It seems the Global Financial Crisis has been a godsend for Kevin Rudd. It has allowed him to blame every problem we have on ’the GFC’  and provided him an excuse to literally give away the $45 billion surplus he inherited from the Howard-Costello government. A surplus that took 11 years to build has only taken Kevin Rudd two years to spend!

History indicates this is the Labor way. Gough Whitlam did it. Paul Keating did it. And now Kevin Rudd’s doing it! The one thing these Labor Prime Ministers had in common is they never had a real job and had never run a business before getting elected. But whilst they didn’t have any experience in generating wealth they sure know how to spend it.

So Kevin Rudd’s response to the Global Economic Crisis was based on ’spin and spend’.

Every problem confronting his government was conveniently blamed on ‘the GFC’. Whilst everybody agreed that action had to be taken to ‘stimulate’ the economy he decided to ‘stimulate’ voters. Rather than provide incentives through tax cuts he decided to give $900 to voters whether they needed it or not. Rather than provide incentives to business he decided to build Julia Gillard Memorial Halls in every school in the country whether they needed one or not.

The polls show that Kev’s voter stimulus package has worked exceptionally well. Come in spinner!

On the policy front the Rudd Government is desperately trying to wedge Malcolm Turnbull on their Emissions Trading Scheme by having the debate before World leaders meet in Copenhagen to develop a strategy. It is a high stakes game and Kevin Rudd seems prepared to risk the viability of our rural industries if that’s what it takes to destroy his greatest political threat, Malcolm Turnbull.

Turnbull has the job ahead of him. His cause was not made any easier by his handling of ‘utegate’ but if justice ever prevails over the Heiner Affair in Queensland ‘utegate’ will pale into insignificance.

In the meantime Malcolm Turnbull must continue to expose the shallow insincerity and short-term expediency of another high-spending, high taxing Labor regime that will do whatever it takes to stay in power.

Check Malcolm Turnbull’s recent address to the NSW Liberal Party at:

http://malcolmturnbull.com.au/Media/LatestNews/tabid/110/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/601/Address-to-the-NSW-Division-of-the-Liberal-Party.aspx

For the record this bloke represents the United Nations Human Rights Council which includes some of the most racist nations on our planet. It is a Left wing organisation with a hatred of  Western nations. Its champions include North Korea, the Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Egypt and Cuba. Its cheerleaders come from our inner-city urban chattering class.

One thing is certain from the comments of this Left wing lunatic and the racist organisation he represents  - they care more about their discredited ideology than they do about desperate human beings in need of help.

The Northern Territory intervention was motivated by the collapse of indigenous societies in remote welfare dependent communities. Alcohol abuse, wife abuse, substance abuse and rampant child abuse became the norm while the commentariat and their urban sycophants celebrated Kevin Rudd’s ‘sorry’ statement and discussed indigenous ‘rights’.

At the same time indigenous leaders such as Noel Pearson were more concerned about practical solutions to the politically-correct genocide occurring in their outback communities.

Intervention aimed at breaking the cycle of despair and restoring order and self-respect had to happen if we are genuine in our concern for our indigenous people. The intervention has focused on strict controls of alcohol; a permanent resident police presence in all towns of any size; insistence of 100 per cent school attendance with access to high-quality education to year 12 and beyond; 100 per cent participation in work programs on a ‘no work, no pay’ basis; and full social market rents for Aboriginal housing to be automatically deducted from welfare payments.

Those of us who have been through these communities over a long period of time wonder what took our government so long to do something about it all. However, John Howard and his successor, Kevin Rudd are to be congratulated for finally committing to the task of protecting, nurturing and rebuilding our indigenous communities.

The Australian army has a proud record in civil affairs dating back to the Vietnam War. Our servicemen and women are proud of their role in providing access to basic services, friendship to the people who have been ignored by too many for too long, and social order to helpless, lawless communities.

My advice to Professor James Anaya is to get his racist arse out of our country and do something about genocide in Darfur, Uganda, Rwanda and the serial abuse of human rights in North Korea, Cuba, the Sudan, Somalia, Libya and the other despotic regimes he supports.

One thing is for sure – our indigenous people will be fare much better without his intervention into their rehabilitation.

Kevin Rudd’s selection of Senator John Faulkner as our new Defence Minister is a wise choice. Faulkner is highly respected for his personal and political integrity and his formidable forensic skills in Senate Estimates Committees. Even Mark Latham would have to acknowledge this.

