'Gillard was along with the unforgivable Simon Crean responsible,with Fitzgibbon, for dumping Kim and installing Mark Latham.
That awful group still owes my party and my country for its roll in that and the failures of the Rudd era.'

I agree Belly. Kudos to you for holding such a long grudge too.

I cant really keep that kind of grudge. I was a leader in the Howard Hating movement, and I really missed hating him when he left but all I can do now is laugh at him and think... silly old guy. The Deputy Sheriff! That Australian tracksuit. Silly old guy.

Labor were so close under Kim, but world events conspired against him. It's one of the more respectable oppositions I can remember. I mean oppositions are eternally quite pathetic all round, which is why I wonder why people give Abbott such a hard time. It's always been the job of oppositions to provide a short sound-bite of 'No, that's rubbish' at the end of every news story about the governmnet.

I reckon I'd be wonderful in opposition. I can oppose heaps of stuff like I do on OLO even when I really think it's not a bad idea.

I always liked Kim, but Australia wasn't ready for a fat jovial man with a heart of gold to be PM. Which is why Hockey who is a lightweight in comparison to Kim hasn't a chance in hell. Actually Hockey is a loveable buffoon all round, while Kim had all that respect ion foreign affairs and could suck up to America while retaining a semblance of self respect, not like Joooolia and Johnny.

But Hockey and Kim are both fat and nice guys I reckon.

If Labor gave Cate a safe seat I reckon Australia would vote her in, and she'd be a shoe-in for PM.

Then I reckon the liberals should get Bolts and Piers to be a shadow climate change committee.

I reckon Politics is like a SOAP opera for men. Like the NRL.

I too am inclined to think that Julia is highly vulnerable right now. And given that she seems incapable of presenting any policy to the world with any conviction, I suspect the end may be nigh.

The problem that has been examined from every angle over the past few months is still the same: what, if anything, does she and her Party stand for?

A Labor Party - any Labor Party - should have a solid ethical foundation based on fairness and compassion. This one seems to be stuck in the rut of factional opportunism, without any form of guiding principle that might eventually extricate them from the mess it is in.

The other facet of her leadership that has become painfully apparent is that she has no "presence". We, as a country, need a leader who can stand alongside other world leaders without looking painfully provincial. I can't see this changing.

Common sense tells us that Labor will lose the next election, under any leader. There simply isn't the time available to right the ship. So the return of Rudd - effectively reversing the backstabbing that has never been completely forgiven - is the safe and sensible option.

With luck, he will have learned a little about himself in the meantime, and make a better fist of it. He might even be fed up with all that travelling.

I can't see Labor ditching Gillard before the next election, but I'd be very surprised indeed if Abbott is still Coalition leader, particularly now that video of him advocating a carbon tax has surfaced. Abbott does a good job as an attack dog, but he's unelectable as PM.

Compared to an ETS, the carbon tax provides far more certainty for business. The only reason an ETS was put in place in Europe, is that it was impossible to legislate a tax on carbon, and by setting emissions, the government can wash its hands of the price and consequences.

In 2009 it looked as though a global agreement was going to be reached, and I was in favour of a carbon tax. Since then there has been no global agreement, and a price on carbon on probably a few percent of emissions.

I will support a carbon tax, but not yet.

I bet Kevin is feeling exceptionally smarmy ---- the milkybar kids revenge

his one time deputy and now his nemesis -

Gillard is toast... the socialist mob and their turncoat independents all know they are dead in the water

Bob Brown, the little green terror, is the only one unaware of how high a stench this government eminates - largely because Bob is so far up himself he has evolved and can no long survive in daylight

Bring on the next election and lets get back to a government who ran this country like it should be and that is with

No Carbon Tax

No Malaysian refugee bulldust

No House Insulation fires

No Recessions

No Surrender to the unrepresentative Greens


- just free people getting on with their lives

- without undue interference from a bunch of control freaks

Yes Houelly, the fools got rid of the best prospect for a good PM, who could have been liked & respected by everyone when they got rid of Kim.

Pericles why on earth would you want to have a rerun of a bloke who has proved himself to be an idiot. Someone who has no analytical ability & can only go off half cocked. Gillard is ineffectual & dithering, but Rudd is decisive, until everyone shows what a stupid mistake he's made, & then back flips, mostly. He is more dangerous to Oz than the red twit, because he sometimes gets his stupidity into force, like going soft on people smugglers.

I watched Rudd while foreign affairs spokesman, declare his undying love & support for Kim, but it did not take much perception to see what he was then. That you fell for a paper cut out is to your undying shame.

Morgan, anyone who has been stupid enough to support Rudd & Gillard, or either of them for PM has shown such incredibly bad judgement that doing the opposite to their suggestions has to be a better way to go, than following them.

You & your mates denigrating Abbott, & claiming he is unelectable just reinforce my expectation that he will be our next PM.

I know he is not arrogant enough for you lefties, probably why you all like Turnbull, but he is closer to normal than the rest on offer, & that's got to be a good starting point