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IT’S ON
Election date to be announced shortly. Most likely November 24.
UPDATE. The 24th it is.
UPDATE II. Notable November 24 events:
1989: Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party gets out of town.
1969: Lt William Calley charged over the My Lai massacre.
1914: Benito Mussolini leaves Italy’s socialist party.
1963: Lee Harvey Oswald killed.
1975: Gough Whitlam launches Labor’s election campaign.
UPDATE III. As usual, Malcolm Mackerras and Bob Ellis got it wrong.
UPDATE IV. Rudd now speaking in Brisbane; promises to ratify Kyoto AND to ban construction of nuclear power plants.
UPDATE V. Kevin is motherfrightened.
I hate to say it, but I think Rudd will win, there is a whole generation of voters out there who haven’t experienced the joys of a Labor Govt.
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 10 13 at 09:57 PM • permalinkNice try, Blair, but Bob Ellis has already told us that it will be December 8.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 10 13 at 09:58 PM • permalinkLabor supports small business.
All businesses will now become small.
The depression we had to have.Posted by stackja1945 on 2007 10 13 at 10:13 PM • permalinkNotable November 24 events:
My wedding anniversary!
I’ve just had it pointed out to me that, of course , this must a good omen.
Posted by WhereverYouGo,ThereYouAre on 2007 10 13 at 10:46 PM • permalinkkae:
I’m optimistically thinking that we won’t need to find out what Rudd does if he gets his sweaty paws on the levers.
Not without a time machine or a savegame to reload, at least.
;)
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 10 13 at 10:57 PM • permalinkSo, how does this election business work in Australia? Ya’ll got that parliamentary thing, don’t ya? Does that mean that the people essentially vote for the individual members, or senators or freistat holders, or burgesses or whatever ya call ‘em, and the party that gets the most votes chooses the PM? Or do ya put the names of the main contenders on pieces of paper , drop ‘em in a kangaroo’s pouch, and then draw out one of the pieces of paper, and that guy wins (assumin’ the kangaroo don’t just hop away and get lost in the bush somewhere)?
I’m thinkin’ that if Rudd does lose, those Kevin07 t-shirts will make right nice “family cloths”.
paco: Especially the ballots that were like the old No2 pencil multiple-choice tests.
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 10 13 at 11:23 PM • permalinkPaco, as we got more and voters (and in Chicago more and more dead voters) it became entirely too time consuming to steal votes using pencils and paper. We went from those big ol’ lever voting machines to punch cards with ‘readers’ to direct software. Each step made it easier for the locals to steal votes.
The Dems and Lefties in the US are just unhappy that the Repubs are now as adept at stealing votes in the suburbs as the Dems traditionally have been in the cities. Dems have always had more ‘bodies’ working the elections, so they had an advantage at vote stealing before it became mechanized, then computerized.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 10 13 at 11:26 PM • permalinkOops. “as we got more and more voters . . .”
I still refuse to use perview.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 10 13 at 11:28 PM • permalinkAsh_ I’ve seen more vote theft (almost always by Dems) than your friend has even conceived of. The ways to steal votes are many, varied and used by whoever manages to get control of the machinery.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 10 13 at 11:30 PM • permalinkWhat are all of you people going to crow about should Howard lose?
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 13 at 11:30 PM • permalinkNah, over here we have gerrymander and branch stacking.
Wolves Evolve: what will anybody have to crow about should Kevni win?
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 13 at 11:36 PM • permalinkWolves Evolve
The implosion of the economy, removal of all fiscal restraints, and endless games of pass the parcel on Fed/state funding (only no JWH to blame).
Still must be fairly sad for someone looking foreward to a Lab victory to realise that at least publicly, the best the ALP can manage is a series of “me too” policies and over 100 commitees and investigations.
Should make for an endless source of commentry.
10 years of responsible government has left me with enough resources to ride out 3-7 years of mismanagement if Rudd does get in.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 10 13 at 11:41 PM • permalinkWolves Evolve: My guess is that no one here will be heading to their shrinks with a case of Rudd Deraingment syndrome.That type thing is saved for the weak willed leftists here in the US.
