"....the best way to deal with powerful interests is from a position of strength."
John Howard achieved this by taking his policies to the polls. Julia will never reach a position of strength. She has buried herself in a hole of weakness. The hole has been dug with lies and mismanagement.
This makes it very easy for any group wishing to sway public opinion.
I doubt the prime minister's meager doses of courage and intelligence will be sufficient for her to claw her way out.

"Yet, in-depth and substantive conversations are what is needed to bring the public along with its vision for our country's future."

"But win the government can, as long as it articulates a strong, substantive vision"

Both these statements reflect the current government's position, that it is right and the public, voters, are wrong, stupid and need to be droned at, and chided constantly.

They cannot, like the US Democrats, see their policies are wrong and unpopular, that their egos are so much in the way of clear thought and actually listening to the voice of the voters.

Every day brings more evidence, from the government and their followers, that all they need to do is keep talking to the people to convince them of their case. That listening is not required and talking down is all they know, 11 years in the wilderness and this is all they have for a plan.

The customer is wrong! The reason they are not buying, is they don't understand, so let's tell them again and again till they get it.

Who is advising the government?

What we need is some nation building, so infrastructure, some delivery of things we need, not gay marriage, not more taxes, not more foreign aid, not more stuffed up attempts to embarrass or find fault with previous governments or the opposition .. stuff for us, the majority not for the little loud self obsessed interest groups.

The stuff of government, roads, bridges, infrastructure, health reforms that are real and not just for media moments, things that help investment in industry, not cripple it, not more sneering at industry and small business, some recognition that outside the mining boom, things are not so rosy.

I'm beginning to doubt the government actually knows what it is that are meant to be doing, they are so focused on having power, they have no idea what to do with it, and constantly misuse it to attack perceived enemies. (which appears more and more, to be the general public)

""There is no more delicate matter than to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to set up as a leader in the introduction of changes. ...'

Of course this is perfectly true and I agree wholeheartedly with it.

But how is a leader who has been exposed as a liar, incompetent and obviously out of touch with the people she wishes to convince likely to fulfil the conditions requisite to propound change successfully?

I can hear the sycophants all droning together 'Of course it's all Tony's fault'.

And Damian,

as a potential political academic you should know our Government is using our money to try to convince us of how right they are and how wrong we are. Whereas the 'enemy' is using their own money to fund a campaign to defend themselves from what the vast majority of us see as 'our' govenment advocating a non-mandated minority supported idiocy.

Arrogrance at it's worst and destined for the trashcan of history and to become acknowledged ahead of Rudd and Whitlam as our worst Government ever.

Machiavelli was so right.

But when George Washington said this

'An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass.'

I guess he'd never have cotemplated our current Federal Government...

An army of asses led by an ass.

"John Howard achieved this by taking his policies to the polls." - except for Work Choice and that didn't turn out so well for him and the government he lead.

Voters have a way of responding to the type of disrepect that we are being shown.

The combatants are not on equal terms. Labor is using taxpayers money to put the case for it's tax, (despite much outrage over Howard doing similar). No taxpayer money is being used to put the NO case despite indications that a significant proportion of those taxpayers supporting the view that the tax will seriously hurt this country in a multitude of ways and do little or nothing to reduce AGW (possibly make the emission's worse if more processing is moved offshore).

R0bert

...Maybe we could anticipate some help from the military with a “coup d’état”… but for the entire Navy rusted into dry-dock; the Army distracted with a losing “war on terror” and the Air Force likewise distracted with refuelling short range jet fighters over the Simpson desert, from a dwindling stock of 44’s. Oh, anyway, with the entire service now totally impotent from an onrush of “Feminisation” and the inexorable march of the homosexuals towards all things equal, it’s all just too broken to ever work again!

…Go for it Julia, with your only opposition from the discredited Tony “Rabbit” Abbott sporting a reputation dating back to the jailing of Pauline Hanson on trumped up charges of fraud, so ably engineered, would surly make a weasel jealous; and all the help you obviously need from the band of masters of opportunism, Bob “Green” Brown and his independent “Merry-Men”, I am sure you have long concluded (evinced by your persistence with the universally unpopular “Carbon Tax” added to the now long list of past policy failures ), the complete lack of need you have identified, for the support of a constituency.

Loyal government supporters, having no defense, continue to attack the opposition leader. That's going to get us all out of a mess isn't it, that will fix the dwindling credibility of the government, attack a bunch of people with no power. Classic ALP bait and switch, except we've seen it so often in the states that it no longer has any effect.

