The fact that most of your bemoaning of the Labour governement is sourced from the "Australian" says all that needs to be said in reply.

Chris, the truth is that the LABOR Party giveth and the Coalition taketh away. It has been this way for decades.

Under Howard, the rich benefited mightily and Howard was the toast of the Vaucluse set! During that time, people borrowed more than they could afford to pay back.

LABOR's return saw a return to caring for the punters again but it also saw an unfortunate conflict between Rudd, the deeply flawed almost-genius and Gillard, the lawyer who knew not the extent of her many limitations and dubious values!

Then, into the mix and periodic Nights of the Long Knives, marched Murdoch. He, in a clear abuse of our democratic system, threw himself into electing the Coalition by discrediting everything that LABOR did.

The current situation will play itself out, two flawed political parties who live in glass houses, throwing bricks at each other.

Abbot is a goose and his imperfections will soon show. His plan to buy old Indonesian fishing vessels was insane!

Australia has a flawed political system that needs to be modernized. It needs to move away from the antiquated boss versus workers model!

Rudd is very clever, possibly one of the smartest minds we've ever had in politics.
That was his downfall, he apparently always knew best?
That very superiority robbed him of inclusiveness and or negotiating skills?
And he lacked the courage of conviction, proven by the endless number of back-flips on so called core policy?
He may well be a good writer, excellent orator, but there seems no real passion, that usually comes with a true believer!
Gillard had some good ideas, but the wrong emphasis.
The school halls boosted the economy, but wasted resources, financing corrupt/incompetent state Govts?
If that money had been rolled out as the very first leg of a rapid rail system? The steel industry would have been resuscitated and we would have still been reaping the flow on benefits and the additional economic activity!
It's said that the whole thing would cost 100 billion?
How much did we spend on school halls and pink batts? Yes sure, educating the masses eventually boosts the economy, but who can wait 20-30 years.
Labour needs to reconnect with its core values!
Arguably, they should be more aligned to social justice outcomes than the other mob, but shouldn't be singing from the same song sheet.
If the coalition wants to roll out middle class welfare for the better off, and rob the poorest and most vulnerable to pay for it, let them wear the permanent consequences, when the poor eventually outnumber the better off!
Trickle down economics is already disgraced theory and ought to be abandoned by that side of politics that "used to care" about the common man and universal suffrage!
They need a new agenda, and a fairer tax system to pay for it.
Ideally, they should have been removing tax and vastly simplifying the collection method, in a win/win outcome for the economy and the nation.
As for the carbon tax we were never ever going to have, they should reinstate it, and a complimentary cap; and then only ever tax that above the cap, while proffering tax credits for reduced emission!
Rhrosty.

"Rudd is very clever, possibly one of the smartest minds we've ever had in politics". Rhrosty I can't believe you wrote that. Surely you copied it from some propaganda sheet somewhere.

Now if you had said he was very cunning, as in sh1thouse cunning, I could have agreed with you, but cleaver, come on mate.

No one who is cleaver leaps into commitment to so many foolish, or damn right stupid ideas, with less than a moments thought.

No one who is cleaver keeps on making that same mistake, after getting burnt not once, but a dozen times.

No one who is cleaver thinks everyone loves him, & will rush to make him the born again leader, when it is obvious more than half the population loath him, & would spit on the ground if he passed by.

By the way Rhrosty, you wouldn't be a committee would you. Some of the opinions you express do seam to be diametrically opposed.

The truth is Labor governments p... it into the wind and Liberal governments create the wealth and pay the bills. Name a competent Labor administration? It's easy to claim to be "Nice" spending others money but that is just using the brute power of Government as a Tax Slaver, taking large chunks of productive peoples time every week to give to their "Mates".