http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-11/mcgowan-says-no-coalition-with-greens/4123636?section=wa

"The WA Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says he will not invite the Prime Minister Julia Gillard to help him campaign in next year's state election.

With the Federal Government languishing in the polls, many WA Labor MPs have privately expressed that Ms Gillard's involvement in an election campaign will be damaging to state Labor."

It is sad when a sitting PM becomes such a liability to her own party.

They dumped one dudd Rudd and took on dudd liar Gillard. One was, and one is, poison according to the pollsters. Who except David Bradbury would want Gillard barracking for them openly, not one who wants to protect their political future.

"DON'T GIVE THE PENSIONERS ANYTHING, THEY DON'T VOTE FOR US ANYWAY" is the only honest thing to come from Gillards mouth in the past five years. That statement portrays the "fodder" mentality that Gillard has for the electorate, and in particular the most needy segment of that electorate.

SM, I object to your single minded attack on Gillard, why pick on Gillard, the party is chock a block full of zero's.

Eminently sensible comments from Mark McGowan, I would say!

When the Federal govt is not doing well in the polls, the state govts or oppositions of the same persuasion should distance themselves. When the Feds are doing well, they should draw as much support from them as possible, especially in the lead-up to an election.

And if a state govt or opposition is going to distance itself from their Federal colleagues, then better it be out in the open than unstated or side-stepped when asked the direction questions by journalists.

Let’s face it; these days the incumbent federal government is most likely to be polling more poorly than the opposition, because of the level of discontent with all politicians, which of course gets expressed most strongly against those in power.

So what SM?
It is my Ernest wish she stays away from the Federal one!

I have always assumed that state elections were
won on state issues. Still there may be more to
it than that. People are often ready for a change
especially if one particular party has been in power for a
long time - as in the case of Queensland.

I wonder how much better off Queenslanders are today,
under a Coalition Government. Or for that matter -
how much better off are they - in NSW or Victoria?

The Coalition does not inspire confidence and if they sit
back and think that they will cruise into government - that
would be a huge mistake. They can sit back and think
that people will choose the "lesser of two evils," however
they may end up getting a rude awakening if the people
decide "better the devil they know."

As for WA - I don't think the PM's popularity (or lack of)
is going to matter. The election will be won on state issues.
It's up to Labor in WA - to persuade voters what they
have to offer the state and what their opponents don't.

The Coalition's strategy has always depended on the
electorate contuing to perceive that Labor and the PM is
failing to perform. It's up to Labor to change that
percpetion and leave the Coalition looking like they
are lacking. What just may trump things at this point
in time is the desire for voters to have a government
that will take control of Australia's present and future.
In that regard the government is doing well. Whereas the
Coalition demonstrates nothing in this area - simply only
telling voters what is wrong with the government (and the
PM) stops working after a while.

cont'd ...

BTW - The Coalition does not want Mr Abbott helping
them in their state election either - as heard on
a TV news report. Both parties want to run on their
own merit on state issues and don't want the interference
of Canberra.

State elections are run on state issues, but only the most naive would believe that the mood of the electorate is not affected by the performance of the federal parties. The odium in which Juliar is held poisons each and every state labor's election. I'm sure that the mining tax will be a vote winner in WA.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/labor-chiefs-fear-federal-backlash-in-state-polling-20120711-21wfh.html

When Rudd gained office every state was labor held. Now every major state has gone to the coalition, most with overwhelming majorities.

"The Coalition's strategy has always depended on the electorate contuing to perceive that Labor and the PM is failing to perform." and labor and the PM have assisted the coalition beyond their wildest dreams.

Dear Shadow Minister,

You look at select opinion polls and
certain newspapers and judge the government
is "in crisis."

However - you might, like me, look at the many laws the
government has passed and policies it has enacted and
conclude that the government appears to be exacting its
stated agenda with impressive follow through.

It's all a matter of judgement.

One thing is certain. The Coalition does not inspire
confidence and will appear lazy and directionless
if it feels it can simply cruise into government.

I will tell you a truth.
WA right now include followers of every party, are anti every one else.
Not new *wise men from the east* is as built in as QLD anti every one is, much more in fact.
Opened up by a Brit, now as Aussie as anyone Alan Bond.
An Icon he and Gina's dad bought great wealth and opened up that state.
If they, the above voters had a Chance they too, would not want Gillard.
NSW QLD the power houses of Labor, reduces,for a short time to tent city, would not want her.
Polling is descriptive of Australia's thoughts, good the bad and the ugly.
The fact is poll any place, except an Abbott party mates factory, and they would not want him either.

