Groupthink

Archive for category Politics

This is why we can’t have nice things

Jun 21

Posted by Spock... in Health, Politics | 7 Comments

HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has rejected a plea from a coalition of 60 health groups to expand the government’s list of subsidised medicines, leaving thousands of seriously ill Australians without affordable access to new treatments.

Huh?

The health groups will today release a letter to be sent to all MPs calling on the government to reverse its decision to defer subsidies for eight new drugs.

The groups, which include MS Australia, Diabetes Australia and SANE Australia, say the decision has left thousands of people either without access to the new treatments or facing a major cost burden.

”Affordable medicines and vaccines that save and prolong lives are being denied to some of the most vulnerable, chronically ill Australians by a short-sighted decision by the government,” the letter says. ”Australia can afford these new medicines now.”

That’s a pretty compelling argument. The government using its resources to help its most in need citizens. So why aren’t we?

But in February the government announced it would override the advice of the committee and indefinitely defer inclusion on the PBS of eight drugs – including for chronic pain, schizophrenia and lung disease – due to budgetary constraints. It says the deferred listing would save more than $100 million.

Oh…

Putting the abstract “economy” before human life. Classy.

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Scary Wary Kevin Wudd

May 12

Posted by Spock... in Media, Politics | 4 Comments

The Herald Sun really do have editorialising on the front page down to a fine art, don’t they?

TAXPAYERS will foot an extra $2 billion foreign aid bill because the Government feared the consequences of upsetting Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd.

Ballooning aid spending in Africa and the Caribbean, where Mr Rudd is chasing votes for a seat on the 15-member UN Security Council, is also causing alarm within the Government

“Ballooning”!? I will have to “foot” an “extra” $2 billion! All because they’re scared of Kevin Rudd?!

Even the figure of of $2 billion is misleading. Because according to their own story from yesterday aid spending is increasing by $500 million next year, and is expected to grow by $1.9 billion in the next four years. Which is 0.35% of Australian GNI, leaving Australia well short of their commitment to lift foreign aid to 0.5% of GNI by 2015.

Increased foreign aid spending, which has bipartisan support, could have been deferred, but the Government opted against asking for cuts similar to the $2.7 billion from the Department of Defence.

Ooo… we’re cutting money on defence but giving money to foreigners… I see what you’re doing there.

Labor MPs feared asking Mr Rudd to trim his expanding budget would cause an internal fight despite having to find other savings which had hurt families.

My heart bleeds for the families on a combined income upwards of $150k. How dare those poor people living in absolute poverty with no access to education and clean water take money away from the Allardyces?

The bottom line of this story is that Kevin Rudd wants to keep this commitment to increase Australia’s foreign aid budget to 0.5% of GNI by 2015. He is apparently using his remaining political clout to lobby the government he is a part of to implement a policy he feels strongly about. So really, it’s an absolute non-story.

Besides, support for increases in foreign aid are bipartisan. Let’s hope it stays that way tonight.

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Spock’s half-arsed Mediawatch – Budget edition.

May 11

Posted by Spock... in Media, Politics | 7 Comments

Well.. not so much media-watch as getting shouty at the awesome coverage over at The Australian that needs some attention.

First up we have some whiny white people…

Balancing act makes for some hard choices:

An angry Ms Allardyce last night said this budget would make her reconsider her vote.

“She is a woman and I thought she would understand the pressures in the workplace,” she said of the Prime Minister. “Maybe Gillard should have a child.

Oh, the “Gillard don’t have kids” crap surfaces again. Go fuck yourself.

“We have made the choice to better ourselves. When I came to Australia I worked my way up and sacrificed a lot.

We grew here, you flew here Ms Allardyce. Why do you hate Australia. Adapt to our way of life. You can’t expect handouts. Go back to where you came from. etc…

The Allardyces both work full-time and together earn about $200,000 a year. That makes the Dutch-born working mum rich according the federal government. She doesn’t feel that way.

“Food, clothing, gas electricity — it all adds up. The more money you earn, the more you have to do for it. It is not as if I have a cushy job.”

I can juggle all that AND a sizable drinking habit on around $400 a week, I think juggling it on $200,000 a year shouldn’t be hard.

So whiney wealthy white people aren’t happy with the budget and The Australian is giving them space… moving on.

Tony Abbott attacks ‘class war’ budget and says Coalition may oppose some welfare cuts

TONY Abbott has signalled he may oppose middle-class welfare cuts, branding Wayne Swan’s fourth budget an attack on aspirational Australians.

The warning came as the Greens also said they would reserve the right to seek changes to some budget measures.

The Opposition Leader said the raft of cuts to families earning up to $150,000 were a form of “class war” that hammered everyday households.

“up to” has a very different meaning to “over”.

“I am instinctively against these budget cuts to families,” Mr Abbott said.

