John, you are right, of course. The Greens will benefit strongly from the shift of all things Labor to the right. Even Gillard, a total misfit as a Prime MInister and with worse yet to come, sold out the rest of her life-long leftwing integrity which she proudly trumpeted for years until it was necessary to have the support of her opposites, the bully boy righties of Shorten and Arbib who, as we can all forecast, will benefit noticeably in the distribution of Ministerial appointments. The lady and her 'boyfriend' can occupy the Lodge, a place where, most of the time in the past one could say that there was a worthy person living there who we could respect.

Those days are now gone. In the case of Gillard, when you analyse closely, perhaps the single worst choice for the role and in the case of Abbott, unlikely to amount to anything at all. Compromises, both.

These days the people who are crawling out of the union battlefields all appear to be rightwing extremists like Arbib, a most inarticulate fellow and an unfortuneate product of his environment. In the case of Shorten, he has shown himself to be manipulative and cunning but now well connected in the closest we can get to royalty in this country.

Watch them in the Ministerial stakes. This is where all the debts get squared. Gillard owes, she will pay. She also owes to the Melbourne Jews so watch the foreign policy backdowns so there will be no equivocal attitudes to anything but Israel's dictates. Her goose has been well cooked and those realists in the Labor party, leftwing or other can say farewell to any support for a compassionate, humane resolution in the middle east. No tears ever from this compromised 'lady'. Her agenda is clear.

Again, as each day passes, more value for the Greens.

Rudd may have had his faults. But he is looking so good at the moment.

Hey Stern,

An ancestor of mine was the principal physician of St Helena during Napoleon's last days. He performed his autopsy. (Perhaps he helped to finish him off).
I'm sure I've gone up in your estimation now...No, perhaps not.

John: No doubt you would like the ALP to be in its death throes, fortunately that is not the case.
I would venture to say that the Australian public as a whole, politically, is inexorably moving to the right. The ALP as a pragmatic political animal has detected this movement and also moved its policy base towards the right of the political spectrum. However it is still a movement that broadly represents the average working family. The working/middle class voter is today, possibly better educated, more affluent, is more likely to own their own house, modern motor vehicles, modern labour saving devices and in the case of the modern tradesperson is now usually self employed.
All these material advantages add up to a gradual move, perhaps unconsciencely, to the right politically.
In my opinion this movement is recognised by the ALP and their policy platform is tailored to embrace this movement. This is to their credit, they realise that left wing idealism/extremism does not win federal elections and opposition parties do not formulate government decisions on health, education, workplace legislation, social services, foreign policy,etc.
The ALP platform on these very important aspects of Australian everyday living is vastly superior to any other Australian political party including the Greens.

David G, your prophesy of revolution and chaos is intriguing.
But I find it so hard to imagine Australians stirring ourselves enough to engage in revolution.
What will need to happen before we get that outraged?

Oh, wait, I know. Lots of boat people, and same sex marriage.

Stern says be careful what you wish for,since tyranny may replace the worker's fight for justice.Stern the tyranny is coming from a corporate elite who control the banks and our Govts.

If the USA/Israel invade Iran,all hell will break loose and then you'll know the meaning of tyranny.

I think everyone holding out for a trotskyist pinko take-over or some flower-power era through the Greens are going to be in for a disappointment when two minutes of actually finding out for yourself where the Greens stand would reveal them to be very much a moderate center-left party that seems more intent on mirroring successful policies in Europe and Canada than ushering some radical new trendy dynasty. and that is exactly what I'm after.

Also JAck I am sorry you are totally correct about Labor's policies being "better" than "any other party" which I'm sure you've checked to be certain. Things like allowing public infrastructure to collapse, get sold to a dodgy company who do nothing but raise prices, health remaining grossly understaffed and maintained at a primarily user-pays system (the government merely chips in if you apply), education including chaplains in schools, workplace legislation emulating Howard, selling land (usually important public land) to real-estate developers without regard of how to maintain it, foreign policy including participation in unnecessary foreign conflicts STILL hoping that our increasingly unpopular ally will reward us somehow instead of a neutral policy like in Sweden and Switzerland.

But please, do describe another party's policy (Actually quote it from the site) to compare it to.