The RWDBs of Australia will go on with their lives, working, paying taxes,(probably alot more), obeying the law, raising their families and believing in the future. Same as us RWDBs in the US if Hilary manages to get in. We keep our hand wringing to a minimum.
Off-topic I suppose, but I heard on the news that the by-election for Peter Beattie’s old seat was held yesterday.
That reminded me that two Labor premiers have resigned this year. Resigned, when logically you would expect them to be squirming for joy at the thought of the ALP holding power right across the board.
I’d like to know how heavily the prospect of this election weighed in their thinking. Did they see Howard winning? Or Rudd?Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 13 at 11:54 PM • permalinkKae, you accidentally did a mailto:, but here’s your link.
37, 40, 41: Hilarious.
40: You’re right, it is sad for someone like me that the alternative government really isn’t that alternative. I feel unrepresented in the political process, its true. But at some point I’ve accepted that Labor had to move to the right, not because getting into power is more likely (it isn’t), but because some of the Howard policies have worked. What some on the right have not realised is that this makes people less likely to vote for the Liberals again, not more. Most people want effective, fair, and largely quiet government that is responsive to crisis and responsible with the purse.
Not many Australians feel that way about the Liberal party right now, and if you think its because ‘we’ve forgotten the perils of Labor’, and what a pathetic narrative invention that is, you’re in for a rude shock.
The poll data isn’t to be trusted, but its one consistent theme is that there are fewer and fewer undecided voters this time than ever. That should tell you true believers that the alienated other side of politics isn’t a latte left, its people in every electorate who have grown to distrust the basic elements of the Liberal platform. The fish has been gutted, friends. You’ve painted yourselves into a corner by selling hard-edged economic policy and a populist social policy. That’s not to say that Labor won’t follow suit - it will - and they’ll be murdered by both sides of politics for it. Rudd is no natural leader, and I consider him our John Major rather than the great hope of the left.
The Libs have run of policies to implement and they have let themselves be considered by most people as unfair and unfit governors. This election was theirs to lose, and if you’re looking for fall guys you can blame the sunset of the Howard years on the likes of the inept Tony Abbott and smirking Alexander Downer, who have done far more damage to the Liberal platform than even Howard - even so called Howard haters like me have grown a scintilla of respect. I even felt a moment of pride when he rebuked Bono as an ‘Irish entertainer’. And what about that clown Kevin Andrews? Is there a Liberal voter here who can honestly claim to be proud of having an 11 year government in their name that has such a illiterate slug in such an important role? Honestly now.
The horse has bolted and there’s no turning back; even a Liberal victory would be slim comfort since both parties are now forcing themselves to converge on the centre. And perhaps if that means putting someone like me on the sidelines, as long as we also put somebody from Hillsong there as well, perhaps its for the good of the country. The political victory isn’t as is interesting as the explosive end of a long and largely hilarious conservative period of Australian public life in which demagogues ruled the earth.
What seems to scare some of you is that most people never felt that strongly about the core platform of the Liberal party, that it was only their moderately effective governance that kept them in. Now that that’s gone, what choice do people have? I agree its a shocking way to elect a new Prime Minister, but some of you would say it worked last time.
See you all November 24 with a drink in hand, either way, my shout or yours.
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 12:19 AM • permalinkThink Labor can find a shiftless family with a 12-year-kid?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 10 14 at 12:23 AM • permalinkWolves, has it occurred to you that you might be attributing tendencies of your own upon those whom you dislike and disagree with?
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 10 14 at 12:28 AM • permalinkYes it did. I told you we were converging.
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 12:31 AM • permalinkIt’s reassuring that even as the faux election campaign splutters to an end, the faux outrage at KRudd continues apace on this site.
In a startlingly creative act of imagination, most people on this site put Kevni on the “left” for Chrissake. Ho ho ho.
You ought show a little gratitude for the state of affairs which gives most Australians a choice between (i) lying neo-cons with a drop-kick-in-waiting (Costello), and (ii) lying neo-cons with a mafioso-in-waiting (Gillard).
