perthute wrote:
Save the whales – FAIL++++++
-While I agree to an extent, Australia is not the loudest voice here.

· Fuelwatch, $21M – FAIL+++

· Kids Laptops – FAIL+++

· National Broadband Network ($4b-$7B-$43B): To cost about $20,000 a connection – FAIL+++++++
- I'm waiting to see how it turns out before judging.

Mining Super Profit Tax – Share Market and Superannuation values crash – FAIL +++++++++++++
-Disagree, the concept is sound. The way it's been done is not that great but any non-renewable resource should attract a high premium and a percentage of profit makes a lot of sense.

· Grocery Watch/Choice – dumped $13 million vow – FAIL++
-The duopoly is the problem here.

· Federal takeover of hospitals by mid 2009 if no improvement. – EPIC FAIL+++
-Again, wait and see.

· Hospital Reform – just take the money from the States – FAIL+
-Again, wait and see.

· Schools Stimulus Infrastructure Program (BEBR - Builders Early Retirement Fund) – FAIL+++
-Initial reports are limited but don't underestimate the essentially right/ conservative media's ability to warp reality. A fast policy response is always fraught with danger.

· Bribe to Free To Air TV Stations – FAIL++
- DOn't know what you mean.

· Refugees: how many boats so far? – FAIL+++++++++
-The number of asilum seekers coming by airplane has an extra zero or two on the end and in any case we signed up to the UN's basic human rights agreement, if they claim to be endangered we have an obligation to take them in, humainly, and assess the situation. I personally don't understand why people care since immigration is entirely responsible for our population growth, without which we'd all pay higher taxes and prices for everything as our older generations retire and become an expense to be paid by the working people.

· Refugees suspension backflip – FAIL++++
-Let them in I say, here in Melbourne who'd drive you home after a night out if we didn't have the immigrants? In any case, what I already said.

· 2020 Summit - 1000 B&B; minds, $2+m = 9 usable ideas - EPIC FAIL+++++++

· Batts in , Batts out – SUPER DUPER 2 BILLION DOLLARS MEGA FAIL++++++
-Agreed, this was a serious misunderstanding of how people actually work, one of Rudd's fatal flaws and typical of a technocrat. Garret was used to win the seat, I still like the songs he sung.

· Kill off Insulation Industry – FAIL+

· Upcoming Huge Budget Deficit – FAIL++++++
-Deficit's are not necessarily bad, magnitude and for how long is more to the point. I mean we all borrow money when we get a bit short at times don't we?

· Mining Tax – FAIL++++++++++
-Bring it on.

· Childcare Centre Building program scrapped – FAIL++

· Carbon emissions reduction - LPG conversion subsidies phased out – FAIL++
-Subsidies and rebates are an inefficient way to influence the market, i.e. costly. A tax that redistributes and rightly charges emitters is logical. The devil's in the detail.

· Carbon emissions reduction (2): household solar rebate axed 9/6 – FAIL++
-The silent story is that the solar rebate pushed down the REC price and has stalled large scale wind developments to a significant degree. Large scale wind is still half the cost of solar.

· ETS - Greatest Moral Challenge of our Time – FAIL+
-Very dissapointing he dropped this, his main flaw was using such large statements leading up to the last election. Abbott and his team of right wing social conservatives killed this because they don't belive it, despite 98% consensus in the scientific community. Turnbull was going to pass it. And the Green's totalitarian policy doesn't help. Brown and Rudd have not met since before those discussions began, arrogance on both sides. With Green support only a couple of libs would need to cross the floor, of the independants only Fielding is likely to oppose (again an fundamental Christian). I do not like the idea that paradise church has an influence on my life.

· Return Schapelle Corby to Australia – FAIL+++
-It's outside of our jurasdiction and this should be kept in mind when we visit other countries. I'd sure as hell never go anywhere near drugs in south east asia, their laws are harsh even if innefective.

· Fight inflation genie – Oops GFC – FAIL++++
-The GFC was primarily caused by complicated US derivatives being based on bad loans in the US housing market, chain reaction kind of thing. The idea that our polititians can have any but minute influence is a deceptive tactic first used by Howard in claiming that he made us all rich. From friends in London I can say we are far better off here than they are economically right now, mainly because China still wants our dirt.

· Taxes up (gas, diesel,transport, alcopops) – inflationary – FAIL+++++
-Someone has to pay for services. As the population gets older we will pay more tax, or let our parents get sick and starve.

· Arresting Iranian leaders: stunt – FAIL+

· Bank guarantee - over 200,000 accounts frozen from September 2008. – FAIL+++
-This was necessary to stop our businesses falling over like they did in England. During the GFC no one would lend money. The guarantee helped give the confidense to lend and in a global economy what everyone else does has a big influence on what you should do, like it or not.

