THE national interest – a factor of over-arching importance to most sensible Australians but not apparently to the Labor Party or its shallow leader, Bill Shorten – demands that the economic health of the country be given the utmost priority. 
 
Yet, in delivering the Opposition’s reply to the Budget, the national interest was wilfully ignored in favour of old-fashioned pie-in-the-sky populist politics.

Forget the elephant in the room, Labor is ignoring the blue whale that is thrashing around in the house, its tail in the backyard, its fins spreading across the bedrooms and its massive head in the living room sucking clouds of borrowed cash through the open front door. If it continues to lash about it will batter the home to bits leaving nothing but smashed foundations.

Even Labor stalwart Graham Richardson conceded in The Australian on Friday that “there is a crisis in the years towards the end of this decade that needs addressing”.

But Shorten and Opposition social services spokesman Jenny Macklin continue to be denialists.

Nine months ago, after five record Budget deficits delivered over six years of the most incompetent and deceitful governments this country has endured, Australia dumped Labor. The nation, sluggishly, was waking up to reality. With a Labor’s so-called Abbott-proofing of the economy, the ALP ensured that there would be a further $123 billion in deficits over the next four years and that, left unchecked, that debt would triple, soaring to at least $667 billion.

The interest bill this year alone is $12 billion. Instead of building new hospitals, schools, ports and roads, Labor blew at least $29 billion on its wasteful NBN program, $11 billion on its failed border protection program and $2.8 billion on lethal pink batts program.

Last week, summoned to testify at a royal commission, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, finally managed to accept “ultimate responsibility” for that disastrous project though he blamed the public service for failing to advise him of its deadly risks.

Shorten however still cannot admit that he and his party are responsible for the leviathan-sized debt that will burden generations of Australians unless remedial action is taken now. In his Budget reply, he did not offer a single solution. Instead, he played politics to a gallery packed with staffers and hangers-on who hope that Labor will regain power and keep shovelling the cash in their direction. No national interest, just political and personal interest.

“Where is the decency? Where is the honesty?” Shoren asked rhetorically. Certainly not on the Labor side of politics and not in the Green’s party room. An honest leader would admit that the problem is real and a decent leader would try and come up with some positive remedy not pander to those who still hanker for cloth cap trade unionism and a phoney class war.

Shorten, now locked in as Labor leader under the post-Rudd rules which make it more difficult for the ALP to dump incompetents, offers no hope for those who want a strong debt-free Australia but he does hold out the usual promises to those who have become accustomed to sucking from the public tit.

Delusional, and obviously hoping his audience was willing to be deluded, he reminded spectators: “We are the party that implemented the Gonski reforms for schools based funding based on need. A $14.7 billion additional investment in Australian schools.”

Let me jog the collective memory and note that, like so many of Labor’s claimed successes, the Gonski “investment” was never funded. It was yet another thought bubble charged to the national credit card because the world’s greatest treasurer Wayne Swan had run down the generous surplus left by the Howard-Costello government and was borrowing against the hard work of future generations to underwrite its fantasies.

Labor’s legacy, which Shorten and his party colleagues refuse to address is nothing more than a debt book of unsustainable, unaffordable spending commitments oozing red ink.

Former Labor climate change minister Greg Combet, who followed Rudd into the pink batts’ commission’s witness box, admitted the profligate program was flawed from the start. In time, other ministers from the Rudd and Gillard governments will cleanse their consciences and concede they were part of a catastrophic experiment, ruinous in scope with an ongoing and devastating repercussion.

But unless while Shorten and his cohorts maintain their deliberate blindness to the economic chaos they created, and while they perpetuate the fabrication that the economy is not only in good shape but can afford more of their extravagances, the national interest will continue to suffer.

Labor has irresponsibly committed Australia to spend faster than any of the 17 advanced economies it regularly tracks but Whining Willie refuses to even acknowledge the debt trap. Instead, he is trying to appeal to the selfish, not the selfless. To those for whom blatant self-interest trumps national interest. The nation deserves a lot better than an Opposition leader with no plans and no realistic blueprint for the future.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/labor-leader-deluded-and-fiscally-dangerous/story-fni0cx4q-1229620233772

Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts.....

Frances wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:01am:

Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts.....

I agree - Bill is Short-on facts...

Piers Akerman is not someone I would listen to!!!

