K Rudd's team goes 0 for 3 on promises ...
Remember the Federal election and the immediate aftermath?
Remember the promises on interest rates and shadowing the Japanese whalers?
Fast forward to 5 January.
New Treasurer Wayne Swan is busy whacking the banks with a feather.
Actually not even that.
He's actually defending them raising their interest rates.
Wayne Swan has rushed to the defence of the major banks in his first month as Treasurer, despite their unprecedented decision to break ranks with the Reserve Bank and increase interest rates on mortgages and loans across the board.
...
Kevin Rudd and Mr Swan argued strongly during the election campaign that they did not want the banks to raise interest rates unnecessarily and punish families because of the global credit crisis.
However, Mr Swan, now on holiday at the Sunshine Coast, said the banks had commercial considerations to make in putting up rates.
...
As for the whalers, after committing Australia to send a ship and surveillance plane to watch the whalers, that project is unlikely to get off the ground until the whalers are back in Japan eating sushi.
The Rudd Government's commitment to stop whaling has been condemned as a sham, following the revelation that the company that will conduct aerial surveillance of the Japanese fleet sought approval to do so only yesterday.
As the time required to win clearance from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is uncertain, the spy operation may not be approved until after the summer whaling season has finished.
...
It has also been established that the company that runs the A-319 aircraft, Skytraders, does not plan to conduct independent missions to find and track the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.
Rather, Skytraders chief executive Norman Mackay said the company's plane would run "diversions" while on once-a-week scheduled flights between Hobart and Casey Station in Antarctica.
This approach would limit the surveillance to a brief fly-over, and only if the position of the Japanese fleet were known and close enough to the Hobart-Antarctica route.
The Government was stung by reports revealing that despite Foreign Minister Stephen Smith's promise on December 19 that the ship tasked with monitoring the fleet, Oceanic Viking, would sail within "a few days", it was still in Fremantle.
...
Also see - Who's watching the whales while KRudd's watching the cricket?
And remember KRudd's statement that everyone gets two days off for Christmas and then it's down to work. It's January and they're all still on holidays.
- Mr Swan, now on holiday at the Sunshine Coast.
- Even gagged Environment Minister Peter Garrett looked relaxed in the Members' Stand.
- A month after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd is on holiday and seems to be in no rush to implement his major promises.
Feeling conned yet ...
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 8:41 AM
11 Comments:
A spokesman for the Japanese whalers has told AAP the research program, known as JARPA II, is "midway through".
12:06 PM, January 05, 2008
Once these politicians sip at the gravy train , it does not matter what we were promised as they have years to get cashed up and do very little.
We have a good example of it here in Toowoomba City Council because if you ask the community what have the 6 pack of sewer sipper Councillors done the answer is very little! Oh! They spent $1M of rate payer's money to educate us on sewage water and lost.
They will also spend $15M to get water to a coal mine before the are kicked out of office.
That's why the catch cry is
"Out with the old and the old ways and in with the new!"
We also now know why we do not want fixed terms in the Federal area.
1:16 PM, January 05, 2008
Every intending councillor should be asked to answer the question:- 'how will you ensure you can devote enough time to the job of councillor for Toowoomba and the region?'
1:56 PM, January 05, 2008
Excerpt from the Courier Mail:
Whaling mission hits trouble
5 January 2008
The Federal Opposition has called on the Rudd government to lift the "shroud of secrecy" and start answering questions about its troubled Japanese whaling monitoring mission.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt today seized on revelations that Skytraders, the aviation company contracted by the government to run a promised surveillance plane, only sought safety approval to do so yesterday.
Mr Hunt also took aim at the government over a report that Skytraders will not fly dedicated surveillance missions but only short diversions from scheduled weekly flights.
The news has come after the government was embarrassed by revelations that the Oceanic Viking customs ship was this week still in port, despite a promise on December 19 that it would be out monitoring Japanese whalers within days.
Mr Hunt said the government had some explaining to do.
