Dear Paul,

No. I'm done.

I have enough on my plate humouring others.
I don't need more dead-wood in my life.

Hi Foxy, take care of yourself, a political forum such as this can be upsetting at times, politics tend to do that to some people. Shadow don't know it, but he is actually one of my favorite forum jousting partners. Granted I have to tie both hand behind my back, and wear a blindfold, to try and make it an even contest, due to the lads total lack of experience in these matters, but like Burt Newton famously said of Muhammad Ali; "I like the boy!" I say of Shadow: "I like the boy!"

Time to fire another salvo!

Shadow, how much control of that poor excuse for a government, does Money Bags Malcolm actually have. The latest Coalition wombat to be running amok is 'Fat' George Christensen, when fronted by the media, and asked did he threaten to do a Corny Banana,and jump from the wobbly wagon, thus bringing down Turnbull and his turkeys, all 'Fats' could say was. "Nah! I just reefed him up the you know where, with my letter of demand, a Jenny Craig reject, making demands on the Prime Minister of Australia, unbelievable! Turnballs went to water, fell into line quick smart." So 'Fats' said.

If I had the dosh that Money Bags has, I would buy myself an island... like Tasmania... kick everybody else off, and declare myself King/Emperor, and live the high life of a hermit.

Foxy please cheer up, I hope my posts sometimes at least makes you laugh, just a little.

Link button working again, or at least I found one I can use:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-17/george-christensen-denies-threats-to-resign-lnp/8279844

Foxy,

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, however, attacking MT's speech after years of the same or worse from Labor and the greens is difficult to take seriously, Secondly, claiming that negative attacks don't work when clearly they do, and presently make up >90% of Labor and greens advertising lacks credibility. I personally believe that MT has been letting Shorten get away with murder, especially his dishonest and unethical mediscare campaign.

Negative campaigning is an artform. Done badly it creates backlash from voters, so one has to be careful to choose topics and attacks that have cut through for all voters. For example, Abbott's Juliar campaign worked stunningly. TV ads starting with her iron clad promise not to introduce a carbon tax, and she was done, while Kim Beazley's outrage at Howard during the AWB hearings fell flat when no evidence emerged, and people stopped listening.

It appears that MT has taken off his gloves and is hitting Shorten and labor where it hurts. There have been no recent polls, but I guess that Shorten's shine will have diminished.

As for One Nation, I disagree with most of their views, but can see that Pauline Hanson, is a lot smarter and better advised than she was previously, and she has carved out a niche that none of the other parties cover effectively, i.e. the battler that worried about the failures of multiculturalism, and the effects on the hip pocket of the more extreme progressive policies that Labor has adopted.

Previously they were a threat primarily to the coalition, but recent polling indicates that they are taking votes in almost equal measure from Labor, and that their primary vote now nearly equals that of the greens, so much so that labor was trying to elicit a preference deal in Queensland.

P.S.

Though this is too early for a definitive result, the fortunes of Mark (50% renewables) McGowan seem to be waning.

Latest Reachtel poll.

"Liberal and Labor are polling neck-and-neck in Western Australia but there's still a 7.3 per cent swing towards Labor.

It's a boost for the Liberals, who were trailing Labor 48-52 a month ago, according to a ReachTEL poll of more than 1650 voters published in The Weekend West.

The swing to Labor leaves it short of the 10 per cent it needs to win power.

Opposition leader Mark McGowan remains the preferred premier, leading Colin Barnett 53-47. But this gap has closed from 56-44 a month ago.

Support for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has increased slightly to 11.1 per cent.

The numbers of undecided voters have dwindled from 8.5 to 5.5 per cent three weeks out from election day.

Of those still on the fence, 42 per cent are leaning towards the Liberals and 20.4 per cent towards Labor."

Dear Paul,

Thank You for your concern.

I'm fine. It wasn't anything on the forum that
caused me a bit of stress yesterday. What caused
an upset was the fact that a resident in mum's
wing of the nursing home who we'd gotten to know rather well
died suddenly. It came as a shock to everybody, including
the staff. He was
such a lovely man. We'll remember him with great
affection One moment he's talking to us and laughing
the next day he's gone.

cont'd ...

Paul, you may be interested in the following link:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/wa-election-liberals-own-polling-predicts-a-20seat-labor-landslide/news-story/cd5c853faaca66de2a2275746098d819