Apparently, Greens leader Christine Milne reckons the new “micro-party” senators are “right wing extremists”.
Here’s one of them. Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm:
Yes, of course Milne would consider such ideas as “extreme”.
Less taxes.
More freedom.
It’s easy to see why the party that wants World Government does not approve.
UPDATE:
Another reason why World Government aspirants do not want such “extremists” having a voice in our nation’s parliament –
UPDATE 2:
Paul Kelly tells it like it is:
CHRISTINE Milne’s busting of the Labor-Greens alliance proves the Greens are Labor’s political enemy and that Julia Gillard should never have entered this deal in the first place.
With the Prime Minister in her weakest hour, the Greens have sunk in the boot. Perfect timing. Some friends. Some allies.
With the election near, the alliance has exhausted its utility. Both sides are looking to product differentiation as campaign rivals.
Milne’s decision has nothing to with principle and everything to do with the Greens’ electoral needs. It makes no difference to the parliament, but it shows the Greens are as cynical, expedient and unscrupulous as the major parties. Their claims to superior morality are a joke.
Kelly’s article is headlined “Greens showing their true colours”.
Which got me wondering.
Paul Kelly is right. The Greens’ claims to superior morality are a joke.
Clearly, they are just as self-serving as all the rest.
And so, as the political party of choice for the resurgent religion of paganism, I thought it might be interesting to see just what colour a pagan would assign to “selfishness” in a person’s “aura” –
A Consistent Red: A consistent dark red indicates a violent nature, a selfish and deceitful attitude.
Sounds right.
The Greens have consistently had an aura of deep red about them.
The new leader of the Greens wants to increase focus on capturing a rural constituency:
Senator Milne has told a press conference that it’s time rural and regional Australia and the Greens really work together.
“We need environmental outcomes to sustain our economic outcomes, to actually support the kind of socieity and community we want,” she said.
[Well done, ABC sub-editors. Julia’s “Education Revolution” working more wonders, I see.]
“I intend to go out to rural and regional Australia to have this discussion, because rural and regional Australia has a critical role to play.”
She says that’s particularly in the context of food security and renewable energy.
“And I’m going out there as a country person to say to other country people that it’s time the Greens and country and rural and regional Australia really work together.”
Barnaby has some thoughts on that:
Leader of the Nationals Party in the Senate Barnaby Joyce, has described outgoing Greens leader Bob Brown as “an extremely capable politician”, who he greatly respects for his “political capacity”.
“He’s a very astute politician and I have a great respect for his political capacity even though on the vast majority of issues we were at polar opposites.
“Bob for me is like the logic of having water restrictions in Kununurra (Western Australia); it looked great on paper but it’s completely and utterly ridiculous in practice.”
Senator Joyce says he welcomes the new Greens leader Christine Milne’s pledge to work closely with rural Australia, but suggests she has a long way to go.
“I look forward to meeting Christine Milne and she can start by moving her office out to the country where mine is,
“Mine’s 550 kilometres away from the coast, Christine how far is yours?… I think it might be in Hobart.”
And more thoughts from Barnaby, this time in the Australian:
Senator Milne’s rural push provoked a sharp reaction from the Nationals, with Senate leader Barnaby Joyce labelling her an opportunist.
Senator Joyce said that while the Greens’ concern for the rapid development of the coal-seam gas industry was reflected in some rural communities, most other Greens policies were anti-bush.
“The Greens have a problem with coal-seam gas, as does the Coalition,” Senator Joyce said. “But the Greens also have problems with rodeos, irrigation, live cattle exports, and they want a 50 per cent top tax rate and death duties. They would have us living as hunter-gatherers scrambling for survival on the forest floor.
“I would welcome her (Senator Milne) in some of my communities. Any town hall, any time you want. My tactic would be to simply tell people what her policies are. People know in the back of their minds that the Greens’ policies are dangerous.”
Veteran Queensland Nationals senator Ron Boswell went further, warning that the disappearance of Senator Brown would make room for “the far Left” to push forward within the Greens. “Without Brown, the far Left and extremists will steamroll over the others and become the new reigning force within the Greens,” he said.
Interestingly, even some within the Labor party recognise the dangers of the Greens, and, who is their core constituency:
Privately, several senior Labor sources told The Weekend Australian they would closely watch for changes in the Greens under Senator Milne. “I worry about the tone of this obsessive attack on mining companies,” said one senior Labor MP, asking not to be named. “I know it goes down well in the coffee shops, but the resources sector is underpinning the Australian economy.”
The MP said Senator Brown held similar views, but was canny enough to know “when to stop and when to cut a deal”.
Victorian Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou predicted the Greens would struggle to maintain their discipline and would have to articulate the party’s policies in a more practical way. “With him gone they’ll attract a whole lot more scrutiny,” Ms Vamvakinou said. “I imagine people will now be more vigilant about what the party is about because he has gone.”
Interesting times indeed.
Barnaby is right.
Fellow Earthians … he is gone.
Well, going, in June:
BOB Brown has resigned as leader of the Australian Greens and will quit the Senate, with his former deputy Christine Milne to replace him at the helm of Australia’s third party.
Senator Brown, 67, will leave the Senate in June. The party will now seek a successor to fill his seat.
We will consider what might be the true reason/s why, later.
