Light holiday reading:
• “Carlton’s lone classical liberal”, Andrew Norton, weighs in on Liberal hyperbole over third party political campaigns. New Mayo MP Jamie Briggs reckons these to be a “cancer in our democracy” due to the efforts of GetUp! and the ACTU at the last election. Briggs argues that “Australians are entitled to know who is behind the campaigns, how much is being spent and where the money is coming from”, evidently having failed to notice that such groups are indeed required to provide annual disclosure of receipts, expenditure and debts. However, in an interesting discussion at Larvatus Prodeo, Norton also argues that lowering the donation disclosure threshold from $10,000 to $1000 (as proposed by a bill currently before a Senate committee due to report on June 30) could theoretically catch independent political blogs in a “massive compliance net” thanks to a loose definition of “persons or organisations expressing views by any means on candidates or election issues”. Elsewhere, The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen tugs at the heart strings by complaining the disclosure amendments are designed to cut donations to the Liberal Party (from which you can readily infer why the Howard government used its Senate majority to jack the threshold up from $1500 to $10,000 in the first place). More substantially, she argues that “the nature of third-party campaigns in Australia is such that if we ban or cap donations (except by individuals) and allow third-party campaigns by unions to continue unabated, the political field is skewed against one side: the conservatives” – particularly in light of government plans to scrap tax deductibility of party donations while maintaining it for union dues and levies.
• “Dotcom millionaire” Evan Thornley has made himself popular in Labor circles by pulling the plug on his political career on the eve of his anticipated promotion to the Victorian state cabinet. The talk around Thornley was that he viewed his state political career as a stepping stone to federal politics via Simon Crean’s seat of Hotham, beyond which his ambitions were apparently without limit. His entirely unheralded decision to “pursue opportunities outside of political life” has inevitably fuelled all manner of speculation, most of it involving his financial wellbeing. It has also created a vacancy for his upper house seat for the Southern Metropolitan region. The Age reports that the new upper house system instituted at the last election “has created an anomaly for Labor, as party rules do not specify how preselection for an upper house vacancy should be conducted”:
Party sources said the anomoly was expected to be tackled by rule makers in May 2009 before preselections began in earnest for the 2010 election. But Mr Thornley’s shock departure – which sources from both major factions of Victorian Labor described as the most bizarre incident they had ever witnessed in politics – could force the anomaly to be dealt with sooner. While some within Labor believe the rules offer no guidance over preselection, others say the spirit of preselection processes in the lower house should also be adopted for the upper house. Under that scenario, Mr Thornley’s replacement in the Southern Metropolitan electorate would be decided 50:50 by a ballot of ALP branch members and a central selection panel. Many expect Labor’s national executive to ultimately choose his replacement but all agreed it was too early to speculate on the names of likely candidates.
A commenter at Andrew Landeryou’s VexNews writes:
The Left were promised Thornley’s spot but they agreed not to insist as Thornley was then non aligned. Thornley then joined Labor Unity. They left will claim they are entitled to fill Thornley’s vacancy. Labor Unity will most likely want it and there will be an internal facional brawl like Kororoit. Then Mr Dearricott’s non-aligned group will claim their right to the vacancy. A strong tip tonight is that (former Brimbank mayor) Natalie Suleyman is a favourite for the position.
Another hopeful is said to be Dick Gross, former Municipal Association of Victoria president and Port Phillip councillor defeated in recent elections in a “resident revolt over his support for the St Kilda triangle development”. There is also the question of the political future of Theo Theophanous, charged on Christmas Eve with rape. An end to Theophanous’s political career would create another upper house vacancy in Northern Metropolitan. In lieu of Evan Thornley, Theophanous’s position as Industry and Trade Minister has been filled by Martin Pakula, previously best known for his failed preselection bid against Simon Crean in Hotham ahead of the last federal election.
