Election 2004 | Day 9 | Roundup

I just found that one of my local candidates (Mark Ptolemy) has started keeping a blog. Blogs are popping up all over the place!

In my net searching, I still haven't managed to come across the open letter to Howard from doctors. The ex-military letter was on the net on the same day it was released, how come this one isn't? And what's with Web Diary going all quiet?

The Greens
According to the Greens-bashing News Ltd, the constant bagging of them by the Coalition, and in particular, John Anderson, has driven voters to them. About 1 in 10, but still, support is rising. Good for them. Maybe next election they will be the third major party.

Medicare
Do you think a health care system run by Tony Abbott would be in everyone's best interests? Even when he says insane things like this? Julia Gillard (who is awesome at fighting with Tony Abbott), said this in response:

"Latham and Labor will be rebuilding Medicare in government because the Howard Government has tried to destroy it. The person in Australian political life who's never believed in Medicare and who has always wanted it destroyed is the Prime Minister, John Howard."

Howard reckons the ALP health plan "will split Australia"... then went on to accuse them of sending Australia to war on a lie, selling out the country, and lying about children overboard.

The Age also has a good editorial running, featuring this nice bit:

At election time, one of the key differences between governments and oppositions is that the worth of a government's promises can be weighed against its policy practices in office. That can be an advantage, when policies have worked, or a disadvantage, as is the case with the Coalition's record on health. The Howard Government may have spent more than $20 million on advertising its claims to have "fixed" the system, but this week's developments suggest not even the Government believes its own propaganda.

Ït goes on to attack both parties over their solutions for Medicare, and is worth reading.

Interest Rates Lies
I was digging around the ABC's Lateline website, trying to find the transcript of where Tony Abbott said "anti-American" 7 times in one interview, and I found this piece from the start of August, where the Reserve Bank claimed that interest rates were going to rise in the future, probably around December. Note that this story occurred three weeks before Howard called the election, and almost an entire month before he started claiming interest rates would rise under Labor but not under Liberal.

Bagging News Ltd
I like (okay, I love) to do it, but there's someone that does it way better than me, and also picks apart the Liberals' Medicare package while he's at it.

The Gay Marriage Thing
The Liberal candidate for Brisbane is a lesbian. Normally I wouldn't give a shit either way what her sexuality was, but I just find it interesting that she'd want to represent a party that is so anti-gay. And now the Nationals are bagging her. I thought Nationals and Liberals were meant to be friends? Or have they run out of things to hate that they've now started turning on each other? I'm all for gay marriage; I don't see how it's going to result in the destruction of the world or anything whatsoever. Unlike other things.

The Debate
News Ltd has a nice anti-Howard piece running for a change, on Channel 9's decision to comply with the governments demands that there will be no recording of audience reaction to statements made during the debate on Sunday. It also delves into why Howard changed the debate rules and comes up with some interesting conclusions.

Bob Hawke Is Awesome

"If Australians were to return Howard, you would be defining Australia to rest of the world as saying 'Australia is no more a proud, independent country, it's just the 51st state of the United States.' I genuinely believe that this election that we're into now is one of the most important in Australian history. This election is going to define Australians to themselves and it's going to define Australians to the rest of the world. Our reputation is not what it was. We are no longer seen as the great, warm-hearted humanitarian country."

You can read the whole article here or here (both are exactly the same). He rocks, and it's very quotable, but I'm going to try and avoid pasting the entire article here.

Question: Is the Lyons Forum (also in much more depth here) still active within the Coalition? There seems to have been no reporting done on it at all within the past 6 years.

And lastly, ROCK ON.