It's The Year 2015 & Road Tolls Are Up 500%

It’s the year 2015 and Sydney’s tolls have spiraled out of control to the point where just crossing the Harbour Bridge costs $15.

A satrical look at a serious problem

The Cross City Tunnel is now a café and restaurant boulevard and the Manly Tunnel costs $25 each way. There are now two bus lanes on all major roads and the normal time to travel from Manly to the City by car is 3 hours. The construction of Sydney’s Metro Rail System is in full swing with the Labor controlled North Shore and Northern Beaches being the first to enjoy the new rail system. Completion is due in 2018 which will connect the State seat of Sydney which has just been won for Labor by high profile singer John Farnham who defeated Clover Moore by a mere 21 votes.

Sydney’s Metro Lines are estimated to take until 2042 to complete and with the extraordinary cost of tolls, housing affordability is at its lowest point in history. It now takes around 65% of gross household income to pay for housing and wages have increased, pushing inflationary targets to well above 20%pa and the Reserve Bank has official rates at 19% in an attempt to pull the economy back from the brink.

The lack of transport to New South Wales Regional cities and towns has resulted in a metropolitan housing crisis that has more than 1000 people each week becoming homeless with charities like the Salvation Army unable to cope with the enormous need for support. What can we do now in 2007 to avoid this pending Armageddon?

Sydney is choked by the lack of effective public transport. Bus lanes and more buses are not viable long term solutions as more and more cars are on the road and with less space and more bus room needed the future isn’t looking bright. The poor support for the Cross City Tunnel is a great indicator that families are being pushed to breaking point with the cost of housing and general living expenses at an all time high.

The sale and lease of New South Wales power stations and retail energy companies will be a great boost to this State and will go a long way toward helping Premier Iemma to resolve the transport crisis and aging infrastructure that is now a reality in this State.

The disastrous scenario could be even slightly true if immediate action is not taken. The current housing crisis will be solved through a variety of means but transport to Sydney from regional cities and towns in NSW must be addressed to provide a viable alternative to those unable to afford accommodation in Sydney. A super fast train (or bullet train) must be the priority of Government for cities like Newcastle and Wollongong to name just two. This would create enormous opportunities for these cities to attract major business to the areas as well as create the opportunity for people who work in the Metropolitan area to live in other more affordable places.

The upgrading of airports in regional areas to International standard is critical for the long term health of the State and a world-class metro rail system like that in London or New York City would be the icing on the cake for a State in desperate need of long term solutions.

Michael Marquette

Regional NSW in Crisis

Regional NSW is in desperate need of attention and fast. For decades Sydney has been the focus of both Federal and State Governments with regional cities like Newcastle largely ignored by both sides of politics as it has always provided a safe haven for Labor. Therefore Labor has seen no need to campaign strongly and the Coalition parties have promised little for the area as ultimately they would be unlikely to gain politically from the exercise.

It is sad to think that our country and ultimately our democracy is run in a way where political opportunism determines what infrastructure may be placed in a given area, however it would seem quite close to the reality in 2007. Successive State Governments have ignored the needs of regional NSW and therefore have in a large way created the housing crisis which we are now suffering. There has been a complete lack of focus, vision and spending on regional infrastructure connecting NSW regions to metropolitan Sydney and we now are suffering the consequences.

As a boy born and bred in Newcastle I have seen the city progress ever so slowly. I have seen the Newcastle City Council sacked in the 1980's and the Honeysuckle development touted as the city's saviour take longer to complete than it has taken for China to become a major international economic force. I experienced the earthquake in 1989 and still see unchanged remnants today which is a terrible indictment on Government at all levels.

If transport was world leading, with a super fast train connecting Sydney and regional centres we would have the capacity to resolve housing problems in Sydney with people able to live further from their workplace. We would also be able to attract business to our regions which would revolutionize the economies of many cities and towns that are otherwise struggling. Imagine a second international airport actually in Newcastle or Wollongong rather than Sydney? Imagine them connected by world class super fast train links and imagine how that might compare to London with Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stanstead? Imagine how we could easily progress our nation if only common sense prevailed? Let's hope it does. Michael Marquette

Election Bloopers and Blunders

Here's some light-hearted relief from this year's federal election campaigning, compiled by ABC News.

Watch here

Howard's Judgement Day

I watched the ABC commentary last Saturday night completely in awe of the enormous 6.3 % national swing to the ALP. Not only had the ALP contained the damage in Western Australia but seat after seat had fallen in even safe Liberal electorates. Massive swings of over 14% were recorded in some seats and Maxine McKew looked like she had pulled off the unthinkable and beaten Howard in his own seat of Bennelong. All five seats in Tasmania fell to the ALP along with election winning gains in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Ministers had fallen and at that point we were still be told of the pending retirements of senior Coalition members like Mark Vaile and Peter Costello to name just two.

At 10.35pm Prime Minister Howard appeared with his family to concede defeat and in doing so ending an era Australian politics. His speech was delivered with enormous dignity and grace and he congratulated Prime Minister elect Rudd on a “very emphatic victory”. He also went on to accept full responsibility for the Coalition campaign and election defeat and also stressed that Australia was now “stronger, prouder and more prosperous” than it had been 11 ½ years prior. If that statement was true then why had so many Australians turned their back on the Coalition? If indeed the average family were so much better off why had they so resoundingly sacked the government?

There are a number of factors that I suggest were at play. Firstly Australians have developed a social conscience that now cannot be politically ignored. Issues like the environment, treatment of refugees, equal rights for gay and lesbian couples and the promised “Education Revolution” have hit a chord with voters to the extent that the economy has been considered as one factor rather than the main factor in determining government. The massive increase in the availability and access to information due to the internet has played its part in shaping this election result. Never before have the Australian people had such a massive amount of information so readily available to assist in making the enormous decision of electing our government. Never before has there been such scrutiny of a government’s performance.