• Michelle Grattan of The Age reports that the Victorian Liberals are “set to reluctantly give the Nationals the number two spot on a joint Senate ticket for the 2010 election”. This would continue an agreement initiated after the 1987 double dissolution election giving the Nationals the unwinnable fourth and safe second seats at alternating elections. The party’s seat in the Senate has been held since 1993 by Julian McGauran, who quit the party for the Liberals in January 2006. One possible explanation for the move was that he did not expect the Liberals would continue with the existing joint ticket arrangement, which as Grattan explains is widely opposed within the party. It had long been thought that the Nationals had been able to negotiate the joint ticket partly because the McGauran family helped delivered it preferences from the Democratic Labor Party, whom they had assisted in legal action to prevent its deregistration. The Nationals’ apparent success in keeping the arrangement going might suggest otherwise. However, another possibility is that McGauran thought his prospects of winning Liberal preselection less unlikely than those of keeping his place with the Nationals. McGauran had an uncomfortably narrow preselection win ahead of the 2004 election over Darren Chester, now the member for Gippsland, and his family’s clout might have been further weakened since by brother Peter’s departure from politics.
• Labor’s Mark Dreyfus, chairman of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, says he hopes the government will “soon” announce a non-binding plebiscite to test opinion on a republic before the federal election.
• Robert Taylor of The West Australian has an interesting overview of the new entrants to the WA state parliament.
UPDATE (3/1/09): Malcolm Mackerras reviews the Queensland state redistribution and offers his prediction for the election to be held some time this year, namely an 11 seat Labor majority from an even split on two-party preferred.
619 Comments
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Springborg looks like he’s getting ready to throw in the towel as far as winning a Queensland election goes.
I don’t think he would have to worry about too many Independents supporting him even if he did go close to winning. Long serving Gladstone MP Liz Cunningham must be getting near retiring and the Nationals have done very little to endear themselves to Nicklin MP, Peter Wellington. So this leaves Dolly Pratt from Nanango and Chris Foley from Maryborough as his very skinny band of supporters if the election was close.
It is going to be very tough for Springborg to win an election with only 37% Primary vote support in the latest Newspoll and only two or three at most independents to help him. I think that what Patrick Lion meant to say was that the Independents would probably not see any reason to negotiate with Springborg.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24881157-3102,00.html
Ron @ 398
Crikey!
I will stick to my guns on the unilateral 5% ETS being a complete waste if there is no international agreement. It would be time to head for amelioration.
The school bombing is sickening. A UN official was on ABC Breakfast this morning claiming Israel had violated international law and that they are now seeking an independent investigation.
The school was being used as a shelter by the UN.
Steve,
Gee, I would have to get up pretty early to beat you to a post!
I see from your link that I was wrong about one thing yesterday- Mr Springborg was at the bike shop to launch a policy… the much anticipated and urgently needed trail bike policy.
Fargo,
Are you sure the bike shop wasn’t just telling Springborg to ‘get on his bike’ and ride off into the sunset? I’d like to see the Nationals replace Springborg with a Joh type surprise packet like Shane Knuth. That would make the next election interesting. We’d have all flying foxes shot, a huge bounty on pigs and dingoes. Kids would be rounded up and sent to boot camp at what are now holiday camp detention centres. Last time it worked for about 18 years. Knuth is just like a Joh clone. Surely someone would be able to get through to him how a malapportionment works, even if the separation of powers doctrine might be more difficult.
It was funny a couple of years ago when Shane Knuth, Member for Charters Towers (recently abolished in Redistribution) tabled this piece of electoral history in the Queensland Parliament.
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/legislativeAssembly/tableOffice/documents/TabledPapers/2000/4900T3975.pdf
The next Leader of the conservatives in Queensland has been thinking long and hard about the electoral system in Queensland for a long time.
Dear Pollbludgers, I’m trying to design a profile template for every electorate at the moment, but one based on demographic statistics using the census data and other sources rather than the more orthodox type of electorate profile that looks at booths and local areas and local issues etc – something that can compliment the type of work that William does. Once it’s sorted out I can start publishing the profiles for each seat.
The problem though is deciding on which variables to use; which ones are are important or have something meaningful to say about the politics or policy implications for a seat. So if anyone has any suggestions on what should be included in the profile and why, your input would be greatly appreciated.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2009/01/07/what-variables-work-for-electorate-profiling/
Poss
A very interesting question – are you interested in parameters that would indicate voting intention or other more general analysis on specific issues?
