood, Butch we don't want any bleeding hearts in the party. We don't want limp wrists who turn up with a bit 3" x 2" soft pine! They are out!

Policy statement one;

Big Stick Party to stop all welfare. Fearless Leader has decreed that when elected The Big Stick Party will stop all welfare payments forthwith. Not forgetting the disadvantaged and needy, Fearless Leader, in a magnanimous gesture, will give a tax cut to the poor, Big Stick will remove the proposed 1000% GST from the contents of council garbage bins. To improve efficiency council garbage bins will be privatized and sold off to the Big End of Town.

Paul,

Big Stick manufacturing will also be privatised...

My you well see this as a laughing matter, but mark my words, we are in for a huge hit and, the magnitude of the fall will depend on how long we stay in denial of what is bringing us down, and it is not the high income earner, because they are the few that are holding us afloat. Without them, there would be no welfare, period.

rehctub,

...and where would you be without the workers?

Don't have a problem with the workers P, just the ungrateful whingers.

I think maybe we should try going for a dictator instead.

Fake democracy and successions of bad governments that have sold everything off, screwed over workers by bad decision making, given a free handout to anyone else while screaming about debt and left us to fend off immigrants and leftists.

I'm sick of it.

Well there's a simple solution to your problems, AC: if you don't love it, leave.

I'm sure there are lots of nice countries being crushed under the jackbooted heel of brutal despots. Just pick the one with the most agreeable climate, pack your bags and $#%^& off. Simple. Nobody will miss you or your stupid conspiracy theories.

This is a far more practical solution than trying to convince the rest of the voting public that dictatorship isn't a really bad idea. They're not as thick as you and have learnt enough from history to know that dictatorships are shite. So if you want to live under a totalitarian regime, emigration would seem to be your only real option. I'd even be happy to kick in a few bucks for your airfare.

Arm Chair, we sought of had one in Tony Abbott, and don't be at all surprised if we see him return as Malcom is a complete dud.

We also have the likes of Dutton and Morrison as well, but the entitlement brigade will have to change their ways first and good luck with that I say.

Recthub "We sought have had one with Tony Abbott"? It is "Sort of" but it wasn't of course. If only TA hadn't been straight as an arrow like little Billy Shorten. Making a deal with the bosses at the expense of his members. TA has principals and was what we needed.
The only thing Shorten has, is that he is not Gillard, strutting the world stage making a arse of herself.
I hope TA comes back if nothing else but to shove it up you lot.
Again who thinks debt is the answer? The rates cuts have been in operation in Japan since the early 1990's to no good effect.
I would like to say I await the day of reckoning but I will be as thumped as the rest of you!

Dear Critic,

You do have a point: the main advantage of having a dictator is that unlike in a democracy we are not personally held morally responsible for what s/he does and so we need not feel guilty or even shameful for what our country does.

But there is a caveat: you should not in any way contribute to the rise of that dictator - they should rise without your vote or support, better still against it, or else you lose that main advantage.

Another problem is that you can't predict who you're going to get: it could be an enlightened saint like King Janaka, it could be the Dalai Lama, it could be a good and kind monarch who loves his people like King Mohammed or Morocco, but it could also be Hitler or Kim. Would you take the risk?

Hey Toni,
Isn't free speech great?
You do me proud.

I was going to support your nomination as Grand Poobar / Poobaress but I'm not sure you'd be liberal or PC enough, and I'm feeling very PC today.

Maybe I could take on the job.
I mean all I have to do is say that I 'identify' as a dictator and then nobody has any right to discriminate against me or deny my right to identify with that of my choosing right?
But don't worry, I'll bring in all sorts of new bills and decrees in the name of equality.
Life will be so much fairer.

Because males are under-represented in the general population 45% to 55% I'll begin a campaign to promote that females of all ages volunteer for euthanasia in order to bring equality about between the sexes.
Those who don't will go into a random drawing to undergo mandatory sexual-reassignment surgery so we can adjust for this disparity and inequality.

Next I feel that attractive people have more and better opportunities in life.
Therefore I propose beautiful people be mandated to undergo surgery to look less attractive.
Things like acid burns, and scarring etc.
In more severe cases where the person is extremely attractive, we'll have to amputate a limb, or remove some other body part.
Ugly people shall be allowed free medical treatments, such as breast augmentations, botox, steroids and hair rejuvenation treatments.

To create equality for the handicapped I thought that its only fair that all people should also be made handicapped in some way.

Don't you get it Toni? This is cutting edge stuff - all in the name of equality.

Next I feel that its not fair that some people have to go to work while others don't, so I'll bring an end to all employment entirely.
Everyone shall now be on the dole, and no-one will have to go to work ever again!!

Do you not realise how much better things will be with equality and political correctness?

Seriously though Toni, you missed my point and bought into my argument literally.
All I was trying to do was to contrast the idea of a dictator against what the system we have now gives us.
A dictator might not be a very fair and just leader, but he / she probably wouldn't let any of the things I first mentioned happen.

What you haven't figured out about me is that I almost always find a different point of view, its because I'm always looking at ALL the pro's and con's of every argument.

As for my other silly comments, this is just the mood I'm in and I feel like showing another side to PC and equality.

You're lucky I identify as a dictator today, otherwise your micro aggressions may have triggered me and I would've needed to go and spend the day in my safe space..

I would respond to the things you said, but I just can't be bothered arguing.

No takers... Awww
Looks like I scared you all off with such important topics as PC and equality.
- And I thought you people were free thinkers and liberal.

You people really don't think outside the box.
I mean what's the result of failed democracy?

Failed democracy (or the system destroyed by unrestrained welfare) will result in the country ruled by banking class dictators anyway.

