Abbott's Gone!

[once_were_warriors]

Just leave it to us, the 25% that have no allegiance or bias to the Lab or Libs to make an informed decision on the election of the government.

Whilst you guzzle and bathe in the dogma dished up to you by your parties, we will undertake the diligent review of the policies.

Then again, I don't live in Western Sydney so my vote is pretty much irrelevant anyway

You vote for the Marijuana Party

PS: Any psephologist would tell you that the Western Sydney vote importance is vastly over-rated, but I'm sure you already know that and were just being kind to us dumb ideologues

Hehe , haven't seen the "Bong Boys" for a while in the upper house, they have probably lost all motivation.

SA Federal seats are the most over rated, other than Adelaide and Kingston and Makin its the status quo 9/10 of the times.

Federal governments are determined by Western Sydney and Brisbane.

We would be better to concentrate on electing some 'Rebels" to the Senate to have some impact for SA.

[redandblack]

I agree about the SA seats, oww, but I'd take strong ssue with your Western Sydney claim.

With respect, it's just not true.

Xenophon had impact, but it's a Green Senate now.

Many will say that's terrible, but they forgot the small detail that people voted them in.

Their opponents would be OK if it wasn't for democracy.

[once_were_warriors]

12 independent Senators from SA now that would be powerful, voting in a block to pass government legislation of course with some sweeteners for SA tied in.

[fish]

The most interesting press conference for me was the one with Windsor and Oakeshott, who are probably more important to this whole proces then the greens. They seem to be happy about the effort being made to reduce emissions and have also been able to see the benefits that will come in the future for their electorates with the continued development of renewable technology. I get the feeling that they both are aware that it will be very unlikely for themselves to be re-elected in the next election and they are trying to do as many positive things as possible during this term.

Cripple you are pretty spot-on in regard to their re-election chances - here are the markets for their respective seats:

Lyne
COALITION (LIB/NAT) $1.30
OAKESHOTT, Robert (IND) $3.30
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY $21.00

New England
COALITION (LIB/NAT) $1.40
WINDSOR, Tony (IND) $2.85
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY $21.00

If I was them I'd be considering running for the Senate at the next election...

Not enough nutters in the Senate for you already?

LOL mick I haven't followed their careers enough to make a full judgement but I have heard them (Oakshott more so than Windsor) speak on climate change and the carbon tax and I am very impressed...

[fish]

Bob Katter's odds Fish?

I can't find any odds for Katters electorate on my site of choice Centrebet. The two independent seats I mentioned are the only seats they have a market for at the moment.

As elections draw nearer there are usually markets for more seats added, particularly ones that have the punters interested. If I see his seat added I'll post the market but I suspect Mr. Katter will be a red hot favourite to win if he stands again - he has won the last seven federal elections and before that was a state member of parliament for almost 18 years!

[Psyber]

Abbott's Gone?
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/lat ... ecord-low/

Mr Abbott is now polling better than any opposition leader since John Howard lost the election to Kevin Rudd in 2007.

[redandblack]

He's not gone while Rupert Murdoch wants him to do his bidding

Today's Australian headline:

"Abbott slams Gillards' deceptive conduct".

I'll keep track of their headlines, to demonstate that a man whose company hires criminals to hack the health records of a 4 year-old and then phones the father (Gordon Brown, ex-PM of England) to say they will publish the fact that the boy has cystic fibrosis, will report the news without fear or favour.

However, people just keep accepting what he and the shock-jocks say.

[Squawk]

He's not gone while Rupert Murdoch wants him to do his bidding

Today's Australian headline:

"Abbott slams Gillards' deceptive conduct".

I'll keep track of their headlines, to demonstate that a man whose company hires criminals to hack the health records of a 4 year-old and then phones the father (Gordon Brown, ex-PM of England) to say they will publish the fact that the boy has cystic fibrosis, will report the news without fear or favour.

However, people just keep accepting what he and the shock-jocks say.

It doesn't seem to worry Julia. She has pledged to wear out her show leather in coming weeks. She has had an address to the nation (5 mins) followed by one from Tony also. She has had clear air on Q and A. She announced it on a Sunday to have clear air as well. She's circumventing the Murdoch world in many ways.

[Q.]

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/07/13/abbotts-scorched-earth-and-brilliant-carbon-pitch/

Regardless of how well Labor, the independents and the Greens argue the case for the carbon price package in coming days and weeks, Tony Abbott has already secured a major victory. The fall in consumer and business sentiment in recent months across a range of indicators is attributable to several things, including worsening conditions overseas, but many economists are attributing it to concerns about the carbon price scheme.

Concerns, of course, that have been ruthlessly fanned by Abbott, exploiting uncertainty and lack of detail to warn the sky would fall in, driving up household costs and endangering jobs.

The fact that it’s now clear few jobs will be endangered and those households that aren’t compensated face only trivial price rises, while inconveniencing Abbott as his makes his way around the country, is secondary to the fact that voters appear to have taken on his counsel of despair.

[redandblack]

Squawk, I'm pleased that you admit that she has to circumvent the Murdoch media

After all,. they only own 70% of the Australian printed media, as well as a swag of radio and TV stations.

That's a lot of circumventing to be done.

PS: The commercial TV stations initially refused her time, I think you'll agree.

[Squawk]

Squawk, I'm pleased that you admit that she has to circumvent the Murdoch media

After all,. they only own 70% of the Australian printed media, as well as a swag of radio and TV stations.