Faulkner will be assisted by Greg Combet as Minister for Defence Personnel, Material and Science. Although Combet is a relative newcomer to Parliament his previous experience in the Trade Union Movement indicates that he is well suited for this job. The professional integrity of our Defence Force Chiefs and the Secretary of the Department, Nick Warner, are beyond reproach. Kevin Rudd should be congratulated for ensuring our Defence Department has the best of his team assigned to this important role.

Mark Arbib is one of the big winners in the reshuffle. He has earned his stripes in the role he played in Labor’s election to Government. He is young, intelligent and a professional exponent in the art of politics.
The same can be said of Chris Bowen who has been promoted to Minister for Financial Services. However his early statement that Australia should seek more investments from Muslim countries will have raised an eyebrow or two. There are still many who remember Gough Whitlam’s politically fatal attempt to deal with a Pakistani money lender by the name of Tirath Khemlani in the early 1970’s.

The promotion of Jason Clare to Parliamentary Secretary for Employment is worth watching. Clare occupies former Prime Minister Paul Keating’s old seat of Blaxland and is widely recognised as one of Labor’s rising stars. Having recently led a group of Lebanese Muslims and Cronulla surfies which was organised by Jason Clare and his Liberal counterpart, Scott Morrison, I can vouch for his ability.

Kevin Rudd’s election and his current standing in the polls have allowed him a degree of independence from Labor’s tribal factions. His appointments in the reshuffle are based on merit which is a unique political experience for Labor. To use a Latham term – they are certainly not factional ‘meatheads’.

But, as the recent case of Justice Marcus Einfeld demonstrates, they are also subject to the same human fallibilities as we all are. The fact that Marcus Einfeld, now a convicted criminal serving a prison sentence, will continue to receive a taxpayer funded pension in excess of $200,000 a year indexed for life, indicates that the judiciary have done very well for themselves in negotiating their pay and conditions.

‘Politically correct appointments’ such as controversial NSW magistrate Pat O’Shane also serve to undermine public confidence against the justice system. We expect our police to uphold the law and protect us from criminal activity but their public humiliation by Pat O’Shane in the courts undermines public confidence in the system. People feel disempowered because such people are appointed for life and there is nothing they can do about it.

When these fallibilities are exposed in the media it begs the question as to whether judges should continue to be appointed by politicians for life or elected by voters and therefore be accountable to them. There are obviously pros and cons of both arguments.

In America most States have an ‘uncontested retention election model’. This is a democratic system where lawyers interested in seeking an appointment to the judiciary apply to a non-partisan Judicial Commission for an appointment. The commission interviews all applicants and submits three names to the State Governor. When a vacancy occurs, the Governor appoints one of these three to the Court they applied for.

After serving one year on the Bench, these newly appointed judges must be confirmed in their position by voters using an ‘uncontested retention vote’. To assist voters in their decision, lawyers conduct and evaluation survey and rate the judges for their performance such as fairness, legal analysis skills, diligence and decisiveness. The results of the survey are made public. Once retained by the voters, judges have to go through the same process every six years thereafter.

Such a system would require change to our constitution and would be resisted by civil libertarians because of the threat it would present to unaccountable left-wing members of the judiciary who deem themselves to be superior to us ordinary beings.

Bring on the debate!

Once conscripted many decided to transfer to the regular army and went on to experience tours of duty in South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States. Many served and trained with allied armies on exchange postings. Some served in combat roles while others were involved in peacekeeping duties. Their experiences confirmed the adage that there are things in life that money simply cannot buy.

Today we have young servicemen and women upholding the finest traditions of our armed services in hostile combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan and peacekeeping duties in a host of other nations around the world. Manpower shortages have burdened them and their families with a heavy load and constant disruption to ‘normality’.

Whilst they do not have to face the traitors who mocked and attacked our Vietnam Veterans on their return from active duty they do have to contend with a somewhat apathetic nation in regard to their service to freedom.

Recruitment for our armed forces has been difficult in recent years. There are many reasons for this including an abundance of jobs in a booming economy over the past decade, changing social attitudes among Generation Y, and the lack of any perceived threat to our freedom.

The Australian Defence Force has introduced changes into its training and operational strategies to reflect changing social attitudes. However it must continue to demand a high level of personal and group discipline to allow it to operate effectively in a hostile environment. Many would argue that this is not necessarily a bad thing for recruits from Generation Y.