I’m going to get a certain amount of personal satisfaction from watching JoHo’s concession speech - and then I’m going to have to get through an ocean of smugness and two terms of hard Labor.
Bastards
Posted by Hero Schema on 2007 10 14 at 12:34 AM • permalinkI’d vote for a carbon rod ahead of Bill Shorten, and direct my preferences to a plum.
54: Precisely.
Everybody on the left of centre has been saying the Howard years have meant the growth of meanness. He’ll find out what that means when he loses, when even as a reasonably effective PM, he’ll reap the whirlwind. I predict an undignified chant of “Na na na nah, Goo-od-bye!” from Monkey Mia to Byron Bay.
Then we’ll get the end product of a decade of moral cannibalism; the daftness of a populist with the shrinking political courage of the Accidental PM.
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 12:41 AM • permalink48.
“‘we’ve forgotten the perils of Labor’, and what a pathetic narrative invention that is..”No-one would call intrest rates in the mid to high teens a “pathetic narrative” if Lab follows its traditional route of management.
I think you mistake many heres problem with the whole “Lab has moved to the right” idea. Many just plain old dont believe it. Id personaly be resonably comfortable with a Lab government (bar the usual hobby horses of the left being wheeled out) but the fact of the matter is I just dont believe for a minute that what Rudd is saying is what we will end up with. When a party doesnt even go into an election with a set of shadow ministers put in place for the next 3 years it smacks of either a cover up or lack of palitable talent.
Then there is the promise of death by commitee, which I havent seen any lab party refutation of.
A Lib link but first that popped up.Many, many of these reviews have the ability to parachute in policies or personnel without ever having to take them before the public as part of their election platform.
Shades of Brian Burke.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 10 14 at 12:41 AM • permalink#37 at least you seem to realise that Rudd is not particularly left-wing. A self-confessed economic conservative, pulp-mill supporter, terrorist hater, and is pro-America (especially scantily clad American pole dancers), if he wins he’ll also become hated by the Left before long.
The left are gleefully cheering at the cleverness of Rudd’s “me-too” policy, without really looking at it very closely.
He’s no Trotskyite.
I think the Left will have more to wail about, because it will prove the futility of them ever getting a Moonbat Government. They’ll feel tricked and betrayed. Won’t that be amusing?Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 12:43 AM • permalinkThe ALP has ‘moved to the right’ - and pulled all those ex-union staffers right along with it. Yeah…
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 14 at 12:49 AM • permalinkAnd as for Piers Akerman, that shiftless drone, who in the column linked above seems to be fighting for his political life - he knows that the editors will swing like bellweathers - says this about Howard:
“He doesn’t fabricate an enthusiasm for sport before a grand final, doesn’t manufacture grief when tragedy strikes and he doesn’t run from tough decisions or blame other members of his Cabinet or staffers when those decisions may be unpopular”
Now I dare a single one of you, the most ardent Coalition supporters, to suspend your disbelief to the point where this is a true statement about our PM.
What an incredible coward Akerman has become in the last three years; I used to enjoy his rantings so much. He should get back on the blow and read more. Melbourne lefties are grudgingly finding humour in Andrew Bolt because he is a true conservative and knows when neo-con faff damages the cause - his causes are sensical and at least funny. Akerman has put on the maid’s outfit in the raw lust for power, and is getting increasingly desperate now he’s backed the wrong horse. Lemme guess? 20 columns in 2008 backing Costello as a true leader? Gimme a break.
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 12:50 AM • permalink58: Do you know many Unionists? Every single one of them I’ve met is pro-war, anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion. And you think the Unions and Greens get along famously, do you? The politics they bring aren’t as hard and fast as you want to paint them, and it will do the Libs damage to continually harp on about it.
And we now know that the Libs think the Union question and attacking Rudd personally will be their tickets out of this mess… what are they aiming for - a 33% primary vote?
And I thank “hammerrr@hotmail.com” for abusing me on my own site, cheers mate.
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 01:00 AM • permalink#29: Well, now, you’ve definitely got the advantage over us there. I don’t know why we here in the U.S. have gone in for all these fancy-smancy voting machines. I remember when it used to just be pencil and paper, too, and it worked just fine, as I recall.
