Malcolm thinks a cigar is always just a cigar

Shadow Treasurer and all-round pukka Malcolm Turnbull's reply during question time at the National Press Club on Wednesday, 21 May 2008.

"I'm not going to engage in self-analysis."

Sort of says it all about Malcolm doesn't it?

Transcript of Address to the National Press Club here.

And wants his tax review to look at the Goods and Services Tax

"The Review will involve all aspects of the tax system that are amenable to reform in the national interest.
This will involve an examination of taxation:
At the Commonwealth level, including but not limited to: income tax, company tax, dividend imputation, the goods and services tax, international tax, excises and customs duties, fringe benefits tax, revenue from any emissions trading scheme, capital gains tax, superannuation taxes, and resource rent tax; and
At the State and Local level, including but not limited to: transactions taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, and gambling taxes.
In conducting the Review, Professor Ergas will consult widely, including through the release of public discussion papers and a tax reform conference. The Review will be completed by the end of 2008."

I take some comfort from the fact that Turnbull and Ergas (both believing the 'great unwashed' adhere to the politics of envy) are reviewing the tax system while the Coalition is in opposition. Otherwise the Prof might just lumber us all with a higher rate of GST in his almost one-size-fits-all view of our society.

Snapshots from Obama's campaign album

The Obama for America
team is so proud of their
man's ability to pull a
75,000 strong crowd in
Portland, Oregon last
Sunday, that they are e-mailing out these photos from the family album.

Mark your calendar for the Lismore Lantern Parade, Saturday 21 June 2008

Lismore Kids Arts Festival - 10.00 am
Playing in the Streets, street theatre - 11.30am
Market deLight - 2.00pm
Ceremonial Gates open - 4.00 pm, entry Gold Coins Donation
Winter Warmers, Charity hot food stalls - 4.30pm
Parade - 5.30 pm
Fiery Finale - 6.45 pm
Great Street Party - 8.00pm arts, crafts, workshop, regional cuisine, spectacular parade, lanterns, parade bands, street theatre, carnival dancers outdoor theatre,illuminated puppets, fire art and pyrotechnics......
and much, much more.
Festival website here.

Portraits of an exploding man

Cartoons of Malcolm Turnbull found at:
http://www.nma.gov.au/
http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
http://blogotariat.com/

And Rudd wonders why the peasants are revolting

There has been just a hint of exaperation in Kevin Rudd's tone, as he answers media questions regarding peasants pensioners and this year's federal budget.
Perhaps he might be a little more understanding of pensioner concerns about cost-of-living increases after reading that Woolworths has higher markups on groceries in Australia because it is established, holds large market share and is a price leader.
The sheer arrogance of Woolies attitude is enough to set even much younger teeth on edge.
In regional areas like the NSW North Coast where lack of competition is marked, this admission of price gouging rankles retirees, old age and disability pensioners.

"Supermarket giant Woolworths has admitted customers pay more for groceries in its Australian stores than in its New Zealand shops.
Woolworths chief executive Michael Luscombe told a national inquiry into grocery prices that competition in Australia and New Zealand is the same, but admitted its mark-ups are higher here than across the Tasman.
Mr Luscombe told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) inquiry the margins are lower in New Zealand because Woolworths is not the price leader there.
"We may have to sometimes reduce prices further in New Zealand to make money," Mr Luscombe said.
"The business that we purchased in New Zealand is not in the same position (as here)... significant investments still need to be made in New Zealand.
"The issue in New Zealand is we have a very strong competitor who has been very stable for a long time."
Mr Luscombe said Woolworths had built its business up in Australia over 80 years, while its Kiwi arm was much younger.
Woolworths owns three major supermarket chains in New Zealand - Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown. Its main competitor is New Zealand-owned Foodstuffs.
Mr Luscombe said internal polling showed Woolworths holds 30.77 per cent of the grocery market share in Australia.
The ACCC estimates Woolworths and Coles hold about 80 per cent of the market."

No money left for a lottery ticket or the pokies?

A Roy Morgan Research media release yesterday shows a marked decline in gambling when comparing 2002 and 2008.
With increasing petrol and food prices eating further into the family budget, it seems there may be less money in Australian pockets for traditional forms of entertainment.

The percentage of Australians gambling in the last three months has declined from 73% in year ended December 2002 to 66% in year ended March 2008, according to the latest Roy Morgan Research Single Source data. Most forms of gambling have declined, including lottery tickets (down from 64% to 58%), poker machines (32% to 27%), betting (18 % to 16%) and Keno (11% to 9%). Casino games have remained stable at 4%.....

Frequency of gambling on poker machines has also declined, with less poker machine gamblers playing more than 13 times in the last three months (down from 10% in year ended December 2002 to 9% in year ended March 2008), and more playing one to three times in the last three months (up from 55% to 57%) or four to thirteen times (up from 34% to 35%).....

“Gambling participation and frequency has declined across all age, income and lifestage groups, indicating a broad cultural and lifestyle change within Australia. People spend more leisure time on the Internet and personal computers and less time on traditional leisure activities such as gambling.
"The only good news for hotels, clubs and casinos is that more Australians are dining at licensed premises, and that gambling is only one of many reasons for visiting a venue.”

New Matilda slices and dices MalcolmTurnbull

Mark Bahnisch at his finest in PollieGraph (New Matilda) yesterday.

The Libs don’t seem to have any capacity for a disciplined approach to opposition. Despite the claims from Nick Minchin and others that Nelson would bring a “consultative” style to the leadership - in contrast to Howard’s - it appears clear that in the absence of the prize of government they’re incapable of turning their fire on Labor as opposed to scattering it among themselves. Just as some of the shine had rubbed off Swan’s budget, they’ve handed the government two devastating lines of attack - the disunity angle and the fact that they themselves know that their centrepiece budget reply “measure” is a piece of populist garbage and that they were concerned it would tear up their mythical but much cherished “economic management” brand.
Nelson sacking Turnbull would be an absolute disaster for them, for reasons that ought to be obvious. On the other hand, Nelson keeping Turnbull would be an absolute disaster for them, for reasons that ought to be obvious.
A lot of this can be traced back to their continuing failure to adapt to opposition. They need to make the government the story, not contend - in undignified and risible ways - with each other for their 15 minutes of fame in the public eye. Turnbull’s under-reported attempt at a censure on the budget after Question Time last week is a more revelatory moment than has been written up - it shows his own lack of discipline and overweening egotism in trying to shove himself into the spotlight on a day that should have been Nelson’s. Even from the point of view of a leadership contender, it’s a thousand types of dumb.

* Alternative portrait of Malcolm Turnbull (above) found at ABC News.