LBERALS SLIPPING IN POLLS

The Liberals have been slipping in the polls almost as soon as they won office probably due to the lack of the same discipline which won then office in the first place.

The Federal Liberals have been so poor in their solidarity towards their State counterparts that it has imo contributed to the loss of both the Victorian & Qld LNP Governments.

They just could not help themselves and Tony Abbott was one of the main contributors when he raised the issue of having an Adult Chat about the GST and just before the Victoria State elections too.. Giving the ALP more issues and arguments to raise in parliament seemed like Abbott just loved doing it....he could not control himself...a narcissist maybe I don't know, but I find it rather puzzling to say the least.

And who is stirring the pot again now Hockey with his defamation case just before the NSW State Election & Arthur Sinodinis the Defacto PM he claiming to be to have put Tony on notice to improve his performance..... is not a good look and reminding swinging voters that the LNP might be corrupt too if your believed where there is smoke there is fire. Arthur seemed to develop a very serious memory problem which in my years in Public Trustee would need to be tested by a doctor or indeed even then the Guardianship Board now know as the Civil List.

Joe Hockey admitted or even Crying in Court might sway a new judge but not an experienced one who looks at the news on TV seeing Hockey walking to Court full of smiles and confidence.

The court will obviously decide who was wrong under current law, but is it not amazing that Joe Hockey can sue the Fairfax Group for allegedly misleading readers about his personality or even lying in the news but the Fairfax news and indeed the voting public cant sue Joe Hockey and LNP for misleading the public over the promises made by Tony Abbott representing the LNP including Hockey and all the members of the LNP who none of which ever came out to denounce that Tony Abbott was or might be lying to the public in their effort to gain votes at the last Federal election.

Now i'm not just picking on the LNP but the ALP are equally at fault in these issues but the LNP are in Govt in the Lower House of the Federal Parliament at least now so they get my spin on this issue.

MENTAL HEALTH IN PARLIAMENT

Imo the parliament needs to look at a system of dealing with MP's who develope mental health & forgetfulness issues whilst serving their term in parliament and announce that they are required to seek medical attention and the political parties whose members are deemed to be suffering from this type illness be required to withdraw their pre-selection endorsements.

Recent displays of possible suffering of Alzheimer's & more recently delusions of grandeur are Arthur Sinodinis and Kevin Rudd appeared to have possibly suffered a mental crack during his term, but statistically their might be more who are responsible to be making important decision in the parliament who are impaired. I don't know how we should deal with the under educated but that is another important issue.

LNP & ALP SHOULD DECENTRALISE DHS HOUSING POLICY

DECENTRALISE PUBLIC HOUSING

Socialistic policies have been embraced by both the major State political parties in Victoria and this is self evident even with the LNP who continue the centralist policies of their predecessors the ALP by continuing to cram more public tenants in the central city estates. Sure they have come up with other developer incentives but the main policy is still to put more people in highrise in the central suburbs of Melbourne. Centralist policy makers consider poor people should not be discriminated against by denying them central city services, however I believe that they are making a fundamental mistake in their thinking and making this group even more marginalised. My thinking is that if we going to be a socialist state then we should do it properly and offer public tenants an opportunity for a better lifestyle.

I believe it makes people living in the central city feel even worse when they missing out on more when they so close to everything they can't afford to get into or use. Thats a slap in the face of the disadvantaged in our society don't you think?. What's the point of being near the Arts Centre, the live theatres, the sports stadiums, specialist doctors, public transport etc if you can't afford to pay to enter and enjoy those venues or services and you get a fine for using public transport after being tempted to use it because it's so close to you?

I believe it makes people feel worse if they can see the wealth around them, the expensive cars they can never have, the expensive restaurants they can never dine in, the white collar workers travelling to and from work on public transport or airconditioned company cars then going into their airconditioned offices every day, seeing them dressed in fine clothes and women carrying high end Prada and even centerlink workers have it great;  but they can't have the lifestyle they see others enjoying, they cant have or afford the airconditioning in their own chookpen apartments.

 

In my opinion it generates envy which may lead to an increased incident of crime. Like putting a poor person in a lolly shop who can't afford to buy the lollies and eventually you'd expect some lollies and chocolates to be stolen surely? Or the Mercedes stolen to go for a joyride ...so why do we continue to put temptation in front of the have nots? Is it to create extra business for the police maybe?