Lexi,

You accuse me of cherry picking the polls, Perhaps you could show me a poll where Labor is not headed for a wipe out? Juliar is as popular as nuclear waste (which is what this thread is about)

Labor's achievements include the carbon tax and border protection debacles, which is impressive for the wrong reasons. The carbon tax will go the same way as work choices did.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Things can change in politics in one day.
The point being made is simply that no
one should take anything for granted
or feel that they will simply cruise into
government. This fallacy has been proven
wrong in the past as history has shown.
It's all very well to keep on with the mantra
that this is the "worst government," scrap
the tax, stop the boats, et cetera.
However perceptions do change and as I stated
earlier the Coalition does not inspire confidence.
So it may come down not to the lesser of two
evils," but people just may decide on "better
the devil they know."

Scare tactics and fear mongering will eventually
stop working and unless policies of substance
are presented and not just "aspirations," the
Coalition may end up getting a rude knock.

Anyway, keep watching the polls by all means.
It shall be interesting to see if and how they gyrate
prior to the next election.

Dear Belly,

Some people may not like Gillard but if there is
one feeling that will trump that at this point in
time - is the desire to have a government that will
take control of Australia's present and future.
Mr Abbott and the Coalition demonstrates nothing
in this area.

Lexi my love of the ALP.
My fear of Abbott.
Will not let me pretend/have my self on that Gillard could win a raffle.
IF she bought every ticket the seller would run with the cash and never draw it.
Politics is about reality.
My chances of winning lotto tonight are higher , and I do not have an entry.

Dear Belly,

The fact remains that Gillard did win the
last election and Tony Abbott lost. The
fact remains that Gillard did win over
Rudd's attempted challenge and Mr Rudd lost.
Now whether Gillard will win the next election
remains to be seen. However it does appear that
the lady is the preferred leader amongst her
party colleagues. And in the meantime the party
under her leadership is achieving some major
policies and reforms.

Lexi the policy's of the ALP.
Are the better.
Believe me
Our problem is not climate change.
We have gone past that.
Gillard, her inability to take Abbott on.
Her ,so far, [watch this space] unwillingness to say ok it will not work BUT!
ALP at least WILL ACT! lets do it Abbott's way!
Lexi, in truth mutual distaste for Gillard and Abbott props both up.
Given a chance voters will run in to the arms of LEADERSHIP.
Here is Labors problem,as IDIOTS inside the party fear,even demand, no change, we may well dig our own grave.
Both leaders will change soon.
Has Labor the Guts to lead? yes.

Lexi,

Polls can do a massive swing, but it takes a series of significant events, such as the pink batts, the school halls, the Copenhagen collapse, the failure of border protection, the mining super tax debacle, the carbon tax lie, etc. This has made federal labor and Juliar intensely disliked by many voters.

None of this all happened in a day. To change the polls back, Juliar has to pull off several spectacular victories for the Australian people, or find the entire coalition front bench guilty of child abuse.

The next elections are in just over a year, if nothing much changes, it is unlikely that the polls will too. Abbott has no intention of letting the focus move from the government, and is unlikely to give labor anything to move the attention away from itself. Abbott will continue with others to move around Australia undermining the carbon tax and reminding voters of the lie and other failings.

The saying "madness is doing things the same way and expecting different results" applies here too.

Belly, If you watched the LNP conference in Brisbane and saw how TA was received as a conquering hero, don't expect a change of leadership in the coalition.

Shadow Minister at the conference the more right to more they are loved TA is right of everyone.
And gone! new leader soon.
My old stamping ground Sydney town hall Labor Conference this weekend.
Never heard a better speech, our MS Gillard sounded great.
Truly states woman like, not kidding.
Why now.
Well first some back ground to my once lost weekend, do we know half the seats are Unions? 50%? and that to fill them, SOMETIMES any old sod is taken?
And that some use it to have a dirty weekend away from home.
Ms Gillard addressed our party's best, and SOME HUNG OVER with the vaguest idea about politics.
She did well.
They clapped every sentence,rose in their seats as she came and left, or awakened and half lifted did as told.
Gillard let loose the ALP heartland speech, even I loved every word.
Had I been there, as I clapped, my heart would have questioned my hands.
This is the question,why now, why here, why not ten twenty such speech's in the past?
Are we clapping the woman who condemns us to over a decade even two, in opposition?
Is our solidarity with the wrong leader going to put Tony in power.
And am I insane or is it true without her we still, yes STILL can win the next election?
My answer? YES.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Quite frankly I am somewhat tired of politics
and I am beginning to learn that it is often
futile to argue or try to convince people
who are set in their political inclinations.
I won't convince you of anything. You certainly
will not convince me.
I admit that I don't always get things right
but to each his/her own. I tend to go for policies
that make sense to me. I can't speak for other
voters - only for myself. And as you know -
if the Liberal Party had a different leader I
would seriously take another look at it.
However, I do not like Mr Abbott and more to
the point - I do not trust him or anything he
says. I don't know what he stands for -
apart from John Howard, the Church, and the Monarchy.
I doubt if my perception will change I
find his comments and that of most of his front-bench -
idiotic.

