Comments on: Baillieu just “collateral damage” as sniping goes intra-factional

By: Tom McLoughlin

Tom McLoughlin — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Two things to me: 1. Howard pulled all the self assured talent above politics of personal destruction and hard on the issue/policy, into the federal sphere. This left ratbags to run the show. 2. The Liberal talent cut loose after Nov 24 either haven’t found their way back to the ranks of the state oppositions, or were never intending to go back after the trauma and luxury of the federal govt experience. // I suppose the third possibility is that they are returning and the competition and pressure for very limited opportunities is generating perverse behaviours ignoring their real ALP opponents. But I would say it’s quite naive to think that winners in this ‘game ’ of big party politics are any different from Liberal to ALP. Power tends to corrupt the and duopoly major parties constantly evidence that axiom, some more covert or latent than others depending on the perks, sinecures of the time. It’s a rotten gerrymander and aware voters are increasing.

By: David Sanderson

David Sanderson — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

You have to wonder about the political universe these blackguarding bloggers inhabited. According to them Ted Bailleau is ‘Red Ted’. By that standard Nelson must be a raving Maoist violently shoving The Little Red Book into voters faces. This is funny farm politics and all too typical of the party’s decline during the Howard years into a haven for ratbags.

By: Dave Liberts

Dave Liberts — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Too right (!) David Sanderson. Recent political history shows that political parties obviously don’t study recent political history. The Libs can either go back to their mad 80’s and early 90’s ways, or they can harden up and look like a serious political organisation. They’ve obviously chosen the former. They need to ask themselves why they are out of Government despite near wall-to-wall governments in the mid 90’s, why their branch structures are collapsing, why ordinary Australians want nothing to do with them and then think about what Kevin Rudd did to address similar (but arguably slightly lesser) issues within the ALP. But they won’t, or if they finally do it will be a decade from now.