Category Archives: Policy Matters

A health statement

October 22, 2007 – 8:36 am

So here we are in the second week. Andrew Dittmer from the Darwin & Palmerston Sun has been asking candidates to supply policy remarks on a different topic each week of no more than 250 words. Here’s my brief statement:
Healthcare is in crisis.
Waiting lists for elective surgery rise, beds fill up, emergency departments are overflowing. [...]

By Jacques Chester | Also posted in Campaign Diary, From the Candidate | Comments (0)

The Debate Taken Seriously.

October 22, 2007 – 7:33 am

Televised debates have incorrectly chosen opposition leaders as best-of-show every time John Howard has fronted up to one. The Worm routinely hates his guts. Last night through the genius of the folk who also bring you StumpCam, the Worm demonstrated its love for Kevin Rudd. I wouldn’t be too upset if I were Howard: the [...]

By Jacques Chester | Also posted in From the Candidate | Comments (0)

Disgusting Cynicism

October 20, 2007 – 1:27 pm

Kevin Rudd has revealed his true colours: He’s Howard 2.0. All the pizazz that Howard 1.0 lacks plus all the cynical, shameless, uneconomic, grubby bribery of the original.
Kevin thinks the government should give people back their money in the form of subsidised PCs. I’m surprised he didn’t thrown in some game consoles and plasma TVs.
It [...]

By Jacques Chester | Also posted in From the Candidate | Comments (2)

More About The Taxback

October 19, 2007 – 11:32 am

I’m not alone in my cynicism about the tax “cuts”, which are really just giving back what’s ours anyhow. Writing in The Age, Kenneth Davidson observes that:
They [the media] all stressed the total $34 billion tax cut. It looks huge — because it aggregates four years’ worth of cuts. … if wages don’t keep [...]

By Jacques Chester | Also posted in From the Candidate | Comments (0)

Nuclear Flavoured Horse Manure

October 18, 2007 – 6:57 pm

So far Damien Hale — or more likely his ALP handlers — have made silly claims about all sorts of things. They claimed, for example, that I was a Tollner stooge (they still haven’t put the release on their website). I also noticed today that they reckon David Tollner will get a nuclear power plant [...]

By Jacques Chester | Also posted in From the Candidate | Comments (0)

Tax Reform? Not At All

October 15, 2007 – 2:39 pm

Peter Costello likes to pretend he’s big on tax reform. All that’s big about Coalition tax policy is the total tax bill. The Commonwealth collects $70 billion more tax than Keating ever did. That’s thousands of dollars for every tax payer in Australia.
The Coalition have announced a new round of tax cuts. Except they’re not [...]

By Jacques Chester | Also posted in From the Candidate | Comments (1)