Joe is back in his box

So big Joe is in trouble with the Banks. All because he dared to suggest that they are gouging their customers - and he wants an enquiry.

It's just hilarious. Doesn't Joe know what the game is? The Coalition are not supposed to *question* the social and ethical standards of big business - hell no they are supposed to help let them do what they like to maximise profits, feather their own nests and rip-off Australian's.

Jeez this must have come as a big shock to the Australian Banking hierarchy and its leadership - sitting in their plush offices with their feet up, overlooking a big brown land, dreaming up new fees and charges while raking it in.

They have the Government covered and have effectively neutered Wayne and Penny and Julia - who wouldn't dare suggest such a thing.

But they forgot to cover off on the Coalition - and who can blame them with Tony running around like a mad monk and following along compliantly in Rupert's wake.

Who would have expected the Coalition to grow a pair and take their responsibility to Australian's seriously? Rupert will be most unhappy.

But it's alright now folks; big Mike got up yesterday and read the riot act to Joe - so he is back in his box today. Thank goodness someone is managing the Coalition.

Fools and Broadband

So let me see if I understand this correctly.

During its 12 years in Government, the Coalition had no clue about fast broadband and was not at all interested in fixing up the mess that it had created with Telstra. In fact they made things much worse by trying to apply a US corporate dictatorship to this Australian communications icon - via the *three Amigos*. OK it was the Telstra Board rather than the *actual* Coalition - but the key people were intertwined. And you call that policy?

And ever since they lost control of the levers they have been outmanoeuvred by the current Government - who does actually understand broadband and has a plan to implement it for the benefit of the nation - including the regions.

But today we see a *new* policy from the Coalition which is apparently their "broadband plan" number 3 or is it 4? I have lost count but anyway you can find the detail - here.

Why would anyone take these clowns seriously?

* They couldn't understand it or get it right in the 12 years they were in the big seats in Government.

* They have had 3 or 4 different plans since they lost Government - will this one even work? I am looking forward to the next one ;-)

* They have been bagging the Government's NBN plan for a couple of years now.

* None of them actually use broadband for anything much and they clearly still don't *get it*.

* Except perhaps for Malcolm - who has a *Twitter* account - D'oh.

But a much bigger issue is that all this new plan will do is slow down the NBN rollout - and that is probably what they are hoping for because they see the NBN as a threat and are trying to kill it.

Just goes to show that the Coalition is not about looking out for the people and building infrastructure to help the nation advance - they are merely about power and politics and point scoring.

If they manage to kill fast broadband then the smart ones amongst us will get the message and move elsewhere.

The Coalition should change its name to "Delay & Deny" - because that is their dumb little game.

On Yer Bike

So Howard has written a book - and he is appearing on every TV and Radio show that will have him - trying to promote it. Good luck.

Please tell me again why I would want to look at or listen to his feeble little attempt at re-writing history? All designed to make him and his horrible right wing mate’s look a little more acceptable to the people?

It's all so boring and predictable. The man was a waste of space when he was occupying Kirribilli House - and nothing much has changed in that regard since he moved a couple of suburbs up the road.

In fact, I find his appearance on our television screens downright offensive - and won't watch or listen. It would take hours and pages to write about all the shitty things that he did and the resulting impacts on Australians. But I won't do that today.

There is only one substantial thing that remains on my list - everything else has been dulled by the passage of time or been reversed by the current Labor Government. So much for his "Legacy".

That is his "War Mongering". Particularly his sending of Australian's to War in Iraq and Afghanistan - without even a momentary thought for the people or the soldiers or even the Parliament.

If I had my way then he would be bundled off there with a uniform and a rifle and told to fend for himself. Good Luck.

Because it is clear to us all that with his mates "W" and "Bliar", he has created a monster that will take decades to fix - if at all. Wikileaks have shown us the full extent of the nightmare that has resulted from the "War Mongering" of the "Coalition of the Willing" and it ain't pretty folks.

In fact, it is so ugly that the man should hang his head in shame.