For the former, I’d suggest at least the following, which are significant for various forms of actvity in my field:
- age, sex, work status, average education level, % renting/own house/paying mortgage
Some statistics don’t mean much – eg car ownership doesn’t always include company cars. Average income is very messy – average wage & salary doesn’tinclude all the ther transfer payments or investment income. Plus it assumes people truthfully declare all income, which they don’t, even to ABS, let alone the taxman. Likewise % owning shares doesn’t discriminate betwene millionaires and those witha few hundred Tesltra shares.
Sorry Poss, I jus saw your thread and will post there.
This is hardly a surprise but not great news for Adelaide. GM USA (Pontiac) to abandon selling the V8 ute there.
http://news.smh.com.au/business/us-motoring-giant-gm-cuts-the-aussie-ute-20090107-7bf2.html
The next risk will be if they drop the V8 sedans. The whole industry strategy to put all our eggs in the large car basket is proving to be as stupid as it seemed when the companies were given taxpayer $ to assist it.
Boerwar
“Ron @ 398
Crikey! I will stick to my guns on the unilateral 5% ETS being a complete waste if there is no international agreement. It would be time to head for amelioration.”
I won’t do a Pauline on that “amelioration” , but if it infers you’re gonna run to th hills to escape those hills won’t be immune from CC , and TV rseption won’t warn you
If there’s NO international agreement we don’t giv up , no way One uses th 5% (pawltry of course for cc mitigation purposes) as a trojan horse to pressure other zero target Countrys to put in a committment , A committment , an econamic sacrifice and we’ll b saying we we actualy ar doing , and concurrently up ante in discussions to get consesus by building blocks…perhaps muilti lateraly at first , and not great method vs international agreement opton but building chips by some Contry consenus to put to future coppenhaggens
One of bigest lessons of DOHA is rich nations especialy EU and USA continue to procratinate & spin to hold onto unfair trade practises & unfair tarriffs policys that discriminotely help there Nations econamicly & socialy ….despite guaranteeing that poor developing Nations don’t get a skerrick fair even trading field to trade there exports internationaly so they th poor /less dev Countrys can earn income to stiop there poor peoples starving ..and develop infrasturcture , schools , sanitation , hospitals roads etc
Boerwar th many dev Countrys unfair practises ar not reely disputed….nor is th starvation etc for th poor less dev Countrys….BUT geting intenational agreement is ….(both politcaly , econamicaly and socialy) So will intenational CC mitigaton
Your problam boerwar is you do not agree with me Probably because you assume seeing th science is clear that humans especialy politcans ar always clever …and cleverer than animals and insects yet animals talk , hav breakfaxt , hav sex , although cann’t write , and run like hell from CC if they can …they don’t always willingly comit hari kari We humans ar going to face this CC hari kari sofisticately and talk also econamics , social and politcal consequenses as well as sciense Thats what humans do , we’ve built a consumer enjoy enjoy etc based civilisation but also safety net education and hospitals for th sick etc etc
So we may hav a warts and all ETS & admit that , and a smaller % target than desired , but you don’t thow all th chickens out just because you lost th first race Its a marathon of many races , make th start and try to later fine tune whilst not giving up trying to converting other Nations who ar even more CC reluctant to do a damn thingy at all
Ron
I’ve been away for a week. Did I miss anything? I see William’s been throwing a few hand grenades to liven things up. Most unlike him. Something about Gaza.
Keep speaking out Ron but I fear it will be to no avail the chattering classes of the Liberal left are hell bent on an ETS. Theres no solid proof climate change exists as the recent cold snap in the United States proves that theirs no global warming. The lunacy of not only radical green groups but the Mainstream Political and Business elite thats going along with this evil clap trap.
An ETS will cost jobs and destroy our material wellbeing at the moment due to circumstances beyond my control have had to go on a pension this year and the thought of electricity bills and the other basic necessities of life just to appease the upper middle class wank brigade to save the planet bullshit i’m going to suffer. The Liberals will side with Rudd and push this rotten ETS through without a strong National Party theres no hope for the poor.