If the current economic climate makes the Defence Force a more viable option for young school leavers then this is not necessarily a bad thing. From my personal experience as a Vietnam conscript it will be a win-win situation. Our over-stretched Defence Forces will have a pool of well educated and highly motivated young Australians available for service. The new recruits will learn new skills, develop personal discipline and acquire leadership skills not available in any other environment.

It often takes some sort of adversity to bring the best out of a nation and its people. Our past experience indicates that whenever Australians are confronted with adversity they adapt and conquer it and are far better off for the experience.

Over the past 12 months the term ‘working families’ was included in every utterance from Kevin 07. His promises to introduce ‘fuel-watch’ and ‘grocery watch’ were literal. All he did was watch them go up . . . and up . . . and up! Not only did Kevin 07 watch them go up – he set up two taxpayer funded organisations to watch them as well! We are slowly learning that the devil is always in the detail with Kevin 07. After all he never did say he would bring them down – all he promised to do was actually watch them. That box has now been ticked. Thank you Kev!

Perhaps we need to initiate ‘Kevin Watch’ to see if we can work out what he really means. ‘Working families’ has recently disappeared from his jargon. The new catchphrase is ‘GFC’ – for those who are not into acronyms this means ‘global financial crisis’. Neither Kev, nor his echo Julia, utters a phrase without mentioning the adversity we surely face from the looming ‘GFC’ !

Their clever subliminal message is that the recession we are about to have in ’09 is not going to be their fault – it’s going to be due to the ’GFC’! How could it be their fault? They have just showered pensioners and young families with billions of dollars in handouts for Christmas. They have committed to an ‘ETS’ (an Emission Trading Scheme) to appease the chattering classes and are about to restore union power back to the bad ol’ days.

The $20 billion dollars left in the bank courtesy of the Howard-Costello government is almost gone. It took eleven years to build and just eleven months to spend. The polls suggest it has worked beautifully for Kev.

Unfortunately the inept NSW Labor Government has taken the form of the grim reaper. NSW is in crisis and will remain so until the next election in 2011. Until then business will continue to flee across the border to Queensland, commuters will sit in chronic traffic jams and stand in crowded trains and patients will be turned away from emergency wards. There is not a single sugar coated lolly left in Labor’s jar in NSW. Unfortunately for Kev the incompetence, mismanagement and corruptions surrounding the worst Labor government in the history of the State was around long before the term ‘GFC’ entered into their political lexicon.

Australian’s are a resilient bunch though. They will ignore the inevitable ‘whine from Kevin 09’ and get on with the job of conquering whatever adversity they have to confront. They have done it before and they will do it again.

In the meantime may I wish all readers of the Camden District Reporter a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – or as Kev would say, MX and HNY!

Individuals get elected as independent members or as part of a political party. They party they choose is one that represents their beliefs and values. Many are influenced by their parents who pass on their values as part of the nurturing process of raising a child.

It is important for people who are committed to building better communities to be involved in the political process. There is an old saying that we can only have good government if we have a good opposition. This can only happen if people from all segments of our society get involved with the party of their choice.

Within the party system there are those who aspire to political office and those who wish to make a contribution and ‘do their bit’. The competition for pre-selection in a party system is highly competitive. Candidates need exceptional people skills, a good intellect, values in line with the political philosophy of their party, a clear vision, energy, guile, charm, experience, a demonstrated commitment to their community, and most importantly – an abundance of common sense.

These talents and skills can be acquired both within and outside the political process. A successful political party would seek a good balance in this area. The strength of the Labor Party comes from their affiliation with the trade union movement. Representatives hone their skills in the rough and tumble of union ‘politics’ and are well prepared for a role as an elected representative when the opportunity presents itself.

The first tier of government i.e. local councils, is another area where political aspirants acquire skills for advancement. The number of local government councillors sitting in our State and Federal governments today would attest to this.

Today’s communities are diverse and demanding. Federal and State government policies are comprehensive and complex. Individuals entering local government as independent members can be easily overwhelmed with the pressures placed upon them. Those who belong to a political party have access to research, advice and support that is not available to independents.

Checks and balances in any system are important. This would lead to the conclusion that a balance of party representatives and committed independents would be a good result for local governments in NSW.

Western Sydney will be expected to absorb this expansion. With the current backlog of infrastructure development Western Sydney can expect more smog, more traffic chaos, more ‘crush’ on public transport, bigger class sizes in school and longer waiting time for public hospitals.

The decision will have a dramatic impact on our quality of life.

The rational behind the decision i.e. to prevent a wages breakout and help cap inflation has been criticised by Dr Birrell, the Director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University. Labor has a one track mind to immigration according to Dr Birrell.

