The Greens oppose the CPRS not because it is too weak, but because it will point Australia in the wrong direction with little prospect of turning it around in the timeframe within which emissions must peak, says Senator Christine Milne.
Fielding’s $4b stimulus hurdle
|
Steve Fielding is looming as the biggest threat to passage of the Government’s stimulus package through the Senate. And that’s exactly how the Government wants it. The Senate started debating the bills this morning and will go through until tomorrow night, with the aid of lengthy speeches from Labor senators to pass the time while negotiations proceed with the minor parties. There are no negotiations with the Coalition. Contrary to the impression given to the media in yesterday’s joint party room briefing and in weekend comments, Malcolm Turnbull will not negotiate with the Government on the current package. He has only offered to negotiate a different package if this one doesn’t pass the Senate. Given the pressure the Coalition will be under if that happens, that’s probably prudent. Both Senate committees considering the package reported overnight. Community Affairs considered the housing component of the package, Finance and Public Administration the rest. In both cases, Coalition senators issued dissenting reports. The Greens, Xenophon and Fielding all made “Additional Comments” on the Finance report, the Greens on the housing report. The Greens identified greater investment in energy efficiency, more resources for the social sector and extending bonuses to low-income earners who pay no tax as issues, but Bob Brown narrowed the scope slightly this morning to focus on the bonus payments and, in particular, a demand for the Government to suspend the requirement that the unemployed use up their own assets before receiving support. To access Newstart benefits, recipients must run down any liquid assets to below thresholds which were halved by the Howard Government in 1997 to $2500 for a single person and $5000 for a couple, or wait up to 13 weeks for any assistance. The Greens want to remove that requirement for people made unemployed in coming months, or at least significantly lift the threshold, perhaps up to where it would have been if it had been indexed. Nick Xenophon flagged a greater range of energy and water-saving subsidies for households that already have insulation and solar systems, the design of the bonuses and, like the Greens, wants an acceleration of funding for water buybacks on the Murray-Darling Basin, which would bring forward existing MDB funding rather than redirecting funding from the stimulus package. Given both the Greens and Xenophon said they recognised the need for a package, some sort of deal with the Government looks likely, although Bob Brown was careful this morning to warn the Government not to take the Greens for granted. And if the Greens and Xenophon can make Penny Wong get her skates on in accelerating water buybacks in the MDB, all power to them. Steve Fielding also supports a stimulus package, but in a long and occasionally rambling essay released to the media yesterday, said he would only vote for it if “Kevin Rudd was more conciliatory and welcomed ideas from the cross-benches”. The one “idea” Fielding has been specific on is that he wants the Government to redirect $4b within the package to local, community-based employment projects that he claims would generate more jobs than those forecast by Treasury for the current measures. But $4b — 10% of the package — is a big hit, especially if Treasury disagrees with Fielding’s claim about its job generation potential. If Fielding sticks to his guns, that would leave the Government one vote short of getting it through, even if it thrashes out an agreement with the Greens and Xenophon. It would also be perfect politics for Labor. Having compromised with minor party senators, the Prime Minister could claim he did the reasonable thing, but the extremists in the Coalition blocked his stimulus package. Rudd would have another chance to hammer the message that he’s moderate and sensible and the Coalition are a bunch of wild-eyed ideologues. And he’s unlikely to have too much difficulty convincing voters that he’s right. And if you think Rudd would prefer to get his stimulus package through rather than play politics, this is the bloke who yesterday deliberately linked funding to rebuild schools and homes burnt on the weekend with the package in his speech on return to Parliament. His office subsequently put a soothing spin on it, but it was an unnecessary injection of politicking into a moment that should have been free of such pettiness. Indeed, Rudd’s speech yesterday was dire, consisting mostly of a recitation of the programs and spending that the Government had set up to help Victorians. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he may not have been in the mood for soaring rhetoric given what he’d been through since Saturday, and in any event soaring rhetoric wasn’t needed. Luckily, he was almost immediately followed by Russell Broadbent, whose marvellous and moving speech was one of the finer moments I’ve witnessed in Parliament and who thoroughly deserved the unParliamentary round of applause that broke out at its conclusion both in the chamber and in the galleries. Broadbent was generous in his praise of all his colleagues, including the Prime Minister and Julia Gillard, whom he thanked for making what he said would be one of the most important speeches of her career yesterday when she commenced the condolence motion. Both houses have suspended Question Time for the rest of the week in recognition of the bushfires. Bob Brown noted that if the major parties were worried about how political combat would look at a time of national tragedy, they ought to think about how they conduct themselves. A very good point, but one likely to be lost on Labor and the Coalition. |
|
|
41 Comments
Thanks Kev and the boys for electing this complete moron. Nothing like biting the hand that fed you. You and all the clever clogs from Labor who elected him have only yourselves to blame.
