Best ever prime minister of Australia

[Bruce Tuncks]

My vote is for Julia.  I reckon she did wonders from her poor situation of not having  the numbers.

Many years ago, I liked Gough Whitlam, but he imported suburbs full of Lebanese, some of whom have been unemployed now for 3 generations.

And they go to Moslem schools where they learn that girls who don't dress and act like demure moslem girls are just sluts who deserve to be raped.

At one time, I also liked Rudd, but he turned out to be a nasty religious nutter. ( Tony Abbott was accused of being too religious, and he was the one who said that Rudd was much more religious than he was.)

Menzies was, in hindsight, very much a lefty....  but I always hated how he was so anglophile.

SOOOOO....  any advance on Julia?

[Bruce Tuncks]

PS... there was an article in the local paper where Scott Morrison was called " the greatest ever pm "

[old man emu]

I doubt that any Prime Minister can ever be labelled "greatest". That implies that their performance can never be bettered, and we all know that in every walk of life someone will eventually do better. So while I won't say that Julia was the "greatest", I will agree that she was First Class. 

 

The performance of a Prime Minister is directly dependent on the political and economic situation during their time in office. Menzies was leader throughout the '50s when Australia's raw materials enabled former WWII enemies to rebuild their manufacturing base, but did nothing novel to develop Australia's. Menzies practised classical liberal economics with an emphasis on private enterprise and self-sufficiency in contrast to Labor's 'socialist objective'. Accordingly, the economic policy emphasis of the Menzies Government moved towards tax incentives to release productive capacity, boosting export markets, research and undertaking public works to provide power, water and communications.

 

After Menzies we had a few lack-lustre Conservative Prime Ministers, then came the Whitlam Government. Gough tried to introduce a system where the people who produced the wealth and taxes got to share in the results of their labours. That meant opening the Treasury's coffers a bit wider. That frightened to Conservative who basically lay down on the lid of the coffers and would not get off until they promised Kerr that they would do a better job if they got up off the lids.

 

Some people say the Little Johnny Howard was a good Prime Minister. He took the hard decision to reduce gun numbers, but that was a financial windfall for many who got rid of old, worn firearms and were able to buy nice new shiny ones from the taxpayers' bounty. But don't forget that Johnny slipped the words "man and a woman" into the Marriage Act and look at the turmoil that eventually caused.

 

And don't blame Gough for the Lebanese. Christian Maronite and Orthodox Lebanese Christians that settled in Australia over the last two centuries were able to gain some influence within Australian politics. In late 1975, unrest in Lebanon caused a group of influential Maronite Australians to approach Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and his immigration minister, Michael MacKellar regarding the resettling of Lebanese civilians with their Australian relatives.

[spacesailor]

The red head liar dosn,t get my vote !.

BUT

How many were NOT voted into office ?.

spacesailor

[Bruce Tuncks]

I grew up in Alice Springs under menzies, and reckon the town was communism done right. Everybody worked for the government except for some retailers and tourist operators. People worked hard, but there was a lot of give and take.

The beef industry was so dependent on govt roads and railways that i doubt if you could call it private.

The construction in the town was done by the dept of works and housing. Connellan airways existed due to a govt mail contract, and the govt had such control that they could insist on only british aircraft, when the yanks had far better for the conditions.

These days, the main income for the town is via aboriginal welfare money, but there is a lot more private stuff around than when I was a kid. Connellan alas is no more.

I reckon menzies was an anglophile conservative but gosh government was big in those days.

 

[kgwilson]

I am a recent import having been here for only 17 years, but from an external view Bob Hawke was seen as a leader and champion of the common man. Australian politics though have always been hampered by in fighting between States and too many levels of government stifling progress and encouraging corruption.

 

Since the coalition has been in power Australia has slipped several places in the World democracy index, way behind our nearest neighbour but miles ahead to the so called leader of the free world. USA is not even considered a full democracy any more. The term given by the EIU is "Flawed Democracy".

 

Morrison & Abbot tie for worst since I've been here.

Edited April 5, 2022 by kgwilson

[old man emu]

Menzies was a barnacle on the arsehole of Progress. Why, in a country the size of the USA, don't we have a aviation infrastructure commensurate with the size of our population? Because Menzies loved trains. He stifled Reg Ansett's business in Victoria in the 1930s. The Two Airlines Policy was formulated by the Fifth Menzies Ministry with the Civil Aviation Agreement Act 1952 taking effect. The smaller regional airlines were free to operate flights between regional airports and between cities and regional centres, but the policy allowed only two airlines to operate flights between major cities in Australia. And it it wasn't for leftover Lend Lease DC-3s, our airlines would be flying Avro Ansons and Lancastrians.

 

35 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

gosh government was big in those days.

That's fine for isolated areas, but once the roads and houses were built, what did the area produce? Only money for Lord Vestey. That's why these days, the main income for the town is via aboriginal welfare money (sit-down money)

[Bruce Tuncks]

Yep kg, Hawke was a good guy but not as smart as Keating in the end. I agree about the US, I reckon money is the thing which corrupts the system.

And, OME, the money into the town from aboriginal welfare really does add up to more than come in from tourism.

A surprisingly big part of the town "belongs" to the aborigines. For example, the main shopping center ( the Yeperenye center, and the biggest car dealership ( Kittle bros) belong to the Lands Council.

Nowadays, the place is a bit dangerous since gangs of unwanted youths ( they were the result of the  baby bonus) roam the town. It is no good complaining to the police because the gangs are protected by lawyers, also employed with taxpayers money specifically to defend indigenous people.

