This whole Julia V Krud thing has that old Hawlk V Keating smell about it.

Why not do the honnorable thing madam PM and call an election.

If you win, then well done. But at least you will have been elected, as oppossed to having been gifted the top job due to the failures of Krud.

I don't think its terribly clever at all to gloat about the people's will
at this stage rehctub.

It has now become abundantly clear that it is mining company's,
that decide whom our PM shall be and not the people.

We the people continue to poll consistently against our own best
interests anyway, under the sheer weight of the "big money spin" of the
rich Multinational and Corporate vested interests, and their political cronies
on both sides of politics. We're not too bright out here it seems

Whomever wins the next election will now be offering the people the modern day
equivalent of a bag of beads, for it's mineral resources and will appease our
apparent need for racism and xenophobia.

Rudd's ( manly too the end ) deposition was more like Abbotts
deposing of Turnbull. That was equally disgraceful and costly for Australia.

In that we lost our opportunity for an ETS, something supported by both Rudd
and Turnbull and the people. Possibly the only 2 conviction politicians in our Parliament
have now been executed.

Meanwhile it's back to business as usual for the big end of town
and the usual conga line of politicians, bowing and scraping.

I heard Twiggy Forest telling the Govt it had a small window of opportunity
to negotiate, already dictating terms of discussion to our new PM
under threat of bringing back their advertising blitz.

Would an election make any difference?. I doubt it.

Julia Gillard has indicated that she will do the honourable thing and call an election. Whether she keeps her word remains to be seen, though of course she will have to eventually. I think it's reasonable to let things settle for a bit before she does. She hasn't even had the platform of 'opposition leader' to work with to prove her worth, so give her a chance. I will say, though, that there's about as much chance of me voting Labor at this election as there is of me playing fullback for the Cowboys. But I'll keep my eyes open and see how the next couple of months pan out.

Besides - even when we have an election, we have no power to choose our PM. We can choose our local representative. The party with the most local representatives will choose a PM - either Abbott or Gillard, by the looks of things. But, of course, that may change.

Thinker, Julia Gillard supports Labor's mining tax proposal, she was one of the architects. The miners did NOT by stealth install Gillard as leader. The miners will find Gillard just as tough, probably tougher, as Rudd during the current negotiations. The main difference between Rudd and Gillard is that she's less autocratic.

The miners have been using outright manipulation, lies, "false" closures and "false" project delays and "false" threats to go overseas, because Rudd tried to bang them over the head. Gillard will achieve the EXACT SAME long term results that Rudd was aiming at....... but do it with a more even handed, less autocratic personal approach. The miners are just big babies and whiners when they don't get exactly what they want. They've done it for decades and decades........ whine, whine, whine and whine. The whole reason for the whining is to **MANIPULATE** public opinion, and use it as a tool to get what they want. They almost always fail! Why? Because in the end they **HAVE** to sit down and **NEGOTIATE** for the good of their businesses. They're just big, whinging babies!

Rehctub, Gillard WAS elected. Both to the parliament AND the top job. The "politicians" elect a person to the party leadership (for BOTH parties). The "general public" elects a person to parliament. Your sour grapes post betrays your political slant. Would you demand an instant election if the tables were reversed and a Liberal Prime Minister was replaced? Of course not. You're full of it son!

Be careful rechtub you are wading in the deep end here.
Within a week most conservatives will know an election is the last thing they want right now.
We do you know elect our leaders its called an election.
And Julia, surely you understand? is bound for an increased majority?
But thanks , I did get a laugh out of your post.

Elect the Governor-General.

Does not require Constitutional change, perhaps an act of Parliament.

IF such act rejected by one house, present to people of Australia for them to decide question using Constitution s.128 .

Governor-General has constitutional requirement to select her/his Ministers for Executive cabinet of government from members of the Parliament, so retaining accountability - to the Parliament - and to the people who elect the Members of Parliament.

Why do our politicians NOT want a popularly elected Governor-General ?

Don't think there is much question that the election will be called soon enough. Julia will want to go while the honeymoon hangs in. First though she will want a quick resolution with the mining tax, a new position on the ETS and don't be surprised if she changes some of the health agreement to apease WA. All of this will sit well and probably won't be too hard to achieve coming off the problems Rudd had with everyone.
Electing a GG is on the face of it not a bad idea. The issues come around once elected people will expect more action from the GG. This leads to the position becoming political and how long before we have a labor GG threatening to sack the liberal government. The current system is not perfect but functional, so until i see a better alternative i'll stay with it. Why do you think the republic never get's up. By and far the majority want it, we just don't trust the pollies to deliver it without making fundamental mistakes in the constitutional changes they will have to make.

benq>> The miners are just big babies and whiners when they don't get exactly what they want

What they want is what was on the table before they invested billions to extract the minerals. Nobody expected, or should have expected, that some hot shot Pm would suddenly shift the goal posts.

