If Gillard is not a rehash of the hollow Rudd, who hoodwinked us into the false hope of the 2007 pork barrelling and spun that hollow 2020 Summit; Gillard's absence of maxims and deadlines for Australia's population/immigration targets only confirms voters ought to presume more of the same.

Ordinary voters need to detox from this election bender.

Only the political parties, their advertisers and their media allies stand to benefit - like clubs that own the pokies.

Two weeks out from a federal election and the range and depth and vision on the two major parties - the LibLabs is woefully simplistic and shortsighted. Both are selfishly limited to an 'ends justifies the means' approach purely to get elected. Both are indulging in election-term economics, lobbying marginal seats, pork barreling the swinging voter and trying to differentiate themselves from each other. Neither are relevant to the future governance of Australia.

"Inevitably when a Prime Minister or a Government says or does something there is a political analysis – Why are they doing this? What are they up to? While this is pretty much unavoidable, I think the explanation here is a pretty simple conjunction of the Prime Minister’s own convictions with the views of the vast majority of Australians." (Kelvin Thomson)

Now that people have finally accepted that gender is and should be irrelevant in politics (at least in civilised societies like Australia), we can get down to the agenda and actions of Acting PM Gillard's new leadership team.

De-Rudding seems to be a fast way to work the pollsters to gain quick public relations wins, necessary for any new replacement PM.

On what issues and promises did Rudd Labor win the last election and so comprise unfinished obligations to the Australian electorate? Such are what Labor is responsible and accountable to the electorate for the 'Rudd four year term! But now that this is the Gillard term, is there is a mandate disconnect between the electorate and the government?

A common line of argument from those who favor population growth in Australia is that it's all a matter of optimism versus pessimism, and that environmentalists are much too negative. But there are situations where optimism would be better named meglomania.

As Australians we pride ourselves with the presumption that we live in a democracy benefiting from the universally accepted principles of 'equality and freedom'.

We are supposed to have a "government of the people, by the people, for the people" [Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865]. But in reality we are denied full or 'direct democracy' and are expected to tolerate the more compromised version of 'representative democracy'.

But those so-called 'representatives' repeatedly let us down. They are instead controlled by their own political party agendas. Legislative voting is along party lines, not according to the say of local electoral seats that our 'representatives' are supposed to represent.

In fact we have what's branded an 'illiberal democracy' - a narrower definition of full democracy and one in which, although elections take place, voters are excluded from government agendas, denied any say into party policies, denied any say in drafting legislation, denied any say in constructing government budget priorities. Party politics is where the real political power lies in Australian politics, not with the people.

The 2008 Belconnen Massacre - lest we forget

We are reminded of the brutal Belconnen massacre of 500 kangaroos yesterday two years ago on 19th May 2008, followed shortly afterwards with another 4000 or so kangaroos massacred at the Majura Army training area.

These wildlife massacres reflect a prevaling backward colonial attitude by our government towards native animals. Native animals were regarded as vermin by early colonists. This attitude prevails.

Today's 21st century official slaughter of Australian native animals is no different to the official slaughter of Australian native people by European colonists, who treated Aboriginal people as vermin.

Republished here to give background to Sheila Newman's remarks in her debate with Steve Bracks on the Jon Faine show 19-4-2010. You can comment on Jon Faine's "Population Forum" about the debate here and you can listen to the podcast here. The sector in Australia that has the most costly dependency ratio must be the property sector, since it costs all Australians an enormous and unreasonable amount just to cover the cost of land for housing, business and agriculture. Most of the very high costs involved are completely unnecessary, except in the eyes of greedy developers and their hangers-on. The only reason that the costs are so high is that the industry wants it that way and our state and federal governments are in cahoots with it. See also on Labor Resources and Labor Holdings etc. Early identification of the Growth Lobby is to be found on my thesis by that name, notably in Chapter 6. The latest article on candobetter on dependency ration is "Discussing Australia's Dependency ratio 2009 with graph by Dr Katharine Betts"

Rudd's penchant for a 'big Australia' is behind his absurd record immigration policy. Population growth and congestion is out of control and is the common denominator driving up Australian land prices, electricity, water, inflation, consumer demand, interest rates and the costs of living of ordinary Australians.

