Convoy of unreal Australians. Express disagreement with "real Australians".

EvanJames said :

LSWCHP said :

IhateWHINGERS said :

An ungrammatical, pointless rant about cyclists

Dude, I don’t think you should be calling people ignorant until you’ve reached the point where you can do things like write grammatically correct sentences using correct capitalisation. Until you can do those things, which they teach in primary school, you’re only going to appear to be, well, ignorant.

No no, he’s Self Educated. All the best Convoy People are.

“He was a self-made man, thus demonstrating the dangers of unskilled labour”– Someone famous, I forget who

LSWCHP said :

IhateWHINGERS said :

An ungrammatical, pointless rant about cyclists

Dude, I don’t think you should be calling people ignorant until you’ve reached the point where you can do things like write grammatically correct sentences using correct capitalisation. Until you can do those things, which they teach in primary school, you’re only going to appear to be, well, ignorant.

No no, he’s Self Educated. All the best Convoy People are.

shane21fisher said :

I feel I have to out myself here. I was the one that contacted Just Grounds (Now a proud new member, the same as Riotact!) and told them your moderator had put all the phone numbers (included in a comment) up of all the convoys. Which to me was totally inappropriate, I think this has snowballed a tad (mind you I couldn’t help but giggl a bit). For the record some of the things that they carry on about piss me off to. Also things are not going hunkey dorey for Just Grounds, just received a email rallying the troops, worried about wasted money on permits and the major bodys distancing themselves. I guess that makes me a double Agent?

No. Just a d***head.

IhateWHINGERS said :

All the cyclists that see all day every day flouting the law by running red lights, hanging onto busses, failing to give way and generaly being 1st rate morons on the road might just show themselves to be what they really are… self indulgent pigs. You wanna use the road then pay road tax. these truck drivers work hard and pay massive amounts of money for the use of the roads so they can earn a living and delivery your bicycles to you in their truck. everything in and on your house was in a truck at one point or another. The ACT government gives you bike tracks use them! Let them say their piece. whilst they may not speak for you ignorant plebs, they speak for a great many people!

Dude, I don’t think you should be calling people ignorant until you’ve reached the point where you can do things like write grammatically correct sentences using correct capitalisation. Until you can do those things, which they teach in primary school, you’re only going to appear to be, well, ignorant.

IhateWHINGERS said :

these truck drivers work hard and pay massive amounts of money for the use of the roads so they can earn a living and delivery your bicycles to you in their truck.

They don’t pay anything like the full cost of the roads – the roads infrastructure they use to earn a living is massively subsidised by the taxpayer (many of whom even dare to ride bikes!).

Classic! Can’t wait to see the truckies and their bogan mates obeying the road rules tomorrow. You can bet I’ll be taking video of every one of their most trivial infractions 😀

johnboy said :

Personally my thinking is that if I can’t at least ride a bike a couple of kilometers to stand up for the Australian constitution then I’m not much of an Australian.

It’s Americans who use “kilometers”. The rest of the world uses the correct spelling.

All the cyclists that see all day every day flouting the law by running red lights, hanging onto busses, failing to give way and generaly being 1st rate morons on the road might just show themselves to be what they really are… self indulgent pigs. You wanna use the road then pay road tax. these truck drivers work hard and pay massive amounts of money for the use of the roads so they can earn a living and delivery your bicycles to you in their truck. everything in and on your house was in a truck at one point or another. The ACT government gives you bike tracks use them! Let them say their piece. whilst they may not speak for you ignorant plebs, they speak for a great many people!

An open invitation to The Hon (sic) Tony Abbott:

Since you were once so keen to don the lycra when it suited your sense of political expediency, why don’t you join us on your treadly for the Unreal Australian counter-protest?

Or would that be … hypocrisy?

shane21fisher said :

I feel I have to out myself here. I was the one that contacted Just Grounds (Now a proud new member, the same as Riotact!) and told them your moderator had put all the phone numbers (included in a comment) up of all the convoys. Which to me was totally inappropriate, I think this has snowballed a tad (mind you I couldn’t help but giggl a bit). For the record some of the things that they carry on about piss me off to. Also things are not going hunkey dorey for Just Grounds, just received a email rallying the troops, worried about wasted money on permits and the major bodys distancing themselves. I guess that makes me a double Agent?

