It was John Howard...

[gringo]

...who broke an unwritten rule in Australian politics and put the issue of asylum seekers firmly on the politicial agenda.

And now we have to put up with sh!t like this from Abbot:

"The problem is that the government has completely lost control of our borders and their attempts to regain control of our borders has now completely collapsed.'

Comments like this must make conservative hearts in this country beat proudly.

[filthy2]

...who broke an unwritten rule in Australian politics and put the issue of asylum seekers firmly on the politicial agenda.

And now we have to put up with sh!t like this from Abbot:

"The problem is that the government has completely lost control of our borders and their attempts to regain control of our borders has now completely collapsed.'

Comments like this must make conservative hearts in this country beat proudly.

PRECISELY!!! Took it from Pauline Hanson and made it is own to get re-elected....typical, born to rule, do anything, say anything to get re-elected f..king lying Tory Conservative c..ts will cause a Civil War, or have a Green or a Labor dude assassinated if they don't back off......all their loony supporters wanting to "take up arms" for "democracy".......yeah right.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-01/a ... ly/2866866

This country is being split right down the middle by this mad bastard Abbot and his mates like Jones, Bolt, ex-taxi driver Chris Smith etc...our Aussie Tea Party.....beware.

[tonysoprano]

This country is being split right down the middle

actually, its being split about 60/40 - and in Tony's favour.

[dom_105]

And Julia picked up the ball and ran with it.

At least tough border protection policies is a Conservative ideal. I don't know why Labor would go down that trail. Those on her left won't like it that Labor is tough, and those on the right would never believe that Labor is tough.

It is she who is today trying to flog people off to pissant countries this side of the equator in order to win votes and hold on to power. There's nobody occupying the moral high ground on this issue.

[swoodley]

And Julia picked up the ball and ran with it.

At least tough border protection policies is a Conservative ideal. I don't know why Labor would go down that trail. Those on her left won't like it that Labor is tough, and those on the right would never believe that Labor is tough.

It is she who is today trying to flog people off to pissant countries this side of the equator in order to win votes and hold on to power. There's nobody occupying the moral high ground on this issue.

There's been no high moral ground on this issue since Beazley sold his soul at the time of The Tampa.

He had a chance to make a stand and show a different face to the country but was afraid it would cost him votes.

His faint heartedness didn't help as he lost the election anyway (quite possibly because the swinging voters couldn't see any discernible difference between Labor and The Coalition and then felt Howard would run the economy better).

[pevfan]

Jones (the man who gives megalamaina a bad name) Bolt, Smith et al...little more than fifth columnists in my view. High time Labor started carrying the fight to these rednecks. Some of the bile that Jones in particular spews forth with, borders on sedition IMHO

[boris]

Tony A is a bona fide political light weight. The guy he bitched the leadership off (by one vote) actually has an opinion and a view. Tony's vocab:
Nah, nope,cant, wont, don't..... I wanna be Lil Johnny........ We had 12 years of that, something new please.

He may be fit, but not to lead a political party or a Nation. Just retire and go play golf or go fox hunting with Bolt.

[gringo]

And Julia picked up the ball and ran with it.

At least tough border protection policies is a Conservative ideal. I don't know why Labor would go down that trail. Those on her left won't like it that Labor is tough, and those on the right would never believe that Labor is tough.

It is she who is today trying to flog people off to pissant countries this side of the equator in order to win votes and hold on to power. There's nobody occupying the moral high ground on this issue.

There's been no high moral ground on this issue since Beazley sold his soul at the time of The Tampa.

He had a chance to make a stand and show a different face to the country but was afraid it would cost him votes.

His faint heartedness didn't help as he lost the election anyway (quite possibly because the swinging voters couldn't see any discernible difference between Labor and The Coalition and then felt Howard would run the economy better).

You're correct - in hindsight. At the time, the issue hadn't been a political one and Beazley was well on the way to winning the election. He did what everyone would have done at the time and did his best to divert attention to the issues that actually have an impact on everyday Australians; things like health, education etc.

Howard realised he was onto a winner and milked the issue for all it was worth.

As you say though Swoodley, in hindsight, Beazley should have stood up and made a stand then and there.

[gringo]

And Julia picked up the ball and ran with it.

At least tough border protection policies is a Conservative ideal. I don't know why Labor would go down that trail. Those on her left won't like it that Labor is tough, and those on the right would never believe that Labor is tough.

It is she who is today trying to flog people off to pissant countries this side of the equator in order to win votes and hold on to power. There's nobody occupying the moral high ground on this issue.

Do you know how the policy actually works Dom (or at least how it was intended to work)?

[Sismis]

IMO John howard was a weasel maggot of a human being.

I'd vote for him over either of the current choices we have.

[billyduckworth]

IMO John howard was a weasel maggot of a human being.

I'd vote for him over either of the current choices we have.

Sums it up beautifully, Sismis. I saw little Johnny interviewed on the TV the other day and I actually had to stop myself from thinking, "gee, this bloke makes more sense than the so-called leaders we have now". It is a real worry when he looks okay by comparison!

[BERT]

IMO John howard was a weasel maggot of a human being.

