vote for howard- we don`t think so- 19 reasons1. WAR. We have been taken to war for no apparent reason. Originally Hussein was purported as having weapons of mass destruction. This proved to be false, as was always suspected. Saddam Hussein offered to allow inspectors into Iraq to see anything they wanted to, but this was rejected by Bush. Howard told us that going into Iraq would make Australia and Australians safer. This was proven to be wrong. It is now generally accepted that Iraq is being used as a training ground for terrorists. Going to war was an obvious mistake. 2. AWA The workplace agreements foisted on this country are sure to give us a much bigger class of working poor. Unskilled workers are in a take it or leave it situation and many case studies have shown that they are considerably worse off. With the mining boom in full swing there is work available, but when that subsides, as it must, more workers will suffer from this legislation. As in going into Iraq, Australia is following the USA down a path from which there may be no return. 3. CLIMATE CHANGE and KYOTO John Howard`s sudden conversion to a greenhouse believer, after 11 years as a sceptic, does not ring true. He still refuses to sign Kyoto, again following Bush`s lead. Even though he now claims to be a convert his proposed measures are a long way short of what is required. His conversion does seem to be a political decision as polls have shown that climate change is something many voters worry about. 4. RECONCILIATION and GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION. Another "Road to Damascus"conversion, the one to reconciliation seems to be a political decision, again brought on by polling information. After many years of ignoring recommendations by government bureaucracies Howard suddenly reaches an epiphany about the "Aboriginal Problem". 5. REFUGEES. There has been some softening of the refugee situation, primarily brought about by rebel Liberal MP`s Petro Georgiou, Bruce Baird and Judy Moylan. For their trouble, Petro was challenged for pre-selection by a Downer staffer, Baird was disendorsed. However, it still leaves a stain on Australia, locking up women and children for periods of more than 5 years. 6. DAVID HICKS. Hicks was locked up under appalling conditions for 5 years in Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The occasional TV pictures revealed a man shackled and shuffling along, head bowed, accompanied by heavily armed guards. The story we get about his arrest is at best difficult to comprehend, and at worst risible. When the Australian people were finally mobilised enough to worry about Hicks, Howard organised his release to Australia, to be locked away until after the elections. Very convenient. And at this late stage, it comes out that Howard did a secret deal with Dick Cheney (which Howard denies.) To abandon an Australian citizen, as Howard did, for political gain is a heinous crime in our opinion. Other countries, England, France and even Iran managed to get their citizens out in a much shorter time. 7. COUNTER-TERRORISM LEGISLATION and HANEEF. The counter-terrorism laws always seemed too much to us. To be able to lock people up for almost unlimited periods of time, to be able to insist that detainees may not reveal what has happened to them seem totally out of sync with the freedoms Australia used to have. The handling of the Haneef matter is evidence of these problems. Mick Keelty and Kevin Andrews are still arguing about the matter, some 3 months later. It looks to us a bit like the government was trying to show themselves tough on terror, when in fact there was nothing in it, and in the end the government, Andrews and Keelty looked incompetent. 8. INTEREST RATES. We note that John Howard is trying to withdraw from Liberal Ads in 2004 claiming to keep interest rates low. Those weren`t his words he claims. Nevertheless, that was the impression that the voters were left with, so it is only fair that they take revenge when interest rates have gone up 5 times since (and one in the near future). For Howard to take credit for a booming economy and not accept responsibility for interst rate rises is disingenuous. 9. AUSTRALIAN WHEAT BOARD. The hypocrisy of a government who was about to go to war against a nation, yet at the same time a former government agency was paying bribes to the regime they wanted to overthrow. What were the Iraqi`s going to do with this money? Was it used to buy arms to use against allies? There have been a number of reports that high officials in government actually knew about these illicit payments. Of course, Downer has denied all knowledge. But this government has a history of not knowing much. 10. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. There has been a continued suppression of information provide to the public and to newspapers. It has reached a stage where the major newspapers have formed an alliance to get their point across, even many of the so-called government friendly papers. Some documents have taken years to be found, and at extraordinary cost. For a private citizen to find out information is nigh on impossible. The government uses the excuse (Andrews in particular) that if a document has been before cabinet it is then not permitted to be in the public domain. 