It was I who added the comment. Inappropriate? All the mobile numbers were directly available to all+dog at the Just Grounds web site. If they didn’t want the numbers distributed then putting them on a public web site is mute testimony to their judgement. Please retract your assertion that publishing the phone numbers is inappropriate, or at least direct this criticism to Just Grounds (the original publishers) rather than Johnboy or me.

If you can’t see that this makes sense then please go and join the convoy, you’ll find your intellectual peers there.

Scorpi the big differences this time around are 1/ the rail technology has moved on immensely and is now well proven, and 2/ the Sydney airport situation is now getting critical, and 3/ the air travel contribution to climate change is enormous, and the Sydney Melbourne corridor is the 4th busiest in the world.

Isn’t it great that our public art is attracting a convoy of visitors from around Australia?

I feel I have to out myself here. I was the one that contacted Just Grounds (Now a proud new member, the same as Riotact!) and told them your moderator had put all the phone numbers (included in a comment) up of all the convoys. Which to me was totally inappropriate, I think this has snowballed a tad (mind you I couldn’t help but giggl a bit). For the record some of the things that they carry on about piss me off to. Also things are not going hunkey dorey for Just Grounds, just received a email rallying the troops, worried about wasted money on permits and the major bodys distancing themselves. I guess that makes me a double Agent?

Gungaghlin Al – the fact is that over the past ten years the VFT or an alternative reached parliament, was considered and knocked back. Economists and Government would not support it. I suggested it to Government and associated Industries back in the late 90’s. Other private businesses put forth concepts and models to no avail.

Recently, another concept relating to rail linkage down our Eastern coast was put forth with Government now finally looking at it. It will be a long way down the track if and before the rail linkage progresses.

That leaves the current bit of rail delivery with the bulk relying upon road freight ie Trucks.

I do not agree given I have always been pro-rail ventures for the majority of freight deliveries and to one day enjoy significant reduction in road carnage via families of lower income being able to jump on faster trains to take holidays interstate that many mid to higher income families sometimes take for granted.

In response to Tooks, the Ablett Family’s story was on the second or third page of the C/Ts yesterday in which Mr Ablett stated the estimate of $300,000. Over what time period it was estimated I have no idea. However, his business has been built up over 30 years+ (remember the family) as my father’s business was in addition to some riverina businesses working on a third of the income most public servants receive at a base rate.

I suggest some people count their blessings working and residing in a city full of golden well paid work opportunities (an excellent income available regardless of tertiary or high uni scores almost guaranteed).

In other words, Canberra people have the benefit of the public service for employment, including tradespeople, couriers and many more private businesses.

Other towns and cities do not have public service support.

scorpio63 said :

Rely on rail for food supplies?

No…taxpayers don’t want their coffers going into the VFT or interstate rail links.

People can not have it both ways.

Says who?

Of course you fail to give even a passing thought to the cost of the alternative. This being the need for a second Sydney Airport – at what cost? I’d guess probably looking pretty crook next to building a fast train link. So…rail without the hassles of an airport, and the lower environmental impact just as a bonus? Bring it on. People will flock to it.

whitelaughter said :

how the blazes is using your democratic right of protest “tearing up the constitution” or “trying to destroy the rule of law”?

As JB and several others have pointed out, the issue isn’t that they’re using their democratic right to protest. It’s what they’re trying to achieve through their protest – The immediate dissolution of Parliament and an immediate new election.

Both of these things are legally impossible under our Constitution. Therefore, they are indeed proposing that we “tear up the Constitution” so that they can have their way, in complete contradiction to the laws of the land. In other countries, that’s usually called a “coup”.

Is that the road you’d like our system of government to go down. That whoever can scream and stamp their feet the loudest gets to call the shots? That sounds like a real smart plan.

Looking for alternatives to the-riotact, twitter, facebook, etc for keeping on top of this in real time? UHF CB channel 40 might be good to listen to as that is the usual highway / truck channel.

scorpio63 said :

So…bring on the carbon tax in which some trucking companies (including family owned businesses) pay $300,000, many go down the gurgler, goods and services (including woolworths deliveries for food and medical supply essentials) are slow to reach the shelves impacting upon every person who complained.