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/labor-leader-deluded-and-fiscally-dangerous/story-fni0cx4q-1229620233772

The opposition never releases its policies until just before the next election and in Abbott's case 2 days before the last election.....Piers then comes out with “Where is the decency? Where is the honesty?” because the opposition has not come up with some positive remedy.....It is not up to the opposition to pull the Government out of the hole they have dug themselves.....Where is the decency and honesty from this Government Piers???

Piers also ignores the fact every Coalition State including WA who are the boom State and where left with a low debt and AAA credit rating have racked up massive debt and deficits as far as the eye can see with the excuse that it was the GFC that caused the problem.....I see some hypocrisy there when the Liberal States can get away with blaming global conditions yet the Federal Labor party is not offered the same latitude by right wing extremists like Ackerman.....Decency and Honesty are not attributes Ackerman would know anything about!!!

[smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif]

Daily Telegraph? Really?

philperth2010 wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:04am:

Piers Akerman is not someone I would listen to!!! http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/labor-leader-deluded-and-fiscally-dangerous/story-fni0cx4q-1229620233772 The opposition never releases its policies until just before the next election and in Abbott's case 2 days before the last election.....Piers then comes out with “Where is the decency? Where is the honesty?” because the opposition has not come up with some positive remedy.....It is not up to the opposition to pull the Government out of the hole they have dug themselves.....Where is the decency and honesty from this Government Piers??? Piers also ignores the fact every Coalition State including WA who are the boom State and where left with a low debt and AAA credit rating have racked up massive debt and deficits as far as the eye can see with the excuse that it was the GFC that caused the problem.....I see some hypocrisy there when the Liberal States can get away with blaming global conditions yet the Federal Labor party is not offered the same latitude by right wing extremists like Ackerman.....Decency and Honesty are not attributes Ackerman would know anything about!!! [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif]

While he was Ldr of the Oppn, you halfwits continually attacked Abbott for not putting forward an alternative. Hypocritical much??? :o

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:10am:

While he was Ldr of the Oppn, you halfwits continually attacked Abbott for not putting forward an alternative.

And yet people voted for him and look what we've got.....

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:10am:

philperth2010 wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:04am: Piers Akerman is not someone I would listen to!!! http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/labor-leader-deluded-and-fiscally-dangerous/story-fni0cx4q-1229620233772 The opposition never releases its policies until just before the next election and in Abbott's case 2 days before the last election.....Piers then comes out with “Where is the decency? Where is the honesty?” because the opposition has not come up with some positive remedy.....It is not up to the opposition to pull the Government out of the hole they have dug themselves.....Where is the decency and honesty from this Government Piers??? Piers also ignores the fact every Coalition State including WA who are the boom State and where left with a low debt and AAA credit rating have racked up massive debt and deficits as far as the eye can see with the excuse that it was the GFC that caused the problem.....I see some hypocrisy there when the Liberal States can get away with blaming global conditions yet the Federal Labor party is not offered the same latitude by right wing extremists like Ackerman.....Decency and Honesty are not attributes Ackerman would know anything about!!! [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] While he was Ldr of the Oppn, you halfwits continually attacked Abbott for not putting forward an alternative. Hypocritical much??? :o

I believe you were one of the loudest supporters of his not putting out an alternative? How can Shorten put out a proposal at this stage? He doesn't know the truth about how Abbotts buggered it up yet ...

he'll have to wait until he wins govt. so that he can see the real figures  :D :D :D :D

John Smith wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:14am:

How can Shorten put out a proposal at this stage? He doesn't know the truth about how Abbotts buggered it up yet ...

And how can Shorten know how much more damage Abbott and Hockey can do over the next couple of years?

Frances wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:01am:

Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts.....

Moreover, you can't believe a word it says because Armpit likes to change the text to suit his own needs.

The budget has produced an overwhelming negative response. It's not just the ALP that disagree. The problem is the solution is simply an ideological attack (on the poor, the sick the young, the old etc) to a problem that while important is hardly urgent.

If this is such an emergency then why are we still subsidising the coal industry? Why is he cutting other existing revenue sources? The reason is because it's all about ideology, and not about a spending problem.