The best systems analysts are those who realise that some tasks don’t require an ‘IT solution.’
#35: What are all of you people going to crow about should Howard lose?
Watching the dreams of the Gauche caviar shatter as they realise Rudd isn’t going to make university free to their pampered middle class welfare guzzling sprogs, or end the mandatory detention illegal immigrants, or re-establish an authority run by the criminally insane to ‘redistribute’ the funding meant for aboriginal health and housing.
Perhaps I’m black-hearted but the wailing and gnashing of teeth that will come from their realization that the Marxist-Eva Coxist ‘utopia’ they’ve dreamed of will not come to fruition fills me with joy.
Does that make me a bad person?
#48 “What seems to scare some of you is that most people never felt that strongly about the core platform of the Liberal party, that it was only their moderately effective governance that kept them in.”
A risible comment. Wolfie, I just do not think so, because I do not think Australian voters feel strongly about the core platform of ANY party. If they did, then actual party memberships would be higher on both sides of the political fence.
The parties who do have people who feel strongly are generally the irrelevant ones, single issue ones, or emotion/ignorance-based ones like Bob the Bungholer’s execrably stupid greens. And to be blunt, most of them are out on the fringes or beyond.
I have always been a swinging voter who votes for the group whose policies will best benefit the country. The last few times, that has been the Liberals, based on sound foreign and economic policy. I do not like much of their domestic policy, and to be blunt the ALP has been grossly unfit to govern: a factor of the union-based ‘soft Neocommie’ monoculture at its heart.
This has damaged the system. Her Majesty’s loyal opposition has the job of presenting a credible alternative government. They have not done this in the past, just as the Libs/Nats have not done it at state level.
Neither party has a healthy and growing membership, but of the two, the ALP’s may be the sickest over the long term.
IMHO, no government, under a working system, should be able to do more than two terms. These long pendulum swings over the past several decades indicate that the system is not working very well. Lack of a healthy and broad-brush membership for either party also indicates this
All that said, I am pretty sure that Howard will lose this one, and quite badly. I have stated this here, at LP and in other forums over the past six or so months. The main reason I get for that around this town and my actual home town is that people believe that the good times will continue to roll no matter who is in power. I think they are wrong but I hope they are right.
Most RWDBs (and especially those here) will be pretty calm about the Kruddster (a second rate DFAT bureacrat), Gladys Chainsaw (an educated union thug), the Electrocuted Dancer (a fourth rate singer) and all the Comrades being elected to office on 25 November. You may have missed the various ‘who are you and what do you do’ threads we have had. Basically, there are a hell of a lot of professionals, tertiary educated people in ‘hard’ areas, ex-military and such here. Very, very few of the people here are latte sipping hysterics desperate to blame Howard or Bush for the failure of the world to act according to their worldview as derived from Chomsky and a soft-focus view of Marx, and which revolves around their own emotions rather than fact.
So when Howard goes, what will probably happen is that we’ll relish to chance to lay the metaphorical boot in to the amusing (if expensive) spectacles to follow, have a bit of a laugh, and ask the chardonnay socialists why their emotion-based touchy-feely policies are running up vast debts, costing the jobs of workers, erecting poverty traps and generally failing to solve the problems of the world.
Remember, no child will live in poverty! And giving sit-down money to Aborigines instead of integrating them into the main culture could only ever have beneficial outcomes! (Well, it did in a way… the paedophiles certainly love the outcome.)
This is just the cycle turning, like it always does, like it will again. And like always, many of the gains of the last decade will be squandered, vast debts will be built up (because Neocommies ALWAYS think that the solution to all ills is to erect vast bureacracies, spend taxpayer’s money on all ills, and ALWAYS make the problems worse in consequence), and people will look at their soaring taxes, huge debts and stagnant quality of life and then the cycle will turn again.
This is called ‘reality’.
The one thing which does not faze any of us here is reality.
MarkL
CanberraMonaro, it makes you a mistaken person. I don’t know a single fairy down here in the bottom of the garden who believes a KRud Labor government will advance the social agenda for anyone but their brudders in da unions.
