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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1320 - Apr 6^th, 2011 at 9:11pm

The favoured "spin" of novice Liberal governments, this season

Quote:

TAXPAYER-FUNDED projects worth billions of dollars inherited from the former Labor government have been shelved or remain in limbo under Premier Ted Baillieu - placing future investment in Victorian projects at risk.

More than three months after the Coalition took office, it is still to decide on the fate of the $300 million Epping wholesale fruit and vegetable market now being built, and has not guaranteed the future of the $5 billion Regional Rail project.

In Caroline Springs, a road has been built to where the new $55 million railway station was intended to go. But the station project, like so many others in the state, is in limbo with no start date in sight. The road leads to empty paddocks.

Advertisement: Story continues below Also shelved is a $4 million plan to deal with Hoddle Street congestion, and the Baillieu government is also considering scrapping the $360 million HealthSmart IT project for Victoria's hospitals and the $1.3 billion myki ticketing system.

The controversial $700 million north-south pipeline - built over the Great Dividing Range - will be used only in emergencies.

As the Coalition government approaches its first budget, industry leaders, unions and planning academics have expressed alarm at the number, size and cost of projects placed in jeopardy.

The budget is under increasing pressure from the Victorian floods, a likely $2.5 billion cut to GST revenue and the need for the government to deliver on its election promises.

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Chris James said the government had to be prudent in assessing projects for taxpayer value, but sovereign risk and the investment climate required consideration.

''We hope a clear direction is provided in the May budget,'' he said.

Dr Alan March, an urban planning expert at Melbourne University, said the knee-jerk reaction to review so many major projects showed a lack of confidence in the public service and a culture of ministers acting like corporate chief executives.

''It is also show-boating, it's opportunistic, and unfortunately it encourages short-term approaches, and most of these large important projects will go over the length of a government's term,'' he said.

He said a more robust public service or a new metropolitan authority would prevent so many major projects being delayed or ditched every time the government changed.

''We are not talking about small amounts of money and some of them [projects] have huge implications for our children and beyond,'' Dr March said.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said the Baillieu government was ''getting cold feet'' and placing at risk projects vital for the development of the state.

Opposition scrutiny of government spokesman Martin Pakula said Mr Baillieu had done nothing but dither and delay on every important decision.

''They appear to be spending most of their time trying to find political strategies to wriggle out of delivering important projects and breaking promises,'' he said.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-of-limbo-baillieus-project-logjam-201103...

Quote:

Olivia Newton-John's dream of a completed Melbourne cancer centre will become a reality, and both sides of Victorian politics are trying to take the credit.

The fate of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre had been uncertain, with the new Victorian government last month saying there was a "black hole" in funding the project.

Premier Ted Baillieu has now found the $44.88 million to fund the full fit-out of the centre, including its research facilities, while blaming the former Labor government for leaving behind many project black holes.

Mr Baillieu said it was extraordinary that Labor started a hospital without a funding commitment to complete it.

"Without this additional funding, this hospital would have just been a shell," Mr Baillieu told reporters on Monday.

But

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews was spinning it another way, saying Mr Baillieu had bowed to pressure to provide the final funding.

"I'm very happy that Labor and the community have been able to force Ted Baillieu into doing the right thing by cancer patients," Mr Andrews said.

He rejected suggestions Labor left behind a black hole saying it had provided about $100 million while in government to fund the centre's initial stages, and committed funds for the third stage in the lead-up to the November state election.

"For Mr Baillieu to try and spin it that, because it hadn't been done under our term in office, despite the fact that we had committed to it and had a funded and costed plan, to call that a black hole is just an absolute nonsense."

Treasurer Kim Wells did not detail where the government was able to find the $45 million to fund the centre's fitout, saying it was part of a

"continuing budget process"

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/olivias-cancer-centre-gets-vic-...

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1321 - Apr 6^th, 2011 at 9:19pm

Even Bazza's trying it on ...