Now on the other hand, if the government says that they are going to tax all future projects, then that's another story and they are well within thier rights to do that, just as the miners are within thier rights to take thier projects elswhere.

This is the cruts of the matter.

Belly>>And Julia, surely you understand? is bound for an increased majority?

Boy, where have I heard that line before? Along with lines like, She will never lead my party....

Wake up belly and smell the roses old mate.

Now as for Gillard.
Well, if she can prove she is worthy of the top job, then that's great for everyone, myself included, as for labor to loose office after just one term means we all loose.

Just remember though, she played a huge roll in wasting her fair share of OUR billions.

I say again, if only these fools were finacially accountable.

My tip, costelo to make a re-appearance. After all, he's proven to be the best money manager we've ever had.

Boy, wouldn't that cause some panic.

Rechtub I have no doubt you and I could have a bar b q and a beer without fatality's.
Watch a footy game together and enjoy it and each others company.
I have form for mixing with the under informed.
Of my large family the brother I love the most votes Liberal.
Worse still follows Manly.
My neighbor is also a mate, for ever, he votes Liberal, but at least follows Parramatta.
Me? Saint forever, if you insist Dragon.
Those two could come to our Bar B Q I will buy the snags so you can make a quid.
Brother who became a Liberal for one reason, his namesake Bob Askin was number one fan will have nothing to contribute to the conversation he knows bugger all about politics.
You can talk to my Viet vet mate.
He knows even less .
Football? now we all will enjoy that.
rechtub old mate my understanding of politics was on display as some feared 2007.
Judge me IF the increased majority does not come, meanwhile keep the subject to football.
PS as I am buying the snags I want real pork not ones you blanched under cold water, hope you like Bundy it was my drink a long time before white bears conned kids into buying it.

"After all, he's proven to be the best money manager we've ever had." rehctub i appreciate that you said money manager and not treasurer. He was a good accountant and new his limitations but as a treasurer he left some to be desired. A good treasurer is one that makes valiant decisions that have a lasting effect over how an economy performs over the next decades. Not one that slashes the spending to bare bones sells the heart out of the country and rides a finance and mining boom. His stupendous surplus turned out to not be so magnificent when the hard times arrived and now all the Telsta money has been spent we have non left for environment. The Asian financial crisis was a blip on the radar in view of the GFC and the GST was his only reform of any significance that in the end was the final part of Paul Keatings reform agenda.
The current government with all its problems has already put forward more reforms and investment into the country than the last government did in 11 years. The national broadband plan will see strategic investment into a system that will contribute significantly to the investment of business and commerce in rural Australia. To leave this investment to business will see it limited to the major cities and the continuation of the current problems in development and overcrowding of our cities while rural Australia falls further behind.
The mining tax will see the reinvestment of finances into the rural communities that the mining sector have stopped spending on since the fly in fly out mentality began. It will allow expansion of a super system that is under enormous strain trying to keep up with the rate of expanding cost of living. An ETS or Carbon tax would give the nation an ongoing ability to sustainably fund reforms in environment while encouraging companies to move away from carbon polluting systems. Funny how we all react when a few hard realities appear.

Good post nairbe.

Mr Costello was a GREAT money manager and national accountant. He was a TERRIBLE treasurer.

The magnificent surplus was NOT available to Australia because Mr Costello was a good treasurer. It was available to Australia because we had the BIGGEST mining boom period in our entire national history........ (Costello admirers should repeat that sentence 100 times so they at least have a small chance of understanding reality)!

As it turned out, and not through any foresight or planning whatsoever, we ended up with a surplus that could be used to help us avoid a terrible, lengthy recession "IF" it was used for stimulus and infrastructure repair IMMEDIATELY and at the beginning of the downturn. Mr Rudd, in a stroke of genius that saved our sorry a r s e s, did just that. Our country was the first to act in such a strong and decisive manner. It helped us GREATLY!

Belly>>Judge me IF the increased majority does not come

You have already been judged mate, your 'PM with increased majority' has gone and pulled off a 'Kim Huges'!

As for the barrby, would love to.

BTW. To blanch something you use hot water.

nairbe
Great post, I will respond latter as I am out of time.

BTW, this may shock you all, but so far, madam PM has announced some very positive idears.

Despite what you lot think, I am always a swinging voter and will always vote for what is best for the country. Cheers

"Julia Gillard has indicated that she will do the honourable thing and call an election"... well, she has no choice does she, since the ALP time is up very shortly, and the election is due, isn't it?

As for the GG selecting people to govern us, what nonsense.