Wolves seems to have direct insight into how da brudderhood works.
Q How many Rudds does it take to change a lightbulb?
A Kevin Rudd doesn’t change anything!Posted by Hero Schema on 2007 10 14 at 01:10 AM • permalink#62 MarkL what is “soft neocommie”? Sounds delicious. How many flavours?
#63 Nic, who do you know that’ll be voting against Howard? Some names and addresses please.
Posted by Hero Schema on 2007 10 14 at 01:17 AM • permalinkRe #62, nicely said, Mark! Frankly, should Hillary!!! win the 2008 elections, i expect much the same reaction in the United States. We won’t be making paper mache heads, baring our breasts (thank GOD), camping in ditches, defiling public memorials, and so on.
After all, we have living, breath proof of what happens the emotion-based touchy-feely policies of chardonnay socialists are running up vast debts, generally failing to solve the problems of the world: The Congress of the United States under Democratic leadership.
The Glacier is merely gravy on top of that.
Eh? What about “costing the jobs of workers”, and “erecting poverty traps”? Oh, that’ll come, should Hillary!!! win in 2008.
Sorry, Wolves Evolves, but exploding heads is largely a leftie phenomenon. Although I can think of several ultra-right wing idiots who might have that problem under such circumstances.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 10 14 at 01:34 AM • permalinkI intend to engage in this argument in the strongest possible terms - just as soon as I figure what it’s about.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 10 14 at 01:36 AM • permalinkMargo, for that thought alone I will buy you a drink should I ever visit the fair country of Australia!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 10 14 at 01:37 AM • permalinkMargos Maid: It looks a little like some pre-election gloating or something.
Possibly precognitive, though also possibly premature…
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 10 14 at 01:40 AM • permalinkAsh: Well, I do remember a lot of premature gloating in 2002 and 2004 here in the US, but then 2006 didn’t turn out overly well.
Which I guess means anyone can be a Nostrodamus if you fling enough predictions out and hope no one remembers the inaccurate ones.
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 10 14 at 01:45 AM • permalinkRe #69, Patrick, Hero and Wolves Evolves were muttering something getting “...a certain amount of personal satisfaction from watching JoHo’s concession speech…”, followed by getting “...through an ocean of smugness and two terms of hard Labor”.
From this, I conclude that we may be witnessing Idealism engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Reality…..and Idealism finally understands that the odds are on Reality walking away from the scrum.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 10 14 at 01:47 AM • permalinkPatrick, the gloating before the election is always tiresome, but when the Left’s candidate loses, the howls and screams are fun to listen to.
The more predictions I hear, the more amused I get though. There are some pretty funny ones out there. I heard one person say that the Greens would get into Government this election.
Ruddites would be best to heed the 1970 VFL Granf Final, where at half time, Collingwood was leading Carlton by 44 points:
And most of all, to forget that they were seven goals down. Meanwhile, in the Collingwood rooms, the place was full of back-slappers, and the odd champagne cork had already been popped.
Carlton ended up winning the game.
The Real JeffS wrote:
From this, I conclude that we may be witnessing Idealism engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Reality…..and Idealism finally understands that the odds are on Reality walking away from the scrum.
For some reason I just got a vision of Reality ripping Idealism’s spine out… and I never really played Mortal Kombat when I was younger…
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 10 14 at 02:04 AM • permalinkThe Real JeffS wrote:
“From this, I conclude that we may be witnessing Idealism engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Reality…..and Idealism finally understands that the odds are on Reality walking away from the scrum”.That does seem to be the lesson of the last twenty years. Learning to cope with reality. Reality rules!
However all is not totally hopeless. There are different types of hand to hand combat. Jiu Jitsu turns the momentum of the opponent against them. Come on Johnny. Slam that wall.
Posted by Hero Schema on 2007 10 14 at 02:16 AM • permalinkWas watching that airships documentary on the ABC when dear leader Kevin Rudd appeared on the screen to respond to Howard’s election announcement. Got a laugh when he said that the re-election of the Howard Government would mean “no change on climate change”. As the words came out of his mouth you could see him thinking “that sounds really stupid - maybe I should of read this stuff first”.
