Rudd resigns as Foreign Minister

[IQS.RLOW]

LOL

Are you happy that your garbage has been flushed as useless?
The polling shows that the majority thinks your ideas for a carbon price suck arse and will be detrimental to society and have no benefit to the environment. You are a green stooge who is full of shit. You hijacked the marine park issue to push your leftist agenda and you like every other leftist grasped onto another environmental non issue to try and push again. Unproven and unable to be proven bullshit.

You should be shot as a traitor to your country.

They got in because they won the election.

On a preference deal that won't be there next time around. Suck it up you green supporting freak economic failure


As to the rest of your bullshit, if it is not hard to find go and do it. Mattus has provided accounts where it is not the case and most of the successful losers become lobbyists which is shorthand for blackmailing bullshit artists

[Jovial Monk]

What does polling have to do with whether something is right or not?

Right now they believe the ETS means they have to pay a tax. July 1 they will find they have more money.

The ETS is the only Labor policy being introduced that is unpopular and that will change. The NBN and MRRT are quite popular and that will only increase.

[IQS.RLOW]

All rubbish

The bribe for getting the ETS in won't last and the population know it. It is just income redistribution.
Anything that the govt takes from one hand and says they are going to give back is bullshit

They will cut the compensation as quick as they spit out another labor lie. The compensation won't rise by 4% per year like the carbon tax will

The MRRT is a dogs breakfast and the states know it. This govt has been all about trying to take revenue from the states and feed it back into Canberra, transparently so. The royalties issue just showed how inept your beloved fuckwits actually are

The Eastern states are a basket case economically and politically and they think that the fix is to transfer the successful states economical windfalls and apply their fucked up political idiocy where it has been shown to be a complete failure in NSW and federally

It's like the east coast of Australia and SA is inhabited by fucking morons and you are a shining example of said fucking moronism.

How does it feel to be one of the shrinking 30%ers. A rusted on that would vote for a baby rapist as long as they were a member of the labor party

[Jovial Monk]

Indeed they won’t cut the compensation, whatever gave you that idea?

Mattus listed less than a dozen non-lawyers, out of over 200 members!

[Mattus]

Mattus listed less than a dozen non-lawyers, out of over 200 members!

I started with those ending with a surname of Z and got as far as half way through those with a surname of S before I felt I had enough to make my point and didn't proceed any further. There were 19 members with names in that range, I listed the majority of them - with arts degrees, tafe & vocational degrees, or no qualification (i.e. up from the unions). Bear in mind all I need to refute here is that 66% of MPs have law degrees. That's clearly not true. Perhaps 4 of the 20 or so included in the selected name range had LLBs. Swan doesn't have an LLB but I didn't list him either because I agree he would make more money by stepping down as treasurer.

[Jovial Monk]

I would imagine Swan would have his pick of private sector jobs when he leaves Parliament. He has been a great Treasurer through the GFC and its aftermath, when people and companies started dis and deleveraging. He has wound back like $30Bn of Howardista middleclass welfare and kept govt spending very disciplined even while reversing Howard’s cutting of spending on education, health and infrastructure.

Oh and that crap of Gillard only introducing the ETS because of the Greens is bullshit!

Firstly, the Greens would likely prefer to be seen as the only party pushing for action on climate change. Since the ETS was past their support has dropped from 14% at the election to 10% now and probably less at the next election which won’t be fought on green issues but the economy.

Secondly, Gillard promised a carbon price mechanism and delivered in a few months.

[freediver]

The polling shows that the majority thinks your ideas for a carbon price suck arse and will be detrimental to society and have no benefit to the environment

Are you conceding that Rudd had a mandate after all, or are you just confused about what we are discussing?

Mattus has provided accounts where it is not the case

No he hasn't. He has merely demonstrated an inability to comprehend an ex-MP doing anything other than what they did prior to winning office. It is a ciruclar argument - those MPs will earn less, therefor they will earn less. Why is it of any value at all to pretend this speculation is evidence when there is actual evidence that is just as easy to find?

and most of the successful losers become lobbyists which is shorthand for blackmailing bullshit artists

Highly paid bullshit artists.

[IQS.RLOW]

when there is actual evidence that is just as easy to find?

Fetch boy

[Mattus]

No he hasn't. He has merely demonstrated an inability to comprehend an ex-MP doing anything other than what they did prior to winning office.

What I have done is thoroughly refute the myth posted by JM that 2/3rd of MPs have law degrees, by going through a handful and listing their largely vocational, non-professional level qualifications.

Separate to that, you have asserted that a majority of MPs would take a pay rise if they lost office. You have suggested the evidence of this abundant and is easy to locate, but have not provided any of it. You have essentially recited a myth and when asked to support it have tried the old "it's common knowledge" chestnut.

The burden of proof lies on you to support your assertion, not on me to refute it. This is good because I don't have the time or resources to conduct a study of how long MPs are out of work after losing office, and how much they earned when / if they finally did. To my knowledge no such research exists in Australia, but these guys did to the research in the UK, where

The study found some former MPs struggled to find work and many earned less after leaving the House of Commons. Around half of those who did not retire voluntarily from the Commons said it had taken three to six months to find a new job. Just one fifth said they were able to find work immediately or almost immediately. One in seven took over a year to find employment.

..

Professor Theakston said: "The report will help puncture media and popular myths of the 'political gravy train' variety by showing what the real situation is in terms of former MPs' employment, earnings, pensions and so on."

Therefore, I stand by the assertion that all of them have a strong vested interest in winning their seat at the next election. Very few would prefer to lose their seat and have Julia at the stick, than win their seat and have Kevin running things.

[Jovial Monk]

Rudd will squib the challenge. Gillard will lead the Party to the 2013 election and win.

Where there will be a change of Leader is in the Libs and by end March I would say so there can be a decent Budget reply. If Tone is Leader with Hockey and Robb still shadow Treas and Finance Minister respectively they will destroy their economic management credentials.

As to the tactic of Ministers unloading on Rudd looks like that is the right thing to do:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... 1tqs9.html

David Marr hit the nail on the head