To Venise Alstergren: At least Steve Fielding is asking for money to be spent on job creation, as any economist will tell you, under these conditions and for what is required, this is exactly where the money should go, but you obviously prefer vote buying….that figures.
Judging by your poisonous vitriol, you only abey your master the Father of Lies….the Devil.
Again Sen Fielding shows the country what an incompetent ignoramus he is. Mind you the Labor Party have themselves to blame for his presence in the Senate, they directed first preferences to him and that got him home. Not that Fielding shows any gratitude, he answers only to his masters in the religious fairy land he and they exist in. It is an indication of his complete ignorance that he holds a Government elected with an over whelming mandate to ransom. Its pathetic.
Inga Stupid: I have never been near a think tank in my life.
I stand by my original comment.
Inga: I object to your playing the racist card. I shall seek legal opinion on this sort of offensive behaviour.
I know of no “king of liars”. Sting sang about being the “king of pain”, which was certainly honest of him given how unendurable his solo career was. Ashley Giles was called the “king of Spain” after a typo. Farro has been called the “king of grains”. But “king of liars” draws a blank from me. “Father of liars”, however, is one of Herodotus’s claims to fame.
The Liberals will now have to wait for the Word of God as revealed through the wobbly brain of Steve Fielding. Some trepidation may well be in order. If anyone epitomises Keating’s “unrepresentative swill” it is Mr Fielding. Elected with extraordinarily few first preference votes (especially compared to Xenophon for example) he now seeks to be the arbiter of government business.
Instead of preaching humility to the government he would be well advised to acquire some himself. He has a lot to be humble about.
Inga Stupid: Me apologize to you? Give over. I apologize to many people. I cannot see you being one of them.
The mere fact that you admit to your name of Inga Stupid, is enough to make my day!
Adios, Goodnight, Bon Nuit, and so on.
‘Night
To Venise: I am actually irreligious and apolitical, and the reason for that is I can avoid loop-heads like you. You know, those left-wing loony think tank social engineer types like you, who have never achieved anything in their lives and make sure nobody else does either. Stick around, you might learn something about yourself.
Venise, I thought you were in bed.
It’s been a real boilover tonight, hasn’t it? Maybe you should lie down.
Roger said it best in using the word cretin. Says it all.
Venise, you said something demonstrably wrong, to wit, ‘all Christians are stupid’. I pointed this out. The end. I really don’t see where ‘idle semantics’ comes into it.
I’m certain that one of the government senators today also used the bushfire disaster to argue their case for the passage of the stimulus package.
Whatever you think of Fielding’s policies, his outburst was understandable, given the way the government senators made a mockery of the Senate with their filibustering. There is no question that they were deliberately stalling meaningful debate by waffling as much as they could on subjects that were either irrelevant or weren’t critical enough to justify the attention they received. It was a $42 billion package and they were reflecting on their days in opposition, talking about how hard Wayne Swan works in comparison to public servants, being repetitive, joking about asking trivial questions such as the colour of the pen used to sign off on a document, and so on.
BKeane, JamesK: I thought Marco Polo was the king of liars? Went to China was a minister in the court of Kublai Khan for yonks. Right up there in Beijing. Failed to notice the Great Wall of China. Ditto foot-binding of women. Is this not so? Herodotus was todays version of a foreign correspondent, surely.
