It's all well and good to say Rudd has no profile yet, but there are promising signs for the new labor leader - his speech on federalism was one of the nicest pieces of tricky politics I've seen come out of the labor party for some time.

Essentially, he managed to blame Howard for the States failings - by jumping on the federalism bandwagon and promising to more clearly delineate states responsibilities, he managed to co-opt support from the premiers - largely because they'd rather deal with Rudd than howard.

At the same time, he said that in Howard's 11 years in power, he had done nothing concrete for federalism, because he enjoyed 'blaming it on the states.'

This was a nice, subtle piece of work. Howard was effectively hamstrung, something I was beginning to think wasn't possible.
If he criticised the states, he proved Rudd right. If he advocated a strong federalist approach, he would risk the wrath of the premiers at a sensitive time, a risk which wasn't likely for Rudd.

In any case, this speech hinted at a subtlety not common to Labor leaders.

Rudd has no vision? The idea of the commonwealth taking hospitals sounds like a vision to me. He's only been in a few days and you demand vision? Pronto?

What vision does John Howard have? No wonder he is looking tired as well as sinister.

You tell us with vitriol that all the Liberal Party's energy is now in cleaver negative energy mode. So they are just going to nancy around and whinge, bully, and put down the ALP. Is that a vision?

The fact is, the Government has no vision. They stupidly followed the US to the Iraqi war in breach on international UN law which Australia signed only 12 before. It is illegal for Australia to invade another country that poses no threat to Australia.

Howard risked breaking this law to prove our worthiness for the FTA, which was a bad economic treaty anyway. Australia has little to gain: the US is laughing at such suckers.

Now the US Defense Secretary has officially declared that they were wrong about invading Iraq all along and are failing. Stupid!

Howard waisted billions of our taxpayer's money on this lie. Part of this was to lock up children in detention centres. What a bloody mess!

The Liberals are so desperate to stay in power, they savage the funding for the ABC and rape its content of any dignity.

You say they can stand on the economy? Australia's performance is less than ordinary now, as other, more sensible countries are doing far better than ours. Look at the facts. Most of successful economies have Labour Governments with fresh new ideas.

OK, now, disregard this outrageous story and tell the truth.

This is a very flat Christmas for retailers. Mortgages, interest rates, poverty, Christmas? What Christmas spirit? The air is thick of resentment and fear, no one dares to spend. The Howard Government has set this miserly tone.

In short, this country is in a bloody shambles. Too many liars in a fools paradise! Most voters are polling against the Government for good reasons.

Howard is a master politician, for certain. Now he has to face up to a large number of unpopular policies. His stance on the environment is inconsistent and nuclear is feared in the community. Labor will surely ask him where he plans to build his reactors. IR laws are unpopular and will not win him any new votes. And don't mention the war. Howard's strength, as the acticle points out, is his personal standing, which seems unshakeable regardless of his performance. Appearances will work to help Rudd - he seems moderate and traditional - just like Howard. Both parties will play up the fear factor. The Liberals are running out of issues to frighten the voters with as interest rates scares have lost their punch. Labor will tap people's fears at least as effectively as the Liberals and should win.

Team Rudd should have a vision for Australia.
A political person must have a vision.
Unless he is only in it for the money and ego.
I do believe Team Rudd have a vision.
We would all like to see the Federal Government take control of the Hospitals, Medicine.
Doctors and health professionals would not need seven police checks if they want to practice around Auastralia.
Schools and Education should also be under Federal Control,again Teachers personal information on seven different computer systems does not sound a very private thing.
While we are on vision, pity the poor children who move from state to state having their personal details on every local police computer thanks to the Murphy Family Court.
Wake up Australia and Team Rudd their are many things to include in the vision.

Team Rudd should have a vision for Australia.
A political person must have a vision.
Unless he is only in it for the money and ego.
I do believe Team Rudd have a vision.
We would all like to see the Federal Government take control of the Hospitals, Medicine then Doctors and health professionals would not need seven police checks if they want to practice around Auastralia.
Schools and Education should also be under Federal Control,again Teachers personal information on seven different computer systems does not sound a very private thing.
While we are on vision pity the poor children who move from state to state having their personal details on every local police computer thanks to the Murphy Family Court.
Wake up Australia and Team Rudd their are many things to include in the vision.

