[b]About Seniors[/b] received a number of emails regarding the Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP accepting our invitation to reply to the above poll. In a separate email to all members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate we invited all current members of parliament to share their ongoing views only heard back from the Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP. You can view her response here: http://www.aboutseniors.com.au/index.php/articles/category/government_report_card_2010#do_politicians_care_what_you_think



In reply to the article, we have listed a few of the emails below:



"Hello, About Seniors



Even if only Bronny replied to your request, I hope you’ll preserve political balance by seeking out a government response."



"Can you tell us why you would ask Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP to tell us how the Rudd Government is going.

She is a Liberal did you really think she would give the Rudd Government a glowing report ."



"How biased can you get > the statistical sample number of 300 given is

totally skewed/inadequate.

Not a "representative sample" of the socio/economic spectrum for this age

group!!!.

Many of my generation do not possess or can operate computers and

subsequently receive regular email newsletter/s.

I happen to be 71 years old and have been computer "literate" since the

first mainframes were introduced in the mid 1960's.



Please remove me from your mailing list."



"Dear Editor



I was very disappointed with your rubbishing of the Govt in the May 28 Newsletter. Having conducted many surveys as an academic I see many questions were clearly not meant to be neutral but to draw negative responses, aimed especially at getting votes from those who are critical of the Govt.



As far as Senator Bishop's response is concerned it was what would be expected of any Opposition member & anyone would anticipate her answers. I write to the Govt periodically on age pension matters & I find I always get a response, although it usually does not come quickly - not surprising , given the quantity of mail Ministers would receive as well as their duties as Govt, unlike the Opposition whose main task seems to be to oppose & criticise all Govt actions but still cannot put forward better alternative policies. Pensions were reduced in real terms while they governed, even after there were budget surpluses, so I am sceptical that they would be better next time. And they removed support for dental care also.



The survey's responses are so dramatically different to the various published polls that I wonder how representative are the people who took part. Unless polls are conducted by experienced professionals with no axe to grind, the questions often determine the result, especially when there is no sound methodical choice of respondents. Political parties are known to organise multiple responses to online & phone surveys in order to get results that convince readers that everyone agrees with them - hence the results often are opposite to those polls conducted using sound survey methodology.



I hope you will seriously consider these comments & get professioal assistance before attempting future polls, especially anything political, so as to provide balanced information for your readers. I take it you will print the Govt response if & when that comes.



There is plenty of room for additional support for Seniors & I hope you can contribute positively towards debate that can improve policies by all political parties. Polls that seek positive input for better policies would do more for Seniors. The poll & comments sound too much like a part of the Opposition election strategy."



"Hi,



It appears to me that a group such as Seniors should be using the power of the people to influence political thinking and law making - especially as we will be a major demographic in coming years.



As individuals we have very little influence, and in fact are probably ignored to a large extent.



For example, surveys show that over 80% of the population support voluntary euthanasia, whereas almost all politicians vote with their feet on the issue and make themselves scarce. This is because they fear the religious groups and because they see few votes in the topic. However, if a group such as About Seniors were to take up the cause, maybe that 80% could start having more impact on the debate.



I have waited a lifetime for progress in this area, and it shows no sign of arriving in time for my own end, which is both sad and criminal. I would rather my cat's legal rights than my own in this regard!



Surely groups with influence should be going in to bat on our behalf, and giving us all the right to die with some dignity rather than being forced to accept the myth of universal palliation.



The right to die will not be given to us without pressure being brought to bear on our politicians - not just once, but continuously until real progress is made.



I'm probably wasting my breath - but this is an issue worth fighting for - for all of us."

Thanks for posting the above. Makes for interesting reading.

The results tally with other surveys that are around at the moment, so I think it's pretty well in line with much of public thinking.

I honestly do not think we have ever had a time in politics - with such scandalous waste of money, loss of life under bungled government schemes, homes put at risk of fire, as well as sheer incompetence by any government and certainly not since 1975 and even Whitlam's government pales against Rudd's performance.



