Sorry Chris, I can't agree with any of that.

To start with I do not need, or want to be led by any one. I will chose to go up or down the garden path my self, in my own way.

You can keep your policy specialists too, thanks. They tend to be academics, & I have never yet seen one of them get something like policy right.

The last thing we need is a single policy. No single policy ever worked for very long, Follow some academics advice & you end up with all your eggs in one basket, a sure recipe for catastrophe.

We need different people, going in different directions, so as one avenue closes, as they always do, you have others going down a few more, some of which will be opening. Many will go down blind alleys, but that is their right & their own problem.

As a generalists I hope you are being torn in a number of different directions, because then there's a fair chance you will be right at least some of the time, for some of the people. Just don't try to force people to follow. Get it right & others will copy you.

The best thing about Howard was he lead no one. He just did a good job of managing the office, so others could get things done. We need another Howard.

Hasbeen, i agree with you on your major point.

'We need different people, going in different directions, so as one avenue closes, as they always do, you have others going down a few more, some of which will be opening. Many will go down blind alleys, but that is their right & their own problem'.

Yes, this is absolute key. I have written two academic articles that focus on the reality of societal players working to influence policy and not the other way around. Once this dynamic goes, a society is indeed in trouble.

I often think my efforts writing are indeed trivial when compared to people acting with their feet, say the emerging farmers group.

Also, the main reason why i am voting Coaliton this time is precisely because i think it will be more in tune with the actions of all players rather than adhering simply to economic orthodoxy. I may b hoping though.

Hasbeen, i wil add though, what if people and groups go their own way, but are obstructed severely by say demands of globalasiation, the cost of inputs, and by protective barriers that are unlikley to be removed, thus diminising the capacity fo say farmers to succeed.

Is there not then a role for the policy commentator or specialist.

You refer to Howard, but i could write heaps on policies of intervention he pursued or encouraged, includign car industry.

Surely then life in a democracy is a mixture of freedom and intervention.

For example, i am quite gloomy about Aust's indstry fortunes on recent trends, although my reseach at present (when i get time) may prove otherwise.

I dont believe she will be right mate if just let whatever will be.

In fact, i cant see one country that succeeds with such care free attitude. Yes, people should be free, but it may not always be that simple.

Chris, surely you are not suggesting freedom is complicated?

SonofGloin, why don't you put your money where your mouth is answer start a party with 12 issues (13 has no legs). You seem to have some support and another in me.

Waterhole, we could call the party "SonsofPauline," because as OSW said, my ideas earn me a doctorate at the Aussie 'College of Rednecks'.

Tis amazing that we expect migrants to be like Aussies as “we” global citizen Aussies follow the trends both social and political of the north. It turns my stomach that politicians of both persuasions have not addressed the issue of “ WE HAVE NO FUEL REFINING CAPABILITIES” as if it is of no consequence. Neither party wants a strong independent Australia, they want an Australia compliant to corporations and alien protocols from the likes of the IMF. Things have been crook in the past, but we owned ourselves and our country back then.

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.

The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.

"It's looking crook," said Daniel Croke;
"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad."

John O’Birien

Sonofgloin you are spot on however we need immediate solutions and the first should be a Glass Steagall Act to keep the parasites at bay and the second is a new Govt Bank.