Oh come on Hasbeen, if you think that most people are going to vote for what is best for the country, and not for them or their families, then you are very naive.

Do you honestly think that anything Rudd or Abbott could come up with is for the good of the country, as opposed to the good of themselves or the party?

Get your head out of the sand man!

Wow, & here I was thinking all you lefties were committed to the cause, I'm shocked. I have overestimated some of you.

Perhaps Suse, you are only in it for what you can get, but I very much doubt that goes for all our posters.

I'm damn sure that Belly votes with his heart, not his pocket, & I'm pretty sure many of our other posters do so as well.

Hasbeen, People who vote for the same party, election after election, should really have a good look at themselves.
No party stays the same forever, and policies come and go.

Surely we need to see what is best for ourselves and our families first, and the political second?
As much as I can't stand Abbott's obvious shortcomings, I have to look at the whole party and their policies as a whole.

I don't consider myself 'left' or 'right' of anything!
I am what they call a swinging voter...

Dear Suse,

A swinging voter?

Me too.

I'll try anything once, twice if I like it.
3 times to make sure. ;-)

Now where have I heard that before...

That’s a very interesting list Banjo.

What that suggests to me is that Labor is a progressive party. It wants to get stuck into lots of good initiatives.

But lots of those things are very difficult! They are fraught with complications and opposition from short-term vested interests and people who are willing to simply knock anything that Labor does, and if they don’t go entirely according to plan, they get condemned in the mainstream media!

I wonder how the Coalition would compare.

Ludwig,

"I wonder how the Coalition would compare."

Oh, they'd just sell off government assets - then stand around slapping each other on the back for the surplus.