Because Abbott is PRO-family.

“Why is this government always targeting people who want to get ahead? Why is the government against the aspirations of people?”

If you’re earning $100,000 a year, I think they are well past the “getting ahead” stage of aspiration. Besides, we’re not talking about taxing them more. We are talking about welfare. Money given to them by the government! Not exactly class warfare. But on planet Tony, cuts to welfare for upper middle class families is akin to communism. I think if you’re earning $100,000 a year, I don’t think it is unfair to expect you support yourself. Just putting it out there.

Milking the rich in postcodes of affluence

WAYNE Swan is taking money from the folks in the nation’s wealthiest postcodes so Labor can look after its traditional supporters and keep on side those middle-income families who determine elections.

Put the budget vibe on a T-shirt and it would say “Milk the rich, lift the poor, tickle the middle”.

If you are living in postcodes 3944, 2027, 6012, 4007, 5006 or 7005, the Gillard government has put a big target on your back.

Now who’s turning this into a class war?

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Trumped

May 1

Posted by cosmicjester in Politics | 2 Comments

Following on from the Donald Trump inspired birther silliness, Obama gets his revenge. Sorta.

Just watch this brilliant clip of Obama getting the better of Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Well played Obama, well played.

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Are you a Republican or a Republicant?

Apr 29

Posted by cosmicjester in Politics, Society | 12 Comments

I was too young to vote in the Republican referendum of 1999 but remember it quite well. My mother, a fond monarchist and royal watcher decided to give me her vote, her reasoning being that I was going to be around for longer than her so it would make more sense for it to be my say. It was a thoughtful thing for a mother to do and I told her I wanted an Australian republic.

My mother and I are of course from very different generations. She grew up with God Save the Queen as our national anthem and Australia was part of the British Empire. I grew up with Advance Australia Fair and to me at least the Queen and the Royal family never seemed like anything I had any remote connection to. I always needed to remind myself that she was also the Queen of Australia as well as England. The royal family seemed no more Australian than the President of America or the King of Spain, a curious colonial oversight from days gone by.

1999 referendum was a major loss for Republicans and the movement has been on life support ever since. But still it was hardly a victory for monarchists either. The “no” campaign knew that the majority of Australians no longer thought of the Royal family as ours and they instead criticised the model of the Republic, calling it the “politician’s republic” to play into people’s distrust of politicians and to split the republic vote. They didn’t appeal to fondness for England and the Queen because they knew that was an argument that they couldn’t win. They may have won the battle, but general apathy towards the crown still reigns supreme.

But where has the Republican movement been in the last ten years? We have had two republican prime ministers, one republican opposition leader and still we can’t get a government to have the courage of its convictions to push the issue. The general catch cry from republican politicians is that we will revisit the issue but not until the end of the current Queens reign. It just stinks of laziness that they think that convincing Australia for a republic is too hard but King Charles’s unpopularity will make them win the argument by default. If a republic is going to win just because people don’t like Charles then it really doesn’t deserve to win.

I believe in democracy, and so I see no need for our elected government to serve at the pleasure of someone who receives their role because of hereditary privilege. I despise the class system and believe the Monarchy is not a system that truly represents an egalitarian society. I believe in freedom of religion, and I don’t want my head of state to also be Supreme governor of the Church of England and I also don’t want any 300 year old laws making it illegal for a Catholic to be our head of state. We can not be a true secular society whilst we retain the monarchy. I believe that Australian’s should one day have the opportunity to be the head of state, and I want that to be decided by duty, service and who is most qualified for the job, not by who was the first male to come out of the right vagina.

These are beliefs that I am passionate about and they are why I am a republican. I want Australia to be a republic because people believe in these ideals, not because of the unpopularity of the monarch of the time. The argument for a republic is as valid right now as it is ten or twenty years from now and if republican politicians really believe in a republic, and yes that means you Julia and Malcolm they should be pushing for it, advocating for it now. That is if you really believe in it.

Likewise the Monarchists who want to defend their preferred system may need to refine their arguments if last nights Q&A is anything to go by. Between the Monarchist who came to the studio clutching a teddy bear and speaking in a pretend posh accent and Angela Bishop supporting the monarchy because of the cult of celebrity the only monarchist with anything serious to say was Nick Minchin. Minchin didn’t seem to like, dislike or particularly care about the Royal family either way but argued that its a system that has provided relative stability to our political system for the last 110 years. It’s a fair point, but I don’t think it is beyond us to create a republican system that provides the stability of our current system but with an Australian head of state. If only we had a few politicians who were actually passionate enough to fight for such a thing.

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FUCK YEAH ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY!

