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Aussiened

Listed below are comments made by Aussiened between Thursday, 2nd October 2008 and Sunday, 5th October 2008.

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Lucky, Lucky, Lucky? 02:34am on 05 Oct 2008 Yes I fully agree with Tuppmeister. Even though we are weathering the storm better than most, that isn't necessarily going to be the case in the future. Eleven years of deliberate government waste while encouraging the private sector to go into inbelievable debt has left us extremely vulnerable...yet we still have these conservative idiots preventing our Labor Government from increasing the buffer against the up coming onslaught, and wanting this Government to spend, spend, spend....anyone would think the old communist Labor nuts of the days of old had joined the Liberal National conservative coalition.
This is not a time for Government to be giving out dead end hand outs...we need to build infrastructure, we need to consolidate, we need to tighten up so that we weather this mother of all cyclones we are about to face....not go sailing as if nothing's wrong
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky? 03:24am on 03 Oct 2008 Hi paulcrossleyiii, I promise I will never berate anyone who seriously wants to understand anything *S*
Originally Australia was a series of British controlled States. Then in 1901, a Commonwealth Government was formed to oversee those areas where States were either in disagreeance or were unable to deal with, such as defense, etc.
This was done so that Britain could deal better with Australia as a whole, rather than having to deal with a series of states, often in opposition.
After 1901 to the present time, as klldbbydth indicated, the Federal and State Governments have adjusted different portfolios so that there is less double shuffling or duplication of services. In moving towards a more Federated Australia, has come the belief that we need to TOTALLY break from British rule. Now we are an independent nation in the sense that we have our own House of Representatives, and Senate, but all legislation must be approved by the British Queen's representative, namely our Governor General.
The underlying sentiment, rarely expressed publicly, is that many who want States still want British involvement, while the Federal push wants us to move towards a Republic.
So...
Any attempt by the Federal Government to over ride a State area, faces the bro British stance, while any attempt to remove the Queen as head of state, is deemed to be a cause for destabilisation.
Not that is a very, very abrieved explanation, and there will be those that may disagree in specific areas, however I don't have all that much room to explain fully what Australia is or how we are run.
Hope this is of some help *S*
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky? 08:36am on 02 Oct 2008 "Aussiened, I've been in Australia for over 40 years and am aware of Australian history and the way in which taxes are raised."
No generational Aussie would make such a claim.
I am 63 years Aussie, with generations on both sides going back five and six generations, including Aborigine, and I am still learning about the true history of this country.
Only a slanted history is found in what is laughingly called an Australian History Book.
As to my only quoting Liberal National premiers, this was to counter balance your claims against Labor states with no mention of the disasters created by Liberal Nationals.
Had you been more balanced in you comments, I probably wouldn't have responded.
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky? 05:09am on 02 Oct 2008 Brisbaneexpom, I guess you can be excused for not knowing our history, having come from England and all.
Did you know that under the constitution drawn up at Federation, all taxes were to be the responsibility of the Federal Government.
Any taxes raised by the States are limited to specific purposes and needs, and are not known formally as taxes but excise, levies and tolls, though the media, in their ignorance, still calls them taxes.
The GST as you mentioned should have been more than enough revenue for the States, however Howard, in his cleverness, not only gave all GST raised to the States, cancelling out any criticism of how it was spent, he also transferred areas, once the responsibility of the Federal Government, over to the states. Basically giving them a huge sum of money...then imposing twice the burden, leaving the states with a short fall, and the Federal Government with a huge surplus...which they spent on Iraq, prisons for migrants...most of who were found to be genuine refugees...IR advertising, and reductions of taxes for the big end of town.
As to which party is best suited for running States, just look at the history of any State and you will find both parties are as bad as each other. Ever heard of Henry Bolte, Bob Askin, Jo BjelkePeterson, just for starters. They were all Liberal Nationals by the way.
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky? 03:33am on 02 Oct 2008 ausxtian doesn't seem to understand our taxing system here in Australia.
The taxes are raised by the Federal Government, then by means of COAG, the collection of State Goverments, which meet with the Federal Governments periodically, it is determined how much each state will get.
The primary reason the hospital system, health generally, roads and infrastructure etc is in such an appauling mess is because of 11 years of conservative Federal Governments who refused to support the States projects as per the accepted protocols.
We have only had a Labor Federal Government in power since last Nov...taking out the silly season....basically we have only had an operational Labor Federal Government for seven months.
As to tolls, they are private enterprise in the main, and are happening primarily because, again, the previous conservative Howard Liberal National Government refused to allow the states the necessary funds...hence why private enterprise lending.
Interestingly enough a COAG meeting is going on right now in South Australia I think it is.
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky? 01:40am on 02 Oct 2008 As you correctly state Nick, Australia has been going though a mining boom. We have been going through this boom now for almost six years. With that kind of wealth our nation's highways and buildings should be covered in gold. However for eleven years prior to November last year, we had a conservative government running our country. Being conservatives, they reduced the social services once enjoyed by all Aussies, which meant the average Aussie had to spend more money for basic commodities, which led to a blowout of private debt to the value of almost $1trill. Of course the then Liberal National Government arrogantly bandied about that it was a great fiscal operator. But then we Aussies found out that ports, where the coal had to be loaded onto ships, were seriously undermanned, poor in maintenance and totally inadequate for the amount of coal being exported...it is nothing to see thirty or forty coal ships waiting off ports to get loaded. We also found the rail network was totally inadequate for the mount of coal being brought from the mines to the ports, and our highways and general infrastructure, including health, schools and welfare, were in desperate need of expansion. So what did our then Government do with all this money they made? They spent billions on advertising, telling us how great their new Industrial Relations Legislation scheme was, contrary to what every worker in the country knew first hand. Then, to win votes, they spend further billions to encourage mothers to have more babies. We now have a huge list of single parent mums, many still under 18, who are now joining the single parent benefit list.
There has been a lot of criticism, even in this blog, concerning Rudd's seeming non action. In actual fact, he has done what the Liberal Nationals should have done years ago. He has consolidated all finances, weeded out wasteful, and unproductive Government departments, set about getting professional opinions on all future policy plans, and by the time of the next budget in May, we should see us not only with very healthy finances, but with policies that can be implemented without breaking the bank.
What a lot of conservatives here in this country and in others, don't realise is that the Communist Labor days are over. We are now back to the great days of the Chifley, Curtain Labor days: Proper fiscal management, practical social programs, and equal support for employer and employee.
Good on you Kevin.

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