Krudd seemed nervous and hit the mike with his hand whenever he tried to instil some animation into his speech. In between these brief moments of movement it looked like he was trying to read an idiot card. Surely he didn’t have one of them at a live news conference. maybe he was staring at some inanimate object - Julia Gillard? - to calm his nerves.
It was a poor performance from someone who confidently believes he will be prime minister in six weeks. An interesting contrast to Howard’s performance two hours earlier.
Jaysus, six weeks to finish my nuclear power plant!
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 10 14 at 02:34 AM • permalink#60
Do you know many Unionists? Every single one of them I’ve met is pro-war, anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion. And you think the Unions and Greens get along famously, do you? The politics they bring aren’t as hard and fast as you want to paint them, and it will do the Libs damage to continually harp on about it.Huh?
Isn’t the CFMEU advertising about coal miners concerned about climate change (it was a parody, after all?)I would so love to see Jane Turner doing a satirical take on Gillard. But who will write it? Jane herself?
I think Wolfie just dropped in for some pre-emptive gloating. Terrific opening gambit: What are all of you people going to crow about should Howard lose?
Well, for starters I’d gloat about how we now have the internet up to speed. This was not around when we were waiting for Keating’s demise. We had to suppose that the media were wrong, and find out how wrong on election night, a bit like 2004.
If the ALP wins we now have a mechanism for continuing to examine the bullshit that comes out daily from the usual suspects.
Having lived through ALP governments before, I know what to expect. This time: one term, perhaps two, and then the conservatives have to clean up the mess again.Steady the fuck on everyone. JWH has not lost yet. Looks grim I know but in the solitutude of the booth doubts of the Owl and the Pussycat will creep in.
Or we are looking at worst case KRudd in Oz and AGore in the US. Suits me fine I am cashed up with no debts so there will be rich pickings for the prepared as the economy goes south rapidly.Some Predictions:
Firstly, the final end of the Australian Democrats.
They picked up no senators last time around, and I expect a repeat performance, wiping out their last remaining senators.
The coalition will retain enough of the vote to get 50% of the senate seats on offer, and their absolute majority from last time will see the coalition retain control of the senate.
Rudd will be elected, but totally ineffective for his first term. He won’t even get WorkChoices repealed.
This will likely force him to take a risky double dissolution; if he does, Family First’s 5% support in the electorate will give them the balance of power.
This will enable Krudd to take out WorkChoices, but subsequent policy concessions will see the luvvies in the ALP dump him, as they did with Hawke. His successor will lose to Costello.
What will I gloat about should Howard lose? thats an easy one, my defence service home loan is capped at 6.85%, Krudd and his cronies can run interest rates up to 40% for all I care, I know I get to keep my house with no fear and without sacrifices this time around.
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 10 14 at 03:46 AM • permalinkWho would win in a fight between Costello and Malcolm Turnbull? By ‘would’, I mean ‘will on November 25th’?
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 04:07 AM • permalink#3
I hate to say it, but I think Rudd will win, there is a whole generation of voters out there who haven’t experienced the joys of a Labor Govt.
Yes. But they probably forgot to enrol to vote.
Early next week, when they finally put down the bong and realise they can’t enrol any more, they’ll likely be blaming Howard for their own stupidity and calling it Florida 2000, because they read it on some blog.
I make one prediction with some confidence.
The strong union hands inside the sock that we see as KRudd will be making his mouth move quite differently after the election, whether he wins or not.
What they are letting the sock say now is just following the immortal advice of Graham Richardson in the title of his memoirs, Whatever it Takes.Further to my above post, the Kevin 07 site actually says it:
The Howard Government has passed significant changes to Australia’s electoral laws. In the past, the electoral rolls were open for a week after the election was called, in order to allow people to enrol for the first time or to update their enrolment address.
