Looks like the majority of commenters on the SMH blog agree that it was indeed a farce.

I couldn't bring myself to watch any of it. It's one of those vomit-inducing arse-licking exercises that Labor and their left-wing cronies love engaging in, and Kevin has the brownest tongue in the business.

Most of the "major" ideas that came out of the summit, were ideas that lost Labor their election hopes for 11 years straight. Very few, if any, are new and just about all of them are ridiculous.

The republic referendum has been done, and the majority of Australian's have already said NO!

Meanwhile Kevin has fulfilled none of the promises that he was elected on. Though I will give him one thing, he knows how to make himself popular without any substance whatsoever. Congratulations Kevin, Australia's cardboard cut-out PM!

Is it not ironic! , all through the election Kevins war cry was

"I have got a plan, the details will all come out later".

One of the first things that Kevin has done (with good intention) is get 1000 hippies in suites, to present idealist suggestions as to what plan any one may have been talking about.

Australia and the world undoubtedly has some no brainer serious issue to deal with.

Peak oil has been and gone, global warming, cheap o/s labour markets v expensive home labour markets the likelihood that an anti western fundamentallist religious republic may get the bomb, house affordability.

I wonder if any one at the forum tried to join the dots and present solutions the suggested ideal outcomes.

For example housing affordability, the biggest single doner group to the labour party is no longer the unions its is said to be developers. (in at least two states and may be more)

Why is the loins share of the govt restricted land release going to these value adding middle men, instead of the end user.

How come Australia could build infrastructure and release an over supply of cheap blocks in the 50s 60s and 70s?

Supply and demand dictates if you over-supply prices will fall.

Due to STAMP DUTY on my home, I would have to pay $60,000 to move next door? (and pay back hundreds of thousands to pay that off over the life of a mortgage).

JOIN THE DOTS higher property price I pay due to stamp duty = higher tax take, restricted land release to big developers = higher property price.

Also due to STAMP DUTY on ones house that they live in, builders are at an all time premium and in short supply?

I for one and nearly all of my friends are adding on instead of moving due to STAMP DUTY on ones home.

STAMP DUTY discourages small investors upgrading and renovating. Why are small investors developers encouraged to own multiple properties instead of upgrading house and or suburb and renovating?

Upgrading ones house to a bigger better one, and upgrading ones suburb, would also cater to shrinking work force not having to support bigger retired population.

E.G. If ones house that they lived in were not taxed,
but multiple properties were, small investors would be encouraged to upgrade and renovate then downsize at retirement, instead of own multiple properties.

The effect of not taxing ones home that they live in taxed at all, would release a lot of housing stock on the lower end of the market, and put upward pressure on the upper middle and higher end.

Subsidizing first time buyers is also a false economy, it just pushes the whole markey up in value by that amount plus STAMP DUTY.

hey pples .... Most pple think that Mr Rudd has some very goood ideas about politics, and although he has got on side with the Chinese Government, only thing is he can speak the language his a smart fella that Rudd. Some pple like him as a Prime Minister, my self well his alright i surpose......... thats all i gotta say about Mr Rudd. 1 last thing ... atleast he said sorry to the stolen generation not like howard didn,t lol.

Cheers .....

MaTTyBuLL

I don't think Kevin Rudd is smart. I think he is a bloody idiot. Being able to speak Chinese doesn't make someone intelligent. Perhaps it is a case that Mr Rudd is doing one of the few things he does well. We all have something we do well and being able to do something is not what makes us smart but rather it is how we apply what we do well to improve our lives and the lives of those around us that makes us smart.

Australia does not need a Prime Minister that speaks Chinese. If the Chinese Government want to communicate with Australia then those arseholes can learn English. It shouldn't be up to us to learn a language spoken only by one country and in several confusing and incompatible dialects - Cantonese, Mandarin, etc. Two billion people speak English as a first language and another 600 million speak English as a second language. English is also an easier language to learn and the fact that Mr Rudd can speak fluent Chinese doesn't particularly impress me. He is just another academic twat with Coke bottle glasses making a mug of himself.

To Hell with Labor's republican agenda too, along with the slimey way they plan on bribing people into accepting the un-necessary and un-productive change. What the hell is a republic going to do to improve our daily lives? Take a look at India. They had the might of the British Empire at their disposal and in 1947 they elected to become a republic. Have a look at the country now. Peasants working for 86 cents a day are working long hours in dangerous conditions cutting up ocean liners for scrap metal and others are in huge call centres answering the bloody phone all day for a similar wage. There is no Workcover Authority, no privacy protection and no decent employment conditions.

Have a look at the streets of India's major cities. They are filthy, unhygenic and riddled with criminals. Fifty years of republicanism in India hasn't achieved a thing. Why would it work here? Do we have those problems in Australia, Canada or New Zealand, which have retained their status as British Dominions? No.

