Opposition leader Bill Shorten tears apart Tony Abbot on broken promises during question time - Polidicks

[quote]Prime Minister Tony Abbott has denied he has broken a pledge not to cut funding to the ABC and SBS, telling Parliament his government had "fundamentally kept faith with the Australian people". The comments were Mr Abbott's first on budget changes to the ABC since a $254 million reduction was announced by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week. In question time on Monday, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asked Mr Abbott about comments he made in an interview on SBS TV on the night before last year's election, in which he vowed there would be "no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS." The Opposition Leader moved a censure motion against Mr Abbott, saying the Prime Minister had broken his promise. [/quote] Source;[url=http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-denies-breaking-promise-on-the-abc-we-have-fundamentally-kept-faith-of-voters-20141124-11sucm.html]The Age[/url] Video [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNc_GMCUME[/media]

About time he started acting like opposition leader. [video=youtube;uPpkOLoU3LI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPpkOLoU3LI[/video]

I'm really hoping the Victorian election is a bloodbath for the liberals.

Still would prefer literally anyone from the labor party as PM over Shorten.

[QUOTE=Tasm;46560631]Still would prefer literally anyone from the labor party as PM over Shorten.[/QUOTE] Plibersek would do quite well.

tony abbot and shorten are both people who essentially had never worked in their lives lol, just different sides of the same coin

[QUOTE=CheeseMan;46560790]tony abbot and shorten are both people who essentially had never worked in their lives lol, just different sides of the same coin[/QUOTE] We need a constitutional amendment that forces Senators and Parliamentarians to take a one term break after a certain number of terms. Far to many of them have no idea what it's like to be an average person.

[QUOTE=download;46560912]We need a constitutional amendment that forces Senators and Parliamentarians to take a one term break after a certain number of terms. Far to many of them have no idea what it's like to be an average person.[/QUOTE] Applying arbitrary rules onto these people doesn't fix the problem. It would only make them better at dodging these kinds of rules. Look at Russia and Putin for example, they would simply take a clerkship in the same office and run it as an unelected official (which nobody wants) while some poor sap takes their seat for a term (remember that most of the people that are problematic are people in extremely safe seats). I know that's an extremely sensationalist example but I'm just trying to illustrate that the problem is systemic and wont be fixed by what you suggested (although I applaud the sentiment as we all feel that way at times). Even if it was a good idea you still face the problem of never actually being able to convince politicians that they shouldn't be politicians once in a while, they like what they do too much. And if you did manage to get this law passed then you have probably made it redundant because the kind of people that would pass it are also the people that would make parliament a more effective body than it currently is (maybe that's just wishful thinking). The real problem is the political landscape favours the wrong characters. The 24/7 news cycle promotes polarising candidates and decimates the middle ground because they are labelled as back flippers if they change their minds due to valid arguments from the other side. This issue has no easy fix and it requires massive social change on levels arguably not seen since the abolishment of slavery and giving women the vote. That was a lot more soapbox-y than I though it would be

Probably doesn't help that every major newspaper in the country is owned by the same person.

[QUOTE=CheeseMan;46560790]tony abbot and shorten are both people who essentially had never worked in their lives lol, just different sides of the same coin[/QUOTE] Fuckin' career politicians are the worst.

[QUOTE=download;46561146]Probably doesn't help that every major newspaper in the country is owned by the same person.[/QUOTE] The conflict of interest in Australia is huge with the two major parties. First you have Murdoch who is moreso liberal aligned, can at the flick of a switch decide to go with a party and make his preferable choice the PM, then you have the labor party's supporting unions, the factions and the numerous subfactions, which is a complete mess. It's a wonder how labor hasn't had more leadership spills with the clashing ideologies within their subfactions. There is no choice, we're either going to get fucked by the coalition, or we're going to get fucked by labor. It just so happens that the position I'm personally in, I'm going to get equally fucked by both parties policies regardless of who I vote for next election. Tony Abbott or Shorten, what shitty election this will be.

