Barring any bungling on the part of O'Farrell and the Liberals in NSW from next March we shall have by default a new Liberal Government. O'Farrell does not have to do anything...does not have to say anything. He just have to sit back and watch the proceedings. Labor is so much on the nose in NSW that it will take a miracle for it to be returned. It's best outlook (Labor that is) is that which is occuring on the Federal scene...a minority government. But even this would be a miraculous recovery

"More about putting the unions in the drivers seat?" Please, that old bomb the right keep pulling out of the garage and putting on the roads lost a wheel 3 kilometers ago and has subsequently hit a tree.

I am the only person under 25 I know that has a union membership. I don't have it because I believe in the cause, I have it to protect myself against professional indemnity, and for the union shopper offers. I'm really going to be the next union powerbroker here.

And across the board, the take up and renewal of Union Memberships has dropped to 12% of the workforce.

As for the Youth Unemployment issue, it's not specifically a "Left Wing Gov't has higher unemployment" thing there. There are issues with a lack of take up of apprenticeships because the wages are crappily unlivable unless you live with your parents, but it's a damned long time to end up with a TAFE certificate at the end of it.

Also, a lot of Baby Boomers who can retire aren't, and are not opening the chain of promotion up. The experience and skill level for even the entry level jobs are increasing. Hell, to even be a basic soldier in the Army these days you need to have finished Yr. 12.

I might also add that Gen X are going to have to be the most highly educated generation, with huge HECS loans to show for it, in order to even be considered for the job.

I might also add, that when i was a Tafe student, I went down to the local Centrelink office to try and get some work. I was denied their "assistance" (if you could honestly call it that) because I wasn't already on a payment, and because I was considered a student, despite only studying 15hrs a week. Howard's privatisation of the old CES meant that a willing worker, who wasn't looking for a handout, was turned away.

I'm a Left Right Out In.

In other words, no party membership, and happily a swinging voter in a very safe Labor seat.

I see over a week later that the rest of the country has caught up with me on the quotation.

Yes I do disgree with how the ABS generates it's figures - in relation to the veracity and underlying way they consider what constitutes unemployed versus employed given the constraints placed upon them by parameters outlined by liberal party policy.. and once again i'll reiterate my point that underpins the argument that any employment is better than none - only slave traders and fascists makes those claims...
but I Do understand that thse same figures brought out by the ABS also clearly indicate we (oz workers that is) work longer, get paid less, have a lower single home ownership figure than anywhere else in the free world, can purchase less than we could 20 years ago with the same dollar, have soaring numbers of homeless, crumbling infrastructure, lowest ratio of income to relative house value etc, etc, etc etc..... all down to the same "family friendly" policies of the liberals during howards reign of terror.
 
As for Keating his is the pinup alter boy for the neo-corps. Most of his reforms were based loosley around some vague hope that the free-market world economy would best serve the interests of those that allowed him to rise through the ranks of the right-wing nsw labor party. And he was right they did, except for one small problem, lining the pockets of the shiny-arses meant putting a shiv into the union fraternity and it's members - the people that elected him into office. Definitavley keating was a sellout. His and Hawke's impact on the gutting of caucus's role in government policy formulation was the only negative achievement of both these traitors that is worthy of remembering.

As for the assertion I vote green - it is as ludicrous as your statement I whinge. You'd have to be clairvoyant to know who I vote for.

But it wouldn't take much to guess that your some hack from the nsw labor right given your predispossion for
all things "free-market" economy driven and your support of keating... tell me your not tho'. Millions wouldn't believe you but I will....

You've cast me in the role of one Chase's satirical skits, here's mine for you I'd hazard a guess you're sort of like one of those characters we see every night on the idiot box spewing out the same old tired party line rhetorical obsufcations like arbibi in the hope that history is forgotten and sport is on the front page.

In another three years come the next election I predict/hope there will be at least 5 if not 10 members of the Lib and or Nat party who will jump ship either before or immediately after the election and declare independent status. As well there will be at least another 3 if not 5 more green MHR's - not all at the expense of the Labor party either. And hopefully that will be the death of the right wing nsw labor party's weight in the national labor party room and caucus. I pray to G*D.

With respect to rabbitts unwillingness to show some respect and leadership by sacking his opposition finance and treasurer when they have been caught out lying to the Australian Public on matters of fiscal proprietory, is truly shambolic and spineless - even for a figure as diminuative as abbott.

Maaaate comon mate...

It does apear that Tony Abbott is prepared to do what ever it takes after promising $1 billion for a hopital in Hobart.

So, Dooley, I take it you don't agree with the Bureau of Statistics figures, that the Coalition's tenure in Govt produced the lowest unemployment rate in 35 years?

You whinge about the way it was calculated. Have the Bureau changed the way we calculate it?
I don't think so. So we are comparing apples with apples, maaaate!

BTW How many pounds are you going to offer for my peanuts on the free market economy claim!

Do you think Keating got it wrong when he introduced Individual Workplace Contracts?