I can’t tell if Paul Nash is being sarcastic or not.
You attempt to disprove the existence of climate change by citing the fact that the US has experienced severe winterstorms (I saw them first hand btw)?
I’m not going to fall for the bait, just laugh hysterically.
The second part of your post is more rubbish. The “poor” are going to be given money back to offset any increase in petrol/electricity and then some more! It’s the “upper middle class wank brigade” that will be hit in the hip pocket..
Oz
Whatever the phenomenon, there is always a small, unscientific group of “denialists” with a few wacko pseudoscientists to support them. They often form little cliques to support each other. They have a variety of motives, not all of them bad.
There are Germ Theory Denialists, the Flat Earth Society, Holocaust Deniers (or Revisionists as they prefer), anti-Evolutionists and of course the Global Warming Deniers.
There is absolutely no point trying to “enlighten” them. There is no level of evidence that will convince them that they are wrong. Any evidence you show them is a conspiracy. Anything they see with their own eyes, their brain just blanks out until they see what they want.
PN
Anecdotal evidence proves nothing. One cooler year (still one of the hottest in the past 100) does not prove global warmign is false any more than the discovery of one competent policy in the Liberal Party woudl prove them ready for government. Both claims are absurd.
PN #414
“…the recent cold snap in the United States proves that theirs no global warming”
Well, old son, today it’s 39 in the Southern Highlands. Which just goes to prove that their (sic) IS global warming.
And besides, I too, have always believed that the Nats were just in politics to look after the poor and the tooth fairies.
Bryce
Actually its the poor toothfairies only.
At which year level are school children taught the difference between short term and long term trends?
Grade three?
Or (gasp) are they not taught it at all?
Diogenes
#413
“Ron I’ve been away for a week. Did I miss anything? I see William’s been throwing a few hand grenades to liven things up. Most unlike him. Something about Gaza.”
Yes Mrs diog has kept me up to date with your ‘holiday’ shananigans ….and as Mrs diog said of course shwe was always right …even when she was wRONg …that just one time
“Did I miss anything?” well Gazza story is sort of a repeat of when Rudd annoused his 5% ….th first day was revolution here ….th site’s majority revolted against Rudd demanding executions , and I hoisted th Eureka ruddy Flag defending hims with a minisecule clan , and perhaps then was deemed a CC heretic But time brought reason….you only can democraticaly pass thru a Senate what th majority Senate will agree to And its all your fault diog a South aussie mr x in th way and those foolish Labor victorians puting Fielding before a greens
and so it was with Gazza ….an uncomfortable topic for many here criticising th uncriticisable Israel , but I did , and do …th mythical belief of WW2 guilt transcending 4 generations later of rightesnous always of Israel it can always ignore any UN resulutiona nd always bomb whoever….its what th godfather of Isreal th USA its conscience demands of th World …and what th Western media ’spin’……….but again on this Site reason prevails , finaly An occupier of arab lands is bombing a defenseless city , densely populated ansd so is in fact bombing innocent civilians , th gross unproportionate response to one dead Israeli
And as those storys of dead kids dead from lasar one ton bombs starts getting onto peole’s conciousness & of th death ratio 580 Palestinien dead to 5 israeli dea….rationaly overpowers th israeli cloke of ww2 guilt is not transferable 4 generations later …and hey these Israeli’s reely ar th occupier , and why wuld not an occupied people resst with rockets etc So diog many struggle with reality that th US and Israel may actualy be wrong in th core issue being Isreaeli occupation of arab lands and so wrong since 1967 as th causeee …and even th wrongs of th Palestiniens (and there hav there sins incl suicide guys ) aar minor in context to not only th unproportionate Palestinen deaths from th Israelis but importanttley what is th sore , occupation…and whist occupation continues so will legit resistance and those rockets will keep firing
and a Paelstinien school is bombed…………far from Israel’s UN sanctioned borders , when will Israel ever learn
Mitcho won it for OZ and Haydo “almost” lost it for OZ. It’s time for Haydo to go.
