What would happen if....???

[Guest guest36187]

 

My gut-instinct is that another General Election is likely to be the only way out of the muddle.

 

 

 

 

Like I said!! Option 3! AUstralia is getting nowhere at the moment. I voted for Gillard but Tony Abbot is making more and more sense. At least he is willing to stand up and tell the independants how stupid they are being!

Julia Gillard 'trashing' system with Treasury plan, say Tony Abbott | Courier Mail

[Guest littlesarah]

I find this whole situation really rather interesting. The election campaigns of both parties were dull beyond comprehension, and in many ways being ineligible to vote was a relief for me.

 

But I am quite sick of the phrase "turn back the boats" - it is emotive and takes the actual numbers of asylum-seeking migrants out of context.

 

Did I not hear the Liberals talking about cutting total visa numbers, after a scathing attack on Labor for increasing them in the first place? Yet I'm sure the plan in previous years under Howard et al saw the number of visas issued increase (not that I paid too much attention, to be honest).

 

It abohorred me that the election campaigns of both major parties focussed on slagging the other off. Why don't politicians have ideas and aspirations for their country any more? If I were running for election, I'd want to lay out my policies and priorities, and then invite the populace to vote for me if they agree with what I stand for. Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

[Christopher McGrath]

I heard yesterday from very close to the Minister's office, that if Labor gets back, he will move to another portfolio. So, it seems a new Minister no matter what. How wil that affect applications already lodged, and policies on th4 way, I suggest that no one knows.

 

Again, we must wait and see while the Independents are enjoying playing VIPs and making unreasonable demands on both sides.

[Les Mighalls]

God knows why Gillard is playing pussy-foot with them.

 

That's easy. She's a careerist above all else and desperately wants her political knifing of Rudd to be validated so that she can move into The Lodge with seemingly clean hands.

 

It is not very often that the people get to see the political process become this transparent.

 

The major political parties usually manage to keep their version of the antics of the independents behind closed doors, but they are all the same.

 

Power, patronage and gravy train are the universal lures for all politicians, those and the ability to let their inner fascist run loose.

 

It is why fewer and fewer people in the UK exercise their right to vote. The only reason a lot of people vote here is that the b&ggers fine you if you don't. Invalid votes run at about 6% of the total and the donkey vote about the same, if not higher.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Has anyone actually taken a look at the published policies and statements of intent from the Australian Greens?

 

These are the people who will control the Australian Government through the Senate next year, unless Labor and the Liberals join forces to stop them.

 

If the Greens control immigration you can kiss goodbye to any skilled migration. All they really want to allow for is refugee entry and family re-union.

 

Read this:

 

Immigration and Refugees | The Australian Greens

 

Hi again, Les

 

Right. I've had time to read the document produced by the Greens - thanks very much for the link.

 

With refugees and asylum seekers, the first member of the family gets a visa for Oz. Then s/he can apply to bring other members of his/her family to Oz, again via the Humanitarian Stream of visas. I don't know the details of the visas but I've skimmed through the Humanitarian Stream a couple of times on the DIAC website and there definitely is an option to bring other members of the family to Oz via some sort of special visa that reflects that its object is to reunite the members of the refugee's/asylum seeker's family.

 

The Greens speak specifically about re-uniting the members of the family in a way that is favoured by the UNHCR.

 

In recent weeks, there has been a rumour that by "family reunification" they mean that a skilled applicant who is family-sponsored should be allowed to migrate under the Skilled Stream and/or that a Parent or a Rem Relly should be able to join the rest of the family under the Family Stream.

 

It is 100% clear that the Greens have no policies about helping anybody via the Skilled or Family Streams. Their website doesn't even mention "Immigration." It speaks only of Refugees.

 

They demand an increase in the size of the Humanitarian Stream quota. I assume that they would be quite happy to see a sharp reduction in the sizes of the Skilled and Other Family streams in order to increase the quota in the Humanitarian Stream?

