The 2014/15 Off Season Thread

[Poupou Escobar]

The UN. A special interest forum for third world nations to lecture the West on human rights.

#lolhypocrites

 

[oldmancraigy]

Ok then. Economist Richard Denniss wrote in crikey:

HJ, isn't Crikey a right wing publication?

Gronk, I guess I'm not worried about whether the IGR is full of crap or not (and, let's be honest, how significant a report is it? Who ever talks about it 5 years later, and the numbers the current edition forcast are very rarely close to correct) - I'm just wondering why there is such outrage over the Liberals using it as an agenda pusher? Isn't that what anyone does?

And I'm wondering where, if anywhere, Hockey has shown greater disrespect for the Charter of Budget Honesty than anyone else ever has? Specifically in relation to the IGR?

I don't mind who wins, but one side accusing the other of being partisan is more than a little amusing. Of course they are - isn't that the point??

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

The UN. A special interest forum for third world nations to lecture the West on human rights.

#lolhypocrites

It's also a special interest forum in which the most powerful countries each have a right of veto over any substantive decision. The 3rd world don't get that privilege.

 

[Gronk]

Originally Posted by Poupou Escobar
The UN. A special interest forum for third world nations to lecture the West on human rights.

Exactly. Glad we want nothing to do with the merkins. Oh wait.

Australia is firmly committed to effective global cooperation, including through the United Nations (UN) and its specialised agencies and regional commissions. Engaging with the multilateral system is a key pillar of Australia's foreign policy. This is because we live in a complex, inter-connected world where countries cannot address on their own some of the major challenges we face today.

Australia is a founding member of the UN, an active participant in UN institutions for over 65 years and the 12th largest contributor to the UN regular and peacekeeping budgets. Australia held the first Presidency of the Security Council in 1946 and provided the first military personnel as peacekeepers under UN auspices a year later, to Indonesia. Australia is one of the top ten contributors to the World Health Organization; World Food Programme; UN Children's Fund; UN Central Emergency Response Fund: UN High Commissioner for Refugees; and UN Trust Fund for Indigenous Populations.

Australia has an enduring commitment to human rights internationally and is a party to major human rights treaties. Australia was one of the eight countries that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we have been a leading proponent of its consistent and comprehensive implementation.

http://www.dfat.gov.au/internationa...organisations/un/pages/united-nations-un.aspx

 

[Twizzle]

Karen Barlow ‏@KJBar 25m25 minutes ago
PM Abbott on the UN torture report: "I think Australians are pretty sick of being lectured to."

he would know

 

[Poupou Escobar]

It's also a special interest forum in which the most powerful countries each have a right of veto over any substantive decision. The 3rd world don't get that privilege.

The UNSC and the UN are two very different entities. You could almost say they are at odds.

Anyway, veto rights aren't a privilege; they are a necessity. Without them we would have a true tyranny by the majority.

 

[Gronk]

HJ, isn't Crikey a right wing publication?

Gronk, I guess I'm not worried about whether the IGR is full of crap or not (and, let's be honest, how significant a report is it? Who ever talks about it 5 years later, and the numbers the current edition forcast are very rarely close to correct) - I'm just wondering why there is such outrage over the Liberals using it as an agenda pusher? Isn't that what anyone does?

And I'm wondering where, if anywhere, Hockey has shown greater disrespect for the Charter of Budget Honesty than anyone else ever has? Specifically in relation to the IGR?

I don't mind who wins, but one side accusing the other of being partisan is more than a little amusing. Of course they are - isn't that the point??

Costello & Swan followed the Charter and it's pretty well accepted that the IR has never been manipulated for political means.

Even the Abbott cheer squad at SkyNews said:

Joe Hockey's 40-year outlook for the Australian economy looks set to become a political tool rather than an informative report on the future.The treasurer will hand down his first intergenerational report on Thursday, the fourth in a series of five-yearly reviews introduced by Peter Costello.The former Liberal treasurer released the inaugural edition with his 2002/03 budget to highlight the challenges Australia faced with an ageing population. 'If policies are not adjusted, the current generational of taxpayers is likely to impose a higher tax burden on the next generation,' Mr Costello's report said.

The tradition, under the Charter of Budget Honesty, was continued by Labor treasurer Wayne Swan.

The Abbott government's version will show how its policies have improved that outlook but, provocatively, include what the future budget outlook would have looked like under Labor. 'What the report will show is that under the policies of the former government, we were going into a ruinous fiscal position,' Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters on Wednesday.