Predictably, Christian Kerr has not cited one alternative viewpoint in his advertorial about Nuclear Power.
A consultancy with ANSTO awaits him if Rupert’s cull gets mean …
Ron
What I don’t know about the ME could fill 1300 pages of Robert Fisk’s 1320 page book on the ME. The 20 pages I did manage to read just depressed me and I chucked in in for the much more uplifting biography of Oppenheimer.
You might recall my 100:1 ratio of dead Arabs to Israelis. 580:5 is smack on the money. One thing I do know is there is never one side to a story. I’d be pretty annoyed if those dippy Palestinians kept lobbing rockets onto Adelaide. I’m not sure what they hope to accomplish. It’s in my “too hard” basket.
BTW What has the Ruddster and Smith said about it
#420
Better yet, when are people taught the difference between “global climate” and localised weather events isolated to the northwest and northeast of the USA.
Damn, I said I wasn’t going to bite.
Except, of course, that they had effectively stopped lobbing rockets into Israel after the ceasefire was put in place. Then Israel broke the ceasefire.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
I don’t wish to turn this into an Israeli bashing session but while I agree with Ron I feel that it is even worse than he said in 421. Israel has been getting away with crimes against civilians due to WWII guilt for a long time. The worst examples actually occcurred in the 1947-48 war, like the masacre at Deir Yassin village by Jewish militias. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_during_the_1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_war
The Age Poll on “Does former prime minister John Howard deserve the Medal of Freedom?”
82% – NO
18% – Yes
http://www.theage.com.au/polls/form.html
Fin
That is a pretty low result even for an Age poll! It often seems to me that those polls turn out around 25/75 in favour of teh Labor position on any questions with a political slant. Presumably it reflects the on-line readership. But that number suggests even a few Glen types voted No!
Au contraire, Finns. Of course he does. Bush gives them to everyone who has had their life justly wrecked when they exchanged their dignity and reputation for backing his idiotic Presidency. George Tenet, Paul Bremer, Tony Blair, Donald Rumsfeld and Norman Podhoretz are all Bush II winners so Howie’s in good company with that bunch of miscreants and reprobates.
John: “Aw Janette, people are saying I don’t deserve it.”
Janette: “John, sweetheart, you are The Man Of Steel. Never forget that.”
John: “Yeah, I know. People are cruel aren’t they. That’s what George said anyway. I like George. He’s my best mate. Alright, better get some shut-eye. Night night.”
BTW
Bush Himself has been awarded the US Defence Dept medal for distinguished public service.
I kid you not
Paul Nash @ 414
lol. You could usefully have made references to:
1. 22% in MDB storages
2. desalination CC amelioration schemes
3. the Isaeli/Palestine War v5.2009
4. recycled sewerage
5. GMOs
6. government accountability for uncontrolled wildfires
7. european carp
8. hedge funds
9. Bretton Woods
10. acid soils
11. Toorak tractors
12. alcopops
13. pokies
14. the Murray flowing backwards
15. the republic
Opinion in the US about Israel invading Gaza is split almost equally for-against, although they blame Palestine for the current flare-up. Repugs are more in favour than Dems.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/americans_closely_divided_over_israel_s_gaza_attacks
It shows just how desperate Bush is to cling to his buddy from Oz.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/howard-gets-into-exclusive-digs-first/2009/01/07/1231004089152.html
Where are his manners! He should have insisted that he and Janette, instead of the Obamas, stay in the hotel. The good constituents of Bennelong, who so faithfully voted for Mr Howard on four occasions in respect, primarily, of his Old Australian deportment and values, would be appalled – if they weren’t so whacked out on Mogadon!
Diogenes, shows what a good job the media have done in the US of hoodwinking the people.
Today in The Australian there was a story about a poll carried out by UMR about what people thought would be our major power source would be in 20 years. 26% said solar and 20% said nuclear but according to The Australian that means that “The nuclear debate has been reignited” and they dug out Ziggy Switkowski and gave him about half the article to rabbit out on about it.
Howard/Obama Blair House story is a standard media beat up.
Does any of the following (from The Age) make sense?
