<<…the world's economy will only get BETTER, not worse!>>

How do you figure that, benq?

As populations grow, primary resources become harder to attain not least oil, and as our environment degrades, economies will decline both in per-capita terms and in absolute terms. Debt and other stresses will manifest themselves and national economies will be very seriously affected.

The booms will be shorter or absent and the busts will be much much bigger.

This is perhaps the biggest shortcoming of Abbott and indeed Gillard and all leaders before them – the lack of realisation that in Australia as in most other countries, the whole system is built on a house of cards, which WILL come tumbling down or at least be very seriously damaged when our chronically unsustainable supply and demand system reaches crunch point.

The very best thing that the Libs can do is to embrace a regime of genuine sustainability and to start expressing the dire situation that we will be in if we continue to grow our population, rely so heavily on export income from primary resources and remain addicted to oil.

The Libs need to set themselves up as the sustainability party that we have simply GOT to have, and to make themselves look very different to the Labs, and very attractive to the ordinary voter.

Abbott can’t do this. He’d have no credibility. Hockey couldn’t either. But perhaps Scott Morrison could if he were to become leader.

1. With regards to Hockey. Never will be PM. Fat jovial people never get taken seriously. Looks and acts too much like the Aussie Home Loans guy. Never seen them in the same place at the same time. Maybe the Libs should have that slogan, "We'll save ya!".

2. Abbott won't get voted for by women. They find him creepy. Even though it's taboo to talk about Barron Gillard's (I prefer the spelling and further 'red' connotations) de-facto family arrangement as if it has a bearing on her values and hence suitability, Abbot's religiosity is fair game.

3. My policy is to vote all incumbent governments out. Why encourage the ineptitude we currently have. Until one government impresses me, it's the only way. If NSW government was shown the door regardless of the opposition, we'd be in a better state. Federal Labor is already on the way to becoming like NSW Labor. Many NSW voters agree with me. A pre-emptive strike is needed. We should vote governments out not in, as they vary very little in quality, and the longer a government is in power the more arrogant they become. See J.Howard.

4. Everyone should put labour and liberal candidates last and second last on the paper. Only way to get any message through. Apart from the luck of being rung by a polling agency. Polling agencies are the closest form of democracy we have. The only way to have your voice heard.

5. The papers have decided Gillard will win in a close election. I picked months ago that the papers had decided they didn't like Rudd any more. The papers know things, you should listen to them. They knew Rudd was the saviour two years ago and they knew he was an evil dictator ruining the country soon after. They have their finger on the pulse. Don't be left out!

5. The Greens are the devil incarnate. Don't fall for their bribe of legalising drugs. It will never happen as long as ACA and TT appear on TV.

Oh, and Tony Abbott licks his lips too often. It brings imagery of the snake (Devil), and of sleazy porn actors.

Hasbeen re Having given us Whitlam & Latham, a couple of incredibly incompetent, but arrogant ratbags as leaders, then Rudd, an arrogant twit, you start talking about what the libs should do. You even suggset Turnbull, another arrogant twit should be recycled.

Yes, it is strange how those who, based on the snide comments, obviously elected the current bunch of incompetents to government and would have elected all the forerunning cronies of union bosses and secret deal brokers , have the temerity to advise us on how the liberal party should behave.
But those who would have voted for Whitlam (hubris personified), Hawke (who ousted Bill Hayden in another union inspired palace coup and would see no Australian child living in poverty – HA HA oops) and who, in turn was shafted by the grim reaper, Keating (Tax cuts written into LAW... but he was Lying), Biffo Latham and that most recently departed Albino Chinese dentist,
do enjoy casting the shadow of their worthless opinions over their betters

doubtless Ms Gizzards will be on the nose of the socialist mob should she follow the likely path and disclose her lack of credentials to the electorate before voting day, which is likely to be sooner than later, bearing in mind she is competing against the clock with her credibility and the end of the honeymoon.

The public conversations that surround
politics often reveal the deep inability
of each opposing viewpoint to comprehend
the other; a world of much mutual stereotyping
and consequent ignorance.

More intractably
problematic is the fact that so many of
the voices in this sermonising - for it's rarely
a dialogue - merely talk across each other.

Within their own frames of reference, they may
make perfect sense. The problem is that we're
unable to see the limitations of our own frame
of reference. Anyway,I do try to sweep the
clutter of my mind aside,
and find some precious mental space, in which
I often find myself gazing
silently at newspaper articles and news programmes
on TV at night. In all that - I see a world far
too complex and sophisticated to be stuffed
into two linguistic boxes labelled - "conservative,"
and "left-wing/socialist.

I would have said " lizard" Houellebecq, he also makes an audible clicking noise
with his pallet that sort of signals that the tongue is about to go into unlock mode
and say something he considers clever.

i recently worked with a car servicing manager whom used the same smarmy grin
technique Abbott does. After shocking someone with overpriced charges and an unsatisfactory result.
It appeared to the observer, that he took great delight in
telling customers that it wasn't his problem.

They would say "but you've charged me all this money and I've still got the problem"
He'd reply "at least you've got new shock absorbers now, so we know it's not that".
Repeat smarmy grin etc. His ears would rise in unison with the grin.

The personalities is all that is left to me (it seems) of Australian politics
because it is hard to determine the difference between them,
both sides now beholden to the Corporate Sector.

It's possible that Kevin Rudd's scalp was part of the new tax deal.
It was amazing how fast the new PM was able to forge a deal with the Big Miners.
Rudd may well have been the last genuinely labour PM we will ever see.
I'll remember them all fondly, although of Bob Hawke not as fondly..

I voted for Whitlam in 72 and 73? because all the Senate did was block everything.

I refused to vote in 75 in my own personal veto of an election that was
hijacked by the opposition rigging the numbers in the Senate.

Democracy on that occasion was not operating correctly and was influenced
unduly by vested interests and media barons, and their oversea's interests
even possibly oversea's govt's.

The unprecedented situation itself, that our twice elected govt had found itself in then,

was enough alone to depose it, even before the 3rd election had even been held.

I may well do so (veto I mean), this election (at least symbolically),
based upon similar reasoning. Maybe it's time for a new mainstream party
that puts the people first?. Oh well just a passing thought.