Govt 'out of touch, out of its depth'

By Online parliamentary correspondent Emma Rodgers

The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of being out of touch with the public and are refusing to bow to pressure to support changes to the Medicare levy surcharge threshold.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull attempted to halt Question Time with a motion that accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan of mishandling the economy and ignoring pensioners.

"The Rudd Government [should] be condemned for being out of touch, out of its depth and out of the country," he said.

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Meanwhile the opposition led by King Mal, is travelling in an hot air balloon powered by its own methane... what a load of hypocritical smirks!!!...

People, do not forget, Malcolm and his gang of recycled political gnomes were part of the Howard hubris hullabaloo that has contributed to the world financial crisis and was pinning you down with dishonest working laws. Lucky for us, Howard had not yet touched the fairly secured loan laws that regulate the housing market in Aussieland, but he was working towards emulating the US style of economic behaviour which he loved!!!...

Furthermore, to make his square-wheels turning, Howard did encourage people, you and me, to over-borrow... And Howard brown-nosed constantly with George the minus — the US clown passing himself as a president, presiding now ever the worse of the worse, from torture to economic collapse and useless wars.

Bushit present package is only designed to minimise the damage to his wealthy friends and supporters. All it will do in its present format is to help the rich profit from the crisis, while the poor who lost their shirt will get bugger all and will die...

And I am not joking or am I?.

Ease off, Mal, for someone who claims to know about the "common man" you appear more and more like a "con man". I thought you had more ethics and I don't know why. I was obviously wrong. You are trying to con people with your bleeding heart about the pensioners, but your cheap trick will blow up in your face... Before you cronies raised it, Rudd was having a review of the subject, across the board not just 'Single" pensioners...

Wait for it. You might have to pay for it.

see toon above...

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called for tougher international regulations and improved transparency of the world's big banks and financial institutions.

The Prime Minister has made the call in his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly, where he outlined the widespread reform program in response to the international financial crisis.

Mr Rudd said strong political will is needed to enforce reforms which he believes should be pushed through the G20 nations and implemented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to avoid a repeat of the problems now hitting the US economy.

The strong emphasis in his speech on addressing the global economic volatility was a late shift in priority for Mr Rudd, after agreeing in meetings with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to unite to push a tougher regulatory strategy.

Mr Rudd has told the General Assembly banks and institutions needs to have better incentives to encourage responsible action as opposed to "unrestrained greed".

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Gus: As Malcolm is fiddling with his clever hypocritical smirks and his cabinet's self-serving political sandbagging, Kev delivers a speech with the necessary tones at the United Nations... including tones about the "economy"...

To which one young involved person decided to comment about the unnecessary stupidity that the opposition is showing in regard to the PM's trip, in the SMH today (26/09/08}.

In an interconnected world, our PM must play his part

As an Australian Youth Representative to the UN, I am frankly embarrassed that our Prime Minister must justify his presence in New York this week.

This year I travelled Australia for five months, speaking with more than 5000 young Australians about our country's future. Invariably, they demonstrated an ability to place our biggest challenges in a global setting - from climate change, to rising food and fuel prices, to fighting terrorism, to the global economy. They understand that multilateralism is essential in meeting these challenges (comments echoed by the former Opposition leader, Brendan Nelson, earlier this year when he stressed that Australia must engage with other nations to address climate change).

Young Australians also understand that international co-operation relies on strong relationships between nations and their leaders. This is, of course, the reason for World Leaders Week.

In an increasingly interconnected world, it is crucial that our Government plays a strong role in forging global solutions to the global problems affecting our country.

Young Australians are well aware of this. It's time everyone else caught up.

Melanie Poole Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations,

Cook (ACT)

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Smoke that, Malcolm..

and take that Ms Bishop who smirked at the idea of Kev doing something about nuclear proliferation. At least it's a step in the right direction, even if a small step.