Don’t worry, I’m not after a date or anything. I won’t be stalking you round the hills of New England. It’s more the sort of crush I had on James Stewart after I saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, or Yves Montand whenever he played a resistance fighter. It’s a political kind of crush.
Don Watson mourns Tony Windsor’s exit from politics in the latest Monthly. It’s a lovely tribute dressed up as a letter.
I share his sentiments. Windsor was one of the few politicians I was happy to listen to. He spoke plainly and reasonably, did his own thinking and tried to civilise politics rather than play on discord. None of them qualities we’re over endowed with just now.
A good bloke lost as collateral damage, people are saying. If that is all we can make of it, we will only deepen the folly. You could be the dead-set best bloke in history and be no loss at all. What matters is that you were a good politician: good enough to be the measure of what’s missing in modern politics.
I mean the qualities that the media no longer much values or, in its more extreme and youthful forms, even recognises, and which the major parties only sometimes reward. Not “the vision thing” – though I suspect you have one – but the dependable, intelligent, worldly, unbreakable, character thing, on which democratic politics and our faith in it depend.
I can’t read the whole link as it’s behind a paywall. However I agree Tony Windsor was one out of the box. We’ll miss his like. He and Oakeshott gave us stable government over the last three years. What sort of anarchy would we have without them? Tony Abbott! The mind shrinks up just to imagine it.
There’s no way New England will vote for Barnaby Joyce. That would be a tragedy for that electorate and for the rest of the country. I think the voters in New England have seen what an independent with great integrity can do, and will vote accordingly.
Hell, I forgot about that.
Who do you think they will vote for, hammy?
I’m not a local and I’m not sure who’s nominated. I’m certainly hopeful someone independent but known to the electorate has or will nominate.
A Coalition wwin in New England is paying $1.01 on SportingBet, Labor $13, and independenst, Greens and anyone else all over $40. So it’s possible hammy’s comment should be taken as an expression of his feelings about Barnaby, not of actual electoral sentiment.
You think?
Must look in on the odds from time to time. Thx for the reminder.
I had a look at that site and checked Bennelong, which in my view the ALP with a well-known Chinese candidate would have to be favourite to take the contest. The electorate is at least 50:50 with Rudd’s comeback. Bennelong has a very large Chinese population particularly around Eastwood, and Rudd is a favourite among Chinese. This helped Maxine McKew win easily against John Howard in 2007. I don’t think SportingBet has updated its odds since Gillard. It still has the Coalition at $1.15 – clearly nonsense.
Hammy, let us know post-election how much you made.
The role of independents is poorly valued here. Where the hung parliament was reduced to a sloganeering stadium at times the independents were unable to counter the influence of Abbott and so we lost the opportunity to for a limited time try the possibilities of consultation and compromise.
The ethical squalor of the NSW ALP’s leading members in the past government is another substantial factor influencing my voting thoughts- the ALP really needs to do more than become a one person cult for whatever the cost.
So support your electorates independents at least they usually get money for your electorate.
Peter Costello taxed the under $200,000 people as much as $70 billion while he was the treasurer, and Wayne Swan taxed those people under $150,000 as much as $30 Billion while was treasurer, instead of taxing the higher income earners of $500,000 and more, of a 66% tax, this has been causing the reduction of the economy. The tax should be :- to be honest, iit has been passed by Parliament.
…….….A…………..B……………………………………… C………………………..…………………D
9 Taxable Income
10
11 Tax Payable =C9*C12
12 Per cent of income =IF(C9>=C14,D12%,(C9/C14)*D12%) 65
13
14 $450,000
Just remember that to join any party, all you have to do is promise to agree with the decisions of the majority. The majority is no indication of intelligence or integrity, and there seems to be a definite lack of any indication of these essentials from these parties, and these are the most required essentials of any Government.
Sorry, but in my earlier article, I forgot to tell you that the tax demanded was beyond a proper level of that tax system shown and it was for each year of those treasurers. The tax system I mentioned was passed by parliament on 17 September 2012, and is it Hansard. You can put the three systems on excel and try it yourself.