You sound like a Greens voter, if ever there was one, Dooley. On the Chaser You Tube video, posted by icey on another thread, "Why I voted Greens", I'd put you into Julian Morrow's rationale (2nd one) as to why you voted Greens.

I know this isn't really the forum for a serious discussion, but I'm hoping to form a posse to go out and scout for Joe Hockey. He's been reported as MIA since the dead rubber election two weeks ago. Know one seems to have seen hide nor hair of him for some time. The situation is getting quite serious now as rabbit is incapable of making any sense of Joe's whiteboard budget notes left in the parlimentary offices of the opposition moments before August 21st and has been left with an excerpt from The Hunting of the Snark to help formulate responses to any vexious questions about budget accountability.
Rabbit has started to look nervous, although has thankfully not had to worry about questioning of the ELEVEN BILLION BUDGET BLACK HOLE by such erudite journalists as Urhlman from ABC24, let alone MSM journo's (where's a pompous, self aggrandising MSM journo when you need one?) because they know that Joe baby has been left holding the proverbial and has gorn missing.......

On another note Good ol Urlmann from 24 knows that there's much more providence in his favour in casting aspersions about the integrity involving due diligence of $100 million from a surplus in budget forecasts rather than worrying about an ELEVEN BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET BLACK HOLE [i/] that amounts to the libs shambolic fudiciary credibility and accountability............... I wonder how much face time Urlmann will get with Gilly if she finds herself the re-elected incumbant.... I wonder how Urlmann'll manage to drag his credibility out into the light of day before the next election?

There has been some reports that due to a leaky pen and mismanaged documents Joe has gone into protective custody until the Feds have accounted for all the stationary that has gorn missing since Joe's enforced seclusion in Club Med Naru.

Update - thankfully Joe has turned up for an impromptu media performance and thankfully had to field NO QUESTIONS WHATSOEVER about the ELEVEN BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET BLACK HOLE. Sources close to Joe have revealed the leaky pen was to blame and as all the missing stationary still hasn't been accounted for there is still some hope that the rabbit wont disappear down the hole. Looking good Joe - that tan suits you, and at least it doesn't look like it's about to wash off, the likes of which rabbit had sprayed on for the campaign.

Ask no questions - get told no lies.

before anyone dares go off on a tangent about icey's post I'd just like to mention that there's no waffle or the usual accompanying references to the 1950's and insane men of the cloth

except the references that are made about rabbit the lay preacher and the other mishmash postulations in replies inferring alp nepotism......

maaate, what makes you think that the qualitative type of work on offer during the Howard years in anyway accounted to anything more than slavery, this is the sort of argument offered up to the native owners of land at Wave rock by the pastoralists back in the sixties ie poorly paid work is better than no work at all. by offering up the statistics of lack of un-employment as a form of worthiness of government, leads me to believe you think your audience is made up mostly of cretins who aren't willing or able to de-construct your platitudes as anything other than the fabricated nonsense that spinmasters are apt to use when they have no rationale to put forward to support their contention.


you'd have a better chance this nonsense will float at the next hr nicholls society cheese and cracker get together than here - in fact i'd bet pounds to peanuts you haven't ever had to endure the free-market economy affecting your livliehood ever. The only benefactors of this type of rationale are the extremly worthless individuals who propagate the lie there isn't enough for everyone, even though we live in one of the least populace and most richly endowed continents in the world. talk about the emperors new clothes......

Flexibilty on whose part - on the race to the bottom for wage and conditions equal to the rest of the workforce in asia the only supplicants are the workers over the barrell left without the option to legally pursue union representation without reprisals of retrenchment by corpulant corporate vampires.


If by inflexibilty you mean the rights of workers once more are Balanced by the need for Fair and Equitable wages and conditions for those who are Abused and taken Advantaged of by Non-Human Corporate entities and other non empathetic business owners, then yes I guess you could say that. However Equitable Living Conditions and Improved Productivity are the Tangible Gains made through lower working hours to make the same money. Thats the reason I think you'll find that the Participation rate has dropped.

And who do you are think you are kidding, spouting that tripe about an increase in the elderly
(with a capital no less) unemployed - ya don't reckon it'd have something to do with an increasing aged population by any chance do ya? you know that demographic called the baby boomers? With regard to the increase in the youth unemployment I have a question for you, do you really believe that the policy proposal of rabbit to cut funding to the trade and vet schools and colleges will help them? Let's not get sidetracked by the huge increase in fertility over the last decade. The only way rabbit could possibly achieve some form of reduction in unemployment figues is to rigourously pursue the same methodology of howard's by reducing the numbers of hours worked to "qualify" as employed. I think when he left office in disgrace the figure for "employed" and of the unemployment bottom line was a miserable 4 hours a fortnight. My bet is if he gets in he'll immediately reintroduce green corps and other youth disempowering organisations and start qualifying volunteer organisation particapants as "employed".

You'd can do much better than to simply cut'n'paste from some old lib website frontpage when making a post can't you?

Mod edit to fix broken BB code - BAM