That's a lot of circumventing to be done.

PS: The commercial TV stations initially refused her time, I think you'll agree.

R&B - I think you'll find that most reasonable Aussies despair at the tripe served up by the Murdoch media. However, I don't think it's reasonable to assume that anyone advocating a different approach to a Labor/Greens policy position is therefore a sympathiser with the Murdoch world. Sometimes your posts do seem to imply that this is the case, whether that is intended or not.

The lesson for us all is that politicians are very poor when it comes to selling a policy position. That's why being negative about someone's else's policy is so attractive. All sides of politics use it. I'm still waiting for the day when an opposition party runs a genuinely alternative government, rather than taking the approach of being purely 'in opposition'. An example of this would be for an opposition to deliver an alternative budget, rather than simply deliver a budget in reply speech. In some ways, it would also pressure the ruling govt into either maintaining that position, or becoming 'opposition to the opposition'. If I was opposition leader, I'd prefer to call myself the 'Alternative Leader' and try and be a parallel govt rather than just an opposition party.

[redandblack]

Great post, mate and I agree with nearly all of that.

I understand what you say about me referring to the Murdoch media, so perhaps I'll explain. On this forum there are many good posters, far better than me, who take the time to put forward a well thought out argument. You are one of them and I respect those posters.

There seem to be several posters whose argument seems to be merely a rehash of Murdoch headlines, or their argument is based (IMO) on a false premise following a Murdoch falsehood.

Apart from that, I have been genuinely anti-Murdoch for decades. It's only now that the extent of his corruption of power is being looked at in the UK. It's still under the radar here, because his media are hiding it as best they can.

You say that most reasonable people despair at his tripe. I hope you're right, but I'm more doubtful.

In any event, I'm not implying that those who have a different opinion are swayed by Murdoch, unless I'm answering someone who obviously is. I enjoy a lot of the views on here whether I agree or not. I respect many Liberal politicians and I've worked in an environment that is very sympathetic to Liberal values. I'd have no trouble voting for Malcolm Turnbull and I think the few remaining 'liberal' Liberals often show great courage to their personal detriment.

I also think the Labor Party has a lot of faults and have a lot of very, very ordinary politicians. However, I think the Liberal Party (like Labor) have lurched to the right and the Liberal Party is now in the grip of those whose ideology I have great problems with.

Anyway, your point is well made, so I'll keep it in mind when posting.

[Squawk]

Fair enough.

R&B - given ABC TV and Radio is a government owned broadcaster (along with SBS), do you think the Government should launch a national newspaper - maybe as a spin off of the ABC and SBS and responsible to a Board comprised of 1/3 of each of the Boards of ABC and SBS plus 1/3 of "print media" specialists, and a Chairperson? (It could be called ABC of Today ). Serious question that.

Murdoch et al would go spare at the prospect (withness the issue with Sky News wanting to tender for DFAT's international news service to Asia), notwithstanding they would complain that Govt is trespassing into the domain of private enterprise "with all its might and resources".

Alan Kohler gave an interesting statistic on his finance report on ABC News the other night - News Ltd's print media worldwide made a profit last year of $500m. In the same year, BSkyB made a profit of something like $1.3bn IIRC. Suddenly, shutting down News of the World makes practical business sense.

[redandblack]

Interesting point, mate, but I doubt that would work, or at least ever get off the ground.

I'm all in favour of a privately owned media existing alongside a vibrant public broadcaster, but I'd like to see less agenda-driven 'news' and more that you could say was a fair summary.

I'm happy to put up with media faults and errors, but I draw the line at deliberate misrepresentation, as I'm sure most of us would.

[Squawk]

Interesting point, mate, but I doubt that would work, or at least ever get off the ground.

Why not?

[Gozu]

Not enough nutters in the Senate for you already?

Too many.

Sean Edwards was the last one standing after years of squabbles in the SA Libs. He might not have Nick Minchin's nod or even a particularly strong record but he's just taken a spot in the Senate, writes Adam Brereton

Reserving prized senate seats for machine operators and faceless hacks with a lifetime of party experience has been a long-standing media trope when discussing the ALP, but the rough factional dichotomy between moderates and conservatives in the Liberal Party delivers us plenty of senators elected for little other reason than to consolidate their tribe’s position in the party structure.

http://newmatilda.com/2011/07/11/sa-lib ... -hacks-too

[Sky Pilot]

Abbott's so far in front in the polls its seriously a JOKE. Everyone - except Liberal voters - takes the piss out of him. He could be a jerk. He could be hopeless. He could be a silly bike-riding Catholic but guess what? He's way out in front and GO Tony!

[redandblack]

You're right, SP.

He's way out in front.

He's a joke

But he's a dangerous joke.

[cripple]

Abbott's so far in front in the polls its seriously a JOKE. Everyone - except Liberal voters - takes the piss out of him. He could be a jerk. He could be hopeless. He could be a silly bike-riding Catholic but guess what? He's way out in front and GO Tony!

Why do you keep saying could be, its obvious that he is.

[Sky Pilot]

Abbott's so far in front in the polls its seriously a JOKE. Everyone - except Liberal voters - takes the piss out of him. He could be a jerk. He could be hopeless. He could be a silly bike-riding Catholic but guess what? He's way out in front and GO Tony!

Why do you keep saying could be, its obvious that he is.

67% of Australians dont think so. What are you saying?