Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

I think he's the only real publicly accepted or known heir, and I think he is generally an ok person despite some factional ruthlessness

I have no idea how he'll go leading one of the most awful and ideologically compromised and clueless Labor governments I have seen

Governments always seem to get worse after the first rush though, don't they?

This mob generally hate the public sector which makes most of them bastards to work with, and are certainly ill served by the politicization of the top echelons of the various departments, a truly evil and destructive process that has been going on for some time under all parties and all governments.

The days of getting true but unpalatable opinions from departments are pretty well over, I think.

In a shock move, South Australian Premier Mike Rann has ended 48 hours of speculation on a leadership coup by announcing he will step down as the state Labor Party leader.

Mr Rann has agreed to step aside in favour of Education Minister Jay Weatherill, a former lawyer, who has held the Adelaide seat of Cheltenham since 2002.

The premier, who is in India on a seven-day trade mission, says he has told his colleagues he will hand over the leadership, but only after a smooth mentoring transition period.

"I have always believed it is for the parliamentary party to choose the leader," Mr Rann said in a statement on Sunday. ...<cont>

Good on him.

It's sad.....they almost never know when to go gracefully....it's usually a horrible process moving a leader.

Leak reveals Coalition cut targets
Michelle Grattan
August 13, 2011


Joe Hockey said he made 'no apologies' for the savings exercise. Photo: Jim Rice

ADVERTISING, travel, hospitality and consultancies will be among the areas of government spending targeted in the opposition's quest for $70 billion in savings, a leaked Coalition document indicates.

Shadow ministers have been asked to give the opposition ''razor gang'' details of these costs in their portfolio areas.

Also picked out for special mention in the questionnaire, reported by the Seven Network last night, are information communications technology; staff training; external accounting, auditing and legal services; and membership and grants paid to affiliated organisations. The questionnaire asked about the departments, agencies, staff and boards in the shadow minister's area, as well as office leases and the value of owned buildings. Shadow ministers have been told to produce details of ''recent waste and/or mismanagement in your portfolio'', and list all potential program cuts.

The leaking of its expenditure review documents, which showed $37 billion in promises from the last election, have embarrassed the opposition and given the government ammunition. Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said he made ''no apologies'' for the savings exercise, while playing down the amount compared with total government spending. ''We are going through the budget line by line and item by item.''

The federal government would spend $1500 billion over the next four years. ''It's a massive amount of money. Therefore finding $50, $60 or $70 billion is about identifying waste and identifying areas where you do not need to proceed with programs.''

But Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the opposition's black hole was huge. She said $70 billion was ''the same as not paying out any Medicare money for four years … Or it's the same as not paying the age pensions or any other payment to senior Australians for two years''.

A Liberal National Party candidate has stepped aside as his party investigates an email in which he allegedly said he hopes Prime Minister Julia Gillard "follows the history" of assassinated US president John F Kennedy.

LNP state director Michael O'Dwyer on Friday evening confirmed the party's candidate for the state seat of Cairns, Paul Freebody, had voluntarily stepped aside while the party conducts an investigation into the email.

Mr Freebody denied writing the reference to president Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and claimed the email - which has been circulating in far north Queensland - had been doctored.

An email obtained by AAP shows Mr Freebody also labelled Ms Gillard "evil".

"I see Gillard and Brown as the most evil people we have ever had in power in our country," the email states.

"We can only hope that she follows the history of JFK." .....