"- Re: Aboriginal Apology - The point is that the OFFICE of Prime Minister was the one who instigated the horrible tragedy of the Stolen Generation and as such the OFFICE had to apologise for the actions."
Okay, but to me it sounded too much like an apology from white Australians to Indigenous Australians, and I think was made vague to try and appease those who wanted an apology for all. I think Rudd shouldn't apologize for any mistakes Howard made, so why should he apologize for mistakes made by his predecessor decades ago?
"- Ratifying Kyoto - Regardless of the hypocrisy of their actions at least the ALP is attempting to deal with Climate Change. Howard never did a single thing and in fact by giving developing nations a target to point to as an example of a Developed nation not meeting its goals; Howard harmed an chance of a meaningful climate agreement."
It would have been a nice symbolic gesture for Howard to make, and I'm sure he would have done it at some point, but earlier there was real doubt in climate science and Australia is a coal-run nation. The fact is Howard was paving the way for nuclear power, it's a tough pill for the public to swallow but it's the only realistic way we can start combatting climate change with more than shallow gestures. The ALP, for all its initiatives and statements and conferences, is taking us down a path which will have a much bigger impact on the climate. Kyoto is meaningless if you don't have the initiative to make a real push for real alternatives
"- Re: Copying economic policy - Actually this isn't true at all. Labor is more interventionist, whereas the Liberals (Especially under Howard) were much more Laissez Faire. I would hate to see what the LIbs would be doing under this current economy. Probably cutting public sector jobs and privatising everything. But regardless, the two parties are very similar on the economy anyway... one of the reasons I am a Green."
That may be true historically (and it's why Howard had such a massive mess to deal with when he first came to power), but recently they've been about the same; specifically the tax plan which they came out with was released just after the Liberals, and was practically the same thing.
As for how they handled the crisis the Liberals have agreed a large stimulus was needed. Public spending as a response to a recession is economics 101, you're mad if you think Costello wouldn't have done the same (but perhaps more responsibly, making it more of an investment than a cash handout, like they have in the US and England).
"- Re: Various climate change things - Not sure what you are criticising here... they are doing everything MORE than the Libs ever did. Not enough by any means and I agree that targets and trading shouldn't be tied together, but still more than the Libs ever did."
I think the fact that Rudd lacks the leadership to put Australia on the path to nuclear power (which almost all developed countries are now taking, even with far less uranium and dry, stable land than us) is a bigger blow to the climate than any of these other silly things. How will emissions trading and solar water heater initiatives power the huge desalinization plants we'll need to keep the basics affordable when climate change finishes drying up the few reservoirs and rivers we have left?
"- Re: Iraq - Did you really just say Howard wanted to get out of Iraq...?"
Of course.. It was a huge blunder sending them in and all leaders involved want them out the moment Iraq can handle by itself. Don't think for a second Rudd had anything to do with the fact that Iraq is finally stabilizing and everyone can finally withdraw their troops.
"- Re: Mandatory Internet Filtering - May I remind you that the Libs were the first ones to put any sort of filtering in place at all? If they hadn't have done that in the first place then the ALP wouldn't be where they are now. Mandatory Filtering is a horrid idea and I am glad it has been defeated for the moment, but I am willing to bet that a great number of the Libs support the policy in reality."
Opt-in filtering is very different from opt-out (which is what the ALP outlined), and opt-out if very different from mandatory (which they changed it to after getting in).
The Liberals had a policy of educating children about the dangers of the internet, after some kid demonstrated to the media how easy the optional filters were to work around, rather than try to somehow block out everything bad in the entire world.
"- Re: Stimulus - The economic figures have supported the government's action."
This is a shaky argument. I could say if it was done differently it would be much better, and we could argue as long as we wanted about it. I do think that the fact we took a different approach to getting a stimulus out than anyone else is worrying though, especially given that handing out cash will always be more popular than wise investment (I worked at Centrelink over the holidays, handing out the ESS package, and it was referred to by everyone as the "Rudd money"). But you could argue it's more appropriate or we have better economists here, so I won't follow this argument
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