Polls rule under today's pathetically organised groups of scared little people. They are called MP's but 95% of them have no say on anything do they? The few in charge decide everything with occasional ajustments for other's objections. They decide what our country will be and is.

That is while we allow these two Parties to dominate our government's. If you're happy for your MP to obey Howard or Rudd then just stop thinking and let Big GrandDaddy (or Brother in Rudd's case) make your decisions.

Mind you those decisions may lead to no water, no electricity, no fuel for cars that don't take alternate energies. Public transport, roads, health, education. You name it, today's MP's talk about it but do very little.

If you want this to change you actually have to start telling your MP they work for YOU. And tell them how you want them to vote on each issue. And demand answers when they don't.

My MP voted for the MP payrise. I have asked him why when I said he didn't deserve one. Clearly he thinks I'm to be ignored but what if we all did this? Actually asked MP's to look after us? Why don't you do it too. It's no big deal, just asking your employees to do what you employed them to do?

Think about that. If Howard's AWA's allow dismissal without reason then I sack my MP right now. Would you? You have reason and it's not unfair as they don't follow their job description do they?

And don't tell me how hard they work. How many hours has Howard or Rudd actually done working for Australia? Not many mate. Rudd says he hasn't been home basically for the last 10 months so how is he doing anything other than campaign for Labor? And Howard. Does he do anything but campaign. So they don't work for us most of their work time. You happy with that?

Before you decide on your vote ask them to do what we want, not what they are told to do by those organisations they owe.

Of course polls are supposed to be just a sample of opinions. That's what they are meant to do aren't they?

As to polls not being accurate, well, they seem to be close in Oz politics over the last 20 years. Which is what polls should do, be close to the reality.

However your point about betting markets is spot on.

People don't bet out of emotion when it comes to elections. They bet the way they think the majority will vote based on a range of data.

Oz betting has changed dramatically since Rudd was made ALP leader.

Prior to Rudd the betting was about like this :

Labor $2.60
Coaliton $1.50

Which means the bookies and punters still had Howard as favourite.

This has changed this year and has gradually reversed to make Labor favourite. Not only favourite but clear and unassailable leaders. The betting is like this now :

Labor $1.36
Coalition $3.20

Game over. As it happens I started betting on Labor at $2.60 and have now had a bet on Howard at what was $3.60 before this weeks poll. So I can't lose. And neither can Labor.

Howard's price came down from $3.60 to $3.20 this week following that poll. But Labor's price did not change at all. Why? The bookies simply took some sucker money. That's it.

I would like to be able to not only exist but to go back to the days when i could afford some sort of entertainment.Nowadays all the income of this house is spent on surviving.Food prices have skyrocketed,ditto cost of living.We have no credit cards or hire purchase,just our normal overheads.Once we could go out for tea,go to the movies,have a holiday or gamble if we wished.I use less electricity now than in the past but the power bill has risen 11.37% making my bill the highest ever.I walk the shops adding my groceries as i go because food prices have escalated so much.They mining boom has escalated the figures for average earnings but most people don't work in that industry.The govt need to take a look at how the average income earner is doing,then they'll realise just how difficult it is to make ends meet.For the first time a household needs two incomes to survive.I dont believe their is a way to undo the damage that has been done.I worry what is instore for my children and grandchildren when the whole of their wages will be spent on surviving life,not quality of life.

I was hopeful that the hard questions would get a run.
My hard questions would be, What does your party intend to do to,
(1) Improve the education facilities available in public owned schools and the development of the clear and logical thinking capabilities of students in all schools. Undermining the self-confidence of a child should be a criminal offence. Our children also need courses in ethics not in the churches' warped morality.
(2) Improve the medical and dental health of all citizens.
(3) Reduce and hopefully eliminate gouging of customers by many commercial enterprises. In this regard banks are very much to the fore as are the two retail giants. Third line forcing is well understood by economists to be the antithesis of competition and therefore very undesirable but has been allowed by both major parties.
(4) Eliminate public funding of governing party 'barrow pushing' advertising which probably, in effect, corruptly buys support from media enterprises or at least minimises criticism. The resources saved could be applied to points 1, 2 & 3 above. In this matter 'Honest John's' party does look very honest.

The Australia I want for my daughter is one where Workchoices is only a memory, not a reality. One where public education attracts more than 35% of the federal education budget, since it educates 67% of all students, one where Global Warming will be tackled not merely spoken about. An Australia where equity and fairness prevail, not at all like the current Australia.

Thanks for the invitation, Andrew. At the risk of indulging in motherhood statements, the Australia I want my kids to grow up in is:

- An Australia in which our leaders seek constructive solutions instead of reflexively looking for a victim group to blame for our problems.
- An Australia in which our taxes pay for healthcare and infrastructure, instead of subsidising companies that use our taxes to profit from the provision of essential human services.
- An Australia in which people look first to what their co-citizens can contribute to the society, instead of focusing on how their co-citizens worship, what they wear, what languages they speak or their ethnic background.
- An Australia in which the public education system enjoys the confidence and respect of the entire community, so that people don't feel the need to opt-out and exercise a Hobson's 'choice' to unnecessarily pay tens of thousands of dollars for a good education they can get for free.
- An Australia in which newspapers report news instead of peddling opinion.
- An Australia in which we are immune to moral panics about whatever group of people are the demons-du-jour.
- An Australia that is excited to be engaged with the wider world, and especially our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region.
- An Australia that fosters strength through diversity. A strength built from harnessing the diverse talents, interests, ideas, cultures, skills and expertise of everybody in the community.
- An Australia that is economically prosperous, and which makes wise and sustainable use of our scarce resources.
- An Australia that faces the future with hope instead of suspicion and fear.