He isn't, neither was the shadow environment minister and several others. The same as many in the coalition were upset at Howard's IR laws and still are. That's what party politics is all about.

Notice that Howard released his all go for an accelerated nuclear power roll out for Australia at the same time Labor announced their uranium policy. This could backfire badly on Howard trying to sell 25 nuclear power stations.

He is going to rush through laws making it illegal for any State to oppose the building of a nuclear station or the blocking of the transport of nuclear material.

Quoted from aquamonkey

Midnight Oil's singer..... I mean shadow minister for the environment   musn't be happy about that.

I like Peter Garret but he is becoming a walking contradiction. He means well but I just cant take him seriously anymore. At what point does he assert his opinion and not that of his party. He should have joined the Greens or the Dems.

Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One

He means well

I'd rather have that than some narcissistic low-life out to get everything they can for themselves.  Unfortunately both main party’s have their fair share of these people, so it’s refreshing to get a visionary.

I know a lot of people have criticised him for apparently modifying his position on some environmental issues, but remember this, it’s easier to change something from within than without – being part of the Labour team, he has a better chance of being heard than shouting from the fringes.

Peter is our inside man!

Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One

I like Peter Garret but he is becoming a walking contradiction. He means well but I just cant take him seriously anymore.

When is anybody from any of the major parties going to do that, it's what party politics are all about, and what he knew he was going to get when he joined Labor? He has already stated why he did that and knew what was coming, a very astute and smart man unlike the sycophants and piss ants who just toady around Howard. The very few government ministers who have ever dared to contradict Howard on anything major are all history now. Won't be much different if Rudd becomes PM I'm afraid to say.

Quoted from tramp

Peter is our inside man!

Like the modern day serpico of politics. I just think he is going to be banished to  the children's table on many issues with his own party. Good luck to him even though I don't necessarily agree with a lot of what he says.

Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One

I like Peter Garret but he is becoming a walking contradiction. He means well but I just cant take him seriously anymore. At what point does he assert his opinion and not that of his party. He should have joined the Greens or the Dems.

As other's have said Peter has stated clearly his opposition to expanding uranium mining and nuclear energy, but because he belongs to a team he has to go along with what the majority wants. He's showing a lot more backbone than any Coalition MP. When was the last time a front bench minister in the Howard Government disagreed with anything the Grand Poobah said? The only members with the cajones are backbenchers Petro Georgiou, Bruce Baird and Judi Moylan.

Quoted from boomslanger

Notice that Howard released his all go for an accelerated nuclear power roll out for Australia at the same time Labor announced their uranium policy. This could backfire badly on Howard trying to sell 25 nuclear power stations.

He is going to rush through laws making it illegal for any State to oppose the building of a nuclear station or the blocking of the transport of nuclear material.

Hubris Howard at his best yet again! I find it appalling that he's going full steam ahead with nuclear against the wishes of the public. This is the 3rd major decision he's made against our wishes (Iraq and IR the first two) and his third strike, hopefully it will lead to his political snuffing.

I am getting the feeling many people are getting sick of Howard's arrogance and how out-of-touch he is. His party has one major policy which is nuclear energy, which from what I understand will require more coal based energy to power resulting in greater carbon emissions and will require huge amounts of water which we don't have. Great way to fix our carbon emissions and solve the water crisis in one go!

The nuclear move smacks of pandering to his big business buddies, he's rushing it in before the election (which he obviously fears he may lose) and will try and make it impossible for Labor to overturn. And they think this man is a leader and better for this country?

Quite some time ago I saw an interview George Negus did with former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbechov.  One interesting question was that Howard was interested in pressing ahead with nuclear power and what, if any information would Gorbechov pass on.  He summed it up in one word..Chernobyl.

He then said that he though Howard would listen to the people before taking such a step.   Didnt know Howard very well did he?

The russians never expected anything to go wrong with their nuclear plants but it did.  We may be many years further down the track, new innovations and safety aspects reviewed but it could still happen.  Is this what we want?  Going by public discussion I think not.

Howard really must go before he totally stuffs this country up.

Quoted Text

Rudd's staff are running hard
Kevin Rudd is demanding long, hard hours from staff and shadow ministers, and is working even longer and harder himself. Forget public holidays, weekends and 38-hour weeks, and don't blame WorkChoices.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21723270-5007146,00.html

A fair system for all, unless you happen to work for them  

Quoted from aquamonkey

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21723270-5007146,00.html

A fair system for all, unless you happen to work for them  

Well they have an election to win! If they win they can take the foot off the pedal and put it into neutral, isn't that the way it works?

(And no "reverse" jokes please)

But Rudd's central promise is that everyone will have fair working conditions, it doesn't say much for credability if his own staff don't have them. How about after the election? To get all his "promises" into gear maybe they'll get every second Sunday off!

That's what I'm saying, after the election they won't be doing anything if you consider the m.o. of a typical Government. So a little bit of hard work and then relax for 3 years.

So it's OK for the smaller ideals to sit on the sideline temporarily. Except you can't have larger ideals if the smaller ones are compromised!

The fact that you say after the election they won't be doing anything is why I'm very worried about the ALP getting in, doing nothing is exactly how they run NSW.

I am being sarcastic but we do no know most Governments are very good at not doing much.

My opinion is Federal Labor would be worse at not doing much than the Coalition who have mastered it in the last 11 years, an honorary Doctorate: "Doctor of Politics, Majoring in Not a Whole Lot" would be quite fitting!

Lets get the facts right, shall we girls.

Interest rates under Howard, as treasurer, got as high as 21.4 per cent in April 1982.

Interest rates peaked under Keating at just 18%.  By the time Howard won as PM, interest rates were well under control and at historic lows.  All that Howard/Costello have done is “preserve” these historic low rates they inherited from Hawke/Keating.

Isn’t the truth really, really, annoying?

Quoted from cactus

Isn’t the truth really, really, annoying?

What that Howard was not a good treasurer? Lucky he doesn't hold that position.....