Woodside Wingnuts

I am saddened a little by the words and actions of the "Woodside Wingnuts" - and the exploitation of them by the local Liberal MP - all as described here by Grogs Gamut.

This particular phenomenon is the result of a long term assault on the culture of the place and its people - by rich and powerful vested interests.

Including;

* A Premier who prefers "spin" over "substance" - and has done so for a decade or more.

* Encouragement of an insular, self focussed and unreal view of the world - all designed to keep "confidence" up and citizens "spending".

* Using an organisation dedicated to marketing the "benefits" of the state - to the "people" of the state.

* Combined with a major education deficit in the State - resulting in the lowest education achievements in the nation.

* All fanned by 40 plus years of *Murdoch Manufactured Mush* from the daily newspaper.

* Which has resulted in many citizens having a "pig ignorant" view on most issues of substance.

And now we are seeing the result of all this - so why is anyone surprised?

Man Bites Murdoch

Been reading Bruce Guthrie's account of his life as a newspaper man for the past few days - it's been hard to put down. And it is a great read - funny, informative with lots of inside information about Australian newspapers and their people and culture. A review is here.

It's an incestuous and belligerent little industry - dominated by the right wing moguls and their friends and hangers on and bum boys in the Melbourne Club and elsewhere. I am afraid that Melbourne has got a lot to answer for. John Elliott for Christ sake. And Jeff Kennett.

Successive Australian Governments have lost the ability to regulate and control our media - and that is why we have ended up with Prince Rupert force feeding us his world view - through the *numbnut* filters of "Andrew Bolt" and "Chris Mitchell". What sad personal lives these people must have - with their thinking having already been worked out for them?

I think Bruce is a good guy and there may even be more of them out there but this is not an industry that can or will survive in its current form for too much longer.

The post Murdoch world will look significantly different - I just want to be around to celebrate it in style.

Let Me Be Clear...

"Let me be clear: We will vigorously pursue the truth – and we will not tolerate wrongdoing".

D'oh - wonder if he has bothered to tell his Australian Editors about this new plan?

The man is personification of "Portnoy's Complaint" and this speech is a painful reminder that the person who owns and operates 70% of Australian Newspapers is just another right wing *numbnut*

Stealing more Crikey Content

Found this in Crikey today and just had to share it - and you must watch the speech that Adam Bandt made in the Parliament yesterday. Truth is finally meeting Politics head on.

Chris Hunter writes: Re. "Video of the Day: Adam Bandt's speech on Afghanistan" (yesterday, item 8). Adam Bandt's premise that Australia is engaged in Afghanistan because the US asked it to be there serves the Australian argument about involvement but fails to illuminate the big picture question "why is the US in Afghanistan?"

Before the twin towers fell, Osama Bin Laden was asked in an interview what it would take to cease hostilities by his organization against the west, namely the US. His answer was simple enough "The US must get out of Arabia". In short the US must economically decouple from Arabia to avoid future antagonism, such as September 11. Anyone who cares to peruse the Guy Debord literary classic Society of the Spectacle will recognize that the US is the ultimate "spectacle" -- totally hooked on consumption, sickeningly overweight, a grotesque spiritually bankrupt community chewing up world resources alarmingly, with a bevy of willing backslappers such as Australia, Britain, etc.

If the US cannot "survive" without dominating the resources of other countries then it must accept that terror is the price it must pay. And we as its doppelgangers must also pay. If China were to invade Australia for its resources then who would be surprised if Australians fought back, using whatever tactic given the inequality of the fight.

No, I am not endorsing terror. But if the west is seeking a solution then it should be prepared to slim down, demand less, unhook itself from the terrible addiction that has befallen it.

Our politicians have to grow up and get over the fundamental greed that has poisoned their thinking and morally bankrupted our society. Terrorism and economic domination go hand in hand.

We want to live like kings when most of the world goes without and not pay the price? Tut tut.