Rely on rail for food supplies?

No…taxpayers don’t want their coffers going into the VFT or interstate rail links.

People can not have it both ways.

Where did you pull that $300,000 figure from?

shadow boxer said :

EvanJames said :

shadow boxer said :

Are you contributing to my bucket ?

Bugger your bucket! Put on a bad koala suit and you might get something.

So not a single one of you principled folks is prepared to put your hand in your pocket to help me save the world.

It’s alright i’ll cover it for you, when they write the history of how the community was saved from armegedon all the credit should go to the 10% of Australians paying the bill.

I propose two huge obelisks at the end of Anzac parade in our memory.

I don’t oppose the obelisks but I do oppose paying for them through taxes!

lol holden

how the blazes is using your democratic right of protest “tearing up the constitution” or “trying to destroy the rule of law”?

@MrMagoo – “did J W Howard say that he would introduce a GST?”

No, and we’ve got rid of him. Now it’s time to get rid of the next liar. And the next. And so on, until they behave.

Henry82 said :

John Moulis said :

A poll conducted by 2CC ..

I stopped reading there.

Haha, why did you go that far? I stopped at…

John Moulis said :

Howard took the GST to an election and won it. He then took Work Choices to an election and lost it.

Except WorkChoices was already in place, so he took it to an election after the fact.

History may well prove that Julia should have remembered that.

EvanJames said :

dpm said :

It’s so much easier to sit at home behind the keyboard in anonymity, eating Cheetos, as your defiant ‘protest’!

Cheetos are called “twisties” in Australia. Where did you cut and paste that from?

Actually, I think you can buy Cheetos here, a distinctly different product to twisties.

John Moulis said :

A poll conducted by 2CC…..

Of 2CC listeners? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure a poll of Green Left Weekly readers would be equally valid and completely opposite.

dpm said :

It’s so much easier to sit at home behind the keyboard in anonymity, eating Cheetos, as your defiant ‘protest’!

Cheetos are called “twisties” in Australia. Where did you cut and paste that from?

John Moulis said :

A poll conducted by 2CC ..

I stopped reading there.

I suspect that, rather than traffic gridlock, come Monday morning traffic will actually flow better than your average day with a traffic accident on major roads here and there. Main reasons being:

– morning peak hour traffic is already abominable due to incompetent transport planning + high car dependency and inefficient bus routes;
– many people will stay home or travel later in the day, cycle, or do do rat runs through back streets, countering the effects of extra trucks on streets;
– Roads ACT will apparently make traffic lights on Northbourne go permanently green for N – S traffic when the convoys are passing through (and here I was thinking the lights were random, or synched to ensure maximum traffic disruption by someone with serious schaudenfraude). This alone will dramatically reduce congestion in N Canberra, and people will begin to ask why this is not done more often during peak times.

But of course I could be wrong. As for the actual protest — good on them. They’re as real or unreal as anyone else

So…bring on the carbon tax in which some trucking companies (including family owned businesses) pay $300,000, many go down the gurgler, goods and services (including woolworths deliveries for food and medical supply essentials) are slow to reach the shelves impacting upon every person who complained.

Rely on rail for food supplies?

No…taxpayers don’t want their coffers going into the VFT or interstate rail links.

People can not have it both ways.

EvanJames said :

shadow boxer said :

Are you contributing to my bucket ?

Bugger your bucket! Put on a bad koala suit and you might get something.

So not a single one of you principled folks is prepared to put your hand in your pocket to help me save the world.

It’s alright i’ll cover it for you, when they write the history of how the community was saved from armegedon all the credit should go to the 10% of Australians paying the bill.

I propose two huge obelisks at the end of Anzac parade in our memory.

John Moulis said :

A poll conducted by 2CC found that the Convoy of No Confidence was supported by 94% of respondents. And if you think those people are all mindless robots brainwashed by shock jocks, hard Left newspaper The Canberra Times conducted a similar poll and found that 68.4% of respondents also support the truckies. Thank you linesmen, thank you ballboys.

