Let us hope Mr. Rudd is not hindered in any way by poor Canada's silly temporary "government" that tied itself to one of Howard's apron strings whilst the other was firmly attached to Dubya. This pitiful group of ideologue sprogs calls itself "Canada's New Government"; it is 'new' only in being the first anti-Canadian government in Canadian history. They only want to turn the country completely over to Washington.

#1 And with an impotent opposition and the false lure of tax cuts, this current government looks like it might cement itself like a barnacle to the ship of state.

Ever since he was elected leader, Rudd has reminded me on one person - Tony Blair. He is another policitian lacking substance with an unhealthy reliance on spin, a man who has moved himself and his party to the right not for ideological reasons but to gain power. Like so many modern pollies, a man with no background in anything other than being a bureaucrat and a politician. Hardly a ringing endorsement for leading a country but sadly too true of far too many of those who seek to lead us.

I voted Labour for the first time in my life in this election, as i think so did many others...and I'm over 60. Howard won office last time by creating fear about us being overrun by refugees...hence the "children overboard fiasco" of course he didn't know it was a lie did he? It was quite strange that for a man who we thought was running the country there were so many things he knew nothing of...or so he claimed. He agreed with keeping David Hicks in Quantanamo for years when there was no real evidence that he was a terrorist. Hicks may not have been very bright but if that was a crime they would have to lock up millions of other people world-wide. He sent troups to Irag without any evidence of WMDs and he seemed to think climate change was a myth. He and George Bush have a great deal to answer for. The world will be a safer place when they are both out of office.

Hmm...let me see now.

If the state of Western Australia (WA) declared independence it would instantly be one of the richest countries in the world - with a population of only 2.2 million.

Thanks mainly to oil, gas, diamonds, gold, copper, zinc, etc.

Some of the biggest gold and diamond mines in the world are situated in WA.

So Mr Save-the-Planet Rudd is going to put a stop to all this plundering and go without the much needed tax revenue raised from exploiting its mineral resources?

Aye, right.

His 'commitment' to Kyoto isn't just spin its TOTAL BULL&*£$!

BTW #4
There was "no real evidence" Hicks had been tortured either and you would have us believe Hicks was on holiday in Afghanistan and Pakistan then eh?

Australian POW's who suffered in Japanese concentration camps suffered malnutrition, disease, and torture and those who survived and still alive today have the scars to prove it.

'I emphasised to President Bush the centrality of the US alliance in our approach to foreign policy'.

Translation.........

Please, oh please, Mr. Bush, please keep defending us. We are too weak and sorry to have any hope, spine, or willingness to defend ourselves. Anyway, we're too busy having a grand time.

So, please American taxpayers, keep spending the money we don't want to spend to keep us safe.

Same goes for our spineless neighbours to the southeast on NZ.

#6 Conan,
With narrow views like that, I would suggest that you do what I did, and come to Australia for a wee look!

I couldn't believe how organised and formidable the modern Australian Army, Navy and Air Force really are.

Clearly, your mindscape is still in the Second World War. The Australian Air Force actually came up on top against US Air Force pilots in superior aircraft during recent air training exercises over the Arafura Sea.

We also know that Americans protected our beloved Scotland during the Second World War - when the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht were just a spit away from over-running us!

6 - Hopefully it wont belong before us in Blighty become 'spineless' too.

8 - yep, notice Conan's posting from dangerous Moffat and not Basra

Over 11 years of Mr Howard and finally his ultimate reign has come to an end! Hopefully, with the triumphant win of Labour we will begin to see Australian politicians waking up to climate change and the huge global implications it will play not just on Australian lives but for everyone, everywhere.
Yes, Mr Rudd presents as somewhat 'nerdish' and ultra diplomat in styles, but what the heck. As long as he's responsive, practical and listens to the Australian public then what better PM for the 21st century.

#7
The american oil company Chevron is operating in WA extracting all those nasty hydrocarbons that destroy the planet.

So Rudd will put a stop to this seeing the Oz economy is "not dependent on natural resources to sustain it"?

This guy Rudd, just like Gordon Brown, will take every penny of that oil revenue and p*&^ it against a wall - thats what Labour politicians do.

BTW
In the state of Alaska, USA, every man, woman and child gets a small cheque, every year, from the oil revenue - any chance of the Scots or the Aussies getting a cheque in post then under Labour?

I still have grave doubts about Rudd. He is definitely another Tory Bliar, and, unlike Gough Whitlam, he is not making any swift moves to get Australian troops out of American entanglements.

It will also be interesting to see what he does, or does not do, about the workplace laws.

#12 Re cheques in the post. We'll all be getting them just shortly after the pigs form an airline.

#13. Would that be HamAir, Guga? Owned by the PorkyPilotCorp and managed by Captain "Streaky" Bacon, with its fleet of 17 Piglidairre planes and manned by a troop of Babes??

I'll have that cheque now thanks!! :))

What's this I hear about your brother?