"They promised dedicated whale monitoring flights but all we're getting now is a brief diversion of the Antarctic flights,'' Mr Hunt said.
"So firstly they're late and they're a pale imitation of what was promised.
"The question for Mr Rudd is `Who's watching the whales while you're watching the cricket?'''
The government has refused to answer questions about the state of the surveillance mission, saying that they are "operational matters''.
But Mr Hunt said it was time the government lift the "shroud of secrecy'' and give the Australian public an explanation.
"I think the reason they won't come clean because what was promised or implied has turned out to be nothing more than a sham,'' he said.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson today said it could be weeks before his organisation approved the surveillance flights.
"Our aim of course is to do it as quickly as possible,'' Mr Gibson said.
"But you have got to get a balance between the desire to save the whales and to make sure there's no risk to human life in doing so.''
Japan planned to take 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales for research purposes this summer season despite strident international criticism.
A spokesman for the Japanese whalers said the program, known as JARPA II, was about "midway through''
2:28 PM, January 05, 2008
The honeymoon is over!
2:57 PM, January 05, 2008
Feeling conned? Yes. I thought his approach on whaling post election was good. Disappointed he didn't mean what he said and it's all been a charade.
11:15 PM, January 05, 2008
The labor party always condemned John Howard for living in Kirribili.
So where is Kevin Rudd and family living as well, both Kirribilli and The Lodge.
They are in it for the good time. Kevin reckons he has to get fit, probably because they will have their feet in the pig trough. He and has other half were spotted going to a cafe in Sydney the other morning for breakfast. Tough live.
8:35 AM, January 06, 2008
It's the Labor PM dilemma. Their policy is for the PM to live in the Lodge but the Lodge was never really designed for the modern PM and then there's the nearby highway for increased noise.
The land is there in Canberra to build a new PM's residence but no PM will build it - not wanting to incur the wrath of the electorate for 'splurging' on a new mansion in Canberra.
So, PM's either live in Kirribilli like Howard did (Liberal PM's get to live where they want) or say they live in the Lodge as Keating did and as Rudd has said he will and then spend as much time in Sydney as possible - in Keating's case it was at Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay courtesy of Warren Anderson - in Rudd's case it will be at Kirribilli House with plenty of excuses offered as to why he's not in Canberra.
12:31 PM, January 06, 2008
When Keating was Treasurer, he did actually live in Canberra but then claimed a living away from home allowance because he said he was living in Sydney.
12:35 PM, January 06, 2008
A scammer from way back. Just like Rudd and his false stamp duty exemption claim on his house in Brisbane.
1:44 PM, January 06, 2008
More feather whacking from Swan:
Excerpt from the Sydney Morning Herald:
Treasurer demands ANZ explain rate rise
8 January 2008
...
The ANZ yesterday became the second major bank to lift its variable home loan rate outside a decision by the Reserve Bank.
The 0.2 per cent hike was almost double that announced by the National Australia Bank last week.
"These rate rises are clearly a direct consequence of the United States subprime mortgage crisis," Mr Swan told ABC Radio today.
"... but I also point out that Australian banks are very profitable and I certainly would caution them against additional and excessive pressure on Australian families."
"Customers will want to know why the ANZ's hike was almost twice the NAB's hike last week and that's a very good question."
Mr Swan described the ANZ decision as "excessive".
"Excessive rises won't be viewed favourably by the Australian government or Australian families," he said.
"This rise is twice the rise sought by the NAB and in that context I think they've got an explanation to give to their customers and to the government."
"It is excessive."
Mr Swan said it was important for the government to receive a briefing from key financial and regulatory officials about the likely impact of the US subprime mortgage crisis on Australia's economy at today's meeting.
"I think it was very important to receive an update about what's happening in the US subprime mortgage crisis," he said.
"The impact of that on the Australian economy and also the impact of that on the level of interest rates charged by our banking institutions."
...
10:30 AM, January 08, 2008
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