“The couple will stay just one night – January 12 – and will not be accompanied by an entourage as some reports suggested, he said.”
“Only the Howards are staying at Blair House before the medal ceremony. Mr Blair traditionally stays at the British Embassy and Mr Ulribe found other accommodations.”
“As for the Howards and the Obamas cohabiting in the manse, security arrangements would, no doubt, make that impossible.”
So – 119 rooms, only the Howards staying there, for one night, no room for the Obama’s, security arrangements make it impossible?
Adelaide wins again. Turnbull has adopted Downer’s former Advisor.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/07/2461151.htm
Finns, for some time now there has been a rule in force forbidding Medal of Freedom winners being compared to unpleasant animals. Please review the comment moderation guidelines. Normally I would edit or delete offending comments, but I’m currently working off my PDA and it’s too much bother.
William, that’s a great rule! I’m surprised it’s not also a US federal offence (something like Dishonourable Anti-Patriotism or Treacherous Iconoclasm).
Diogenes
#424
“Ron What I don’t know about the ME could fill 1300 pages of Robert Fisk’s 1320 page book on the ME..
I’d be pretty annoyed if those dippy Palestinians kept lobbing rockets onto Adelaide. I’m not sure what they hope to accomplish. It’s in my “too hard” basket.”
Well diog if I published a ME book you’d understand all Only current problem is publishers cann’t find a lawyer to understand my lingos….so th silks can not guarantee I’m not reely defaming not just someone , but everyone , by camaflage
Now if Rann th man your loved SA Premier invaded East Timor and made it th 2nd South Australian outpost of th cities of Churchs , then plonked th East Timorese in one little corner of East Timor , surrounded it with a military parameter like a prison & contolled veryting going in and out incl food at min/lower levels , and then you South Aussies occupied th rest of East Timor building South Australian
suburban homes…claiming you reely ar not occupying , and you reely ar there temporarily , and yous South Aussie occupiers wish for peace with th East Timorise
But whenever th East Timorise resisted your occupation & often brutaly with suicide guys (with small relative South aussie deaths but still deaths) to get you to withdraw but, and then yous th South Aussies occupiers responded unproportionately killing East Toimorise at ratio of 100 to 1 …and also dropped one ton bombs on civilian East Timorese all densely squeezed in th “prison” …including numerus kids
….. your answer “I’d be pretty annoyed if those dippy East Timorese (Palestinians) kept lobbing rockets onto Adelaide South Australia” …..to forse you South Australians to withdraw from East timor
“I’m not sure what they hope to accomplish. It’s in my “too hard” basket”
th French Resistanse in WW2 answer was because th Germans were there on French soil , you resist because you resist , relativaties to success ar irrelevant to an occupied people
Ronactes-opolus said one nite ..when one wants justice (no occupier) and th other wants National security (from that occupyee) , justice (no occupier) for one must presede National security for th other ……whereas if National security was sought by one to presede justise (no occupier) from th other , how can there be National security for th formar
That superseded Ronactes-opolus’ss …when 2 sides ar wRONg , but one is th core cause & he kills more, then th less wRONg can be legit critisised for death brutality but th more wRONg must be condemned for a 100:1 ratio death brutality , and after th respective critisism and condemnation then th solution to cease it , remove th core cause …occupation what follows concurrently from there is US deterreance presence
I disagree with posters critism of Howard’s Medal of Freedom…..there’s always a silver lining , somewhere when th foolish Bush is involved
Can you imagine a dinner party at th Howards , and Janette “acicdently” drops …yes John got a US Medal of Freedom
Gasps abound in admiration So Johnie is feteed and envied publicly around th wedgie-wood dinner table with such acclaim Only th worthy and exceptional wuld get that honour say all Oh yes says Johnnie , laping it all up , alot of consideration goes into awarding this honour , it was Fighting th War on Terror
Were you th only one John to get one in 2009 No , Tony Blair also got a US Medal of Freedom as well Great man that Tony Blair for a Labor fellow , yep stood side b side with us and USA in Iraq fighting th War on Teror…yep thats what th Medal of freedom is all about , things reely important
Who was th ilustrous exalted third awardeee ….silense Well says Jonnie , um as Janette’s face goes white in horror that Johnie ids heading for a fall…again , it went to th Columbian President Alvao Aribe What did he do fighting th War on Terror…..
