Hazza, agreed. I am hoping Canberra will field a few Independents and we do have some good Greens. NSW voters were in the same place last election, the choice between woeful incumbents or hapless opposition.

CJ I reckon Turnbull will not stand this election, he is an entrepreneur and probably has numerous options. I could be wrong, he may choose to wait for Abbott and Joyce to muck things up a bit before swaying back into the fray.

The ALP could learn a bit from the Libs about being a bit more real at least with the Libs you know what you are getting and can judge on that account. Joe Hockey has dropped his characteristic (extreme) evasiveness of late and that will hold him in good stead for later if he can keep it up.

Belly, the dirt is being thrown around by the Opposition only because the Government has given them the ammunition. Abbott is getting a bit OTT though and the public will either forgive and allow a few failures (like Foxy has) or they vote with the government because they will be overdosed on the muck by the opposition.

Overt muck-raking does not work if it becomes the focus of opposition. Policies and ideas are what people want to hear except for those thinking only of their wallets. Don't think there will be much left for cash splashes at the next Budget let alone the next election, so maybe the pork barrelling will be at a minimum.

The group of people I work with all voted for Rudd last election and were glad to see the end of Howard, but all without exception (bar myself) will be voting Libs this time around. They have had enough of the Rudd Government's lack of understanding around implementation and service delivery and budget cuts that make real impact on those least empowered to effect changes.

Despite this I do believe the Libs are in with a chance but Rudd will most likely make it over the line.

Bit like calling a race isn't it.

Too right Pelican; I think that's probably the positive about parties that try too hard to copy each other and move towards the so-called "center"- any contrasting stances (eg immigration, workplace relations, secularism in government and freedoms) that might force voters to simply vote for the other party just to keep the other from doing too much damage are completely neutralized.
Lots of people I imagine would still be suspicious of a third-party or independent- but it means more will see no reason not to check out the other parties- seeing virtually every policy (or popular and unpopular stance alike) will be more or less carried by either major party.

Malcolm Turnbull- wouldn't really get my hopes up- he's good at making whichever opposing side look silly in an argument (or else talk over them) but I'm not so sure he'd have any interest in doing a sincere job if he were PM- and his history while in government wasn't very impressive.

>>As for the Opposition - Turnbull's obviously the best but he's apparently too intelligent for the current crop of Tories.<<

What about this possibility. Abbott loses the 2010 election and despite Turnbull being the smartest candidate, the conservative element in the party totally blocks him. Turnbull cools his heels waiting for an opportunity while Rudd bids farewell to his underlings in 2012, a year out from the election after he sees that things can only get terminally bad for him and, anyway, the world of international politics beckons. By then Gillard is looking shaky, Combet won't take the job because he's too nice a guy and Tanner isn't quite up to being leader.

Nature abhors a vacancy, so what about enter stage right Malcolm? Of all the politicians in the Liberals, he'd be about the only one who could fit into Labor. And he looks to have a very good reason to be disillusioned with his current party.

I could be off with the Martians though.

RobP,
What a delicious scenario....Should that be "enter stage left"...or "stage centre"?

Not a prediction, but wouldn't it be lovely, in the words of the song, if labor drafted Turnbull.

With him & Rudd we would have quite a sight.

Just imagine these 2 arrogant, vindictive, spiteful, truely horrible people together. The view of them both almost expolding, trying to keep their bile down would be great fun.

Impossible, I know, to have this pair in the same party, at the same time, but I agree with Rob, he's in the wrong party. Someone that dumb, that he can believe in AGW, should have joined the other one.

Poirot,

Turnbull's got a number of positions on the left, the right and the centre. Left on asylum policy and homeless strategies etc, Centre on most things, and Right on the operation of markets. Being an ambitious character, I'd back him to appear on stage wherever there happens to be an opening in the curtain.

(NB: Everything's so mixed up wrt to Left and Right now that I don't think Joe Public cares too much about labels; they're only interested in outcomes.)