The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

This is going to be really interesting!:

Look who's taking on the PM in Bennelong
Mark Davis Political Correspondent
February 26, 2007/SMH


The prospective ALP candidate Maxine McKew … "Labor needs to be contesting marginal Liberal-held seats."

THE former ABC television journalist Maxine McKew will take on John Howard as Labor's candidate for the Prime Minister's electorate of Bennelong.

Ms McKew, who left the ABC this year to work for the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, said last night that Bennelong was one of the seats Labor had to win to oust the Government in this year's federal election.

Ms McKew was quoted as saying she had decided to run for the marginal Liberal electorate because she believed that would be more useful to the party than contesting a safe Labor seat. ... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/look-whos-taking-on-the-pm-in-bennelong/2007/02/25/1172338469645.html

McKew could win Howard seat: pollster

February 26, 2007/the Australian

FORMER journalist and television presenter Maxine McKew has a good chance of unseating Prime Minister John Howard in his Sydney seat of Bennelong at the next election, pollster Gary Morgan said.

Ms McKew, a broadcast and magazine journalist for more than 30 years, confirmed she will run as Labor's candidate in the Prime Minister's northern Sydney seat at the next federal election.

The seat used to be one of the Liberals' safest, but a redistribution last year has left Mr Howard with a margin of just 4 per cent.

A Morgan poll last week found Mr Howard would have lost the seat had an election been held this month. 55 per cent of the 400 voters polled supported Labor on a two-party preferred basis.

Mr Morgan said Ms McKew was well positioned in the current political climate, but stressed that the election - due later this year - was still a long way off.

"She's got a good chance, yes, but a lot can happen between now and the election," Mr Morgan said.

"I guess if Maxine McKew wins, then Labor wins. ... <cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21287351-1702,00.html

Half a million Australians want more work
Tim Colebatch, Canberra
February 27, 2007/the AGE

MORE Australians are now underemployed than unemployed, with more than half a million Australians forced to take part-time jobs when they want more work.

Most of them are women, most have at least year 12 qualifications, and most want to work full-time but can find only part-time work. They are of all ages, but most heavily concentrated among the young, with 36 pecent aged between 15 and 24.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' annual estimate of the number of people working less than they want to has found that even the very large job growth of the past year has done little to reduce the widespread phenomenon of people being unable to find full-time jobs.

While 265,000 jobs were created in the year to September 2006, three-quarters of them full-time, the bureau reports that the number of underemployed people fell by just 22,000. .. <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/half-a-million-australians-want-more-work/2007/02/26/1172338547330.html

Howard should be worried: analyst
February 26, 2007

Prime Minister John Howard should be worried that high-profile media personality Maxine McKew is standing as the ALP candidate in his electorate of Bennelong, a leading election analyst says. ... <cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21287574-601,00.html

The running of Mckew (is that her name?) for Howards seat seems a very astute political move. The PM can't very well concentrate all his focus on the federal election while he's fighting to keep his seat.

As a leader, I'm becoming more and more impressed with Rudd...although...that said, I'm not impressed with an article (somewhere) that, after labor recruited McKew, it now wants to recruit more personalities to labor. Celebrities don't hold much water politically for me (Garret would be different, due to his long history of campaigning for the environment and other political issues)

That was an interesting article about "underemployment." We don't keep that statistic here in the US.
The definition is shown as being employed people who would like to work more hours. It would probably be impossible to quantify, but shouldn't underemployed include folks who are having to work at jobs for which they are over-qualified? I readilyt concede that if you majored in Art History in university and are doing whatever the Aus equivalent is of flipping hamburgers, you may not really be underemployed.

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I've been extremely busy.

Vikorr

Win or lose it's great that Maxine McKew is standing against JH in Bennelong. It'll be a seat to watch! If Howard loses, the Libs will almost certainly have lost government. And having a high profile candidate stand against him puts more pressure on him. It's now a marginal Lib seat So who knows ..? Though I seriously don't think Maxine is holding her breath!