- See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/business/...re-has-hint-of-past.html#sthash.kgk1GjOE.dpuf

Which was pretty much what Richard Denniss said anyway.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We need to accept that our current expectations for government spending are unsustainable with the demographic change facing us.

And calling welfare spending 'infrastructure investment' to justify further government debt is just dishonest. The current generation is clearly trying to leach off the next and hoping it just all sorts itself out. It's a bit rich for merkins without kids to even have an opinion on this.

If you want someone to feed you and wipe your arse in your old age you need to make some sacrifices now. The party's over.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Labour released it's first policy last week regarding big corporations and taxation apparently it will save $2 billion over 4 years or it might be 2 not sure, anyhow Hockey has no interested at looking at it or debating it. He basically rubbished the policy, no wonder our politics are crap - Hockey/abbott keep on asking for ideas to fix the budget, they are given an option to save $2 billion but aren't interested

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

The UNSC and the UN are two very different entities. You could almost say they are at odds.

Anyway, veto rights aren't a privilege; they are a necessity. Without them we would have a true tyranny by the majority.

Yeh, sort of. But it is UN resolutions that the members of the UNSC have veto rights over (which is obviously designed to avoid what happened to the League of Nations....but also means that those who were powerful at the time of formation have some bizarre eternal right attaching to them).

 

[Gronk]

We need to accept that our current expectations for government spending are unsustainable with the demographic change facing us.

And calling welfare spending 'infrastructure investment' to justify further government debt is just dishonest. The current generation is clearly trying to leach off the next and hoping it just all sorts itself out. It's a bit rich for merkins without kids to even have an opinion on this.

If you want someone to feed you and wipe your arse in your old age you need to make some sacrifices now. The party's over.

Two ways of looking at this.

1. Cut back on everything so save money on expenditure, or
2. Invest while cash is cheap and do something about business confidence and productivity.

At this point the LNP are only prepared to cut back on everything (welfare, foreign aid, science and medical research, education etc) to get back to their much needed "surplus".

The "infrastructure" Government are only willing to put their hand in their pockets if the states sell off assets.

They need to show some guts and give the people some confidence. They had a golden opportunity to do this with the Intergenerational Report.

Sort out the bludgers on pensions and by all means make people learn or earn, but they need to boost productivity as well.

 

[lingard]

We need to accept that our current expectations for government spending are unsustainable with the demographic change facing us.

And calling welfare spending 'infrastructure investment' to justify further government debt is just dishonest. The current generation is clearly trying to leach off the next and hoping it just all sorts itself out. It's a bit rich for merkins without kids to even have an opinion on this.

If you want someone to feed you and wipe your arse in your old age you need to make some sacrifices now. The party's over.

The party might be over - but there's more than one way for everybody to go home.

 

[lingard]

Labour released it's first policy last week regarding big corporations and taxation apparently it will save $2 billion over 4 years or it might be 2 not sure, anyhow Hockey has no interested at looking at it or debating it. He basically rubbished the policy, no wonder our politics are crap - Hockey/abbott keep on asking for ideas to fix the budget, they are given an option to save $2 billion but aren't interested

The biggest problem with Australian politics today is that, for the last several years, Tony Abbott has created an 'us or them' mentality which has effectively ruled out any bi-partisan solution to anything.

 

[84 Baby]

Let's get this thread back on track.
Perhaps we can call up Bangladesh in our place for the Ashes.

 

[Suitman]

Lol @ England.

 

[Gronk]

When I f**king catch that merkin ....

 

[Gronk]

Well done Tony.

ABC News ‏@abcnews 4h4 hours ago
#Abbott Government to reinstate $1 billion funding for car industry http://ab.co/1wmfa5W

 

[Gronk]

Karen Barlow ‏@KJBar 12m12 minutes ago
PM Abbott asked if he has made another 'captain's pick': "There is nothing unusual, nothing unusual, nothing irregular about the decision."

Yeah leave him alone. Leave him alone. Leave him be and also leave him alone.

 

[T.S Quint]

Lol @ England.

Indeed.
They provide plenty of quality lols.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Thought Abbott/Hockey were talking about we couldn't afford all the benefits we pay out, if this is so why would they even suggest that our super could be accessed for anything other then retirement. Crazy idea letting people use super for a house deposit, all it will do is drive up prices and give less in retirement, crazy crazy crazy!!