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Julia Gillard replaces Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of Australia


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Backstab for double damage!

 

Hopefully this means Kate Lundy replaces Stephen Conroy and the Internet censorship scheme gets dumped.

 

There will also be an election in a couple of months, but she'll probably win that for Labour pretty easily, with a Greens balance of power in the Senate.

 

Gillard has indicated she will restart carbon price talks, probably with the Greens once they get decisive balance of power.

 

The weirdest thing is that I heard about this on the New Zealand news. It's like "oh wtf" :lol:

 

Lindsay Tanner has also quit, meaning the lower house seat of Melbourne will be taken by the Greens (in fact it probably would have anyway, hence his resignation).

 

I suppose this also means she's our first female leader.

 

In other Australia news, all the major ISPs are now onboard (including Telstra) with the National Broadband Network (NBN), which will mean at least 100mbps fibre to the home for over 90% of households (wireless, satellite, or copper for the remainder). New Zealand's conservative government has proposed a very similar NBN for NZ'ers.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0062401341.html

Edited by Krezack
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Care to explain a bit more? I don't know zip about Aussie politics besides what you tell us.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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Care to explain a bit more? I don't know zip about Aussie politics besides what you tell us.

 

Aussie politics, is politics. So backstabing, lying and cheating are the norm.

 

Basically, Rudd(outed PM) wanted to place a tax on mining, mining companies didn't want this. So they start scare campaign, Rudd starts to lose ground in the polls, Labour party starts getting nervous, backstabs Rudd and now we have Australia's first female Prime Minister, that we didn't vote in.

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Backstab for double damage!

 

Hopefully this means Kate Lundy replaces Stephen Conroy and the Internet censorship scheme gets dumped.

 

Unlikely. Labor are full steam ahead with the Internet Filter. Sure you might have some dissenting voices from the Left but Conroy is described as a Factional Dalek from the Labor right wing. And it's the right wing powerbrokers who have put Gillard in power.

 

There will also be an election in a couple of months, but she'll probably win that for Labour pretty easily, with a Greens balance of power in the Senate.

 

Gillard has indicated she will restart carbon price talks, probably with the Greens once they get decisive balance of power.

 

Different Cat, Same spots.

 

She has the female vote now. Unfortunately there are plenty of women who will vote for her for her gender alone. Carbon Tax, Mining Tax, NBN tax pricing. I guess they have to get the money from somewhere with all their spending. And ruin the Australian economy and business australia wide. Carbon Tax will be the big one that kills our economy.

 

I suppose this also means she's our first female leader.

 

In Sydney, we're ruled by women. Lord Mayor > Premier > Governor > Prime Minister > Governor General > Queen. :(

 

But then Gillard is a Prime Minister elected by unions, weighted with baggage, complicit with every bungle, backflip, broken promise and fiasco that occurred over the past 2.5 years.

 

In other Australia news, all the major ISPs are now onboard (including Telstra) with the National Broadband Network (NBN), which will mean at least 100mbps fibre to the home for over 90% of households (wireless, satellite, or copper for the remainder). New Zealand's conservative government has proposed a very similar NBN for NZ'ers.

 

That's if you can afford it. NBN pricing at the moment is $49.95 a month for 10GB allowance including uploads. ($129.95 for 60GB, $159.95 for 90 GB including uploads). iiNet are the only ISP to my knowledge that has released their pricing plan.

 

Whereas you can get unlimited ADSL2+ for $75.00 per month with TPG. Currently I'm on 130GB (no uploads counted) with Voip for $49.95 with speeds around 10-12 MBps with a download speed of around 1.2Mbps - night and day. I'm happy. There's no way in hell I'm switching over to the NBN with its ridiculous pricing. But then someone has to pay back the 43 Billion for this scheme. I'm all for a NBN but not at the price this is at.

Edited by Hiro Protagonist
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Care to explain a bit more? I don't know zip about Aussie politics besides what you tell us.

 

Basically we had the worst Prime Minister in the history of Australia, elected by promising the world and delivered little. In fact, he's done more damage to Australia and the Australian economy than any Prime Minister since federation.

 

There was a coup organised by the right wing and the Unions to topple Rudd and the Deputy Prime Minister was 'promoted' to Prime Minister. In other words, the powerbrokers called up other members of the Labor Party to ask which side will they be on - Rudd or Gillard and most said they would back Gillard. The Labor Party had a meeting and were going to vote who would be the new leader to dump the current leader and Rudd knowing he didn't have the numbers, stood down.

