Today in the letterbox outside my place I found what seemed to be the first punch of the Australian Liberals' election campaign as they delivered their first almost official junk mail for the campaign.The election still hasn't been called in Australia, however much speculation yet again today that Liberal Prime Minister John Howard would ask Governor-General Michael Jeffery as early as today or tomorrow to dissolve parliament for an election on either November 17 or 24.
Some have speculated that he may call it for December 1, giving the Liberal Party more time to attempt to crush the Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's growing lead in political news polls, however their is a growing sense among the Australian public that it is simply sick of waiting for this election to be officially called.
Finally calling this Election will be putting to an end months of intense "faux" campaigning, putting us all out of our misery and starting the real thing.
Governor-General Michael Jeffery was expected to have arrived back in Canberra last night after a two-week official visit to Belgium and Britain making him available to host a visit from the Prime Minister to call for the election to begin.
As Australia is a members of the Commonwealth of Nations reigned by Queen Elizabeth II the Prime Minister must visit the Governor-General to receive permission to dissolve Parliament for an election.
Prime Minister John Howard is going into the campaign with a huge margin to make up, his lost many of his fans as the Australian public finally start to wake up to his behaviour.
As the Liberal Party start their bid to win a fifth term, it seems to me that the number 5 will be the theme, the advertisement I received today with the soft lower-case heading "Liberals' strong economic team", which included a five point summary titled "Keeping our $1.1 trillion economy strong and secure" which states claims to:
The Liberal Party have been boasting lower unemployment thanks to them, but they never give very deep facts, these days most people have no choice but to work in order to survive the very high costs of living, but many are forced to take what they can get, therefore many people are in part time or casual employment and are not necessarily happy in their employment, paid hours or not using their skills/qualifications.
I love how they put such important issues at the bottom such as health, education, roads and the environment, not surprisingly the Environment has to come last as John Howard, a longtime climate skeptic, continually refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, having been labelled as having been asleep on Climate Change for the past 11 years.
On the flip side of this aforementioned advertisement was the first almost official mail drop campaign attack on Labor with the hard hitting capitalized heading "LABOR'S TOO INEXPERIENCED.¶ THEY'RE STILL LEARNING"
Labelling the Labor Leader - Kevin Rudd and Federal Labor Shadow Treasurer - Wayne Swan with a drivers "L Plate", and sub-titling them with "STILL LEARNING".
Next a silhouette of 5 people sub-titling them with "TRADE UNION BOSSES", adding a speech bubble saying "We're coming back!"
Then Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment & Heritage, Arts - Peter Garrett whom they sub-titled as an "EXTREMIST".
Finally Deputy Leader, Employment & Industrial Relations, Social Inclusion - Julia Gillard whom they sub-titled as an "EX-TRADE UNION LAWYER"
Coinciding the Election is yet to be called, initially I hoped an investigation will follow this junk mail to ensure this wasn't paid for with the public's money like the many many advertisements they have been sending us, advertising on television, radio and online boasting like the Liberal Australian Government cares, with information packs to talk to your kids about Drugs (something they have advertised on-and-off for ages, we finally received the information package a few ago. They have sent out Global Warming packs, Terrorism packs, all sorts of junk, every Election year we get our letterboxes filled with this junk in the lead up to an election. But thankfully, it seems people are wising to this regular electoral occurrence.
Yesterday John Howards also announced a plan for a landmark referendum to ask Australians to incorporate a statement of reconciliation into the constitution, of which he claims he had not had "much of a discussion" with his Government before announcing his plan to hold a referendum, which will ask whether the constitutional preamble should recognise indigenous Australians, he told journalists in Sydney yesterday.
John Howard has had bad blood with Aboriginal leaders and the indigenous community and general public over the topic of reconciliation due to his persistent refusal to say the word "Sorry" to the children of the Stolen Generation. The purpose of saying "Sorry" was to acknowledge the wrong that had been done to indigenous families and so that the healing process could begin.
It is somewhat "unfortunate" for him that he called for this referendum so close to an election, I imagine people will likely see through this act as yet another vote-buying scheme.
Closing: I may make amendments/additions to this blog post as it's 3:55am now, I must go to bed. I'm sure there will be plenty more to discuss in coming days and weeks as we draw closer to hearing an election date, and see the beginning of what most people expect to be the dirtiest Federal Election Campaign in Australian history!
Notes: I'm sure you know that I am NOT a Liberal voter! Don't however assume I'm simply a Labor voter, I vote for whomever (non-Liberal) has good policy and good local representatives, and I don't always vote in the manner in which local candidates recommend.
Warnings: I'd like to remind readers, this is a blog, it may include my opinion, you have a right to your opinion as do I. The best efforts were used to try to ensure all information was/is correct at time of publication!
Constitutional monarchy -
The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General at Federal level and by the Governors at State level. Although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975. -Wikipedia "Australia"
As Australia is a members of the Commonwealth of Nations reigned by Queen Elizabeth II the Prime Minister must visit the Governor-General to receive permission to dissolve Parliament for an election.
