<< As Labor luminary Graham Richardson put it so succinctly, Labor will do 'whatever it takes' to retain power. >>

Well, Julie Bishop, here is the obvious retort:

And the Libs wouldn’t??

Come-on, the Libs are NO DIFFERENT!

Curse you Ludwig.

You beat me to it.

And in true form Ms Bishop has not made a single original argument in her entire article. Nor indicated just how the Libs would do anything any different.

Whatever it takes...

You two should realise Tony Abbott and and Julie Bishop have consistantly said they will turn the boats around, that's their undisputed, unabridged, unchanged policy, despite castigation from most media outlets! ... and that's what they will do.

Julia Gillard, former Deputy PM and now the unelected, installed PM, has taken several policy positions and stances according to polling of the electorate and has received accolades from people like you and the media, even though her positions have ramped up the number of illegal boats arriving and her current policy has a snowballs chance on a Queensland beach in summer of doing what she and all you people claim it will do.

Who's fair dinkim here?

Thanks Keith for pointing such a significant difference between the two parties.

Labor is lightly more humane than the Libs. Not much, but it is there. Wonder why Bishop failed to mention that?

Julie Bishop speaks for both sides of politics.
Whatever it takes, the Australian public be damned.
As an "ordinary" Australian I feel powerless as, in the case of
Labor, we have the Factions. and in the case of the Liberals we have the Heads of Industry who run this country.

We go to war at the whim of another country, the mighty USA.
Our wealth is leaving the country.

In the case of the East Timor solution, East Timor, at this stage is not willing to accept refugees, but I predict that there will be back room deals and suddenly there will be an announcement that East Timor has agreed to the deal. But will we be told what the deal is? No.

I would vote for a party that consults ME first.

Now that Ms Gillard agrees that we don't want to encourage leaky boats, her next step will be to declare herself a climate change skeptic. At least Bob Brown has the integrity to stick to his convictions no matter how bad they are. Labour are simply power hungry and will grovel and change their mind on any issue if they think it will get them elected. Unfortunately I think the Australian people are to apathetic to vote these jokers out.

I flatly refuse to read anything contributed by ANY politician, irrespective of brand. Politicians get more than their fair share of publicity in other areas. They ignore the views of the electorate in favour of their own dogma, and they have a bloody cheek horning in here.

Although I haven't read what this smart-aleck, no-substance woman has written, it is clear from the remarks of posters and the heading that Bishop's remarks were pure party politicking. We get enough of that on mainstream media and in lead ups to elections. They are all liars.

Miss, No politician can be better than another one.

Your aim is to control and lord over humanity at all costs.

The cloth that makes all of you is the one that make all dictators.

It is a cloth stained with human’s blood.

Ditto Leigh's post.

Continuing on from my last post.
Australia has been first in many fields of endeavour
Why don't we start the world's first Online Parliament?
Where we are all asked to have our say before matters are put to the vote, and we all vote, not just some politician who has been lobbied by a powerful interest, like invading Iraq, going to war in Afghanistan, building roads instead of railway lines.
It would only take one clever IT person to hook us all up into a program
Do away with Parliament House? Do away with politicians? Keep the government departments, but instead of politicians telling their departments what to do... WE tell them.
Just some lateral thoughts.

It's a bit like buying a new car - the minute you drive it out of the showroom it automatically loses value.... The minute you become a politician you automatically lose credibility.
Six of one and half a dozen of another, Julie.

Pot Julie, meet kettle Julia.

The Coalition can't prevent the refugee boats from arriving anymore than Labor,although they will go to the election claiming that they can.The number of illegal arrivals is trivial by world standards,the Coalition and their allies in the media have portrayed a few thousand 'boat people' as an invasion,it's very sleazy politics. So which party will "do whatever it takes"?

keith,

"...the unelected,installed PM.." FYI, no Australian PM has ever been elected to office,we elect a parliament, not a PM, those people who believe that we elect our head of government have been watching too much US TV.

