Australian Federal Election 2010

[CountArach]

Well if the Dutch can have a thread, so can we...

This should be an interesting election to watch. Gillard is still something of an unknown factor as Prime Minister, though early actions indicate she is probably more conservative than many (myself included) had assumed... perhaps more conservative than Rudd. She hasn't had long to prove her capacity for the job, though she is well known in the public eye and has proven to be an exceptional minister under Rudd's government.

And against her you have Tony Abbott. I've tried to type out some sort of balanced view of him a few times now, but I can't manage it. I see very few redeeming features and even fewer reasons why someone would want him leading this country. So instead I'll keep my thoughts on him for some sort of later post. I hate using anecdotal evidence, but I do know a lot of apolitical people who will be voting for Labor simply because they don't want Abbott running the country - I can only imagine this will be solidified during the debates where has always appeared smug and where Gillard truly excels (look at his performance last election when debating Health policy with Nicola Roxon - he didn't even turn up on time and then proceeded to alienate what little support he had left in that room). Further, he is exceptionally gaff prone, and seems to say something stupid on a near weekly basis.

Electorally I don't think Labor can lose this election - they have been leading in the polls since the last election except for a very brief period when they were roughly equal with the Liberals, and Gillard polls better than Rudd did towards the end of his PMship. It will also be interesting to watch how the Greens do - they are polling in the low teens almost all the time, an increase of 4-5%, and they stand a decent chance of winning the seat of Melbourne, as well as the balance of power in the Senate.

Personally, as a member of the Greens, they will be getting my vote. And what of my fellow Australians, what do you think?

[KukriKhan]

Will the election outcome result in any change in your military commitments, you think?

[pevergreen]

I doubt it will have any affect on the ANZUS treaty, as for Iraq et al, I doubt it.

I don't like Gillard, but then, the other choice is Abbott. Eurgh.

I identify with Labor more than the coalition, but...

Leader of the greens annoys me as well. Gunna stay with the local member, forget who it is, but I believe its labor now. Unless Farmer runs again, she held her seat here for many years, she did a fine job.

[naut]

I don't like Gillard, but then, the other choice is Abbott. Eurgh.

Likewise. Gillard is a smuck and Abbot is a fool, with backwards views on marriage, abortion and refugees. I'm voting Greens. It won't have any effect on my Rep seat, as I'm in Warringah, Tony Abbot's electorate. The . However, every vote to the Greens edges them to extra Senate seats, which is key regardless of whomever becomes the ruling party, as it means they have to compromise and don't get their own way. Plus I agree with every ideal the Greens espouse.

[aimlesswanderer]

Gillard is not likely to be the best PM ever, but far better than a gaffe prone conservative religious quack like Abbot. In a way it's a choice between faceless Labor factional power brokers and the coalitions' dinosaurs (Ruddock, Bishop, Andrews - the Living Dead) and religious quacks...

Given that I don't like conservatives and their general religiosity and slavish subservience to big business, I am voting for either Labor or the Greens. I'm in Big Joe's very safe electorate, but like Psychonaut I hope my senate vote helps gets a Green senator elected.

[pevergreen]

I am woefully ignorant of the green's policies, but I dislike them.

To err is to be human, to be wrong/uninformed and refuse to back down is to be australian.

[CountArach]

Will the election outcome result in any change in your military commitments, you think?

I doubt it. Labor is committed to Afghanistan, and the Liberals are the people who got us in there in the first place and are never willing to admit a mistake.

Abbott has already caused confusion about his own WorkChoices policy:

CONCERNS about Tony Abbott's ability to withstand the rigours of an election campaign are rippling through Coalition ranks after the Opposition Leader struggled to get his lines straight on his promise that Work Choices was ''dead, buried and cremated''.
[...]
In a series of interviews, he continued to leave open the possibility the Coalition would change aspects of the industrial relations system, especially the removal by regulation of unfair dismissal protections for small business employees.
[...]
On the day the election was called, Mr Abbott said that if elected, for the first three-year term he would not touch Labor's Fair Work Act, the legislation that replaced Work Choices and restored workers' entitlements.

On morning TV yesterday, Mr Abbott said, ''I have an election to win'', when asked what would happen after three years.

Then, on ABC radio, he said he had no plans to change the legislation ''not now, not ever''.

Later, on Fairfax radio in Melbourne, Mr Abbott said: ''I can't give an absolute guarantee about every single aspect of workplace relations,'' before signing a pledge in the studio saying Work Choices was ''dead, buried, cremated''.

''We've had a lot of change over the last few years, I think what business needs is a period of certainty and stability. And that's what they'll get," he said.

At a subsequent news conference, Mr Abbott did not rule out changing the regulations which would remove the unfair dismissal protections Labor had reintroduced.

Asked about a pledge in his budget reply speech to remove the unfair dismissal burden from the back of small business, Mr Abbott said: "I think there are provisions within the existing legislation to make our workplaces fairer and more flexible." He then called an abrupt end to his news conference.

Inconsistencies and mistakes have a serious impact in election campaigns. As well as concerns about Mr Abbott's ability to ''stay on message'', some Liberals wondered why their party's campaign headquarters would not be operational until tomorrow, believing the party had been taken by surprise.