· Cash Splash 1 –borrowed – FAIL
-We're doing better than other places, maybe they were right?

· Cash Splash 2: borrowed $42B – FAIL
-Ditto

· Work Choices/fair work: awards backflips – tourism/food industry dispensation but farmers will be out of work. –

FAIL+++

· Defence: cut expenditure & build weaponry? – FAIL

· Homeland Security Department – “non-core promise” broken Nov 28, 2007 – FAIL

· The buck stops with me – so where are you? – FAIL+++++++++++

· Tough Decisions – Ahh never – FAIL+++++++++++++

· Securing Murray/Darling water – FAIL+++++
-This is a basket case in some regards, the Vic gov has been making it hard for everyone. Covering the canals in QLD and filling the many, many illeagal ones would be a good start. Perhaps we need to get used to the idea of recycled water like people drink in other parts of the world.

· IVF: cuts. – FAIL++

· Medicare/private health: rebate same/lie – FAIL+++

· Dental scheme: gone 22.Cataract surgery: costs doubled – FAIL++++++

· Superannuation: government needs it more than us. – FAIL
-SUperannuation as first introduced (I believe) be Keating is a way of trying to aviod the higher taxes that will be necessary to suppor the aging population, I believe the necessary rate is almost twice what most people put into super.

· Home Savers Grant: fizzer, lack of people saving – FAIL
-It's hard to turn everyone around from a credit mentality.

· First Home Owners grant: lifted, inflating house prices – FAIL
-Never should have existed, there's got to be a better way. Perhpas encouraging high density housing in the cities through tax breaks would be better. Essentially housing is expensive because we're all spread out and use cars. Build up, use trains, busses and trams and everything gets cheaper again. (Enthusiasts can still have a Datsun for leasure, after all what is life without pleasure?)

· GP super clinics - $275M. – FAIL++++

· Non-compulsory university union fees: voted down – FAIL
-Agreed, but it's always harder to bring something like this back. Fits with Howard's neolibralist idea that people are poor because they choose it. I think it's more complicated than that.

· Worker share options – blunder – FAIL

· Ruddbank – FAIL

· Reduce consultancies by $112 million = increase to $800 million (6354 consultancies) – FAIL
-Consultants are necessary when you remove the public service/ state owned utilities and so on. Someone still needs to do the work.

· Govt will pay small business invoices on time = takes a lot longer – FAIL

· No nuclear Waste Dump NT – election promise – broken June 2008 – FAIL
-Nice deal isn't it, we sell Uranium with the contract stating we take the waste back. Don't sell it in the first place I say, wind power is cheaper anyway on a life time scale. (I acknowledge this is debatable and not an area of expertise.)

· $15 million to rural research & development corporations – election promise – broken May 2008. – FAIL

· A - E reporting on childcare standards & universal pre-school for 4 year olds – election promise – broken June

2009 – FAIL

· ALP Uranium Policy/stance – in tatters. Garrett approves uranium mine. – FAIL
-Lame, while nuclear energy has gotten a lot better we have better alternatives in Aus. Leave it in the ground where it's safe.

· Diplomacy – Japan – biggest customer – FAIL+++
-Save the whales or not? As a big trading partner we'll at least get heard.

India – Uranium contract – FAIL .
-Contentious, India goes a long way to supporting our Universities since the Government is short on that. Don't know what I think about that.

· USA – conversations (real/imaginary) released to media. – FAIL

· China, May 2009 – “difficult to deal with” Australia led Asia Pacific Body – thud. – FAIL
-China is big on propaganda, I have a couple of Chinese friends and I can tell you it's a very different world.

· Boost funding for aboriginal Legal Aid – lie – actuality = cuts to funding in first budget. – FAIL
-Our treatment of the first Australians continues to be very poor, the main problem is the swinging voters dont care that much and today's polititians seem to lack conviction, any of them. RIP Democrats.

· Scale back Intervention – ignored review recommendations. – FAIL
-Howard brought it in. One of Rudds problems has been moving the goal posts, not in this case it would seem.

· Homes /renovations for indigenous – not one shovel lifted to date – FAIL++++
-Polititians need to go live there for a while to see that "our" way of doing things don't apply.

· Digital TV –Conroy, 2008, slash $22m from costs of changeover, original estimate $16m now to cost $66m –FAIL
-Things are nearly always over budget.

· Cheaper Better Childcare – Govt regulations will see Childcare costs going up by about $1500pa on July 1,
-Fair, family friendly industrial relation laws are probably part of the answer to this. Decent parental leave and an effort to remove the discrimination against women that still exists, another long, long debate.

2010 – FAIL++++++++++

· Internet Filter – FAIL
-Too hard.

· Funding Equivalent Hospital Beds – Sorry Kev, can’t sleep in those equivalent Beds – FAIL++++++