The 2020 Summit was exactly what Alexander Downer said it was today - a left wing talkfest - nothing more and certainly nothing less. Nothing that will come out of the 2020 Summit will contribute to what I see are important issues - hospital waiting lists, decent roads, tougher punishments for organised crime, retention of ownership of our large companies, a better deal for senior citizens and preservation of the Nation's institutions and traditions.

It makes me sick to know that I can't walk down the street eating a meat pie without some high-class ignoramus looking at me like I've grown a second head whilst they swill their fancy coffee and annoy everyone with their mobile ring tone.

As for the legitimacy of the 2020 Summit, us Aussies should take our country back and tell all these academics to fuck off and live somewhere else if our system of government is not to their liking.

Mr Downer hit the nail right on the head today. He said that the representation at the summit was not in keeping with general community expectations and he is absolutely right.

As you will see in the following screenshot, he and I are not the only ones of that opinion.

------------------------------------------------------
Regards, Lord Watchdog.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Kevin is a 'bloody idiot'. He is obviously very clever at fooling people, like Mattybull, with his spin.

Many people who voted for Kevin are seeing through his game, and realising to their shock that he has absolutely no idea how to run the country, or what it takes to govern.

Those that voted Labor at the election, did so for some "grand vision" of Australia that Kevin proposed, in addition to what they were perceived were good policy moves (probably because he borrowed most of them from the Liberal party).

Now Kevin's changing policy tack. Because he found it so difficult to bring "new ideas" to the table he asked a left-wing, elitist group of 1000 people what they thought we should do. Naturally, they brought up old ideas that Australian's have always voted against. Why? Because they are left-wing people, and anyone that knows the left-wing knows that they are the bleeding heart do-gooders in our society who whinge and kick and scream about the smallest details, all whilst missing the big picture.

What's wrong with this country? According to the "musicians and artists" that were invited to attend the summit we need more funding for the Arts... Umm is that really an idea or is that just an interested group pushing their agenda further?

When does the average Australian, who is in the vast majority, get a say? And... when do they get included in an idea.

Kevin says in today's paper "let's fix the nation". Ok, assuming the nation needs fixing what are it's biggest problems? The monarchy? is that what needs fixing? If you sat down and asked people that they had to choose one of two ideas:
- A republic
- Lower Petrol Prices

Which do you think would get voted in, in a landslide?

Ok. Now change that "Lower Petrol Prices" option to anything else you can think of (lower interest rates, lower inflation, more jobs, better schools, better healthcare, lower taxation, increased wages, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc).

How often would "The Republic" get the majority vote? I'd wager that it would just about never get the majority, and so would 99.9% of Australians (the .1% is our summit and the bumlickers that thought it was a good idea), because a Republic isn't going to solve anything, but it almost certainly will entail a very very long period of problems associated with changing the way a country is to be run.

It is often said "if it ain't broke don't fix it". So why are we "fixing it"?

All the summit has been useful for is backscratching and pushing Kevin's popularity higher. What was the price at the petrol pump today when you were filling your car up? Do you feel good that you voted Kevin in now?

Dan, Mate i agree with u on the section where you said about lowering petrol prices, its true that we are paying $1.50 a litre at the pumps witch is abit much.... and i also agree on the grounds about intrest rates because pples rent and morgatages are going up.... Watchy, i do agree on the grounds on that we dont need to speak 50 odd languages its by choice, if i wanted to speak spanish i could, but i dont and i also agree with is where u said about fixing major roads ...... yes they need to fix Major roads its a bloody disgrace, that pple that drive have to travel on crappy roads, and i guess we all live in the Lucky Country. How about getting a email together and ask the roads Minister to get off his arse and fix these danm Roads.

........................

Cheers Mattybull

Lol, I love this site, just stumbled upon it tonight. Also notice how no Australian paper has reported the success of the recent invention of the bionic eye as this would wipe out our hope of achieving one of our goals by 2020 and make the 2020 summit even more useless then it already is (the eye works only in black and white spectrums at the moment but I believe by getting there they've already got an edge over us Australians. National Geographic Bionic Eye)

Rudd tries to make too many distractions for the public rather then focusing on what he should be focusing on. I don't mind him but he's not that good at being PM. Well he's not good at it yet and nothing seems too promising either.

Yes PHIL, reminds me of the smoke screen champ PAUL KEATING, PROMISE ALL - DELIVER NOTHING.

In fact dear KRudd looks like a copy cat, Paul went on world tours buying grandfather clocks, wounder what KRudd did while he was away.

French clocks too - not Australian. Add that to Mr Keating being the only Prime Minister who refused to be clothed by the man who has made suits for the last four or five Prime Ministers, excluding Mr Keating, who prefered an Italian brand. His penchant for anything imported and his smart-arsed mouth will be long remembered.

------------------------------------------------------
Regards, Lord Watchdog.

