http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/

I've seen nothing on the Aussie elections so far, so I'm just wanting others opinions on this. Looks like Howard is out.

I just heard on the news, John Howard is out of politics for the moment, because he has even lost his seat.

Hm...echoes of the 'landslide' we in Britain had in 1997...which ended up taking us from one pile of crap to another!  :P

So with John Howard gone, who is expected to take over?

Kevin Rudd is in, Howard is out!  Hell yeah!  :D

Hm...echoes of the 'landslide' we in Britain had in 1997...which ended up taking us from one pile of crap to another!  :P

You can say that again! 
I have to admit for a minute I was thinking of Thatcher.  It's sometimes hard to remember there was a guy named John Major who ran himself down to a 16% approval rating and is now hanging out with George Bush the Elder at the Carlyle Group.
Blair used some rhetoric similar to the "New Democrat" rhetoric Clinton/Gore used over here.  In otherwords, kowtowing to conservatism.  The first thing I thought of was the "Tony Party," but so did every critic in Britain!
::)

Other than he's Labour and he's not Howard, what do folks like better about Kevin Rudd?

If I've got it right, the "Liberal" party is "liberal" in the old sense of the word and more akin to what we call "conservative" in America.  Now what's the difference between the "National" party and the "Family First" party?
???

You can say that again! 
I have to admit for a minute I was thinking of Thatcher.  It's sometimes hard to remember there was a guy named John Major who ran himself down to a 16% approval rating and is now hanging out with George Bush the Elder at the Carlyle Group.
Blair used some rhetoric similar to the "New Democrat" rhetoric Clinton/Gore used over here.  In otherwords, kowtowing to conservatism.  The first thing I thought of was the "Tony Party," but so did every critic in Britain!
::)

Other than he's Labour and he's not Howard, what do folks like better about Kevin Rudd?

If I've got it right, the "Liberal" party is "liberal" in the old sense of the word and more akin to what we call "conservative" in America.  Now what's the difference between the "National" party and the "Family First" party?
???


The Liberals are the Conservatives, yes. Although Rudd is pretty conservative himself, even though he's the leader of the liberals. Is that confusing? Basically, the Liberals are the centre-right, Labor is the centre-left. The Nationals are the far right. Family First is a Christian party that's aligned to the right. The Democrats were sort of in-betweeners, but they're history now because they just lost their last two sitting members. The Greens are the far left, but you probably knew that.

The consensus on Rudd appears mainly to be that he's not John Howard. Most of the analysts last night were suggesting that voters didn't dislike Howard, they just believed that he'd lost touch through being in too long. That's probably being generous, because I know a lot of people who clearly detested Howard. I was one of those people. What doomed him finally was his industrial relations policy that he sprung on the electorate in the middle of 2005 when he got control of the Senate. Before that, he'd never even mentioned it. However, when he was the Treasurer in the 70s he had tried to convince his PM at the time Malcolm Fraser to introduce something similar but Fraser refused because he knew it would be political suicide. That was back when the economy was incredibly shaky and industrial strife was far worse than it's been ever since. Howard won office in 1996 on the platform that he was helping working people. In 2007 he was telling them that to help them, he had to destroy trades unions and strip away their rights in the workforce. Brilliant strategy.

So with John Howard gone, who is expected to take over?


Well, he wanted his deputy Peter Costello to take the reins, but Costello came out today and said he doesn't want to do it. So no one seems to know who it will be now. Malcolm Turnbull was the only Lib to really do very well and the only one to have a significant swing in his favour, but I don't think the executive likes him enough to promote him and he's a bit of loose cannon. He's also a Republican (in the sense that he wants Australia to become a republic and remove QEII as the head of state) which is in direct contrast to the Liberal Party line. Apart from him, there really isn't anyone who comes to mind. Costello doesn't want the job, Abbott is an incompetent fool, Downer (now there's a name for a leader) had his turn and blew it through buffoonery, McFarlane's too old, Ruddock and Andrews are hated. Minchin maybe, or Nelson, but they're long shots.


