Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

THE Gillard government has narrowed the Coalition's lead to be in its best position in six months, in an Age/Nielsen poll showing overwhelming public support for the decision to process asylum seekers offshore.

For the second consecutive month, a majority of voters said the carbon tax was making no difference to them.

But federal Labor would still be trounced by a 4 per cent swing in an election held now, and the ALP ''brand'' received another setback with the decisive weekend defeat of the Northern Territory government, with a 6 per cent swing against Labor. ...<cont>

While parliament discusses the Gonski report, education researcher Professor Richard Teese suggests inequity in Australia's schooling system needs addressing.

The attacks on Julia Gillard are heading into dangerous territory.

Mr Morris was asked on Sydney ABC Radio on Tuesday about a tough interview ABC television's Leigh Sales did last week with Mr Abbott, in which Mr Abbott seemed to stumble over whether he had read a statement by mining company BHP Billiton.

''Well, Leigh can be a real cow sometimes when she is doing her interviews,'' Mr Morris said.

I saw something that disturbed me greatly: a young man wearing what appeared to be a home-made T-shirt featuring a caricature of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. She had a bullet in her head. ...

.....The day before that, a 52-year-old man avoided jail after being charged with threatening to kill Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and state Labor MP Jill Hennessy at a public function. He was highly agitated; both women were justifiably frightened.

PROMINENT Liberal Party strategist Grahame Morris has come under fire for a comment about Prime Minister Julia Gillard that "they ought to be kicking her to death". ....