Tony Abbott's National Press Club Speech

[mahler004]

Yeah, it's obviously not reasonable for them to have their costed policies out or whatever, but I have a sneaking feeling that their position has been based on the campaign that was run against them so successfully at the last election. A lot of the stuff they've been doing reminds me of that to some extent (bingo cards, slogans about the LNP's unfair budget etc.). It'll be interested to see what happens!

It's not a good sign, in that Tony Abbott has showed that relentless negativity in opposition is an effective way to win government (the 'Tea Party' approach.)

Shorten said that he'd try to be more bipartisan and less 'oppositional' then Tony Abbott. I don't think he's really done a good enough job, but Abbott hasn't really given him much to compromise on (with few notable exceptions - ISIS/IS/whatever, the terrorism stuff, the tax increase on high earners, and asylum seekers to an extent.)

Shorten has billed 2015 as his 'year of ideas.' Let's see what happens.

[slothpomba]

In terms of rhetoric and construction, a decent speech: B-ull...
In terms of content and quality: C-ra...
In terms of policy and vision: Fu...k...

This government will deliver Australia’s economic future because only a Coalition government can.

As Liberals and Nationals, sound economic management is in our DNA.

I'm so sick at this trope that the liberals are massively better at managing the economy. The evidence just isn't there. Even look at a contemporary example, the ALP steered us through the largest financial crisis in almost a century. They say a lie repeated often enough may as well be a truth, i know many people who accept this as truth without even questioning it.

This government would hardly have taken the political risks it has without the conviction that some change is absolutely unavoidable if our country is to flourish.

To create more jobs and more opportunities for families, we simply have to build a stronger economy.

A stronger economy is the foundation of a stronger Australia.

And if the economy is stronger, everyone’s life is better.

A stronger economy helps everyone who’s doing it tough:

· parents wrestling with school fees and health costs;

· small business people anxious to keep their staff;

· seniors whose superannuation has to fund their retirement;

· volunteers wondering if they can still afford to serve the community; and

· young people looking for their first job and their first home.

I find it ironic he talks about creating jobs when he instituted hiring freezes and slashed public service jobs. Many of my friends, young people eager to land their first professional job, actually progressed through the public service recruitment stages and were informed it was frozen and they no longer had a chance of being offered a job.

He talks about parents wrestling with school fees and healthcare costs. He is the origin of this. He cuts income support payments to parents, he would preside over rising healthcare costs with his GP copay and start the dismantling of medicare. It's very rich.

The drift of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years cannot continue.

In 2007, we had a strong and sustainable budget with a $20 billion surplus and $50 billion in the bank.

After six years of Labor, the deficit had blown out to $50 billion and gross debt was skyrocketing towards $667 billion.

Ah yes, well into his term as a prime minister in his own right, he his blaming his predecessor rather than talking about his own positive vision.

2007 was just before the largest financial crisis and recession to hit the world in almost a century. Yes, the deficit rose but that is what tends to happen when almost all economists agree you must spend to stimulate the economy and avoid a depression. Economic stimulus saved our country from a total crash and the misery witnessed in many European countries.

Our problem is not that taxes are too low; our problem is that government spending is too high.

Revenue is income minus expenditure. Both sides of this coin are massive and yet, he brushes away a whole entire option with one single line.

80% of mining profits go overseas. Contrary to popular conception, even companies like BHP are majority foreign owned. We are allowing our nation and it's natural resources to be robbed blind only to send the prosperity overseas. With the profits of the tax, we could create a sovereign wealth fund to allow the profits of this one time boom to last for generations to come. He talks about "intergenerational theft" but ignores the biggest theft going on under our noses!

Don't even start on the "loopholes" (which are actually deliberate) that allow people to pay far less tax than the law or we have decided as a society, says they should pay.

The police and the security agencies have told me that they need access to telecommunications data to deal with a range of crime, from child abuse to terrorism, and — as far as I am concerned — they should always have the laws, money and support they need to keep Australia safe.

This is clever and horrifying newspeak for reality. Mandatory data retention of all internet metadata records for every man, woman and child in this country. It's without a warrant. It's without judicial oversight. It's without anyone being guilty. Every move, every preference, every interest. All recorded by the government. Furthermore, it is an internet tax! It will cost millions for the industry to store and maintain all this data. This cost will be passed onto the end consumers of their internet services. For a government that is so happy about dropping power bills, internet bills will skyrocket.

It is unnecessary. If someone is doing something wrong, do it the proper way and get a warrant of a judge. There is absolutely no need for total and absolute dragnet surveillance of every single citizens of this country.

...and our children can look forward to more opportunities than we had.

Ridiculous. Many people in his cabinet went to university for free, without the burden and restriction of debt. Now, under his proposed changes, many students will wind up with an absolutely massive debt. Indeed, for some degrees and combinations it could be over $100,000 of debt.