Apr 28

Posted by Sunili in Politics | No Comments

So. All this dilly-dallying and uncertainty with the carbon tax and MY MOM IS COLD means that… businesses are going to have performance anxiety and hibernate ’til they know what’s going on and WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE OR AT LEAST HAVE OUR PLASMAS REPOSSESSED BY THE FLEXI-RENT PEOPLES, right?

#PANICSHOUTY.

Er. Did anyone remember to mention all that to BHP?

BHP Billiton plans to defy uncertainty over a carbon price and the imposition of a mining tax to pursue a $48 billion expansion of its iron ore operations – one of the biggest resources projects in the nation’s history. [moar]

Meanwhile, at Rio Tinto:

Rio Tinto’s chief financial officer, Guy Elliott said “Standard & Poor’s decision to upgrade Rio Tinto’s credit rating acknowledges the financial strength of the Group.

Um. Carry on?

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Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience

Apr 28

Posted by cosmicjester in Foreign matter, Politics | 6 Comments

Today Obama caved into to the nuttiest of crazed conspiracy theorists and finally released his long form birth certificate. It’s hoped that this will once and for all put a rest to the false rumours that President Obama was not born in the United States.

It’s a ridiculous move, and the President of the United States should not dignify such fringe dingbats with a response. Contrary to the rumours Obama already produced his birth certificate all the way back in 2008, but this did not satisfy the critics who found it impossible to believe that a black man with a funny name could have possibly been born in the old US of A.

The original short form birth certificate did not satisfy Donald Trump’s hair and the rest of the birther movement so today Obama released his long form birth certificate. Unfortunately for the president’s critics it didn’t say “secret Muslim” or “really born in Kenya”.

So how does birther central World Nut Daily deal with the news?

AN AFRICAN DADDY, OH NOES!!!11!!!!!

It continues:

If the document proves valid, it could answer the questions raised by those who have alleged he was not actually born in Hawaii. But it also could prove his ineligibility because of its references to his father. Some of the cases challenging Obama have explained that he was a dual citizen through his father at his birth, and they contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born citizens.

Of course it is complete and utter bullshit that his fathers country of origin should exclude Obama from the presidency, but the birther movement was never based on anything rational to begin with. After all what possible motivation would have his parents had for lying about his country of birth back in the 60′s unless they knew he was going to be President? Why would have his parents gone to the effort or listing a fake birth notice in the newspaper, forge a fake short birth certificate and then sneak his mother off to Kenya to secretly give birth to him? There would be absolutely no reason to pull off such an elaborate hoax at that time. It’s the dumbest conspiracy since David Icke and his theory of a secret race or Lizard alien reptoids ruling the world.

No amount of proof will ever satisfy them. There will always be another conspiracy, another crazy angle to yell about and Obama will never be able to prove his legitimacy to these crazed loons.

Mr President, stop arguing with idiots.

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Holy Morgan Freeman!

Apr 25

Posted by Spock... in Politics, Society | 1 Comment

JimWallaceACL
Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for – wasn’t gay marriage and Islamic!
25/04/11 10:24 AM

Jim Wallace of the Australian Christian Lobby showing that he really is the biggest arse hole in Australian politics.

And yet our politicians constantly yield to this man’s demands.

Jim Wallace, The List is too good for you.

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The break-up

Apr 14

Posted by Ross Sharp in Media, Politics | 15 Comments

The federal government announces a policy. The opposition says the policy is bad, will ruin us all and we’ll be worse off than Haiti by lunchtime next Tuesday.

An increasingly partisan media chime in with a “Yay” or a “Ya-boo sucks” courtesy of a hyperactively rabid clutch of so-called “opinion” writers (my, there’s a talent – having an “opinion” – the world reels in awe), for whom “gotcha” moments and the barely-there policy brain farts of political pissants spell weeks and weeks of dramatic copy.

This is the current standard of what passes for political debate and discussion in this country. It’s the equivalent of saying “Your mother wears army boots and your dog smells”, but that’s about as good as it gets.

Now we have both government and opposition attempting to convince us all that there are vast zombie hordes of deliberately unemployed welfare cheats out there ripping hard-earned dollars straight from our poor little wallets, sentencing all of us “decent, hard-workin’ Aussie families” to a lifetime of deprivation and penury, while they, the unemployed, live life to the hilt with nary a care in the world.

The intellectual and ideological vapidity of the cliché-ridden mediocrities who now purport to represent us is such that, after 34 years of casting a vote in every state and federal election since I became eligible to do so, I will not be casting another.

I’ll turn up to get my name crossed off but, as far as the major parties are concerned, if this is the best the both of you have to offer, you know what you can do with your ballot paper from here on in.

After which, you can all just fuck off and die, the whole goddamn lot of you.*

-

*The author would like to apologise for the total absence of humour in this post. The author is in a snit.

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LOLGillard

Apr 7

Posted by Scott Bridges in Politics | 4 Comments

LOLGillard

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