Well after 4 elections won by the conservatives you can't help but be a little pessimistic. Yes the Bombers got to go but will Rudd just be a mild mannered version of Latham? If he does, he's got 6 months to entrench his image as an alternative PM is the minds of Australians who have grown complacent about anything and everything.
Those 18 year olds who voted for the first time back in 1996 are now 30. Those 45 yrs olds r now 55 and worrying about super and retirement. Can Rudd turn them on?

If Beazley wins the caucus vote millions of Australians will know once and for all that there is not a God. At least not one that votes Labor.

It is sad to see so many who are oposed to Howard who will not vote for the only party that can remove him.
Two tasks the ALP must take on , Kim must go on Monday or we admite we are not trying to win.
And ALP branchs need reviewing, some are private property! even holding meetings in the branch owners , yes owner! home so those wanting a more balanced branch will stay away.

Leigh, you seem to have trouble getting a fix on this. “We still remember the 17% rates of the Labor era”. Why tie interest rates to a government, particularly since “politicians have no say in interest rates”?

Cast your mind a little further back. Can you name which treasurer presided over 22% interest rates, and whether this factors into your argument?

A government is, or should be, more than mere bank managers. The socialist reforms of the Whitlam era (and I would nominate Gough the best PM in recent times in this regard) is what brought you many of the work benefits you enjoy today. John Howard of course is well on the road to unravelling them, as recent IR reforms attest.

“Rightly or wrongly, voters are more interested in their hip pockets than they are in anything else.” Well that much is true. Given our potential I find this limited horizon a little despairing. Don’t you?

DB you make some good points in this regard. Job security is minimal as long as everything but labour is globalised. I do believe though there is a place for unions. Y’know, “The people who brought you weekends”? There is an eternal power play between employers & employees. Some have it good, others don’t. And I think there is such a thing as a pendulum, which is out to the right somewhere…

Wildcat you’ve made a lot of predictions, most I agree with. Here’s a couple more - by Monday afternoon Rudd will be leader, Gillard deputy; Beazley will become the eventual successor to Barry Jones, while Peter Garrett will be wheeled out from wherever he’s been hidden to take on the tories’ environmental record.

Rudd to defeat the Man of Steel? The common perception is he’d need a charisma injection first, but I reckon he & Gillard together will give them a run for their money.

Some amusing analogies Sage. Howard does just seem to sail on, and on, and on…oh no I think I’m gonna be seasick

Looking at this from outside (I've never voted Labor) Howard has done a lot of stuff I detest but I've seen nothing to suggest that Labor's list would be any less. Rather a different and possibly longer list.

None of the major parties seem to take the idea of a fair go seriously.

Howard may be leaving workers out to dry with his IR laws - I am having trouble sparating out Labors electoral ambitions from the real issues on that one but Queensland under Beattie has been far worse for me as a worker (in the electricity industry) than it ever was under the coalition.

Howard has mislead the australian people but his Labor predecessors did so as well (not to mention our state premier, the master of the coverup).

The coalition has not done enough to fix the family law system but Labor set that mess up in the first place and it's appointee's seem to be the strongest advocates of the worst aspects of it.

The coalition has played a sick game with the portrayal of the DV issue ignoring completely the plight of male victims of DV but again Labor plays an even sicker game on that issue.

Howard has taxed middle income earners ruthlessly but Labors retoric suggests that they still want to take more from us.

The combination of my mortgage and interest rates means that to much of my income is going on interest but I've not seen anything from Labor that suggests a better plan for me as an existing borrower.

Until Labor starts making some kind of principled stance and following a view of fairness that I can relate to then it remains an issue of which scoundrel will do the least harm to the country and to myself.

R0bert

Steve, part of me hopes you're right, part of me hopes you are wrong. I'd love nothing better than to see the Howard led Government trashed at the polls next year, but in reference to my last post, I believe there are very difficult days ahead for the economy of this country in the near future. Howard has become very adept at playing dirt politics and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if his financial team have forewarned him of a turbulant economy just around the corner and that he sneakily "hands over" power to Labor so as to be able to say "I told you so" once the recession is leeching the life out of lower to middle class Australians within the next few years. We all know Australian voters on the whole, are too inane to to look at cause and effect of financial market meltdowns and instead blame the Government of the day. If my predictions come true after a Labor victory at the polls next year, guess who will win the 2010 election. Best "Rotten Johny" stays right where he is in 2007, but with loss of the Senate. That's the best we can hope for Steve.

bennie, the ALP is dedicated to a narcissistic version of iconocentrism. Therefore, when mention is made of the ALP treasurer (whose creativity with T/A claim forms remains a source of wonderment) please use his correct title: The World’s Greatest Treasurer. The way you talk about him would cause the casual observer to think that some yob was yanked off the street and asked to sit down and write a budget.