They sure do. Past experience in Western Sydney indicates that more migrants means more Labor voters!

The Carr-Egan and Iemma-Costa governments have squandered the profits of the economic boom over the past decade. While the Howard-Costello partnership introduced economic reforms that broke the union stronghold on the waterfront and delivered a bonanza to the States through the introduction of a GST. Booming property prices resulted in a Land Tax windfall and the conversion of every pub in NSW into a mini-casino generated hundreds of millions of dollars in extra revenue.

Nobody seems to know where the money has gone. Trains only run on-time because they changed the timetables. Hospital waiting lists are not as long because they changed the definition of ‘waiting-times’. Crime statistics are down because they removed serious crimes from the list – Campbelltown is now safer than Vaucluse.
The list goes on. When one looks at the list of announcements, re-announcements and revised definitions it is clear that we are the victims of a clever smoke and mirrors campaign.

Michael Costa now has to put the State in debt to try and catch up with current planned growth. Kevin Rudd’s plan to dump an extra 350,000 immigrants in Western Sydney will blow the integrity of Costa’s budget and will have a devastating impact on the quality of life in Western Sydney.

Friendly faces in suburban banks were replaced by foreign tongues in Delhi. Computer generated voices now tell us which button to push to navigate our way to a ‘customer relations officer’ and remind us that we were being recorded ‘for training purposes’. Expletives are now the order of the day for frustrated customers.

The proposed merger between Westpac (one of the impersonal ‘big 4) and St George will see the ‘personal touch’ inherent in the St George brand disappear – the dragon will be replaced by a dinosaur!

Customers will be further alienated as they become even more exposed to bank fee increases that will inevitably be imposed on them. Economic jargon will be used to justify this unconscionable extortion.

One does not have to look far to see the adverse impact of human greed dressed up in the disguise of ‘efficiency’ in other sectors of our economy. Motorists are hostage to oil company giants who brazenly adjust the daily supply and price of fuel to maximise their profits. Service stations might have different company names but to vulnerable motorist they are regarded as a cartel and any hint of real competition is a façade.

Mega shopping centres produce mega profits for shareholders at the expense of small business victims who have no choice but to comply with their outrageous demands for compliance.

The mega cartels in the grocery industry, Coles and Woolworths, use brute corporate force to drive small competitors out of business through predatory pricing and to dictate how much they will pay struggling farmers for their produce. They control every link in the food chain. And what benefits do we see from them in Camden? Their two supermarkets are the grottiest in town!

While it says a lot for their sense of community pride – or lack of it – it is also an indicator of the what happens when corporations become so bloated that communities are regarded as commodities for tycoons in remote boardrooms.

Carr and Egan saw the sale as a $35 billion financial bonanza as they approached the end of their first term in government. But the dinosaurs in the union movement and the political parasites in the left wing of their party torpedoed the deal.

Fast forward to 2008. Carr and Egan have been consigned to the dustbin of political history and their 1995 A-team have jumped ship to make way for John Della Bosca, Michael Costa, Frank Sartor, Joe Tripodi and Reba Meagher. This mob plucked Maurice Iemma from obscurity and installed him as Premier.

The lure of Ministerial perks were too much for avowed lefties to resist and Ian McDonald quickly traded principle for the trappings of office.

Unfortunately the boom economic years of the Howard government have been squandered by the States. During the past 13 years the NSW Labor Government have enjoyed the fruits of the Olympics Games, a record property boom, windfall revenue from gambling taxes and a GST bonanza.

Despite this we have a derelict public transport system, daily gridlock on our roads, a hospital crisis and decaying infrastructure. We are the highest taxing State in the country and business is relocating interstate in record numbers due to draconian Occupational Health and Safety laws and excessive Workers Compensation extortion.

Looking after union mates and incompetent public servants has taken priority over strategic investment in essential services.

This NSW government has been in power for too long. They are bereft of talent, ideas and money. But power corrupts and principle is easily discarded in desperate circumstances. So much so that the most vocal opponents of the sale in 1997 – Costa, Della Bosca and McDonald – are now it’s most enthusiastic supporters.

This has been an expensive conversion for NSW taxpayers. In 1997 the industry was valued at $35 billion. Today it has worth $15 billion. The political expediency of NSW Labor has cost us $20 billion. But the heavies in NSW Labor will argue that this is a reasonable price to pay for another term in office. Others would argue that it will be shameful example of power without glory.