Mattybull,

This is the problem. A 2020 summit is designed to distract you from the real problems facing this country.

Let's say that the summit was a success, and that new (old) ideas were fostered, to introduce into Australia. The problem with what they are doing is that, they are talking about the future when we have very real problems that need fixing now. It is all about priorities. What is a priority for this country? Becoming a republic, or making petrol and housing affordable?

Once we become a republic are all the problems that currently exist going to magically disappear? No. And worse still, by becoming a republic we get all the teething problems that go along with it. We have to sever ties with the Mother country, new laws, procedures and red tape have to be introduced, and passed (yes, you have to remember that Kevin is a bureaucrat), as well as unforseen issues that may arise.


Which isn't to say we shouldn't become a republic - I think we all know that it is inevitable - but shouldn't we deal with more pressing issues first? If you lose your home because you couldn't afford to repay the mortgage because the Rudd govt has allowed half a dozen interest rate rises to go unchecked, would you seriously care about whether the country becomes a republic or not?

If your child got sick and you were unable to have them treated in hospital because the health care system is an absolute shambles thanks to state Labor, would you care about whether the Queen is still a figurehead of this country or not?

It's all about priority. This is the reason why even strong Labor supporters are calling the 2020 summit an absolute joke.

Housing, Healthcare, Transport are far more immediate issues that need attention than a bloody republic. It's time for Rudd to get his head out of the clouds and start governing for Australian's not for do-gooder left-wing softcocks who want everyone to hold hands singing koombaiya.

Since being elected the Rudd government has achieved a lot of symbolic success. Signing Kyoto, Apologising to the alleged Stolen Generation, and now this 2020 Summit. But what do any of these symbolic gestures do for our country?

Yes, they are all nice and goody goody and make everyone involved feel all warm and gooey inside, but there are far more serious issues that are being totally ignored whilst all this is going on.

There's plenty of time for summits, and other symbolic gestures once our immediate problems are addressed. Quite frankly Rudd is demonstrating that he is a one-trick political-stunt pony who has no interest (or is that no idea) of how to govern for all Australian's. Pandering to your diehard supporters by playing the celebrity game doesn't get the job done.

When Australia realises that we tossed in 12 years of awesome government, for a lameduck sideshow, we might get somewhere. Until then stay tuned for the next petrol increase (it's going to be $1.60 next week) and the next rate hike (they said there wouldn't be anymore for 2009, but that's now changed to the expectation of one next month).

When people start losing their homes and selling their cars to take the train don't come whingeing to me or this forum about it. I voted Liberal, if you voted Labor and you now find yourself in the shit, remember that you were warned, and everything that the Liberals predicted has come true. Labor cannot and will not manage the economy.

Higher interest rates are and were always inevitable, as we are a small part of the world economy.

Also a lot of what China produces gets sold in the USA and Europe, so we are not insulated 100% in the long run, because of the mining boom supplying resources.

Slack lending is the worlds problem, lending to people / companie with no deposit who cant ride out interest rate rises, who own no assets or equity to cusion any backward movement.

This is a lesson in history that tends to get forgotten every 7 to 10 years or so, as most downturns are caused by these factors, only this time we missed one such downturn so the bubble is even bigger.

Higher interest rates would not be an issue were property prices cheaper, a decade of state labor governments is to blame for higher property prices along with subsidies to first time buyers pushing the market up by that amount.

"state labors stamp duty" on ones house that they live in, plus the interest to pay the stamp duty off, along with state labor governments restricting land release and selling that restricted land to the middle man property developer, who is now the biggest single donor group to the labor party (donate more than the unions to the labor party) in several states.

This smack of WA inc QLD inc NSW inc Vic inc...

State labor is NOT building infrastructure and NOT releasing an oversupply of blocks pushing up the price of land for sale to the end user, and are further pushing up the price of land by taxing us on its inflated value, the tax STAMP DUTY + FIRST TIME BUYERS SUBSIDY probably needs to be serviced through a mortgage loan that ultimately costs several times the amount borrowed in interest repayments, all the way up the housing chain.

STAMP DUTY discourages small investors upgrading and renovating. Why are small investors developers encouraged to own multiple properties instead of upgrading house and or suburb and renovating?

Upgrading ones house to a bigger better one, and upgrading ones suburb, would also cater to shrinking work force not having to support bigger retired population.

E.G. If ones house that they lived in were not taxed,
but multiple properties were, small investors would be encouraged to upgrade and renovate then downsize at retirement, instead of own multiple properties.

The effect of not taxing ones home that they live in at all, would release a lot of housing stock on the lower end of the market through lowering demand, and put upward pressure on the upper middle and higher end as the tax incentive would be to upgrade ones house.

Subsidizing first time buyers is also a false economy, it just pushes the whole markey up in value by that amount plus STAMP DUTY plus the interest to pay that off.