Our state and federal public infrastructure cannot cope - roads, public transport, health, education, housing, you name it! The cost of living for ordinary Australians is becoming desperate!
See also Cost of housing and cost of dependency in Australia

Kevin Rudd ignored the killing fields of Commonwealth Sri Lanka in May 2009 while Sinhalese Rajapaksa committed genocide to ethnic Tamils.

Kevin Rudd is now troubled by the Sri Lankan asylum seekers.

Kevin Rudd continues to support United States/CIA strategic aggression in Afghanistan with Australian troops, US special forces atrocities and all.

Kevin Rudd is now troubled by the Afghan asylum seekers.

Today Treasurer Wayne Swan has tried to justify another rise in interest rates by claiming in true 'polly-speak' that such an impost is a sign of a stronger Australian economy. Swan’s growth fetish belies the Lib/Labs stale ideology. Last month Swan's fettish for strong economic growth and strong population growth for Australia was reaffirmed at the Population Summit in Brisbane held 30th March 2010.

But Swan's growth fetish and consequential rising costs of living do not augur well for most Australians with mortgages.

The gap between the policies of the Liberal/Labor (Liboral?) party elites - that are politically addicted to massive population growth and mass-immigration - and the wishes of the electorate has never been greater. It’s a bipartisan problem. But Rudd appears like a deer caught in headlights.

In 1996, the incoming Howard Government, 'discovered' a massive budgetary black hole left by the outgoing Keating Government. They claimed to have no choice but to impose slash-and-burn budgets and asset fire sales. The excuse of the cupboard left bare or crippling debt, supposedly taking all choice out of the hands of incoming Governments, forms part of a tired and recurring pattern in Australian history. Recently, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has seized upon the debt created by the Rudd Government's incompetently managed 'stimulus program' as an excuse to resurrect his dream of privatising Medibank Private and wielding the budgetary axe. Is history about to repeat itself, yet again? (Note: This article encompasses and replaces a brief article by Sheila Newman of 7 May 09 in which about Cyrius01's video "Krazy Kevin Rudd Responds to the Global Financial Crisis" was embedded.)

In an address to the Australian War Memorial CEW Bean Foundation dinner on 15 October 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd claimed that our goals in Afghanistan had been "endorsed by the United Nations Security Council." Australian lawyer Kellie Tranter asks: was the war authorised by the Security Council, is it legal, and how many civilians have been killed?

Originally published on Online Opinion on 11 Feb 10. Other articles by Kellie Tranter include The thirst keeps growing in NSW of 19 Jan 10, Show them (and us) the money! of 8 Dec 09 about the idiocy of the Rudd Government's CPRS, Government, water and an arranged marriage of 2 Dec 09, Big Australia of 30 Oct 09, which asks how Rudd plans to ensure our the food and water security of 35 million Australians, Political stupidity and hydrocommerce madness of 20 May 09.
See also: Why Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should take another look at the "image of the twin towers coming down" of 30 Dec 09.

Kevin Rudd has expressed his desire for a "big Australia", contrary to public interests, an independent scientific assessment of our "carrying capacity", and without any population plan or policy.
Our wealth is our natural heritage.
Deliberate population growth is all about greed and consumerism and a failure to appreciate what is naturally "big" about Australia.

The callous and evil slaughter and rape of ethnic Tamils last May by the Sinhalese armed forces in Sri Lanka compares with the Indonesian mass murder of East Timorese in the Indonesian Invasion of 1975 and again in the 1991 Dili Massacre.

In September 1974, in central Java, Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam told Indonesia's President Suharto that East Timor was “too small to be independent”. Thirty odd years later the Australian Government turned a blind eye to Rajapaska's Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka.

Seems Australia has quickly forgotten the lessons of Vietnam War. The late Martin Luther King is oft quoted from a sermon he delivered in 1967 on the Vietnam War "A time comes when silence is betrayal".