I think old mate Bishop lost all credibility here with her second sentence: "In broad terms, State Labor's style of government is defined by an obsessive focus on the management of the daily media cycle to the point of manipulation, with shameless spin and personal vilification of opponents being the standard tools of trade."

Sneering Bishop and her boss Tony Abbott can barely spit out a sentence without personally vilifying their opponents. Even on congratulating Julia Gillard on becoming Prime Minister was used by Abbott as an opportunity to attack her, albeit underhandedly. Perhaps if they could offer policy rather than nastiness, they would be in with a chance. I have always found myself leaning towards the Coalition at election time. As we approach the next election, I'm finding myself with nothing to lean on.

Ditto to Otokonoko's post.

Julie, if you want to be taken seriously start offering an alternative, maybe a return to a more liberal liberal party.

Here are some idea's if you are struggling to work out how to be different to labor without a race to the bottom
- Make a decision to stop the attacks on labor in the lead up to the election (most of will work out their flaws for ourselves) and tell us what you can do instead
- Announce and follow through with a policy that all cabinet document's (and other similar documents) will be available to the leader of the opposition (or their appointed delegates).
- Instead of trying to be tougher than labor on "boat people" see if you can find a solution that shows compassion while looking after Australia's needs and encourages those who use more legitimate means to seek a new start here. Are there things we can do to allow people to be gainfully employed and maybe gaining skills while their applications are being processed? Those who get to stay would think better of us than if they had spent time in detention, those who return home maybe do so with a increased skills and we don't spend millions paying guards etc.
- Come up with an alternative approach to managing the economy that does not have the reserve bank raising interest rates because the government has given a tax cut, is running a stimulation package or raised charges. Across the board interest rate rises is a blunt tool with no regard for peoples circumstances.

R0bert

I see we have some of the left trying to deflect the debate away from their failing champions and on to the opposition.

Desperate measure but let’s face it, for Gizzard & Co it is even more desperate days ahead....

If I remember the last election Mr Rudd campaigned on the basis of "Me too"....

seems like East Timor was another "Me Too", except

The East Timor solution in now in tatters and down around her ankles plus the green loans scandal is about to rent apart the rest of her scant covering.

After what has been the briefest of honeymoons (more like a dirty weekend away), the electorate will sue for an annulment on the basis of the bride (and the rest of the entourage) are barren (of effective policies)

I suppose we will, at least, be able to use all those mega expensive and otherwise under-utilised school halls for polling booths.

It took 2 years for the "Ruddbot" to prove that, "he is worse than Whitlam" according to Malcolm Fraser.

It took "Gillard, the barren Communist" 2 weeks to prove that "she is worse than Krudd".

An improvement in efficiency i suppose.

What does ALP stand for? The Clayton's Communist Party of Australia, the Communist Party you have when you are using "Propaganda/Spin" to pretend that "Democratic Socialism" is not Communism in disguise.

De register the Red/green/getup/labour coalition, immediately & deport these criminal thugs to North Korea, where they belong.

Formersnag: << What does ALP stand for? >>

Another Liberal Party.

The first half-dozen commentators got it exactly right on this topic. No more needs to be said.

Before the last election Rudd ran as a pretend Economic Conservative. As soon as he could after that election he dumped that label. It soon became obvious, besides he and his Government being devoid of administrative ability and responsibility, he had lacked an real substance and people were asking just what did he stand for. Remember?

Well now we have Gillard before the next election pretending to be tough on miners, tough on illegal immigrants , and (Soon to be) an environmental responsible leader. How soon after the next election, if she's elected, will it be that she will reject the mining compromise, soften on illegal immigrants and pursue environmental policy that will wreck the economy? How long will it be before it becomes obvious she too lacks substance and till people start asking what does she stand for?
Oh and her Government, as it is now, will still be devoid of administrative ability and responsibility. ie the stuff ups will continue.

... just like Rudd and Labor at the state levels.

