We can benefit from high fuel prices

I was watching the American news services on Sky News yesterday and was surprised at the impact of rising fuel prices in America. Although Americans are still paying around $1 a litre, there has been a large shift to public transport in big cities and many people are struggling to make ends meet with a family and two large SUVs to feed.

High fuel prices could change the way Americans address their motoring needs. While the rest of the world has largely downsized their cars, the Americans refuse to give up their Yank tanks and SUVs, which, like guns, they see as some God-given right.

Of course a similar thing is happening in Australia. And while petrol prices are high, the overreaction by Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson on how tough people are finding it to fill the family car is nothing more than populist politics that will achieve nothing.

People are doing it tougher because of high petrol prices, but paying more means they are most are simply readjusting priorities, rather than going under. It’s funny how we have a financial system which seeks to reduce inflation by raising interest rates to reduce spending on consumer goods, yet everyone reckons the world is about to end just because petrol prices are having the same effect.

Of course the high price of fuel is causing consumer goods to go up in price, which is why the Government should forget about reducing the price of petrol to encourage more economically friendly driving habits, transport options and hopefully alternative fuels - it should also forget about imposing a Greenhouse tax on fuel while the price is at record highs to spare drivers serious pain. It should however reduce the excise on diesel to reduce road and rail transport costs and encourage the uptake of diesel cars, which use less fuel and are less polluting, until more suitable alternative fuels are developed.

What do you think?

Canada goes beyond Sorry for past wrongs

Australia has its Stolen Generations; Canada has Where are the Children?

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 aboriginal children in Canada were required to attend state-funded church schools in a painful attempt to rid them of their native cultures and integrate them into Canadian society.

The Canadian Government admitted 10 years ago that physical and sexual abuse in the once-mandatory schools was rampant. Many students recall being beaten for speaking their native languages, and they lost touch with their parents and customs. Contemporary accounts suggest up to half the children in some institutions died of tuberculosis.

The Age reports that a truth and reconciliation commission examining what native Indian leaders call one of the most tragic and racist chapters in Canada’s history will begin its work today.

The truth and reconciliation process proved successful in South Africa in addressing the past wrongs by whites and black activists during the darkest days of Apartheid, and should have been an option in Australia for going further to heal the wounds caused by the Stolen Generations and other racial injustices towards Australia’s indigenous people. 

It’s worth noting that while our own former Liberal government couldn’t even bring itself to say Sorry, Canada’s conservative prime minster Stephen Harper will start the process with a public apology in parliament.

I’m sure Prime Minister Harper will be confident the apology will receive the same mostly positive response in Canada as it did here in Australia - it’s with noting this paragraph in the article: “Our residential schools system was probably more systemic and more generational than even in Australia.”

http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/

 

 

 

Let’s stop being so inward looking at global fuel price rises

It’s time Australians realised that rising fuel prices are not a local phenomena which can be controlled by governments of either persuasion.  Here are a selection of news stories from around the world, which shows that for all there talk, there is fuck all governments of either persuasion can do to keep the cost of petrol down.

United Kingdom
Hauliers to protest at fuel costs

Indonesia
President postpones Europe trip over protests over fuel price hike

United States
Because of fuel prices, business are forced to pass costs on
Soaring prices take a withering toll on truckers
$4 real? No holiday in sight for gas prices

Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka raises fuel prices

Russia
Drivers seethe as gas prices climb

Canada
Alberta NDP leader to call emergency debate on soaring gas prices
High gas prices alter driving habits

Malaysia
Oil price casting a long shadow

Bulgaria
Countrywide protests against high fuel prices go up to European level

Tanzania
High food, fuel prices worry president

Fiji
Fuel prices up

France
French fishermen opt to extend protest over fuel

Philippines
Independent LPG firms to hike cooking gas prices

I could go on.

Australia is not the only country enduring high profiles prices, and it’s time for the government and opposition to stop providing false hope about fuel prices, as well as the many variable in the economy that are at the mercy of global forces.

It’s a myth that, apart from dropping taxes and excise, that anything can be done to decrease the prices of petrol until the wholesale barrel prices go down. 

Expect a fat surge in xenophopia

Piers Akerman seized on comments made by The Australian’s Paul Kelly on The Insiders this week about the “politics of grievance” caused by rising inflation, food and fuel prices.

Akerman said this this grievance will be enhanced by the Rudd Government’s decision to allow more unskilled migrants into the country, to help stem Australia’s labour shortage.

Of course he had to mention that most of these people won’t speak English and crapped on about assimilation and all the other things that give Australia’s rednecks an excuse to justify their bigotry.

Akerman, who wrote a blog about this  a few days earlier, but failed to mention this on The Insiders, pretends that he has observed such issues becoming a concern in the community because he is too gutless say he is personally against unskilled migrants.

Of course he could criticise such views, but instead trawls the internet to find anyone who agrees with them, and of course him - preferably from the “the Left” side of politics.  

Enter the far Left of the Union movement, which Ackerman says is proof that this is a growing grass roots issue even amongst Labor supporters.

Fortunately Sydney Morning Herald columnist David Maher was on hand to question Akerman’s motives and to remind him that the far left of the union movement has always opposed skilled and unskilled migration on the basis that it could cost Australians their jobs. 

This is stupid policy.

The unions need to get into the 21st century and realise there is an acute labour shortage and that more workers are needed to keep productivity going and to stop companies using the lack of labour as an excuse to go off shore.

Instead of pandering to racism the union movement should see migrant workers as potential union members and treat them with respect and drop the whole Aussie macho bullshit that has always seen migrants marginalised throughout the workforce.