In fact, there is no need for the GG at all, nor a president.

The other Furphy here is the opening one, that the people elected Rudd.

Not so at all, as with all election wins, the people voted Howard out, and Rudd was simply the ALP leader.

As our Monarchist Republican, Bill, complained about when he lost to Hawke, a drovers dog could have won the 2007 election, with WorkChoices such a patent dead Albatross around the Coalition

TBC you do know don't you?
Well your posts are full of self confidence could it be miss placed.
An election need not be called until April next year.

You are correct Belly, and I may well be wrong, but I suspect the 'goodwill' will soon enough dissipate somewhat, although not altogether.

The expectation is to have the election sooner rather than later, and it would be dangerous to disapoint that community expectation.

A campaign from now til April would kill any leader as punters got bored stiff.

There will be a point at which the first preference Greens votes stop returning to the ALP, a couple of weeks hence I'd say, and then a campaign from July to August will suffice.

I do expect Queen Julia to be returned, and Abbott to evaporate to nothing on current performance.

That is just a 'feeling', I am not 100% confident... it could all be wrong.

You know, while all this crap is going on, is anyone actually running our country, or, is it simply on 'auto pilot'.

In any case, whether labor looses the upcomming election or not, the next term or two will be spent trying to fix the number of broken things left behind by Krud.

Meanwhile, he will be sitting back, with his personal fortune still intact, probably in some high paid consultancy job he has fixed for himself, which seems to be the case with retired pollies these days, while we suffer the concequences of his little romp.

After all, we're not all blessed with a rich missus!

nairbe
You seem to forget the huge debt that the howard government inherited, thanks to PK and co and, if not for the howard teams management', Krud would have plundged us even deeper into debt as he still would have wasted billions, only all borrowed.

Remember, there are people that are not yet born that will owe money.

The stimulis was a good idea, however, as proven again and again, Krud had no idea how to manage it. The wasted billions are living proof of that and can't ever be denied.

I say again, the best way to stimulate an economy, is to make employing people easier.

We now have thousands of small businesess on the verge of collapse. Why? Becauee the stimulus money has gone and more hoops have been placed in the way of employers.

Very few people today feel thier jobs are secure. Agree?

National Broadband.
This is a joke.
People buy in the country because the land is CHEAP! Often one 10th or even a 20th of the price or the cities.

Do they expect to pay pittence and then get the mod cons?

I own investments in the country and I will clean up when this BB plan comes to light. But I still think it is wrong and there should be a huge levy placed on BB if you live in the country. Then, you can axcess it if you choose, but pay for the privilage.

Continued

Mining tax.
If you want profits from mining, then buy shares. At least then you also share the risks.

Madam PM says it's wrong and needs changing. BUT! Where will the billions needed come from now?

Any clues?

After all, almost the entire labor budget relies on this tax.

They hide behind the phrase 'non-renewable'. But that's what the royalty is about.

Nobody was complaining about the royalty when coal was $30 per ton and miners were going broke, did they?

At the end of the day you can't shift the goal posts 'mid steam'.

The tax rules were in place when the project strated and were part of the consideration at the time. They must remain the same until the project is finnished.

By all means, introduce a tax to all new projects, then, the miners can decide whether or not it is worth the risk.

Having said that, I still think that is dangerous and may well place thousands of jobs at risk. But that's just my view.

Another joke is when the government says the miners must be happy as they are offering to buy the rail in QLD.

Of cause they want it, after all, they have watched Anna lie waste billions on failed projects and most likely feel there may be no rail left if they leave it up to her to manage.

This is just another cheap political stunt.

On my way home tonight I heard Twiggy Forest claim that he was 24 hrs from signing an agreement with Kevin Rudd over the RSPT,
and now that is all suspended because of the leadership change and was basically demanding that Julia put the deal back on the table.

Perhaps I was wrong about Mining Corps deciding whom our Prime Minister should be, in my first comment on this post.

Maybe Mining Corps only think they can dictate terms to elected Govt's in Australia
like they actually do in third world countries.

Maybe Kevin Rudd was about to perform another backflip on the RSPT,
and we now have another leader because they Labor Party just couldn't abide this.

In addition the CFMEU came out today and committed to combating any resumption
of hostilities from Miners with their own advertising campaign. In response to threats
made by the same Twiggy Forest earlier in the week.

Interesting times ahead. Despite not knowing the real facts, ( about the Rudd demise I mean ),
i still think it fair to say that we could not and should not have Tony Abbott
( Mr preferred PM rating of 29% with or without Rudd ) for a Prime Minister regardless.

The Liberals can only react to the Labor's leadership change by having one of their own.

I believe this patently obvious, and therefore the primary reason why an election will be called sooner rather than later.