"We Have Our Country Back".

[Matilda]

A short but wonderful piece from Alan Ramsey in today Sydney Morning Herald, starts with these
words, and continues:

"John Howard's Australia died with his government on Saturday night. So did the political careers of a whole raft of Coalition MPs. The final casualty list depends on how the count concludes in a few undecided seats, Howard's among them. It couldn't be more exquisite than that the Labor iceberg should take our outgoing prime minister down, too. Nobody is more deserving of oblivion."

He calls the Howard Government the "nastiest, meanest, most miserable, self-absorbed Commonwealth government to blight Australia in living memory" and ends:

"Now, while Costello sits on the backbench for three years, honouring his commitment to his voters in his Melbourne seat, what should happen is those other political misfits like Alexander Downer, Philip Ruddock and Tony Abbott should think about another life outside politics. None are part of the Liberals' future.

For God's sake, go and make our Christmas complete."

You'll find it here: http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/howards-cronies-should-join-him-in-the-wilderness/2007/11/25/1195975868447.html


And yes, it is a good feeling to have our country back, and hold our heads up again.

[no safe haven]

1. Meanwhile, the nasty, miserable, self-absorbed former government

...has vowed to block both Kyoto treaty legislation and WorkChoices legislation in the Senate, according to Nick Minchin. Still trying to impose their venal, vindictive ideology, even though they've been shown the door. Hubris dies hard with the Libs.

One thing the Minchin gang can't veto in the Senate is Kevin 07's plan to say 'sorry' to indigenous Australians, a gesture that never in a million years would little Johnny even contemplate. Yes, watch for heads to start being held up again Australia wide.

[Matilda]

2. A lot will depend on who gets the Liberal leadership.

If it's Malcolm Turnbull, I don't think the Libs would block Kyoto -
it would be a regressive action, and he said today that the Liberal Party
has to take account of how Australians voted, and change some of their
thinking.

Nick Minchin has always been a prick, and I'm sure he'll continue to be,
but he won't be the Opposition Leader, and will have to take heed of the
leadership.

Workchoices is something else - most of the Libs are still not admitting
that it was a major factor in their demise, but you'd think that the
smarter ones among them must know the truth. If they want to stay in
Opposition, let them block it - Australians will know where to place the
blame. They can only do so until July anyway, so it would be a pointless
exercise.

The Libs have a choice - stick to the old policies and make it clear that
they're yesterday's men, or move to challenge Labor on their own ground.
I suspect Turnbull would try to do the latter, if he's given the chance
by his party.

[Esra Star]

3. I agree hunert persent.

I think Turnbull will win. Who will he want as his deputy?
They're going to need a credible team, the election is only max 3 years away.
On the Senate issue, I think Barnaby is the one to watch.

[IndyDurham]

7. woot

Woot!

[Matilda]

4. The Libs are divided, except on one thing -

they all have their knives out for Howard. They can't wait to tell us now how they were all urging
him to go, last year, this year, whenever. Pity for them they weren't prepared to back Costello,
although I think it's pretty clear they weren't going to win, no matter who was leading them.

It's so sweet to see Howard not just defeated, but reviled by his own party. The little rodent had
it coming.

The more pragmatic among them, including Turnbull, Abbott and Coonan, are now acknowledging that
Labor does have a mandate to get rid of Workchoices, and although some reactionaries are still
vowing to oppose any Labor legislation, their chances seem slim.

[no safe haven]

5. I am going to enjoy watching them tear each other apart

Old Fart Wilson Tuckey on Lateline (no doubt you watched it) saying he's going to get his WA pals together and fight WorkChoices changes to the bitter end. A rebellion in the making? After just watching the Monarchy series on Ch.2 just before Lateline, he's sounding like a feudal lord. But I guess he's got the mining interests - possibly the real reason for the introduction of WorkChoices - to answer to, so he's got to bang the drum loudly like his opinion counts.

On the opposite side, both geographically and ideologically, there's Nelson saying, oh well, the Libs need to build up some social capital to be relevant. I think he said more, but he's so dreary and tedious, I went to sleep mid-sentence.

Let the games begin. I'm reminded of hyienas ripping apart a carcass.

[Matilda]

6. They do things differently in W.A., don't they?

I think it was the only state where the Libs actually took seats from
Labor.

As for old Ironbar - he really is a dinosaur; probably was one when he
was five years old. Just doesn't get it at all. As Turnbull said
yesterday "we got whacked". That's it in a nutshell.

Oh, life is good!

[Djinn]

19. nope

They have a chance of picking up Cowan (which had a .8 margin) but it's looking more like a narrow ALP retention, meaning they picked up nothing.

The swing was less pronounced in WA but was much higher than you'd predict if you'd listened to the Libs or the Mining Council's view, who kept telling us how much the mining industry loves AWA's. Problem always was that while the INDUSTRY might like them, employees didn't. Most miners prefer the union around because it tends to lessen the chances of their deaths at work.

[biggles1]

8. Call his bluff!

If Tuckey, Brandis et al continue with this bullshit about 'Labor has no mandate to change Workchoices', Rudd should go for the jugular and call a double dissolution. Let's see how comfy those bastards in the Senate would feel then once they realised that ALL their jobs would be on the line immediately! I'd tip a major backdown...

[Matilda]

9. He'll have no choice,

if Libs manage to do deals with Xenophon, Fielding, and Joyce to block legislation after June 30th.