What's been delivered, loyal supporters, in this year of delivery?

Another month slips by with nothing to show.

Oh wait .. call Tony Abbott names, yeah, that's the kind of leadership we want, nice one.

John Howard looks like a giant now, he was always good, but the gap between him and anyone in the ALP is like the grand canyon, and widening.

I distinctly recall Kevin Rudd saying that, one day Julia Gillard will make a great Prime Minister.
Peter Beatty said of Anna Bligh that shell'll make a great Premier.
John Howard said that Tony Abbott would make a good PM. At least he was more down to earth & said good instead of great. Seeing that it's not possible to be worse than Kev & Julie, Tony should make an at least ok PM.
It must be just so frustrating for the hangers on brigade that they can't discredit Tony Abbott so they even trying to promote Malcolm Turnbull. They're hoping this tactic will sway the leadership of the Coalition & destabilise it.
Malcolm Turnbull had his chance. Thus far Tony Abbott is doing way better, in fact doing well enough to really bother the hangers on crowd behind Julia Gillard. To sum it up, Kevin, Julia & Malcolm had their day. Tony has not failed yet.

Well individual,

...we may get a chance to find out just how popular is your Tony “Rabbit” sooner than later; a by-election in Robinsons seat should be an inevitability, judging on Robinsons litany of lies told over the trip to the hookers parlour at tax-payers expense:

...And the evil little B@%tard Abbott is, will not be getting my vote! I haven’t forgotten his “slimy” act against Pauline Hanson yet! As far as I am concerned he rates, along with John Howard, as just another Liberal “scum-bag” from an unreliable and lying time past.

I wouldn't worry about denialist Abbot he will not see an election.
We have a very strong and progressive PM. It was always going to be hard with a hung parliament, but the denialists have not won a round as yet.
The opposition have not contributed at all to anything, let alone make suggestions concerning policy.
Abott is running the opposition as a one man band. It won't last.
Have you ever known any political person to make so many contradicting remarks.

ha ha "but the denialists have not won a round as yet."

No, but we only have to win once and it's all over, like the win in CRU ClimateGate, that demolished years of work of the believers and it completely demolished the Copenhagen talks. Like the wins of IPCC quoting greenpeace papers .. real science there fellas.

the government has to win every single battle .. and with this mob and their paid parrots and climate committees, getup and all the rest, you just know it's going to eventually implode ..

we can wait .. no problem, watching you all panic and try to demolish Tony Abbott is fun, if he was no threat, you wouldn't worry about him.

He has the government and their lackeys in a complete daily frothing at the mouth spin .. why, some people can barely articulate when faced with thinking of him "And the evil little B@%tard Abbott is, will not be getting my vote!"

Charming! Hey, you save that vote for someone like Bobby Brown, or an indie .. we don't want it, and won't need it for the avalanche approaching.

the author seems to have forgotten that Juliar has no NEW, reform agenda any way but is simply further entrenching or continuing the ANTI industry, globalisation policies of the international socialist/banksters & their UN, NWO.

it was all started by comrades Whitlam, Hawke & Keating, she is just going on with more of the same Coca Cola Closet Communism.

http://www.mailstar.net/xTrots.html communists & capitalists working together to screw you all, who would a thunk it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc5E6pvDv2Y&feature=channel_video_title how these treasonous criminals continue the business of exporting jobs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgXeewXYbJU&feature=relmfu how they plan to accelerate the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=8hTal0bjoZg yah gotta laugh at these idiots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFzhHeatRA0 dumb & dumberer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKBnN8i-tfk&feature=related the worst government of any nation in history.

We have a very strong and progressive PM.
a597,
you may well have in your world but here on earth we're stuck with a female called Julia Gillard & it appears that she only takes notice of academic advise rather than from people who know.
There is an earthling called Tony Abbott who was a minister in a competent Government some years back until that Government was voted out by people who don't have to work for a living.

a597

Climate change is a joke.

As I've said before the weather is proving to be the warmist rump's biggest nightmare. And as the temperature falls so will support for Gillard and her red greens.

In NZ currently there are no global warmers left.

Gillard and her bunch of 'the science is settled' chanting dumbo's are as big a joke as climate change.

While Climate change is fast becoming the butt of really funny jokes, Gillard with her lies, her backstabbing mantra chanting mates and her whoremonger member are a bad joke.