Wre:- Abbott, Nelson, Minchin? Mate, you must be kidding. You left out Downer - what a talent. If a Funeral Director company ever needs a CEO, Minchin is their man. Perhaps Abbott could take over from Freddy Nile when he drops off the twig. I bet the Defence Forces are delighted to have flakey Nelson as their Minister, but in recent history that job has been a hospital pass. And even the Libs don't want Costello - Howard won't retire until Costello either goes before him or his leadership hopes are buried forever.

Well wre Latham was is and always will be as you discribed, my view is he came to power after Crean knew he could not continue to ignore the fact he was unloved.
Crean/Latham a spite filled double took my party into noddy land and thats true.
We gain nothing by pleading its not so.
Had Beazley lead at that election the defeat would have been far less.
Gloat no more however, in time the conservatives will suffer such a defeat , maybe post Beazley but it will come.
Latham was never other than a shadow, a man who never had substence, now he has his own behavior to distroy him and it is a soap opera in real life.

Belly,
Are you really an ALP person? Your last post may have got it correct, if Beazley had led the ALP to the last election, the ALP losses would have been smaller! That is debateable, however what is not debateable is that Beazley would have become a three times loser, which we may have to wait until the next election to see now.

The object as I understand it in politics is not to cut your losses, but to W-I-N, Latham, to my knowledge, was the first and only Opposition Leader in history to have a policy instituted from the Opposition benches, that policy was of course was parliamentry superanuation reduction, which Howard knew he had to agree with, however he of course he made sure he would not suffer personally.

There has been a few posters who say, an ALP Government may be a long way off, and with good reason, as long as a two time loser leads the ALP, and consequently the ALP stays out of touch with it's roots, we can expect to see them indefineately in Oppposition, as they should be.

If the ALP ever hope to form another Federal Government, they need to get their collective heads out of the clouds, and come back to the people they were formed to represent. That does not appear to be a likelyhood anytime soon, so they will continue to pay the penality.

Tired old men is something the conservatives have traditionally been famous for, Pig Iron Bob for example, if the ALP hope to W-I-N they must offer a complete vision in every portfolio, and elect a new age leader. Being like any other political party, change, and the pace of change will be too slow for them to win in 2007. Only after yet another demoralising defeat will they realise Beazley is a dud, and go for new young blood, and begin the long arduous process of putting together a coherent broad policy reform into place.There is no purchase in replacing the salesperson, without replacing the product.

The great exodus of ALP voters began with Beazley's leadership, and I use the word lightly here- his pathetic lack of any opposition to Tampa, Children Overboard etc. provided new voters for the Green party.

Whilst the Greens are not perfect, they have been the true opposition since then. I suspect that Beazley and his henchmen started white-anting Latham well before the last election. It is not beyond the realm of possibity, given Beazley's selfish delusion of grandeur, that he was just waiting for something to get Latham out with; any decent human being would have supported the party leader when he was really sick; Beazley used Latham's illness to damage the ALP and get at Latham.

Sunisle.. boy oh boy... you need to get some perspective mate :)

Tampa ? do you really think that swung the election ? good grief.

Using that as a plank of opposition would be rediculous. Mainly because most of the population was behind the sentiments of the government. If you mention 'Children overboard'..again..good grief ?

Do you really think that suddenly swayed masses of people against labor ? Unless some serious research can show it, I would rather doubt that.

The Greens.. the real opposition ? Ooooooh my.. er no, sorry..*gives Sunisle a shake*... They are IMHO a pack of ... (insert any of various adjectives of a negative nature) and Bob Brown is the chief (add adjective). They will always capture a 'few' votes... but guess what.. I believe there are other parties 'getting' the green message, even Family First.. and just like little Johnny stole the one nation vote, maybe another minor party will steal the green vote ?

I for one am organizing Senator Fielding to address a green group in a particular suburb :) and that group's leader is happy to arrange meetings with other similarly minded groups ....

I'm not sure where FF stands on some issues that are close to my heart, but on one particular one, they are poles apart from me, but I'd prefer them to Bob Brown this side of eternity.

We want to forget Latham, because his appointment was a national embarrassment. It was also indicative of the sorry shape of Labor.

I'd guess that within a few years.. Labor will be OUT in NSW and Vic at least. I'd like to think that those who replace them, will have learned from the excesses and mistakes of the past. But in the end, we poor suckers always end up with a 'politician' :)

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18023736%255E2702,00.html
[The Federal Court has served summonses on the chief executive of the organising committee, John Harnden, its legal counsel, a number of top executives and Melbourne businessman Steven Lew, son of the former Coles Myer chairman]

I'm with wre. Latham was, and still is, a boorish thug. Why doesn't he take his own advice and get off his fat a..e and get an honest job instead of bludging off the rest of us?