So for mine Howard and Aribe , a match of historic relavance , and numerous future dinner party embarassed silenses
boerwar, I agree that if there is no agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissons, then amelioration will be the only choice left. (I know a few experts who say this is already the only pratical choice, that it’s too late for reductions to work.)Likewise, it will follow that there would be no point in persisting with a unilateral 5% reduction goal – even a 100% reduction in Australian emissions will make no difference at all if other countries continue to emit at present rates. One thing seems illogical to me though: why would you hold out for a voluntary 20% or 25% or some other higher reduction, when you would abandon even 5% anyway? It looks like bravado to me. The goal has to be to try to negotiate to a higher target. If Australia bowls up to Copenhagen having declared its innings closed at, say, 20%, where is Australia’s bargaining position? Other countries will just say “Thanks for that Australia. Well done. We’ll let you know what we decide, but well done, you’ve made it easier for us to do less than we otherwise might have agreed to do…well done!”
Another huge corporate economic financial scandal, this time in India. The founder and Chairman of Satyam admitted that over a number of years, he had cooked the book by declaring:
1. non-existent cash in the bank to the tune of $billions
2. Fictitious assets
3. Inflated earnings and operating profits
4. Try to persuade Satyam to buy non IT companies that are associated with his sons.
Satyam is also quite active in OZ. Its shares have fallen by 82%. I think the India IT outsourcing industry will take a big beating.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7815031.stm
Some even called it India’s Enron.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Software/Indias_own_Enron_scandal_Analysts/articleshow/3947447.cms
Paul Nash
#414
“Keep speaking out Ron …….at the moment due to circumstances beyond my control have had to go on a pension this year and the thought of electricity bills and the other basic necessities of life just to appease the upper middle class wank brigade to save the planet bullshit i’m going to suffer.”
Hello Paul , I’d like to reply just to situation you find & sorry its occurred
Compensation for ETS will be made deliberately far in EXCESS of th projected costs for certain Australian groups less able to afford to pay incresed costs from th ETS , including working familys , low income singles , pensioners , self funded retirees to 50K single 90k couple , whilst high incomers get zero So your situation is covered and so it should be
This Carbon reducton scheme will add approx 1.1% to inflaton in first year It will collect $12 billion from carbon permits in 2011-12 , but $8 billion will go back to oz households in indirect payments , tax offsets , concessions and fuel excise reducton
Even an age pension couple with $65,000 in private income will collect a NET benefit of $1636, or $31.50 a week , net being over projected costs
So therefore if CC does not occur , working familys , low income singles , pensioners & self funded retirees will still be financially better off ….courtesy of higher incomers , a wealth redistributon , rather than courtesy of CC
I’m impressed by the clout you attribute to Australia over the world. Countries, seemingly knowing full well the dire consequences that lie ahead if they don’t take drastic action, will look at Australia’s so called feeble attempt and copy them because ….. well why? Why would a country committed to climate change and convinced drastic action is needed be convinced by a minnow country that a low target is the way to go?
Doesn’t that mean other countries can’t think for themselves? What hold would we have over them if they were truly committed to the cause? Why would they accept us as being the gurus of CC? If Australia’s ETS is so poor and can be proven to be so why wouldn’t a thinking country go for higher targets with a view to encourage Australia to do likewise?
Amigo FINNS
“Some even called it India’s Enron.”
“enRON”…..my name gets tarnished everywhere
I hate to say it again, but the tarnishing is already much worse than that Ron:
Previous US president (quite senile in later years): RONald reagan
Notorious polluter of childrens food: RONald mcdonald
Nutty inventor of scientology: L RON hubbard
Chris Kenny, former Downer staffer and Advertiser columnist, to become Turnbull’s new chief of staff.
…………. ew.
As is so often the case, it falls to Harry Hutton to restore sanity to the Israel-Palestine debate.
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