<< There is nothing wrong with the present (State) leader of the LNP. His more measured, quiet delivery and progressive conservatism are attractive to voters, both male and female, however he needs to get known. >>

And therein lies the quandary, Cornflower. How does he get sufficiently well known and respected as being genuine, amongst the masses that find politics totally boring, with this sort of approach??

Unfortunately, I don’t think the quiet approach will work.

So that takes me back to what I’ve said a bunch of times on OLO – the Opposition (state of federal) needs to really set itself apart from the incumbents with some very tangibly different policies that will resonate with the voters.

And the best way to do this is to embrace real sustainability and population stabilisation. In fact, it is probably the only way.

Ludwig, you and I often think alike when it comes to polotics.

Nowdays, very few elections are won, rather, they are lost.

JH came to power back in the 90's because labor lost. He retained office three times, all very rare wins. He then lost in 07, but labor did not win.

Anna Bligh lost the last state election, but just didn't loose badly enough. Next time it may be different.

We need people with balls. People to make hard descisions that don't involve selling assetts when you yourself have caused the debt.

We need someone to address housing affordabillity by winding back the ridiculis wages being paid to many like, apprentice plumbers earning $1500 per week.

I'm not suggesting a return to work choices BELLY, but seriously, when you have a gap of more than a thousand dollars per week between trade apprentices, Butchers V Plumbers, you have an in-equality being built in to the system.

The reason Butchers wages are so low is because the general public won't pay huge prices for food.

Now how are the plumbers of the world going to cope if and when the building industry collapses. It has before!

Another problem with elections is that even the non-productive of society have their say and they will simply not tollerate anyone who dare disturb their nests.

And, there is a fair chance there will be more 'hand-outs' desguised as 'stimulus' before the next election just to secure the votes.

When labor are finnished with this country, both state and federal, I fear there will be no pieces left to pick up.

Ludwig, "..the best way to do this is to embrace real sustainability and population stabilisation. In fact, it is probably the only way."

That would work for the sorry opposition we see at federal level. It is the federal government that is foolishly continuing with record immigration numbers and a 'Big Australia'.

However at State level I believe that the best marketing and best government are in doing the basics exceptionally well. Those fundamentals that State government was set up to do and can only be done well by State government. That and budgeting to provide lower, not higher taxes. It needs a lot of earnest, straight talking though, which is hardly convincing if State government ministers are regular world tourists.

People are fed up with the uselessness of the labor spin merchants.
Look at them Beattie, Bligh, Carr, Iemma, Rees, Kenneally, Bracks, Brumby, Gallop, Carpenter, Rann, Bacon, Lennon and Bartlett and at last some sense in the West. For the last 10 or 12 years these bastards have wrecked havoc across Australia

Look at the state of the states. Most of these spin meister bludgers got away with their lies and mismanagement solely because of the Howard Federal Government exceptionally good economic management.

Now we've got the king spinner as PM and look whats happening. The mis-management of the states is becoming all too apparent because Rudd and Swan are unable to manage the Federal Economy as well as Howard and Costello and the funding stupidies to and of the states is now totally out of control. Yes the blame game has stopped and the chickens are coming home to roost.

And Rudd wants to introduce another tax to send wealth overseas.
Pah! deranged.

Labour should be banned and it's members tried for treason.

<< However at State level I believe that the best marketing and best government are in doing the basics exceptionally well. >>

But Cornflower, one of the most basic of basic responsibilities of state governments is to protect the future wellbeing of their constituencies and strike a balance between people and environment, blah, blah, and to NOT let the demand exerted on stressed resources just blunderingly increase with no end in sight.

In Queensland this is a huge factor that runs against good governance. In fact, it is so important that even if Bligh was really good at everything else, she’d still be critically terrible overall.

I mean, with Queensland’s enormous population growth and with such enormous stresses manifesting themselves especially in the southeast corner, how can she possibly not be directing everything she’s got towards fighting for a stable population and a regime of real sustainability??

OK, so she’s instigated the forthcoming population growth summit. I hope to goodness that it is a genuine balanced forum for addressing population and sustainability issues….and that she’ll modify her approach accordingly.

But regardless of this, the opposition should be running with it!

It is not just the federal opposition, it is very much the state opposition parties – all of them, and most so in Queensland – that should be embracing sustainability.

<< …budgeting to provide lower, not higher taxes… >>

I don’t think lower taxes are the way to go. I think that making our tax dollars produce real improvements instead of chasing the tail of continuous rapid population growth and struggling to keep up the same level of services and infrastructure to ever more people without producing improvements for the existing populace is the big problem.

So I say, don’t reduce the tax level, but do reduce the population influx. And do it now, Anna…and come on John-Paul, get your party behind this and either make Anna do it, or win power by advocating it and do it yourself!!