The SA Politics Thread

[Waewick]

He still talks about a depositor being required that isn't the RBA.

Required in order to do what? Really Waewick, your posts are often very frustrating, as it's often unclear what you're on about.

But in this case I think I know what you're referring to. When someone takes out a loan, they don't spend it instantaneously: the money is deposited in their account. Therefore those borrowing the money are depositors until they spend it.

This thread has drifted quite a long way, so if you want to continue the conversation I suggest we take it offline.

and I agree, gone to far. Happy to end it there.

[monotonehell]

Quite often when I see a comment regarding The Greens in various places, some wag posts something in response calling them "loonies" and the like.

I decided to go read their policies...
http://greens.org.au/sa/policies

On the whole, reasonable and sane. Less one or two emotive hot topic issues.

[Ho Really]

Rev, give the Liberals the benefit of the doubt. They'll eventually reveal things as the election date gets closer. Remember this is politics. It's a game of cat and mouse and timing is also important when it comes to releasing details etc.

Cheers

They've had 12 years to come up with an alternative to the Labor government. How much more time do they need before presenting it to the public?

The Liberals may have been the government at the last election on voter numbers alone. Maybe since then they've taken a break

I don't think it's a case of who will be better for the state, but who will do the least damage during their term.

I kind of agree on this.

The problems that exist under Labor are real but greatly exaggerated by the Liberals. Those problems may get worse(you guys are talking about debt now, one example)

I don't think anyone is exagerating on this. You've sort of explained it yourself.

The Liberals will cut a lot. Over 5,000 public sector jobs that they are telling us about. How bad will their cuts be?

You probably see that the cuts will be very similar between both parties.

Europe has learned that cuts and more cuts don't solve anything(unless you're a bankster who wants more money). If anything the austerity measures have made the problems there worse.
Severe cuts make matters worse. Cuts alone don't fix anything.

We all know there will be cuts.

There won't be severe cuts here. Australia is not Greece, Rev. Yes, cuts alone won't fix things, but efficiency and productivity will!

What I want to hear is what they will do to fix our states economy. How will they create jobs, create new industries, create more wealth and prosperity for SA people.

Labor has given us some small details of how they will fix a few things, create a few jobs. But nothing significant or in great detail although the Premier has a 200 something page manifesto apparently.

The Liberals have given us nothing.

Labor has given very little except infrastructure paid by taxpayers. Infrastructure is only good if it is targeted to help industry, but in our current economic climate you need other incentives too. Wait until the Liberal campaign launch. You can give your opinion then whether they have a better plan or not.

South Road and all those things are secondary issues in my opinion. We can have the worlds best infrastructure but if we have no industries and we have a net loss of population then what good is that infrastructure?

Spot on!

Neither party has offered anything.
But Labor has offered something, at least it's better then the Liberals nothing so far.

'As above'

As for the other discussion on electricity, we pay more because of all those wind turbines.

Damned if you have them and damned if you don't!

Cheers

P.S. Rev, apologies for splitting up your post. I did it for clarity.

[rev]

That's quite alright I do it as well at times.

I know there wont be severe cuts here like there has been in Europe.
But there will be cuts. Not just on a state level, but federally as well.

Steven Marshall may be a fresh face for voters, but examine whose behind him, who his cabinet will likely be.
The same old tired faces which weren't able to pull their shit together and make even one decent policy to challenge Rann.
Vicky Chapman, Rob Lucas(wasn't this guy around like 20 years ago?), Martin Hamilton Smith, etc etc etc. The same clowns as before.

It wont just be a vote for Marshall, but Abott, and the local circus.
Will Marshall be able to govern effectively?

On the other side, will Weatherill be able to govern effectively? He managed to fend off that old pedo looking creep Don Farrel or whatever his name is, severely pissing off the right faction within state Labor(Weatherill being of the left faction). We've seen how these factions duke it out just to heal their bruised egos without regard for the consequences. How long will Weatherill last if he wins anyway before the factions carve him up and install Koutsantonis or some other right faction mp as Premier?
Unless I'm mistaken these same people were part of getting rid of Rudd and replacing him with unelected Gillard.