Mark. I dare say I could come up with an impressive list of people who didn’t/don’t believe in religion. So why indulge in idle semantics?
I’m glad I’ve been offensive. It’s about time the people like Sen Fielding had something served up to him. Can he read though?
Here’s the thing. Steve Fielding was elected with some b.s. level of the primary vote because of preference deals. Through a flukish result in the Senate, he finds himself able to gain the balance of power on any number of issues, a status which he then proceeds to exploit. Fair enough. What is really infuriating, though, is that, having proven an obtuse and inconsistent Senator, he has gained a high public profile, largely through obstructionism… and will in all likelihood be re-elected, if he so chooses, with an increased share of the vote. Because it wouldn’t take much, and there are always a few people who think sticking it to the Government is an end in itself.
So Fielding actually has no incentive to make a positive contribution to public policy. His interests are best served by being a jackass and wasting the Senate’s time complaining about how Rudd won’t suck up to him enough. It’s annyoing, no?
Venise, must you say such gratuitously offensive, not to mention egregiously incorrect things? Or do you really want me to post extremely long lists of all the Nobel laureates and other manifestly not-stupid people who subscribe to orthodox Christianity?
inga venise get a room!
So let’s just say it all comes down to the one vote = Senator Fielding.
If he votes NAY then this piece of legislation does not pass.
What are the odds that it will be presented tot eh Lower House again, be passed there and then presented to the Senate a second time.
Will Senator Fielding, being a man of conscience, vote NAY the second time and thus provide a perfect trigger for a Double Dissolution. This would probably result in the new Senate (post election) not having Fielding as a member.
Time will tell exactly how his conscience operates under this “pressure”.
Here’s hoping to the sake of the country that either Fielding or Xenophon or preferably both vote this insanity down in toto.
Such a result would probably be politically injurious for Turnbull but indubitably good for the nation.
Inga Stupid: We can’t go on taking up space in Crikey. Or one of us will get turfed off. I am never going to apologize. BTW it was you who sailed in to attack me. Now your screaming rape because I had a decent crack at you. As I don’t believe in cossetting cretins I, from now on, will just ignore you. Oh I’ll read you because I enjoy people making idiots of themselves in print.
I repeat, I do not wish to be the one who is arsed off these pages. Therefore this is my last comment.
As you all line up at your post boxes to collect your $950 plus, please note that this cash handout is the link that the PM put in the package to “buy” public support. Without the cash handouts, more of the media people - and the complainers here - would be examining the components much more objectively. And THAT is what Fielding and others have been doing.
The PM showed his true colours as well as his devious streak when he also tried to tie in bushfire relief into the package debate, but at least his minders got him out of that one fairly successfully.
The hypocrisy showing out here is quite unbelievable!
Inga stupid! If you can only come up with a pathetic comment like that, then you are obviously one of the deluded righters. Christianity does not as a rule go hand in hand with logic. Logic and Steve Fielding are mutually exclusive words.
Poor little Inga, said something awful about the Fielding lunatic? You are in the real world when you comment in Crikey.
Go outside and play little girl. Alternatively you could try to grow up.
I thought Herodotus was the father of lies.
Venise, you really are the classic clanging cymbol…all noise and no go. What was that about “empty vessels”…..?
Chris J you’re dead right - Broadbent is good value, a very decent guy and eminently sensible. He compares well to some of the dead wood on the Turnbull frontbench.
so senator fielding, a well-known cretin, is now going to destroy financial measures aimed at saving every australian family from the worst of the world economic crisis because he wants the Prime Minister to be his bosom buddy. that’s fielding all over - putting himself ahead of the nation.
Inga Stupid: I have never been near a think tank in my life.
I stand by my original comment.
Not much that I can add except that ‘The Lyin’ King’ is my favourite blaxploitation movie.
