Monday, August 13, 2007

First Question Time (13th August)

So I just finished listening to my first question time via podcast. It was quite an interesting experience as I have never bothered to listen or watch question time from start to finish. The politicians seemed to be very accusive and aggresive to one another and quite frequently accusing the other of having been up to dirty tricks on the side. At times it was quite noisy and difficult to hear what was being said, Mr Speaker would call "order order" to retain quietness - this whole process made it sometimes difficult to understand the topic of discussion.

The topics for this question time (13th of August) revolved around a whole range of areas. The main ones that were recurring throughout question time were: Interest Rates, Family Tax Benefit, The Australian Trade Unions relationship with ALP members and Working Australian Conditions.

Working Australian Conditions was the most interesting topic as many opposing politicians kept quoting something the PM had said earlier that 'Australian families have never been better off' - meaning that under the coalition Government, Australian families are reaping the benefits. They gave many examples by mentioning the average Australian wage has increased, 200 000 jobs were created last year and the Family Tax Benefit provides families with an extra $600 a year. Yet to this statement opposing parties were reading out sad life stories that single mothers and elderly people had submitted and repeatedly asking the Government 'How can Australian families be better off when this is happening?'

After listening to this question time, I am still convinced that Australia is better off having the Liberals in power as opposed to Labour. Mostly for economical reasons.