"getting rid of those they don’t want while they still have the chance, moving back to casual employees etc; unemployment could well be back to double figures in 6 months."

This is happening as we speak.

The risk of hanging on to see what happens is too great for many businesses, and as others have observed, the result will be the ALP's fault as unemployment rises.

WorkChoices didn't effect the majority of people (yet, perhaps) but now a whole lot of potential employees are no longer worth the risk and will not be employed and many others will be 'moved on.'

I think, the Ruddslide will also be dependent on the Ruddster being a social conservative as well as an economic conservative. That may well be the difference between one term and more than one term.

If people want left wing politics, they vote Green, if they want right wing pollies, then Liberal and myriad minor parties, but, the ALP has now taken on the centre. If it can stay there, then it may go well, regardless of how poorly they perform - see NSW!

I am just waiting to see how long it takes the union movement to realise that they have propelled a rabid right-winger into the Lodge, and what they will do once this realisation slowly dawns upon them. Have we finally got rid of the lying rodent only to replace him with the lying cane toad?

Thank God! I was seriously looking at immigrating if Howard had held on one more time. However the Australian people have finally come to see the Howard Govt for what it really was - divisive, mean and lacking any real vision for the new century. The past decade of enormous wealth has been wasted with no real investment in national infrastructure, a funds starved health system and shrinking investment in education. I would love to see Rudd say the promised tax cuts will be vastly cut back and instead invested in health and education. I truely believe 90% of Australia would support him on this. People are coming to understand more dollars simply flows into higher house prices and inflation. As a life long Labour voter I expect Rudd to take the mandate that has been handed him and create a country we are all proud to live in with social cohesion, opportunity, envrionmental concern and inclusion to be its driving principles.

I agree with Perecles about a very significant factor for the Ruddslide - the mendacity factor.

I voted the Libs out because of the ongoing lies, distortions, devisivness and negative fear they spoke and projected. To me they were a disgrace to our good national character. Whenever H or his ministers spoke on something, same old lies disortion and spin. I didn't want change for the sake of change, I wanted change because I wanted an end to the bad character of the political leadership.

Mendacity is the most commonly listed factor in the blog commentaries I have read on why the election result.

I think the fact that, over the last 2-3 years especially, the ugly right wing morality of Andrews,Ruddock,Abbott,Heffernan,Robb,Downer and other dead-white-males and the way they lied and spun Rau,Solon,Hicks,Haneef, the AWB,the WMD,kids behind razor-wire, the Pacific "solution",the NT invasion ...finally all these things caught up with them. The Lindsay leaflet was just the icing on the cake. The NSW right wingers have captured the whole show and the likes of Baird,Georgiou,Payne are sidelined and howled down in every forum. Even your very average punter can sense that this mob is on the nose and an embarassment to be associated with.

Why the Ruddslide?

The answer can be found in the political convergence over 20 years and that the coalition lost its moral compass; sins of the past were visited upon the coalition on Saturday.

Strategically Rudd left alone those issues that run to deep emotion - - but there was recognition the ALP commanded the higher moral ground.

Rudd confronted Howard on his own territory and did not need to win so much as highlight the similarities and capitalise on the fact Howard had become increasingly unpopular with the electorate.

The relative powerlessness of a small economy - in all its indicators - has the electorate believing the government is in many ways some what powerless - upward trending inflationand interest rates are good pointers to this. So people were happy to leave what can be done to the opposition.

The coalition would have us believe they were responsible for the resources boom and the prfits that flowed - they would also have us believe Workchoices was the cause of grwoing employment - like the promise the GST would eliminate the black economy - we all knew was nonsense

But the litany of questionably moral positions adopted by the conservatives took its toll - it started with Tampa, the hubris displayed once they controlled the Senate, refugess sewing lips together, citizens in their hundreds being incarcerated or deported by a lazy and inept DIMIA, the means spiritedness of Ruddock, Vanstone and Andrews, lies re WMD, the fact of the invasion against the peoples wishes, sedition laws, Haneef, the abject vilification of Muslims by Nelson, Costello, Abbott and Howard, the intrinsic and forseeable exploitative nature of workchoices,the brutal exploitation of overseas workers brought in on special visas and turned in to slaves -- all left enduring scars on the complexion of the coalition to the point they looked a pretty ugly alternative going forward.

Add it all together and the coalition failed to see the avalanche of discontent - that is why we saw a Ruddlside