Ah yes Foxy the tall poppy syndrome....the ALP loves cutting down tall poppies even more than Liberals, Democrats or Greens or anyone else. (It's why one of the best ideas to come out of Australia in the 80's was ignored by the government but taken up at an international level.)
Be patient? Fractelle what is there to be patient about. Kevin has spoken. It is a done deal. Democracy is dead. Yes, I am that pessimistic trawling through some further reports.
I would have been far more positive if some of the candidates proposed by other parties had been given a seat at the debating table. They weren't. There were some truly outstanding candidates proposed and, I believe, some very innovative ideas (e.g. in housing) but the delegates were chosen according to some pretty strict guidelines and one of them was their Labor credentials.
This was all about supporting the ALP's hidden agenda. Republicans may be happy with the outcome but this is not democracy at work. Ditto with issues on the environment (no, they did not take into consideration oil issues). They still want a form of cultural apartheid for indigenous Australians although that is not apparently what many indigenous Australians want. It's a narrow politically correct outlook instead. They want all children to learn an Asian language - again what a narrow outlook, why not just all children to learn a language other than English? Why was childhood and children's issues virtually ignored? Children are our future!
Along with plans to nationalise tax and transport and the fact that people like South Australia's Rann got the delegates together and told them what they had to put forward - well, it becomes clear it was an ALP talkfest dressed up to try and fool the people into believing that Rudd is listening...so far the man has done nothing of value but he talks as if he has achieved great things. He's lost and does not know where he is going. He can handle the publicity but not the power.

Dear Communicat,

You're entitled to your opinion.

However, let's not pre-judge anyone.

It's early days - let's see what the new government achieves after their first term in office. Then you can bad-mouth them all you like.

For now however, it is better to at least make some progress in a few areas of concern instead of attacking and rejecting on purely political grounds, and achieving nothing.

List the positive achievements of the Howard Government for the past eleven years. It shouldn't take too long - it certainly won't be a long list of achievements. He might even get a footnote in a school text for future generations saying, "John Howard was Australia's second-longest serving Prime Minister, and was only the second sitting PM to lose his seat in a general election."

A Prime Minister who didn't achieve what he could have whilst in office. A Prime Minister whose Prime Minister-ship was very much a wasted opportunity. One where he focused more on implementing his own idealogy than working for the betterment of the nation and its people.

Somewhere along the line he just lost touch with the people - and that can be death for a political career, as he later found out.

Whatever you may think of Mr Rudd - wait until his first term ends -
don't let your politics influence your judgement now.

I suspect history will judge John Howard rather more kindly than that Foxy
How long do I have to give Kevin Rudd? He had years in Opposition to prepare for governent. He's had months in government now. There's been a lovely big summit with more than 90% of those present affiliated to the Labor party in some way - a really nice representative cross section of Australian society - and a pile of old ideas have been recycled.
The people with the new ideas were not invited to the summit (and yes there are some people with ideas out there) because they did not support the ALP agenda. It is often with good reason too - issues of oil, education, the environment, children and stable government loom large in the minds of the uninvited.
No doubt though that Kevin Rudd will manage to keep the lid on such ideas. So far he has succeeded on keeping the lid on some other very dirty business indeed.

Foxy, if you happen to read this...the reports are trickling out and I am more pessimistic than ever.
I had a good hard look at some of the submissions. It would take weeks to trawl through them all and pull out the nuggets there (and there are some) but nobody is going to do that.
Kevin Rudd got what he wanted - plenty of media coverage with a standing ovation thrown in for good measure - and that will be it.
The 'ideas' that go through will be the things that were pre-agreed with some of the ALP heavyweights who were present. Some of those were not, according to delegates, even discussed.
I suspect anyone writing a submission who cannot be found on the rolls of the ALP branches is wasting their time - and perhaps even those who are to be found.
What a wasted opportunity!

I suspect history will judge John Howard as the worst prime minister in Australia. The republic is very, very big idea and if Kevin put the monarchy into museum I will vote him at least three times more ...
I did not hear anything for an independent Aboriginal state but I am sure the idea will start to win more supporters. Let's first finish with monarchy!