Tonight, I was watching with amazement (or lack thereof) the great debate between JHoward and KRudd.
Unfortunately, for me anyway, I still am undecided specifically on someone to favour for the election.
It really does suck to be me, because I really, honestly, cannot determine who to pick for at least the next 4 years of government.
Part of me thinks I can change my mind in 4 years, but what happens in 4 years if everyone else supports the one I didn’t support and this election was my chance at perhaps influencing the future (as it should be anyway).
Howard has proven leadership abilities. Tonight however, Howard stood there, rather tired in the debate that I suspected him to give a rising shine to.
Is Kevin Rudd just another Kim Beazley (or Sleazy), and another Mark Latham ?
Or is he a change to the ALP that will see a combination of continued or better good fiscal management, and spending in infrastructure to enhance our nation?
What if Rudd is spending too much, do we all give back that big tax cut?
What if he spends far too much and we have a debt again?
I would rather see the nation in credit personally, because when the government owes money, the balance on the financial side could lead (unlikely) to the decisions being influenced by those that the debt is owed to.
Having a large number of former union officials can’t be much good for our country either. According to Howard, 15% of employees were involved in unions, with many not supporting that at all.
I see that as a strong motive for work choices, and he did make good points that the flow on from industries such as Mining should only affect that area. Awards typically can apply to more than just one particular area.
Howard made a few falls tonight, by failing to answer questions directly.
The question about AWA and redundancy could have been better answered in my opinion. Though he is trying to save face of course, I think he could have answered and followed up with redundancies are paid for by the government where the company involved goes belly up.
The dishonesty (well, lack of answer really) aspect sort of gave him a negative light.
I also find it rather silly that 60 minutes, against the wishes of the National Press Club decided to show the worm on air.
I think the decision of those involved in the voting of behind the worm are somewhat unjustified and likely either Labor supporters, or those voting uninformed because of the WorkChoices scare campaigns.
WorkChoices could very well be the best thing to happen to IR Laws, for a while yet, because, as was revealed, the flow on affect from changes to awards can affect a lot more than the intended party.
Unions don’t need to dictate the terms of employment. In fact, no one should be dictating the terms. The employer and employee should most certainly be able to compromise and agree with each other on the terms that a particular person will be engaged in employment for.
I think that’s fair.
To say we need unions is to say that Australians aren’t able to think for themselves.
Surely, we aren’t stupid and rely on other people to make decisions that affect us directly?
This is about the rate of pay that you are paid for doing a job, should a union decide that, or should you and your employer?
I’m still middle ground on WorkChoices here though, as the argument bought forward many times so far has been that there are indeed “uneducated” people working in our nation, and those “uneducated” people might get bullied into agreements, or sign agreements because they aren’t adequately capable of deciding the terms that they will work with an employer under.
That’s not a government issue, that’s a employee issue still. Is it the nation’s fault they lack any skills to negotiate?
Anyway, the result of the debate tonight is that Howard finished up no better, and the closing statement that Howard had the chance to use to climb the ladder against Rudd got him nowhere!
I’m sure many will see through the Rudd crap, but still, his closing statement didn’t see him any better off.
See yesterday’s post.
We have a choice between two idiots to run the nation, pick one. It’s tough.
Enjoy!