At the end of 33 years in parliament, 15 as Leader of the Liberal Party and 11 ½ years as Prime Minister, John Howard has cemented his place in history as the second longest serving Prime Minister in Australia’s history. Australia’s 26th Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has set a massive agenda for reform and was at work on Sunday morning speaking to other world leaders and instructing the new Labor Caucus to visit at least one government and one private school in their electorate before meeting in Canberra this Thursday. With Labor in government Federally and in all States and Territories we have never had a better chance of resolving issues where there has been little or no co-operation between Government at all levels. It is with enormous excitement that I thank Mr Howard for his contribution to our great nation and welcome the man who may well prove to be the best Prime Minister this country has ever seen.

Michael Marquette

Australia's Constitutional Crisis of 2017

Ten Years On: Constitutional crisis looms

The President, John Howard, said yesterday he would not hesitate to use his powers of dismissal if the Prime Minister could not resolve the dispute that caused the Opposition to block key bills in the Senate.

The Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, has told Liberal senators to follow a policy of "total obstruction'' until the Prime Minister, Peter Garrett, abandons his plan to build a nuclear reactor in every state capital. Mr Turnbull is supported by four of the eight Greens senators, three of the six Holy Family senators, and the Democrat Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja.

Mr Howard delivered his threat during a ceremony in Canberra to mark Australia's return to 20 million people under the "depopulate or perish'' program. Mr Howard congratulated the Government on its anti-immigration and anti-fertility measures, which put Australia on track to reach the so-called "Flannery line" of 18 million by 2026.

Then Mr Howard departed from his prepared speech to add: "When Peter Garrett reached across the party divide to nominate me as the first president of the republic, he called it an act of national reconciliation. I told him at the time that this would not prevent me from doing my duty to the nation, and that includes ensuring the Parliament can function.''

Mr Howard's remarks were immediately condemned by the Victorian Premier, Peter Costello, and the NSW Premier, Pru Goward. Both are supporters of Mr Garrett's program to cut Australia's dependence on coal-fired power stations. "That little toad kept me waiting so long I had to move back to Melbourne and join the Labor Party to get career advancement,'' Mr Costello said. "Now he's threatening the first green Labor government in this country's history. He should respect the Garrett mandate."

Mr Garrett accused Mr Turnbull of wanting to continue Australia's greenhouse emissions so global warming would give his Woollahra home a water frontage.

STOP PRESS: the College of Cardinals in Rome has elected an Australian as the new Pope. He is the former politician Tony Abbott, who returned to the priesthood in 2008 after the Liberal Party failed to choose him as leader.

He will take the name Pope Abbott I, "in recognition of the way a humble Abbott can rise, through hard work and determination, to the top job in the world's most powerful religious corporation.''

Pope Abbott said his first priority was to "ramp up'' what he called "the war of ideas with Islam''. "Christianity needs to be packaged more dynamically, and I believe I have the diplomatic skills to do that," he said.

Original article featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, Stay in Touch feature.

Polling Points to Potential Carnage

Polling Suggests Carnage

The Australian Electoral Commission has announced that 13,645,073 voters are enrolled for this Saturday’s election.

That represents 550,000 more than had been on the electoral rolls three years earlier (13,098,461) and almost 1.3 million than actually voted in the 2004 election!

The commission also gave a breakdown of the age groupings of the Australian electorate. These are:
18-24: 1,535,870.
25-39: 3,513,510.
40-54: 3,856,190.
55 and over: 4,739,500.

So – on which side of the fence are the majority of these groups sitting?

AC Nielsen’s polling is showing that Labor is destroying the Coalition in all age groups but the over-55s, where the Coalition has an advantage nationally of 49 per cent to 43 per cent in the primary vote. Considering it is also the largest voting group, it is quite evident why John Howard and his team is ploughing such a huge effort of time and policy promises into them.

Even then, when compared to the previous 4 elections won by the Coalition, Labor has been able to gain on average an additional 9 percentage points among over-55 voters.

In the other age groups the Coalition is severely struggling and the carnage in NSW and Queensland will be immense. Only WA is offering a glimmer of hope for John Howard to keep the Kirribilli lights on. Simon Turner

Electorate More Persuaded by ALP Advertising

On Wednesday and Thursday, Roy Morgan Research used a representative sample of the Australian electorate to monitor their responses to the the seven main political advertisements running on television for the L-NP and ALP, ACTU, and ALP/Greens/Australian Democrats.

The role of The Reactor was to monitor whether the advertising made them "more inclined to the L-NP or the ALP". Between each advertisement, respondents returned to a neutral position.
Typically, the respondents react in accordance with party lines, spokespeople and topics.

Whilst this was generally the case over the last few evenings, the ACTU advertisement of the young woman and the middle-aged couple talking about how Work Choices is hurting working families, clearly touched a nerve with L-NP supporters as well as their own followers. Similarly, so did the ALP advertisement reminding the electorate of the six interest rate rises under the L-NP Government.

The L-NP appeared to be talking only to their traditional electorate and failed to move ALP voters. The ALP/Greens/Australian Democrats ad about 'time to restore the balance to the House of Review' did not move either ALP or L-NP supporters to any extent.

What the parties must do to win:
· The ALP needs to cement their traditional supporters as well as continue to motivate some L-NP voters as they appear to be achieving well. Watch a simple yet effective video from Kevin07
· The L-NP needs not only to focus its traditional voters, but also those “soft ALP voters”. It's advertising must be clearer, leaner and broader.

Who has the most stamina as we edge towards the finish line? Simon Turner