In the long run, welfare recipients in remote areas will starve when they go to the supermarket to find empty shelves. This will be past our times I hope. 

[Yenn]

I reckon Scott Morrison will go down in history as one of the best PMs, at least in LNP history. He alone stood up to China when they spread the Corona Virus from their laboratories.

He stood up to the French President when France refused to sit back and let him break a multi billion dollar deal with them.

He stood up for his ministers when they were doing the right thing by buying votes for LNP with Sports rorts.

He ensure the Australian public were appraised of refugee boats coming to Australia during the last day of the election.

From the LNP point of view he won the previous election, which was unwinnable and it was just the dishonesty of the electorate who would not believe him that caused the  election loss. He wull be hailed as even greater than Little Johnny.

[facthunter]

Blame god.  Nev

[willedoo]

On 03/06/2022 at 7:26 PM, facthunter said:

Blame god.  Nev

Two election campaigns back, he was courting the Christian vote at that Christian conference when he told them he was doing God's work as PM. Then he won the election and declared it a miracle. God helped him win the 2019 election, but then he lost the 2022 election in a big way. So was God over Scotty or did the Evil One rig the election. Poor old Scotty, torn between the two great forces. He got a three pronged red pitchfork up the rear end.

[Marty_d]

Ah, they've got an answer for everything.  If things go well, god's looking after you.  If things go bad, god's testing your faith.  Capricious little bugger.

[facthunter]

A lot seem to be saying "thank God that Sco Mo's gone at last". (even atheists start to believe in miracles). Nev

[old man emu]

5 hours ago, facthunter said:

thank God that Sco Mo's gone at last". (even atheists start to believe in miracles)

Atheists have got to accept cultural idioms. I bet when they hit their thumbs with hammers, they invoke the name of the Saviour. Anyway, an Atheist would explain a miracle by saying that everything is possible, its happening depends on its probability of happeneing, and things that happen that we call miracles are things with a probability approaching zero.

[facthunter]

You  would have to cancel and modify universal laws of physics to perform a miracle.. I can't recall one instance of it in recorded History. outside of alleged religious occurrences. Walking on water Loaves and fishes Virgin birth  and heavens above . Since the earth is a sphere (almost ) heaven is in all directions. Earth is NOT the centre of the Universe by any means and we inhabit cosmically a little speck of dust in a very (Generally) HOSTILE universe..  Nev

[onetrack]

Time always went backwards in BC! - that must be some kind of modification of the universal laws of physics!  

[willedoo]

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

Atheists have got to accept cultural idioms. I bet when they hit their thumbs with hammers, they invoke the name of the Saviour.

Depends how hard you hit it. A slight tap and it's J.C.. Hit it harder and it's that other bloke, J.F.C..

[old man emu]

Belt it really hard and you invoke the whole Holy Family - Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

[spacesailor]

AHHHHHHHHH

THATS all l can say.

Or the wifey will redicule me for ' tacking the Lord thou god,s name in vein .

As in the ten commandments. 

AND no swearing in front of the daughters. 

Can,t win when the Lord has great soldiers! .

spacesailor

[Marty_d]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

You  would have to cancel and modify universal laws of physics to perform a miracle.. I can't recall one instance of it in recorded History. outside of alleged religious occurrences. Walking on water Loaves and fishes Virgin birth  and heavens above . Since the earth is a sphere (almost ) heaven is in all directions. Earth is NOT the centre of the Universe by any means and we inhabit cosmically a little speck of dust in a very (Generally) HOSTILE universe..  Nev

Take any human from circa 20AD and show them pretty much any technology from 1600 onwards, and it would be considered a miracle.  

 

Even at that time, credulous minds will exaggerate slightly strange or even normal occurrences under the right circumstances.  Evangelical churches quite often whip their congregations up into a frenzy of belief about faith healing, speaking in tongues etc, and these are people living in the 21st century who should know better.

 

Jesus probably stood up in shallow water after a swim and some idiot was convinced he was walking on it.  Getting some of his followers to bring a few baskets of bread & fish to a gathering,  all of a sudden the rumour starts that he made it out of thin air.  Probably the same with water into wine.

 

As for the virgin... mistranslation from the Hebrew or she told a porky, take your pick!

 

[spacesailor]

Thousands of " pregnant " woman now !.

Tens of thousands of " virgin " C section births now.

AND

A very few pregnant MEN , !!!!!,.  LMAO.

Even fewer have ARISEN  from the dead !.

Like ME !!, ( woke up in the morgue ( so l was told )).

spacesailor

Edited June 6, 2022 by spacesailor
Spelling

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, spacesailor said:

Tens of thousands of " virgin " C section births now.

 

For a bloke with 20 kids, 100 grandkids and 400 great-grandkids, you should know that what constitutes a virgin is a lack of anything going in, not coming out...

[old man emu]

8 hours ago, Marty_d said:

As for the virgin... mistranslation from the Hebrew or she told a porky, take your pick!

Did you miss an "r" in that last word?

 

Like ME !!, ( woke up in the morgue ( so l was told ))

Sure it wasn't the cool room of a pub?

[facthunter]

In the language of the day (I'm told) Virgin meant "Young Girl". . It's all part of the "hang up" religion has with SEX.  Nev

[Yenn]

In a porcine environment, then a virgin would be a gilt and that is one of the big things of christianity. We are all loaded with gilt. Maybe they are misbehaving with pigs.