RJB

The "under-employed" statistics are important & very timely. For years now the Libs have claimed that unemployment numbers have never been so low as under the Howard government. I think the "official" unemployment figure is 4%. Yet you need work only something like an hour a week (or fortnight?) to be considered "employed". A bit of tweaking with the stats to make things look far better than they really are. Also not counted are those long-term unelpoyed who have given up trying to find work & no longer appear as part in the stats. These under-employed numbers further destroy the myth of the Howard government's often touted "success" in job creation. What we have really experienced is the loss of many fulltime jobs & the dramatic rise in numbers of "working poor" (similar to the US). Hardly the shining success story the government likes to portray!

OK, just letting you know ... I don't anticipate A2King nearly as much for a while. Largely due to lots of very pressing things in my life I must give my urgent attention to. So a lot less time online, I'm afraid. It's been good talking to you both. I hope others contribute to this thread.

- Olga

Have you been following the media about Rudd twice meeting the former Premier of WA (the one done on corruption charges?)

As I've only skimmed through the articles, maybe I've read something wrong, but there doesn't seem to be any allegation that Rudd didn't anything wrong or even sinister, yet the government is harping on about it like it's the end of the world...and stranger still - Rudd admitted that it was a mistake.

Reading the online responses to an article in The Australian, it seems most people are of the opinion I am - what's the big deal? Politicians meet other politicians, and it's not like the corrupt ones walk around with a sign on their forehead (and as I said, there's been no allegation that I've seen of any improper conduct). Anyway, still shaking my head in wonder at all the fuss.

A few thoughts, vikorr ..

First, it looks like Kevin Rudd is as dependent on Labor "fixers" as others before him have been. Sigh. There goes the squeaky clean image.

Secondly, John Howard morally outraged by Rudd's lack of integrity? The master of spin, lies, & manipulation shocked by his rival meeting with a nasty, discredited fixer? What a joke. The man is desperate for anything to tarnish Labor's image at this stage.

Finally, I'm a little sorry about Ian Campbell being used by Howard in this way. As minister for the environment he didn't do a bad job at all representing Australia's interests at the IWC (International Whaling Commission) Seemed to actually care about the fate of the whales. His replacement seems to have bigger (political) fish to fry.

Well, it was certainly the only move Howard could make, after the beat up he and Costello have done for the last week or so. Any other move would have damaged Howards credibility greatly.

Ah, an article that finally sets the facts of the matter straight.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21323522-7583,00.html

Howard is beating up a straw house with a sledge hammer made of decaying fairy floss.

You could say that, vikorr!

.... & here's a picture worth a thousand words. Nicely sums things up, hey?:

... & so far all the Lib's mud-slinging appears not to have made much impact on the voters.:

Labor's lead hits record high

LABOR Party support is the highest it has been in the 11 years of the Howard Government, although Kevin Rudd's personal support as the new Opposition Leader appears to have peaked.
Latest Newspoll results

As backing for the Howard Government slumps to its lowest in almost two years, the ALP's record two-party-preferred support of 57 per cent would sweep into power if an election were held now. .... <cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21331923-601,00.html


Latest Newspoll results:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,21331079-17281,00.html

Very funny! :

Love the mud pie cartoon!

Here's another article that made me shake my head in wonder :



Perhaps Howard was suffering short term memory loss on this issue during the 4 years prior to this election year.

No doubt it's similar to the memory loss he suffered on learning that 90% of Australians are concerned about global warming.

And the memory loss in relation to the AWB.

And the memory loss in relation...oh...never mind, I just realised how long the list is...

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21332143-953,00.html

Ah, you've gotta larf!
Poor old JH, can't win a trick & is looking sillier by the second!
.... BTW, did you hear the one about the newly-appointed minister ... the one who replace Ian Campbell, who accidentally met the dreaded Brian Burke for 20 mintes ...? Oh my!

I'm certain he does share that view, vikorr.
Absolutely. :wink:
And I'll bet Mr Ruddock (wearing his Amnesty badge) does too!

God, they're so transparent!
Anything, anything to get elected!
I believe that Corby person might be returning to Oz to complete her jail term here, too! In July. (Could the election be earlier than November, then? Hmmm? ) Some sort of prisoner-swapping deal with the Indonesians which has taken till now to seal. (sadly for JH, I suspect the timing is a bit out to achieve maximum glory for this achievement.)