Edit: I just realised. Minchin's a Senator, so he can't do it.

I figured the Nationals were far right and Family First was "Christian."

"Family first" is a battle cry common to right-wing Christians in the U.S.  They blame many of our social ills on the destruction of the family via divorce, out-of-wedlock births, and single-parent households.  I agree with their diagnosis.  It ends there.  The real "family first" agenda of the Christian Right is rich, white, religious families first!
::)

Family First will cease to exist after 2010 here. They have one guy in Parliament who got there through making dodgy deals with other far-Right minority parties and they completely failed to get a siginificant portion of the vote this time. Once his six year Senate term is up, it will be political Oblivion for them.

Family First will cease to exist after 2010 here. They have one guy in Parliament who got there through making dodgy deals with other far-Right minority parties and they completely failed to get a siginificant portion of the vote this time. Once his six year Senate term is up, it will be political Oblivion for them.

Yeah, well our far-right minority party, the Republican party, has set America's entire socio-political agenda for the past generation.  That's why our economy is crumbling, our global status is on the wane, everybody else hates us, and the only answer the power elite have for us is more of the same!
::)

Bad, bad news for the country...

I'm so happy that Rudd is our new PM. At first I was doubtful. But I really look forward to the next 3 years with positivity. Rudd will be a great leader.

Rudd will be a great leader.


I hope you are right.

I dunno if Rudd is any better or not. But it was time for a change. 12 years is simply too long.

In otherwords, kowtowing to conservatism.  The first thing I thought of was the "Tony Party," but so did every critic in Britain!
::)
Hence the oft-repeated anagram of "Tony Blair, MP" = "I'm Tory Plan B"

The uproar has seemed to have died down now. Not too many people still pissed off about the ALP's victory.

I think Rudd needs to make his #1 priority the water crisis. It's bad. Real bad. I live in Queensland. We've probably got the worst water conditions in the country. We've been put on water restrictions that restrict us from using water outside of washing ourselves, our clothes and our dishes. So no luxury watering like washing the car or watering the garden with a hose. Inevitably, we are just going to run out of water. The water restrictions are just delaying how long it is until we run out. And it's not just Queensland, it's nation-wide. It's actually world-wide, but Australia one of the worst at the moment. I'm talking of course in relation to firs and second world countries. Something needs to be done and I think it's more important than Rudd's other plans like improving education, broadband, work relations, which are all important, but not as important as basic human needs i.e. water.

Water situation across the ditch is pretty bad. And by pretty bad I mean, REALLY F&^#ING BAD!

So yeah, i agree, it must be sorted, ASAP. Particularly as we move into another possibly dry summer.  :P

The uproar has seemed to have died down now. Not too many people still pissed off about the ALP's victory.

I think Rudd needs to make his #1 priority the water crisis. It's bad. Real bad. I live in Queensland. We've probably got the worst water conditions in the country. We've been put on water restrictions that restrict us from using water outside of washing ourselves, our clothes and our dishes. So no luxury watering like washing the car or watering the garden with a hose. Inevitably, we are just going to run out of water. The water restrictions are just delaying how long it is until we run out. And it's not just Queensland, it's nation-wide. It's actually world-wide, but Australia one of the worst at the moment. I'm talking of course in relation to firs and second world countries. Something needs to be done and I think it's more important than Rudd's other plans like improving education, broadband, work relations, which are all important, but not as important as basic human needs i.e. water.


I think people under-estimated how much failing infrastructure impacted on the election. An entire swathe of south Queensland fell to Rudd because of it and I think that it will be somewhat easier for the States to work with the Federal government now. The water crisis definitely needs attention. If Rudd can develop a workable alternative to what Howard wanted to do with regards to the Murray-Darling Basin this could help a lot. Howard wanted to take control of it but make the states pay and run it. What needs to be looked at is viable water-usage and re-usage ideas, not pie-in-the-sky stuff or environmentally damaging things.