Yes Bill Shorten is a pathetic figure.

Can't even attract news reporter interviews. Can't benefit from having a Governor-General mother-in-law either.

Time for Tania Plibersek to turf out poor Shorty.

Abbott's continued unpopularity means he is no threat to Turnbull. Abbott is not at all helped by a support group (including Kevin Andrews) who seem to be talking up Boots on the Ground in Syria.

I'd say increasing numbers of usual Labor voters will shift their votes (in 2016) to the Greens OR to the newly centrist Turnbull Government.

What disaster are you talking about, Bill is doing what bill has to do. How many people are going to vote for bill, only people from his own electorate, and then the ALP will decide who will be PM.

So i would not panic about bill, Between him and Turnbull they run a steady ship. So the problem that you see is not there.

People are happy with our PM as it stands changes can always be made as time goes on. So get with the populist vote and be happy, we have a PM of note. The Abbott factor is not going anywhere anytime soon, besides getting the arse at the next election.

Fair enough, you want an opposition - but why specifically the ALP when there are over thirty other parties to choose from?

plantagenet, hush your mouth there is nothing centrist about the Kevin Polywaffle Turnbull LNP, it is now a well left of centre Fabian socialist party. That is what poor Syd is crying about. The ALP has the watermelons taking away its extreme left support & Malcolm Rudd taking its far left support as well.

579, see what i mean you are a leftist & happy with leftist Kevin Turnbull. You don't need to vote ALP if Malcolm Rudd will deliver closet communist policies for you.

Yuyutsu, correct there are plenty of minor & micro parties to vote for. The ALP is an irrelevant waste of space.

Dear Syd, ALL leftists in the land of OZ including ALL politicians federal, state, territory & local who are either ALP or Green fall into one of four ideological positions. 1, international or UN-patriotic socialist. 2, national or patriotic socialist. 3, tiny rump of Christian Right, as most of them walked away in disgust years ago. 4, Fabian ANTI-socialists who are in fact one of the first two groups but trying to pretend they are a democratic socialist. (democratic socialism exists only in theory)

De-register both the ALP & Greens. Then make up your leftist minds about whether you are 1, 2, 3 or 4. Then join 1, Socialist Alliance. 2, Australia first. 3, the DLP. 4, crawl back under a rock & die if you are a Fabian. Do that & the left will gain some respect for not lying about it's closet nature any more.

Wow our Sid must have found another dimension to inhabit, if he has found one that can "make Turnbull look wonderful".

After watching too much, [well a few minutes] of the coverage of the gushing fool peacock strutting the world stage these last few days, how anyone could describe Turnbull as looking wonderful, is way beyond my understanding.

Maybe that is because your depth of understanding is very shallow. Turnbull is the best thing that has ever happened to the liberal party. Some here do not see that, because they are not liberal they are Conservative.

Australia is not a conservative nation. A gigantic mistake was made at the last election when we seen Abbott lie his way into power. He knew it was his only chance he had of ever becoming PM.
Liberal won the day with help from Labor, and all is good. You Conservative lot need to join up with that anti muslim terrorist mob, which must be wearing out their welcome and being declared a terrorist organization. The amount of resources that is required at their demonstrations says it all.

With the Slipper gate gaining momentum some more of Abbott infiltrators could be eliminated from the liberal party. Liberal needs to be Liberal without the Conservative faction, or else it will bring down another govt;

Unfortunately for the ALP, the 'precariat' now are better educated, more affluent and better informed than at any point in history. And a good number of them realise that the way to go on being affluent is to get the government off their backs and let them get on, unhindered, with doing what they need to. They also know that the chances of that are much better under the LNP than Labor.

Happy is the person whom the government ignores.

The liberal party have never before shown any compassion for the less well off ever.
Maybe it is because of the Turnbull effect. Or maybe it is because of the demise of Abbott.
It should not concern you in any case, you are an Abbott worshiper.

This is the best shape the liberal leadership has ever been in. You can't please everybody all the time, just the majority is enough.

If Turnbull plays his cards right he could be there indefinitely, otherwise Bill will have to take over. Turnbull has statesman qualities, and a head on his shoulders. Not like the last idiot that was PM.

An excellent case of how not to be a PM. You must have respect for the voters and parliament, both of which were missing as well as integrity and truthfulness along with compassion and understanding.
So there was a few floors in the Abbott regime's agenda

Abbott was hated by the general populace almost as much as Gillard was. The Leader of the Party / PM is the face of the party, the one who cops all the blame and rarely the praise. Turnbull is liked by the general populace and therefore the Coalition is now the preferred party.

Shortland is as boring as Rudd was arrogant. Shortland has zero charisma, no style, no policies, and nothing interesting to say. If the Labor Party sticks with him they will stay out of government for as long as he is there.

Labor should have offered the leadership to Turnbull a year ago.

Gillard told a lie Abbott told a shipload that is what the populace does not like.

Offered Turnbull a leadership roll in the ALP. Certainly not.

By having Turnbull as leader of the Liberal party we can control politics on both sides of govt;.

Splinter political parties starting up, Abbott might join up he would be at home in a demonstration group.
Who is going to put their hand out for their preferences.

I have finally had enough. Let us look at Gillard's 'lie'.

Yes, she did say "There will not be a carbon tax, under a Government I lead ...". This appears to make her subsequent actions a lie until the quote is completed with "but you can be assured that there will be a price on carbon".

Tony Abbott made it appear that Gillard had lied by only quoting the first half of a sentence. When you see the whole sentence then you begin to realise that it was he who lied by ignoring the rest of the sentence.

Labor has nothing to offer Aussie voters.

Royal Commission into Trade Union corruption – Shorten (and others) continued to denigrate Commission proceedings with “nothing to see here” and condemned Abbott for instigating the Royal Commission proceedings as an attack against Labor.

Sorry Bill to deflate your balloon. The Royal Commission was not “all about you”. It was against corruption – and at the highest level – whereby such Unions were supposed to be protecting those rights of workers who believed their hard earned wages being paid into a Union that would support them. What a farce and con job.

The Royal Commission unearthed so much corruption by Union Leaders in charge of union funds paid by workers across all States of Australia…. viewing of such Commission Hearings being available to the public for access on a daily basis….so the viewing public all know.

Until Labor cuts ties with the Unions – Labor represents nothing.

Note – I have no alliance with Labor or Liberal. I tell it as I see it from having watched the Royal Commission Hearings on a daily basis, and have remained as shocked with evidence provided as have many others.