You don't ever need to worry about me running the country because I'm just an armchair critic but that doesn't necessarily mean we wont end up with a whole lot worse dictator that I'd have been.

The way I see it we've built a system which isn't economically sustainable.
We have capitalist healthcare with a socialist base and we have capitalist education with a socialist base, but for my way of thinking the system isn't sustainable if we don't have capitalist jobs with a socialist jobs base.

BTW, I didn't create the system, I'm just looking at the recipe and saying, 'No, this isn't going to work long term'.

You can argue over political parties but it makes no difference anyway.
Theres is no democracy, if they make the rules for us we should make the rules for them.
How exactly can I vote for that?
How is it democracy if they make their own rules?

Your new dictators name might be 'Austerity'.

'Austerity', too right arm chair, however, given so many are now welfare dependant, I doubt we will ever see that happen, not unless we do actually hit rock bottom.

Welfare for families is like buying a new car and expecting others to make the payments, and it will be our ultimate downfall.

How anyone can think we can sustain our own hanger-onners and bring in 20,000 plus annually defies logic.

For the first time in my voting life I will not be voting for a major party.

My tip is watch Tony Abbott because I think he will win his seat hands down simply because he appears to be the only one thus far who has shown some balls.

That will get the whingers going arm chair.

//My tip is watch Tony Abbott because I think he will win his seat hands down//

And I predict that the sun will rise tomorrow, that ice will melt if placed on a hot barbecue plate, and the next new reality TV show will be just as shite as all the ones that have come before it.

Of course Tony Abbott will win his seat. He is the member for Warringah, an electorate which is historically so safe for the Liberal Party that they could run a shaved ape as their candidate and still retain the seat. Unless the electoral redistribution has radically altered the boundaries and demographics of the electorate, which is very unlikely, Abbott is a shoo-in - but so would be anybody else the Libs ran in his place. Even if, like Goebbels, they have no balls at all.

Saying i am not voting for a major party, is your business and no one else's.

With so much welfare, that could be cut to the bone by raising the wages of welfare recipients. You can not have it both ways. Our society has been built on a standard and it costs to maintain that minimum standard. Drop the floor out of that you will have working beggars on the streets, and no one to bye your coffee.

People need money to buy everything in this buy everything economy. The rabbits have been diseased, kangaroos are protected, not allowed to trespass, buildings are highly regulated and no living on crown land. fishing license to catch vermin fish but not allowed to keep.
Red tape is why we need welfare, but its a matter of what sort of a society we want to live in.

The only solution is raising the minimum wages three fold, so some welfare moneys can be saved.

Yes Toni, I guess the same could have been said for John Howard, and look how many regretted that vote. Kevin 07 was a disaster and here we have Bill on a similar spiel, but with no money.

579, welfare is not so much the problem, as the way it is easily wasted is what needs to be addressed.

Look at these fools in Aurukun. First we gave them land rights. Then we handed them control, then we apologized, but its still our fault.

The only blame we should bare is paying welfare in cash.

As for increasing the min wage three fold, let me know when its in, cause I will leave the trust loss alone and find a low skilled job.

As for voting, we have a choice between the labor green alliance, with their recklessness, or liberal wets as they are known. What a choice.

There is no labor green alliance, and labor said at no cost will there be.
Turnbull said he will take green preferences in marginal seats.
Barnaby and his fish problem will not be as simple as killing the carp. Mass deaths of fish will put ammonia into the water and kill everything.

Welfare money needs to be spent, i don't think people have any option. Remote Indigenous are a different problem which no one is game to tackle.

Our economy is still growing with out mining. Now that the expertise that went west has returned the economy will get bigger.

The only ones that benefited from mining was the Gina's etc.

Hey rehctub,

At what point do the 'welfare recipients' and/or 'left wing social justice warriors' become such a voting block that political parties fear and pander to, that we pass a 'point of critical mass' where 'Austerity' becomes inevitable?

Your way is stopping paying them cash, mine is stop the free handout mentality and making them work for it, whilst getting new skills.
I don't want to degrade or dis-empower them, I want to empower them to make better choices and havethe tools to do it.

If I was dictator, I'd change the system to be 'capitalist jobs system with a socialist base', (ending the free ride / welfare mentality) but I wouldn't create the system like I was punishing people and forcing them into slavery for not having proper jobs.

I'd build the system around accepting a 5% unemployment figure.

I'd create hundreds of thousands of new jobs that didn't conflict with existing jobs, a massive infrastructure project, opening the whole entire country up with that new infrastructure to better productivity.

I'd use technology to empower people, not imprison them.
For example you see people addicted to apps playing games and doing tasks in the game and earning achievements and badges in the game.
Why not make that real life?

I'd use modern technology - apps and simulations to train people how to do everything (blue collar) so that the people who were in the welfare class, they get fast skills and training as well as employment in real work environments so that they learn how to do better for themselves get normal capitalist jobs ( out of the socialist base system) and the know-how in life to slingshot past the other working class.

Not only teach people how to get skills and good jobs, but how to save money, invest it or get their own homes, and start their own businesses.
So that getting ahead and making the most of life becomes so easy no-one will fall between the cracks and not do well for themselves in life.

I'd make it all easy like in a single app.

I have one indigenous household in my street where there is a minimum of $2000 coming in weekly and the kids still ask for sandwiches.
Someone please tell me why we pay people who have never and will never put into the pot?
On the other hand someone tell me who an old age pensioner who has worked all his life and paid his due taxes can't get in time medical treatment or enough to live on.

For once I think the media is getting it right !
The people are just fed up and are not interested.
I think people sense what is coming and can see that the political
parties are just not capable of acknowledging it. They are each afraid
that if they point to the elephant in the corner the other will say
that they are paranoid and it is just a little mouse.