Quote:

The reaction of Australia's media to Opposition leader Tony Abbott' Budget reply speech last Thursday was a surprise to some. Observers familiar with Australia's economy would have noticed in the presentation several stated or implied falsehoods and other curious claims. And might have expected some criticism from the commentariat. Well, not only was media reaction completely devoid of fulmination against the fibs, but it seemed none had even been detected. Somewhat bizarre. So what were the problematic propositions? There were more than twenty. Here's a top 12. 1. "Our musicians, artists, actors and film-makers are making their mark all over the world." Thanks to whom? Advancing the arts was a major focus of the Hawke-Keating years – resisted by the Coalition. Labor after 1983 boosted arts funding enormously with impressive results. The Gillard Government has also revamped support for the arts. The Coalition opposes this also. 2. "The Coalition's Plan has two objectives: first, to take the budget pressure off Australian households." This implies pressure has been put on. The opposite is true. Of course, many are struggling. But pressure on households has been reduced significantly. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently reported on taxation around the world. It asserts that taxes on wages in Australia are now among the lowest in the developed world, with only five small countries taking less; households are paying less now than during the Howard years; and the biggest tax breaks have gone to the poorest. Other pressures alleviated include interest rates and costs of imported products. 3. "Only by delivering a strong economy can government deliver a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme ..." Implying Australia's economy is not strong now? In fact, Australia's economy was ranked 12th in the world in 2007. It is now clearly number one. Switzerland and Canada are jostling for second. But no economist disputes Australia's ascendancy – on virtually every measure. 4. "In the second line of this week's budget speech the Treasurer said that it was a budget for jobs and growth. In fact, unemployment increases and growth decreases." The problem here – and an embedded difficulty throughout – is ignoring the global financial crisis. The GFC devastated economies worldwide. None was spared. Average annual increase in Australia's gross domestic product was 3.65% during the 11 Howard years. Then down to 2.44% under Labor. But here's the thing: Australia's average through the Howard years was about the same as equivalent countries. The USA averaged 3.04%. Canada 3.3%. Some European countries were higher. Luxembourg averaged 4.78%. Then the GFC knocked the stuffing out of every economy – except one. In the five years under Labor in Australia, growth has been 2.44%. But in the USA 0.54%, in Canada 0.94% and Luxembourg 0.52%. And the Euro Zone negative 2.3%! Economists around the world regard this as a major pointer to the Australian Government being the world's best economic manager. Mr Abbott should not claim the opposite. 5. "That's why good governments are at least as careful spending the money they hold on trust from the people as you are when making decisions that affect your family's budget." Only twice has there been careless spending in Australia's history, according to a January report by Harvard economist Dr Paolo Mauro and others, published by the International Monetary Fund. They examined 200 years of finances in 55 countries and found two periods of "fiscal profligacy" in Australia – both during the Howard years. None since. 6. "This government has [made your life harder] with its … skyrocketing debt." Australia's borrowings, according to many independent analysts, are at the right levels for the times. New York-based Moody's international credit rating agency reassessed Australia's economy after last week's Budget. "Consolidated government debt is still low compared to other Aaa-rated countries at well under 30% of GDP," Moody's stated. "Australia's relatively low level of government debt has been one of the factors supporting the Aaa rating."

continue

Quote:

