Samuel's Blog

25 Comments

• 1. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 8:51 am

  Onya Pete !

• 2. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 10:04 am

  Did you send an email to the Chief Minister regarding the “pointing the cell phone” incident ?

• 3. Samuel  |  May 11th, 2006 at 10:29 am

  No. I’ve emailed relevant political party members in the ACT Legislative Assembly on other matters before, and the only people to never reply are the Labor Party. They no longer deserve the courtesy of reading my gripes and having a chance to deal with them before I make them public.

• 4. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 11:02 am

  Really ? (perhaps another ‘turnip’ blog might be in order ).

• 5. cunninglinguist  |  May 11th, 2006 at 11:15 am

  *cringes* That surplus is only there because Costello hasn’t put enough towards public education, health, roads, drug prevention, community welfare programmes… I could say, for example, my household budget has a surplus if I don’t spend money on food and medical care – if my family are going hungry and are ill, I would have no right to brag about a surplus.

  I get out there in the ‘real world’ Samuel, and volunteer at a crisis centre, where I see the effects of Howard and Costello’s policies.

  Your post makes me sad.

• 6. heatseeker  |  May 11th, 2006 at 11:26 am

  Peter Costello needs a big rock dropped on his head!

• 7. cunninglinguist  |  May 11th, 2006 at 11:42 am

  Right On, Heatseeker! And no safety cage or free iPod for the slimy, smirking scumbag.

• 8. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 12:01 pm

  Wow ……what started out as a ‘boquet’ for the Federal Treasurer has rapidly degenerated into a ‘brick’ !

• 9. heatseeker  |  May 11th, 2006 at 12:24 pm

  I’m sending my own e-mail to the Treasurer as we speak!

  Samuel, money is this Government’s ONLY bottom line … bugger ethics, accountability, honesty and social responsibility.

  And they’ve bought us in to yet another obscene war through a web of lies and deceit!

• 10. Samuel  |  May 11th, 2006 at 1:05 pm

  Oh deary me.

  That surplus is only there because Costello hasn’t put enough towards public education, health, roads, drug prevention, community welfare programmes

  How quickly we forget that the federal government shares those responsibilities with state governments. There needs to be less of these shared responsibilites, and more clear definition of powers. Most of the mess of health, education, roads, etc, could have been avoided if the state and federal governments didn’t blame each other for everything instead of getting on with the job.

  If I were in charge we wouldn’t be spending public money on private health and private education, and there would be public GP centres in as many locations as possible, employing GPs and providing health care under the medicare system.

  There is one thing that stood out at me in the budget, and that is that for years everybody has been going on about the ageing population being a burden on pensions and health etc, and yet barely anybody has thought about the way Peter Costello has reduced the burden slightly by not taxing people over 60 who are accessing their superannuation.

  Whilst I disagree with the tactics, I suspect that there will be a large increase in health and education funding in next year’s budget, just prior to the election.

• 11. Samuel  |  May 11th, 2006 at 1:09 pm

  What I left out there was that it would be unwise to suddenly release all of the funding initiatives in this budget, as that would probably worry the economists…especially the ones in the Reserve Bank. The budget isn’t perfect (none ever are), but it is a big step in the right direction.

  And yes, funding for some things haven’t been as high as possible over many years, but I think not having the government paying interest to overseas lenders sooner rather than later is a good thing, as it means funding for those things can also be increased, sooner rather than later.

• 12. Chuck A. Spear  |  May 11th, 2006 at 3:09 pm

  I don’t think we deserve any money personally. I think we should be using it to build a big mirror behind the dark side of the moon.

  Budget time is a perfect example of doublethink. Costello taxes us to the hilt via income tax, GST, land tax and a million others. Costello then gives a negligible amount back through tax relief and he is hailed a hero by the media and therefore by the public.

  I agree heatseeker, Costello needs his head garnished.

• 13. Samuel  |  May 11th, 2006 at 3:52 pm

  There is one thing that stood out at me in the budget, and that is that for years everybody has been going on about the ageing population being a burden on pensions and health etc, and yet barely anybody has thought about the way Peter Costello has reduced the burden slightly by not taxing people over 60 who are accessing their superannuation.

  Or was that just people accessing their super…regardless of age?

• 14. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 4:10 pm

  Oh well …. to use a corny old cliche …. “You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all the time”.

  There’s always a ‘disgruntled’ voice to be heard somewhere .

• 15. Samuel  |  May 11th, 2006 at 4:50 pm

  The last time somebody said that to me John, I said “Very true”.

  Speaking of people Peter Costello can’t please all of the time, Kim Beazley’s budget reply will be on “The 7:30 Report” tonight. If Tuesday’s performance is anything to go by, I won’t be relying on Kerry O’Brien for fair interviews with Labor and Liberal people.

• 16. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 5:56 pm

  I’m going out at 7pm, so I’ll miss Representative Beazley’s “reply to the budget” .

• 17. Samuel  |  May 11th, 2006 at 6:06 pm

  Have fun John. I’ll probably watch Beazley, it might be interesting to see how much there actually is to genuinely criticse in this budget…not a lot I would think.

• 18. John B1_B5  |  May 11th, 2006 at 6:27 pm

  What he needs to do is offer “alternative policies” rather than just criticise (assuming he has any of course ).

• 19. Chuck A. Spear  |  May 12th, 2006 at 3:01 am

  Beazley needs to drop his own weight on his head!

  Samuel, I hope you don’t post the letter. I do not wish to tell you how to think, but maybe you should read between the lines during budgets.

  The whole exercise is a publicity stunt. Similar to Mussolini leaving his office light on all night so that the people thought he was hard at work 24/7. Or me trying to know what I am talking about.

  I will leave you with a quote.

  ‘If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull’

  Peter Foster Circa 1989

• 20. Samuel  |  May 12th, 2006 at 3:14 am

  A few minutes after sending the email to Peter Costello’s office I got an email back confirming that it had arrived. I haven’t heard back since.

• 21. Chuck A. Spear  |  May 12th, 2006 at 3:26 am

  Are you able to let us know if you do? I go past his Melbourne office everyday. I could hand deliver some flowers from a nice garden in Reid.

• 22. John B1_B5  |  May 12th, 2006 at 8:12 am

  I heard on 2CC this morning that somebody compared Representative Beazley to a poker machine that never delivers .

• 23. Chuck A. Spear  |  May 12th, 2006 at 9:15 am

  I don’t think we should use this forum to make disparaging comments about poker machines. They have been the savior for our state and nation as a whole.

• 24. Samuel  |  May 12th, 2006 at 10:36 am

  Well Kim Beazley spent less time doing a budget reply and more time campaigning for next year’s election. As for poker machines…one of the most amusing sections of his speech.

  And I will correct a great wrong imposed on middle Australia, on the people who built the good times but who have long been dudded by the government and again this week by the Treasurer. There have been five budgets without a decent tax break. Then $10—$10 already gone, gone on the triple whammy: wages threatened, rising interest rates and soaring petrol prices.
  Fair dinkum, this Treasurer is like a poker machine. You put in, you pull the arm—nothing. You put in again, another pull—nothing. Time after time—nothing. And then, at last, the lights flash, the bells ring, crowds gather round, ‘Jackpot!’ the Treasurer crows—10 bucks. That is the drop—10 bucks. Surely, middle Australia deserves better than this.

  (From http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr110506.pdf, page 97 of PDF, page 79 of proceedings.)

• 25. John B1_B5  |  May 12th, 2006 at 12:45 pm

  Oh I see …… it was Representative Beazley talking about Representative Costello in reference to a poker machine. ( I thought it was the other way around , haha ) .