Dear oh dear. Dr. Prasser makes it sound rather terminal for the liberal party and I am afraid that I generally have to agree with him.

One other problem facing little Johnny H is the fact that the Labour party has finally got a leader who is espousing policies well before the next election. We might not all aggree with those policies, but at least there is something alternative for us to consider, something which hasn't happened in the last two elections.

Another problem is that the Work Place Relations still seems to be very unpopular in many quarters, and will remain so when a large percentage of workers realise that they are being paid less, generally for other reduced terms of employment

Bob Quinn's wife called the QLD Liberal Party "a pack of b@stards" I note he has nominated for the Senate casual vacancy. Bruce Flegg's leadership is under threat because he will not back John Howard's 2 billion dollar pork barrel of the Ipswich motorway.

Given that at the 2004 Federal election there was an increase in the Labor vote in Qld, the Liberals are facing disaster in 2007.

"a hollowed-out Liberal Party bodes ill for Australian democracy." It certainly does and the NSW state election is ,along with the Santoro affair another example of a party bereft of any thing resembling policy for good government.
Leading the bankruptcy of the Liberal party is the PM. He has set a perfect example of duplicity with his colleagues and the population, that has seen aspirants to power following his example. No wonder the the likes of Santoro flourish.
I disagree with the reference to John Howard being the ultimate party man. He has only ever been a John Howard man. Use of the party for his own ends has always been his agenda and is a major contributing factor to the parlous internal problems described.

I sit here in my New York office having left Australian shores some 21 years ago and I can not say I am at all surprised at the political demise of Santo Santoro and the damage he's brought to my old party. Having served on the State Executive of the Queensland Young Liberals some 25 years ago with Santo I can only say that what does surprise me is that it's taken this long for him and his tactics to finally come a cropper.

His fall from grace which I’ve followed in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Courier Mail details almost exactly the type of things that he did when I knew him and it amazes me that the Party has allowed this man to wield so much power. In the early ‘80’s he was well known for branch staking as a way to build his power base and it seems that the faction he created and which propelled him into the Senate after his inglorious loss in Clayfield should be seen as the antithesis of the democratic process.

Santoro has only ever been interested in his own power and it seems his greed and disregard for parliamentary rules means not only his political oblivion (look how quickly that Mark Powell’s, Santoro’s choice to replace him, stock declined) but perhaps it will be this scandal, on top on many others, that loses the Liberal Party control of the Federal Government.

When that happens what hope is there for a fractured party that finds itself out of power Federally and in every State?