Is Morris Iemma turning into the new John Howard?

Premier Morris Iemma waited, until New South Wales was preoccupied with the federal election and State Parliament had risen for the final time in 2007, to begin putting the building blocks in place to privatise this state's electricity suppliers.

He gave an unworkable guarantee that the sell-off of public assets would not affect ordinary consumers and then ignored regional NSW by promising that sale money would be first spent on giving Sydney a brand new metro rail system.

This tactic was worthy of John Howard at his best. It seems the example of his highhanded approach continues to contaminate politics at all levels.

During the last ten years NSW Labor has moved so far to the right that it makes middle of the road voters like myself seem positively Red.

Morris Iemma should take a good look at all those voters who swung against the Coalition at the recent federal election. They are the same voters who will sweep NSW Labor from government if he keeps this up.

Labor Party voters some of the happiest consumers in Australia right now

"CONSUMER confidence has rebounded in December, a survey shows, with Australian Labor Party voters some of the happiest consumers in the nation.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index, released today, rose 1.8 per cent in December, reversing November's 4.2 per cent decline.
Not surprisingly, the biggest swings in sentiment was based on political affiliation.
Spurred by the party's return to Federal Government, sentiment among Labor voters soared 15.6 per cent in December.
Sentiment among coalition supporters dipped 16.2 per cent after it was condemned to the opposition benches on November 24.
The survey of 1400 people was conducted between December 5-9, following Labor's federal election victory and after the RBA left interest rates on hold."

News.com.au article today:

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22911727-31037,00.html

 

Have to admit there are a lot of people on the NSW North Coast who still cannot wipe a silly grin off their face. Even I, who haven't a penny to spare, threw another pack of bikkies into the supermarket trolley to celebrate!

On those UN Kyoto Protocol talks in Bali

Dennis Shanahan of The Australian is on the wrong track in trying to tar Kevin Rudd with the same attitude brush as John Howard when it comes to climate change.
Unlike previous Coalition governments this Labor federal government is not a climate change doubter, but it is between a rock and a hard place in Bali right now.
Due to the Howard decade of denial and lack of any real investigation into the domestic economic impacts of climate change mitigation; Rudd, Swan, Wong and Garrett are at the Bali talks knowing less about potential impacts than many other participating nations who have been part of the Kyoto Protocol process for years.
It may be prudent for Australia not to commit to interim targets before Garnault's investigations are completed mid-2008.
But is it wise to join with the US to insist that no interim or medium term target figures be included in the Bali declaration document?
Years of national inaction have a price and perhaps Australia should pay up and accept the wish of developing nations on the 20-40 per cent greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020.
After all, this appears to be a combined developed nations target and doesn't bind any one country to individually achieve within this percentage range.
John Howard's blind prejudices will impact on us all for a longtime to come and it may be unfair that the Rudd Government is left to clear up his mess, but the world and Australia don't need more aspirational garbage on climate change - they both need firm target commitments now.
Forget the Liberals election taunts about being a Kyoto negotiations pushover and get on with it, Kevin!
See Shanahan in The Australian today:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22910380-17301,00.html
Michelle Grattan on Bali in The Age today:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/climate-watch/wong-not-one-to-wilt/2007/12/11/1197135463267.html

Jenny Macklin starts "Sorry" consultations

True to its word the Rudd Government has begun to progress its promise to say "Sorry".

New Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin will consult with indigenous community leaders about the wording for a formal apology to the Stolen Generation.

The Age article today:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/talks-on-apology-to-stolen-generation/2007/12/11/1197135463205.html

 

This apology is long overdue and it is good to see this election promise being kept by Federal Labor. It won't stop the depressingly high number of funerals for indigenous Australians who died an early death or redress inequality and the imbalance in opportunity, but hopefully it signals a change in government attitude to the needs and aspirations of indigenous people.

Aunty Della would have been pleased.