Quote:

THE budget black hole is less alarming than Barry O'Farrell would have voters believe.

The deterioration in the budget outlook will certainly make it more difficult for the new Premier to finance his election promises and deliver budget surpluses. But when you compare the $4.5 billion black hole between now and mid-2015, with what O'Farrell's government will spend in that period, it looks a bit more like a pothole. That $4.5 billion is less than 2 per cent of the $248 billion that NSW can be expected to spend on its activities over the next four years.

Financial markets were not too fazed by O'Farrell's warning. Market analysts said the new budget figures were unlikely to even cause a review of the state's premium AAA credit rating. Analysis by Michael Turner, from RBC Capital Markets, suggests the predicted growth in NSW financial liabilities would not be enough to trigger a credit rating review, even if O'Farrell did nothing to plug the budget hole he has found.

Advertisement: Story continues below More than half the black hole was found in the preliminary, unpublished estimates for the financial year 2014-15. Forecasts that far off ''are inherently unreliable'', Turner said.

If O'Farrell had used conventional government budgeting norms and considered only Treasury's official forward estimate period up to 2013-14, his black hole would have shrunk to $2.1 billion.

The headlines after his budget announcement probably left many voters believing NSW faces a deficit of $4.5 billion. In fact, the black hole is the estimated variation from cumulative budget surpluses projected until 2013-14 added to the unpublished estimated deficit for 2014-15. The cumulative total of deficits over the new forward estimates comes to just under $1.6 billion.

The figures actually show the O'Farrell government will start off with bigger budget surpluses than forecast last December for this financial year and next.

An extra $226 million is now forecast in those two years.

... and even the MEDIA aren't buying it

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'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1322 - Apr 8^th, 2011 at 7:01am

THE kids of Wandin Yallock Primary School will be without a footy oval for up to three years thanks to a "

broken promise

" by the Baillieu Government.

The 200 children remain stuck in six portable classrooms after the Government decided to press the go-slow button on the school's rebuilding program.

The Coalition yesterday admitted it was spending the bulk of its education budget on schools in marginal Liberal seats in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Education Minister Martin Dixon said money might be available for more needy schools in future budgets.

The Wandin Yallock school community on the outer-eastern edge of Melbourne is devastated at the decision to complete building works on the 140-year-old school in two phases rather than one.

They say it will cost more and turn the school into a building site for the foreseeable future, leaving kids with little room to play. It may also force cancellation of all school inter-sports days and the community fete, vital for school finances.

School council president Amanda Williams said promises made to the local community in the run-up to November's election had been broken. She said students and staff would be crammed into portable classrooms without proper first aid facilities

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/wandin-yallock-primary-students-have-...

THE state government will boost funding to Christian education classes in schools in the budget, with Education Minister Martin Dixon ruling out changes to the controversial program.

Mr Dixon said Christian education provider

Access Ministries would receive an EXTRA $200,000 a year

from July 1 for training, administration and the supervision of volunteer instructors.

While other courses, including Baha'i, Greek Orthodox and Islamic, are also accredited,

Access Ministries runs 96 per cent of special religious instruction classes in Victoria

.

Primary students must attend religious education classes, which are run by volunteers, for half an hour every week, unless their parents choose for them to opt out.

Mr Dixon ruled out changing the program to ''opt in'' rather than ''opt out'', or introducing ethics classes as a secular alternative, as is the case in NSW.

''It's not on our agenda at all,'' he said.

Three parents are claiming in the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission that the Education Department segregates children on religious grounds and discriminates by forcing children to opt out rather than opting in if they want religious education.

One of the parents in the court case, Sophie Aitken, said

her son was given Lego to play with at the back of the classroom

after she and her husband chose to have him opt out of special religious instruction at Ivanhoe East Primary. ''I think he must have listened in to the special religious instruction, because I remember him coming home and saying things like

''God made the world'

', said Ms Aitken, an atheist whose father was a Holocaust refugee.