Good on them all.
But, as they then all so believe in it and desperately want a change, I’d expect the majority (if not all!) of these people to attend the rally in Canberra on Monday too. This is their chance to make their views known. Apparently 68% of Canberra adults will be there! Hahahaha!
So, for (apparently) 68% of you reading this I’ll repeat: if you believe in it and live here and DON’T attend, then you are a lazy hypocrite re: your ‘beliefs’ and your ‘brothers’ and you really have no right to complain about the Govt any time after the event.
My guess, none of you will be there, yet you’ll keep whinging afterwards…. It’s so much easier to sit at home behind the keyboard in anonymity, eating Cheetos, as your defiant ‘protest’!
I can hear it now: ‘I’d LOVE to go and support them, but I think I need to get a haricut that day, sorry…’
The only excuse you’ll probably have is that you couldn’t get there due to the traffic! Better leave home early brothers, godspeed! Hahahaha! 🙂

John Moulis said :

The Canberra Times conducted a similar poll and found that 68.4% of respondents also support the truckies.

Closer to 60% now.

A poll conducted by 2CC found that the Convoy of No Confidence was supported by 94% of respondents. And if you think those people are all mindless robots brainwashed by shock jocks, hard Left newspaper The Canberra Times conducted a similar poll and found that 68.4% of respondents also support the truckies. Thank you linesmen, thank you ballboys.

Excellent. Perhaps with a soy chai latte.

I’d like to put signs at every entry and exit to Canberra that say: Take your crappy politicians with you when you go home.

I’m so sick of people treating Canberra like crap, and blocking our roads with trucks, just cause they have a problem with the politicians, who aren’t Canberrans, on the hill.

York said :

How exciting is this bockade???

It is isn’t it?!

How exciting is this bockade??? It’s the most exciting thing that’s happened in the 5 years that I’ve lived here (politics politics politics). I don’t care whether you agree or disagree with the reasoning behind the convoys coming to Canberra, the fact is that they are doing it – and good on them!!!. On Monday it won’t take me 40 minutes to get to work from Belconnen to Woden via William Hovell Drive then through the Gridlock interchange, I won’t have to deal with the idiot drivers who decide to drive on wet days (they normally take a bus), and I won’t have to fight for a parking lot and pay $8.00 a day for the privelege – LOL I won’t be in Canberra on Monday and I am pretty angry about that – but I will cetainly be following what’s happening!!!!!!

eyeLikeCarrots said :

You all do that, I’ll be in an interview for a $22,000 pay rise.

Hope you can get to the interview and I hope you get the job 🙂

Mr Gillespie said :

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

Remember Little Johnnies There will never be a GST? or work choices will be fair to workers?

shadow boxer said :

Are you contributing to my bucket ?

Bugger your bucket! Put on a bad koala suit and you might get something.

Lazy I said :

eyeLikeCarrots said :

You all do that, I’ll be in an interview for a $22,000 pay rise.

About time you got off the dole and moved out of home.

Got off the Dole? I assumed the $22k pay rise was moving out and applying for the dole and rental assistance?

(although if you get $22k then it has gone up a fair bit since I last got “assistance” from the gov’t).

eyeLikeCarrots said :

You all do that, I’ll be in an interview for a $22,000 pay rise.

About time you got off the dole and moved out of home.

You all do that, I’ll be in an interview for a $22,000 pay rise.

Greens are running a similar thing, you guys should hook up with them afterwards.

Would be awesome to see the rat patrol riding next to Bob Brown

(From the greens email)
Help Counter Carbon Price Truck Blockade
Act against the Liberal-National Parties’ anti carbon price truckies blockade of Canberra on Monday.
On Monday a number of trucks from around Australia will cause a blockade through the main streets of Canberra. The main organiser of the event is a leading member of the Queensland Liberal-National Party.
Act against this anti-carbon price blockade by bringing your bike or just yourself. Please also bring a light cardboard placard with your favorite climate slogan appropriate for the day.

For more information call 0419 369 206.
When: Monday August 22, 12.30pm
Where: meet at the rear of Old Parliament House

Back in the day the GST was going to end the world, too.

The only person to suffer any genuine material loss was John Hewson. And even then he probably earnt more money after finding his way back into private enterprise.

Propose a controversial tax and you’ll find loonies running from the sky rushing downwards. They’ll be red or blue, depending on the colour of those proposing said tax.

