As of last night, Kevin Rudd was the new Prime Minister of Australia, and I couldn't be happier. After 11 years of being led by an absolute fuck head, it's time for change. Opinions?

Congrats Mate!

The new guy seems decent though I don't know much about him except that he's well read and can speak Chinese :O

What was Howard mainly despised for? Iraq war, work choices, environment and relations with Australian Aboriginals?

Do we have any more Australians here?

Yeah all of that. He didn't really do much good for the country. People believe that he did well with our economy because there was money in the bank, but Australia has a lot of middle class people who have no idea how poor some families are so they vote for him.

Well, there's Shok, and I think we used to have one or two more lurking around, and a kiwi, but I don't know that they post any more.

I don't understand, there's always going to be poor people because many people are morons and lazy, why should that effect who you vote for? Unless you're saying you're voting for someone who will indenture the slovenly lazy poor into some unpaid slave class... in which case I may consider voting for that too.

No, I don't care about lazy people, but John Howard was making it difficult for lower class people to live. His IR laws gave all the power to employers, so they could treat their employees anyway they liked. Those people aren't poor by choice.

Yes they are, if you got a shitty boss you quit and find a new job. Power SHOULD be with the employers, what the hell do you think Sarkozy is trying to bring back to France? There is a reason why liberal socialist countries have shit for shit economies, its because no one wants to open a business there because those "poor" miscreants have too much power over how a person runs their company.

I get where your coming from, but it's not always easy to find a new job and a lot of poeple have families to put first. And yes, the employers should have power, but employees shouldn't be powerless.

Employees aren't powerless, they have the power to quit and take their skills elsewhere. Which costs the ex employer money to find someone new and get their operations back to normal. And putting your family ahead of your personal goals/love of your job is not powerlessness, it doesn't denote a lack of choice, it is a choice to put your family 1st and work a job you don't like for a person you don't like.

taking away an employers right to run his business as he sees fit is akin to taking away his freedom and rights as an individual. Pretending that its ok for the "common good" or the "good of the many" does not make it any better, its still theft of someone else's god given rights/freedom.

It's an abuse of power, and I know they can quit anytime, but like I said, it can be difficult to find a new job.

Running a business like you want to is different to putting your workers in danger, not paying them enough or firing them without warning.