I appreciate this is not the point of John Roskam's article, but the concentration on the Opposition amazed me at the 2007 election. I am still wondering if the fact that virtually every Liberal Party advertisement was actually about the Labor Party (critical of course) had an unintended side effect of highlighting the Labor Party more in the voters minds than the then government. So when we went to the polls, more of us automatically selected the Labor Party.

As for the erratic behaviour of some senior bureaucrats, I also wonder if the slightly increased emphasis on appointments of people thought likely to toe the party line in the bureaucracy over the last 10-15 years has misfired. What is the point of a government having too many senior 'yes' people working for it? They contribute little new in ideas and automatons could implement the governments programs if that is all that is wanted. I would always want a small, but intelligent coterie of devils advocates to help me keep evaluating the programs and policies I or my party were pushing.

Err, Mr Roskam, the reason the media focused on the Opposition was because its leader accused the Prime Minister of the nation of corruption.

That his accusation turned out be based on a forgery concocted by a clearly unhinged public servant that saw himself as a member of the Opposition made Turnbull's error even a bigger story.

As to your ritual, flint-eyed, flat-earth, ideological ramblings about education and health, you don't seem to understand that people WANT better funding of public services.

Our children's woefully under-resourced public school - no heating in the classrooms, disgusting public toilets, no assembly hall - is getting a revamp thanks to Mr Rudd.

I know you think "the market" can settle every problem, but it should be evident to anyone with any common sense after recent events that leaving problems to "the market" to sort out leads to disaster.

So why don't you take your neo-liberal, Dr Strangelove notions about the way the world should work and go and play somewhere else. You've had your turn on stage.

for gods sake, what a pathetic whine. i agree that the rudd government is pretty horrible. but why would anyone concentrate upon rudd when there's an ongoing train wreck of an opposition to watch? and why are they so pathetic? because for 10 years that rodent howard stood for nothing except keeping himself in power, and the pathetic yes men behind him stood for exactly nothing at all. (except for the complete loons like heffernan: they do stand for something). now howard's gone, and you've got this pathetic, meaningless rabble left over.

roskam, stop whining and fix your joke of a party.

One almost feels sorry for the conservatives. After years honing their dependency on a single "policy", namely Labor=terrorists and union bosses, they find it no longer works. However in the mean time they have utterly lost the capacity to put forward concrete ideas that have any appeal to the majority of Australians. Instead, they remain obsessed with the belief that everything is the fault of the media.

Perhaps if they stopped feeding stories about forged documents to their tame hacks at News Ltd, they might have a stronger ground of objection.

er....another think tank' special. Says nothing, does nothing to assist.
"Never mind the quality feel the length" or some such meaningless drivel.
Is the author suggesting that the opposition is irrelevant? I thought so too. No policy, no direction and 10 leaders.
Some bright cookie once said our government are only as bad as the opposition lets them to be.
And I thought the Opposition was supposed to be an alternative government!
Gawd help us! talk about dumb and dumber being our options now we have stink tanks acting like rugby cheer squads !Do we now have dumb, dumber and dumbest?
Here's a flash for you, why not suggest something that will make a difference like er...plausible policy?

plausible policy .. what a joke. All you fools voted for Kevvy's plausible policy and he's reneging on it and you are quite happy to cop that c--p.

No wonder Ausrtralia is in serious trouble.

Think the depression is over? Well take a look at retail spending now that the 'fantastic' stimulus package is all gone. In the US and here. And watch when the construction stimulus package is all gone. Activity will fall in a heap.

All Kevvy has done is extend and deepen the depression. Watch the unemployment figures . The trend regardless of all the spin is for an increase.

Talk to anyone in business all the crap in the media is just spin to keep useless Kevvy boy in place.

What about Kevvy boys grand friendship with China. Stern Hu is still in jail and Kevvy and the media are saying nothing. It is a bloody disgrace.

How much Chinese money has bought the labour party? Ask Bligh in Queensland? What has happened to her enquiry into political donations? Quietly abandoned without the media saying so much as boo.

Suck it up tory scumbags. Led by a fool who thinks his s%#t dont stink and with friends like gretch the mole, they are nothing but a joke and a parody of a serious party and they deserve to be laughed at.

With the likes of the mad monk and the jolly roley poley hockey, not to mention backdoor barnaby and the his weird farmer mates totally at odds with the rest of them on everything, oh and dont forget mad old uncle tom tuckey, every boofhead and misogynists best mate. With the only sane one and their only hope walking smugly out the door they are left with a bunch of dinosaurs, idiots, merchant bankers and spivs.

They are a divided rabble driven by infighting, backstabbing and an insanity resulting from their inability to cope with their loss of power. They dont deserve anything but ridicule and distain. They are incompetant and useless as an opposition and they only have themselves to blame.