 

Now that we have a female prime minister, she's come out saying we're moving forward from the Rudd Government and won't make the same mistakes. Although nothing at all has changed. No changes in policies and in fact a commitment to continue with the same policies. But because she's a woman, she will get a lot of voters (including a lot of women) voting for her that wouldn't have voted for Rudd.

Edited by Hiro Protagonist
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Backstab for double damage!

 

kevinrudd.jpg

 

;)

“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein

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Wait, slow down. NBN pricing?

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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Disclaimer: I am a civil libertarian with a soft spot for the free market and the environment. None of the political parties greatly please me, although the Greens make a lot of the right noises (they're a bit anti-market which is a bummer, but they make a good balance of power party). Hiro is would probably be a Nationals voter, or failing that Liberals. Which I have nothing against (as I'll be preferencing Liberals 2nd myself if Gillard doesn't axe net censorship) but it's important to elucidate political leanings.

 

Hiro is correct that Labour will now win the next election guaranteed because of her honeymoon period and woman vote. Actually I'm pretty sure Rudd would have too, but that's another matter.

 

Uh, where to start Wals... the 4 big issues in Australian politics at the moment are:

1) the mining super-profits tax (if mining companies max profits above their predictions, they get hit with a 40% tax - Rudd approached it the wrong way, and 40% is too high - the miners cathered their troops which is possibly a force almost as formidable as the unions on certain issues),

2) the environment (specifically climate change, and I'm a bit bummed the two have become synonymous - the environment is an important issue regardless of this - Rudd said climate change was the greatest moral challenge of our time then when he couldn't pass legislation with the Liberals he dumped it indefinitely without talking to the other parties)

3) internet censorship and internet privacy (Rudd really screwed the pooch here - he forced a lot of young and educated voters, as well as almost all those in the communications and IT industries to refuse to vote for him because of this, and because Liberal isn't a credibly alternative, since Abbott the Liberal leader supports net censorship, they've drifted to the Greens, who are a centre-left party whose original focus was the environment but now extends to civil liberties).

4) all of Rudd's other shelved/failed polices, such as the insulation scheme (can you say uhg?)

 

Also I'm drunk at an internet cafe after going skiing on the Remarkables. This is the best! More teapots, bye!

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Julia Gillard was born in Wales. I know this because the British news felt the need to tell me so every time the story was mentioned, and indeed it seemed to be the most important thing about her. I don't know that we ever found out anything else. :)

"An electric puddle is not what I need right now." (Nina Kalenkov)

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Hiro is would probably be a Nationals voter, or failing that Liberals. Which I have nothing against (as I'll be preferencing Liberals 2nd myself if Gillard doesn't axe net censorship) but it's important to elucidate political leanings.

 

No, I don't vote for either Liberal or Labor. I just criticise bad policy. :)

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Uh, where to start Wals... the 4 big issues in Australian politics at the moment are:

1) the mining super-profits tax (if mining companies max profits above their predictions, they get hit with a 40% tax - Rudd approached it the wrong way, and 40% is too high - the miners cathered their troops which is possibly a force almost as formidable as the unions on certain issues),

2) the environment (specifically climate change, and I'm a bit bummed the two have become synonymous - the environment is an important issue regardless of this - Rudd said climate change was the greatest moral challenge of our time then when he couldn't pass legislation with the Liberals he dumped it indefinitely without talking to the other parties)

3) internet censorship and internet privacy (Rudd really screwed the pooch here - he forced a lot of young and educated voters, as well as almost all those in the communications and IT industries to refuse to vote for him because of this, and because Liberal isn't a credibly alternative, since Abbott the Liberal leader supports net censorship, they've drifted to the Greens, who are a centre-left party whose original focus was the environment but now extends to civil liberties).

4) all of Rudd's other shelved/failed polices, such as the insulation scheme (can you say uhg?)

 

1) Agreed. The miners and the Mining council are all for a Tax, but not at 40%. That is just way too high. This proposed tax has wiped billions off the Australian Stock Exchange, cancelled mining projects, jobs in jeopardy and if a miner loses their job, this has a flow on effect on other industries. The miner needs to buy food, go on a holiday, have a hair cut, etc. No job, all those other businesses are affected.