Sorry Julia

Sorry Julia - you are wrong and I suspect that you have a very misplaced and uninformed view of Australia's interest with regard to Iraq and Afghanistan and the United States.

Just goes to show how the US military/industrial complex has taken control of our military decision making. But why is anyone surprised by that?

It was a disgrace when Howard started these wars and it is still a disgrace now that Rudd and you are continuing with them.

I personally don't mind if you and your family and the family of the Opposition leader want to head off to Afghanistan and participate in this shitty little war. Go for it - the closer you get to the front line the better as far as I am concerned. I will even be at the airport waving you off. And don't expect to be treated any differently from David Hicks if and when you get back.

But I do object rather heartily - to you and him agreeing to send our Australian boys off to fight this unnecessary war - and then standing up and telling us that we will be there for decades.

You have no friggin idea.

We elected you to govern our nation - not to pander to a US military that exists to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and anywhere else that takes their fancy.

Here's the Rub

Not only is the average Australian not informed on significant issues like "Climate Change" but apparently neither are Coalition MP's. According to Lenore Taylor - here.

The argument that Australia is considering "going it alone" on a carbon price flared during an estimates hearing yesterday.

The Nationals' Senator Ron Boswell said: "The one thing that is indisputable is that for Australia to go ahead alone is going to achieve absolutely nothing".

The secretary of the Climate Change Department, Dr Martin Parkinson, replied "the presumption that no one else is acting is a peculiarly Australian perspective - it is absolutely nonsense to say no one else is acting".

Exactly. So my questions are these.

"Why is it that people like Senator Boswell don't know what is happening in the rest of the world? Might it be that they *choose* to remain thick and ignorant?

If our members of parliament can't be bothered to access information that is readily available - then how will our citizens be informed? Or is that the *numbnut* plan? And why do we tolerate these "thickwits"?

Strategy

The thing about the current Coalition leadership is that "they clearly don't do Strategy". Which means they don't know *how* to win. What they "do" are "tactics" - because they think short term and they think no-one else is paying attention.

If they did "Strategy" then they would have a *real* plan to depose our Government. And they would do these five things.

* Win over the people with their competence, charm, knowledge and smarts.

* Have a capable, trustworthy and articulate shadow ministry.

* Build a reputation of credibility and competence.

* Take a moderate but firm approach on policy.

* Always act as an alternative Government.

But the conservatives and their leaders are so angry, so thick, so conflicted and so impatient that they can't do any of this. And that's why they won't get to pull the levers anytime soon Virginia.

Takeover

My previous post got me thinking a bit - a very unusual event I know ;-)

For a couple of decades now the "Liberals" have been moving further and further toward the *right* and further and further away from the philosophy that Menzies established when he created the "Liberal Party" - after the second world war.

I mean it was called "Liberal" for a reason Virginia.

Quite simply the *Conservatives*, the *Tories*, the *right wingers* and the *numbnuts* have taken over - the party has become a loose amalgam of everyone with a barrow to push - all masquerading as "Liberals".

For evidence I present Exhibit A - Tony Abbott. And Exhibit B is Eric Abetz ;-)

This tells us a few things about the "Liberals" post Menzies - they clearly didn't have the strength of leadership, character or commitment to fend off the takeover. So they let the *Conservatives* run the place but they didn't bother to tell their constituents or to change their name.

Now fast forward a decade or two and some of the rest of us have finally woken up and noticed that - "Liberals ain't Liberals". So what to do about it?

Well, as Andrew Leigh has pointed out in his maiden speech - Menzies "liberal" philosophy is now owned by the Labor Party. Pretty soon there will be no-where left for the small-L liberals to go - even if they do grow a pair and take on the usurpers.

Shifting Ground

Andrew Leigh, the new Federal Member for Fraser (ACT) gave his maiden speech in the parliament today and it's a ripper - you can find it here.

One interesting thing is that he was born in the same year that Gough Whitlam won office - 1972. I was a *nasho* at the time based at Holsworthy and was hoping for a Whitlam win - because Labor had promised to end National Service. And it was one of the first things he did - we were all out-of-there by Christmas.