I don't believe it is appropriate for Ms Bishop, or any serving politician (or current staffer) to use On Line Opinion. This post is allegedly about independent/individual opinions. Regrettably, politicians are no longer "allowed" to have individual opinions, but must stay "on message" the whole time, and this doesn't change just because they are appearing on Q&A or posting on the internet. We have ourselves, and the media, to blame for this, but the fact is that Julie Bishop, Julia Gillard, etc will only reproduce their Party's line. Having serving politicians "comment" on this post only cheapens the value of On Line Opinion, and the editors should not allow same - they get endless access to the media already, but the real issue is that their opinions are "professional", not independent.

Yep, the State Labor parties are pretty gross Julie Bishop but have no fears about your adopted state of WA because Premier Colin Barnett does not manipulate the press. Indeed not, he just beavers away for the state of WA.

And it’s not only little old pensioners suffering from Barney's increased energy bills, trembling under their woolly blankets in freezing winters. Barney’s reduced six animal welfare inspectors to one full-time officer, to cover the largest state in the nation and it appears that one way to enhance productivity in the livestock industry is to throw live ‘downer’ sheep from the top of four deck sheep transport trucks, well according to the transcript at the Midland Magistrate’s Court.

Oh boy, did those critters hit the concrete with a resounding thud? Anyway who would knowingly want to consume a diseased ‘downer’ but I guess what you don’t know, won’t hurt you will it?

Barney regularly overrides EPA environmental impact assessments and has an excellent strategy too for silencing community opposition to his 'environmental' policies by introducing bills that take us back twenty years and by slashing funding to peak enviro groups like the Conservation Council. And what about Barney’s threat to compulsorily acquire pristine native title land in Broome? Of course they’re only Aborigines – what the heck do they do for the economy?

Good old Barney and his endeavours to rob the poor and give to the rich. Eighty million big ones in last year’s budget for ‘exploration drilling’ and mining tenements handed out like paddle pops.

90% of WA, now available for mining. Margaret River next? One junior miner alone acquiring tenements that cover some twenty three thousand square kilometres of private and public land - farms, state forests, national parks and other reserves across 37 different local government areas. They have a proposal too, to build a you beaut polluting coal-fired alumina refinery at an undisclosed location and all with Chinese backing.

Anyhow Julie – enough about the Patron Saint of Polluters. The best of bad luck in the elections – you sure do deserve it girl.

Protagoras,

The use of the term 'girl' when communicating with a woman is sexist, demeaning, and intentionally condescending.

Here its use merely indicates you are just another of those big fake socialist hypocrites who think others shouldn't behave as you do but should behave as you say.

So what does Julia think of her boss's admission that he tells lies when he is talking 'off the cuff' and should only be taken believed when he is reading a speech/statement that his PR people have written?

It's easy to understand why so many Australian's feel left out when our politicans advise us not to believe them.

“The use of the term 'girl' when communicating with a woman is sexist, demeaning, and intentionally condescending. Here its use merely indicates you are just another of those big fake socialist hypocrites who think others shouldn't behave as you do but should behave as you say."

Oops sorry about that oh Great One of Righty’s Bootcamp!

Sincerely *yours* (not likely pal)

Protagoras (Mrs)

Julie, whatever it takes; can that get any lower than scaremongering and dog-whistling about asylum seekers?

Julie Bishop, token women serial loyal illiberal party deputy leader, now on her third opposition illiberal party leader victim and counting!
Tell us Julie, who's next after the Mad Monk of Abbottsolute denial is dispatched 5 minutes after the votes are tallied up after the next Federal election? Have you the hypocrisy to be a four time loyal opposition deputy leader, do you have "whatever it takes" to be that crass and transparent?

...pot calls kettle black !

.

Julie, I would like to apologize for all the negative jibes that appear among these comments. People have misjudged you!

The day I saw you form your fingers into claws and growl at our new Prime Minister, I said to myself: "Self, there is a woman with the mustard to lead the Liberal Party. There is a woman who will look after the interests of the rich just like Howard did. There is a woman who will get down and dirty, do whatever it takes."

Why don't you take Tony down today? He's got no chance at the coming election. People don't want a defrocked priest who endlessly tries to draw attention to his naughty bits.

Lead the Liberal Party. Do your 'claws' thing again. You can't lose!