Isn’t the tax cut linked to Family tax benefit part a, so roughly a couple with 2 kids and a combined income of more than 120-130k would get nothing.

Part a indexing has also been frozen for 5 years so more and more will lose the cuts.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Figure estimated was $994, or $17/week.

I take it you won’t be contributing to my bucket then ?

I’m happy to run with the $994 figure but I would have thiought 4 kids would cost more with school fees, electricity and stuff.

So you haven’t actually done the calculation you just guessed?

If you take the $994 for the carbon tax (mine worked out to be around the $750 mark offset by around $300 in tax cuts), add the additional 1% of taxable income for the flood levy in 2012 (for those earning over 100k), add increased energy costs, food costs, etc, it starts to add up as being an expensive year ahead.

Guilty, I read it in the paper. It would be pretty hard to calculate accurately, especially once the profiteering starts.

Are you contributing to my bucket ?

shadow boxer said :

creative_canberran said :

shadow boxer said :

As part of the 1 in 10 that will be funding this policy would you guys mind if I brought a bucket down and took donations towards the $1200 a year this is going to cost me ?

If 9 out of 10 throw something in the bucket I will be happy.

Thanks in advance,

I would love to know where you got $1200 from.

I ran the figures through the calculator using the following, worst case scenario:
Married couple, no children, each partner earning over $100,000 a year.

So basically a yuppy, baron couple with s*** loads of cash who can afford a plasma over their toilet and another over their bidet so they never have to crane their neck.

Figure estimated was $994, or $17/week.

I take it you won’t be contributing to my bucket then ?

I’m happy to run with the $994 figure but I would have thiought 4 kids would cost more with school fees, electricity and stuff.

So you haven’t actually done the calculation you just guessed?

Gungahlin Al said :

matt31221 said :

Dammit I begged my boss for monday off to join the rat-pack counter protest but it turns out he is red-necked and supports what the truckies want! Should of just said nothing and pulled a sickie.

Pedant post: “should have”

Are you serious? ‘should of’ got the intention across just as well as ‘should have’. Stop wasting bytes on JB’s server.

creative_canberran said :

So basically a yuppy, baron couple with s*** loads of cash who can afford a plasma over their toilet and another over their bidet so they never have to crane their neck.

If they have baronies then they’ll just pass the cost on to the serfs.

creative_canberran said :

shadow boxer said :

As part of the 1 in 10 that will be funding this policy would you guys mind if I brought a bucket down and took donations towards the $1200 a year this is going to cost me ?

If 9 out of 10 throw something in the bucket I will be happy.

Thanks in advance,

I would love to know where you got $1200 from.

I ran the figures through the calculator using the following, worst case scenario:
Married couple, no children, each partner earning over $100,000 a year.

So basically a yuppy, baron couple with s*** loads of cash who can afford a plasma over their toilet and another over their bidet so they never have to crane their neck.

Figure estimated was $994, or $17/week.

I take it you won’t be contributing to my bucket then ?

I’m happy to run with the $994 figure but I would have thiought 4 kids would cost more with school fees, electricity and stuff.

shadow boxer said :

As part of the 1 in 10 that will be funding this policy would you guys mind if I brought a bucket down and took donations towards the $1200 a year this is going to cost me ?

If 9 out of 10 throw something in the bucket I will be happy.

Thanks in advance,

I would love to know where you got $1200 from.

I ran the figures through the calculator using the following, worst case scenario:
Married couple, no children, each partner earning over $100,000 a year.

So basically a yuppy, baron couple with s*** loads of cash who can afford a plasma over their toilet and another over their bidet so they never have to crane their neck.

Figure estimated was $994, or $17/week.

Two things:

First, I don’t fancy their chances of “tearing up the Constitution of Australia “. They won’t achieve their objectives. There is a high chance the current Government are likely on their way out sooner than the next election anyway. I think Barrie Cassidy sums it up well: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-19/cassidy-see-you-thomson-raise-you-wilkie/2845762 . Then again, who knows.

Secondly, I would hope (I’m probably asking too much) that we don’t treat these people as representative of all those against the carbon tax. There are a lot of good reasons to be against it, and it appears this group aren’t quite accross those reasons.