[video=youtube;OUPjF255qDg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUPjF255qDg[/video] I feel bad for you all. In my opinion, a leader like that shouldn't have his back turned to accusations like that in Parliament (correct me if you call it something else), he should be a little more mature. Obviously this is just what I've seen etc. etc. so I'm not as informed as some of you will be.

Why does everyone hate Bill Shorten?

Jason Clare did a similar thing too. He's pretty good and represents his electorate really well. [video=youtube;YSfdfznqS70]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfdfznqS70&list=UUs-DEoc4TIzRTeI8p2BVlvQ[/video]

Shorten and Abbott are both rubbish but at least them shitting on each other is entertaining

Is there an Australian revolution coming? Shit seems fucked. Not that America is much better.

I feel oddly out of place.

[QUOTE=CheeseMan;46560790]tony abbot and shorten are both people who essentially had never worked in their lives lol, just different sides of the same coin[/QUOTE] are you honestly implying that being a politician isn't a real job

[QUOTE=Cornish;46571297]Shorten and Abbott are both rubbish but at least them shitting on each other is entertaining[/QUOTE] It's really not entertaining, because it's all just utter bullshit, and boring bullshit at that.

[QUOTE=katbug;46572221]are you honestly implying that being a politician isn't a real job[/QUOTE] He means that it's not a middle or lower class job.

[QUOTE=shackleford;46570884]Jason Clare did a similar thing too. He's pretty good and represents his electorate really well. [video=youtube;YSfdfznqS70]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfdfznqS70&list=UUs-DEoc4TIzRTeI8p2BVlvQ[/video][/QUOTE] That's marvellous.

Jason clare is pretty geeat Sorf of wish they chose albo as opposition leader though.

[video=youtube;Qf63D4EQtV8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf63D4EQtV8[/video] TELLLLL MEEEEEEEEEE

[QUOTE=Cornish;46571297]Shorten and Abbott are both rubbish but at least them shitting on each other is entertaining[/QUOTE] I'd rather have fucking Shorten over Abbott, still won't vote for either them of course.

[QUOTE=Tasm;46560631]Still would prefer literally anyone from the labor party as PM over Shorten.[/QUOTE] This on so many levels. Hell, even Senator John Faulkner would be a logical choice for leader. I feel that Shorten is not a really someone to lead the Labor Party because many of his choices for voting on certain legislation, alas some of his own views are roughly equivalent to what ost LNP members support. To be honest, I'll be voting Greens at the next election because Labor has languished so long in the Opposition since 2013 while not really questioning the LNP coalitions motives (with some they themselves support) until now. [editline]26th November 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=shackleford;46570884]Jason Clare did a similar thing too. He's pretty good and represents his electorate really well. [video=youtube;YSfdfznqS70]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfdfznqS70&list=UUs-DEoc4TIzRTeI8p2BVlvQ[/video][/QUOTE] Isn't his electorate the one which former PM Keating formed the backbone of the NSW Labor up until 1996?

[QUOTE=shutter_eye5;46577629]To be honest, I'll be voting Greens at the next election because Labor has languished so long in the Opposition since 2013 while not really questioning the LNP coalitions motives (with some they themselves support) until now.[/QUOTE] Are you kidding? Labor has been very vocal against the Coalition government, especially Hockey's budget, even weeks if not months before the budget was presented before parliament. You would have to be delusional to think that Shorten and the rest of the Labor party were never 'really questioning' the Coalition. Simply watching question time would show this. And then you accuse Labor of supporting some of the motives of the Coalition as a reason for voting for the Greens, despite the fact that the Greens support Abbott's changes to paid parental leave which gives millionaires more money than the average person for having a baby. You're also forgetting that whenever a party actually comes up with decent policy, such as Labor and an emissions trading scheme, the Greens like to step in and radicalise the policy, which they did by forcing Labor to ditch the ETS in favour of the carbon tax. And now because of the Abbott ministry we have neither.

Is there anything we can do about getting rid of these Coalition wankers or can just keep raping this country for another 2 years?

[QUOTE=RoboChimp2;46577894]Is there anything we can do about getting rid of these Coalition wankers?[/QUOTE]Vote for Kodos next time.