Name me three things Kevin Rudd has done to Australia's betterment...

Quote Originally Posted by rod_steel:

He speaks mandarin

Thank you Rod, and yes - Harry Potter does speak Mandarin

But that is not to Australia's betterment.

Next?

Agreed and sorry Rod, he speaks Mandarin and yet has the EI of a cardbox box and therefore is probably more disliked by the Communist Party than lil Johnny H was.  K Rudd is viewed as a little bitch by the international community.

What has he actually achieved - a sizeable budget deficit.  But he did say "sorry" I suppose..

Thank you Gun

I do think Rod was being sarcastic though.

Nonetheless, I'm still waiting on something Mr Rudd has done to our betterment.

I don't follow Australian politics that closely to be honest (even though I am voting in the next election  ) but to me Rudd was just an opposition leader at the right place at the right time. Australian public sentiment was that Howard had been in office too long and that his leadership became a bit stale and that it was time for a change, without realising that the alternative really didn't bring anything new to the table.

And with the ongoing feuding of the current Liberal Party in terms of their own leadership and the fact that history shows Australians do not like to replace their leader after only 1 term in office I'm affraid to say but you are going to see another few more years of K-Rudd with the top job.

My own opinion of him is that I see him as being a bit of a yes man who just tows the company line. Saying "sorry" and ratifying the Kyoto Protocol are nice marketing tools but without trying to sound too blunt, that does not make my quality of life any better than it was under Howard.

But discussion around climate change and what not is for another day

he gave us alot of $$$ last year. that was pretty cool.

unions are back in vouge (this can be good and bad depending on what your job is)

also got rid of those stupid 'work choices' or whatever they where that lost johnny the election

interest rates have plumeted (not sure if this is entirely k rudds doing but is linked in a way)

really struggled to come up with anything, but the one big thing he has provided for Oz is a bloody good laugh...

Agree entirely. Unfortunately, evryone in this country is allowed to vote and the majority of the voting public are fucking retards

I agree that an apology was needed - and long overdue. It is, however, a symbolic act that has zero substance. What have they done since to improve the health / prospects of the aboriginals?

The climate change thing is a very difficult one. I was extremely relieved when the ETS got shot down - and how they managed to even put it to a senate vote with pretty much zero public debate is fucking disgraceful. The way I see it is this: Australia contribute approximately 1% of global emmissions. Krudd wished to lower ours by 20% by 2020. To achieve this, he was to tax, among others, the agricultural and farming industries (and mining, of course).

So, we were going to legislate to reduce global emmissions by 0.2% by the end of the decade.

Now, firstly, a reduction of 0.2% globally will achieve absolutely naught. Secondly, it is pretty much accepted that global emmissions will rise in the next decade (China, India, South America, Eastern Europe etc).

We would ultimately achieve nothing and send the country broke at the same time - brilliant idea.

To top it all off, he wanted to legislate before Copenhagen. We have all since seen what kind of consensus Copenhagen achieved. It's all another PR stunt.

Agree that Garrett and Wong are useless.

I also live in NSW  What a fucking disgrace that mob are. But, the same knuckleheads vote them in term after term. It wouldn't matter is Mickey Mouse was the leader, they'd still have voted them in.

I'm pretty sure we'll get a reprieve from them this time though

I hear <crickets>

Quote Originally Posted by rod_steel:

Talking about the NSW election, can you imagine people out west voting for a person who has an American accent?

My in-laws went down to Sydney on NYE to watch the fireworks on the harbour (can't remember what point they were on). Anyhoo, they just so happen to set up camp right near the channel 9 mob.

Guess who they were speaking to? None other than Mrs Keneally. My mother-in-law said she was lovely, and quite attractive in person.

Shut the fuck up Mum

You're one of those knuckleheads