Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

New poll shows fall in support for Labor
Posted 1 hour 19 minutes ago

The Coalition is leading Labor on a two-party preferred basis, 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

The latest Nielsen poll shows that the Federal Government's primary vote has dropped by 4 per cent, to 34 per cent.

The Greens primary vote has increased by 2 per cent to 14 per cent.

The Coalition is leading Labor on a two-party preferred basis, 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

The poll also shows public support for Australia's involvement in Afghanistan is still lukewarm, with 49 per cent of people opposed.

Howard faces Hicks, dodges shoes on Q&A
Updated 30 minutes ago

John Howard fronted an at times irate audience on ABC 1's Q&A program last night, facing questions on the major issues that defined his time as prime minister.

The wide-ranging interview focused heavily on the more controversial aspects of Mr Howard's tenure, with questions on the Iraq War, children overboard affair, Indigenous policy and his relationship with Peter Costello dominating the program.

At times the tension in the room was palpable, with an audience member throwing his shoes at Mr Howard while the former prime minister was defending his decision to send Australian troops to Iraq. ...<cont>

No remorse on Iraq for man of steel

I CAN'T wait to read John Howard's memoir to see whether it will continue his obfuscation over the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

How opportune that the secret US field reports have come to light, providing graphic details of civilian deaths resulting from the invasion (WikiLeaks vows more revelations'', The Age, 25/10). From 2004 to 2009, violent civilian deaths exceeded 100,000. This figure is consistent with the latest data from Iraq Body Count, a London-based group founded in 2003 to ensure the human consequences of the intervention were not neglected. IBC's figures, a record of actual documented deaths, puts civilian deaths since March 2003 at more than 122,000, and total violent deaths at more than 150,000.

Despite this horrendous carnage, at no stage can I recall our ''man of steel'' expressing remorse or compassion for the Iraqi people - unlike when he invoked Australians to feel for the more than 3000 innocent victims of September 11, 2001. Howard seemed to suspend his capacity for disbelief after September 11, pledging absolute loyalty and slavish devotion to George Bush.

I suspect Howard's memoir will preach the same demagoguery and misinformation concerning Iraq, proof of his complicity in and unwillingness to confront the reality of the invasion. Iraq today is a country destroyed and demoralised by defeat and civil war, but unlike George Bush and Tony Blair, Howard, incredibly, is still to face political retribution for his folly.

Neil Hudson, Hawthorn

Poll-driven Labor urged to return to basic values
Michelle Grattan
November 3, 2010/the AGE

FEDERAL cabinet minister Greg Combet has warned Labor not to subordinate good policy to focus group research and declared Labor must rebuild its reputation as ''the party of progress''.

''We have a responsibility to lead, not follow,'' he said.

Mr Combet, from the Left, was buying into a hot Labor debate. The Right of the NSW Labor Party in particular has been accused of being focus-group driven.

He said focus groups and polling had a role to play, noting they were crucial to the success of the union campaign against WorkChoices, which he spearheaded before the 2007 election.

''However, they cannot have primacy - they simply inform strategy and how to promote policies and win support for them. They cannot compel the party to abandon its values,'' he said, launching All That's Left: What Labor Should Stand For, by Nick Dyrenfurth and Tim Soutphommasane.

He said that at this year's election, the ALP received its fourth-lowest primary vote since the beginning of the two-party system in 1910. While the swing on primary votes to the Coalition was constrained to 1.5 per cent, Labor lost 4 per cent of its primary vote to the Greens. ''This has caused a significant amount of soul-searching - and it should.''

The criticism that Labor didn't stand for anything was unfair, but ''perhaps what we failed to do was to make sure that the people grasped what drives us, what our values are, and what differentiates us from both the Coalition and the Greens.

''Labor must rebuild its standing, its reputation as the party of progress, as the party that cares.'' In rebuilding, Labor had to draw on its core values - equity, social justice and compassion.

Mr Combet, the Minister for Climate Change, said Labor lost votes to the left, some caused by the deferral of the emissions trading scheme. ''This has brought into focus the tension between policy principles and pragmatic politics.''

Labor would operate a successful minority government if it was guided by enduring Labor values, he said. Three of its signature reforms showed Labor's commitment to those values: the national broadband network, the increase in compulsory superannuation to 12 per cent, and the response to climate change.

''If we are successful in implementing these reforms, then this government can rightly take its place among the great reformist Commonwealth governments, such as the governments of Fisher, Curtin, Chifley, Whitlam, Hawke and Keating. In the process, we will successfully reclaim ownership of the term reform for social democracy.'

I'm not a huge fan of Hockey's.

have you ever found an online source for Rowe's cartoons - those little bizarrsterpieces?

I also like David Pope, because I knew him when he was nothing! Good union man.interested.