JOHN HOWARD AN ECONOMIC ROLE MODEL?
The LNP in recycling former prime minister John Howard as its “poster boy” for the July election.
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Apparently it believes the electorate will accept, without question, the fiscal and leadership abilities of John Howard as portrayed by Malcolm Turnbull and the LNP.
The truth is, John Howard was possibly Australia’s worst ever treasurer.
Under his watch, interest rates peaked at 21.4 per cent - the highest in Australia’s history.
As Prime Minister, John Howard and his administration, “pork barrelled away” the economic windfall of the minerals boom.
Howard governments failed to adequately invest in infrastructure; preferring instead to allow infrastructure to be rundown, possibly to make our infrastructure more attractive to overseas investors.
John Howard’s GST and moves to privatise Medibank, penalised the most marginalised among the Australian community.
Based upon lies and deception, he and his colleagues involved our nation in an invasion of Iraq.
Thirteen years on, our nation continues to pay dearly for those lies and deceptions.
John Howard refused to prosecute the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) when it was revealed, AWB had committed Treason by paying $300 million in bribes to the Hussein regime while Australian troops were fighting the forces of Saddam Hussein.
Yet, Malcolm Turnbull sees John Howard as being the benchmark he (Malcolm Turnbull), seeks to emulate.
Barry Swan, Balgownie
DEEPER THOUGHT
Victoria Absolon writes that parents confirm their willingness to adhere in the "implementation of the philosophy and values of the school", (Illawarra Mercury, June 15, 2016).
I suggest that it is the philosophy of the Sermon on the Mount' and it's value message "do unto others" that attracts the parents.
At our philosophy club at the local University of the Third Age (U3A) we recently discovered a work by Leo Tolstoy The Gospel in Brief in which that great Russian philosopher, author of War and Peace, eliminated the dross in the bible.
It is a brilliant work that reminds us how the various denominations have corrupted the message of “The Mount” and have used it to push their own particular prejudices.
Tolstoy compared christianity to a lamp that is not stationary (not a dogma) but is carried along by human beings; it lights up ever new moral realms and reveals ever higher ideals as mankind progresses spiritually.
Reg Wilding, Wollongong
MONEY IS ALWAYS THE MOTIVATOR
The Gao family really should get over this what with their hysteria over the demise of Jamie.
He was a criminal of the first order who led other young people to calamitous ends as evidenced in the media in recent years.
And the reason was always clear: money.
You cannot convince me that these and other similar families were not aware of what their kids were up to as long as they didn't get caught by either the police or the people they dealt with.
I say the same about those who were executed in Bali a year ago.
Bill Parnell, Unanderra
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