''In a multicultural society like ours, I am appalled that our state schools would promote one particular faith over all other world views, and would remove children whose families have different beliefs from the class.''

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-to-increase-funds-for-christian-classes-...

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1323 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 5:42am

PREMIER'S DEPARTMENT -Expands Office Space and Staff

April 07, 2011

NEW Bendigo and Ballarat branches

of the premier's department will mean residents in the regions will get more help from government, Victorian coalition leader Ted Baillieu says.
The two new offices of the Department of Premier and Cabinet will be established from July.

Further expansion is planned into Geelong, Bairnsdale and Seymour.

Five staff will work out of a standalone office in Ballarat, while three Department of Premier and Cabinet employees will be located with other government departments.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/premier-ted-baillieu-to-have-staff-in...

Quote:

electronic age of melbourne Posted at 7:52 AM April 07, 2011

'The regional offices will also mean communities can access the $1 billion regional growth fund more easily, he said.

' What the??

Do recipients need to physically collect the cash or something?

Comment 4 of 23

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FRED.

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1324 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 8:13am

buzzanddidj wrote on Apr 9^th, 2011 at 5:42am:

PREMIER'S DEPARTMENT -Expands Office Space and Staff

April 07, 2011

NEW Bendigo and Ballarat branches

of the premier's department will mean residents in the regions will get more help from government, Victorian coalition leader Ted Baillieu says.
The two new offices of the Department of Premier and Cabinet will be established from July.

Further expansion is planned into Geelong, Bairnsdale and Seymour.

Five staff will work out of a standalone office in Ballarat, while three Department of Premier and Cabinet employees will be located with other government departments.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/premier-ted-baillieu-to-have-staff-in...

Quote:

electronic age of melbourne Posted at 7:52 AM April 07, 2011

'The regional offices will also mean communities can access the $1 billion regional growth fund more easily, he said.

' What the??

Do recipients need to physically collect the cash or something?

Comment 4 of 23

WHAT A STUPID COMMENT grow up buzz Grin

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buzzanddidj Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 14169 Eganstown, via Daylesford, VIC Gender:	Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n Reply #1325 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 8:32am i i
Back to top	'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.' - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi IP Logged

buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1326 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 8:51pm

Baillieu told:

Pull Your Finger Out

Josh Gordon and Shane Green
April 9, 2011

Infrastructure supremo Sir Rod Eddington has warned the Baillieu government it needs to develop a long-term transport plan for Melbourne as New South Wales launches an aggressive push to secure billions of dollars of funding for major projects.

Sir Rod, chairman of Infrastructure Australia, has urged the government to clarify its position on transport projects worth more than $20 billion left over from the former Labor government while developing its own transport plan.

Business groups and infrastructure experts are concerned the Baillieu government has said little about how it plans to relieve overburdened road and public transport networks, with Melbourne swelling by around 1500 people a week.

State Treasurer Kim Wells said last night the government was determined to deliver election commitments but would not unveil new projects until it sorted out (alleged) problems surrounding existing projects inherited from Labor such as the regional rail scheme.

''Even if it means that some projects will take longer to deliver, Labor's poorly designed and underfunded projects must be fixed first to make sure that public money is not wasted,'' Mr Wells said.

Sir Rod said the government should also consider how any transport priorities might be funded, including issuing public infrastructure bonds similar to those to be offered by the NSW government.

''Given the limits on the state budget, there needs to be substantial private-sector investment,'' he said. ''That includes government infrastructure bonds. The health warning is for the government to invest the money wisely, because if you invest in unproductive projects you incur debt with no productive benefits.''

Included in the list of outstanding projects is Sir Rod's 2008 proposal for a 17-kilometre rail tunnel linking Melbourne's western and south-eastern suburbs and an 18-kilometre road linking the western suburbs to the Eastern Freeway.

The government is also facing calls for action from Engineers Australia, the profession's peak body, which wants a Victorian infrastructure body established.

