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If you take a squiz at the history books I think you'll find i the 12 months following a change of government the leader of the opposition allways struggles or atleast according to public opinion. Beazley, Peacock, Whitlam, Snedden, infact Carmen Lawrence is the only leader of the opposition state or federal to actually lead in the opinion polls straight after a change of government. Dr Nelson was allways destined to suffer the same fate only there were at the time four other senior members of his party apparently interested in leading, Turnbull, Abott, Bishop and Costello. (the cult of Hockey came after Bishop imploded).Lentern, in the past two pages you've said some really really dumb things.
Brendan Nelson's a joke. He was William McInnes' punchline for the majority of that Q & A episode. While I prefer his politics to that of Thatcher's, to compare his political talents to hers is fucking ludicrous. His time as Opposition Leader saw no great "talent ruined by circumstance" but rather weakness and party compromising that saw the Liberal Party incredibly divided. His job was to unify the party, not last until the next election, but he could do neither. Maybe he couldn't build himself up, but he could've tried to knock Rudd down, but was unable to do that. He was, in short, a leader of the Coalition in a period of wasted time (this seems a traditional Liberal problem, with only Menzies, Fraser and Howard ever being real leaders of note).
Next, Gillard. Why on earth do you hate her so? Is it that you want to be a contrarian and dislike the most well regarded parliamentary performer going? More likely, do you have a strong dislike of any sign of personality on the part of a parliamentarian, hence your adulation of that blandest of politicians, Stephen Smith? I bet you love The Eagles. Yes, she voted for Latham over Beazley - in a time where Labor needed a big change in fortunes, she took a risk and chose someone who would either win big or lose big, rather than someone guaranteed to lose and who, just a week earlier, had claimed they were more conservative on all issues bar the economy than John Howard. May I remind you that Stephen Smith voted for Beazley over Rudd - I put to you a far far dumber choice than Latham over Beazley.
Hey, good post, but don't diss The Eagles man.Lentern, in the past two pages you've said some really really dumb things.
Brendan Nelson's a joke. He was William McInnes' punchline for the majority of that Q & A episode. While I prefer his politics to that of Thatcher's, to compare his political talents to hers is fucking ludicrous. His time as Opposition Leader saw no great "talent ruined by circumstance" but rather weakness and party compromising that saw the Liberal Party incredibly divided. His job was to unify the party, not last until the next election, but he could do neither. Maybe he couldn't build himself up, but he could've tried to knock Rudd down, but was unable to do that. He was, in short, a leader of the Coalition in a period of wasted time (this seems a traditional Liberal problem, with only Menzies, Fraser and Howard ever being real leaders of note).
Next, Gillard. Why on earth do you hate her so? Is it that you want to be a contrarian and dislike the most well regarded parliamentary performer going? More likely, do you have a strong dislike of any sign of personality on the part of a parliamentarian, hence your adulation of that blandest of politicians, Stephen Smith? I bet you love The Eagles. Yes, she voted for Latham over Beazley - in a time where Labor needed a big change in fortunes, she took a risk and chose someone who would either win big or lose big, rather than someone guaranteed to lose and who, just a week earlier, had claimed they were more conservative on all issues bar the economy than John Howard. May I remind you that Stephen Smith voted for Beazley over Rudd - I put to you a far far dumber choice than Latham over Beazley.
If this government leaves office at the enxt election it will be the longest serving government since Queensland Country Nationals (which dominated three decades). Surely you can't ignoe the link between the age of the government and its unpopularity, compared to say Mike Rann's SA.Rees losing grip on power
Barry with a large lead on the PP figure (50-33). Unfortunately no primary voting intention numbers. (2PP is rather meaningless under OPV with a large 3rd party vote). Issues polling all bad news for Labor.
No primary vote figures (Greens voters are key - would they support Liberal or Labour?) and the sample size was a flimsy 500 people.Rees losing grip on power
Barry with a large lead on the PP figure (50-33). Unfortunately no primary voting intention numbers. (2PP is rather meaningless under OPV with a large 3rd party vote). Issues polling all bad news for Labor.
How on earth did that happen? Didn't we get figures not long ago sayign unemployment had fallen as well? Falling unemployment, trade surplus and economic growth, low interest rates, how in God's name is that even possible? If you ignore debt you'd say the economy looked in god shape.Kevin Rudd was just thrown a massive bone that is sure to irk Turnbull: The economy grew 0.4% in the first quarter of this year, defying economist forecasts of -0.2%, meaning no declaration of 'technical recession' is possible, meaning no newspaper field day, no Liberal claims of "the stimulus package failed", and that Rudd can say to the Australian people "My stimulus package is working."
I imagine you'll see a halt to Rudd's slow fall in the polls.
Grasping at straws.wait til we see the fallout from the first home buyers grants
- ppl are still losing theire jobs
- are buying houses beyond there means
- and have had their faith re-affirmed in the economy and likely to 'loosen their belts' a bit so to speak resulting in greater personal debt
JOEL Fitzgibbon has resigned as Defence Minister over a series of meetings involving his brother Mark, the head of health insurance company NIB, US health giant Humana, and the Government.
In a letter to Kevin Rudd, Mr Fitzgibbon said he could not be "satisfied" that he had "entirely conformed with your Ministerial Code of Conduct".
At a press conference in Canberra, the Prime Minister said Mr Fitzgibbon had been “a first-class defence minister”.
Mr Rudd said the decision to resign had been Mr Fitzgibbon’s.
“As I have made clear to my ministers over a long period of time, the Government expects high standards of accountability on the part of its Ministers,” Mr Rudd said.
“All my ministers are familiar with that, and from that basis the minister has extended his resignation today and I have accepted it.
“On the question of a replacement Minister for Defence, we will make a statement on that very soon.”
Once a lemming allways a lemming. His closeness to Latham should have been a warning from a mile off, lucky for the government it all came undone now insteadof in three years time.
Jesus Christ, your "those who did the same as Smith = good, those who went with Latham = bad" mindset is really fucking annoying. It was over five years ago, move on already.Once a lemming allways a lemming. His closeness to Latham should have been a warning from a mile off, lucky for the government it all came undone now insteadof in three years time.
All the media says expect Combet to get it, or at least get moved into the Ministry with Evans or Faulkner getting it. Long shots are that Arbib or Shorten get in. Combet would be a very interesting development though, as it would see a Right cabinet minister be replaced by a Left one - doing so would see the Left actually have more members in the cabinet than the Right. While I'd prefer to see Combet get Industrial Relations (kind of his area of expertise), he was Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, and is probably the most well-respected backbencher Rudd has, so think it'd be a pretty good move.Assuming nobody of senior rank will get a demoted to defence and that Rudd will pick a man(have we ever had a woman?) and its not really Garretts thing I suspect the main candidates will be Albanese, Carr, McClelland, Ferguson or Snowdon. I think probably McClelland(sadly) Debus or Griffith could then move into cabinet and Clare or Shorten could get an outer ministry position(According to Gerrard the right wing of the party desperately wants Shorten and Clare to be in cabinet before too long).
Jesus Christ, your "those who did the same as Smith = good, those who went with Latham = bad" mindset is really fucking annoying. It was over five years ago, move on already.
All the media says expect Combet to get it, or at least get moved into the Ministry with Evans or Faulkner getting it. Long shots are that Arbib or Shorten get in. Combet would be a very interesting development though, as it would see a Right cabinet minister be replaced by a Left one - doing so would see the Left actually have more members in the cabinet than the Right. While I'd prefer to see Combet get Industrial Relations (kind of his area of expertise), he was Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, and is probably the most well-respected backbencher Rudd has, so think it'd be a pretty good move.