Only ten wealthy nations reduced debt to GDP in the last year. Australia's reduction by 2.2% was only bettered by Iceland and Norway. That is not "skyrocketing". 7. Far from making "your life harder" it is precisely the low level of borrowings set by the Rudd Government to fund the optimum level of stimulus which saved Australia almost alone in the world [with Poland] from severe recession in 2008-09. Had the Government taken any other course – followed Coalition policy, for example – Australia would likely still be ranked 12th and mired deeply in recession, unemployment and poverty. 8. "The government promised a surplus over the cycle but this isn't a cycle – it's a spiral, deeper and deeper into debt ..." Not really. Paul Keating restructured Australia's economy and brought the accounts back into surplus. Keating delivered three. This allowed Peter Costello then to deliver another nine. But who delivered surpluses prior to Keating? Answer: Arthur Fadden in the early Menzies years. Cycles can be 50 years or more. Australia is still in the low deficit/surplus phase. 9. "But thanks to Labor's poor management over five years, there is now a budget emergency." No, there isn't. According to Moody's, "The size of the deficits is such that the gross debt of the Commonwealth government will rise only slightly from its currently estimated 19.3% of GDP to a peak of 20.6% in 2014-15. On a net basis, the peak will be 11.4% of GDP, and the government's long-term forecasts have this figure falling to zero early in the next decade." 10. "The Prime Minister guaranteed there would be no carbon tax – but there is." A bit rich from the man who told the Greens and Independents he would have done precisely the same as the PM to negotiate an emissions reduction outcome through a hung parliament. Especially from one who has placed firmly on the record that the best strategy is "a simple carbon tax". 11. "So with a change of government, your weekly and fortnightly budgets will be under less pressure as electricity prices fall and gas prices fall and the carbon tax no longer cascades through our economy." Inflation since the carbon tax was introduced has been lower than during the Rudd/Gillard period before the carbon tax was introduced and below the average rate for the Howard Government. And finally: 12. Regarding "proper cabinet process", Mr Abbott suggests "That's how Bob Hawke and John Howard ran their governments but that's not how government is run now, as the four former ministers now sitting on the backbench have testified." This was a barbed reference to ministers who departed after internal party ructions. [Kevin Rudd, Simon Crean, Chris Bowen and Martin Ferguson]. But here's the question: how many ex-ministers on the backbench did John Howard take to the 2007 election? Answer: 17. And here's another question: how many former Howard ministers does Mr Abbott currently have on his backbench? Answer: five. [Judi Moylan, Phillip Ruddock, Bruce Scott, Alex Somlyay and Ian Macdonald.] So what is happening with media scrutiny Downunder? Does no-one care about accuracy? That seems unlikely given the fury greeting broken promises by Labor. And what's with the ABC's headline: "Abbott 'honest, competent' budget reply"? Is there perhaps a double standard with regard to the political parties? Or women in politics?

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15025&page=0

Good post, WW, and so true.

You'd never expect a Con-alition supporter to see it though.

More and more, I believe that a vote for Liberal/National is the vote of a fool.

1. This isn't a lie - it's an observation and a truthful one at that. He isn't trying to take credit for this and they are doing well.
2. This isn't a lie. Look at the number of people asking for extensions to pay soaring electricity bills since the carbon tax came into being.
3. Strong? You consider a debt of close to $300bn to be a strong economic position? Don't make me laugh!
4. The GFC ended years ago and only the ALP use this as an excuse, get over it. We also had the mining boom between then and now. Jobs are on the decline. No lies told here.
5. The ALP governments since 2007 have been incredibly wasteful. Just look at the number of gold-plated coffee machines in government department offices and the billions wasted in the NBN and BER programs.
6. This country has never been in such great debt. It took Howard/Costello a decade to pay off a $96bn debt. How long will it take to pay off the current debt, which is currently more than double Keatings' debt? Two decades, or three? How many decades will we have less services to pay off this massive debt? We will literally be paying for Labor's incompetence for decades to come.
7. Low level of borrowings? They've raised the debt ceiling not once, but twice. It now stands at $250bn, with a further increase by Swan to an unprecedented $300bn unable to be ruled out.
8. Swan is stuck in deficits because he is spending well in excess of what revenue he receives, which is actually up on last year.
9. If there is no budget emergency, why hundreds of promises of a surplus only to get another deficit? Why no pre-election sweeteners? Why cuts to services and raising the Medicare levy? Answer: this government is broke. If there was a Centrelink for governments, the ALP would be in line.
10. Gillard lied about the carbon tax and this will be a big part of her downfall in September. Abbott has never been a proponent for a carbon tax.
11. No carbon tax = lower electricity prices.
12. Nonsense.

That article was a waste of ink/bandwidth.

The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back.

armpitts answer to everything, this isn't a lie or nonsense ....


riggghhtttt ... it's only a lie when labor says it, right?

Kat wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 8:11am:

Good post, WW, and so true. You'd never expect a Con-alition supporter to see it though. More and more, I believe that a vote for Liberal/National is the vote of a fool.

another C&P well done ...so you think gillard is the saviour good for you...

in that case give me a fool every time one that keeps us out of ginormous DEBT for a start with not a bloody thing to show for it...

yep because thats what we have...


the stim we had when we didnt need a stim...is a joke..btw I dont think the unemployed got that either did they???...

ever since then this bunch of  saviours have done nothing but borrow FOR WHAT??? anyone know?


oh probably the FHB massive increase to prop up the building industry then there was the $16bn B ER that again propped up the building industry along with a few shonkies.... gotta keep those guys happy...

then there was the fixing of the BER we dont know how much that cost.. we did hear the pinkbatts fiasco cost about double in the end.. I believe thats still being fixed...LOL.[.it helps the employment figures]..


yes a fool..indeed...funny how you guys can all predict what Abbott will do but no one predicted what a mess this lot would do..amazing..