 

Well I think the extra business is too much for inner city police to handle and we need to change the whole idea of cramming more people in the areas they feel they'd like to live in and we should entice them to move and spread them into areas where most normal people live and work in the outer country towns and regional cities where the fresh air is better and so are the prices. the lifestyle is much better and the schools can do with more children. The businesses will benefit too as I'll explain below and more importantly the security and well being of tenants will be enhanced substantially imo.

 

DECENTRALISING CRIME OPPORTUNITIES

 

Criminals, drug dealers and others dont like to travel too far to meet their potential victims to prey on which is exactly what our housing estates offer criminals taking advantage of these our most vulnerable in our society by intimidating them, conning and assaulting them to part with their cash and enticing the younger vulnerable teenagers to join their gangs. This is self evident and been set in case history yet our policy makers keep thinking and worrying about losing their market share of voters is my opinion. The policy makers are not thinking straight and not thinking fair for the betterment of society as a whole in our so called modern society who seem to understand and promote the corrrect idea that drinking and driving and your a bloody idiot but Drinking and gaming is still ok. We as a society have only developed our ideas half way on some things and we all stuck in a rut to bother doing the right thing in our other public policy issues. 

 

I am now seeking the welfare agencies to also support and become involved after seeking the assistance from regional Councillors in country towns and others who have the power to lobby their friends in high places within both the State LNP and the ALP so they will seriously consider my proposal so both partys will change their public housing policies BEFORE THE STATE ELECTIONS by agreeing to decentralise their centralist housing policies by selling some of their $billion housing slum estates in areas such as Richmond, South Yarra, North Melb, Carlton to wealthy investors and reinvesting proceeds into building decent housing on larger blocks in country towns such as St Arnaud, one in every street and let some local developers build a few too. Why not DHS buy some of the run down houses and repair them to modern day standards and provide housing opportunities for some of their city based clients? Why do they need to be near the Universities they cant attend or the Melb General Cemetery? Why are we giving wealthy city businesses more welfare business when that great money could be going to local country businesses?

 

A change in policy will create work for tradies and local businesses and create more downstream employment and would appear to fall in line with the thinking of the federal government that INFRUSTRUCTURE SPENDING which is another word for PUBLIC WORKS will be a great and useful economic booster for our Australian but in this case our Victorian economy. New freeways are all well and good, we need them but people cant live comfortably on the streets and freeways or those chook pens we still continue to offer.

 

As stated previously ,it is my opinion the cramming of public housing tenants together on top of each other is not good for both their security nor their health and a sea change to the country should be made an option for a percentage of city dwellers to encourage more to choose country locations for permanent accommodation. 

 

This could be achieved by offering inducements such as FREE NBN internet service, a free washing machine, a free fridge or in some cases a free car. 
What is not fully understood by local government and State politicians is that most public housing tenants as a class have a steady and high disposable income which they spend very freely on takeaway foods and pizzas, on foxtel and other forms of entertainment and services.

 

Whilst most citizens might feel they don't want to associate with them as a group but spread them out of the current concrentration groups and every country town and business will want them business and appreciate having a special class of people who are supported by ALL the major federal government political Partys by giving them a steady fortnightly income in pensions and benefits and half market rental and benefits. Why do you still till insist they live in small concrete shoeboxes stacked up on top of each other, when they could be offered a free range lifestyle in our many country towns. Why should the administrators of public housing dictate where people live? Why cant we do it better? Why cant the State become more productive like they expect private enterprise to become? 

In my opinion. many of these pensioners DO NOT need to live in South Yarra rubbing shoulders with Lindsay Fox or the Myer family at their local cafes and yet where they are afraid to exit their units both during the day and at night for fear of assault by thieves and drug dealers and those with mental health issues. The wealthy can afford private security however Public tenants cant and so have to endures years of living in fear for their lives. Is this fair and reasonable in our modern society? 