Why are we not surprised, that religious nutter was bound to cause problems in the senate………..I am unable to fathom how any thinking person was able to vote the ratbag into power………he literally has control of the Australian Government and as a result the welfare of the nation.
I would rather see the stimulus package cancelled, and let things fall where they may, rather than see a ratbag like fielding dictate terms to the elected Government, who knows his next demands may be.
Graemel: two wrongs don’t excuse the presence of Fielding. Irrespective of Party policy, the existence of a man like Fielding is a contemptible component OF ANY, ANY GOVERNMENT. Upper House or Lower House.
For Christ’s sake get real.
Perhaps Peter Costello could translate all the big words for Senator Fielding, as they are have a fruit-loop brand of Christianity in common.
David Sanderson: Do you really want to know my sleeping habits?
Now I think of it I always sleep on my right-hand side. Now that is odd. Anyway, I did go to bed, but I woke up again.
Mark Duffett: I know what I said and my comment stands. However, To me all religion is stupid. In this case the clown of the Pentacostal Church has given us a list of his beliefs. All of which are demonstrably insane. Of the two rebuttals I have read from fellow Christians, neither criticized Nalliah, they said merely his interpretation of what god said was wrong. And anyone who can believe in christianity when reading these things is, IMHO stupid. The list of believers who have made great names for themselves-the list you threatened to send me-would only prove that most people cling to an outmoded bit of superstition, some people hang onto a rabbit’s paw. I carry a miniature Buddhist rattle and a bell, (made from rock crystal) in my jeans pocket.
A quote from the letter I wrote to Barny Swartz: Age 12 Feb ‘9. ‘You merely say his interpretation of god-via a three thousand year old book is at fault. How would you feel upon going to a vascular surgeon to find him reading his instructions from a clay tablet of the same era; while his nurse is hauling out knives stained with the blood and faeces of the previous patient?
Why isn’t Russell Broadbent sitting on the Opposition’s front benches. He’s served the now defunct Corinella and while its been hit and miss in McMillan the guy is political streets ahead of those benched around Turnbull. I’m not fussed on his persuasion but he’s a talented moderate with a brilliant sense of humour and loads of compassion. Aside from his seat being marginal is there anything preventing Broadbent from giving the Opposition some substance?
Perhaps Herodotus begot Ruddmeister?
Our Very Own Inventor of history and lies.
In those immotal words: “There is a mess here all right but no Messiah”.
It is regretfull to see you, Graemel supporting this bozo Fielding. One only needs to listen to the gibberish he spouts in the Senate, in Senate hearings, in interviews, it is a disgrace this nobody can hold the country to ransom with his stupidity. He cannot see he is giving the Govt a result they will take as second best, the bills do not pass, the Govt big guns are pointed at not Fielding but the Coalition. Fielding is a nothing in the bigger scheme of things, if the bills lose, its ready made ammo and Turnbull, Bishop and Co are the sitting ducks. Fielding is a little boy in a big boys world.
I can’t think why Xenophon bothers. In all his years in state Parliament he did not mention the MDB once. Nothing. Ever. And he sold out over ETSA and we all get stung with massive bills and power cuts every year since.
Of course Sen Fielding is an incompetent clown. He joins an inglorious list of religious righters. Anyone who believes in the witless and juvenile fairy stories of Christianity wouldn’t have room enough in their heads to be anything but stupid.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the rest of Australia could impose a special tax on the people who elect such sorry candidates?
Last comment to Venise:
Your attack on Steve Fielding was based more on religion than on politics.
I reminded you that this was typical of the loony left think tank social engineering types like you.
BTW…by calling me Inga Stupid and not Inga Wise which is my correct name is disgraceful. Wise is a Jewish name. You just committed a hate crime….are you antisemitic?
…get out of that one. 
hehehe
mozel Tov
Inga Stupid: I have never been near a think tank in my life.
I stand by my original comment. You may call me everything in the book. However, I do have to get dinner.
PPS: I like your ‘vitriolic’ word. Hell, I wasn’t even trying.
Inga Stupid here..is that an apology Venise?