The union should also ensure that all migrant workers are paid award wages so their employment would be based on need, and not because they are cheaper to employ. New Zealand has done this so even guest workers from Pacific nations are paid the same as locals, which means they are there to bolster, not replace local workers.

Indeed this was also the case with the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme, which brought thousands of workers to Australia from more than 30 countries and is as famous for it’s success in kick starting multi-culturalism in Australia as it was an engineering milestone.

Of course there should be debate about the need to increase the migrant intake, but I fear the likes of Akermen will turn it into an exercise in racism, fear and loathing that detract from the real issues and play into the conservatives’ hands.

I will resign my union membership if so much as one union leader, from any union, plays ball with this fat fuck on this issue.

 

Everywhere is feeling the pinch

Here is an edited excerpt from a newspaper article about rising petrol prices and household expenses. It says nothing new but is interesting for reasons outlined below.

Tough times ahead
The increase in the retail price of petrol will result in a “period of anguish” for households, an economist said on Wednesday.
Absa economist Chris Hart said the increase would cause food prices to rise and lead to fuel inflation. Hart said the country was expecting a hike in electricity prices as well as an increase in the rate of taxes in the coming months.
“We will see a period of anguish. A significant number of households will lose their houses and cars because of the pressure of the high prices,” Hart said.
Household income would not keep up with the pricing pressure.
The Chemical, Pulp and Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (Ceppwawu) said the effect of the petrol increase on food prices was enormous.
“Although the department of minerals and energy say they do not have control of petrol prices, we are not happy with this increase and would like to discuss the repercussions with them and other government departments,” spokesperson Keith Jacobs.
Economist Mike Schussler said there was a possibility of a high interest rate hike next month.
He said the petrol increase could lead to the Reserve Bank Governor calling for an emergency monetary policy committee meeting.
A Reserve Bank spokesperson declined to comment.
“We do not comment on petrol prices,” she said.
She would not be drawn to comment on the effect it would have on interest rates.

While it’s a familiar story, what’s interesting about is it’s from the South African Star newspaper which shows that fuel price increases, high inflation, rising interest rates are not specific to Australia - the only difference with this story as opposed to one that would appear in an Australian newspaper is the ommission of the words “working families”.

What this shows is that pinning hopes on the Rudd Government’s first Budget to contain things is naive to say the least. Regardless of what we were told during the election campaign it’s global forces that influence our economy not the government fiscal policy. All the government can do is avoid the moving obstacles rather than steer us through them.

P.S. It’s worth noting that in South Africa, inflation is running at higher than 10 per cent. In Australia it is 4.1 per cent.

For the sake of Australian politics, Turnbull has to strike now

I saw Malcolm Turnbull on the 7.30 Report tonight. Yes he’s a pompous Liberal git, but he’s got a presence that makes you want to hear what he has to say even of you don’t necessarily agree.

Whereas Brendan Nelson is about as attractive to listen to as a piss-crusted tramp asking for a cigarette.

Interesting that when Kerry O’Brien put this to Turbull, in a different manner of course, Turnbull replied with: “What I can say is that Brendan as the full support of the Party … “.

Is this as opposed to ‘What I will say is that Nelson is a fucktard with an extremely large forehead and once I get the numbers I’m going to fuck him good with one of his six guitars”?

Honestly Libs, don’t wait for the Budget or Liberal by-election, do the spill now.

P.S. Keep Julie Bishop as deputy leader, she a hottie.

 

This why politicians should appoint an Australian president

For some reason it has been decided that the new Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne should be a high-profile person who does not necessarily have to live or own a business in the city.

The Herald Sun as an online poll asking readers to choose an appropriate new Lord Mayor from the likes of Eddie McGuire, James Hird, Rachael Griffiths, Geoffrey Rush, Jeff Kennett, ACCC chief Graham Samuel, Daniel Grollo and Peter fuckin’ Costello.

 

Why? Melbourne needs a Lord Mayor who is switched on to the city’s needs, can forge good relations with the state government and has vision? Jeff Kennett, Daniel Grollo and Graham Samuel probably fit the bill , but why do we need any sort of election to be a popularity contest.

This is why Phil Cleary and his Republic-hijacking cohorts and their want for a “people’s president” can go and take a flying fuck!

I am a republican and campaigned for the ARM model (similar to appointing the Governor General) amongst Aussie expats in London in 1998. But give me the Queen any time than any of these people on a ballot for Australian President.

Speak for yourself

I hate when a person or group says something that’s then taken as being the official word of an entire community. Like when we read ”parents are outrages at a new video game” only to find that some mother’s group with three members didn’t like the graphic nature of the violence.

Today Australia’s Greek community are apparently outraged that Kevin Rudd dared compare the Ashes Urn to the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles. According to The Herald Sun  Mr Rudd has caused a stir among Australia’s Greek community after he told a packed lecture theatre in London’s West End, “The loss of the Ashes is as unjust as the loss of the Elgin Marbles.

To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher - which Greeks? Name one. The Herald Sun did: Steve Petrou from the National Centre for Hellenic Studies said Mr Rudd’s joke about the sacred Marbles was insensitive.

“I’m sure he will apologise but the damage has been done,” Mr Petrou said.

“If he says something like that in such a light-hearted style obviously he does not appreciate what Australia is all about.”

Actually I don’t think you do Mr Petrou.

So how is one humourless Greek boffin, who obviously feels strongly about the marbles, representitive of the entire Greek community?

Unfortunately such claims end up being self-fulfilling, as it makes those supposedly being represented feel duty bound to agree.

Hopefully, the Greek community won’t take an ovine approach on this and pause to realise that Australia’s new PM has actually identified with their cause.