That is all.

As part of the 1 in 10 that will be funding this policy would you guys mind if I brought a bucket down and took donations towards the $1200 a year this is going to cost me ?

If 9 out of 10 throw something in the bucket I will be happy.

Thanks in advance,

astrojax said :

MrMagoo said :

Mr Gillespie said :

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

And if we are talking about things that were said or unsiad, whe did J W Howard say that he would introduce a GST? Oh that’s right he didn’t!!!! People have percepively forgtton that little gem, but here we are with a GST.

well, it is worth checking facts before you spout off; like him or loathe him, howard at least took a gst to an election and was voted in, mandating this apparently questionable impingement on your rights or something. or am i making this up?

Which party recieved the most votes at that election? I will give you a clue, it was not the coalition.

gorinosho said :

Anyone who thinks it is okay for the truckies to do this obviously wasn’t here, or doesn’t remember, the truckie blockades in the early 1990s. They first blocked roads in and out of Canberra, effectively taking the population prisoner, then proceeded into town and circled State Circle and Parliament House, and stayed there for days, maybe weeks. They caused traffic chaos back then (I was a cabbie, I remember it well), .

Hmm remember it well eh??? then how come you forgot that it lasted 2 days NOT weeks. No-one died (on the way to hospital or not) the roads were NOT blocked and people were NOT taken prisoner and sales of hamburgers did not increase at all.

Could we just close the borders for 24 hours on Monday, to all but emergency services vehicles?

Why do I feel like there’s going to be a bit of this going on Monday?

matt31221 said :

Dammit I begged my boss for monday off to join the rat-pack counter protest but it turns out he is red-necked and supports what the truckies want! Should of just said nothing and pulled a sickie.

This is exactly why our elections are held on Saturdays.

DUB said :

Captain RAAF said :

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

+1, lycra wearing ones add bonus 20 points.

You’re just jealous our butts look so good in lycra!

“TONY ABBOTT: If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax? Why not ask motorists to pay more?”

I’m seeing placards with this quote on every convoy route into town…

matt31221 said :

Dammit I begged my boss for monday off to join the rat-pack counter protest but it turns out he is red-necked and supports what the truckies want! Should of just said nothing and pulled a sickie.

Pedant post: “should have”

Lets see what unfolds here. The only demo I can remember where there was big strife, was when a demo by the Union Movement ( over what I can’t remember; pick something ) stormed past the cops and barriers, tore down one of the big doors into the house, and wrecked the gift shop. And as for a demo by cycle riders !! hells bells. Won’t the bushies love that. Make sure its led by a couple of aging Turner type hippies, c/w pony tail.

johnboy said :

The stated goal of their petition is the unconstitutional dissolution of both houses of parliament, elected by 14 million Australians of dubious reality.

They’re welcome to any cause they like.

Personally my thinking is that if I can’t at least ride a bike a couple of kilometers to stand up for the Australian constitution then I’m not much of an Australian.

Well I think you’re definitely an unreal Australian! I just don’t think the blockade is worth getting het up about; they’re bound to fail in their stated aim (which is a complete nonsense),and all they’ll achieve is to cost some Canberra businesses a few dollars in efficiency, and contribute a few dollars to other businesses in sausage rolls sales! Seems a fair exchange for a morning’s entertainment and a more valid excuse than normal for tardiness!

And why shouldn’t protesters be able to make absurd statements about their intent? I think it’s better that nutters like this stand up for who they are than start making reasonable demands that legislators might possibly consider complying with! As long as their demands are completely and utterly beyond the realm of possibility, they’re no threat to the status quo, are they?

At any rate, I’m sorry I can’t join the Unreal Australians; I hate coffee and can’t be bothered with chardy! I also don’t own a bike…

TONY ABBOTT: But the thing is I made a statement in a radio interview in February and then I think in March I made a commitment to paid parental leave. Now, …

KERRY O’BRIEN: Which was the opposite of what you’d said the month before.

TONY ABBOTT: Well, it wasn’t absolutely consistent with what I said the month before.

