The real break with the past came under Hawke and Keating. It was they who started Australia down the path of economic liberalization. Howard and Costello continued down that path and I am sure that after a brief hiatus so would Rudd and Swan.

I shall not be voting ALP but I view a possible Rudd administration with equanimity. The real differences between the two parties are not material.

For those who want a punt the Betfair online betting exchange offers the following odds available as of now:

Labor: $1.60

Coalition: $2.54

See:

http://www.betfair.com/

("Politics" is, rightly, classified under "sports" on betfair though opera might be an even better categorisation)

On the whole I find betting markets offer a more reliable indicator of election results than opinion polls.

WARNING: More reliable but definitely NOT infallible.

Belly,

Rudd is a self-described fiscal "conservative." In fact he may turn out to be one of Australia's more conservative PMs to the extent that term has any meaning.

But, IR aside, what major changes do you seriously expect under a Rudd Administration?

Open wide ,come inside,its play school.Labor will be your best friend and promise you lots of goodies.Bananas in Republics are coming down the stairs ,Bananas in Republics are coming down in pairs.

Kevin is going to wind back all the Hawke/Keating reforms and let the Unions off their leash.Just watch them blow the future fund on their hair brain pet social engineering schemes,increase taxes,bureaucracy,red tape inflation and thus interest rates.

They also have alluded to using superannuation funds as cheap sources of finance for housing.Now that will mean far less returns on your super fund.

As I said before Garrett and Gillard will bring us the Trojan Horse of panic environmentalism and socialism that will destroy our economy.Do you really believe that Kevin can control so many ex unionists?

Arjay,

What exactly is wrong with allowing people to dip into their super funds to buy a house? I'm not saying use super to cover the whole cost, but instead to provide that initial deposit.

Think of it as shifting the funds from a managed system to capital. The money is still there, just locked up in the land.

maybe its about time that mr rudd and mr howard adnitt to to rapes and abuse that occurred at daruk boys home when iwas their in 1977/1978,, both the goverment of australia the labour party, the liberal party and all the other parties are covering up the real truth as to what happend to us victims when we were children we are called the forgotton australians ,,we were the children that were raped and abused by goverment staff employers , not only in boys homes ,this was also occurring at girls homes ,remand centres orphanages , and in and out of institutional care ,these were places that were run by the goverment of australia and the state of new south wales , so bring attenion to us victims that are still surving today and give justice to us victims ,stop the sydney supreme court from dissmissing our cases take brown v state of new south wales for instints, on the 20th september 2007 assocciate justice macready state the complaint is plainly real and a tragic part of our history but dissmissed the case so now the case is being appealed by the plaintiff ,because the goverment and the state of new south wales and the ministers for department of youth and community are and were responable for the fidisurie care and duty of care , if mr howard has any heart he will step in and resovle justice for us victims and if mr rudd is any decent man he would give justce to us victims ,, i look at it this way the goverment whether its either side they will still lie about what we went through in these state run institutions ,, its about time the cover up stopped as to how when we were children in this home daruk boys home were made to be slaves for the goverments illeagale tyre dumping ground making prohits from the slavery of us victims their was an attempt to have me murdered in 2004,

Belly

It seems you are too ashamed to answer regarding what has been posted about the labor party.

Well you do have to do as you are told so must wholly support these type off people that attack children.

How many more are their Belly. I know you can not say.

How safe are our children from the labor party secrets that are hidden.

Do Not Open Your Doors To The Labor Party Members.

If the labor party want me they know where to find me.

Stuart Ulrich
Independent Candidate for Charlton
swulrich@bigpond.net.au

Pegasus. Those many people signing the invitation for Mr Chavez to come give us the good oil on Socialism were Australian Union Officials, members of the ALP. Senator Nettle of the Greens and Senator Stott-Despoja were co-signatories. This certainly indicates that the appeal and influence of Socialism is not dead in Australia, despite there being no significact "Socialist Party" as such.

James Purser. The aim of super is to provide a stream of income in retirement. This can be from Dividends/Interest etc and/or through a gradual selldown of liquid asset held in super. Withdrawing cash early on, to finance a house purchase (or even just the deposit) turns the money into an illiquid asset which cannot be sold "gradually", not to mention the depletion of the "nest egg" which is supposed to be compoundind over 25-45 years. The real complication comes if the people withdrawing the money, later "lose" the house/ or want to move etc. who will ensure that the house profits/capital gain (if any) will go back into super? To keep this all under control would require a lot of supervision and bureaucracy, and attendant management costs. If there were a deposit-only loss from super this may impact severely on the future amount to fund their retirement. If more than deposit-only; total wipe-out. Bearing in mind that many average wage earner/worker types have only the employer guarantee super, and that THEY are the most likely to withdraw it for a house the potential disaster for them is huge; immediately and in their future.

Anyway. I'm still dripfeeding money onto the coalition as part of MY super strategy!. Cheers.