Debate on the monarchy -
In the latest opinion polls, 45% of Australians favour a Republic, 36% favour a monarchy, and 19% are neutral.[1] There are considerable differences between states, with New South Wales and Victoria showing much stronger support for a republic than other states. -Wikipedia "Queen_of_Australia"
Prime Minister John Howard is going into the campaign with a huge margin to make up, his lost many of his fans as the Australian public finally start to wake up to his behaviour.
The Government is trailing in the polls by up to 15 points on a two-party basis. The latest Morgan poll, taken last weekend and released yesterday, has the ALP on 57.5 per cent to the Coalition's 42.5 per cent. -The Age
As the Liberal Party start their bid to win a fifth term, it seems to me that the number 5 will be the theme, the advertisement I received today with the soft lower-case heading "Liberals' strong economic team", which included a five point summary titled "Keeping our $1.1 trillion economy strong and secure" which states claims to:
- Supporting families through tax cuts, investment in infrastructure and improved family benefits.
- Over 2.1 million more Australians with jobs.
- Average interest rates 5% lower than under Labor.
- Average wages increased by more than 20% in real terms.
- More investment in defence, health, education, roads and the environment.
The Liberal Party have been boasting lower unemployment thanks to them, but they never give very deep facts, these days most people have no choice but to work in order to survive the very high costs of living, but many are forced to take what they can get, therefore many people are in part time or casual employment and are not necessarily happy in their employment, paid hours or not using their skills/qualifications.
I love how they put such important issues at the bottom such as health, education, roads and the environment, not surprisingly the Environment has to come last as John Howard, a longtime climate skeptic, continually refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, having been labelled as having been asleep on Climate Change for the past 11 years.
On the flip side of this aforementioned advertisement was the first almost official mail drop campaign attack on Labor with the hard hitting capitalized heading "LABOR'S TOO INEXPERIENCED.¶ THEY'RE STILL LEARNING"
Labelling the Labor Leader - Kevin Rudd and Federal Labor Shadow Treasurer - Wayne Swan with a drivers "L Plate", and sub-titling them with "STILL LEARNING".
Next a silhouette of 5 people sub-titling them with "TRADE UNION BOSSES", adding a speech bubble saying "We're coming back!"
Then Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment & Heritage, Arts - Peter Garrett whom they sub-titled as an "EXTREMIST".
Finally Deputy Leader, Employment & Industrial Relations, Social Inclusion - Julia Gillard whom they sub-titled as an "EX-TRADE UNION LAWYER"
Coinciding the Election is yet to be called, initially I hoped an investigation will follow this junk mail to ensure this wasn't paid for with the public's money like the many many advertisements they have been sending us, advertising on television, radio and online boasting like the Liberal Australian Government cares, with information packs to talk to your kids about Drugs (something they have advertised on-and-off for ages, we finally received the information package a few ago. They have sent out Global Warming packs, Terrorism packs, all sorts of junk, every Election year we get our letterboxes filled with this junk in the lead up to an election. But thankfully, it seems people are wising to this regular electoral occurrence.
Today John Howard called a Press Conference first making the 5th Anniversary of the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 202 people at Bali, including 88 Australians, followed by the introduction of a 33-page document titled "Australia: Strong, Prosperous and Secure", Mr Howard laid down five goals for policies:
- To keep the nation strong, secure and united, engaged in the world and at ease with itself.
- To build a new era of growth, prosperity and opportunity.
- To embrace a sense of aspirational nationalism to guide various levels of government.
- To ensure a rising tide of prosperity lifts all boats, with every child getting a solid start.
- To get the balance right on the big challenges in climate change, energy and water security.
Yesterday John Howards also announced a plan for a landmark referendum to ask Australians to incorporate a statement of reconciliation into the constitution, of which he claims he had not had "much of a discussion" with his Government before announcing his plan to hold a referendum, which will ask whether the constitutional preamble should recognise indigenous Australians, he told journalists in Sydney yesterday.
John Howard has had bad blood with Aboriginal leaders and the indigenous community and general public over the topic of reconciliation due to his persistent refusal to say the word "Sorry" to the children of the Stolen Generation. The purpose of saying "Sorry" was to acknowledge the wrong that had been done to indigenous families and so that the healing process could begin.
It is somewhat "unfortunate" for him that he called for this referendum so close to an election, I imagine people will likely see through this act as yet another vote-buying scheme.
Closing: I may make amendments/additions to this blog post as it's 3:55am now, I must go to bed. I'm sure there will be plenty more to discuss in coming days and weeks as we draw closer to hearing an election date, and see the beginning of what most people expect to be the dirtiest Federal Election Campaign in Australian history!
Notes: I'm sure you know that I am NOT a Liberal voter! Don't however assume I'm simply a Labor voter, I vote for whomever (non-Liberal) has good policy and good local representatives, and I don't always vote in the manner in which local candidates recommend.
Warnings: I'd like to remind readers, this is a blog, it may include my opinion, you have a right to your opinion as do I. The best efforts were used to try to ensure all information was/is correct at time of publication!
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