———————————————

TONY ABBOTT: If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax? Why not ask motorists to pay more? Why not ask electricity consumers to pay more? And then at the end of the year, you can take your invoices to the tax office and get a rebate on the carbon tax you paid. It would be burdensome, all taxes are burdensome, but it would certainly change the price on carbon, raise the price on carbon without increasing in any way the overall tax burden.

While we’re on the topic of comparing this issue with John Howard’s backtracking his statement on the GST, it is useful to note one major difference between the two – the trash media’s treatment of the issue.

Have a quick look at this gem:
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/07/21/taking-up-the-whittaker-challenge-examining-the-daily-teles-gst-coverage/

colourful sydney racing identity said :

DUB said :

Captain RAAF said :

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

+1, lycra wearing ones add bonus 20 points.

Yes, killing people is funny.

Well it was until you put it that way..

MrMagoo said :

Mr Gillespie said :

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

And if we are talking about things that were said or unsiad, whe did J W Howard say that he would introduce a GST? Oh that’s right he didn’t!!!! People have percepively forgtton that little gem, but here we are with a GST.

well, it is worth checking facts before you spout off; like him or loathe him, howard at least took a gst to an election and was voted in, mandating this apparently questionable impingement on your rights or something. or am i making this up?

The real problem I have with politics, is the fact they all lie just to gain power. Seriously the coalitions argument against the Carbon Tax is just as bad as the “lie” to introduce it.

Yet there are people out there who base their decisions still on what a politician tells them.

Heaven forbid, maybe losing some jobs in one sector of industry may help fill voids in another industry crying out for workers. However thats not a convenient political argument.

Just like everyone wants cheaper airfares but as soon as QANTAS does something that offends the unions, we get the old line about costing aussie jobs. So anyone concerned with aussie jobs should also be prepared to pay more for things IMO.

Why do we all think we can have everything???

Dammit I begged my boss for monday off to join the rat-pack counter protest but it turns out he is red-necked and supports what the truckies want! Should of just said nothing and pulled a sickie.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

DUB said :

Captain RAAF said :

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

+1, lycra wearing ones add bonus 20 points.

Yes, killing people is funny.

Yes, Captain RAAF is also completely serious…

Sgt.Bungers said :

Totally OT, but may I point out that the 50 km/h speed limit sign in this photo does not comply with Australian Standard AS1742.4 Appendix C2.2, due to it’s post sharing other signs?

Best thread drift ever!

Sgt.Bungers said :

… may I point out that the 50 km/h speed limit sign in this photo does not comply with Australian Standard AS1742.4 Appendix C2.2, due to it’s post sharing other signs?

Love your style, Sgt.

Convoy of No Confidence… blimey…surely it’s the Convoy of No Hopers.

DUB said :

Captain RAAF said :

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

+1, lycra wearing ones add bonus 20 points.

So i’m only going to be worth 120 points… may I say, i’m a little dissapointed.

DUB said :

Captain RAAF said :

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

+1, lycra wearing ones add bonus 20 points.

Yes, killing people is funny.

Captain RAAF said :

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

+1, lycra wearing ones add bonus 20 points.

Totally OT, but may I point out that the 50 km/h speed limit sign in this photo does not comply with Australian Standard AS1742.4 Appendix C2.2, due to it’s post sharing other signs?

I may? Awesome!

I’ve read the standard because at least one person in the ACT needed to.

Damn….. Rain + lots of BIG A#S trucks = more potholes the size of a small house to avoid for the next 6 months.

That is until urban services and their ultra quick response team fill them with the skill and gusto they show on an (un)regular basis.

Anyone who thinks it is okay for the truckies to do this obviously wasn’t here, or doesn’t remember, the truckie blockades in the early 1990s. They first blocked roads in and out of Canberra, effectively taking the population prisoner, then proceeded into town and circled State Circle and Parliament House, and stayed there for days, maybe weeks. They caused traffic chaos back then (I was a cabbie, I remember it well), and if you think adding 3,000 trucks to the morning traffic on Monday is not going to cause gridlock, you’ve got rocks in your head. Be aware more heart attacks happen on Monday mornings than any other time of the week, I just hope you aren’t the poor bastard in the ambulance who can’t get to hospital, and it’s only a truckie choking on one too many hamburgers.

Awesome News!

Cyclists are 100 points each, I should crack a thousand by the time I get to work!

