Who likes pork?

I had a very brief forray into lobbying back in 1997, Qiuggers. Myself and a few friends (with the backing of our Union, it has to be said, mostly because the AMA etc were hand-in-glove with the pollies) went to Canberra to beard the Lion on training restrictions on doctors. Was a little surprised when the then Health Minister (DR Michael Wooldridge) had to defer to an aide on the impact of "his" policy. I know just a little of what you mean by "people." ;)

I think Keating did himself no favours in the way he presented himself to the public, but my point was that he DID know his stuff on economics despite the abrasive comments about "recessions we had to have."

Now here is something very sobering to consider. Sometimes in Australia's presidential-style politics, all the emphasis is on the the leader.... If you're considering voting for Kevin Rudd, perhaps
you should consider who would sit around a Rudd Cabinet table?!!

Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd

Deputy prime Minister and Minister for Industrial relations: Julia Gillard, former student radical, socialist and AUS president

Treasurer: Wayne Swan, former ALP state secretary

Attorney general: Joe Ludwig, former AWU official

Minister for Homeland security: Arch Bevis, former organiser Queensland Teachers' Union

Minister for Trade: Simon Crean, former president, ACTU

Minister for Transport and Tourism: Martin Ferguson, former president, ACTU

Minister for Finance: Lindsay Tanner, former state secretary, Federated Clerk's Union

Minister for Environment and the Arts: Peter Garrett, lifelong anti-everything activist

Minister for Infrastructure and Water: Anthony Albanese. former assistant general secretary, NSW ALP

Minister for Human Services: Tanya Plibersek, former student union official, UTS

Minister for Immigration: Tony Burke, former official Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union

Minister for Resources: Chris Evans, former official Miscellaneous Workers' Union

Minister for Veterans' Affairs: Alan Griffin, former official Federated Clerks Union

Minister for Primary Industry: Kerry O'Brien, former official Miscellaneous Workers' Union

Minister for Superannuation: Nick Sherry(O'Possum), former state secretary, Federated Liquor and Allied Trades Union

Minister for Sport: Kate Lundy, former official CFMEU

And if that isn't RED enough, waiting in the wings are:

Greg Combet, candidate for Charlton and former ACTU president

Doug Cameron, NSW Senate candidate and secretary of Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union

Bill Shorten: candidate for Maribyrnong and national secretary, Australian Workers' Union

Richard Marles: candidate for Corio and former assistant secretary, Transport Workers Union

Hardly a cross-section of the Australian electorate OR thinking!

Scrambler, you probably got scrambled by the machine. (pun intended).

The pollie game is a racket - the only word in politics is 'power'.

When I worked on the 1993 campaign, (as senior tv producer, some of the ads were shot in my house, I ran the PMs address to the nation etc), the 'behind the scenes people' ran the show, PM Keating turned up and did what he was told to do...

I observe Howard has the same, seen him again recently...

Currently...
Keating and others from that era are working behind the scenes.
Bob Hogg, who was 'boss' in 1993, is the partner of Maxine McKew and has been since late 1992, who just happens to be running against Howard in the seat of Bennelong...
and there are many 'others'... including one EG Whitlam...

sadly the voting public of Aussie will never know, but then again, most don't care...

... in 1993, we shot a series of commercials for Labor (the infamous +15% GST/hewson campaign) in the Bankstown electorate (Keatings seat), and over three days there, many locals said, 'hey mate, whatcha doin'?'

many didn't know an election was on, many others didn't know the Prime Minister was also their local member....

i'll do the Graham Richardson measurement story later, it's a scream.

having said all that, Rudd and co should be very worried, they're far too cocky, just like Hewson was in '93...

GQ

Quote:

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i'll do the Graham Richardson measurement story later, it's a scream.

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Yes please, I could do with a good laugh.:D


That is a worrying list Rosco, but I guess most of us probably more or less knew this deep down.:o

To see it in print, is something else though.

Where did you get all that from Rosco?

Bl00dy good stuff!

What was that song the Kinks did a zillion years ago?

'You dont get me, I'm part of the union.... till the day I die...'

Not a pretty list... and the reason I'm saying Labor/Rudd is not a shoe-in...

I've met and/or worked with some of these, err, people; individually, some are quite okay, others are a worry...like Bevis and Lundy... Garretts demise is sad...

The 'groupthink' in this cohort is where the concern lies....
GQ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rosco

Mate, we probably could be charged with hijack, but ...
1: You only get income from property if you own it, the same applies here, except you get it when they pay a dividend, perhaps annually ??
2: What do you think estate agents get ?
3: Agreed.

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1: Not true at all. I won't try to get into it here for the hijack reasons.
2: Not all property is sold through agents. I don't usually go to an agent looking for property, I usually find property then dal with an agent. The agent is supposed to be working for the vendor and the vendor pays them, not the purchaser.
3:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Quiggers

Where did you get all that from Rosco?

Bl00dy good stuff!

What was that song the Kinks did a zillion years ago?

'You dont get me, I'm part of the union.... till the day I die...'

Not a pretty list... and the reason I'm saying Labor/Rudd is not a shoe-in...

I've met and/or worked with some of these, err, people; individually, some are quite okay, others are a worry...like Bevis and Lundy... Garretts demise is sad...

The 'groupthink' in this cohort is where the concern lies....
GQ

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Yep ... scary stuff heh :eek2:

Apart from the 'would be if he could be' boss and Garrett, who I am of the opinion, is a tosser of the first order, we have an entire cabinet of st1t stirring unionist malcontents.

And they would have us believe the unions don't pull the puppet strings ... :nazilock::nazilock::thumbsdown::soapbox:...

I think those who are trying to disassociate Labor from the union movement are forgetting their history (if indeed they ever knew any). The Labor party was founded as the political wing of the union movement, as one of the results of the shearer's strike. Whether you are a supporter or opponent of Labor, it is rather disingenuous to pretend there is a complete separation.

As to whether the union movement actually controls the party is another matter - I doubt whether it does. But the people who join Labor and rise in it will, because of this history, be ones sympathetic to the union movement, and it is most unlikely that they will lose this attitude just because they are in parliament. On the other hand, it must always be remembered that any parliamentarian's major concern is the probable results in the next vote in his or her electorate, and this dictates his or her every move.

Perhaps even more frightening than the number of unionists or ex-unionists in the shadow front bench would be to look at the number of lawyers in the front bench (indeed, back benches as well) of any parliament in Australia, although the situation is not as bad as it is in the USA. Again, the problem is not that the bar association controls them, but the attitudes they bring to parliament.

John

very interesting to an fro banter from all concerned,

as the esteemed quigers said, 'power' is the key, personally I think the Pm has overstepped the federal power mark in relation to the autonomy of the states (and a lot of other decisions where he has publically stated his own opinions on changes)
where money( who gets the greatest share of the tax coffers) is the key to solving a lot of local issues.



john

To lighten the mood a tad, here's a little gem from across the water. I wonder if we have any similar candidates on either side of the floor ...





http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7061/piczm7.th.jpg