Post by ppyenews on Aug 8, 2007 6:51:08 GMT -5
Welcome to Talkback Topic – I’m Phillip Pye.
When John Howard gets tipped out of the Prime Ministers role at the forthcoming Federal Election he should write a book and title it “How to Lose an Election in One Easy Term”. I say ‘when’ because it is becoming more and more likely as he continues to barrage the Australian Public with a multitude of last minute attempts to woo voters with ridiculous carrots such as the Mersey Hospital affair, the crackdown on child abuse in Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory, and many more, also, the new Industrial Relations Laws which can only be labelled as Political Suicide, and now another in the string of broken promises on interest rate increases. Kevin Rudd in Parliament this week asked John Howard the leading question - "What does the Prime Minister regret most, making the promise or breaking it? Kevin Rudd reminded the Prime Minister of the 2004 Liberal Party advertisement promising to keep interest rates at record lows. Mr Howard distanced himself from the advertisement, saying he did not personally make that claim, I suppose that’s a bit like back in 1994 when he told Peter Costello that if he won office he would hand over the leadership after two terms.
It was not too long ago that Labor's treasury spokesman Wayne Swan accused the Prime Minister of being out of touch when it came to interest rates. It is fairly well documented that interest rates in Australia today are the second highest in advanced economies. The Prime Minister defends the level of interest rates, saying the United States economy virtually went into recession when it had very low rates and that it is true that our interest rates are higher than those in some other developed countries, and the reason for that is that our economy has been a lot stronger. It was only a few weeks ago however that Mr Howard was under pressure from the Coalition backbench to tackle the record low in housing affordability. At that time Prime Minister Howard said the best thing the Commonwealth could do to tackle housing affordability was to manage the economy wisely to keep interest rates as low as possible. John Howard also acknowledged that Interest Rates was an issue that people were concerned about because the dream of owning your first home remained both a strong one and also, a pretty desirable one. He even said "To own a home in which to bring up a family is still an ideal that we should preserve."
At the same time however, the Federal Labor Party seized secret Treasury documents which pointed to the threat posed by more interest rate rises. Channel Seven obtained Treasury documents warning that an interest rate hike before this year's election would be a serious burden on families and a threat to the economy. The same old blame game has happened all over again with the Howard Government blaming the States for borrowing too much and plunging Australia in to debt. The fact is the Federal government is nothing short of desperate - they take all of the credit when the economy is going well but when they're in difficulty they blame the states. The truth is the Howard Government oversold its economic credentials last year and handed out tax cuts as an election carrot. Now that’s a matter of interest.
I’m Phillip Pye.
When John Howard gets tipped out of the Prime Ministers role at the forthcoming Federal Election he should write a book and title it “How to Lose an Election in One Easy Term”. I say ‘when’ because it is becoming more and more likely as he continues to barrage the Australian Public with a multitude of last minute attempts to woo voters with ridiculous carrots such as the Mersey Hospital affair, the crackdown on child abuse in Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory, and many more, also, the new Industrial Relations Laws which can only be labelled as Political Suicide, and now another in the string of broken promises on interest rate increases. Kevin Rudd in Parliament this week asked John Howard the leading question - "What does the Prime Minister regret most, making the promise or breaking it? Kevin Rudd reminded the Prime Minister of the 2004 Liberal Party advertisement promising to keep interest rates at record lows. Mr Howard distanced himself from the advertisement, saying he did not personally make that claim, I suppose that’s a bit like back in 1994 when he told Peter Costello that if he won office he would hand over the leadership after two terms.
It was not too long ago that Labor's treasury spokesman Wayne Swan accused the Prime Minister of being out of touch when it came to interest rates. It is fairly well documented that interest rates in Australia today are the second highest in advanced economies. The Prime Minister defends the level of interest rates, saying the United States economy virtually went into recession when it had very low rates and that it is true that our interest rates are higher than those in some other developed countries, and the reason for that is that our economy has been a lot stronger. It was only a few weeks ago however that Mr Howard was under pressure from the Coalition backbench to tackle the record low in housing affordability. At that time Prime Minister Howard said the best thing the Commonwealth could do to tackle housing affordability was to manage the economy wisely to keep interest rates as low as possible. John Howard also acknowledged that Interest Rates was an issue that people were concerned about because the dream of owning your first home remained both a strong one and also, a pretty desirable one. He even said "To own a home in which to bring up a family is still an ideal that we should preserve."
At the same time however, the Federal Labor Party seized secret Treasury documents which pointed to the threat posed by more interest rate rises. Channel Seven obtained Treasury documents warning that an interest rate hike before this year's election would be a serious burden on families and a threat to the economy. The same old blame game has happened all over again with the Howard Government blaming the States for borrowing too much and plunging Australia in to debt. The fact is the Federal government is nothing short of desperate - they take all of the credit when the economy is going well but when they're in difficulty they blame the states. The truth is the Howard Government oversold its economic credentials last year and handed out tax cuts as an election carrot. Now that’s a matter of interest.
I’m Phillip Pye.
