Dear Pericles,

I feel that this is a good move by the PM.

It cuts out the media speculating about the date
of the next election for the next six months and
perhaps they can now begin to focus on what we
all should care about - which is policies. This
also gives the Opposition more time to prepare
their policies and submit costings, unlike the
previous election where they complained they did
not have enough time to submit all the facts.
They have no cause for complaints now.

Whatever the motivation for this decision - it is a
good one.

Perhaps the next decision may well be for "fixed terms"
in office. That would also be great!

I have always found most orators are idiots, just look at Obama, Churchill & Hitler as examples.

Unfortunately our Julia, no orator but very much an idiot, still has lots of time to do enormous damage to Oz, & you can bet your boots she is hard at it right now.

I think Abbott will turn out to be one of the best PMs we have had. Not hard of course, when you think of McMahon, Hawke, Whitlam, Rudd & Gillard just as starters. That the drovers dog would have been better than that lot is obvious.

I just hope he is brave enough to follow his heart, & chuck out all the garbage recently put in place, & all the attempt at vote buying cr4p Gillard is now busy trying to cripple us with.

It will take a brave man. so lets hope for a landslide, to help give him courage to do what's necessary.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has been accused of putting image before policy, after the leaking of an email trail showing his interest in being seen as a ''good bloke''.
The emails also reportedly showed a senior adviser urged Mr Abbott not to use his National Press Club speech on Thursday to announce the cutting of a major government program.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson seized on the leak, saying Mr Abbott should take the opportunity during his address to explain what he wanted to cut.
''Three-word slogans are not a substitute for policy,'' Mr Emerson said.
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''Mr Abbott wants to put his image first and policy last.''
News Ltd reported an internal email trail showed Mr Abbott was set to announce the axing of a major government program, but a senior adviser urged him to drop it, describing it as ''a really bad idea''.
''I'd like to see more of the 'vision thing','' media adviser Andrew Hirst reportedly told him in reply to a draft of the speech.
Mr Abbott reportedly argued that the speech contained enough material to stay on message in the wake of the release of a glossy campaign booklet on Sunday.
According to News Ltd, Mr Abbott said the address contained enough personal stories ''for the commentariat to say . . . yes he is a good bloke, and yes he is more fair dinkum''.

Julia "I told you so" infants headmistress,will bore us all to death with her monotones of meaningless drivel.8 mths of Julia will just be too much.It many be a good ploy of using an attrition of repeated lies to wear the public down.She's good at that.Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth.I wonder if suicide rates will go up this year?

We'll be so brow beaten,we will offer to vote for Labor just to shut her up.

Abbott also has the problem of the media not being with him.There are many in the financial system who want the CO2 tax as this will lead to an ETS derivative to milk us even more.

The elite's other big fear about Abbott is that he might turn out to be honest and do something for the masses.I doubt that since he was the hatchet man for Pauline Hanson and Tony looks like an establishment man to me.

579,

I’m delighted that your post is all about Abbott. This tells everyone that you are scraping the bottom of the barrel. You have now reached rock bottom and started digging.

The majority of Australians do not support your faith in Gillard or your condemnation of Abbott, this leaves you precisely where you should be, on the outer.

You and your left leaning friends have had the opportunity over the last few years, to recognize a little reality. We now know that you are incapable of understanding what the real world looks like.

We don’t care, you made your decisions, you aligned yourselves with political ideology and it failed you, don’t complain to us, buyer beware, you bought it you live with it.

Happy days.

While Juliar's fixing of the election date does put pressure on the coalition to put foward costed policies, it also puts pressure on the government to put forward a realistic budget forcast without which future costings are impossible. (the mini budget issued recently was out of date a week later) and not the distorted and optimistic rubbish they have put foward so far. (the 2011/12 budget was originally forcast at a $12bn deficit, ending at a $43bn deficit.)

I think that Juliar is so desperate draw attention from labor's policy blunders and to appear to be in control that she is issuing decrees left right and centre and pretense of consultation with her cabinet, MPs, or labor members is a complete joke.

The general consensus is that this was a bad move for Labor, and a good one for the opposition. I look forward to 8 months of Hard Labor.