Private housing finance increases

[Leftofcentresalterego]

encouraging an overcommintment by those who if they suddenly become unemployed, can no longer afford their mortgage repayments

That's a fair point Mantra. But I think that in the context of today's situation, it is part of the overall strategy along with the stimulus package to try and minimise the occurence of that sort of thing.

There are quite a few businesses and jobs tied up the housing industry. A rapid contraction would see many go to the wall and large numbers of workers end up on the dole.

Banks lending criteria have become much tighter - they are demanding bigger and bigger up front deposits and I think it's likley that even with the FHOG we will see the number of home loans slide as the year progresses. My mother works for a conveyancing firm and she is witnessing a record number of deals fall over as interested buyers keep signing up - only to find that the bank says no to the finance.

House prices of course need to come down, they are far too expensive but they need to come down in a steady, orderly fashion. If they simply collapse they result will be more business bunkruptcies and more jobs lost.

Rudd may be doing the same thing as Howard re FHOG but the situation is completely different. Howard was grossly irresponsable by throwing money at home buyers during a boom - he must have known that this could only serve to fuel demand and push up prices even further. It was pork. Rudd by contrast is doing the same thing but at a far more appropriate time - at the onset of a slump. If house prices contract too rapidly the industry will collapse.

The difference is all in the timing.

[Jovial Monk]

Absolutely, an orderly retreat on house prices not a retreat! The same with the Ruddybank and an orderly retreat of commercial/industrial property prices.

And most people keep their job even in a severe recession!

[Leftofcentresalterego]

Thanks for posting my post across to the main forum mantra!

I know two young couples recently who have borrowed massive sums for their first home with only a 5% deposit

It was only last year that no deposit home loans were the rage. It may still be possible to get them but as of November last year, the Commonwealth bank announced that it would no longer offer such loans.

I can assure you that at least in this neck of the woods, lending standards have grown much tighter. My mother is near retiring age and will likely go if things do not pick up in order to preserve the younger clerks jobs. She can afford to retire. Many conveyancers have cut hours or shed jobs.

I see much anecdotal evidence of a slowing or slumping housing market - including my grandfathers house. They keep dropping the price but to no avail. It looked like it was sold last week to a young couple, but it fell through - the bank said no to them.

[Kevin Rudd]

I have destroyed all business confidence

[Julia Gillard]

I helped. One look at my credentials and we had to get a deeper white board as the confidence fell off the bottom of the Howard government one.

[Jovial Monk]

Good old Julia! Everyday in Parlt she calmly, masterfully and in a measured way rips a few Lieberals a new one

[Goulia]

You mean Alice in Funderland?

Still waiting for a multitude of undelivered promises related to the education portfolio to eventuate- but a simpleton like yourself has never bothered to look at that side of things while you are busy pulling your tiny dick over pictures of Kduddy

Brian Burke

DFAT officials confirmed that that Prime Minister Rudd had indeed been ''stuffed around'' by DFAT in the lead up to his now notorious planned dinner with Brian Burke on 12 December 2005. DFAT Deputy Secretary Doug Chester told the Committee: ''Looking through the paperwork one could understand why Mr Rudd or staff from his office may have felt there were some difficulties in the organisation, or the organisational aspects of getting to Hong Kong''.

This throws huge doubt over the Prime Minister's claim that he made up such organisational difficulties in order to get out of his dinner with Mr Burke.

Ministerial Code of Conduct

The Ministerial Code of Conduct is not worth the paper it is not yet written on. Neither Senator Evans representing the Prime Minister, nor PM&C officials, could adequately define a number of key items in the draft Code of Ministerial Ethics, confirming it is all spin and no substance.

No implementation date could be given for either the promised Code of Conduct nor the much-vaunted Lobbyist Register.

Childcare

While preaching frugalness to the people of Australia, the Prime Minister was caught out as having secretly added a baby-sitter to his personal staff at the expense of the tax-payer.

The Opposition embarrassed him into repaying past costs and committing to personally cover the cost of this service in the future.

Staff - Prime Minister's central control

The Prime Minister has a higher proportion of Ministerial staff in his office - already more than 12 percent - compared to the former Prime Minister who had just nine percent of ministerial staff in his office, even after 11 years in office.

Hospital funds - broken promise in Tasmania

Despite a promise from both the Prime Minister and the Labor Member for Braddon, Sid Sidebottom, that: 'all savings from the Mersey Hospital takeover[will] be spent in the North West and Northern Tasmania'', it was revealed that Federal Labor will allow $8 million of the $45 saved from the Commonwealth takeover of the Mersey Hospital to be diverted to southern Tasmania.

River Murray

It was revealed that the Rudd Labor Government had broken election commitments in relation to the National Plan for Water Security to the tune of at least $85 million, after Water Minister Penny Wong told a Senate committee that despite an election commitment to bring forward to 2007-08 an additional $100 million on the National Plan for Water Security, just $15 million had been allocated this financial year.

Whaling

It was revealed that the diversion of the Oceanic Viking to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet cost over $1.2 million.

Worse, despite releasing emotive pictures to the media, the Government doesn't even know if the whaling occurred in Australia's Antarctic waters nor what course of legal action to take.

And in a stunning admission, it was confirmed there is no specific Minister in charge of the whaling issue.

As a result of the Oceanic Viking's diversion, Australia's southern ocean exclusive economic waters around McDonald and Herd Islands have been unguarded from toothfish poachers since the 8th January - and still are.

Grants rorts - pork barrelling

It was revealed that Labor has committed to funding three projects in Victoria totalling $5.75 million against the direct advice of the Department. This directly contradicts the Prime Ministers edict that no project shall be funded against Departmental advice.

Industrial relations

Labor refused to guarantee that no worker will be worse off as a result of their industrial relations changes - the same demand they made of the former Prime Minister.

Industry - Steve Bracks

It was revealed that Steve Bracks was approached about chairing Industry Minister Kim Carr's automotive industry inquiry in December 2007, and that his appointment was endorsed by the Prime Minister.

This casts further doubt on the claims of the Minister and Treasurer in Parliament on Wednesday 13th February when they denied that Mr Bracks was to be appointed to chair the Review.

Minister Carr refused to deny that the Government had sought legal advice about, and that the Strategic Budget Committee of Cabinet had considered, axing the remainder of the Ford Australia assistance package in Geelong.

Defence contradictions

Despite claims by Labor to the contrary, Defence officials confirmed that Defence is 100 percent supportive of the Super Hornet aircraft purchase, and that cancelling the purchase will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Again in direct contradiction of claims by the Defence Minister, Mr Fitzgibbon, according to Defence officials, Australia has always had access to the required information in order to make fully informed operational decisions in Afghanistan.

Education promises broken

Labor has broken their promise of ''a laptop to every school student'' and it has now been watered down to ''access to every laptop for school students''.

It was confirmed that Labor has axed the vital ''Investing in Our Schools'' program which provided vital capital works funds to schools starved of funds by Labor State Governments.

Roads policy in disarray

Officials and the Minister at the table, Senator Conroy, refused to even discuss any of Labor's plethora of pre-election, Australia-wide road funding promises.

In the case of Tasmania at least, officials revealed that discussions with Tasmania officials over implementing these promises had not even begun!

Efficiency Dividend, cut programs and broken promises

A plethora of broken promises, secretly axed programs and the drastic impact of Labor's 2 percent so-called ''efficiency dividend'' on the ability of Government Departments to do their job were unearthed right across the full gamut of Ministerial portfolios.