Remember John Howard’s trademark niggling over those pesky words such as “sorry”, “regret”, “apology” and “responsibility”? Here’s Johnny on indigenous reconciliation.

JOHN HOWARD: “I committed the Government to pursuing reconciliation the night that the Government was re-elected in October of last year. I believe that this resolution will make a huge contribution towards the cause of reconciliation. It does not, as a resolution, impose a blame or a guilt on present generations for past misdeeds. But it does recognise the truth about Australia’s history.

MATT PEACOCK: It doesn’t say sorry.

JOHN HOWARD: No, well…

MATT PEACOCK: Is that important?

JOHN HOWARD: Well, no, what is important, Matt, is what is positive out of what was passed yesterday. I am not, like Aden Ridgeway, I am not going to get hung out about, hung up about this or that word or this or that expression.

And here’s Johnny on interest rate rises.

Well, I said I was sorry they’d occurred. I don’t think I actually used the word apology. I think there is a difference between the two things … I think we’ve been through that debate before, haven’t we, in the context of something (else) … I very much regret the interest rate rise. I’m sorry it’s happened. This word game about apologies and sorry has been invented by the Labor Party to divert attention from the fact they don’t have an economic policy to put downward pressure on inflation and interest rates.

New Liberal leader (sic) Dr Brendan Nelson has clearly taken lessons in the Howard art of word manipulation judging from this effort on the topic of inflation.

The fact is that we do not have an inflationary crisis. What we do have is an inflationary challenge that needs to be addressed and it needs to be faced.

Oh, I see. It’s a challenge and not a crisis. But why then, Bren-doc, does this challenge need to be addressed and faced? That sounds like a crisis to me.

There’s no inflationary crisis but clearly there’s an inflationary challenge that needs to be addressed. And in addressing that inflationary challenge it’s important that we take into account that our economy is slowing. We’ve had two official rate rises from the Reserve Bank since November last year. We’ve also had increases in interest rates from the banks outside official movements. We’ve got the full impact of the global liquidity crisis yet to affect and wash through the Australian economy.

Whoa! Settle down, Brendan! It’s a global liquidity challenge, not a global liquidity crisis.

Inflation has hit a 17-year high in Australia, as reported by NEWS.com.au. And just in case you had any doubt as to who NewsLtd was hoping you’d blame for it, this helpful composite image appears at the top of the story:

Memory lane … Various images from 1991, the last time inflation breached 4 per cent.

Subtle, huh? But did readers take the bait?

And how. Third comment into the thread reads:

This is what you get with Labour (sic).

Posted by: YoungLib 12:12pm today

And, of course, it’s mostly downhill from there. Thank you, NewsLtd.

Dr Brendan Nelson yesterday took a quick break from his Magical Listening Tour to give a speech at a wbankers’ lunch in Sydney. During the listening tour he tried really hard to show how connected he was to your average middle Australian.

…one lady I gave a hand to get some petrol into her car who put $30 in, was saying “gee, I really hope petrol comes down soon. I’ve got to buy groceries; we’ve got other commitments with the house and interest rates and so on”.

[…]

…sole parents with two or three kids, elderly people on fixed incomes, retirees, mothers that have got three kids to feed… [are] really battling with their grocery prices.

And then at the bankers lunch the good doctor showed how disconnected he was to your average middle Australian.

He said that while it was tough for families to lose their homes, it was also hard on the people evicting them.

“Anyone who doesn’t think it’s equally a significant experience to those who are the lenders misunderstands the nature of what you do and how you do it,” he told the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

He went on to attack those who criticised banks: “It’s easy for some people in public life to engage in cheap populism and criticise lenders.”

The Opposition Leader even appeared to defend banks that raised their interest rates higher than the official rate, as the Commonwealth has been condemned for doing.

“The strength of the financial services sector and our banking sector in particular is absolutely essential to our stability, notwithstanding the argy-bargy over what individual banks may do from time to time,” he said.