So Aussies, your new PM got himself elected on a platform that sounded a LOT like Nancy Pelosi and the 06 class of US democrats....

now.... how long before you realize you got the same thing that those who voted for Pelosi and the crowd of US democrats got? a whole raft of politician psycho-babble... and nothing more...?

lets just hope that your new PM isnt Clement Attlee's love child eh?

and yeah going green is a fine idea... BUT, Global Warming "science" is far from a completed project.. so for your economies sake... lets all just hope you take an adult approach to Kyoto...

correct me if I am wrong here...

but a PM before Blair privatized BP.... and sold off the rights to the North Sea oil....

Alaska sends the revenue checks based on taxes they collect because they have politicians who have a brain... and DIDNT hand over the rights carte-blanche to the oil companies....

#8 An Australian of Scottish Ancestry:

The demonstration of Australia's military might over the Arafura Sea was carefully staged as a warning to its northern neighbours. The Australian Government has long been aware of the huge weight of the human population crammed above the narrow dam wall of the Timor and Arafura Seas, ready to smash down into the vast vacant Australian spaces in an irresistible torrent. And I mean irresistible: Australian forces are nowhere near as numerous and as powerful as they need to be to patrol and protect its northern border. Australian Army strategy has long been based on the premise that in the face of a serious Asian invasion, it will make a staged, fighting retirement back across the desert from the northern coast towards the populated cities. This is exactly why John Howard tied Australia to the alliance with the USA: the plan is for Australia's Armed Forces to buy enough time for the AmerUSAns to come to their aid with overwhelming forces.

It is extremely pleasing that Rudd has prioritised the environment. Several Australian marsupials are now threatened with extinction. No more wetlands must be developed and canalised, like those awful ecologically catastrophic developments along the Gold Coast. There must be no more land clearance in Queensland or anywhere else. The Darling and Murray Rivers must never stop flowing again: Australians must accept that they cannot continue to practise irrigation agriculture on the current scale without irreversible ecological damage, and they ought to accept the importation of much food from New Zealand with its rich volcanic soil. Above all else Australia must stop trying to increase its population and refuse to take any more immigrants with immediate effect. Its soils are ancient and infertile, long ago drained of the vigour of volcanic youth. Australia is a country poised on the brink of an ecological precipice.

Incidentally two Chinese students I spoke to in Australia couldn't understand why so much of Queensland was uninhabited and covered by eucalypt forests. They told me that there was plenty of space and water there to accept millions of immigrants from Asia. They knew nothing about Australia's very delicate ecological state, its magnificent and very seriously threatened flora and fauna, and its history and culture. Let this be a warning to all Australians: if you are not careful NOW you're country will die. And beware of those Japanese developers along the east coast: they don't know or give a damn about your environment, all that matters to them is money.

Hmmm, working on climate change?

I don't see this PM lasting very long once all the environmental regulations start whacking the Australian economy.

Does anyone realize how much coal from Australia finds its way to Asian power plants?

#8 - Not wishing to enter into a disagreement with you, #8, nonetheless ..... having finally come back to equilibrium; having laughed myself silly at your association with the word 'formidable' with the current TOTALLY INADEQUATE Australian Armed Forces, I can only assume you are in jest?

For its size, Australia has but two choices for its own dfence;

1. Obtain a large number of nuclear weapons capable of being deployed as far away as China.

2. Enlarge the present Armed forces by a factor of at least 20 and improve and broaden their capabilities.

This is what it will take for Oz to finally step out from under the comforable protective skirt of the US.

Or, I suppose, the choice now likely to be implimented ..... do nothing, and leave matters as they are, with that parasitic leech of a country, NZ, living-it-up in Oz's shadow.

3 days to boycott the scotsman day.

Fri 30 november boycott the scotsman forums

any poster failing to adhere to the boycott on fri 30th novemeber will themselves be boycotted.

#22,
Many of the "vast vacant Australian spaces" that you refer to are vacant for a very good reason - because they are uninhabitable!

Without adequate supplies of water and food, which largely have to be transported and carried by anybody who ventures into the deep interior, the likelihood of survival in temperatures whish typically exceed 40 degrees celsius is between slim and none. Furthermore, the topography is not suitable for commercial-scale agriculture and never would be without considerable irrigation infrastructure which nobody wants to invest in.

Why do you think the Japanese didn't invade Australia in the 1930/40's when they had every strategic advantage and capacity to do so?

#25,
The defence of a nation and its requirements are generally determined by the numbers and geographic concentrations of the country's population. The majority of Australia's population inhabit the eastern seaboard and hinterland and number approx. 20.7 million. The present 8250 active service personnel are quite sufficient to defend a population of that size.

#25 - how i know you are either joking or crazy. On the other hand, you may be right if the strategic plan is to surrender all but the Sydney suburbs, then fight to the last welfare recipient?

13. Guga II, Rockall

Don't be a Pinhead