Mr Gillespie said :

I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

tee hee … giggle … unconstitutional. BWAAAAAA HAHAHA HAHAH AH AHA HAHAHAHAH A AHAH A

Mr Gillespie said :

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

BWA AH AHA HAHAAH … betrayed democracy … BWAAAAAAAA HAHA HA HAHA HAHAHA

Mr Gillespie said :

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

A politician lied?!?! STOP THE PRESSES!

I think JB is quite rightly making comments from a constitutional perspective, while those of the opposite view are making it from the Daily Telegraph front page viewpoint… which is going no deeper than the headline.

She did say she wouldn’t introduce a carbon tax under a government she led. Two points on this:

a) John Howard made the pledge that there would never, ever be a GST. He introduced one. And he did so after an election where he campaigned on it and lost the popular vote 49-51, so he didn’t have the public’s support numerically. He just managed to hold enough seats. And to pass it through the Senate required the Democrats.

b) In a broad sense, the present government is not one that Gillard leads. Cabinet is no longer the central policy nexus for the government and the Prime Minister no longer the sole decider or policy. It’s a minority government, and so the role becomes one of negotiating competing policy interests rather than leading a sole agenda. And if people knew anything about the last 500yrs of Western democratic government, they’d know that it’s actually a system more in line with what constitutional framers have intended, by avoiding the factionalism that parties have introduced.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Mysteryman said :

Perhaps if some of the “real Australians” had engaged their brains last election, we wouldn’t be in this mess and they wouldn’t have the need to protest.

Labor would have had a workable majority?

Only in your little fantasy world, CSRI 😉

Although, as much as I dislike our current PM and government, I’d rather that it was all Labor instead of a minority government. At least an all Labor government is somewhat predictable – you know what you’re in for. Having to appease the Greens seems to be far more trouble than it’s worth and is resulting in some idiotic policy making.

Mr Gillespie said :

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

And if we are talking about things that were said or unsiad, whe did J W Howard say that he would introduce a GST? Oh that’s right he didn’t!!!! People have percepively forgtton that little gem, but here we are with a GST.

MrG, it obviously wasn’t a core promise.

At the risk of sounds like an ‘unreal’ australian. Are these ‘real’ Australians having a ‘sickie’ on Monday? While the rest of us bother to front up for a day at it.

I would like someone to calculate the lost productivity of this rabble and the burden on resources of the AFP it ill cause.

And if you’ve got a case Mr G you can take it to the high court.

Let me know how you go with special leave to appeal.

You seem to forget Gillard’s fraudulent promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government that I lead” and now she is determined to go back on her word. I’d call THAT unconstitutional! She betrayed our democracy with that broken promise.

I have a feeling this convoy of bicycles will only confirm everything they think of this town…

Jim Jones said :

The peasants are revolting!

Aren’t they just, yuck!

Mysteryman said :

Perhaps if some of the “real Australians” had engaged their brains last election, we wouldn’t be in this mess and they wouldn’t have the need to protest.

Labor would have had a workable majority?

Perhaps if some of the “real Australians” had engaged their brains last election, we wouldn’t be in this mess and they wouldn’t have the need to protest.

The peasants are revolting!

johnboy said :

The stated goal of their petition is the unconstitutional dissolution of both houses of parliament, elected by 14 million Australians of dubious reality.

They’re welcome to any cause they like.

Personally my thinking is that if I can’t at least ride a bike a couple of kilometers to stand up for the Australian constitution then I’m not much of an Australian.

I’ve already laid out my best lycra for the occasion

The stated goal of their petition is the unconstitutional dissolution of both houses of parliament, elected by 14 million Australians of dubious reality.

They’re welcome to any cause they like.

Personally my thinking is that if I can’t at least ride a bike a couple of kilometers to stand up for the Australian constitution then I’m not much of an Australian.

It’s a bit much to suggest that a blockade of trucks amounts to an overturning of the Parliament! They have a right to protest, even if they’re protesting out of ignorance! It looks like it could be a great stoush between the Real Australians, who’ll no doubt approach with broken beer bottles, and the Unreal Australians advancing with their broken champagne flutes!

Sounds like the makings of a great Tropfest entry, actually…