“Whatever people think about banks making a profit, there’s one thing that’s worse and that’s banks making a loss.”

And how easy it would be for the big four banks — with annual profits around the $4 billion mark — to inadvertently slide from the black to the red side of the ledger. Australians’ hearts are bleeding for the poor banks.

Dr Brendan’s dig at those who criticise banks’ rate rises above the official rate for being cheap populists is especially hilarious. This is the man who has been engaging in the worst kind of cheap populism during his listening tour in a vain attempt to show that he feels the pain of middle Australians, when in actual fact he seems to feel the “pain” of uber-profitable corporations much more keenly.

The Editor, John Surname, Ant Rogenous, Jeremy Sear, Wah and Craig discuss the following:

* Blogging
* Kevin Rudd’s first 100 days
* The Liberal Party
* Brendan Nelson
* Interest rates
* Cricket
* The Herald Sun
* David Hicks
* Dick Smith
* Osama Bin Laden
* Prince Harry
* Connex
* Lynne Kosky
* Public transport
* Victorian Labor Party
* Fleshlight
* What is the plural of “penis”?
* Liberal leadership future

** I don’t know why but that bloody “Play now” link is still serving up episode four. I have no solution yet. Something to do with the intertubes broken or something. Just to be safe, use the “Play in popup” link or the “Download” link. **

 

 GrodsThink 6 (4/3/08) [31:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 GrodsThink RSS feed

Remember the last time that Steve Fielding said “jump” and Kevin Rudd said “how high?” I wonder if we’ll see it again.

Family First Senator Steve Fielding says the Federal Government should reduce the impact of further interest rate rises by cutting the tax on petrol.

[…]

“People are struggling to make ends meet,” he said.

“Petrol has fuelled inflation for the last couple of years. Now this is a significant problem, and it’s about time the Rudd Government really got a handle on this issue by cutting petrol tax.”

But do you know what the truly amazing thing about that story is? Fielding didn’t use the word “family.” Not once.

John Howard yesterday said “sorry” for the tenth interest-rate rise in a row:

In a rare statement of contrition, Mr Howard said: “I would say to the borrowers of Australia who are affected by this change that I am sorry about that and I regret the additional burden that will be put upon them as a result.”

John Howard today said that being “sorry” doesn’t necessarily mean an apology:

Howard today denied apologising for the latest interest rate rise, saying that uttering the word sorry did not amount to the same thing. Mr Howard said yesterday he was sorry about the pain the rise would cause borrowers. But today he denied that amounted to an apology.

John Howard four weeks ago, on why he won’t say “sorry” to indigenous Australians for past misjustices:

“I think in the past we have become obsessed with things like apologies and there are millions of Australians who will never entertain an apology because they don’t believe that there is anything to apologise for.”

I can’t wait for Howard to start up his own blog in retirement, where he can work more on these semantic gymnastics.

Some bloggers have noticed that at today’s interest rates press conference John Howard stood in front of a giant Australian flag backdrop rather than the standard backdrop displaying the Liberal Party campaign slogan “Go For Growth”.

(Image from here)

There is speculation that since the Reserve Bank reckons growth equals further interest rates rises the Libs have shat themselves and binned the growth slogan. Might be something in that. Here’s the Liberal Party website header today:

And here’s the Liberal Party website header on October 14, 2007:

Looks like John Howard has been forced to dump his slogan with three weeks of the campaign remaining.

UPDATE (8/11): As noted by Mikey in comments, the header image has now been changed back to the “Go For Growth” version. Maybe they were just steering clear of the growth thing on Black Wednesday…

The government has spent all of today prosecuting the implausible argument that high interest rates are a sign of good economic management. Of course, it’s all the more audacious given the government’s pledge in 2004 to keep interest rates at “record lows.”

In fact, they promised the following:

And here is treasurer Peter Costello today:

Mr Costello says [the interest rates rise] is proof of good economic management, which voters should ensure continues.