Seriously? Someone thinks electricity prices will go down with the removal of the carbon price?

SOB

John S wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 11:09pm:

Quote: The reaction of Australia's media to Opposition leader Tony Abbott' Budget reply speech last Thursday was a surprise to some. Observers familiar with Australia's economy would have noticed in the presentation several stated or implied falsehoods and other curious claims. And might have expected some criticism from the commentariat. Well, not only was media reaction completely devoid of fulmination against the fibs, but it seemed none had even been detected. Somewhat bizarre. So what were the problematic propositions? There were more than twenty. Here's a top 12. 1. "Our musicians, artists, actors and film-makers are making their mark all over the world." Thanks to whom? Advancing the arts was a major focus of the Hawke-Keating years – resisted by the Coalition. Labor after 1983 boosted arts funding enormously with impressive results. The Gillard Government has also revamped support for the arts. The Coalition opposes this also. 2. "The Coalition's Plan has two objectives: first, to take the budget pressure off Australian households." This implies pressure has been put on. The opposite is true. Of course, many are struggling. But pressure on households has been reduced significantly. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently reported on taxation around the world. It asserts that taxes on wages in Australia are now among the lowest in the developed world, with only five small countries taking less; households are paying less now than during the Howard years; and the biggest tax breaks have gone to the poorest. Other pressures alleviated include interest rates and costs of imported products. 3. "Only by delivering a strong economy can government deliver a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme ..." Implying Australia's economy is not strong now? In fact, Australia's economy was ranked 12th in the world in 2007. It is now clearly number one. Switzerland and Canada are jostling for second. But no economist disputes Australia's ascendancy – on virtually every measure. Average annual increase in Australia's gross domestic product was 3.65% during the 11 Howard years. Then down to 2.44% under Labor. But here's the thing: Australia's average through the Howard years was about the same as equivalent countries. The USA averaged 3.04%. Canada 3.3%. Some European countries were higher. Luxembourg averaged 4.78%. Then the GFC knocked the stuffing out of every economy – except one. In the five years under Labor in Australia, growth has been 2.44%. But in the USA 0.54%, in Canada 0.94% and Luxembourg 0.52%. And the Euro Zone negative 2.3%! Economists around the world regard this as a major pointer to the Australian Government being the world's best economic manager. Mr Abbott should not claim the opposite. 5. "That's why good governments are at least as careful spending the money they hold on trust from the people as you are when making decisions that affect your family's budget." Only twice has there been careless spending in Australia's history, according to a January report by Harvard economist Dr Paolo Mauro and others, published by the International Monetary Fund. They examined 200 years of finances in 55 countries and found two periods of "fiscal profligacy" in Australia – both during the Howard years. None since. 6. "This government has [made your life harder] with its … skyrocketing debt." Australia's borrowings, according to many independent analysts, are at the right levels for the times. New York-based Moody's international credit rating agency reassessed Australia's economy after last week's Budget. "Consolidated government debt is still low compared to other Aaa-rated countries at well under 30% of GDP," Moody's stated. "Australia's relatively low level of government debt has been one of the factors supporting the Aaa rating." continue

You missed something... from the report YOU linked to comes this gem...

"The tax burden for the single average worker decreased by 3.8 percentage points from 31.0% to 27.2% between 2000 and 2012. Between 2009 and 2012, there was an increase of 0.5 percentage points."

tax burden has INCREASED in the last three years while under howard it reduced significantly.

OOPS!!!!

idiot

John Smith wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 8:39am:

armpitts answer to everything, this isn't a lie or nonsense .... riggghhtttt ... it's only a lie when labor says it, right?

If only there was even a little truth in the topic-starter post...

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 6:06pm:

John Smith wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:39am: armpitts answer to everything, this isn't a lie or nonsense .... riggghhtttt ... it's only a lie when labor says it, right? If only there was even a little truth in the topic-starter post...

if only you had a brain.

warrigal wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 8:19am:

The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back.

Sure mate, cash or cheque?

I'll hand mine back when the scruffs from Dandenong and Frankston give theirs back.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 7:01pm:

warrigal wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:19am: The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back. Sure mate, cash or cheque? I'll hand mine back when the scruffs from Dandenong and Frankston give theirs back.

you missed the bit that said 'the greedy ...'

