Butch,
What is the betting, Labor will just borrow more to buy votes at the election. Labor has no concept of financial management, they only think about the here and now. If it sounds good and will get a few votes, they will do it.

Look how they conned the disabled a while back, into thinking they will get a NDIS at a cost of $4.5 billion a year. When in fact they had no money and no idea how they could get money. The education thing is another one at a cost of $6.5 billion a year and no idea how it can be financed.

Labor is all about spin, all hype and no substance.

A trial concept of the NDIS is being instigated in Geelong now. The NDIS is a joint funding with the states.
The Education concept was a recommendation by experts, labor put the recommendations forward, with the estimated costing. If it is seen to be viable or not remains to be seen.
What makes you think it is set in concrete. A lot of different recommendations are made, not all succeed some have to be bipartisan.
With an opposition that do not talk politics it is a tough ask, for any advancement to the betterment of our nation.

Well here we go again,
For someone with the tag of "individual" you seem to let the Bolts and Jones' do your thinking for you.
Any amount of unqualified personal abuse can be levelled at Gillard but just dare to criticise Abbott and suddenly it's an "utter lack of judging another's character" and the being a "cronie for the left" old chestnut dragged out yet again.

Is that the best you can come up with? How about some facts to dispute what I've said?

Do I care about others?

I certainly care more than those who think the poor should be fed from the scraps of the rich man's table and the best way to help the poor is by giving the rich larger meals as you rusted-on Tories and failed Reaganomics refugees continue to believe.
That remains the core belief of the Libs.

I care that people should be awarded their full entitlements in a fair society, including both personal dignity and truth rather than being played for fools by a pervasive self-interested media who dish their version of the truth up as ten second sound-bytes.
I care enough to think that public assets should remain in public hands and not be awarded as prizes to corporate sponsors.

Despite what you assume, I'm no fan of 21st century Labor but care enough to find out what's really behind the alternative.

Do your own historical research. Read some (quality) books and find out how the system really works instead of becoming a Tea Party astro-turf acolyte.
Listen to full parliamentary broadcasts sometime rather than rely on selective snippets by spin merchants.

Find out what power base is responsible for "hot-housing" Abbott (and others) rapidly into positions of influence and what their agenda is.
You may be surprised.

Otherwise, just vote for him and keep your fingers crossed.

wobbles,
stop hiding behind those clichés of tory-bashing. Pull your head out of the sand & look at how many families are struggling because your beloved party & it's union masters have all but ruined the chances for employment in this country. You say you care yet you support those who ruin it all. Get real.

Read some (quality) books and find out how the system really works
wobbles,
I live & work in a heavily Labor seat with labor supporting bureaucrat managers, Labor voting blow-in experts from various Universities etc. i.e. your average indigenous community.
Our local employment rate has gone from 85% to about 1% of blue collar jobs. All other work is by 1 week every 3 months fly-ins. I leave it to your imagination as to how much actual work gets done.
Training for locals ? What's that ? Ah I see, you send them 1000km to the nearest town with all expenses & allowances for a week to attend a 2 day course. Then give them a certificate no matter if they passed or not. Then you send them back & complain that they aren't doing their job which no-one actually knows what it is. Well, at least you can say look how much money we're spending on training. Hooray! The taxpayers won't know & the bureaucrats don't give a hoot.
That.s what Labor has done over the past 20 years. Now the Coalition is copping crap for trying to sort out that mess. There wobbles is some research for you.

I'm a bit late joining in here, but I'll offer my thoughts.

I think you're right - it would be hard to find more than a handful who approve of the job Gillard is doing. I think approval ratings reflect an awareness of the alternative: Abbott is a bit of a scary prospect. I don't particularly like Ms Gillard, and I find little endearing about the ALP, but I shudder to think of Mr Abbott as our PM. Consequently, I probably don't think of Julia Gillard in as harsh a light as I would if her opposite number was up to scratch.

I think some of the other posters in here are right, too: if you asked about the people's faith in the Coalition and, in particular, in Tony Abbott, you'd get a similar response: thumbs down.

I don't share the sentiments expressed in here about many others - Julie Bishop, for example, stands out in my eyes as one of the better MPs on offer. She certainly stands a head and shoulders above Julia Gillard and Penny Wong (in my opinion, that is). I don't see her as PM, though. I once thought Turnbull would be a great option, but his stint as leader changed my mind.

I reckon the 50/50 balance represents a disdain from and towards all sides rather than a true faith or hope in one or the other.