''We seem to have a lot of plans but not a huge amount of action,'' the group's Professor John Wilson said. ''And when we do have action it seems to be on plans that haven't been really well developed. They become more political projects rather than the highest priority projects.''

The group last year rated Victoria's transport, energy, water and telecommunication infrastructure as ''barely adequate''.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Wayne Kaylor-Thomson also warned that ''substandard'' infrastructure was threatening Melbourne's liveability.

Included on the business wish-list is the extension of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, an east-west road and public transport link, completion of the metropolitan ring road and a regional superhighway between Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and the Hume Highway.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said one of the biggest challenges for Victoria would be the

''de-linking of infrastructure investment from the political cycle''

.

''Infrastructure investment is long-term and often there is political pressure to prioritise decisions which have a shorter-term impact,'' Mr Albanese told The Saturday Age. ''In the long-run that catches up with you.''

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/baillieu-told-get-a-move-on-20110408-1d7vi.htm...

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Guildford

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1327 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 9:01pm

Most of those comments are being made because of the previous governments way of doing political business rather than state business.

Let.s build a desal plant VOTES
Let's build a state of the art (sic) public transport ticketing system VOTES
Let's rebuild the MCG Members Stand VOTES
Let's build a north south pipe line VOTES

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Drop Dead Gorgeous

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Maeve

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1328 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 9:07pm

The group

last year

rated Victoria's transport, energy, water and telecommunication infrastructure as ''barely adequate''.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Wayne Kaylor-Thomson also warned that ''substandard'' infrastructure was threatening Melbourne's liveability.

All that caused by successive LABOR governments.

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1329 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 9:41pm

Maeve wrote on Apr 9^th, 2011 at 9:07pm:

The group

last year

rated Victoria's transport, energy, water and telecommunication infrastructure as ''barely adequate''.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Wayne Kaylor-Thomson also warned that ''substandard'' infrastructure was threatening Melbourne's liveability.i

All that caused by successive LABOR governments.

But to give discredit, where discredit is DUE ...

Let's not forget

"The Kennett Years"

between 1992 and 1999 - when most of the furniture was flogged off

And the creation of VCAT - and a rubber stamp for developers to run riot over heritage overlay with inappropriate, high-rise development

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Guildford

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1330 - Apr 9^th, 2011 at 10:02pm

""Let's not forget "The Kennett Years" between 1992 and
1999 - when most of the furniture was flogged off""

.......to help pay off the Cain/Kirner debt. Remember the State Bank and Tri-Continental?

But then I guess you think that that Labor legacy was good. It was during those years that I left the local branch of the ALP eventually quitting competely.

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1331 - Apr 10^th, 2011 at 7:56pm

FRED. wrote on Apr 9^th, 2011 at 8:13am:

buzzanddidj wrote on Apr 9^th, 2011 at 5:42am:

PREMIER'S DEPARTMENT -Expands Office Space and Staff

April 07, 2011

NEW Bendigo and Ballarat branches

of the premier's department will mean residents in the regions will get more help from government, Victorian coalition leader Ted Baillieu says.
The two new offices of the Department of Premier and Cabinet will be established from July.

Further expansion is planned into Geelong, Bairnsdale and Seymour.

Five staff will work out of a standalone office in Ballarat, while three Department of Premier and Cabinet employees will be located with other government departments.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/premier-ted-baillieu-to-have-staff-in...

Quote:

electronic age of melbourne Posted at 7:52 AM April 07, 2011

'The regional offices will also mean communities can access the $1 billion regional growth fund more easily, he said.

' What the??

Do recipients need to physically collect the cash or something?

Comment 4 of 23

WHAT A STUPID COMMENT grow up buzz Grin

It wasn't my comment,

ya NONG

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'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.'

- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1332 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 5:54am

[quote author=bogarde73 link=1302756463/0#0 date=1302756463]Victoria faces $5b hit over four years: Baillieu April 14, 2011 - 2:15PM
.Victoria's finances will take a hit of at least $5 billion over the next four years, mostly due to underfunded projects and cuts to GST funding, Premier Ted Baillieu says.