John Smith wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 7:16pm:

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:01pm: warrigal wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:19am: The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back. Sure mate, cash or cheque? I'll hand mine back when the scruffs from Dandenong and Frankston give theirs back. you missed the bit that said 'the greedy ...'

No I didn't.
The only difference between my family and theirs is we funded our help through our taxes.
That lot do precious bugger all for theirs.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 9:02pm:

John Smith wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:16pm: Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:01pm: warrigal wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:19am: The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back. Sure mate, cash or cheque? I'll hand mine back when the scruffs from Dandenong and Frankston give theirs back. you missed the bit that said 'the greedy ...' No I didn't. The only difference between my family and theirs is we funded our help through our taxes. That lot do precious bugger all for theirs.

who is they? or do you assume that all recipients of the handouts apart from you, were lazy bludgers that never paid tax?

(By the way, you aren't anywhere near those tornados are you ... terrible.)

warrigal wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 8:19am:

The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back.

Add the whingers to that list.

:)

John Smith wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 9:06pm:

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 9:02pm: John Smith wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:16pm: Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:01pm: warrigal wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:19am: The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back. Sure mate, cash or cheque? I'll hand mine back when the scruffs from Dandenong and Frankston give theirs back. you missed the bit that said 'the greedy ...' No I didn't. The only difference between my family and theirs is we funded our help through our taxes. That lot do precious bugger all for theirs. who is they? or do you assume that all recipients of the handouts apart from you, were lazy bludgers that never paid tax? (By the way, you aren't anywhere near those tornados are you ... terrible.)

I'm in England at the moment, but why people live in Oklahoma City or why they built a city of that size where it is I just don't get it.

As regards welfare you know exactly who I'm talking about.
Just handing them welfare perpetuates the problem and it becomes inter generational.

Joe Hockey is not below spreading total bullshit either....

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/treasury-boss-slams-hockey-on-bias-claim-20121107-28yll.html

How dare anyone tell the truth about Coalition policies hey Mr Hockey???

::) ::) ::)

cods wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 9:32am:

Kat wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:11am: Good post, WW, and so true. You'd never expect a Con-alition supporter to see it though. More and more, I believe that a vote for Liberal/National is the vote of a fool. another C&P well done ...so you think gillard is the saviour good for you... in that case give me a fool every time one that keeps us out of ginormous DEBT for a start with not a bloody thing to show for it... yep because thats what we have... the stim we had when we didnt need a stim...is a joke..btw I dont think the unemployed got that either did they???... (Did you hand yours back??) ever since then this bunch of  saviours have done nothing but borrow FOR WHAT??? anyone know? oh probably the FHB massive increase to prop up the building industry then there was the $16bn B ER that again propped up the building industry (And how many jobs would have been lost if this action was NOT undertaken?) (Hope you are making sure that your grandkids aren't using those nasty BER improvements.) along with a few shonkies.... gotta keep those guys happy... then there was the fixing of the BER we dont know how much that cost.. we did hear the pinkbatts fiasco (Again,though, you did put out your hand for thr cheapie, didn't you?) cost about double in the end.. (Care to share the numbers to support this?) I believe thats still being fixed...LOL.[.it helps the employment figures].. yes a fool..indeed...funny how you guys can all predict what Abbott will do but no one predicted what a mess this lot would do..amazing..

:)

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 9:15pm:

John Smith wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 9:06pm: Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 9:02pm: John Smith wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:16pm: Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 7:01pm: warrigal wrote on May 21st, 2013 at 8:19am: The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back. Sure mate, cash or cheque? I'll hand mine back when the scruffs from Dandenong and Frankston give theirs back. you missed the bit that said 'the greedy ...' No I didn't. The only difference between my family and theirs is we funded our help through our taxes. That lot do precious bugger all for theirs. who is they? or do you assume that all recipients of the handouts apart from you, were lazy bludgers that never paid tax? (By the way, you aren't anywhere near those tornados are you ... terrible.) I'm in England at the moment, but why people live in Oklahoma City or why they built a city of that size where it is I just don't get it. As regards welfare you know exactly who I'm talking about. Just handing them welfare perpetuates the problem and it becomes inter generational.

what welfare ... we were talking about handing back the bonus stimulus payments.

warrigal wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 8:19am:

The Simple solution, The GREEDY that took there government handouts and didn't need it need to give it back.

That looks pretty "Government handouts" to me.