Under Mr Howard’s new laws, the electoral roll now closes earlier than it used to. You now only have until Wednesday 17th October to act, or you won’t have a say at all come Election Day…
If we’re not careful, these unfair changes will affect hundreds of thousands of Australians. Last election, 423,975 people sent their enrolment forms in during the week just before the cut-off date. 78,816 of those were new enrolments.
We don’t want this election to go down in history as the one that disenfranchised Australians, especially young people.
That will be the excuse when they lose… It will “go down in history” as the biggest tanty ever thrown.
#82 he didn’t have one of them at a live news conference. maybe he was staring at some inanimate object - Julia Gillard?
note to self : Kevin Rudd is a man of varied tastes. He likes inanimate objects in addition to jiggly ones.
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 10 14 at 04:20 AM • permalinkA photo of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in search of a new caption
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 10 14 at 04:25 AM • permalink#60
Do you know many Unionists? Every single one of them I’ve met is pro-war, anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion.
I’m calling b/s.
Maybe Joe Construction worker is a social conservative, maybe. But look at the massive, powerful public sector unions, the PSU, the NSW Teachers’s Federation, etc. These are filled with lefties, social, economic, whatever.
Plus, look at the union sabotage of military supplies in the Vietnam war.
Bullshit bullshit bullshit.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 04:44 AM • permalinkI notice a few responses to #60. Which was a response to a post of my own.
I wasn’t talking about the union rank and file, which - in spite of a year and more of Work Choices - apparently remain small in number. My comment referred to the former members of union leadership standing behind Rudd.
Labor condemns the Libs for being irrelevant and out of touch with the people.
When Labor’s federal ranks are so packed with people who represent about 15% of the work force, how ‘in touch’ are they?PS - Please, no bleats about Howard ‘destroying’ the unions. Membership has been declining steadily for nearly twenty years; workers were making the choice for themselves well before JWH got the keys to the Lodge.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 14 at 05:01 AM • permalink“Maybe Joe Construction worker is a social conservative, maybe.”
Of course he is. How do you think we’re 11 years into Liberal government, a fluke? Labor sold them out years ago. Now they feel sold again.
The unions aligned with the Right faction: Australian Workers Union (AWU), the National Union of Workers (NUW) and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA).
Of course, now that Workchoices has galvanised even the bitter feuding AWU and NWU, you’re looking at a greater-than-ever consolidation of union organisations. Which is, I’m sure, not the preferred option for you guys.
Posted by Wolves Evolve on 2007 10 14 at 05:01 AM • permalinkPersonally, I’m thinking of voting socialist alliance.
Those jokers at Lavatory Rodeo slay me!
The election called… it wants democracy back!!!!
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 10 14 at 05:17 AM • permalinkGood question Ash - it’s pure gold.
Another good question from Mr Wolves Evolve over in LP comments:
A thought: what will Tim Blair and the Baroness Janet Albrechtsen do should Labor win?
Poor Tim and Janet must be shaking in their boots at the prospect of saying goodbye to all those government grants…
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 10 14 at 05:33 AM • permalinkyou’re looking at a greater-than-ever consolidation of union organisations. Which is, I’m sure, not the preferred option for you guys.
whoooah!!!
The unions have got their shit together? And they’ve decided they’re opposed to union-busting conservatives?!!! Say it aint so!Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 06:01 AM • permalink#103 what a thigh-slapper, Margos.
Wish I’d thought of that line. It’s witty, and yet… so true!
[/sarc]Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 06:23 AM • permalinkRudd’s taken an anti-nuke stand.
I’d like to see Howard turn this into an election issue. If he can turn the GST and the sale of Telstra into winning platforms - both considered unwinnable dogs - maybe he can do the same for nuclear power.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 06:35 AM • permalink#101
you’re looking at a greater-than-ever consolidation of union organisationsThe predominantly Union-funded ALP?
What’s new?
The issue is they’ve now hijacked the ALP as (the majority of?) candidates - not much of a field - small wonder the lack-lustre ALP candidates.Should Rudd lose, who will come out on top post-spill - Crean again?
a single bomb may be all that is needed.