Hmmmm - the will have a go. Yes they can lay on thick duabs of paint and that is putting it politely - but the so called paint is piled on pretty thick on the gubment at the moment -

Vanstones performance of the 7-30 report made me think of the wrong doings of Ministers, either sins of ommission or commission. The only Ministers I can recall who fell on their swords in my memory were in the Hawke Cabinet - Mick Young went over the bear and ross kelly went over the white board debacle -

No one has gone since - not a solitary one - nothing over the nonsense of WMDs and the rest of the lies thrown our way about Iraq, nothing over the lies regarding Tampa, nothing over Reiths phone card fiasco or his role on the docks scandal, nothing over Vanstones storm troopers in DIMIA, nothong over the AWB cock up -

Even true blue conservatives have tired of this duplicity - so I suspect Rudd will cop a fair bit of stick as will Gillard - but there is enough genuine poor form on the other side to make it irrelevant.

As a swinging voter who derives from Rudds home electorate i must say he is a definately a goer in more ways than one.

Whilst i dont necessarily like the fact that i dont hear from him except the week before the election, he does plenty behind the scenes and he will steer the ship just as good as howard. Remember, they are not so much different from eachother in many ways.

In fact, i would say Rudd has more backbone right now along with a clear vision than howard ever did prior to him being elected.

Rudd may end up a better leader, i liked old Kim and i was dissapointed he did not get his chance, but Rudd is the man to win it.

All the knockers out there will come around, and he can challenge anyone in any conversation which labor has not had since hawky.

Shame he does not drink yardies like hawky.

Yes, Sneeky, "paint" struck me as terribly polite too.

Mark is right, Rudd does need to brand himself and take traditional issue ownership back for Labor.

At the same time, chickens are coming home to roost. Flour is apparently a biological hazard, the immigration detention thing hasn't finished yet (barely begun), AWB isn't over by a long shot, neither is Iraq and with it the possibility of Australian casualties, AIDS is coming back as an issue and Abbott cannot deal with that.

Also the new front bench could take some of the pressure off Rudd with a few strong performers. It will be an interesting year.

Labor doesnt know what is traditional anymore, their interest is the labor party and co.

Its time we did make a change for ourselves

email:swulrich@bigpond.net.au
Australian Peoples Party

Chainsmoker,
Yes it certainly will be an interesting year, personally I believe the little rodent has exhausted any credibility he ever had, too many "core" and "non-core" lies over the last decade. Rudd and Gillard have one excellent start their names are not Howard or Costello.

On a more serious note, The Rudd/Gillard leadership will need to perform well and articulate good clear policy, and refute every Howard lie, and hammer every Howard mistake similtaneously or Malcom Turnbull will be our next PM.

All interesting comments so far, especially concerning Julia Gillard. All heralding a change. Could say these thinkers are really onto a coming "It's about time" era.

The recent change in US politics alone should have given a clue. It is well to remember how after the US victory celebration in Baghdad, Howard and Downer were so full of praise for the GWB Dynasty. Howard even suggested how preemptive strikes might be the way to go in SE Asia and the South Pacific.

Though Global ethics had been broken, the rhetoric proved safe, because it came out of fascistic-style mouths in polite fashion. Not like Mark Latham who spoke much political truth but discoloured it with what some say was the language of the gutter.

Yet was the Latham language much worse than trained academics being called looney-lefties and fruitcakes, as well as anything pertaining to Socratic Reasoning, Old Pap stuff by some of our Onliners.

Returning now to the projected disappearance of the GWB - Blair cum Howard era it is also well to remember that "the truth will out" is a saying used both by philosophers and political historians, and as the latter persons sre usually academics, maybe it is the fruity cakers who will really have the answers in the end

Well, thats 8 of you, who would vote for George Bush, If he was elected leader of the Aust labor party.
I could have, & probably would have voted for Beazley, but I could never vote for this smug, condescending, self satisfied pounce.

What with the loony academic left, & this prig, I can't see much to desolve the rust holding Howards battlers in place.
I don't like much of the IR reforms, but it would have to be 100 times worse, before I would want to see this peanut in the lodge.

I wonder how long it will take for the voters to get sick of being talked down to.

Hasbeen

I think you are too quick to condemn Kevin Rudd, yes he is intelligent, yes he is smart, but don't think he is a fool. He has got to where he is despite his background not because of it.

As an 11 year old living in the back of a car, after being kicked out of a rented house, who would have thought he would get so far?

