Its kind of not as it could be while Assange is locked up though. He's demonstrated that his lifes purpose is to tell the people the truth no matter who is in power. Time to free the man.

Dear Loudmouth,

I gave an example of “padding of public service positions in a bloated bureaucracy” done by Brandis in my reply to Hasbeen on the other thread. So the answer is probably both of the major parties here is Australia.
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=7526#231424

But look at this comment from Hasbeen; “On migration, Labor is much worse than the Libs, who got the boats to their peak, but the greens are totally ridiculous.”

Note the conflation of migrants with refugees. Now that the mining boom is over our governments are desperately trying to keep the real estate boom going as it is the major driver of our economy. Large migration intakes are required to sustain it. The sell is that these are skilled migration positions that we need to keep the economy strong but like it or not they do impact the job prospects of Australians and housing costs skyrocket.

I often ask those who are anti-refugee would they trade a 50% increase in refugee numbers for a halving of migration levels. Most initially say no but when I explain it would mean 100,000 less people competing for Australian jobs and putting strain on infrastructure while instead we as a country get to help 10,000 more of those who are in desperate need of our assistance their views will often change.

If that scenario was offer to you would you support it?

To me the main takeaway message from Brexit and Trump is that the ordinary person is sick of their worth being measured by their capacity as a customer rather than a citizen and they are ready to go to extremes to achieve it.

Maybe now it is time for those on the left and right side of politics to realize we have more in common, than those who control the economy would like us to think.

The jobs are not coming back in any meaningful way in Australia or any where else for that matter. The level of debt that has been building since the inception of the fractional reserve system cant continue, when bond rates start to rise.

So we have to start listening to other points of view, and find a place that works well enough for all, or spend large amounts of our time and resources fighting of our neighbors.

Perhaps this forum could be an example of how better to communicate than the troll infested blogasphere that we usually see on the internet.

Chris

As I recall about 3 years ago there were a lot of people gloating over Tony Abbott's victory and how he was going to "fix things" too.

He could "talk the talk" too but a couple of years later he was made to walk and his replacement has proven just as ineffective.

Hey Steely, what is not ridiculous about the Greens open border policy.

As for increasing the refugee intake, that would be fine, but only on 2 conditions.

1/ That they are housed in inner city greenie suburbs, & on university campuses. Let the promoters live with the problem.

It is not the ratbag do gooders fringe who pays for this crazy policy, but the poor bloke in the outer burbs, who suffer the muggings & home invasions.

2/ That any crime or misdemeanour by one of them results in the entire family's immediate deportation to place of origin.

This cutting of immigration is not an either or proposition, but a full cutting of all, especially the ridiculous family reunion policy. We frittered away a huge percentage of the mining boom wealth, employing imports from Europe for far too many of the highly paid jobs, & therefore did not train the people we will need in the next boom.

Time also for a ban on kiwi free entry. They are usually more trouble than they are worth, particularly that damned rugby team.

The military will have to be scaled back to afford the repair of industrial heartland. Tariffs will be a big part of what springs from this repair, as well as the halving of the business tax rate.

The resulting isolationism and de-globalization sets the scene for trade-wars and what has historically ensued.