But these two paragraphs of Andrew's are what reinforced for me the changing nature of Australian politics. Especially the "Shifting Ground" that has been evident since the "Liberals" discarded "liberalism" and embraced right wing "conservatism".

"The Labor Party today stands at the confluence of two powerful rivers in Australian politics. We are the party that believes in egalitarianism – that a child from Aurukun can become a High Court Justice, and that a mine worker should get the same medical treatment as the bloke who owns the mine.

But what is sometimes overlooked is that we are also the party that believes in liberalism – that governments have a role in protecting the rights of minorities, that freedom of speech applies for unpopular ideas as for popular ones, and that all of us stand equal beneath the Southern Cross. The modern Labor Party is the true heir to the small-L liberal tradition in Australia".

Yes absolutely - go for it Andrew.

The Libs and Murdoch

This comes courtesy of "Tips and Rumours" in Crikey today - and is soooo interesting that I just had to pinch it ;-)

"A senior federal LNP member (and good friend) tells me that senior LNP "faceless men" have an appointment with his highness, Prince Rupert Murdoch, for next month's visit. The purpose is to argue in favour of Mr T, in an attempt to consign the Prince's personal loathing of Mr T to the sidelines in the best interests of the Conservative movement.

Why, you ask? Abbott is now regarded as utterly unelectable by all but the most recalcitrant, hard-right members of the LNP federal caucus. Were a leadership spill called tomorrow, it is suggested that the numbers would go for Mr T -- by roughly 10-15 votes, a landslide win in contrast to the last spill. The meeting with the Prince is regarded as paramount to the LNP's objective of winning in 2013, let alone forcing an early poll".

Imagine

Don't we need an easily accessible place where Australians can go to get some real, accurate and up to date information about our politicians - especially the ones that we are about to vote for?

* Imagine standing in the queue on polling day - with your pencil and ballot paper at the ready - and being able to drag out your portable internet device to search for the history of the candidates who are seeking your vote?

* Imagine being able to rank them - based on their voting record and beliefs - against criteria that you have personally selected?

* Imagine being able to send a trusted *netbot* off to search the candidate base - using criteria that you have selected - to find the candidate that best matches your personal requirements and beliefs.

* Imagine having access to a deep and detailed database of all our Politicians, complete with knowledge of their voting history, ideology and personal behaviour?

It would scare the bejesus out of me too Virginia ;-)

And it would change politics as we know it.

Liars

Yesterday I had a bit of a rant about the North Sydney "Liberal" MP Joe Hockey and how he told some enormous porkies AND got a swing TO him at the recent election.

I suspect that there are a couple of reasons for this. Many of us expect our politicians to lie and we are so conditioned by this that we have stopped listening to them. Unfortunately when it comes time to apply the pencil to the ballot paper we don't know what they stand for and so we revert to what our parents did - and many of us vote Liberal. Sad but true.

This theory explains why most Liberal voters don't seem to have noticed that the "Liberal Party" candidates are no longer "Liberals".

But a bigger issue for me is that if these "Liberals" are quite happy to tell big lies to their constituents then what about the other important people in their lives?

Do they lie to the wife and kids? Mum and dad? How about their friends and neighbours? The Tax man? The various welfare agencies? About their Parliamentary expenses? Did they lie during their education and did they end up with qualifications they don't deserve? Did they lie to their previous employers? Is their CV real?

I dunno - but it seems likely that if they are so disrespectful of their constituents - then a few small lies to friends and family would be nothing to worry about - right?

Here We Go - Again

Looks like we are now doing to the Tertiary Education sector what we did to the IT sector a decade ago.

What is that I hear you asking? Stuffing it royally - is my answer.

The Tertiary Education sector has been living in a fool’s paradise for a while now - especially given that they have been trading their Mickey Mouse degrees for residency to opportunistic fee paying overseas students - all courtesy of Little Johnny and the Liberals.