I'd vote for him over either of the current choices we have.

Sums it up beautifully, Sismis. I saw little Johnny interviewed on the TV the other day and I actually had to stop myself from thinking, "gee, this bloke makes more sense than the so-called leaders we have now". It is a real worry when he looks okay by comparison!

Say what you want about Howard but you knew where you stood with him. You knew what he stood for.

[swoodley]

IMO John howard was a weasel maggot of a human being.

I'd vote for him over either of the current choices we have.

Sums it up beautifully, Sismis. I saw little Johnny interviewed on the TV the other day and I actually had to stop myself from thinking, "gee, this bloke makes more sense than the so-called leaders we have now". It is a real worry when he looks okay by comparison!

Say what you want about Howard but you knew where you stood with him. You knew what he stood for.

Yes that true...he stood for getting as far up Bush's arse as possible, he stood for trying to make out that Australia was a big pin on the world stage, he stood for trashing workers rights and he stood for taking this country further to the right than it had been for many a year.
He did not have one ounce of compassion in his miserable body.

[gringo]

IMO John howard was a weasel maggot of a human being.

I'd vote for him over either of the current choices we have.

Sums it up beautifully, Sismis. I saw little Johnny interviewed on the TV the other day and I actually had to stop myself from thinking, "gee, this bloke makes more sense than the so-called leaders we have now". It is a real worry when he looks okay by comparison!

Say what you want about Howard but you knew where you stood with him. You knew what he stood for.

The same thing could be said for Hitler, Mussolini, Gadafi et al.

No doubt Howard had some endearing traits, but by far his greatest motivation was to obtain/hold onto power, regardless of what that required him to do. Just about every decision Howard made was motivated by this premise. Abbott appears to operate in exactly the same way.

The carbon tax was never going to be popular with the filth in Australia who think they have a right to own a car, house etc or the elite filth whose interests only relate to number one. Yet Gillard moved on it because it was the right thing to do.

[tonysoprano]

Just about every decision Howard made was motivated by this premise. Abbott appears to operate in exactly the same way.

gillard was more than happy for rudd to be removed so she could have power. she also comfortably stated "no carbon tax" to stay in power.

[dom_105]

And Julia picked up the ball and ran with it.

At least tough border protection policies is a Conservative ideal. I don't know why Labor would go down that trail. Those on her left won't like it that Labor is tough, and those on the right would never believe that Labor is tough.

It is she who is today trying to flog people off to pissant countries this side of the equator in order to win votes and hold on to power. There's nobody occupying the moral high ground on this issue.

Do you know how the policy actually works Dom (or at least how it was intended to work)?

Of course. It's Pacific Solution Redux.

Everything old is new again. Everything bad is good again.

It's a shame that we had to go through a charade for four years before the Government decided to turn back the clock to send offshore those seeking asylum. The only difference is, Howard sent them off for "processing", Gillard proposed to send them off for good.

She spent 5 years denigrating the Pacific Solution, supported winding back that initiative, spent 4 years denying that pull factors were an issue, proposed sending asylum seekers to East Timor. That fell on it's face. Knocked back Nauru because it's not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, signed a deal with Malaysia despite that country not being a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. That fell on it's face.

What a dog's breakfast.

[MH_Bomber]

IMO John howard was a weasel maggot of a human being.

I'd vote for him over either of the current choices we have.

Sismis you have just totally lost your credibility with this comment.

Please have a look at the policies of Labor and please remember Tampa, the Iraq war based on a lie, children overboard, weapons for wheat, Workchoices, climate change denial and never ever saying " Sorry'.

[Sismis]

Julia, gets a tick for ETS.

But she has failed massively on human rights. Once an outspoken supporter of same sex marriage, she has done nothing when given the opportunity. Now she has decided it's fine to swap asylum seekers based on religious profiling with a country that does not meet our obligations.

As Bert said you knew where you stood with Howard. He was a conservative weasel. I have no idea where Julia is at.

[MH_Bomber]

I absolutely abhor this line "you knew where you stood with Howard". Sorry folks its simplistic and lazy thinking.

Howard's policies do not stand up to scrutiny. It was he who trashed bipartisanship on refugees, it was he who referred to people advocating Aboriginal rights and redress as people that took the black armed ban view of history, it was he who introduced the most draconian work place laws in Australian history, it was he who manipulated intelligence reports about Iraq and got us involved there and it was he who sat on his hands and did nothing about climate change for 11 long years.

His government happened to govern in a time where there was no global financial crisis and a mining boom BUT did stuff all about infrastructure and dolled out billions to private schools and pumped money from tax payers into private health.

The only thing this bloke had going for him is that he was admittedly a good communicator. I dont think that being a good communicator is a substitute for having correct policies.

I will say this though Labor has done a dreadful job of communicating its good message to the community at large. However, you must take into account that 70% of media is owned and run by people that are a cheer squad for the Liberal Party and just seem to personally not to like Gillard.

[Sismis]

Lazy thinking? For people to have some idea what they are voting for?

When he did Lose in a landslide it was because people wanted a change in leadership. For the most part we are still waiting for that change.