He’s got a point. One single bomb was all that was needed in 2004.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 14 at 06:51 AM • permalinkso much for Kevin’s fears of a negative campaign. Just saw the “go for growth” advertisement on TV for the first time.
Very, very good.
Howard’s still in the race.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 07:02 AM • permalink#89
in the solitutude of the booth doubts of the Owl and the Pussycat will creep in... and that of putting the country in the hands of a smug pratt who turns his back on the Government whilst they are addressing the house in Parliament.
Have Labor’s focus groups told them that (swinging) voters think that common courtesy has gone out of fashion?
“As Max Soy says, a single bomb may be all that is needed. Where d’ya reckon it’ll go off? I’m thinking Circular Quay.”
Max Soy doesn’t seem to realise exactly what he has said here, its a pretty clear realisation that few Australians believe that Krudd and his cronies are in the same league as JWH when it comes to dealing with the tough real world problems.
OK, he has mixed in more than his fair share of leftist moonbattery, but the theme is the same.
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 10 14 at 07:31 AM • permalinkfolks, if you want to help keep kruddy out, come & help me hand out how to votes on election day. a large percentage of the punters make up their mind as they are walking into the polling booth, & a friendly smile & reinforcement of the liberal candidate’s name is vital. anyone who wants to help in victoria, email me at kitekatz -at- yahoo.co.uk (stupid email address but my aussie one is worse)
My son says this is a win-win election. If Howard wins he will rejoice in watching the lefties implode. If Rudd wins he will enjoy watching it all slowly unravel. His first choice is a Howard win but he won’t be weeping if it goes the other way.
I’d much prefer a Howard win - naturally - but secure enough to survive Rudd and his band of Bolsheviks. Own my own home and can’t be held to ransom by unionists like city dwellers and live remote enough for the pricks to overlook us.
Maybe it will be a good thing. Every generation needs to taste some hardship. For me it was Whitlam/Fraser/Hawke/Keating years, for my dad the Depression and WW2. I got the easy one but it was still enough to change my outlook.
Well, why should any of us get het up when/if Howard loses?
We are not lefties, to squeal and skitter in mindless panic just because democracy functions as it ought. In fact, the boot being on the other foot will be rather interesting.
For one, I’ll be too busy tightening the family’s belt and budget to make sure me and mine weather the rough patch.
MarkL
CanberraPS ‘soft neocommies’ taste…. yellow. They are also easy to clean after you shoot ‘em. No guts, brains or spines to worry about.
Well, that brought the closet commos and numptys out of the woodwork , didn’t it?
One great advantage of the endless opinion polls that have saturated the media recently is to ensure that conservatives have been forced to accept the writing on the wall and taken measures to ensure that the likely incoming pseudo socialist will never, ever get his claws on our accumulated wealth.
The ASX hit a new record last week. Watch it slide into Third World territory when Kevni 07 gets the keys to the Treasury.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 10 14 at 09:16 AM • permalink#127 Well, that brought the closet commos and numptys out of the woodwork , didn’t it?
numptys?
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 10 14 at 10:38 AM • permalinkOz military saying, usually about new recruits.
Know nothings, lackwits, mindless drones, bigmouths, etc.
I believe it was invented in response to PC directives from the brass for Army Drill Sergeants to moderate their language in the pursuit of excellence in training.
No more “ripping your arm off and beating you to death with the soggy end” etc.
Hence “numpty” as inoffensive (to civilians) military jargon.Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 10 14 at 10:59 AM • permalinkmay I assume to shorten your name after just a couple of days on this site
Feel free, Cashew! <tips hat in your direction>
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 10 14 at 12:44 PM • permalinkNumpty Kevni’s standing so tall
Numpty Kevni’s in for a fall
All LP’s horses
And all LP’s men
Won’t put old Numpty together again.Sorry, I had to let that out, even though I feel like I’m sliding into their territory… no, wait. We’re the oafish and infantile people, aren’t we?
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 10 14 at 06:09 PM • permalinkWith luck and the grace of God, we Yanks will have more to celebrate this Thanksgiving than the usual (which is much). Take him down, JoHo; you know you want to, you know you can.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 10 15 at 06:43 PM • permalink
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