Free enterprise is a wonderful thing - especially if you have a nice little scam like residency to use as a carrot ;-)

Dumb commerce if you ask me - it was always going to end in tears. And the chickens have now come home to roost.

And so the "once vibrant" Tertiary Education sector is now in serial decline - perhaps they can take the opportunity to get back to their core business of "educating Australian's". Or perhaps not.

If this was the manufacturing industry there would be hand wringing all over the place - closely followed by millions of dollars in *special assistance* packages.

But because it involves a "services industry" - especially one that is not valued by our politicians - it will be left to fend for itself.

Good luck people - sadly you are in the wrong Country - at the wrong time.

Buffoonery Works

In the recent 2010 election, the Liberal Member for North Sydney achieved an 8.55% swing to him and got 64.06% of the two candidate preferred vote. Because North Sydney is a hotbed of Liberal Party activism - or perhaps alternatively because it's two-thirds full of slow thinking rusted-ons ;-)

The Liberal Member for North Sydney is Joe Hockey.

Yes Virginia - the same Joe Hockey who told us that the Coalition *costings* had been audited by one of the largest and most respected accounting firms in the nation.

But as Peter Martin points out here - "Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey was not telling the truth when he claimed days ahead of the election the Coalition's costings had been *audited* by a big Australian accountancy firm".

I personally don't care much for what Joe says - but as a North Sydney resident I am *really pissed* that he lied to the people AND got a serious swing TO him.

All I can say is that this is a sad indictment of the quality of the "thinking organs" that are attached to the voters of North Sydney.

Clearly buffoonery works - which explains a lot about why the Monk is rampaging around like a dipstick.

Numbnut

1. A person without curiosity - someone who isn't able to think for themselves.

2. A reader of "The Australian" aka "Fox News in Print" - someone who is captive to the Murdoch echo chamber and who thinks that "Climate Change" and "Mining Taxes" and "Broadband Networks" and "National Water Policy" are socialism in disguise - and the work of the devil.

3. Someone who thinks that the mining entrepreneurs and their fellow travellers have the long term interests of the nation at heart without realising they have been duped by the multi millionaires whose intent is to steal wealth from the nation.

4. A large subset of current "Liberal Party" MP's - someone who allows an angry little right wing bully and his slow thinking cronies to take control of the Liberal Party and to run around like a bull in a china shop - all without a thought for their own constituents.

5. A larger subset of current "National Party" MP's - someone who blindly follows along behind the "Liberal Party" MP's identified above - usually a couple of paces behind - while mumbling incoherently about "Great Big New Taxes" and "Stealing My Water".

And so on.

Blogging is Bad

I feel for the souls who work at "The Australian". Especially those who have to deal with all we untrained, uneducated, ignorant and disorderly bloggers out here in cyberspace. There should be a law against it - and if Rupert has his way there will be.

Especially bad are the bloggers who are confusing the public by telling the truth. That clearly needs to be corrected with a little judicious application of "Rupert Speak" so that "The Heart of The Nation" can set the record straight and get things back to business as usual.

Those bloggers are bad news and those anonymous bloggers - well they are worse than bad they are *really* bad news. Let me re-enforce that by saying it again - just to show some support for the dipshits souls at "The Australian".

Those bloggers are bad news and those anonymous bloggers - well they are worse than bad they are *really* bad news.

Does that help?

Because as we all know it is only Murdoch who has the brains, the intellect, the clout, the contacts and the resources to be trusted with presenting news and opinion to Australian's. No other ex-citizen has the same vested interest concern for the nation.

And it is only the Murdoch press that is so worried about the future of the nation that they are pushing hard for a *numbnut* neo-con opposition leader - to become our Prime Minister.

Don't worry about the democratic processes people - "We have the interests of the nation at heart and we think that the monk should be Prime Minister".

So take cover people - Rupert has decided. The Monk will be your PM by Xmas.

A Few Small Questions

I know that it is unfashionable to ask the Monk any real and searching questions but here are a few to ponder.