I guess there's nothing more that I have to say
on the topic so see you on another thread.

Dear Belly,

I hope that there will indeed be a leadership
change prior to the next election. It would
be good if the voters were given a real choice
of politicians who would do the nation and
their parties proud. Politicians who go into
politics to make a difference. And not the hacks
that we currently have on offer.

Ah well, I can dream.

Lexi,

Firstly, given your posts, I don't believe that even if the coalition's policies were carved in stone that you would consider voting for the coalition. You are as rusted on, one eyed, left wing as it is possible to get.

Secondly, the thread was about how toxic Juliar was. I notice that no one has even tried to deny this.

Belly,

I was sure that Juliar would try and raise the work choices bogey again, as IR is the only issue that Labor has any traction on. Unfortunately, the coalition is likely to focus on the carbon tax, the boats, and the economy, all of which the voters consider it stronger than labor.

Lexi me too.
I get no joy out of negativity.
But truth turns me on, even if it is a truth I dislike.
I found yesterdays speech inspiring.
But as Phoney as a 3 dollar note too.
It insults us all, for ANY politician to be so lost for so long, then stand before an important crowd, delivering SOME ONE ELSE,s written speech.
If Julia Gillard wants to impress, this day, she should go public announce she is sick of fearing deaths at sea.
Sick of Greens ignoring deaths.
Sick of Abbott ignoring facts.
Does not think Nehru will work, is sorry for Labors past mistakes.
But is recalling Parliament to circle the greens and pass Abbott's bill.
Then call on every voter to ask their member every party to explore better ways, even Malaysia.
I note, we all should the deliberate terminological inexactitude/misleading of Australia, that over 140 country's have signed the UNHCR agreement.
Note please not one of them! not one! has ever expressed ANY INTEREST or willingness to take our refugees.
MS Gillard its time to go, before history remembers you as the Max the Axe of our party.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Rusted on? Left Wing? Who Me?
I'm more of a centrist to be
honest. However if not agreeing with your point of
view makes me a "rusted on," persona --- What does
that say about you and your own continual pro -
the Coalition - mantra that you display so generously
on OLO? Do the labels - "Shadow Minstrel," and
"Man of La Mantra," as another poster described you -
not suit you to a tee?

You've said that you don't
have any political party affiliation. The day that you're
able to have a reasoned, intelligent discussion on party
politics without slinging off at Labor - is the day that
you might have some credibility in your denials. I
can't see that happening any time soon. You just
can't help yourself. Others are "rusted on." While - You're
"aspirational." I get it.

BTW - I don't tolerate fools not matter what party they
support.

A taint no other word will do, or maybe a stinking cloud? what ever you call it it floats above Australian politics.
WHY? Labors policy's, are out standingly better than the few we are told of from the other side.
Yes Carbon tax, yes saying sorry, yes NBN, yes to much more.
OH we had the cash for clankers, peoples forum, dumping of RUDD, repeat that, DUMPING OF RUDD.
And GILLARD! strike me lucky! remember your grand dad saying that?
If we look, not at us, but the truth, she can not win, EVER.
Convict the front bench of the opposition, every one of them, with just being what they truly are, screaming avoiders of truth.
OR pedophilia! and Gillard will not win!
We the not conservatives stand opposed by media in Transite, trying desperately to invent a survival boat/story's to stay afloat, truth is sidelined.
Talking empty heads talking of that they know nothing about, giving their opinions as news.
We of the center must stay anchored, in truth and reality,do not drift away from those survival items.
SM?
If you Sir think as you talk?
Sorry you are haveing your self on.

Lexi,

I clearly said that I was not a member of any party in response to the query as to whether I was a particular cabinet member, not because I was claiming to be a swing voter. I believe in certain principles including that government needs to provide services that the private sector cannot, and no more. Also regulation should be to enable business to run efficiently and protect the interests of the employee and employer. I also believe in a rational approach to people smugglers, climate change, gay marriage etc.