 

A few weeks ago, Nigel (proud2beanaussie) found a document on the APH website, concerning the recent Cap & Kill Bill. It was some sort of apolitical briefing paper, intended to inform the pollies of all hues rather than specifically persuading them about anything. I don't know what such a document is called. Anyhow, I read the whole thing. The document predicted that the Greens and the Coalition would both vote in favour of the Labor Govt's desire to introduce the Cap & Kill Bill, warts & all.

 

The document that you have found and the Green's website in general does confirm the prediction in the APH document, I strongly suspect.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Gollywobbler]

I heard yesterday from very close to the Minister's office, that if Labor gets back, he will move to another portfolio. So, it seems a new Minister no matter what. How wil that affect applications already lodged, and policies on th4 way, I suggest that no one knows.

 

Again, we must wait and see while the Independents are enjoying playing VIPs and making unreasonable demands on both sides.

 

Hi Chris

 

A few days ago, I phoned David Wilden. He is DIAC's Regional Director for Europe, based at Oz House in London. I rang him about something else but obviously I took the opportunity to ask him about the outcome of the Aussie Election as well.

 

David told me that he and the other staff of DIAC expect that if Labor forms the new Government, Evans will not be the new Minister for Immi in the new Government. Apparently Evans is sick of being "beaten up" (David's expression) about the Irregular Maritime Arrivals. Apparently Evans is not particularly interested in Immigration either - he is more interested in other issues going on inside Australia according to David. David and I agreed that a new Government usually does result in a Cabinet reshuffle. He said that the only exception would probably be Wayne Swan - it is not traditional to reshuffle the Treasurer, apparently. The same principle is true with the Chancellor in the UK.

 

I reported this on Poms in Oz. Mongobear said that he has heard the same thing from a very reliable source in Australia. Now you are making this a hat trick, with what you've heard. It does seem that everyone is 99% sure that there will be a new Minister for Immi.

 

I asked what would happen about Immi if Abbott becomes the new PM? David said that if this happens, the probability is that either Philip Ruddock or Kevin Andrews will replace Evans as the Minister for Immi. I don't know anything about either of those two except that both of them were the Minister for Immi under Howard as well.

 

I asked David about Andrew Metcalfe. David said that his buddy "Andrew" was appointed on a 5 year contract in 2005. He was not moved in 2007 because he had only been in the job for a couple of years by then. Apparently Metcalfe will almost certainly be moved to another Department this time, regardless of who forms the next Government.

 

I asked why it is taking so long to count all the votes in the various seats? David said that in some seats, it is so marginal that the postal votes might make a difference. He said that Oz House in London received over 13,000 postal votes. They have sorted the votes in London according to the State and/or the specific constituencies but the votes have only been sorted in London - they have not been counted in London as well.

 

I spoke with David on Tuesday 24th, at 9am sharp. He said that all the postal votes received in London had been sorted the day before, Monday 23rd, and they were on their way to the various parts of Oz. They do not have to reach the various parts of Oz until Tuesday 31st August.

 

He said that all the votes sent from London should reach Oz in plenty of time. However the voting is so close in some seats that the final re-counts cannot begin until after midnight on 31st August because the postal votes might affect the outcomes in some of the marginals. Every vote counts in some of them and postal votes have been received by the Oz Embassies all over the world. Some of the postal votes might not reach the relevant parts of Oz until 31st August.

 

He said that once the electoral officials are certain that every possible vote has reached them, they will sort the whole lot again and then start on the re-counts.

 

I asked David how long all this is likely to take? He said that the final details of the counts and recounts for each candidate in each seat and/or State is not expected to be complete until the week ending Friday 3rd September. He said that after that, the new Government is likely to be announced but he was not sure exactly when that will be.

 

David said that the Senate has definitely become Green-controlled. I asked about the House of Reps? He said it is not possible to say for sure at this stage. He said that it has been the first time since 1940 that what the overseas embassies have done has been so vitally important.

 

I asked him what he thinks this cliff-hanging result means? David said that it is pretty clear that the Aussie voters don't like either of the 2 main parties.

 

I asked whether another General Election is on the cards? He said, "I hope not!"

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest JK2510]

Thank you gill for all your hard work and dedication.