Underestimate him at your peril, the paint will not stick.

Steve,
Very wise words, as usual

Grew up in the same town and it was no town for whimps - you soon got sorted out. Under that intellect lies someone who knows the school of hard knocks all too well. Rudd was nobody's bitch.

Rainier,

Maybe a bit of Nambour Crushers has rubbed off on him, shame the mill is no more.

But you are right, Nambour is no place for fools, wimps or dills. Tough town, straight talking people, my kind of place.

Contrast that with merchant bankers, lawyers and landed gentry.

Guess who I will be voting for.

The "Dr Death" nick name and being born in Queensland raises the ongoing story of the "Dr Death" scandal of a Queensland hospital.

Queensland authorities are still trying to extradite the accused to face trial for the maiming and deaths of patients admitted to the hospital.

I would like to see the revelation of the final draft and review of the policies he wishes to put forward and represent.

I think the smart move by Rudd was to run a team campaign. There is far too much emphasis on the Leader, with Labor it becomes a Messiah complex.

We need to move towards a more mature collective approach to political leadership with the leader being more "first among equals" than a Dear Leader.

The policy challenge is really to reconnect the dots of policy to the vision . Rudd was rather ham fisted in his first attempt mixing forked roads with distant bridges but the sentiment was accurate about a fair go Australia vs a US of Australia.

Vision? A leader of a major Australian political party? Please!!

Mr Rudd certainly has had a vision, he's had it for some time and the vision has been of himself as PM. Who do you think has been behind much of the leadership instability over the last few years? Rudd wanted it when Latham took over. He hasn't stopped wanting it and has shown about as much loyalty and support to his ex leader as Howard does to the Australian public.

As to the so called new front bench, have you actually looked at the 4 people chosen to lead us into the new era? Talent? Well one of them can sing at least but frankly I'd prefer Jimmy Barnes as he's a "working class man".

Some of the comments here are complete drivel. Whose town is "tough"? And who's the biggest drinker? What next? Perhaps who has the biggest ...

Beasley did have to go, he has been the major negative for the ALP since the Tampa appeared over the horizon. In that regard any change is good but what will be the reality of the "team" work? Same old backstabbing and pursuit of personal gain?

Mr Rudd no doubt wants all ALP members and supporters to unite behind him but then again so did Kim, and Mark, and Simon. Didn't happen. The blades are still there, waiting for a handy back in which to be inserted.

Saintfletcher's statement that most voters are polling against the government is also ridiculous. Read the polls, it's tight and will be tighter come election time.

Why? Simply because the incumbent government has a huge war chest to buy votes with plus the usual. That is short term memory. People forget all the damage done when it's time to choose.

To Tapp, couldn't agree more mate. Major party voters are fools who reap what they sow. Unfortunately the rest of the population also cops what these people vote for.

RobbyH
your right

I had been thinking how to describe the liberal and labor party monopoly and it suddenly came to me

Just like the AWB they dont want anyone else in

this way the people can have no choice

Steve M,

In my day it was Souths. The working class drank in one pub, the business class in the others.(Royal George,the Club Hotal or down the road in the Commercial). The RSL was perhaps the only place where the two met.

And the high school curriculum was divided along similar class lines.

CLP and National party territory, the local Labor party branch met secretly somewhere. Both Swan and Rudd were politicised at university.

Swan was a real Redneck, still is in many ways.

Rudd on the other hand knew what it was like to be considered an outsider, demands loyality and gives it in return.

Its a miracle he got past the right wing unions. I'm glad he did.

Neither of them could play rugby to save themselves.

Why not take the entire Labor Party, the Greens, the Democrats and retire the whole bunch of self interested , mediocre no hopers. Make a clean sweep then perhaps we can find some dinkum candidates who really care more about Australia to form a party and put the interests of Australia ahead of their personal ambitions.
It will be a damn sight cheaper too.

Yeah would be cheaper but to get the members and those that wish to represent their community is the hard bit

Rudd's first opinion poll has come in neck and neck with the little rodent. I will wait for clear transparent policy before I make a judgement one way or the other, however Rudd seems to be off to a flying start.

For those comments on a separate new party I have some sympathy on that issue, however if Rudd can turn the Labor Party around, and bring it back to the centre of politics again, perhaps he will create the new party from the existing one, time will tell.