Meh, this is why I hate voting. They are all crooked crooks only interested in prolonging their tax payer funded careers so they can then milk more tax payer money for life long pensions.

These people, so called politicians, should take a pay cut of an average salary for every job that was lost under their tenure, until they them selves are at the average salary. Unless of course they pull off a miracle and actually fullfil the usual promise of creating more jobs then are lost.

[Waewick]

Job creation is going to be interesting. Getting people to move from the city to jobs is going to be more so.

[rev]

Job creation is going to be interesting. Getting people to move from the city to jobs is going to be more so.

SA really needs a massive kick start(and in the fruit basket).

Can we even consider SA the festival state anymore? Who doesn't have a fringe festival or some other festival these days?
Perth has festivals, Sydney has festivals, Brisbane has festivals, Melbourne has festivals.

Then there is job prospects. WHAT job prospects in Adelaide?
I've said it before, do a quick search on Seek, a general search for all job types/industries etc, for each city/state.
See the lack of opportunity that exists in this city and this state.

There's more chance of me building my own space shuttle and rocket and sending my self to the moon and back, then any political party in this state(and federally) reversing the general decline, or stagnation that exists in SA.

We don't have a Don Dunstan or a Jeff Kennet at the moment.
What we have is muppets and puppets.

But like Ho Really says, I'll wait till the Libs announce their plans. I'm not holding out much hope of anything inspiring.

[monotonehell]

What we have is muppets and puppets.

But muppets are puppets...

But like Ho Really says, I'll wait till the Libs announce their plans. I'm not holding out much hope of anything inspiring.

I don't think they will announce any real policies, so far they have been making exactly the same plays as the Abbott election campaign. It will be a lot of "we will...(insert outcome here)" without any explanation of how they intend to achieve it. After all it worked for the Feds.

[Waewick]

I listened to both leaders on fiveaa this morning.

they really aren't "leaders" are they. more like two blokes filling a seat.

[rev]

Well like I said Wae, it's a matter of who will do the least damage during their time in power.


And what a surprise, the Liberals have said they will not commit to any policies regarding transport infrastructure, let alone public transport.
With Abbott already having made it clear he prefers road infrastructure, I guess if the Libs win the state election, we can forget the rest of the train network being electrified and certainly forget any more tram network extensions.

For those of you in the southern suburbs, you'll get a nice upgrade to part of South Road.

[Waewick]

I reckon a few Centre pieces will be it. Fed money dependent of course.

[Ho Really]

As Rev said, whomever does the least damage. That's who you should vote for. Why? Because we're in that low point of the our cycle of boom and bust, or in other words spending too much taxpayer money and not getting enough back to repay our debts. The State Liberals have their hands tied. The only thing they can do seriously is to tweak the tax system to give SMEs flexibility and incentives. Hopefully business will be boosted and jobs created. Whether they'll do this or if it is possible I have no clue. As for Australia on a whole I think we'll be headed for a downturn. Don't blame Abbott for this though. It's just unlucky timing that it will happen under him. I think one or two preceding governments should be blamed for this. For not investing in our future.

Cheers

[Aidan]

As Rev said, whomever does the least damage. That's who you should vote for. Why? Because we're in that low point of the our cycle of boom and bust, or in other words spending too much taxpayer money and not getting enough back to repay our debts. The State Liberals have their hands tied. The only thing they can do seriously is to tweak the tax system to give SMEs flexibility and incentives. Hopefully business will be boosted and jobs created. Whether they'll do this or if it is possible I have no clue.

Although that's very important, there are plenty of other things they can do. Investing in infrastructure is the most important one.

As for Australia on a whole I think we'll be headed for a downturn. Don't blame Abbott for this though. It's just unlucky timing that it will happen under him. I think one or two preceding governments should be blamed for this. For not investing in our future.

Despite many past governments underinvesting in infrastructure, Abboott's entirely to blame for any downturn. Rudd had much unluckier timing, but he kept the Aussie economy growing. Abbott has the ability to stimulate the economy, even if he chooses not to.

[Ho Really]

Although that's very important, there are plenty of other things they can do. Investing in infrastructure is the most important one.