"Why Tony are you appearing at the UK Conservative Party conference? Is it because you are the Leader of the Australian branch of this right wing Tory party? And if so then wouldn't it be fair and proper to expose that to the Australian people and give the Liberal Party back to them"?

Now I only ask because it is clear to many of us that the Australian Liberal's are no longer Liberals - they are Conservatives and Tories in disguise. And your cronies have hijacked the Liberal party because there is no likelihood that Australians would actually vote for a mob of rabid right wingers.

And some of us even think that this is likely to be a fraud that has been perpetrated on the Australian people. How come all of these Conservatives are masquerading as Liberals when it was clear that Robert G. Menzies set up the Liberal Party as a "centrist, middle of the road" political party?

Jason Wilson

This is really worth a read - if you are interested in the state of our media.

And this is what I said by way of comment.

Great article Jason - and it serves to expose the self-serving nature of the drones at "The Australian".

But the thing is that no-one cares anymore. Newspapers are dying and the people who used to be called journalists are cacking themselves as they try to stay alive past another edition.

The thing that tickles me is that folks like Jay Rosen are plastering the Twitternet with succinct one liners about "The Australian" and it's dubious staffers and their stories.

It's hilarious - and a case study in how to trash your credibility in about 15 minutes.

Someone in the Murdoch family or even News Corporation must have a Twitter account and surely they have noticed that the "OZ flagship" is in serious need of some new high quality leadership.

But really - "who cares"?

Christopher Pyne

I fell on the floor larfing my head off when I saw this.

The ABC has clearly lost the plot. Mark Scott probably now has to issue a couple of dozen ABC appearance invitations to the Liberals to make up for it ;-)

Now I know the ABC is concerned with appeasing the Coalition - just in case they ever get their hands on the levers - but really this is a bit extreme - even for them.

Robert G. Menzies

This is his address at the Inauguration of the Liberal Party of Australia - Sydney, 31 August 1945.

"My purpose and my duty is to put before you and through you to the people of this country the broad views of the Liberal Party of Australia upon some of the more important questions now arising.

There is a good deal of confusion, some of it deliberately created, about the Liberal approach to "private enterprise". The expression is unfortunate since to some minds it appears to suggest that private interests are being preferred to public benefit. If the expression connotes "each for himself and the devil take the hindmost", with no provision against depressions, with big monopolies running free and injuring the consumer, with an absence of proper Government controls and Government liabilities, then it is something which Liberalism cannot support.

But when we Liberals speak of "private enterprise" or "free enterprise" or the like we are laying emphasis upon the element of initiative for reward which we believe to be the great dynamic of material human progress. We believe in security, but we believe also in progress because upon progress and advancement of material standards in this country all security depends; in raising living standards we are not disposed to fight a rearguard action against social disaster. We believe in fuller and better lives for every citizen; in better houses and schools and furniture and food and clothing, because it is in these things and not in mere terms of money that the real standard of living is to be found.

None of these things can be attained unless we have increased, cheaper, and more effective production. And this in turn depends, we believe, upon the encouragement, recognition and reward of extra skill and extra effort, whether they be those of employer or employee.

We do not stand for some mutual hostility between the Government and the private citizen in business. We believe in the cooperation of Government and citizen, the Government formulating and enforcing social and industrial obligations, preserving true and fair competition by a strict control of all monopolistic tendency; cooperating with business in long range planning, while business itself supplies the drive and ambition and progress without which security will become a mere sham and living standards will fall, not rise.

In a few words, Liberalism proposes to march down the middle of the road. Its watchwords will be:

A fair deal and a good opportunity for everybody no privilege, if by privilege we mean advantage, except for the industrious and skilful:

A sound and appropriate education for every child whatever the economic condition of its parents;

Generous provision for every citizen against the chances and disasters of life;

High pay for high endeavour.