For the moment, a little bit of Bob Marley in commemoration:
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Its Mr Brown Mr Brown is a clown who rides to town in a coffin.…
Asking for Mr Brown.
I wanna know who is Mr Brown?
Is Mr Brown controlled by remote?
Yes dear reader. There really are impossibly boring folk out there like your humble blogger, who are actually looking forward to Treasurer Wayne’s Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) statement.
Not happily mind, but with a kind of morbid fascination.
As we saw recently, Wayne’s Budget Is Already Shot To Hell. Even though he only presented it 6 months ago.
Unsurprisingly, the “truly extraordinary” growth forecasts underpinning the predicted budget surplus in 2012-13, have already proven to be about as accurate as a spirit level minus its bubble.
The company tax growth prediction – shot.
The income tax growth prediction – shot
The superannuation tax growth prediction – shot.
The jobs growth prediction – shot.
But wait … there’s more!
China slowing.
EU collapsing.
USA drowning.
Iron ore and coal prices plummeting.
House prices leaking.
Now the chills and sweats are breaking out. And the panic is on for a quick fix.
No doubt the pushers from Treasury are with Wayne right now, desperately trying to keep the fantasy going, by massaging the numbers back up.
Like a junkie who’s shot so full of holes, he can’t find a sound vein anywhere.
And the MYEFO massaging will be only the more frantic, now that Wayne’s just scored another $60m hit:
A carbon price will add about $60million to the cost of the Federal Government’s operations, and agencies are unlikely to be compensated for it.
The Canberra Times analysed emissions from the bureaucracy and the military to estimate the budget hit they will face in 2012-13, when the price and its related fuel tax increases take effect.
The Government, which is Australia’s biggest energy user, has not yet prepared its own calculations.
The cost will grow each year as the carbon price rises and as fuel tax credits fall, unless government agencies cut their energy use significantly.
The Climate Change Department confirmed the military and the public service would ”incur a financial effect as a result of the changes”, but neither it nor Treasury could say what that effect would be.
The military will shoulder most of the burden, as it accounts for about two-thirds of government energy consumption.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said yesterday the $60million estimate showed the ”real cost” of the carbon price remained hidden.
”Either the Government provides more taxpayer money to cover the carbon tax cost of these departments, or services will have to be cut. Or we see another budget blow-out as the Government fails to think through the consequences of the carbon tax on its own departments,” he said.
However, Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said there was no need to compensate the public service, which should instead focus on using less energy.
The estimated extra costs represented just 0.1 per cent of agency spending, she said, ”and will be dwarfed by fluctuations in the value of the dollar or the price of oil”.
Which comment only goes to prove what total and utter economic imbeciles the Greens are (or, they think we are). Consider: If it’s true that an extra $60m in govt costs for energy “will be dwarfed by fluctuations in the value of the dollar or the price of oil” … then how screwed will we be, when their “fixed” CO2 price is floated and thus exposed to the wild fluctuations of international carbon and currency markets?! Indeed, how screwed will we be from Day 1, when our highest-in-the-world CO2 price is “fixed” in AUD for 3 years, and the backside inevitably falls out of a debt-swamped (take your pick) European / USA / Chinese economy, taking the FX rate of our speculator-preferred “risk on” Australian currency with it, a la 2008?!
”I hope that, just like companies and businesses across Australia, government agencies and the defence forces will be stimulated by the price on pollution to look for savings they can make through energy and fuel efficiency and improving their buildings and practices.”
Ms Milne added, ”Defence, in particular, should look to the Pentagon and note that the US military is one of the leaders in investing in alternative fuels and technologies.”
Treasurer Wayne Swan would not say if he would compensate agencies. ”Government departments will be, as always, adequately resourced in accordance with the Government’s commitment to strict fiscal discipline,” his spokesman said.
I would like to see the Government’s achievement of strict fiscal discipline, rather than merely a “commitment” to it. On past and present form, Wayne’s “commitment” to strict discipline is about as believable as that of a heroin addict who’s been given charge of the keys to the methadone cabinet.
But I digress…
The federal bureaucracy is struggling to find savings after Labor’s decision earlier this year to increase the efficiency dividend, a 1.5 per cent annual cut to agencies’ administrative budgets. The Government initially planned to relieve agencies by reducing the dividend to 1 per cent, but the increase will instead cut their budgets by an extra $238.5million in 2012-13.
The fuel used in military operations was responsible for half of the Government’s total energy consumption in 2008-09, the latest year for which data is available.
However, the cost of electricity for light, air-conditioning and power to the bureaucracy’s offices will be most affected by a carbon price, with the Government’s power bills expected to jump $39.4 million next financial year. The second-largest increase will be due to higher aviation kerosene bills, with a reduced tax credit likely to cost the Government $9.9million.
Labor’s carbon-reduction plan involves taxing big polluters, such as electricity companies, $23 for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.
Businesses using heavy vehicles, such as trucks, are exempt from the carbon price until 2014, but the Government will gradually increase fuel taxes from July next year.
The Canberra Times’ cost estimate only includes air travel in planes that the Government owns or leases directly, as data on fuel used by public servants on commercial flights is unavailable.
Your humble blogger will be closely examining between the fingers and toes, under the arms and feet, and in the nether regions of Wayne’s MYEFO mini-budget.
Looking for track marks.
The telltale signs of where all the budget “hits” have been hidden from public view.
Barnaby Is Right 
Comments