Infrastructure needs taxpayer money, and a lot of it. If you haven't got it you'll have to borrow and if the economy is in a downturn you won't pay it off soon. I think it would be best to spend less and wait, give business incentives, tighten our belts and work hard.

Despite many past governments underinvesting in infrastructure, Abboott's entirely to blame for any downturn. Rudd had much unluckier timing, but he kept the Aussie economy growing. Abbott has the ability to stimulate the economy, even if he chooses not to.

How can Abbott be to blame as he's only been in for a short time? Are you blaming him while in opposition? The Libs were right when they didn't support blowing [all the] money on half-baked schemes that only a few benefitted from. People had been hoodwinked in believing that the GFC was global. It wasn't. Asia and in particular our biggest trading partner China weren't. Australia was only marginally affected. Rudd panicked and did what only Labor governments do. Spend money to help their mates. If he had been a little more cautious and wiser we would be in a much better situation now. Possibly also, still with a Labor government in power. However their factional infighting sorted that out. As you say, Abbott may have the ability to stimulate the economy but I doubt he'll spend any money until it is the right moment (just before the next Fed election when the budget will in a better position). Policies is where he'll make most changes. What they are I can't tell you. You can guess.

Cheers

[Will]

It appears the Liberal party is after the NIMBY vote. First they promise to return planning controls to local councils, and now this.....

From news.com:

A Liberal government would oppose even minor commercial developments on the parklands

Tim Williams •
City Messenger •
February 27, 2014 1:21PM


A LIBERAL government would oppose even minor commercial developments on the parklands.

Opposition planning spokeswoman Vickie Chapman said the Liberal Party would not back developments such as licensed cafes, which the Labor Party and Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood support.

“I’m not in favour of those and we don’t have plans to build any,” Ms Chapman said.

TELL US BELOW: Do you agree with this stance?

The Liberals would instead support more community infrastructure such as barbecue areas, extensions of walking trails and lighting.

“Some of the amenities of the parklands are really poor,” Ms Chapman said.

“I do think they are underutilised but I don’t think they are a wasteland.

“The fact is they are no good to anybody if they are not reasonably lit so people are safe to use them.”

MORE: Adelaide City Council raises fears of development push for parklands

Both sides of politics oppose new large scale developments on the green belt, with the exception of areas already alienated from the parklands such as the North Tce biomedical precinct and the Royal Adelaide Hospital site.

The Labor Government in November pledged $20 million over four years for projects such as more playgrounds, sports fields, lighting and walking trails.

Adelaide City Council and the Adelaide Park Lands Authority (APLA) both said that was not enough because the council had spent $111 million on the green belt since 2008, about seven times the government’s contribution to council-controlled areas that includes $1.3 million a year for maintenance.

Ms Chapman would not say how much a Liberal Government would spend on parklands projects or maintenance, hinting an announcement would be made later in the campaign.

She said the Liberals had no intention of scrapping APLA, the advisory body made up of councillors and government appointees, or of giving inner rim councils seats on the authority.

Inner rim councils should not be made to contribute financially to parklands’ maintenance but residents of suburbs adjoining the greenbelt should be consulted about issues such as new projects and any road closures, she said.

“The residents around the parklands need to have some consideration because it’s their only green space and there will be a lot more of them,” she said.

Labor has threatened to overhaul the current parklands governance model, including APLA, if it becomes obstructive to projects it wants to pursue.

Planning Minister John Rau said the parklands would remain “a barren, underutilised moat around the city” under the Liberals.

“Small cafes may add to the amenity of the parklands but only to complement recreational use and only following consultation,” he said.

“The new Bonython Park playground cafe is an excellent example of how this type of initiative can serve the community well.”

[Nathan]

And the Advertiser censor is back in force again. I merely commented that it was a bit rich for Ms Chapman to say "inner rim councils should not be made to contribute financially to parklands’ maintenance", but then say that residents in those areas should be consulted about new projects "because it’s their only green space and there will be a lot more of them". And *zip*, comment deleted.

She represents an electorate with some of the most well off people in the state, who benefit immensely from the parklands (particularly the eastern parklands, which are the best looked after), and doesn't think they should contribute a cent?