Thanks Jardine, for giving us a completely distorted view of LABOR and a biased notion of corporatism and capitalism. It sounds as though you worship them. Perhaps you have a color photograph of Rupert that you light a candle in front of each night.

People who worship greed and inequality are lowlife. They have no conscience or morality. We live in a world of finite resources where many people live in poverty or are starving but the greedy and the money-grubbers don't care as long as they are living in ultra-luxury!

Abbott is a clone of Howard. It won't be long before he begins to advantage the rich and clobber the poor. His paid-parental leave is his first move.

There is no nobility in greed. Greed brings out all that is loathsome in humans. It also generates endless wars.

Greed is a dirty word!

On the one hand Rhrosty
You are on the money with this, if I may be so bold to add that the NBN was visionary but sadly it appears it will become another railway system with different gauge lines. I can see future generations shaking their heads in disbelief at the lack of vision in not rolling the NBN out as originally intended. As we can see by the new policy, it's all about short term spending with an eye on the next election and apparently no consideration for 10-20-30 years down the track, as is the case with most infrastructure projects. One has only to look at the approach to road and bridge building to see tangible evidence of this fact
Your proposition for funding(although I am just an average bloke)makes good sense to me but would likely be dismissed as simplistic by those who assume to be our betters

On the other hand Ludwig
I often wonder about the constant craving for economic expansion which to me means a vicious circle of bigger profits, higher wages,greater cost of basic necessities and people left behind on an unemployment scrapheap. Where does it all end? (in tears I suspect).

Patricia
Having a policies that risk upsetting big business and what's in it for me? sections of the population with a 'be happy with what we have/live within our means/let's raise the living standards of those less fortunate in our society' and being able to effectively communicate with the electorate are but 2 issues that the next ALP leader needs to address.
The ALP needs to be different and stop trying to be all things to all people. They seem to be heading in the right direction getting the rank and file more involved. Perhaps making themselves more accessible to the wider community would be helpful. Several years ago I tried to meet with a local Senator, her office hours were the same as my working hours. I was disappointed at the lack of flexibility/availability.

Well JKJ, on some points one can agree with you. But let's not confuse democratic socialism with the communistic manifesto of Lenin and or Marx!
Most of Scandinavia is arguably, democratic Socialism? Yet most of Scandinavia allows and encourages private enterprise.
In fact, Volvo Australia, is one of a few vehicle manufacturers, we don't have to subsidize!
However, those from the home of extreme capitalism and greed is good, Ford and Chevrolet, always seem to have the hand extended!
Moreover, the privatization of power and gas, has never ever resulted in lower prices.
And privatization simply overlooks the social benefit and the lower operating costs of energy dependent enterprise.
Brisbane NG rose by around 400% within months of privatization!
And the so-called natural cost doesn't include obscene salary entitlements, servicing massive borrowings,or dividends.
And then we moan about the rising cost of getting by!
Tiny Norway leaves us in its wake with an income earning sovereign fund; and, when it comes to education excellence; which by the way, is universally funded by the state.
Scandinavia not only makes trucks and all manner of manufactured goods, but has an aircraft industry as well!
Smaller resource poor nations, doing things we continually tell ourselves, we can't do!
Our so called leaders tell us, we need to sell our souls to foreign carpet baggers to get them to do it for us, all while charging us well over the odds for the privilege.
We could take a leaf from the Scandinavian book/Celtic Tiger and promote cooperative capitalism, the only way to a prosperous future; and or, invest in our own people and their better ideas.
Co-ops and innovative family firms are our future.
They still operate under the capitalistic profit model, but rarely if ever get too big; and, all the shareholders contribute with their labour and skills.
Which is the reason, that the cooperative business model, survived the Great depression, largely intact!
One has to wonder at the wisdom of conservative leaders/economic illiterates, who seemingly couldn't wait to dismantle our co-ops, or privatize cash cow essential service?
Rhrosty.

So here we have a lady who describes Gough Whitlam as legendary. Wow!

Looking down the page we find she has a PhD from the University of Sydney in social policy studies.

God what on earth are they teaching in our universities? Legendary Gough Whitlam, what, in his own lunchtime?

I had no idea labor had it so wrong they still worshiped at the feet of that incompetent old fool. No wonder they are in such desperate trouble. With that sort of thinking, no wonder they could come up with a Rudd or a Gillard.

Then this stupidity of longing for a visionary leader. Please if you find one, bury them deep in an abandoned Coober Pedy mine shaft, visionary leaders are the last thing we need. Remember Hitler, & Attila the Hun were visionary leaders.

What we need is a good manager, who will stop the waste & rorts, then get out of the damn way, & let us get on with it. A new John Howard will do, & we just may have one.

Unfortunately we will never get one of these from Labor, as they are always running around, like this author, chasing some mythical messiah. Someone who will pick them up, & lead them to the promised land.

For god sake you fools, the only promised land is the one you build yourself. So drop those rose coloured glasses, & pick up the bleeding shovel.

Wow! A whole essay about the Australian Labor Party and hardly a single word about workers. Remember them? You know … the chumps who do all that ‘labor’?

Ironic that she mentions the year ‘1891’, because the workforce that Australia is rapidly morphing into has far more in common with the 1890s than today – diminishing permanent jobs, zero contract labour, creeping casualisation, unpaid internships, single-digit hourly rates, 12-hour days, work-till-you-drop ‘retirement’, minimum wage under threat, workplace safety compromised, weak union representation (or none at all) … and on it goes.

Perhaps they could just drop the word ‘Labor’ and call it the Australian Party. Or how about the Boiling Frog Party?

My memory may be deceiving me, I'm trying to remember John Howard's lasting legacy to the nation.

Universal health care?

Giving a generation access to affordable tertiary education?

Ushering in the era of dog whistle politics?

Using smoke and mirrors economics to appear to be running a budget surplus?

Increasing middle class welfare to economically unsustainable levels?

Taking us into a war based on lies and corporate greed?

Despite believing Medicare a failure and repeated attempts to dismantle it, failing to do so?

I need some help here