Gone but not forgiven

It seems that one elder statesman in the Liberal Party is not adverse to putting the boot into gone-with-a-whimper-not-a-bang John Winston Howard.

 

"MALCOLM Fraser has reopened his long-running feud with John Howard, accusing Mr Howard of opposing Australia's large intake of refugees after the Vietnam War.

Mr Fraser claims Mr Howard approached him in a corridor following a cabinet meeting in May 1977 and said: "We don't want too many of these people. We're doing this just for show, aren't we?"

The Australian article yesterday:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22993100-601,00.html 

 

Wonder what other 'quotable quotes' will surface in coming months? Perhaps something which would indicate the younger John Howard's intentions in attending an anti-Vietnam War rally broken up by right wing elements. 

Bless Julie Bishop's little cotton socks

Last Friday The Age reported Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop as saying "that coalition policy, after officially dumping Work Choices, would revert to backing laws that existed during the first decade of the Howard government."

 

Sort of a small problem there, Ms. Bishop. It seems that the former Howard Government may have been busy erasing the obsolete acts.

Bit hard to support those old IR laws when it appears these been variously amended,superseded or repealed.

Rather like trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

 

ComLaw and Workplace Relations Act 1996:

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/management.nsf/lookupindexpagesbyid/IP200403482?OpenDocument

 

Ah Brendan, Brendan....

There's something rather pathetic about watching Mr. "My 100 per cent support" Brendan Nelson try to defend that dodgy Howard Government decision to buy $6.6 billion worth of Super Hornet aircraft.

A little dignified silence might have been the wiser course, as the Rudd Government reconsiders his past deeds as Minister for Defence and those fighter plane purchase contracts.

All Brendan's bleating has done is remind us all what a dismal minister he actually was. 

 

Time to cut that credit card in half as banks raise rates

News.com.au reports today that bank interest rates are still rising.

 

"AUSTRALIAN households are about to be swept up in the global credit crunch, with the major banks raising interest rates across the board in an effort to protect their profit margins.

Lending rates for almost all loans - particularly fixed home loans, investment loans and some credit cards - have risen in recent weeks by more than the Reserve Bank's 25 basis-point increase in November.
Most at risk are credit card holders, who owe the banks a record $31 billion and face interest rates of up to 19.9 per cent as the Christmas bills fall due in coming months.-----------------------------------

CommSec equities economist Martin Arnold said despite record employment levels, some families would have been forced to borrow to survive over Christmas."

News.com.au article today:

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22993714-462,00.html?from=mostpop

 

Cutting the credit card in half may be the only way many NSW North Coast residents will survive increased debt this year.

The high interest rates on these cards are an added burden for low-income and pensioner families, who frequently use such credit lines as an emergency fallback measure in the face of an ever increasing cost of living.

Scarcity due to drought and high transport costs now see everything in the butcher's window 

(except sausages, mince and offal) at prices in the $13-$25 a kg range. Bread and dairy prices have also risen along with many other staples.

Bulk-billing GPs and other non-public hospital medical services that do not insist on upfront payment are often hard to find, and the cost of transport to North Coast medical specialists is becoming prohibitive.

Service fees and charges on basic utilities have been creeping up in recent years, so that these costs can sometimes exceed the total cost of actual electricity, water or telephone use for single or two person households.

That significant bloc of North Coast residents living in comparative poverty is likely to find that 2008 will be a rather grim year.

Increased credit card debt due to high interest rates will only make it harder to cope.

The phrase "Advance Australia Fair" sounds rather hollow right now.