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Stanley on Power to the People So now we are people.No wonder even the East Timor parliamentarians rejected our begging for attention.Did the people decide ... more
Jenifer on Yes We Will .. Will We? Yes, we will....go to the dogs ,if I don't win. Gillard's last jinx. more
Barb on What you don't see in a campaign I see! I see! I see!Very very big knife for very very big stab for Lady as counting results brings Tony to Top. No running ... more
Sally on Dance of the reluctant brides Lenny must be suffering from acute entrails problems as his red medusa idol lately. The eennnnnnd of the wwwwooorrrlldd is ... more
Hughes on Yes We Will .. Will We? I suspect Lenny is a tree hugger and BBrowntongue is expecting to ride on Labor prefs at the cost of Labor itself. They ... more
Katrina on Election result on 'knife's edge' When you have biased lefties like MARTIN O'SHAUGHNESSY using subtle ratting suggesting listeners could pass a sympathy vote ... more
Kate on It ain't over til it's over The National Beijing Network will be bought and run by you know who ? So no complaints.All is fine. Only I have the ... more
baron of bentleigh on Yes We Will .. Will We? I am in Crean's electorate and most of us in line have switched sides. We are making our vote count and putting Labour and ... more
Lenny on Yes We Will .. Will We? Sue, only an ignorant self serving imbecile would vote for the Liberals. The Rabbit couldn't manage a game of two up~! ... more
peed off on How to vote in Federal Election I would like to know if either party is going to do anything about changing the policies in the department of housing. Wait ... more
Brendan Mason on How to vote in Federal Election I used to believe in compulsory voting but now only want people with fair dinkum opinions to vote. Those who don't care ... more
Brendan Mason on It ain't over til it's over The fear of the Liberals is of what may or MAY NOT happen where as we know what to fear of Labor...house fires, rorts, ... more
David on It ain't over til it's over Lets not give this incompotent government another term. more
mylene on Yes We Will .. Will We? Lots of people say if the election result doesn't go their way they'll leave the country but I'll bet anything that nobody ... more
Danny on It ain't over til it's over Gillarding is the word.You will wake up on Sunday You will wake up on Sunday You will wake up on Sunday, will you really, ... more
janet page on It ain't over til it's over Just remember people when you vote tomorrow, you are Not voting for an Individual, but a political party, and the parties ... more
janet page on Power to the People If you want people power, Look up the, Senate on Line Party. more
janet page on It ain't over til it's over Labor has announced it will sell off the multi billion dollar Broad Band, that we the people will be forced to pay for. And ... more
steve murphy on Juila will and Tony will not? Gerard, It is the one big question that hasn't been answered during the campaign. What will it cost me to access 100mbps? ... more
Kevin H on Yes We Will .. Will We? I hope Labor wins and the GST goes up to 40-50%, petrol 5$ a litre and more, bank rates at 19.7% as it was with the last ... more

Nation builder or pork barreller?

Posted by: Steve Murphy, Political Analyst | 11 August, 2010 - 6:34 PM

Is the Prime Minister a nation builder or a good old fashioned pork barreller? That’s a question voters outside New South Wales might well be justified in asking after the PM announced today that she would commit a whopping $2.1 billion, her single largest promise of Campaign 2010, to build a rail link in between Parramatta and Epping in Western Sydney.

That’s right a rail link in Western Sydney, an area where the Government is struggling (if the latest Newspoll is any guide) and is facing the loss of some key marginal seats such as the bell weather electorate of Lindsay.

What raises the cynicism levels is that this line has been promised and reneged on by successive State Labor Governments for more than a decade, which begs the question is Ms Gillard funding infrastructure to cover the incompetence of her state Labor colleagues and getting a marginal seats boost into the bargain?

Oh yes and I’m sure it is just a coincidence that this funding has been put forward as Ms Gillard attends a ‘peoples’ assembly’ at ... wait for it ... the Rooty Hill RSL ... wait for it ... in Western Sydney today.

Today’s announcement comes on top of last week’s commitment by (the New South Wales based) Transport Minister Anthony Albanese that the Government will fund a study into a high-speed rail link along Australia's east coast.

Sounds fantastic, but the reality is that the Government will provide $20 million to study the feasibility of a fast-speed rail link between ... wait for it ... Sydney and Newcastle. Admittedly it’s the first stage, but why Sydney to Newcastle? Why not Brisbane to the Gold Coast?

To keep the rednecks in the north (Queenslanders) happy and the Mexicans in the south (Victorians) placated, Mr Albanese also committed last week to building an inland rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne. He described the benefits of such a line as taking trucks off the highways and relieving pressure on ... wait for it ... Sydney's north-south line.

Well, so long as it has a benefit for Sydney and all those marginal seats clustered around it, then it must a good thing. It’ll be of enormous relief to motorists stuck on the Eastern car park every morning or battling bottlenecks from the Western suburbs into the CBD.

Having been brought up in Queensland, having worked in Sydney and lived most of my adult life in Melbourne, I am not a state-based parochialist and I recognise that pork barreling is part and parcel of politics.

For Victorians, perhaps Ms Gillard could throw us a couple of billion to assist with the Brumby Government’s transport plan to make the operation of the Port of Melbourne more efficient. That would be a national economic reform surely.

Or perhaps she could throw in a couple of billion to support the massive road tunnels projects being undertaken in Brisbane, the centre of the fastest growing region in the country. That must be a sustainable population policy initiative, wouldn’t it?

It’s bad policy when a Commonwealth Government starts discriminating between the States. It would be fine if these announcements were being made within a framework of a national building plan, but they’re not.

The great broadband debate

ELECTION HEADLINES: The ALP's Chris Bowen and the Liberal Party's Andrew Robb detail their respective parties' broadband policies after Tony Abbott arguably made a complete meal of his explanation of the Coalition's 'tech head' policy.

Blog comments

Steve i do believe Frank is referring to all your bias, you can't see it because you are BIAS. Do not come on here and pretend to be a journalist when you are in fact a commentator stating the views of your agenda.

Cheryl Friday 13 August, 2010 - 3:16 PM
This is to easy, we all become Marginal Seats and we all get what we require, more hospitals, more puplic transport, less migrants, less taxes, so on and so on.

janet page Thursday 12 August, 2010 - 11:16 AM
Give up on the both ?Liberal and Labour vote1 Neilbubbareno. We stand together where mates. To the colors of a rainbow we share all race of life.My Australia. Please copy and paste...Basicly let me spell out to you.Your not a mushroom being kept in the dark and feed bull. Australia is not a free country any more now they can stop register a car. Just because they got you speeding on a speed camera that get more tax rev of you even if you are despeting the speeding fine on the great ocean road 60km to 50km take photo catching you at 57km creedy bustards how much money will they take of us Australian citizens wher is our free country gone, I have lots mor issue and i sure you have to we are not queens convicts.Neilbubbareno.

Neilbubbareno Thursday 12 August, 2010 - 12:12 AM
Hey Frank, what bias are you referring to?

steve murphy Wednesday 11 August, 2010 - 11:21 PM
Any chance Steve Murphy will declare his massive bias on this or any other political issue? Nah, thought not.

Frank Denial Wednesday 11 August, 2010 - 6:48 PM