*sigh*
We've had this argument before. Its pretty obvious that you're not changing your views anytime soon, and neither am I. What follows is for everyone elses amusement.
So, My opinions are scary?
Good. People are afraid of what they do not understand. I'll address each of your arguments on a point by point basis.
Economy; Comparing Australia with Japan and the US is pretty flawed. Our banking system is largely intact because we have a high level of federal regulation - and this has been so ever since the dollar was floated - you can hardly call this partisan. Holden is heading offshore? better tell all the guys at elizabeth... you can't even begin to argue that the abolition of workchoices is causing industries to offshore. It is strictly the GFC. You can argue this one till you're blue in the face. I'd also argue that Paul Keating had a great deal to do with the prosperity that we had, considering that he initiated deregulation of the financial sector, the float of the Australian dollar, extensive tax reform and the dismantling of many protectionist barriers. He was responsible for deregulating the airline and telecommunications industries and for establishing a national framework for power. Now, I don't think all of those things ended up good (shit, look where deregulating the telecommunications industry has left us) however the taxation reform and elimination of the protectionist barriers would have no doubt stimulated the economy in ways that couldn't be measured during his term.
Mandatory detention; The Human Rights Watch foundation had this to say about it : "The recent legislation seriously contravenes Australia’s obligations to non-citizens, refugees and asylum seekers under international human rights and refugee law. As provided for in Article 2 of the ICCPR, the obligation to respect and ensure rights to all persons, including all non-citizens, applies throughout Australia’s territory and to all persons subject to Australia’s jurisdiction. We urge Australia, as we have already urged the U.S. government in similar circumstances, to amend its new legislation or at a minimum to implement it in a manner that fully upholds fundamental norms of international human rights and refugee law". People would not come here on a boat, risking their lives and leaving all their posessions behind unless they had a very complelling reason to do so. Generally, such people ask for amnesty or political asylum. Most of the vietnamese immigrants to this country came by fleeing on boats, are you to tell me that they haven't made a substantial contribution to our country? Would you have rather sent them back to live under a communist regime? What about religious oppression? Ethnic cleansing? Genocide? How are people with no paperwork and no posessions going to be able to apply to live in another country? Do you think they had immigration offices in Bosnia or Somalia? You saw what happened to Australians who lost their posessions and paperwork due to the victorian bushfire - think of it on a bigger scale.
It was simply another election platform to make Howard seem like a hard man - a diversionary tactic about all the conservative measures he was pushing. I remember the ad campaign where he was on a podium at some boondock rally, almost yelling "We will decide the circumstances in which they come". Indeed.
It is interesting to note that Labour too are to blame for that stupid policy, considering they supported it for the first few months until the public outcry became a rallying issue for them to make some noise.
No, Children overboard was nothing to do with labour. It was actually blown up by Bob Brown and the Greens. And the issue is about Howard LYING to us and telling us they were throwing their children into the water, and then being a scumbag and trying to censor members of the ADF who were saying it never happened. Upon the media scrutiny, Howards story fell apart and he refused to acknowledge that he was making up bullshit. Sadly, it brought the truly racist and xenophobic views from howards 1950's wet dream, back to the forefront. Speaking of xenophobic racists, Pauline Hanson is another legacy of Howard too. The both of them would re-enact the white australia policy if they could.
Iraq; Friends dont let friends jump off cliffs. Every sovereign nation has a moral obligation to use their own brains and think about the consequences of their actions. Afghanistan, we went there for a good reason and thats why we're staying. Iraq was about Bush getting even for Saddam trying to assassinate his father. We are not lap dogs to the United States. Saddam was a bastard who should have been taken out at the end of the first gulf war, but that doesn't exonerate the false pretenses that were being spoonfed to the gullible public, especially when their own intelligence services were telling high level government officials that their public position was bullshit. I wouldnt have been screaming blue murder andrew. The weapons inspectors and IEAE do a pretty good job, notwithstanding the opinions of a few armchair generals - or when politicians selectively ignore their advice. When was the last time a nuclear weapon was detonated on a civilian populace? 1945.
Re: your comments on costello, I agree with them tbh. Howard should have stepped down - the libs lost the last election because people were sick of Howard - not the party. Costello isn't a bad chap, but I look at the actions of the government as a whole, to which he was privvy to.
Wouldnt know about the laptop scheme. I thought it was stupid. National broadband network only had the tender date met last fortnight, so you can't even begin to politicise that. Especially not after the IT dark age when Howard appointed a f**king techology minister that had no concept on how the internet worked and didnt even have an email address. Or the privatisation of Telstra, thus condemning ISP's to deal with one of the most inept organisations in Australian history. You're on a pair gain or something aren't you? Thank telstra. Grocery watch/fuel watch? I could care less.
Like I've said before, I'm no labour man, and I'm not their apologist. I just laugh when you liberal fanboys look back on 11 years through those rose tinted glasses and conveniently forget the fact the government thumbed their noses at widely accepted international conventions for their own short term political gain. If they were true ideologists and pragmatists, they would not have adopted such a radical set of changes (like work lack of choices) and wouldn't have gotten their arses handed to them last election. Sure they had the balance of power, but they didn't have the balance of common sense.
And yes, Jarlsberg is by far the best cheese. Esp with water crackers and cabana. That at least, we can agree upon.
-D