I for one will wait until I see the policy platform Rudd puts in place - even if I do not like him or gillard for that matter - it is the policies of the parties that interest me -

beats me why so many here form opinions based on appearance and very small amounts of detail - and at the same time expect those opinions to carry some weight in the market place of ideas - who care of he looks like a school boy - or whatever else people like to say about him -

Mickijo said - Why not take all the Labor Party, the Greens, the Democrats and retire the whole bunch of self interested , mediocre no hopers. Make a clean sweep then perhaps we can find some dinkum candidates - I am genuinely interested to know on what basis he makes that assumption about them as a group - seriously what is it about them or their policies that as earned them this assesment?

sneeky,
I can answer that question for you mate, brainwashed from birth into the mindset of fear of the unknown. When Hawke/Keating were in [not that I had much time for them] Australia didn't turn communist. We retained our international commitment to our US masters, the world didn't turn upside down, we didn't find red's under the beds and the yellow peril didn't invade us.

In short Mr & Mrs Average and family recieved a slightly better deal, and the Packers a slightly worse deal. With interest rates rising, and real incomes for the low to middle class falling, we have gone back to pre-Hawke era. If Rudd wins it won't be a huge difference just a slight readjustment.

sneekeepete, I would sack the lot of them as useless, do nothings. We need a good Opposition, not a bunch of losers.
The Australians do not vote Libs in as much as they vote Labor out. It is simply we have no choice. That's the rub.

I acknowledge your strongly held view m'jo - but what is it based on?

Are the libs any less self interested? - if so how do you measure it? - are the they any more or less mediocre - how do you measure it -

-there are almost as many siitting libs for example that have come up as party appratchicks as does have the ALP - there is a bus load of lawyers in thier ranks - nurses rank as having higher integrity and trusworthiness than that lot any day - ambulance officers being the most trust worthy - so have a low opinion of labor sure - but why?

Basic philosophy is the difference between the two major parties. Labor tends to try to look after working people more, Liberal tend to look after the Packers more, both sides have dead wood, however Australians are so conservative that even though there should be room for a new major party, there isn't.

So we deal with reality, I think at the moment the little rodent has built up as much resentment in the community as Keating did. If Rudd can bring the Labor party back to the centre of the political spectrum, I think he has a rare opportunity to capitalise on the extreme right wing policies of the rodent, and knock him off his perch.

Many of us vote the way we do not because we think the party we vote for is the best, but because we see the party we vote for as being the lesser of the two evils, a sad state of affairs really.

for those that have the passion for a change and stand up for a new direction is great

the hard part comes next and that is commiting to it, which most have a problem doing even when the Australian Peoples Party is for the people and by the constitution a person can run as not being voted in unless there is more than one or a mutal agreement is made but by volentering, now that is how people should be decided.

This way you are gauranteed that at least those that run are from your electorate with your issues at heart.

Good article Mark, but I don't think you have considered those factors in Kevin Rudd's favour.

Howard is tired, even if he doesn't show it. He has nothing to prove, so he's not going to push for reforms that he might have done in the first, second or third term. The Liberal agenda died after Workchoices, VSU and Telstra. Old ideologies are finally legislated.

The change of government cycle is there. Most governments don't last much more than 10-13 years, and without a timely handover to PC, there's a pretty broad target for the ALP. Steady hands isn't going to win it for John Howard if they can show his weaknesses.

Kev's drawn out the battle lines. IR is a vote-winner, though not by itself (which is where Kimbo went wrong). And Rudd's got the lines that Beazley didn't have. IR only works if you can put a solid case that it undermines 'family values.' This is the new catalyst.

Climate Change: Howard is the last climate change skeptic politician with any political capital. Bush is dead, so his views on Climate change don't matter anymore.

Iraq is a worry for Howard. With a change in course happening at the behest of the constituents in the US, it may start to register here. Then again, maybe not. We haven't lost any troops.

The talk of Federalism is both a challenge and a strength for Howard. Reforming Federalism would be a good way to eliminate the poor state administration of hospitals, but see para one. Howard is tired. Rudd has much to prove. He will either succeed because of his agenda and vision, or Howard will be able to run a scare campaign based on his lack of experience.

But with Rudd's ability to work the media as good if not better than Howard's, I think he's in with a real chance. He's also not going to fall at every hurdle like Latham. Latham had to punch hard and early because Howard was always going to lure and wedge later on. Rudd will be setting traps, not falling into them.