He released a Victorian Economic Financial Statement today, after asking Treasury to prepare a summary of pressures on the budget, which will be released next month.

Mr Baillieu said cost blow-outs in Labor projects, such as myki, the Regional Rail Link and the Melbourne Wholesale Market redevelopment would cost the state $2 billion.

The federal government's decision to slash the state's GST funding by $2.5 billion over the next four years plus a delay in $500 million worth of commonwealth funding for the rail link contributed to the rest of the hit.

But the document does not reveal the individual cost blow-outs for myki, the rail link, the market redevelopment or the link police database because negotiations are continuing.

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1333 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 5:57am

Quote:

But the document does not reveal the individual cost blow-outs for myki, the rail link, the market redevelopment or the link police database because negotiations are continuing.

It also does not include the money flowing into the state's coffers.

Which LARGELY comprised of projected incoming revenue from

STAMP DUTY - in the BILLIONS

which the Baillieu Government committed to halving - in the election campaign

This is the REAL shortfall

Total stamp duty revenue over the forward estimates period is up another $264 million - a 1.7 per cent increase compared to the May 2010 State Budget. Forecast land transfers stamp duty revenue in 2013-14 is

$4.179 billion

- up $575 million or an extra 16 per cent from an actual

$3.604 billion

in 2009-10 (PEBU 2010, p.74 and 2009-10 Financial Report p.16).

http://www.kimwells.com.au/show_article.php?item=317

Didn't really think it through, eh Ted ?

Shadow treasurer Tim Holding said Treasurer Kim Wells was behind the 'dishonest' document, which states it was prepared by the Department of Treasury and Finance.

'It's basically a smokescreen that's been released by this government to justify its attempts to wriggle its way out of the solemn promises they made to ... all Victorians in the lead-up to the last election,' he told reporters.

'This is a document that has Kim Wells' fingerprints and Kim Wells' handwriting all over it.'

http://skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=601224&vId=

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Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.'

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buzzanddidj

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Re: Baillieu: "We Can Do Better" (or maybe n
Reply #1334 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 5:59am

Treasury must hang head to be linked to Baillieu booklet

April 15, 2011
Josh Gordon
State political editor

You have to wonder if Treasury isn't ashamed to have its name attached to this so-called ''Victorian Economic and Financial Statement''.

If it isn't, it certainly should be.

According to Mr Baillieu, this document was written by Treasury.
Yet it has little to do with economics and much to do with politics, dovetailing neatly with an agenda to trash Labor's legacy and manage expectations for the May 3 budget.

First

, the slickly produced 12-page booklet says nothing of any upside revenue gains that might have boosted the bottom line, including potentially higher-than-expected tax collections from stamp duty, payrolls and gambling.

It's all doom and gloom.
As such, it only tells half the story.
If experience is anything to go by, it would not be surprising if Treasury was to announce stronger-than-expected revenues on budget day and a surprisingly robust surplus.

Second

, in contrast to the usual neutral tone of Treasury publications, to call the language used in this publication ''loaded'' would be an understatement.
The document, for example, talks ''inherited'' major projects ''beset by inadequate management'' and a ''pattern of project cost overruns''. This is political language, not the language of a neutral government department providing economic and financial advice.

Third

, some of the cost blowout claims are themselves questionable. For example, to identify the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellbeing Centre as ''major project cost pressure'' smacks of politics.
The money to complete the centre had only ever been announced by Labor as a campaign promise.
The Baillieu government later announced a decision to match the $45 million promise.

It was a policy decision, not a blowout.

Curious also that Treasury has withheld information on the exact size of the cost overruns on almost $1.8 billion out of $2 billion worth of projects, including myki, the regional rail link and the new police database.

Treasury should know better.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/treasury-must-hang-head-to-be-linked-t...

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'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.'

- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

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