Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

Thanks for that.

We've got interesting times ahead that's for sure
in this election year and things could go horribly
wrong for anyone. All sorts of things are being
disputed regarding Mr Thomson. It's up to the courts
to sort things out. In the meantime the Opposition
should heed the words of Mr Abbott:

"...to respect the rule that you do not comment on the
specifics of cases which are currently before the
courts..."

Lexi and Poirot are top contributors to this forum, and if not for them and Pelican, I would have pulled out long ago.
Loudmouth is one male contributor I have usually got on with, even when we are arguing : )

I agree that it was a bit suspect that Julia called an election just before Thompson was arrested, but I seriously doubt that the fraud squad rang her and told her when they would be arresting Thompson!

I think labour are finished now Loudmouth. They don't need any more 'setbacks', like the resignation of Roxon and Evans, to seal their fate.

Pity our only other 'choice' is the insipidly negative Abbott...

Yes, you're right Suze. What would OLO be like if only blokes could contribute, like in some sort of ghastly al-Shari'a dystopia ? Do some people find that comments offensive ? Beauty.

About Thomson, perhaps some junior officer could have tipped off a friend, who passed the news onto another friend, but I'll leave the conspiracy theories to Arjay.

The tragedy is going to be that Labor will lose so many seats at the election - maybe thirty or forty - that it will be crippled for many years, struggling to re-build in areas where I has been decimated. I'll be sorry to see my member go, he's a decent bloke.

And as Pericles has pointed out, it's not as if people are moving to the Greens - their vote seems to have dropped from around 14 % to barely 9 %. Maybe people aren't all that stupid, they are keeping their feet on the ground.

Interesting times !

Joe

I don't know if there would be official notification for the PM's office if a member of parliament was about to be arrested but I seriously doubt that there would not be some kind of unofficial channels for a case of this political significance.

I'm undecided regarding the reason for the way the election was called. It may not be one single answer.

I do think that it's time that the decision regarding the timing of an election was out of the hands of the incumbent to be manipulated for political advantage, rather it should be subject to a more independent process. Perhaps a fixed term to be varied only with agreement from a certain majority in both houses of parliament or in extraordinary circumstances by the head of state.

Keep some opportunity for flexibility in a crisis but remove the wide open door for political manipulation of the process.

R0bert

Good point, Robert. Would the Party Whip (I think that's currently Albanese) have to be informed beforehand ? Or the Speaker ?

Fixed-terms, and maybe four-year terms, would allow both parties to get back to the business of being Government and Opposition, leaving an election campaign to the last few months of each term.

Fat chance :)

Joe

"Fixed-terms, and maybe four-year terms, would allow both parties to get back to the business of being Government and Opposition, leaving an election campaign to the last few months of each term."
This looks very much like an American type system, where the a so called two party system operates. Is that what Australians want, I don't think so.
What many don't realise, 18% of voters don't support Labor or the coalition parties, they support smaller parties and independents. With the voting system in operation the major parties are given a disproportionate representation. Gillard is running the country with a mandate from 38% of voters, hardly democracy when one party gets 38% of the vote and 48% of the representatives. I support one vote one value.