 

2) It wasn't the Liberals who didn't pass it. It was the Greens and 2 independants who hold the balance of power. I don't know why people focus on the Liverals for not passing legislation when they are irrellevant. The people who pass legislation are the Greens and 2 independants Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding. If the Greens are all for the Environment and THEY won't pass an ETS, then you know the legislation is flawed.

 

3) Abbot (Liberals) hasn't come out to say he will support the internet filter as far as I know. And when the Liberals were in power, they gave parents the option to download a free 'net nanny' type filter for their computers. The Liberals put the responsibilty back onto the parents. As it should be. That's not to say the Liberals won't back the internet filter, I think the Liberals will shelve it for more important things.

 

4) So many shelved and failed policies. Prepare for a wall of text as per below:

 

- Kevin Rudd promised $290 million to be spent on improved dental care for Australians. Reneged on this post-election.

 

- Kevin Rudd promised a federal takeover of hospitals should their performance not drastically improve by July 2009. Never happened.

 

- Kevin Rudd pledged to build 36 GP 'super clinics'

Edited by Hiro Protagonist
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Wait, slow down. NBN pricing?

 

Labor promised Broadband Internet on Optical Fibre to 99% of Australians at a cost of 4.7 Billion. People cheered. Including myself.

 

Then Labor revised the figure to 43 Billion. Some people had reservations, but mostly people were happy.

 

Then now the pricing from one ISP has come out and most people 'in the know' aren't going to switch over to optical fibre for their internet. They'll use their existing ADSL2+ broadband internet connection though their Copper phone line.

 

I say 'in the know' because the majority of Australians think the optical fibre National Broadband Network is FREE in that you just pay your existing ISP what you've been paying now and when you switch over to optical fibre you get SUPERFAST 100 MBps internet speeds. But that's not the case. Someone has to pay the Government the $43 Billion to put this network in place and the best way for the Government to get their money back is have an exhorbitant fee for the ISPs to pay and then the ISPs will pass that cost onto the consumer. In other words, it's a TAX to gain revenue to pay back the 43 Billion.

 

One of my work colleagues mentioned to me that even though he hates Labor, he's all for the NBN. When I showed and explained to him the pricing and someone has to pay back the 43 Billion... He was all like, 'But I thought it was free." :) He's quite shocked at the pricing and now understands and won't be using the NBN.

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I've been keeping a half-hearted handle on Aussie politics due to my work, and I was actually quite surprised how quickly Rudd was deposed. I mean, from the media / public image point of view, sure, the ETS was a bloody mess that went on for years and years and died a horrible death (and continues to haunt from its undeath), and the super tax was a spectacular failure on the part of the Rudd government - the Aussie media likes to attack the miners for destroying the environment or raising prices, but they love how profitable they are. But there just didn't seem to be that much vote of no confidence out in the open - not in the way the Japanese PM was felled by the Okinawa incident. Hell, Rudd got a free get out of jail card when a member of the opposition bought shares in BHP, after their party was crying that the tax will ruin such companies.

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I'm still following.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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I've been keeping a half-hearted handle on Aussie politics due to my work, and I was actually quite surprised how quickly Rudd was deposed.

 

Everyone was. He was still doing well in the polls (52 to 48 on a two-party basis, Labour's way), but the thing I think that freaked the Labour caucus was how a lot of the Labour primary vote was going to the Greens, and while they made most of it back on preferences, it was still a horrible slow death for the ALP.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Julia Gillard ups the xenophobic rhetoric towards refugees, speaks out against equal marriage rights for gays, adopts the Rudd plan to pretend climate change doesn't exist for another few years, and reiterates her commitment to Internet censorship. What a lady. What a ****ing horrible lady!

 

Nothing but a Rudd clone controlled by Labour Right factional leaders. Bleh.

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Obviously NZ is up in arms and Key is assuring everyone that refugees rejeected by the Aussies wno't all end up over here.

 

I'm not sure if the superfast destruction of the super tax should count for or against her.

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Politicians play to the crowd, and the right wing vote reliably.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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The thing is Wals, Australia has a reasonably large progressive element, especially at the moment. Even during Rudd's anti-zenith the coalition was barely in front, and it lasted only 2 weeks before he was back on top. Gillard is now on 55-45 on the two-party preferred vote.

