Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

Labor freefall stops as Abbott loses ground:

LABOR has picked up support over the past month and Julia Gillard has substantially cut back Tony Abbott's lead as preferred PM, but the government would still be defeated in a landslide at an election held now.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has addressed a large crowd of anti-carbon tax protesters outside Parliament House, telling them the carbon scheme is "based on a lie" and will not work.

But he avoided the embarrassment he suffered in March when his speech to a similar rally was in front of a placard reading, "JuLiar, Bob Brown's Bitch".

This time, organisers used a large banner reading "stop carbon lies" as a backdrop to the speakers.

In March, the Government accused the rally of being largely made up of "extremist" elements, including Pauline Hanson and her supporters, as well as far-right groups such as the League of Rights.

At today's rally Mr Abbott, who was greeted with chants of "Tony, Tony" as he took the stage, was quick to distance himself from some of the people and the placards in the gathering.

"I can see a lot of people I agree a very great deal with; I can see some people I don't agree with on everything," he said.

"I can see a lot of signs. Some signs I agree with; some signs I don't necessarily agree with.

"There are two things we all want to say today. First, we don't want a carbon tax. And second, we do want an election."

This is relevant to so many threads, but as it's an Australian invention let's start here!

Calls to brothel from MP's hotel room leaves Labor on a knife-edge
August 19, 2011/the AGE:

......Mr Thomson already faces allegations that his card was used to pay for escort services in Sydney, as well as to make more than $100,000 in cash withdrawals.

Mr Thomson has denied the allegation of irregular spending, which is still the subject of an investigation by Fair Work Australia.

Should Mr Thomson be forced to resign because of the ongoing controversy, the government would probably lose its parliamentary majority at a by-election.

Yesterday Prime Minister Julia Gillard faced another day of grilling about Mr Thomson's alleged past misuse of credit cards, making it clear that she would not force the embattled MP to account to parliament for his conduct .....

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott declared that given the political stakes for the government, Mr Thomson was a ''protected species''. But he declined to say whether he would sack one of his own MPs if they faced similar allegations.

''The one thing I don't want to do is, you know, set myself up as a moral paragon because you never know what tests you might face, you just never know these things,'' the Opposition Leader said.

.....While the Coalition is stoking the fire under the Labor MP, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is being very careful. He is refusing to say Thomson should be sacked. In these cases, best to personally stay on the high ground and leave the messier work to some of your troops. But the opposition knows the affair has caught media attention; it also looks to a Fair Work Australia investigation under way into the union's affairs.

The government (to say nothing of Thomson himself) will remain on tenterhooks. In these sorts of situations, especially where other people are involved, anything can happen at any time. Assuming, however, Thomson survives, what is Labor going to do about his preselection? An exquisite dilemma. If Labor dumps him for the next election, it would be, in effect, conceding he was not a fit candidate. But how could it run him again? That would be extraordinarily disdainful of the people of Dobell, who might have something very sharp to say about it.

Thomson should not be re-endorsed. And the Labor Party, as it weeps for the $90,000 plus it has had to shell out, should reflect on the very important lesson. The scandals that plagued the former NSW Labor government and the Thomson affair show the ALP in that state needs much better vetting procedures for its candidates. That is the least it owes to the voters.