“When you have low unemployment there will always be more pressure on inflation,” he said.

“You would always expect interest rates to be higher during a period of low unemployment than a recession.

So why did the government promise to increase employment, keep inflation under control and interest rates at record lows, when they now reckon that more jobs causes higher inflation which, in turn, causes higher interest rates?

They’re just making this up as they go along, aren’t they?

In light of this it’s probably worth re-posting this:

Piers Ackerman (full-time columnist and part-time Jabba the Hutt impersonator) is absolutely fuming at Labor’s campaign tactics:

IN line with its whatever-it-takes politics, Labor has been running an unrelenting - but highly misleading - campaign emphasising interest-rate rises under the Howard Government.

I’m right behind Piers on this: using interest rate scare-tactics in an election campaign is reprehensible. Especially when you do what the ALP spin doctors have done and DEFAME our wunnerful prime minister by GROSSLY INFLATING interest rate figures from when he was treasurer (back when STD was a phone call and Adam Ant ruled the airwaves):

The constant cry [from Labor] that the 22 per cent overnight cash rate in 1982 - when Howard was treasurer in Malcolm Fraser’s government - is a record, is an absolute furphy. [The RBA website] clearly shows the … monthly average in April, 1982 was 21.39 per cent. This may be splitting hairs … but if you’re going to toss a figure out you should get it right. Labor’s claim is just not true.

Quite right. That 0.61 percent is an appalling piece of political dishonesty that besmirches John Howard’s record as a fiscal genius. Labor should be ASHAMED!

I was listening to Silverchair’s “Straight Lines” the other day and realised that the lyrics were written about John Howard. Don’t believe me? Check it out.

We already know the Coalition spin-doctors will hammer away the ‘interest rate button’ because the ALP is, like, economically incompetent and stuff. If Rudd is elected then mortgage rates will hit 20+ percent, we’ll all be in soup queues and Channel Nine will bring back Hey Hey It’s Saturday. All a gigantic furphy, of course, since external factors dictate interest rates to a much larger degree than domestic management. The cash rate was 13 percent when Howard was treasurer in the early 1980s, peaked at 17 percent in 1989 and declined rapidly thereafter (sitting under 8 percent during the last five years of ALP government).

Anyway, one of the Liberals’ campaign ads to debut on TV last night used this gem:

“If you don’t remember how bad things were under Labor interest rates, then ask your parents!”

Genius! What better source of informed political commentary could there be than asking your parents. Don’t listen to us, don’t follow the campaign, don’t look at Kruddy’s Myspace page …. just ask your parents. Makes campaigning easy when you just keep harking back to the past - and debt-bound, middle-aged parents are the Coalition’s natural fodder when it comes to interest rate fear-mongering, of course. I wonder though if they can go even further with this tactic:

“Don’t remember how Bob Hawke left Hazel? Ask your parents!”
“Remember how Chifley tried to nationalise the banks? Ask your grandparents!”
“Hey, the Great Depression was all Scullin’s fault! Ask someone really, really old!“

Krudd’s declared that he can’t promise to keep interest rates low. At least he’s being honest.

OPPOSITION Leader Kevin Rudd says he cannot guarantee interest rates will not rise under a Labor Government.

But he has promised to maintain budget surpluses and tackle capacity constraints in the economy to help the central bank keep rates down.

[…]

“No government can make any promise in relation to interest rates, what you can do is make sure … the budget policy takes as much pressure off the Reserve Bank as possible,” Mr Rudd told Channel 9.

“The Reserve Bank sets rates. Governments don’t set rates.

“My job is to make sure, as the alternative prime minister, that through the budget policy we pursue - which is to produce budget surpluses over the economic cycle - that we take as much pressure off the Reserve Bank as possible in order to keep interest rates as low as possible.”

Damn straight. The hypocrisy of the Howard government promising to keep interest rates low at the same time as banging on about the independence of the Reserve Bank every time they rise is astounding.