 

There is a clear will for centrist politics in Australia, and it utterly dominates the populist right-wing element (mainly social, not economic these days) - so why are the politicians in Labour and Liberal pandering more and more to the right?

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  • 1 month later...
Wait, slow down. NBN pricing?

 

Labor promised Broadband Internet on Optical Fibre to 99% of Australians at a cost of 4.7 Billion. People cheered. Including myself.

 

Then Labor revised the figure to 43 Billion. Some people had reservations, but mostly people were happy.

 

Then now the pricing from one ISP has come out and most people 'in the know' aren't going to switch over to optical fibre for their internet. They'll use their existing ADSL2+ broadband internet connection though their Copper phone line.

 

I say 'in the know' because the majority of Australians think the optical fibre National Broadband Network is FREE in that you just pay your existing ISP what you've been paying now and when you switch over to optical fibre you get SUPERFAST 100 MBps internet speeds. But that's not the case. Someone has to pay the Government the $43 Billion to put this network in place and the best way for the Government to get their money back is have an exhorbitant fee for the ISPs to pay and then the ISPs will pass that cost onto the consumer. In other words, it's a TAX to gain revenue to pay back the 43 Billion.

 

One of my work colleagues mentioned to me that even though he hates Labor, he's all for the NBN. When I showed and explained to him the pricing and someone has to pay back the 43 Billion... He was all like, 'But I thought it was free." :lol: He's quite shocked at the pricing and now understands and won't be using the NBN.

 

I was too uninterested to reply to this earlier, but now I'm bored and full of energy.

 

Point 1) the cost isn't $43 billion, since that cost comprises 51% government contribution and 49% industry contribution. So it's $21 billion.

Point 2) that $21 billion is a maximum cost - it will not be that high.

Point 3) that figure was predicated on not being able to make a deal with the copper cable monopolist Telstra - Telstra has since had a deal to retire or handover those cables to the Government, lowering the price further.

Point 4) the NBN if FIBRE TO THE HOME. I cannot stress how important this point is - it's a network which will exist in hundreds of years time because of the physics of the situation. Fibre has max speeds in the petabits range. This is faster than wireless will ever be capable of. Even now NBN Co. has announced the rollout speed maximum customers will receive is 1 Gbps because that's just what a GPON delivers (with a guaranteed minimum of 100mbps, although I think that's disingenuous since physically with all 32 households the fibres is split to connect at once the minimum speed is only 78 mbps). Soon they will be able to replace all the GPONs with 10 GPONs, making the minimum speed about 1 Gbps and the maximum about 10 Gbps. After that, 100 GPONs I imagine. The point is that upgrading the NBN is ridiculously easy. All you do is replace the fibre-splitting hardware, NOT the fibres themselves, which can carry data at the speed of light.

Point 5) the OECD recently did a report (2007 I believe) showing how every 10% increase in broadband penetration increased GDP by 1.2%. Similar results apply to broadband speeds. The boon this will be to local industry, trade, and education cannot be overstated. It is NOT just something for individual consumers. In fact, I'd argue that is NOT the aim of the NBN at all, and it would still be just as important if you cut individual consumers out completely.

Point 6) On that note, businesses will get a full fibre connection, it won't be split into 32 as the home connections will be, guaranteeing the full speed possible (1 Gbps or more)

Point 7) SUPPLY AND DEMAND & MARKET COMPETITION. The more users who connect to the NBN over time and the more ISPs that join the NBN, the lower the prices will go. If you think Internodes initial prices below are bad compared to current copper plans (I don't see how), give it a few years.

Point 8) final point - the NBN is designed to pay itself off. It is not a waste in any possible sense of the word - even if it didn't pay itself off it would be worth it.

 

You think the NBN will be expensive to consumers? Internode disagrees with you. These are the prices Tasmanians are paying (as it is already mostly complete there) and it's the price the mainland will pay aswell: http://www.internode.on.net/residential/br...home/nbn_plans/

 

It's kind of like the trillion dollar bailout plan in America. Except Australians love the idea of the NBN. My point is, 95% of that bailout money has now been payed back to the US government, with the remainder to arrive in the next year or two from the recipients. The bailout was not a give-away. The NBN is splurge of tax payer money.

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