I wonder if the stimulous packages are going to offset Gillard’s ignorant changes to Workplace Laws which have already made small and medium businesses think again about taking on new staff and reducing permanent staff to casual or contractors!

What would the you do to reduce/stop the recession?

So let me get this right - when you were a government backbencher you got nothing done for our area, when you were a Minister you got nothing done - and now as an opposition MP you are again getting nothing done -

I guess it’s a matter of whether you are a sprinter or a long distance runner.

It seems to me the Government has lined up and taken off from the blocks like this is a 100 metre dash.  It isn’t, and we run a real risk of running out of puff well before the finish line.

A finish line that they incidentally keep self extending.

Most of us are looking at the drop in business expenditure and wondering just how “technical” is the definition.  The April ABS figures show a vastly different picture.

It is the primary production industry which is keeping us barely afloat.

What is going to happen to this lynch pin of our economy in the near future?  I refer to the ETS, the King Canute of Climate Change. Jump on pollution by all means but taxing us out of income with no foreseeable power replacements is not on.  The same, in spades, applies to taxing farmers to the point where many of us will be unable to eat; wither because we can’t afford it or that farmers become an extinct species.

Add the ALp debt levels, at Federal, State and Local levels to this and we are in for a VERY hard time.

Tony, you are right that NSW State Labor is hopeless and hopefully Bazza O Fazza can keep it together long enough to boot them out at the next election. But it is interesting to note that we would not be in this mess if the Liberal Factions had not done such a hatchet job on Brogden leading into the last election. Brogden would have flogged Mozzy but the internal party factions were more interested in getting their man to the top of the party than they were about putting the best man forward to win the election. Sure Brogden made a few comments about someone’s bride who worked in the mail room or something but he would have still won if the party backed him.

With regards to the debt though, sure $50b is due to spending but the other $250b is due to loss of revenue thanks to failures in the budget structure over the last decade due to never ending tax cuts and pork barrelling and its reliance on a never ending boom. The current problems arose because the budget had been eaten out from the core and at the first sign of a change in the economic outlook, the tower of cards came crashing down.

The entire structure of the Budget needs to be re worked but unfortunately, the changes that need to be made can not be done during a downturn as they involve higher taxes and cuts in spending, both of which would contribute further to the downturn so the only option is to borrow to get through the tough times then make the changes when the economy can handle it. So far, Rudd and Swan have been right on the money but it waits to be seen if they have the stomach to make the tough changes that are needed when the downturn is over.

And please don’t stoop to the stupid level of the Sean Hannitys of the world by measuring a projects worth by dividing the total cost by the jobs produced. You know full well that the projects budget does not go solely on wages and the lions share of the money will be spent on construction materials. Not to mention that the increased productivity generated in a wide range of industries will well and truly outweigh the cost of the project.

So yes, you are right, NSW Labor are a sham but we are stuck with them for now but you know the debt is needed because it is caused by losses in revenue thanks to structural problems in the budget that cant be fixed until the economy starts growing again.

A lot of people like to blame Rudd for the debt but the fact is he inherited a budget in structural deficit. Its like when you buy a house, you do all the inspections and take all the precautions but you really don’t know if the foundations are solid until the storms come and the waters start to rise and unfortunately, at the first sign of the rising tide, this budget house of cards failed.

I hate debt as much as the next man, but we cant fix problems by snapping our fingers. We need to shore up the foundations now to minimise the damage and then fix the structural problems when the economy can handle it.

Oh Tony, didn’t Mr Rudd wriggle and squirm in Question Time today when he was held to account over his use of ‘freebies’ from the taxpayers of Australia? Perhaps it needs to be made public, exactly what Mr Rudd receives courtesy of the taxpayer.

Mr Rudd’s persistence in turning everything around on to others, in an attempt to escape his own guilt, does him no favours whatsoever.

Mr Rudd may regret bringing up the ‘wheat for weapons’ scandal, stating it was the biggest corruption scandal in Australia’s history. It would seem that Mr Rudd has conveniently forgotten the Heiner Affair.

Tony, did you get a chance to hear this interview from ABC PM?

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2588488.htm

Mr Abbott,

If Mr Howard had not of wasted billions in middle class welfare and tax cuts to the rich, and reformed the public service, billions extra per year could have been saved. I would say 110 billion in 11 years.

You statement
“Australia has avoided a technical recession for now but it will be saddled with Labor’s debt for decades to come.”

Well this is just nonsence isnt it. We all know 2/3 of the debt is a drop in revenue and 1/3 the spending packages.

Are you suggesting you would have spent nothing? How would you make up for the loss of 2/3 of that debt? increase taxes? reduce spending? would you take those measures in a recession? I think not, so lets not be foolish.