 

These pensioners and others on DSP would love the opportunity to walk to IGA in St Arnaud to buy their groceries without being molested or go to Reidy's to by a Dominoes Pizza at night again without being attacked or followed. Some of these pensioners of which there are over 800,000, receive $840pf up to $960pf in regular income from the federal government which is a higher net than most workers in local businesses, or part time workers and together with cheap public housing rentals should make them the most wanted potential customer in Country Victoria because they sure have needs, and when they spend all their money they have the charities who will help them out with their rental shortfall if they in private housing or if they gamble too much at the Sports Club and cant afford food that week then they'll get food vouchers. 

Imagine a steady secure income from Federal government tax collections every fortnight coming into St Arnaud and Stawell and spreading lots of them all over Western Victoria to tide us over the severe recession hitting the Australian middle classes getting wiped out. Imagine the local doctor putting on more staff and the St Arnaud hospital getting more funding to support these people on DSP and not all are cripples some are healthier than you and me. These people tend not to save money but will buy whitegoods, clothes luxuries but alas usually not new cars. Imagine some single mothers with children sending their mulitude to the local schools who need more funding and more teachers...what a good reason for the State to re-direct and offer more funding and as the numbers of families increase so do the kids in schools...All these examples of how we can help revive our country towns like ST ARNAUD and the rest of Northern Grampians and Western Victoria.... 

 

Give me your support by lobbying your contacts and I'll keep annoying every member of parliament in the land and ill keep my twittering to every political policy maker who will respond. IT CAN BE DONE.

 

 

St Arnaud is an prime example of a great little community of about 3000, has two primary schools including St Patricks and a secondary school. Flood free and has every major bank represented in this historic gold mining township. Agricultural based businesses and work available in the welding trades for its silo and agricultural industries. But there is more work available when eager workers ask around. Plenty of great cafes. and a Bible Museum too.

 

 

Gilbert Boffa
www.gillysrooms.com.au

Indoor Camping
Commonwealth Hotel Buildings & Grounds [ex-pub]
ST ARNAUD  VIC 3478
0407855224

 

NOTE:
This is a true story, a mother and daughter have been so traumatized by their lack of safety living in public housing in Melbourne that LAST week they decided to give up their new public housing unit of 8 months in Prahran and moved into backpacker accommodation as they see it will be safer for them. This same daughter had to give up studying at Melbourne Uni because the Carer Pension rules prohibit more than 25 hours study per week including travel time. Who makes these rules? I had offered my place in St Arnaud, however daughter was waiting on a scholarship Uni offer possibly from interstate. MORE NEWS : They now living in backpacker accom in NSW where they claim about 15% might be in same boat as them. Its dearer but safer accommodation. They also went to visit Malcolm Turnbulls office in NSW. They now feel safer for first time in several years. This lady will talk to the media if they are going to be sensative to her story of a broken woman and her family. 
.

 

Copy:

 

Note: no apologies for using unusual ideas, words or phrases to enhance my points.

BUSINESS SPECTATOR CLOSES FREE COMMENT ON ITS CONTENT

After several months of contributing free comments on the Rupert Murdoch's Business Spectator site it now is almost impossible to make a comment unless you subscribe and pay for the privilege to make any comments on their very good articles I must admit. I've also noticed a higher level of economic advisory content as it ramps up its subscriptions.  So I'll now be making daily comments on anything I read in Business Spectator or other economic, financial, political news and policy. Anyone else interested in making reasonable comments lets do something about public commenting on what politicians are doing right or wrong.

PAUL KEATING PREMIER OF NSW

PAUL KEATING PREMIER OF NSW former Prime Minister of Australia 1991-1996 is an observation and interpretation I make now after watching the must see 4 part series on the ABC with Kerrie O'Brien and Paul Keating himself, the ABC 4 Corners Program Titled Insiders and after reading an unrelated article in the Australian in relation to the design and siting of Sydney's next Casino.

I recommend all those interested in Australian politics to watch, study and discuss but not to forget the Liberal Party antics of branch stacking by merchant bankers in Victoria essentially delivered similar powers to a select few people through manipulations not too dissimilar in what happens in the boardrooms and takeovers in Australia's biggest corporations.  

