200 years from now historians, students of politics and social researches will ponder,wonder and debate endlessly how could a man like Silvio be elected on more than one occasion by a western economic power. How could G.W.Bush.....etc. Today Australians enjoy to poke fun at such leaders (as long as they think it doesn't effect them). Well in a few months the joke will be on us. The right wing of politics has an unusual knack of presenting public stooges for election (The list is endless).The most dangerous of stooges are the ones that appeal to the lowest common denominator and are backed by crafty individuals. Their rhetoric invariably consists of immigration fears,foreign fears and economic fears. Any fool can steer a ship in fair weather and many dilemma's can be smoothed over by general consensus,occasionally however tricky situations arise that have no clear solution and the responsibility falls upon the Leader to act,this is where the joke ends. Who would you trust to be steering the ship if their was a drama with Indonesia, if their was social unrest regarding abortion or euthanasia, who would you trust in a crisis regarding manufacturing/schooling or hospitals. Julia is twice the professional that Tony is. She has greater composure and maturity. Tony 'the stooge' Abbott is a headline, a t-shirt that appeals to the haters,the weak,the inept....and the crafty.Ask him for his ideas and you can be sure he'll get back to you as soon as he completes a brainstorming session with those individuals jockeying for position to rule and impose selfish reforms from behind the scenes.

Well the Abbott haters are now eclipsing what the Howard haters did. Well done.
You do not agree with his politics and know he is likely to get in because all Gillard's composure and maturity have resulted in one foul up after another. People have died because of the stupidity of this Government for heavens sake.
You insult Abbott but you crowd were sqealing when a few pensioners were abusing Gillard?
She herself called "Mysoginy" in that dreadful drawl she affects. Gillard is like an over-enthusiastic school prefect bully, IMHO.

While the evalutaion of political situations is perfectly valid, there is no accounting for the retribution of preceeding governments under the realisation that they will inevitable be removed from office due to their obvious incompetence. Slash and burn methodologies have been used since the begining of time - or government. Labor, having realised their own stupidity through human greed, have proceeded to dig Australia a hole that will take generations to climb out of. It doesn't matter who takes over the reigns because the hourse pulling the cart is dead. Using the premise ' see, the next government will do a worse job sorting out the mess' is a favorite tactic. It doesn't matter if Mickey Mouse is PM, the damage is done and there is going to be a world of pain to set things right. This stigma on the Labor party will be etched in the minds of present voters till the day they die.

So can you just clarify something for me, Whatsit2ya.

Do you like Abbott or not? Your post was a little ambiguous. Don't beat around the (g w)bush. Tell us what you really think.

If " historians, students of politics and social researches [sic]" in 200yrs are pondering anything about the current period they'll be wondering how, given the shambles that the Gillard govt is, 30% of the population still voted for them in 2013.

Hopefully they'll also still be calling this the worst government this nation ever had, because, hopefully, we'll never again have one this bad.

Well I hate to be one of those who told you so, but, I told you so, in fact, I warned you that this labor government would set us back years if not decades, with the latter being the case.

Totally incompitent is the best description that comes to mind when I think about these fools.

I only wish enough people could have avoided the brain washing antics they (labor) adopt.

We have all now paid a huge price for their stubbiness, their inability to see a bad government for what it is, until it was too late by years.

You would think they would have learned their lesson last time their beloved labor party left us in a mess.

Thirty plus years of personal taxes, literally flushed down the toilet in less than five years, not to mention the retirement that I thought, as a tax payer, I would be entitled to.

We, all of us, will notice posts and threads like this, until the roof falls on me and Labor mid September.
Well put together and seeming to be thoughtful, but in the end just what they are, attempts to gain votes.
At some point in time, I hope we understand, most have already made up their minds.
And that the kissing baby's and kicking opponents is just window dressing.
We should run from the clean shirts sleeves rolled part way up.
The Gillard smile and references to solidarity with our past.
Our choice, between two lessor leaders, will not be changed by such.
I have a question, for our ring in author,for my fellow Labor voters.
*Do we gain any thing by pretending the dreadful wrongs within our party never took place*.
Are we in a race to pick the less filthy?
Too to my fellow Australians, the ones who are about to install a Liberal Federal Government, is clean honest government worth the effort?
NO! I understand, maybe more than you, how wrong it is, that the faction of the Labor party *born * to harness the madness of the very left,has done more harm than that left ever did.
And every plea to vote any way will change nothing, party,s prepared to miss use its own very foundation needs reform not nice words.
The kissing insults us, thinking we are fools and can be changed by the actors both sides become during elections.