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:10am:

philperth2010 wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:04am: Piers Akerman is not someone I would listen to!!! http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/labor-leader-deluded-and-fiscally-dangerous/story-fni0cx4q-1229620233772 The opposition never releases its policies until just before the next election and in Abbott's case 2 days before the last election.....Piers then comes out with “Where is the decency? Where is the honesty?” because the opposition has not come up with some positive remedy.....It is not up to the opposition to pull the Government out of the hole they have dug themselves.....Where is the decency and honesty from this Government Piers??? Piers also ignores the fact every Coalition State including WA who are the boom State and where left with a low debt and AAA credit rating have racked up massive debt and deficits as far as the eye can see with the excuse that it was the GFC that caused the problem.....I see some hypocrisy there when the Liberal States can get away with blaming global conditions yet the Federal Labor party is not offered the same latitude by right wing extremists like Ackerman.....Decency and Honesty are not attributes Ackerman would know anything about!!! [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] While he was Ldr of the Oppn, you halfwits continually attacked Abbott for not putting forward an alternative. Hypocritical much??? :o

Yet you defended Abbott when he was in Opposition because you claimed "Labor" would steal his policies.....I think we now know there is not much chance that would have happened is there.....You also failed to address the fact the Liberal States have racked up debt and deficit at record levels during the same period and in WA's case lost our AAA credit rating.....When it comes to hypocrisy I think Abbott has sunk to a new low!!!

:-? :-? :-? 

Kytro wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:28am:

The budget has produced an overwhelming negative response. It's not just the ALP that disagree. The problem is the solution is simply an ideological attack (on the poor, the sick the young, the old etc) to a problem that while important is hardly urgent. If this is such an emergency then why are we still subsidising the coal industry? Why is he cutting other existing revenue sources? The reason is because it's all about ideology, and not about a spending problem.

Do you know how much the coal industry provides this country, in terms of jobs, capital, coal for power generation, etc? Far more than the car industry ever did! You'd rather see the mining industry cease, eh? That's a sure-fire way of destroying the economy!

greggerypeccary wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:23am:

Frances wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:01am: Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts..... Moreover, you can't believe a word it says because Armpit likes to change the text to suit his own needs.

What has he changed this time?

Frances wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:44am:

greggerypeccary wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:23am: Frances wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:01am: Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts..... Moreover, you can't believe a word it says because Armpit likes to change the text to suit his own needs. What has he changed this time?

How about you read the article in the link and find out, eh?  ::)

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:49am:

Frances wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:44am: greggerypeccary wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:23am: Frances wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:01am: Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts..... Moreover, you can't believe a word it says because Armpit likes to change the text to suit his own needs. What has he changed this time? How about you read the article in the link and find out, eh?  ::)

How about you click on the link and see why???

:-? :-? :-?

philperth2010 wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:59am:

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:49am: Frances wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:44am: greggerypeccary wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:23am: Frances wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:01am: Another typically biased piece from the Daily Telecrap.  Long on opinion and short on facts..... Moreover, you can't believe a word it says because Armpit likes to change the text to suit his own needs. What has he changed this time? How about you read the article in the link and find out, eh?  ::) How about you click on the link and see why??? :-? :-? :-?

Dunno why it won't work. Here is the link in full, copied and pasted from the address bar:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/labor-leader-deluded-and-fiscally-dangerous/story-fni0cx4q-1229620233772

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:38am:

Kytro wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:28am: The budget has produced an overwhelming negative response. It's not just the ALP that disagree. The problem is the solution is simply an ideological attack (on the poor, the sick the young, the old etc) to a problem that while important is hardly urgent. If this is such an emergency then why are we still subsidising the coal industry? Why is he cutting other existing revenue sources? The reason is because it's all about ideology, and not about a spending problem. Do you know how much the coal industry provides this country, in terms of jobs, capital, coal for power generation, etc? Far more than the car industry ever did! You'd rather see the mining industry cease, eh? That's a sure-fire way of destroying the economy!

Coal mining employs about 51 000, and receives billions a year in subsidies and tax benefits .,... the car industry employed a similar number and recieved very little in comparison. The car industry has the potential to go on indefinitly, the coal industry has 20 to 50 yrs left at best

where would a smart person put his money?

I guess Holden and Ford didn't donate enough to the libs  :D :D :D :D

http://duggyvans.blogspot.com.au/p/australian-mining-facts-and-figures.html

'Mining is a smaller employer than the gambling industry, and despite public perceptions that the manufacturing industry is in steep decline, the manufacturing industry in Australia actually employs around five times as many people as the mining industry. '

Bam wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:06am:

Daily Telegraph? Really?

Why don't any of you media bigots turn up when someone posts something from the Age? LOL

Just listening to Shorten now, anyone woulkd think they left us with a zillion dolars in the bank and a responsible spending program!!!

