Prediction: in a month, the polls will have Labor on 28 % and the Greens on 8 %.

In two months, if gthis all lasts that long, Labor will be on 25-26 % and the Greens on 7.5 %.

By election time, whenever that might be, Labor will be on 22-24 % and the Greens on 6-7 %.

With thirty weeks to go, in which week will Gillard be rolled ? Soon ? later ? In the next ten weeks ? Five ?

And who will be the patsy to take on the death-dive job ? Rudd and Shorten will both run a mile, until after the wipe-out. So who will go down in history as the one who planted the knife between the shoulder-blades ?

My money is on Crean, at 3 to 1, and Smith at 5 to 1.

Interesting times all right.

Alan Austin makes some good points, but, in my view, Cohenite makes some better ones.
Average wages across Aus have been increasing steadily (av 4.5%? annually), with unemployment steady at around 5%, and demand for further wage increases continuing; housing prices on the rise, making home ownership actually less affordable than ever; schools still needing billions to bring them up to scratch (in spite of the 'wonderful' Ed Revol(t)ion); the NBN is floundering under its own weight; NDIS is yet to get off the ground; Gonski on the back-burn; Carbon Tax is doing nothing but increasing energy bills; MRRT is punishing our biggest (and most productive) miners, without adding much to the coffers - and possibly the reverse in overall terms; single mums getting a chop in the neck, to 'balance the budget'?; R&D funding getting the chop to build 'fantasy jobs' and 'castles in the air'; and our Heritage budget deficit is increasing nicely.
Labor has indeed done what Labor does.

Aus with the soundest economy against all of the 'failed' states? Marvelous. But, given the state of our economy pre- the GFC, and our continuing booming mining exports, could even a blind donkey have done any less? (And without a lot of the hoopla and the down-sides?)

Alan,

The nice thing about ideology and humanities is that they are emotionally based. This means you are not required to invoke any form of cognitive processes. That’s why ideology is so well suited to lazy thinkers.

You don’t even have to do any serious research on numbers, you just “feel” them. Whilst you are busy feeling things, the majority of Australians are just about to trash your feelings, big time