[This article follows on from the initial article after Rajapaksa's war crime assassinations of surrendering Tamils on 10 May 09: Tamil Tigers - hunted down and exterminated like vermin by Sinhalese President Rajapaksa [22-May-09]]

On 26 March 2009 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told how the image of the World Trade Center Twin Towers coming down, which he "[could not] remove from [his] mind," made necessary the continuation of Australia's increasingly unpopular intervention in the Afghan war. Perhaps it is time that Kevin Rudd took a proper look at those images so that he could learn what really happened on 11 September 2001.

Article, including embedded video, has been adapted from material found in story "Cutter Charges in the North Tower of the World Trade Center" of 26 Dec 09 on 911blogger.com. See also: ae911truth.org, "WTC7 in Freefall", "'WTC7: NIST Admits Freefall' ...The Movie", parts 1, 2 and 3.

When Australia has an annual record 383,000 net migration this last year we have what is tantamount to foreign invasion by stealth. It is an 'immigration invasion'.

Howard started it and Rudd has perpetuated it. Australians are being pacified and re-educated into believing misleading justifications like economic growth, addressing skills shortages, multi-culturalism, being a world citizen, etc.

[This article was initially a comment to Sheila Newman's article 'Australia's governments are coordinating an unarmed invasion without your permission']

60% of our population growth is due to immigration. This is basically on-going colonisation!
The best estimate of the First Fleet, that we celebrate on Australia Day, is 1373 people.  Today the numbers of permanent and long-term migrants arriving in Australia to more than 500,000 a year. 
The Roman Empire, built by controlled immigration, perished under an onslaught of uncontrollable barbarian migration.
( photo source )

David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red, shows that the Rudd Government's climate change policies are a hollow pretence at doing what is urgently needed to prevent the looming global catastrophe.

Originally published in the Age of 19 Oct 09. See also: www.carbonequity.info.

"Mr Rudd is responsible for one of the highest immigration rates in decades so his line on the current influx of asylum seekers is simply a smoke screen to avoid public discussion on the bigger issue of the immigration blow-out."
"Were Australia a compassionate nation, it would be taking in more asylum seekers and fewer skilled migrants, according to Australia’s only environment group dedicated to lower population, Sustainable Population Australia (SPA)." (Sandra Kanck, SPA National President)

Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Treasurer Wayne Swan claims to be resigned to an Australian population of “over 36 million” people by the year 2050! This is an understatement. According to our present growth rate, we will have doubled today's population of nearly 22 million by 2046. The treasurer is being evasive or lacks arithmetical skills. We will be facing more than 44 million by 2046, and the numbers will keep escalating - because our government policies are designed to drive population growth upwards. And why should our lifestyles and our suburbs be a resource for developers and a growth phenomenon that is contrary to our interests?

Judy Bamberger asks of the Federal Government, "Instead of wasting media minutes, your effort, and my (taxpayer's) money calling for Turnbull's head, focus instead on establishing reasonable policies to help our country move toward a more sustainable life style."

It was entirely predictable that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would concede that the Copenhagen summit in December would fail to reach a global emissions reduction deal. Despite his pre-election rhetoric, he is worse than a climate change sceptic and has failed even his own aims on carbon emission cuts!

The way in which governments, to whom we pay taxes in order to safeguard our welfare, then expect individuals to then shoulder much of the responsibility of dealing with natural disasters is analogous to passengers on the Titanic being required to bring aboard their own liferafts.

Murdoch's Law Again!

Writer and ecologist, Hugh Spencer, kicks off discussion here about Kevin Rudd's proposed $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan. "The only component of the scheme that I can wholeheartedly agree with is the roof insulation - but even then, it requires a far more coherent energy target - as 'roof insulation' can mean damn near anything...."

After years of telling us that environmental impact has nothing to do with population numbers, the government admits it is the major factor. Futhermore they would rather subject us to climate change than simply downsize immigration.

On Wednesday 5 November 2008, I attended a community cabinet at Launceston, where I asked Kevin Rudd when he was going to get realistic about population and economic growth. Report by Catherine Case:

How is increasing the population by a million people every three years going to contribute to lowering Australia's carbon footprint? Don't ask big business, or the ALP machine, both addicted to "growth" defined by corporate fundamentalism, which means higher per capita consumption and more consumers.

So says Paul Sheehan of the Sydney Morning Herald, in an unusually frank and honest article in today's edition.