Rudd has made his great big new tax on mining an exercise in how not to ever announce any tax without first consulting the industry who will be paying it and n how not to budget it when a bill is not even ready to be put before the Parliament and wont be they say until after the next election - scandalous - sheer incompetence on the part of all of those involved.



He has no excuse for this incompetence as he had the example set by the previous ALP government when they brought in a rent tax on new overseas petroleum ventures in the 80's after 6 months of negotiations and the public only were told once these were completed as the bill passed through the Parliament.



Not a day passes when something nasty raises its head about how badly this government is governing.



65 boats of illegals arrived this year alone and they get paid 89% of Newstart on arrival and not even processed as a refugee on top of free food and board and Steve Fielding says good accommodation as good as holiday camp.



[b]And Rudd has the cheek to say on radio listening as I type - that there have been less boats arriving under him than under Howard.[/b]



Is he completely mad one has to ask - does he think we all are dumb enough to believe that outright lie!



Well debatable I guess and only a poll on election day 2010 will tell!



One thing is that a vote for the Greens will just put the ALP back into government under the preference system and the poll today said they have 16% of the vote but they need 50% to get a seat in the lower house or preferences and to date never happened.



We will end up with a hung Parliament if this trend continues - just as we did in Tasmania and as they did in the UK.

BigVal, it is a sad indictment of those who are trusted with the duty of reporting facts, rather than their own agenda...that is the MSM, who in the main, apart from a few, have supported Rudd and ignored his failures, even in some cases almost painting him as someone he's not.

They have been complicit in their portrayal of Rudd , as a benign , almost saintly creature.

In reports of his awful temper and foul language, most of the media have laughed this off and said, well it makes him more human.

It's only recently, in the face of outright lies and dissembling, they realise they can't hide the truth anymore.

Thank heavens for the internet , which remains at least till now, one of the few areas where truth can be aired.

It has even now come to the stage where people of Labor's own party feel it necessary to speak out.

ONE of the critical issues at the next federal election will be the character of Kevin Rudd.



After a string of broken promises, the public is asking: is the Prime Minister believable? Is he to be trusted? Does he believe in anything other than himself?



Simon Benson's new book, Betrayal, sheds light on this issue. I and others involved in the attempt to privatise sections of the power industry in NSW to fund an ambitious transport plan have known the answer to these questions for quite a while.



We have been constrained in commenting on these issues because the principal victim of Rudd's failure to display the character one would expect from a national political leader of substance remained quiet.



Morris Iemma's public exposure of the promise Rudd made to him before the previous federal election and his failure to deliver is timely and important in assessing Rudd's character. The revelations will rightly influence the next federal election.

At a personal level these events are a kind of political morality tale. On one side is Iemma, an honourable man who was motivated by a misguided but strongly held belief in labour solidarity and doing the right thing by the ALP. On the other side is Rudd, a person who made a promise and consequently accrued benefits without reciprocating when he was required to do so. It is about the selflessness and selfishness. It is about character.

[url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/rudd-will-pay-for-voodoo-politics/story-e6frg6zo-1225873731673]These quotes are by Michael Costa.[/url]

I find it unbelievable, after all of the indisputable evidence of the Rudd government's gross incompetence, that people such as your two initial correspondants should still be giving these people their support and criticising the messenger with accusations of political bias. It just goes to show that some people are so 'rusted on' to a poltical ideology that, even if Kevin Rudd sprouted horns, they would still be genuflecting at that alter.

I find it unbelievable, after all of the indisputable evidence of the Rudd government's gross incompetence, that people such as your two initial correspondants should still be giving these people their support and criticising the messenger with accusations of political bias. It just goes to show that some people are so 'rusted on' to a poltical ideology that, even if Kevin Rudd sprouted horns, they would still be genuflecting at that alter.



One need only to look at NSW to see the depth of apathy that seems to exist now in a large section of the voting population.