The rise of Jeff Kennett should also be studied on how he took power to become Victoria's first elected dictator. The writer remembers well because he alleges Roger Prescott won his seat on one statement against John Harrowfield and the Independent of the following untrue statement by claiming that " a vote for an independent is a vote for labor" such was the dislike and distrust of political competition that he made a claim to put fear in the minds of voters using an untrue statement which could not be pursued under false advertising legislation and in any case it was too late the election was over. A clever use of words made at his appropriately useful time designed to put doubt in the voters minds.... a very clever tactic indeed.  

The Keating interviews reveal so much of what I did not know or understand about the Paul Keating the man I now call the best Treasurer and Prime Minister the LNP never had and how he took power and essentially used it to improve the Australian economy in the direction it had to travel. Paul Keating did it differently than my kitchen cabinet would have done it but after all he had the power and he used it but its a pity he could not have been in govt instead of the rabble we had under Rudd and Gillard.   

To explain to readers, the writer lived through the financial market turmoil's of the Whitlam years under Jim Cairns and the non eventful Malcolm Frazer years and the Bob Hawke Paul Keating years. The writer was working as an Investment Officer /Analyst and dealt in the money market for most of those years seeing interest rates hit a peak of 26% pa for 4 year Bank NCD's during the Whitlam years which really could not be compared to the Keating years where interest rates peaked at least 19%pa when the Pyramid Building Society went into liquidation in Victoria.

The Whitlam years were different for lots of reasons including a whole set of rigid monetary policy settings which could not deal with the budget fiscal positions and the high inflation of those years. Housing interest rates were fixed, this created a squeeze in other areas causing commercial rates to skyrocket beyond reason for a time until the dismissal and the resultant new elections gave us the Liberals headed by Malcolm Fraser.

Looking back at the Fraser years, the writer cannot really remember much in the way anything interesting happening during those years but maybe the voters had had enough of the ALP until Bob Hawke made his move........   to be continued 

PETER COSTELLO RATING AGENCY

Peter Costello popped up last week to state that the Queensland Government had to sell off its income earning utility companies if it wanted to keep its AAA Credit rating.  I'd like to question the credit rating groups who require state governments to sell down their best prime assets in order keep their AAA ratings. There has to be something fundamentally wrong with rating agencies methodology to in my honest opinion.

Many of the rating agencies made big mistakes in the USA so what gives them the right to adjudicate on Queensland to FORCE them to sell those very assets regarded as prime on the world scene?

Peter Costello appeared to do great things to manipulate the Federal Budget by selling its best assets to reduce liabilities selling QANTAS, COMMONWEALTH BANK, TELSTRA to name the a few strategic assets but look at them now. Why would holding those assets to cover their liabilities be such a bad thing I ask?

Whilst I fully agree that State and Federal governments should not be operating business enterprises using public service mentality staff, but sometimes for national security reasons Telstra should have been kept and should have Qantas no matter what their profitability status.

I have not heard anyone dare question Peter Costello's advice to Qld or even question the methodology used by the rating agencies which appear to hold a gun at the Qld State government head with Peter Costello ready to pull the trigger.

Will someone please stand up with more information.

WIKI LEAKS SAVES THE USA.

Not much has changed after 40 years considering the following statement was an assessment of the Australian political scene by the American diplomatic advisers during 1975 or thereabouts commenting about the Whitlan lead ALP at that time. The WIKI Leaked cables which I have not read directly does explain a great deal about local politics then and now as indeed many of the younger players then are now part of both the ALP and Liberal National Party now although some from both sides of politics have since become lobbyists for foreign owned government organisations.

The following statement was lifted from a News Ltd article by

paul.toohey@news.com.au who which I have not sought approval to publish as it refers to the actual statement below

''More broadly,'' it stated, ''there is in Australia an aura of selfishness and structural animosity, with the states against Canberra, the ALP caucus against Whitlam, the Opposition after narrow political advantage, individual unions elbowing for material gain, corporations passing the cost of excessive wage settlements on to the consumer, rural interests claiming discrimination and none of the players motivated by concern for national wellbeing.''

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/wikileaks-bob-hawke-dished-the-dirt-to-america/story-e6frfro0-1226619377992#ixzz2QQjrPVTe

However people may interpret Bob Hawke's behaviour in keeping a dialogue going with the USA it should not be seen as a bad thing imo. Bob Hawke was right...the ALP had dills in almost every Ministerial department during the Whitlam ALP years as I recall interest rates going to 26% for 4 year bank NCD's money during those silly years and the 10 year bond rate hit 8% if my recollections are correct as I was a Research & Investment Assistant of a large UK Insurance Group in their Melbourne Head Office and was dealing in money market securities at that time.