People don't like being called out to vote too often, so he has to be cautious, but this is an issue
that he campaigned on, and people voted. If a double dissolution was necessary, I don't think Rudd
would back away from it.

BTW - Bennelong still hasn't been called - over 80% of the vote counted, and it's around 51%-48%,
but it's not over yet.

Rudd is due to announce his ministery tomorrow - I wonder if this will count Maxine McKew out, if her
seat can't be officially declared?

[no safe haven]

11. This is nail biting stuff

I thought it was in the bag for Maxine, but with 20% left, that 3% margin could evaporate and tip old Johnny over the line. I have been wondering why he hadn't conceded yet, thought he was being bloody minded in order to deprive Maxine of a cabinet post. Maybe not. But then again....

[Matilda]

13. Looks now as if Labor will win two seats less than previously thought.

Corangamite in Victoria and the new seat of Flynn in Queensland have both moved towards the Coalition
on postal votes, and are now classed as doubtful, where previously they were thought to go to Labor.
But Bennelong is still listed as probably ALP - the primary vote is less than 200 votes, but on
preferences, Maxine McKew is still ahead by 3% - I don't know why they don't class it as doubtful,
but they're not.

That would give Labor 85 seats to Coalition 63.

[Matilda]

16. Maxine McKew is going to be one of Rudd's parliamentary secretaries.

Announced this afternoon, so they must be completely confident that they will take Bennelong, even
though votes are still being counted.

She only got 231 more primary votes than Howard, but preferences have taken her to 51%. Maybe he'd
have asked for a recount, if his own party didn't hate him so much.

[Djinn]

20. Fielding voted against Workchoices

so he certainly wouldn't block it's abolition, doubt very much Xenophon would either, with half the Libs admitting Workchoices went too far and was very unpopular (including Hockey and hasn't that turn around been fun to watch) it'd be really stupid of them to block.

Even if they only wanted to change a small piece of whatever the ALP puts up, it'd be politically dicey, the vast majority of Australians are disinterested or outright hostile towards politics and never get any nuance - any blocking/amendments will be reported as "LIBS BLOCK IR CHANGES" and the Murdoch reading hordes will go feral (sometimes it works for us)

Giving McKew a ministry would be a BAAAAD idea. I would prefer Shorten and Combet remain in PS roles for now and their past experience is FAR more useful and relevant to the job of a Minister than McKew's is. She needs to learn how to be an MP before being a Minister.

[no safe haven]

10. I've been thinking the same thing

A double dissolution, or threat of one, may be the only way to get Labor's election promises through if those Howardites remain intransigent on Workchoices. I do believe Rudd would take it right up to the line too - he would have to, no doubt about it. Would Tuckey/Minchin/Brandis and their ilk stand on their principles if faced with further annihilation of the Libs? I don't think that even they are that stupid, just making a lot of noise so that the remaining party faithful think they're still relevant, which they're not.

[Matilda]

12. Malcolm Turnbull is favoured to win the Liberal leadership,

and last night he announced his major policy points, which were that he would support the following:

Saying "sorry" to the Aboriginal people,
Ratifying Kyoto,
Repealing Workchoices,
Australia becoming a Republic.

So if he's elected and gets his own way (and the man's like a bulldozer), that would negate
everything that Howard did in his eleven years. His record would be a big zero.

This is going to be very interesting.

[Esra Star]

14. .

:popcorn:

[Matilda]

15. It's Brendan Nelson for Lib leadership.

Breaking news:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nelson-wins-liberal-leadership/2007/11/29/1196037040072.html


That's good for Labor, because unless Kevin Rudd stuffs up bigtime, Labor will win the next election
too. Nelson is totally uncharismatic, and completely unable to think on his feet. Rudd will do him
like a dinner in Parliament.

Turnbull would have been a much bigger threat to Labor, IMO, but obviously his radical agenda was
too much for them.

[no safe haven]

17. Zzzzzz....

He'll have everyone in Parliament asleep. Can you imagine how dull Question Time will be? Blanc mange opposition leader - great for Labor though. His greatest asset being pushed on this afternoon's radio is that he used to wear an earring, ergo, he's a progressive. :rofl:

Poor old Malcolm. He didn't follow the script during the election, so it's off to the never-never for him.

[Matilda]

18. Nelson might find that it's a two-edged sword.

He's likely to lose the next election, and Malcolm will challenge for the leadership, and win.

Nelson's always been an unexciting performer - he can only go off a script and you can actually see
the wheels turning in his head as he tries to stay on-message. I think he'll give Rudd a dream run.

I liked Keating's comment on him yesterday: "I liked him better when he had the ear-ring".

[Djinn]

21. Exactly

and a little birdie tells me at least 3 Lib MP's voted for Nelson purely because they'd actually prefer Turnbull. Whoever takes the leadership immediately after a loss NEVER becomes PM, this way they have the shit leader for the election they're gonna lose anyway (barring Rudd being arrested for paedophilia) then 6 months out from the election after that, Turnbull is installed as "new leadership" and has a much better shot at the title.

politics is a strange thing, you don't always back your favourite

[Matilda]

22. I can believe that.

Turnbull is so clearly the best leader they could have, but as you said, Rudd would have to stuff
up in a very big way to lose the next election, and it's unlikely to happen, so the new Lib leader
is bound to lose. I wouldn't mind betting that's why Costello decided not to bother - he knew he
would never make PM.