I find Wall-to-wall Liberal misappropriation is also a matter of very great concern.

Dear Kevin Rudd and David Hinchliffe

I went to my mailbox today and found three of the Liberal flyers which had a letter from our Lord Mayor, Cr Campbell Newman advising residents about the importance of recycling inserted. I share the Lord Mayor's enthusiasm for recycling. In fact I think the Brisbane City Council could dramatically improve its recycling system.

I am concerned that Brisbane residents who see that they have an unwanted flyer that imitates the colour scheme and font of Labor advertising material and insults their intelligence in their mail box, they will throw away the offending Liberal flyer. It is very likely they will throw away the whole thing - as I nearly did.

I am concerned that the Lord Mayor may have wanted to give his desperate federal mates a leg up by combining these pieces of literature. I am also concerned because Brisbane City Council material delivered at ratepayers expense may go to waste and that efforts to improve the city's recycling system will fall by the wayside. I would hope that the federal level of politics will now realise the importance of recycling and curb the excesses of the packaging industry.

The Liberals want to warn us about "wall to wall Labor", and I am mindful of the way in which too much power in too few hands can lead to abuse of power. I find Wall-to-wall Liberal misappropriation is also a matter of very great concern.

Regards
Willy bach
Greens candidate for Griffith
http://senditallbacktohoward.blogspot.com/

www.getup.org.au/campaign/NotWithMyMoney

When the Government saturated us with their Climate Clever advertising campaign, GetUp members rallied to raise an unbelievable quarter of a million dollars plus to successfully air our climate spoof ad during the AFL Grand Final.

But government spending of our taxes to advertise their party policies must stop now. Before another dollar of public money is spent, sign the urgent petition to tell Mr Howard and Mr Rudd that we demand an end to government advertising designed to spruik not inform:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/NotWithMyMoney

Every day of inaction is literally costing us $1 million in advertising. Some of it is legitimate but this Government has spent more than any other on its own advertising - estimated at almost $2 billion. Our Government is now one of the biggest advertisers in Australia, and one of the highest spending governments in the world. It is all with our money, but without our consultation or consent.

The last federal Labor government did the same, as do current state Labor governments - and while the Greens and Labor are making some positive noises there is nothing effective in Australian law to prevent this unbridled abuse of public trust and purse. Now rumours abound that John Howard even intends to break with time-honoured convention and continue taxpayer-funded propaganda during the election period itself. Sign the petition now - and we'll put your name to the $2 billion invoice we'll send to the government for our monies spent:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/NotWithMyMoney

Imagine what $2 billion of our taxes could do - close the Indigenous health gap, fill the shortfall in public schools funding, double the Government's spending on climate change. But that money has been largely wasted on political self-interest, and that is simply insulting to Australian taxpayers.

Thanks for being a part of this,
The GetUp team

PS - Malcolm Turnbull MP, Peter Garrett MP and Senator Christine Milne have all posted blogs on the Gunns pulp mill approval at GetUp's new blog pages. Click here to read their messages and join the discussion.

--------------
GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to chip in to support GetUp's work, please click here. If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to http://www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here.

Running Scared - John Quiggin steps in ...

In his blog article 'Running Scared' John Quiggin has some valuable comments to make on the way this abuse of public trust is ripping us off:

http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2007/10/05/running-scared/#comment-198215

Steve Lewis in the Herald Sun:

Steve Lewis: Howard is splashing your cash

Article from:

• http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22533377-5000117,00.html

"OF all the spoils of office luxuriated in by the Howard Government, none grates as much as its outrageous abuse of taxpayer-funded advertising.

Since 1996, when John Howard was elected on a promise to end the excesses of the Keating era, the Coalition has racked up nearly $2 billion in public-funded promotions.

It is an indefensible extravagance and one that will stand as a black stain against the Coalition".

... and demands are growing for an end to the absurdity of this arcane practice of giving Prime Ministers the right to choose the election date to suit himself/herself:

Woolies wants election-free December

• http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/woolies-wants-electionfree-december/2007/10/04/1191091276256.html

Jessica Irvine Economics Correspondent
October 5, 2007

"The leader of the Democrats, Lyn Allison, released a video on YouTube yesterday slamming the current system where the prime minister decided a date "arbitrarily, capriciously and on a partisan basis".

"Fixed parliamentary terms would give more certainty to people in business and to the public sector," she said.

An economics professor at the University of Queensland, John Quiggin, said fixed terms could reduce the risk of "bad policy" during election years".

Lets end the rorting of elections ....

Oh yes, and the corporate donations from vested interests that include the tobacco industry – it is obscene. http://www.democracy4sale.org/ Actually, government funding to parties should be adequate for them to run successful campaigns (with very limited TV – as they do in Canada). It is the independents that really don’t have a chance.

This flood of publicly funded government/Liberal Party Propaganda ...

Send it back to John Howard ...

The Howard government is spending $23 million to promote their false global warming campaign without meaningful targets to deal with climate change. This is one more reason to say that these people must be voted out.

I thought the Liberals took pride in their fiscal responsibility, but $1 million per Australian household would pay for a new Prius hybrid car, home insulation, thermal solar hot water, some photovoltaic panels to feed power into the grid, an energy audit, a water tank and some gardening lessons, tools and seeds to start growing their own food.

We could even pay compensation to people whose jobs would disappear if their industry became unsustainable. But John Howard prefers denial and sabotaging other nations' efforts to comply with the Kyoto Protocol.

By the way, I am still waiting for a response from Kevin Rudd's office about this waste of our money. Don't expect very much improvement with Labor in power. Last time they were in government they also spent our money on their own promotion. I want local MP Kevin Rudd to undertake to end this abuse of public trust.

Willy Bach

The Greens Candidate for Griffith