Even with radical change it will be 3 terms before they are a chance.
Yes I am ALP but it is my truly held view Rudd is no show pony he will be no easy task to get out.
States? Labor is weary in NSW my only hope they are awaiting this election to spill blood on the front bench.
Seems clear Costello will lead by midnight Saturday as Howard fails in Benalong.

The stories circulating here in Victoria are that, if the Liberals lose on Saturday - and even if Howard and Turnbull win their seats (which is no certainty) - that there will be a rush to the exit seats. No one except the very young and ambitious wants to be in the leadership roles for the next term. And several will not see out their terms in Opposition.

Costello and Turnbull haven't got the patience or humility to be Leader of the Opposition and Abbott is tired of political life altogether. Downer wants to lead the Liberal Party in SA (Premier Downer is an acceptable title to the goofy son of Lord Downer of Crafers and doesn't understand that you actually have to work at winning titles, not just inherit them).

Ruddock and Andrews are going to open a funeral parlour business together.

Bishop the Elder will beg the ALP for the Speakership (but won't get it) while Bishop the Younger will be put in charge of Opposition business in the House (if she had a sex change she'd be a good bet for Leader but the Liberals don't go for competent women - look at Amanda Vanstone).

Brough and Hockey are young enough, but are they talented enough? Robb is experienced in the back rooms of the Party but would hardly have the charisma required to be in the public spotlight.

The Nationals will stage a palace coup under Barnaby Joyce in the wash-up from the Wheat for Dollars scandal and the Regional $$$ corruption that the media will spotlight after the election.

It's a real succession crisis - one of the worst of the negative legacies of Howard's egomaniacal desire for eternal power.