Kevin Rudd Becomes Primeminister Of Australia

[Kai]

They both produce byproducts that on occasions smell like cow shit?

I was going to say they're both great ways to ruin a good beer, but that works well too.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Now we can all look forward to yet more years of there being only one competent federal party- this time with the Liberals infighting and producing inept leaders (Abbott? Downer?), and Labor laughing from the government side of parliament. I'm glad Rudd won the election- surprised by the magnitude of the swing, but still quite happy.

 

[goatherder]

I was going to say they're both great ways to ruin a good beer, but that works well too.

But at least brett can make a good beer under the right circumstances.

 

[Maxt]

Didn't someone say that we as a nation should be more concerned about the state our society than the state of our economy?

Or is that just some leftist ideal these days? Money is everything.

Hit the nail on the head Zizzle.

 

[Jazman]

i tihnk they are as bad as each other but bettter the devil u know than the one we dont know hope labor have learnt from the hawke keating years of high inflation and rates ....but with a good economy ,low unemployment hope it stays that way easy to go downhill

 

[drag]

What Jazman said all the way^^^^^^^^^

 

[tcraig20]

i tihnk they are as bad as each other but bettter the devil u know than the one we dont know hope labor have learnt from the hawke keating years of high inflation and rates ....but with a good economy ,low unemployment hope it stays that way easy to go downhill

Yeah, I hope that they learnt from the Hawke/Keating years. Those years there were people in charge with the courage to do things like float the dollar, establish the reserve bank, etc. You know, generally move the economy into the modern world, not just ride a wave of deflationary Chinese consumer goods, artificially-created housing "booms", and strong foreign demand for certain kinds of Australian rocks.

 

[Duff]

Well placed in the joke section.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what all the bogans who voted Rudd in say when they are standing around in queues on a public holiday while the unions decide to hold a strike.

Maybe by that time they'll also finally get into their thick skulls that by signing Kyoto is a complete waste of time when Australia contributes less than 1% to the total greenhous gas emmissions worldwide.

 

[Brewtus]

As too economic management, who ever was to win has access to huge computers and well developed economic models and a string of experts to run it all. as long as they listen, it is hard to go to far wrong with the economy. They need to sort out the social agenda.

Ah, to be a fly on the wall of the Chijoff house.............I can wait till the "prize pamphlet" mini series comes out!

 

[Zizzle]

Maybe by that time they'll also finally get into their thick skulls that by signing Kyoto is a complete waste of time when Australia contributes less than 1% to the total greenhous gas emmissions worldwide.

Actually it's more like 2%. But we are not 2% of the worlds population. In fact, we are the highest polluters per capita.

But the real benefit to signing Kyoto is the pressure it puts on the USA to sign. I believe they are still the worlds largest pollutors.

Not to mention that spending around alternative engergy can stimulate economies, and whoever takes the lead will probably end up selling their technology to the world.

It's not a simple cause and effect game. Politics is rarely that simple.

 

[Busboy]

Right on, Zizzle. Maybe we will lead the way, and discover that we can be profitable without screwing the world's atmosphere.

 

[sathid]

People who ratified Kyoto have been trying to formulate a more effective replacement for some time. It is old news, and didn't achieve it's objectives.

Why live in the past, instead of making real headway?

And Australia is about 10th on the per capita polluting stakes.

But look at our per capita raw material exports!

It's a complicated problem, but people keep looking for simple answers.

There is no silver bullet.

 

[Maxt]

People who ratified Kyoto have been trying to formulate a more effective replacement for some time. It is old news, and didn't achieve it's objectives.

Why live in the past, instead of making real headway?

And Australia is about 10th on the per capita polluting stakes.
But look at our per capita raw material exports!

Would seem to suggest we are the worst per capita....
http://naca.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/...itters39_135130

I find it hard to understand how we are a clever country when our idea of making money is just to dig it out of the ground and sell it. How sustainable is that?
Research and developement, and the funding and support of innovation (especially at universities), hit rock bottom during the coalition years. Fact.
You might find it was very clever people who voted for Rudd, not just Bogans.

 

[tcraig20]

I find it hard to understand how we are a clever country when our idea of making money is just to dig it out of the ground and sell it. How sustainable is that?

Worth reading, if you can manage it:

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-World-System-...0424&sr=8-3

 

[chovain]

Would seem to suggest we are the worst per capita....
http://naca.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/...itters39_135130

They did some pretty cool playing with numbers in that report. Notice how every time they refer to CO2 production, it has the "for producing power" tag, without defining what that means? It seems to focus more on the "efficiency of powerplants", when that is insignificant when compared to the energy use of consumers. They claim that the US only produces 2.8 billion tonnes per year, while the US government itself claims it emitted over 7 billion tonnes in 2005.(1)

So where did their 2.8 come from? That's the number they got when they took out greenhouse gas emissions from cars, central heating and industry. In fact it only includes fossil fuels burnt by the energy industry. Ironically, a hypothetical country that had all-electric grid-charging cars (much more energy efficient than internal combustion) would look absolutely terrible on this metric, even though they'd probably knock a good 15-20% off their total emissions. Greenhouse emissions can only be measured by looking at how many fossil fuels you've burnt.

Also from the same report: ""If we look ahead over the next 10 years China will overwhelmingly dominate the United States." This is just another case of a US-based "independent" think tank claiming "Really, we're not the problem - It's the Chinese you want to worry about! We shouldn't sign the Kyoto protocol until it is binding on China." It's worthwhile thinking where the numbers have come from before regurgitating this kind of crap.

 

[Linz]

"Research and developement, and the funding and support of innovation (especially at universities), hit rock bottom during the coalition years. Fact."

JH withheld funding from all Gov funded bodies untill they agreed to sign AWAs

Several Gov bodies went as far as moving from State/Federal awards and into CROWN awards(same as Pollies) to avoid AWA/Workchoices!!(Two bodies for fact are Corrective services-parole and probation and Workcover)

 

[drag]

If it wasnt for the AWAs, Liberal would probibly still be in.
Dont mess with people directly otherwise pay the consiquences.
As long as interest rates dont sky rocket I will be happy.

 

[leiothrix]

Several Gov bodies went as far as moving from State/Federal awards and into CROWN awards(same as Pollies) to avoid AWA/Workchoices!!(Two bodies for fact are Corrective services-parole and probation and Workcover)

NSW Health also moved over to being a Crown entity. I'd say that state Labor probably moved as many of it's employees as it could over to Crown awards to avoid the AWA crap.

 

[Linz]

I'd say that state Labor probably moved as many of it's employees as it could over to Crown awards to avoid the AWA crap.

Except Railcorp......... <_<

 

[tcraig20]

AWAs were always fairly unwieldy in government organisations. The university up here gave people the choice of either the enterprise bargaining contract or an AWA that was identical to the enterprise bargaining agreement. They didnt have the time or resources to individually negotiate hundreds if not thousands of contracts.