If the Liberals continue to treat the voters as idiots, wih the sort of innacurate comments you make trying to mislead people, you will remain in opposition.

More and more students are now finishing highschool Tony compared to when you did, and also going on to tertiary study, be careful as what you peddle wont cut ice with them.

Tony why does the Liberal party continue to try and wring every last bit of political value out of talking about debt? This is going back to dark years of the Howard regime that you were a part of when that government played on the politics of fear constantly. You know full well as well as others and reputed experts such as Ross Gittens that when a cyclical low in an economy happens that is the time to spend on Infrastructure. With Howard he neglected Infrastructure over 12 years. Tony come clean now.... 

Tony, there is no doubt as the days pass by, that the Rudd Labor Govt is the absolute WORST Govt this country has ever had.

The manipulation of Australia’s economy, Australia’s people, and Australia’s future prosperity by this incompetent and ill intended rabble is alarming that it is being allowed to continue.

Gough Whitlam was sacked, why can’t the Australian people have this pretend Govt sacked also?

I heard a Labor Party speaker today in Parliament singing the praises of Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and believe it or not Gough Whitlam, and saying that Australia owed these failed PMs gratitude. No mention of the magnificent achievements of the Howard Govt, the best Government Australia has ever been blessed with.

Can you please elaborate on how you would ahve less debt considering you support the following-

5 cent/litre reduction to petrol excise - cost $1.6b/ annum

oppose alcopop tax- cost $400m/annum

TOTAL = $2 BILLION/ANNUM OR $24 BILLION by 2012 when debt is supposed to be paid off.

ADD $3.9 BILLION SHORTFALL from replacing Health care rebate reduction with higher tobacco tax

TOTAL $27.9 BILLION.

Plus additional tax cust for higher Income earners

Please come clean and tell us where you will cut back.

It is Liberal policies which leveraged Government revenues to company profits and capital gains taxes which is now responsible for shortfalls in collections going forward.

Tony,

Yourself, Malcolm Turnbull and Joe Hockey grossly disappoint me. I don’t understand why you continue to drag out this argument about debt. You know what you are saying is economically incorrect. There is nothing inherently wrong with the deficit announced by the government, nor the the amount of debt that is projected. Our economy will grow over the years and the debt amount will shrink as a proportion of GDP.

Presently there is an output gap in the economy as the private sector has retreated due to the freezing of credit markets. You know the government must step in and fill this void with an expansive fiscal policy. The actions of consumers are directly related to their expectations of the future. If the government (and RBA) did not act as quickly as they did, confidence would have left consumers and the economy would spiral downwards at a dramatic pace.

Further to this debt argument, your government has a lot a responsibility for the amount that is being borrowed (not that it is a large amount). Your government presided over a period of strong economic growth not seen before in this country. The surplus, given this growth, should have been bigger. Its size was reduced due to your government’s reckless spending (eg: baby bonus) and irresponsible tax cuts (which should have been given back to taxpayers though compulsory superannuation) were the cause. Further, your fiscal policy in the later years was in direct conflict to monetary policy and you continued to spend the surplus to win votes. Please end this debt argument, you seriously look like incompetent economic fools.

If I were in Opposition, I would make the following points:

1) The Government’s budget forecasts were based on the December quarter national accounts.  These were revised DOWN!

2) Impact of higher private consumption, higher GST payments.  Good for the States, not the Federal Budget - at least in the short-term (ie unless consumption boost is large enough to boost employment and company profits.  There is no evidence of this.

3) Government argues in the face of 2) that in the absence of the Government’s cash handouts, GDP, employment, etc would be lower than it is now.  Counter: Treasury official said at last Senate Estimates that you cannot prove a counterfactual.

4) The things that matter for the bottomline are not the headline stats like real GDP but what is going on in the nominal economy with compensation of employees and private GOS.  These deteriorated in the March quarter.

5) In view of 1), 2), 3) & 4), the Government has nothing to crow about with these numbers.  Hence, words like “rocky road ahead”, yada yada.

Have a nice day.
Katie

I am disappointed with the Opposition Tony.  How have you let Rudd and Co get away with their handling of the truth with the stimulus package?  You let Mark Abib lie to you on lateline when he falsely claimed that “over 70% of the stimulus packages are for infrastructure”.  Because he uses the plural we add the first $10.4b into the equation and that leaves just over 50% as infrastructure.
Secondly, that dreadful term ‘shovel-ready’ also goes unchallenged.  It leaves the impression that these jobs have people and machinery standing around waiting for funding when nothing could be further from the truth. It was also said that only new jobs would be considered, not existing works, and that too has gone by the board.  Surely the Opposition has a friendly journo or two willing to highlight the misinformation being put out there.