To us, Australia is not seven million people to be thought about and ordered about and legislated about as a mere mass. To us, Australia is seven million individuals, the progress of each of whom is a priceless asset to Australia, and the honest contribution of each of whom is the essential foundation of all good community life. It is therefore to the preserving of the freedom of the citizen, his mind, his body, his spirit, that Liberalism dedicates itself. Only from genuinely free, progressive, diligent and encouraged individuals can a really powerful nation be built.

I now turn to a necessarily brief statement of how the Liberal Party applies these broad principles to some of the concrete questions of the moment: Employment: This is the greatest of our domestic problems. For every individual who thinks and talks about this problem the depression has left an ineradicable mark upon the mind and conscience of this generation.

The depression was more than an economic incident. It has made a profound impression on the national conscience.

Our first resolve must be and is that never, while we have a brain to plan with or two hands to fight or work with, must such a depression occur again.

How then are we to secure that ample measure of employment at high remuneration and good conditions which represent the antithesis of depression and are the one effective guarantee against its onset?

We stand for:

Employment for all in a free society; we do not seek the species of full employment which is produced by dictatorship and its slavery. We are not looking for full employment on the model of Germany or Italy before this war. Democracy involves free choice.

We therefore stand for the coordination of Government activity and individual initiative to encourage the fullest development of long-term employment, whether commercial, industrial, or rural....

Increasing production as the basis of increases in living standards and social security. We emphasise this. A slowing down of production will damage the wage-earner immeasurably. Increasing production demands increasing markets. Increasing markets cannot be won easily unless we produce commodities that are both good and cheap. Cheap production depends upon effort and efficiency of man and machine, and in no sense upon wage slashing. We believe that high wages and high production are natural and inevitable allies. The power resources of Australia must be developed - exploited to the full - because in every country production is more and more seen to be closely related to available horse power. Working conditions must be constantly improved. Wages must rise. Modern factories have shown that proper working conditions mean not only a more human treatment of employees, but also better work. In a decent community, as Australia is, decent conditions improve the quality of the work being done....

Public works carefully selected now in type and place, planned now to the last detail, and available to be put into operation at the first sign of any recession in general business conditions....
The public works policy must be courageously applied, sometimes as a developer, sometimes as a stimulant, sometimes as a restorative, always - except in the case of works which bear directly upon national production - with one eye on the general employment level.

A taxation policy which is designed to encourage production by encouraging employees to earn higher wages for better work; employers to develop their business and establish liquid reserves (one of the essential conditions for stabilising employment that industry can provide), and investors to take risks with their capital. It has been the willingness to take risks with capital that has played a magnificent part in the development of Australia and of North America. All the wisest plans in the world will not stabilise employment if the tax policy is all the time tending to bear it down.

Freedom of business enterprise to establish itself and to expand. When we recall that some of the greatest chapters in Australia's industrial history have been written about small enterprises which succeeded and became large, we will realise how essential to the community structure and growth is the retention of the freedom of many thousands of citizens to establish themselves in the business of their own choice. It is on the protection of small business that the growth of general business and employment largely depends.

Social Security, which is of itself a great stabiliser of business and therefore of employment. The purpose of all measures of social security is not only to provide citizens with some reasonable protection against misfortune but also to reconcile that provision with their proud independence and dignity as democratic citizens. The time has gone when social justice should even appear to take the form of social charity.

We believe that there must be no such thing as privilege in education. It is vital to the community that the qualities and abilities of each individual child should be fully developed.

We are not advocating a dull uniformity of educational method from one end of Australia to the other. There will and should continue to be great variations. In the same way we are not advocating the same type of education for all children, since the ultimate purpose of education differs in so many cases. But we believe that our educational system will fail unless it produces not only a measure of literacy and some minimum of skill, but a desire to learn, a real community sense and spirit, and proper standards of values".

It's actually quite a good read. Clearly Malcolm is more in tune with it's sentiment than is Tony.

Now tell me again where Menzies said the Liberals will be dishonest right wing conservatives, exploiting and controlling our workforce, encouraging big business monopolists, starting and waging unjust wars, selling off our national infrastructure and demonising asylum seekers - while doing their best to wreck the parliamentary process?