Budget 2014

[hobbitle]

[charmanderp]

The LNP and the Labour parties just have different philosophies about how to make a country strong. The tireless suggestion that Tony and Smokin' Joe are only interested in looking after their "mates" in the big end of town is utter nonsense. It's just that they believe that the country is best run via stronger businesses which then create employment and lifts everyone up.

We'll see.

[xenial]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgih2ORI8Z8&sns=em

Food for thought, perhaps. Also places some of our attitudes towards protest in perspective.

[IndefatigableLover]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgih2ORI8Z8&sns=em

Food for thought, perhaps. Also places some of our attitudes towards protest in perspective.

LOL I was just going to post the same thing albeit one of many articles instead xD
But seriously the irony...

[simpak]

What I get out of that video is not really 'Hockey is a hypocrite' but more 'and if we look into the future of most everyone in this thread, in x years time they also will not give a shit about university fees'. Idealism fades with age, well documented, boring.

Re: that article. The final quote from Hockey is actually quite true - whilst I don't support the current changes to HECS in any way shape or form, my aunty couldn't even go to university because my grandma could only afford to send one child to uni and thought that my dad would find it more useful simply because he was male.  At least we don't live in that Australia anymore...higher education has seen sorer times.

[xenial]

I was more interested in the manner of protestation. I wonder how people would react if a university was occupied like that today.

I've never really figured out why idealism fades with age. Why? It's obviously not because they become more politically enlightened - people still fall on some spectrum of educated to politically ignorant, but generally they're more conservative. Is it cynicism?

[alondouek]

I think it's cynicism in some people, but I'd argue it's more just mellowing of opinions over time.

The video shows this pretty nicely; we have younger Joe Hockey as a progressive, nowadays he's a key member in a highly conservative government. Conversely, we have Malcolm Fraser who headed up a fairly conservative Liberal government and is not endorsing Greens candidates in later life.

Essentially, people's opinions change over time because what is important to them changes over time as well. Early 20's Uni Student Joe Hockey understandably cared about university fees; late 40s Politician Joe Hockey is obviously more focused on other things. I wouldn't call it hypocrisy because he's (assumedly) not advocating for something he doesn't really believe in - he likely wouldn't be Coalition treasurer if this were the case. Simply put, his priorities have shifted, just like Fraser's has.






Side note: I feel like that this is an inherent weakness in democracy, in that those generally representing the population aren't often actually reflective of the strata of populations they represent due to age gap and resultant differing of interests.

[chasej]

I think it's cynicism in some people, but I'd argue it's more just mellowing of opinions over time.

The video shows this pretty nicely; we have younger Joe Hockey as a progressive, nowadays he's a key member in a highly conservative government. Conversely, we have Malcolm Fraser who headed up a fairly conservative Liberal government and is not endorsing Greens candidates in later life.

Essentially, people's opinions change over time because what is important to them changes over time as well. Early 20's Uni Student Joe Hockey understandably cared about university fees; late 40s Politician Joe Hockey is obviously more focused on other things. I wouldn't call it hypocrisy because he's (assumedly) not advocating for something he doesn't really believe in - he likely wouldn't be Coalition treasurer if this were the case. Simply put, his priorities have shifted, just like Fraser's has.






Side note: I feel like that this is an inherent weakness in democracy, in that those generally representing the population aren't often actually reflective of the strata of populations they represent due to age gap and resultant differing of interests.

I think the message that can be taken from this that generally people, regardless of whether they are left or right wing, are inherently self-interested.

[kinslayer]

I think the message that can be taken from this that generally people, regardless of whether they are left or right wing, are inherently self-interested.

^ I was going to post this. At the end of the day, Joe Hockey will do what's best for Joe Hockey, which given his current position of significant power and privilege, is to uphold the party line and that of his political supporters. I'd be surprised if he still thinks that uni should be free for everyone, but I suspect that's currently not relevant.

*edited

[thushan]

http://www.theage.com.au/business/university-fees-to-be-regulated-under-pynes-reforms-20140530-399pd.html

@slothpomba: this analysis correlates well with yours about deregulation of university fees

[Ballerina]

I think the message that can be taken from this that generally people, regardless of whether they are left or right wing, are inherently self-interested.

Oh wow, you've eloquently described what I've been trying to sum politics up as for 20 years, ty