By most estimates, the difference between YOUR party’s policies and those being pursued by the Rudd Government is in the vicinity of $25-$30 billion.

So really, in terms of difference between the two parties, Kevin Rudd’s “Debt” is only $25-$30 Billion more than your own stated amount would be if you were in power - Roughly a little less than the previous Government, led by your former Boss, pissed away in vote buying bribes during 2007 if I’m not mistaken.

Hardly “Generations of Debt” Tony.

I’m sure the usual crowd from Piersworld will flock to you like the sheep they are, but when you are talking up a $25 Billion dollar difference as “generations of debt”, you’re really having a lend of the gullible folks who still vote for you.

Hypocrisy and duplicity are at the very heart of the Rudd Government. They have conceitedly declared their policies as being responsible for the result and conveniently forget to refer to the astronomical levels of debt they have incurred for such little benefit and the data figures itself (such as exports…). Additionally, question time in parliament now seems more a venue for promotional propaganda than one concerned with accountability. With all their pre-written verbose but empty statements, it has become agonising to watch. In fact, all responses tend to be drafted in the form (1) state how clueless the opposition is; and (2) provide information that in no way relates to the question. How you and your colleagues endure question time is beyond comprehension!

Tony, they say you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, but a great many appear to have been fooled by Rudd and Swan if you read the congratulatory blogs in the media.  The trouble is, the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality.  I work in an industrial area and there’s For Lease/For Sale signs in nearly every street and it’s the same in other industrial areas around Sydney.  In my immediate circle, I know 21 people who have been retrenched.  The majority of our clients’ sales are down and that has affected my employer’s sales. 

While Rudd is basking in the glory of the latest figures, I’d like to know how many businesses have closed down in the last 3-6 months as I believe this will give a more accurate picture of the true state of the economy.  God help us if Labor wins the next election and introduces a CETS that will do nothing for the climate but will create massive economic problems for Australia.

I’m sure other readers would like confirmation of how utilities like water and electricity have been increased by stealth under the State Labor Governments - and we haven’t even begun to pay for the desalination plant in NSW.

Off the topic, I’d like to ask what sanctions can be imposed on the Speaker in the House of Representatives as his bias makes it impossible to hear a fair debate in Parliament.  The Government front bench has become more spiteful, venomous and arrogant than any of their predecessors and their constant repetition of key phrases is worse than water torture.  The Opposition should put some of these images on U-Tube so that some of the younger voters can see a true representation of the Labor Government - not the daily news grabs showing a beaming Kevin Rudd.

Well Tony you could come right out and declare you are opposed to the tax cuts.That would halve the deficit and you could re-define yourself as a real leader.

Second time sent as I’m not sure the original went through.

Tony, they say you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, but a great many appear to have been fooled by Rudd and Swan if you read the congratulatory blogs in the media.  The trouble is, the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality.  I work in an industrial area and there’s For Lease/For Sale signs in nearly every street and it’s the same in other industrial areas around Sydney.  In my immediate circle, I know 21 people who have been retrenched.  The majority of our clients’ sales are down and that has affected my employer’s sales. 

While Rudd is basking in the glory of the latest figures, I’d like to know how many businesses have closed down in the last 3-6 months and since Labor was elected.  I believe this will give a more accurate picture of the true state of the economy.  God help us if Labor wins the next election and introduces a CETS that will do nothing for the climate but will create massive economic problems for Australia.

I’m sure other readers would like confirmation of how the cost of utilities like water and electricity have increased by stealth under the State Labor Governments – and we haven’t even begun to pay for the desalination plant in NSW.

Off the topic, I’d like to ask what sanctions can be imposed on the Speaker in the House of Representatives as his bias makes it impossible to hear a fair debate in Parliament.  The Government front bench has become more spiteful, venomous and arrogant than any of their predecessors and their constant repetition of key phrases is worse than water torture.  The Opposition should put some of these images on U-Tube so that some of the younger voters can see a true representation of the Labor Government.

hi Tony
Can you please suggest ways that Australia can slash expenditure
now not being impolite here but how about you start with MPs first well you would know because
you have been an MP a long time now!
yes we accept MPs work very hard but so do many others in society too
so please tell what has happened to the sense of noblesse oblige? so are other MPs truly aware of this concept?
well some wonder of late the way some MPs rant about the lack of services eg commcar drivers, nor enough pay etc!
shouldnt MPs remember that they should be setting an example to others
well No one forces them to be MPs
simple as that

Australia has avoided a technical recession for now but it will be saddled with Labor’s debt for decades to come.
Dear Tony. Its like buying a home. We are saddled with a huge amount of debt for decades when purchasing our homes. Whats the difference? No pain, no gain.