11. HEALTH and EDUCATION. The running down of hospitals is well documented. The federal government of course blames the States, but in fact the Federal government`s financial input has been reduced (in real terms). They have contributed as much money, but as cost of living has risen, in real terms it is a reduction. This federal Government has presided over an increase in the number of Private school placements. They have supported private schools to the detriment of state schools. Any problem student in the private system is moved on , and perhaps moved again, until he or she arrives in the State system. The state schools are then left with all the problem children, and as they are already under-staffed and under-resourced they have even more difficulties. This is not to say that all private schools should be made to suffer. The Catholic system provides a serious need, but to think that schools like The Kings School in Sydney receive an inordinate amount of Federal Government money is unbelievable. 12. UNDER-FUNDING OF INFRASTRUCTURE To think that on the first day of this election campaign, the Federal government found $34 billion dollars for tax cuts. This government has a history of hoarding money to be used at election times to buy votes to stay in power. This is not how the country should be run. Government money should go where it is needed, not where votes are needed. 13. END OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. John Howard made a big deal out of this. Conservative journos call political correctness left-wing weakness. In fact Howard`s stance enabled him to pick up Hanson`s racist voters. We have allowed Australia`s inherent racism to surface (Cronulla riots). This has added to the divide and conquer method of wedging that Howard has made into an art form. There are many Muslim people in this country who are prepared to be good Australian Muslim citizens. Fanatics, of any religous persuasion, are a problem. That includes Christians, Muslims and Jewish people, as well as people with no religous conviction. 14. ENROLMENT FOR THIS ELECTION. This government changed the law about enrolling for this election. The reason given was that one week`s leeway to enrol made it too hard for the electoral commission to catch up on the paper work. So they announce that there would be only 24 hours notice given. In actual fact, they gave three days, which negates their original reasoning. Some think that the real reason was to disenfranchise people who move often, that is poor people, who are likely to vote Labor. 15. MISUSE OF TAXPAYER`S MONEY. John Howard has spent inordinate amounts of taxpayers money. Before the election was announced he spent $121 million trying to make people accept his work choices legislation. He has spent money on The Lodge, as well as Kirribilli House, refurbishing at great expense and on many other petty things. So why has he stayed in Kirribilli. He originally said in 1996 that he was there because his children were at school. Eleven years later, why is he there? Just another expense. 16. CORE PROMISES. John Howard has invented something new. How can there be promises, and then core promises? We understand that a man of his word does not differentiate. He can either be trusted, or not. It seems obvious to us that he cannot be trusted. 17. COMMITTEES and BOARDS. A group of people gathered to look at the possibility of injection rooms led by anti-anything campaigner Brian Watters surprisingly found that drug injection rooms were not the correct way to go. A stacked committee. Another group of people formed to discuss the possibility of Nuclear Power in Australia, led by Ziggy Switkowski, well-known proponent of Nuclear power, found that nuclear power is suitable and possible in Australia. Of course, Howard dropped it when he discovered that no-one wanted it in their backyard. The ABC board has been stacked with Howard favourites (we`re worried for Janet Albrechtsen since she turned on John) and lo and behold, out goes "The Glass House", in comes a programme denying climate change. These things may not be connected, but it looks suspicious. 18. UNIONS VERSUS BIG BUSINESS The conservative incumbants have made a big issue of branding the potential Labor cabinet as 70% union executives, as though this is necessarily a bad thing. In fact the unions, led by Greg Combet, took on Hardies in regard to claims for asbestosis victims. The big company would have ignored their responsibilities toward victims if they could have got away with it. And when you look at the collapse of HIH, Onetel and the resulting financial loss to workers, big business can hardly be considered responsible. The latest exposure of Richard Pratt, the third richest man in Australia, as a person who colluded with another company, ripping some $700 million from the nation according to the judge, shows where the government priorities lie. John Howard has defended Pratt, who was fined $36 million, a small portion of the profit he is alleged to have made. 19. SKILLS SHORTAGE, UNIVERSITY DEGREES FOR SALE, HEX FEES. It is widely known that there is a skills shortage in Australia. John Howard now decides to create another 100 institutions to remedy the situation. Tafes in all states are grossly underfunded by the same government. Universities have had to resort to bringing in more overseas, fee-paying students to raise enough money to keep afloat. Hex fees have gone up to over $100,000 in a number of cases. This is an idealogical move to make education privatised, and therefore much more available to the rich rather than the brightest and more deserving. |