Okay, to get things started...

In Howards acceptance speech he said:



Since most of us here didn't vote for lil Johnny, what do you think he needs to do to best govern (or serve) you?

Retire.


But seriously (although I was ) in no order:
-get rid of the fucking HECS (or whatever new name they've given it) 25% increase. Preferably just abolish HECS altogether but baby steps!
-save the tasmanian forests
-put $$ into researching alternate fuels such as hydrogen
-increase the MRET target
-give more funding to wind and solar power instead of carbon storage pipe dreams
-more water for the murray
-more funding for water recycling as opposed to desalinisation
thats what comes to mind first.
oh, and,
-fix the fucking public health system, save medicare, and fix the education system.
-stop invading other countries on a false pretense

i'm sure plenty more will coem to mind, none of which will be done.
oh, and,
GET CHILDREN OUT OF FUCKING DETENTION CENTRES. Also adults

-change drugs policies, get rid of sniffer dogs
i could go on forever about what is wrong with this country.

Abolish HECS? Out of curiosity what do you propose instead?

If it weren't for HECS, I wouldn't be at uni.

I don't mean abolish it and make us pay, I mean make uni free. Or relatively free. Like Gough did. Good old Gough.

Move to Texas

I don't want things to be worse.
New Zealand is a possibility though.

I concur.

John Howard makes me .

j.

children out of detention
sorry to stolen generation on behalf of everyone in Australia
improve his foregin policy
take preimtive (sp?) strikes off the agenda for good.
be completly honest with his own people
improve the health care system making it making it fair to all socioeconomic backgrounds
stand up for the common Aussie

should I go on..

A question about detention centers....

Why doesn't the government send them back to their country of origin? Does it cost more than locking them up?

BTW, I do agree that the centers are an awful, awful thing.

the government would have blood on their hands then (even more blood I mean hehe). They would go back and in some cases be executed. The thing is the detention centres of Australia are a better alternative then their own country in some cases..

Did John Howard read the human rights when he started locking up woman and children?

Damn.

So what's the alternative, then? How many refugees end up in the country, and can the country financially support them?

I think Hinny will be much better informed on this than me.

But my perspective is that the government couldn't care less about anything except that they want to stop future boats landing ashore.

That's the reason for the hardline. If they take this tough a stand on the ones already here, then people attempting to do the same in the future will think twice and stop.

(hey, an example of a "crime" that can be deterred)

On a personal, more conspiratiorial note, I think it's a larger part of a deepseated xenophobia (please explain lol) and paranoia that this country will get swamped by Asians from highly populated countries like Indonesia and even Japan.

A country with a land mass almost as big as the US and a population of around $20m. You connect the dots

I'd venture to say, it's one of the reasons we support the US so ardently in wars etc too. You never know when those gooks are gonna invade ya know

our economy is huge and Howard/Costello's coalition are good with the financial side of politics so that isn't an issue. To be honest I have no idea what the alternative is, but anything is better then locking up children in detention. Somethnig has to be done and it pains me to say the Australian people voted for a war and children continually being locked up..

you know why Pauline Hanson is so happy these days? Because John Howard basically adopted most of her policies anyway.

Where is Hinny when you need him hehe.

Let me put it this way- it'd cost less for the government if they closed down the centres and put the lot of them into the Four Seasons hotels.

Finance isn't an issue. These people like to fashion themselves as good economic managers, but this issue here.. it's not only a gross abuse of human rights, it's also highly economically irresponsible. These people have time and again shown a willingness to work in the rural areas, on the agricultural jobs that many local youths have abandoned when they left for the city. The country townspeople love them because they're hardworking, reliable, and are appreciative of being given the chance to settle in and work to support themselves. The way it's going now, the centres are fucking up their heads, they aren't being productive, and it's a bloody shameful waste of resources that could be spent on far more worthy programs.

This isn't just a bleeding heart concern. It's got a strong economic element as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason, though I definitely disagree with it.



Very interesting.

See, on this side of the Pacific, we have a large influx of immigrants as well, but our economy can handle it well, since there's a demand for cheap labor. Also, our politicians would love to have some new votes to pander to.

When I came over to Australia, I was utterly shocked that this was happening, and I'd imagine that other Americans would be, as well. Hopefully some of them see this thread.

*continues to be amazed*

So Hinny, in your opinion, what is the reason for it? Is it similar to what shades posted a little bit above?