My beliefs fit mostly with liberal values and I have been perfectly clear in all my posts that I am conservative centre right.

Lexi, I have never seen you not parrot the labor party line almost verbatim. Many views you espouse labor has now left behind such as the pacific solution not working.

"Many views you espouse labor has now left behind such as the pacific solution not working."

Such an unappreciated, balanced, rational guy is SM, who daily pumps out half-truths.

In order to achieve it's own solution Labor has brooked compromise over Nauru and TPV's. This does not translate into a change in outlook over the correctness of turning boats back by force or its likely effectiveness.

SM should try dealing in the whole truth if he wants us to believe he is anything but the Man of La Mantra.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Thank You for bothering to explain your position
to me. You sound like my father. My political
views are still developing. I'm still on my own
journey of discovery and as I stated earlier -
I tend to go more with policies rather than party
affiliations. Therefore at present - it's only
natural that I would support Labor for the simple
reason that the Coalition has nothing on offer except
for telling us what's wrong with the government. And
to me that's not a reason to give them my vote.

Yes, Lexi, if one attempts to conjure some idea of an ideological base defining a future Abbott-led government, one is left mentally grasping for substance - there's "nothing".

Poirot,

While I am sure that there are many tasks that leave you mentally gasping, there are many coalition policy positions that only the most retarded could have missed, such as those involving:

The carbon tax,
The mining tax,
People smuggling,
Etc.

What was Labor's policies on these, say in 2010? They changed from day to day.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Nobody with any intelligence would take the so
called "policies" of the Coalition seriously.

Mr Abbott has made it clear that he would cut
taxes, even the carbon tax and the mining tax,
and that he would re-instate middle-class welfare.
This can only mean very deep cuts in public goods -
including education, infrastructure, environmental
protection, all of which are necessary to
sustain our living standards and to build our
economic strength for the days when the commodity
boom ends.

Mr Abbott and his advisors don't seem
to understand that a welfare system needs a
productive base and that public assets are an
essential part of that productive base.

If the Coalition is to be taken seriously it has to
present something more robust and more economically
credible.

The gulf between Mr Abbott's ambition and its
realisation may yet be a bridge too for for Mr Abbott.

What Mr Abbott proposes in doing is a complete reversal
of earlier Liberal Party policy, which, in accordance
with its emphasis on self-reliance, was tight on welfare
but generous on building the Nation's physical and human
capital.

Since when has the word "NO" represented an ideological canon?

"Mentally gasping"....sums up Tony's political imperatives.

I need to clear up a view that I have inside information on the upcoming Labor leadership spill.
I do not,lets be frank, few in my party come out and say what they think.
Unless they believe it is safe to do so.
Generations of misuse of the term SOLIDARITY has had an effect.
That word along with maybe promises made on the night before Rudd was knifed, and the need to protect the ego, and rights, now forever lost, of power brokers to drive ALP are the only thing to have kept Gillard in power this long.
Take heart ALP, we have turned the corner, we are bound for a leader who will be liked.
It is not inside information.
Every one here can do it!
Read between the lines.
First look at Lexi,s post, all true, SM, read his, he is an easy target.
Every thing Lexi said is true, BUT our G has the gun on her shoulder, pointing the stock at Abbott and the barrel?
Right between her eyes!
Right now JG is out and about, you can feel it, in the very air,just as I did for Crean ALP Party members, those not constricted by the SOLIDARITY influenza, not the right no matter what crowd,are running away!
Our Branch's are empty of most, bar the its my Branch, my ladder to the house my way or none few.
Two of the best blue heelers in Australia, 200 off them! could not drive us back to our branches until JG is education minister again.
This is not about Abbott, Australia knows about him, but it will never reward JG.

Tomorrow is the day.
In Victoria a by election is to take place.
No Liberal, No National is standing.
Labor has held the seat for over 100 years.
Until 2 weeks ago, maybe still Greens are favored to win it.
I think 14 are standing for that seat, and have no idea who they are.
Yet just as tonight I will be watching without blinking the NRL match Manly Eagles Vs Canterbury Beagles, half bull dog half Eagles.
My PC will be fixed on the Victorian tally room.
Hard one.
If Labor wins Gillard will claim a victory.
IF we fail she takes the blame.
3 in ten voters say they intend to vote on federal issues.
As union heads quarrel about who runs the ALP our base gets ignored, just maybe that base too may be reduced to 20%
No out come tomorrow matters, but Gillard can not float forever.
So fingers and toes crossed that tomorrow is about are the greens worth the risk?