Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and the Australian Government came to office on a ticket of bright fresh ideas much the same as the more recently elected President Obama of the USA.
We all very happily condemned the Liberal Government (who really had served us pretty well for over a decade) to the pages of history. Most Australian knew it was time for a change, even some stalwart Liberal supporters did.
It didn't take long before the bright fresh team led by Kevin started getting the shit knocked out of it by the liberals and by the corporate heavies. And what happened? They buckled.
Consumer Protection
The Grocery Choice Scheme.
An election promise has been axed because of pressure by Woolworths and Coles. So much for showing who was hiking the prices.
The Fuelwatch Scheme Canned because of pressure by BP and Shell.
Is there any collusion between these four companies?
Certainly there is collusion between BP and Woolworths and Shell and Coles. It would be interesting to know if there was combined pressure by all four collaboratively.
The Bankwatch Scheme never got off the ground.
The big four banks N.A.B. C.T.B. WESTPAC and ANZ probably run this country, They can do whatever they want and screw whoever they want to.
OK that takes care of us consumers .
We are now unrepresented and alone in the wilderness of political porking.
Now lets look at Old Mum Earth.
Kevin was elected to clean up our environment. He tried he failed.
The emission trading scheme will be brought in, eventually but it will be a watery facsimile in no way resembling the original.
Same with all his other environmental initiatives.
This time we can thank other members of government, particularly Steve Fielding and Malcolm Turnbull. As well as a contributing cast of pushy oil and mineral companies threatening to take their business elsewhere if they are taxed for corrupting the earth , water and atmosphere. The money the government has offered to pay them to basically pollute is disgusting. (and while on the subject why are you giving them money to perfect clean coal? They should be made to pay for this Research themselves)
What about the well being of our teens?
The alcopop legislation is being brought in 14 months late and only because the opposition decided that the country needed the extra income due to the economic stimulous package defecit.
As an aside — Malcolm ; you have to be kidding don't you? You criticise Kevin for keeping us out of recession. According to the SMH (Sat 27June 2009) Housholds have lost 38% wealth since the start of the global economic crisis. This does not even include loss of Superannuation or downturns in the value of housing . What would you have done if you had been the PM? spend nothing and go into a deep recession ? I bet you would have charted a course not that different from what the government has done.
Back to what I was ranting about. The alcopop legislation was a disincentive program to target the drinks most popular with teenagers. Now thanks to the Opposition (Again, take a bow Malcolm) It will be remembered as a revenue raiser not a disincentive scheme.
Hey Kevin, Are you still going to throw some of that money over to the organisations and agencies waging war on teenage drinking, alcohol and drug abuse in general? I hope so.
So what's my point?
Its that the government has good intentions. the trouble is they lack the intestinal fortitude to get the work done.
The opposition does not help. It is about time the liberal party woke up to the fact they are no longer in government and let our elected Prime Minister and his ministry do the job and make the changes we elected them to do.
Action is needed NOW!
If the government can't govern, It is time a new election was held.
We live in a time where we just can't cool our heels and wait for time to settle the problems because things can and will only get worse.