Although I never agreed with ALP policy during the Hawke years, which brought in the Assets test for all pensioners except politicians, the ALP would have been thankful they had Bob Hawke at the helm of the party as he was the only truly educated member which even his treasurer could not claim so well qualified. Many members of the ALP choose their portfolios because they belonged to the right faction of their supporter groups, not because they were highly academically qualified to become Ministers as normal employees working in corporate Australia would be required to be before being chosen. I believe even our current Treasurer could hardly have been the best qualified candidate to have deserved the role of Federal Treasurer imo. Anyone can spend other peoples money...and you dont have to be a Rhodes scholar to do that.

That is why I've decided to start up the VOTERS PARTY as an advocate for voters.
JOIN THE VOTERS PARTY FOR VOTER PROTECTION

Purpose of the VOTERS PARTY is to lift the quality of our politicians so instead of having poorly educated politicians choosing poorly educated rejects with degrees to work with them in government jobs, we might be able to force the employment of better skilled operatives and political representatives.

How many times do we hear that a law has lots of loopholes like the Crimes Commission in Qld not having the legal capacity to investigate the potential for some well known ex-politicians to be offering advice which may be tainted with a conflict of interest issue? How did such poorly framed legislation get through the parliament without a top QC having an examination of the proposed legislation to test it for loopholes such as described above. Why wont our politicians pay for the best advice at the start instead of waiting for these problems to unfold later on and still not attempt to amend and improve the legislation? I can only conclude that either we have a team of incompetent politicians or they conspire with other MP's to pass faulty or incomplete legislation so they can exploit these laws at a later date.
The recent Superannuation changes have already shown to have gaping holes in the legislation so that no money will be raised. Why do they even bother to upset retirees? Do they really believe that our education system has been so poor that young adults cant see through the nonsense? Are they really trying to insult the teachers in our excellent private and public school system?
I cant think of any other explanation as to why we get these poorly created laws especially as there already is a great level of suspicion in the community about the honesty of all politicians whose own members are questioning their Party honesty of purpose.

Why do we have politicians spending our tax money to help importers import more cheap manufactured goods into our Melbourne ports all the while telling local manufacturers that they need to become more productive while having to pay wages and increasing oncosts which are several hundred percent higher than our asian neighbours?

Both major political parties have agreed to increase employer super contributions by 33.33% from 9-12% on top of salaries they pay which while might seem terrific for employees with current jobs, does not help these same people keep their jobs.

Some of our politicians exhibit pathological illnesses or delusions of grandeur as they try to unseat their opponents even in their own parties, which by the way are unconstitutional and not recognised by our Australian Constitution.

The Voters Party is calling for all political candidates of the main unit groups to be required to undertake a complete medical & physcological health test so that we don't risk getting sick politicians getting the generous superannuation scheme entitlements for life for any existing issues and more importantantly so we don't get representatives on the world stage who have behavioural problems for all to view overseas.

As voters we all know there are big issues in political parties and with ex-politicians becoming lobbyists for large foreign firms whilst still receiving government pensions for life, but no one seems to be interested to ensure that these VERY IMPORTANT issues are dealt with or at least debated publically and not behind closed doors by other politicians or those relying on government funds for their advisory services.

We invite Human Resource experts to submit their opinions as to Statement of Duties and Responsibilities which politicians still do not have as do other employees.

The VOTERS PARTY is not envisaged to become involved in general policy issues between the various groups of politicians, however there are a number of misconceptions in the community as to the role of the RBA and the consequential effects which government policy statements and fiscal policies by Federal, State and to a lesser degree by Local Governments do have on RBA setting monetary policy which needs to be debated in a public forum, so we don't get to accept political lies or deception by political MP's who either know what is really going on or who are totally ignorant of the complexity of what may really be going on in the economy.

Voters are consumers too who still have no protection against lying MP's who are seeking our support at election time.

Stand up & be counted and lets get the debate going..