Abbott has soooooo buggered this up, how can you be so mind numbingly dumb?  :-?

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:38am:

Kytro wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:28am: The budget has produced an overwhelming negative response. It's not just the ALP that disagree. The problem is the solution is simply an ideological attack (on the poor, the sick the young, the old etc) to a problem that while important is hardly urgent. If this is such an emergency then why are we still subsidising the coal industry? Why is he cutting other existing revenue sources? The reason is because it's all about ideology, and not about a spending problem. Do you know how much the coal industry provides this country, in terms of jobs, capital, coal for power generation, etc? Far more than the car industry ever did! You'd rather see the mining industry cease, eh? That's a sure-fire way of destroying the economy!

Considering the profits the industry are making, which are substantial they don't require any subsidies.

John Smith wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 10:04am:

where would a nice person put his money?

Error corrected.....

Akerman is just a fat turd. Wouldn't know if his arse was on fire. Just a pompous load of hot air with no qualifications.

crocodile wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 10:54am:

Akerman is just a fat turd. Wouldn't know if his arse was on fire. Just a pompous load of hot air with no qualifications.

Says crocodile of the forum... :P ;D

Bam wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:06am:

Daily Telegraph? Really?

Piers Ackerman in the Daily Telegraph?!?!

Really?!?!?!

King FriYAY II wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 11:04am:

crocodile wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 10:54am: Akerman is just a fat turd. Wouldn't know if his arse was on fire. Just a pompous load of hot air with no qualifications. Says crocodile of the forum... :P ;D

Is he a thin turd.


Quote:

Piers Akerman was born in Wewak, Papua New Guinea, the third son in a family of four children[1] of John, an Australian Government doctor, and Eve Akerman (d. 2003), a newspaper columnist and reviewer. The family left PNG for India in 1951, before returning to Perth, Western Australia, where Piers was raised. He attended Guildford Grammar School, where he remained until his expulsion, when he was "asked to leave" following a dispute with the headmaster. He spent the last few months of his schooling at Christ Church Grammar School but did not complete his final exams.

Such an enviable list of achievements. Pass the salt please, I need a few grains.

John Smith wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 10:04am:

'Mining is a smaller employer than the gambling industry, and despite public perceptions that the manufacturing industry is in steep decline, the manufacturing industry in Australia actually employs around five times as many people as the mining industry. '

HMM, makes you wonder why gambling taxes are not included as States income in the Grants Commission carve up of GST?

lee wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 11:30am:

John Smith wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 10:04am: 'Mining is a smaller employer than the gambling industry, and despite public perceptions that the manufacturing industry is in steep decline, the manufacturing industry in Australia actually employs around five times as many people as the mining industry. ' HMM, makes you wonder why gambling taxes are not included as States income in the Grants Commission carve up of GST?

that might negate the need to put up the GST ... we can't have that now!

John Smith wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 4:14pm:

that might negate the need to put up the GST ... we can't have that now!

Would make it a more even playing field. Nah, can't have that.

Possibly - I doubt though that he actually revealed much about the nuts and the bolts of Labrador's policies just yet....

As far as I am concerned, all politicians are deluded and fiscally dangerous.. and I have grown convinced I live in a land full of lunatics.

I would put it this way -
Both Abbott & Shorten (Labor & Liberal) are deluded and fiscally dangerous!!!

And yes, I know, they are all inter-changeable.

Therein lies the conundrum, we have an Opposition that couldn't run a  garage sale and a Government that has blatantly lied in its Election campaign.

bump

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 22^nd, 2014 at 9:38am:

Kytro wrote on May 22nd, 2014 at 9:28am: The budget has produced an overwhelming negative response. It's not just the ALP that disagree. The problem is the solution is simply an ideological attack (on the poor, the sick the young, the old etc) to a problem that while important is hardly urgent. If this is such an emergency then why are we still subsidising the coal industry? Why is he cutting other existing revenue sources? The reason is because it's all about ideology, and not about a spending problem. Do you know how much the coal industry provides this country, in terms of jobs, capital, coal for power generation, etc? Far more than the car industry ever did! You'd rather see the mining industry cease, eh? That's a sure-fire way of destroying the economy!

...but if the coal industry is so strong and powerful, why are we subsidising it?

You know what else provides this country with immense capital for jobs? Higher Education. Too bad you don't see the importance of that one.