Comments on: Labor’s rocky road: what Gillard has to do to hold on

By: Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:39:38 +0000

I have read the Coalition’s booklet. It is a book full (“Our Plan-Real Solutions” ) of what Abbott calls “aspirations”….flowery words with not ONE costing or meaningful policy statement.The new spin word is “its in our DNA”… Get ready to hear a lot of this phrase which he flogged from my posts on this blog….I said “mass sackings, cuts to health, schools and hospitals are in the Liberals DNA”-he liked it, stole it and turned it around. Unlike Beazley, who beat Howard by 400,000 in the GST election (but accepted the umpire’s decision) Abbott has NEVER accepted the umpire’s decision OR the legitimacy of the govt. The hypocrisy of this is that Abbott would have gladly formed an alliance with the Greens and the Independents, just like Labor did if his people skills had been up to it to form government…but they were not. The evidence said he begged and begged them. To have any chance in the election Labor needs to 1. Reveal the lies of the Howard Dark Years-this has never been done,especially the structural debt/deficit Howard has left our kids. 2. Stop treating the Libs with kid gloves-do what Abbott does “Buckets Jackson” them. 3. Sell the government’s strong economic credentials 4. Demonstrate that our debt is minimal, manageable and largely cause by international factors 4. Have ONE big turd on Abbott to be saved for the last week of the campaign to tip on him 5. Get on talkback radio and take on the biased shock jocks at their mown game. 6. School halls and Pink batts were not failures but Labor have never challenged the Libs on this. These things must be done daily at every opportunity,every doorstop. Just like Howard and Costello used to.7. Have open debates with as many Liberals as possible-their front bench is very frail. That said, there is no way Labor can win because this should have been done from day one. In fact they don’t even deserve to win. They have let a great opportunity slip by to be totally outclassed and outmaneuvered by the Libs who are masters of the negative. Labor should battle on with no campaign slogan. They are a waste of time. Put simply, the Libs have been much more skilled at selling their negative message than Labor has at selling the good things it has done.

By: the duke

the duke — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:55:13 +0000

the ALP should be more worried about stemming the loss of blood, and finding relevance as a party, rather than trying to win the coming election. Love or hate Abbott, and in my view he will only be a short term PM once elected, he has proven to be a good leader.

By: the duke

the duke — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:49:58 +0000

only the most optimistic and staunch lefty would suggest that the ALP has a chance of winning the next election. Despite all the ridiculous ‘new age’ bickering between left and right, right and left, we have a government that is not able to connect with the electorate of business community. We have an old school and uncharismatic treasurer that cannot connect with the business community. Kudos to the Government for the way they handled the GFC, and our level of debt to GDP is still ridiculously low despite the scare tactics of the right, we have been treading water for a number of years now. Rudd/Gillard have had their time.

By: Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:39:17 +0000

Labor has spent no time damning and taking advantage of The Howard Dark Years. Howard was no economic manager and surfed on the Hawke-Keating reforms. As well as that, he had a $334billion resources boom. There is enough on the Howard Years to keep Labor in govt for 10 years yet they have not used any of it. Even John Hewson expressed his amazement at this….but 24/7 we get it in the neck from Abbott. And what does Labor do? Just turn the other cheek. Even at the press Club Address-Gillard said nothing against the Howard years or Abbott. But as soon as it was Abbott’s turn it was on again. Labor will lose the election and have to suffer 10 years of school halls and pink batts…and why? Because they failed at selling their policies and strong economic credentials. In short they let Abbott con the electorate saying we are in debt up to our ears when clearly our debt is minimal. And don’t tell me negative politics does not work. Abbott will become PM as a result of it.

By: AR

AR — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:37:47 +0000

Why not adopt yet another tired amerikan cliche with “Foggy Bottom” - those Burly Griffin mists do make the rheumy worse in winter and in summer the miasma from the ever incipient red algae does strange things to whatever passes for minds on that long ago ruined sheep station.

By: Bill Parker

Bill Parker — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:31:32 +0000

Inside the beltway? How about “top of the trousers”?

By: wilful

wilful — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:40:33 +0000

If “inside the beltway” isn’t punishable by some sort of whipping from the Crikey subbie, I’m not sure what is.

By: Steve Fleay

Steve Fleay — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:33:26 +0000

Reality says it’s all about Labor limiting the damage at this election to start a little closer in 2016.
The telling point is to ask what seats could Labor gain?
Unfortunately the best outcome we could hope for would be for Malcolm to depose Tony which is unlikely with current polling. Conservatism of the Abbott religious flavour will cast a pall over Australia.

By: Damian O''Connor

Damian O''Connor — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:10:39 +0000

Yep, as a newbie psephologist I agree with all your good work above. The only point on which I might differ is that, should the Government have been in a winning position now, I don’t think they’d be bothered about having a later half Senate election. They’d go. In short, not just rebellion or leadership - pollcrunch.wordpress.com

By: Savonrepus

Savonrepus — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:09:47 +0000

Rocky road alright - Day 1: Craig Thomson arrested

By: Paddy Forsayeth

Paddy Forsayeth — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:00:06 +0000

Tones doesn’t have to worry too much…the MSM would never publish his glaring turnarounds, contradictions and the odd somersault.

By: billie

billie — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:02:05 +0000

Tony Abbott endorsed Richard Torbay’s canditure for seat of Lyne or New England saying he had been his best man. Some endorsement Tony Abbott was Peter Slipper’s best man

By: Bill Hilliger

Bill Hilliger — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:38:21 +0000

@John Bennetts - hear, hear! We should not try so hard to always ape Americans.

By: John Bennetts

John Bennetts — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:13:21 +0000

Would somebody please give William Bowe a phrase to use instead of the awful, meaningless, American cliche, “inside the beltway”?

By: John Bennetts

John Bennetts — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:05:50 +0000

Phil, when you mentioned Peter Slipper, did it cross your mind to mention those who stood by him for a decade or more as he relentlessly and systematically rorted, or those who tried to set him up via an underling’s trumped-up complaint and civil action?

Methinks the slender majority is not as frail as some wish it to be.

September is a long way off.

By: Lucky Phil

Lucky Phil — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:31:40 +0000

Surprised that more hasn’t been made of Gillard’s fragile majority with the demise of Peter Slipper and the potential for a successful no confidence motion by Abbott early in the sitting year. Naming the date might be more about pulling the rug out from under Abbott forcing an early election rather than the worry of a non-existent Rudd Challenge.