Peter Costello for PM

[Ferret]

Yes, agree that the "great big new tax" could be worded better. Do you have any suggestions?

Just "new tax on ..." would sit better with me. I'm sure the Libs tested the "great big new" line, but it just doesn't work for me.

I would imagine the libs would be hesitant to let out any of their policies at this stage as she would make mincemeat of anything they suggested and most likely welcome it to divert attention away from voter discontent with her own ill thought out policies.

You're right, of course. That's the difficulty with being an opposition. You don't want your own policies being picked to pieces before you even get a chance to implement them and you don't want to take the focus off the government's faults. But at the same time you have to avoid appearing to be too negative. Gillard is scoring points against Abbott with the "wrecker" tag because Abbott hasn't got the balance quite right.

 

[sails]

Just "new tax on ..." would sit better with me. I'm sure the Libs tested the "great big new" line, but it just doesn't work for me.



You're right, of course. That's the difficulty with being an opposition. You don't want your own policies being picked to pieces before you even get a chance to implement them and you don't want to take the focus off the government's faults. But at the same time you have to avoid appearing to be too negative. Gillard is scoring points against Abbott with the "wrecker" tag because Abbott hasn't got the balance quite right.

Abbott isn't the best orator, but thankfully, he is persistent with his attack on these questionable labor policies. And someone needs to represent the many Aussies who didn't vote Ms Gillard in and certainly don't want her policies or her lies.

I think it's the sheer number of things going wrong that makes Abbott look like he is always negative.

If you have a persistently naughty kid, one tends to become a bit negative...lol. I'm not sure that there is much Abbott can be positive about with so many questionable labor policies seemingly being made on the run without proper consultation or thought. The boat people is a total mess with the latest I heard is that Christmas Island is being shut down and the "refugees" are coming straight to the mainland. Will see if I can find the link and post that in it's appropriate thread. I do believe Ms Gillard promised to deal with the boats too prior to the election, but that has been flipped as well by the look of things.

 

[IFocus]

If Campbell Newman succeeds on the Queensland stage,

Thinking about Newman (I hope he succeeds) its a massive gamble given his complete lack of Parliamentary experience.

I cannot think of a precedent of a political party state or federal that's ever succeeded in doing this and if it ends up in tears I wont be surprised.

He should have spent at least 2 to 4 years as a sitting member / minister before being a parliamentary leader.

 

[Ferret]

Yes, agree that the "great big new tax" could be worded better. Do you have any suggestions?

I suggest "great big new tax" is replaced with "Julia's big red snatch". I'm talking about her communist leanings and taxing iron ore of course!

Libs can contact me if they want to use that!

 

[joea]

Thinking about Newman (I hope he succeeds) its a massive gamble given his complete lack of Parliamentary experience.

I cannot think of a precedent of a political party state or federal that's ever succeeded in doing this and if it ends up in tears I wont be surprised.

He should have spent at least 2 to 4 years as a sitting member / minister before being a parliamentary leader.

Hi

Maybe in the background, the coalition are looking at the bigger picture.
They have WA, SA and hopefully, NSW by 8pm on Saturday. If they can roll QLD into
the coalition, they are in control of the majority of Mining resources.
They can then truly dictate to the Federal government. Possibly stop supply or whatever ?

On Peter Costello. If Peter would have been given the opportunity to contest the election against Rudd he would have probably won. If he had not, he would have continued as opposition to beat Gillard easily.
The Liberal party made a major tactical error in their decision, and Peter a man of principle, basically said if you do not support me now prior to 2007, then I will go gracefully. And you will be left to your own stupidity.
So basically to sum it up, John Howard's ego was his own downfall. The majority of Coalition supporters knew Howard had to go, but the muscle disallowed it.

And Australia has become an political joke to the rest of the world. As for the economy, we will never know the state of the books until Labor has been removed.
Cheers ( but there is not much to cheer about)

 

[Greg]

Irrespective of his competencies (or lack thereof) Peter Costello was perceived as arrogant, aloof and devoid of all emotion or compassion by a large percentage of the public (I'm assuming that's the case, because I did, and I'm pretty average) so whilst elections shouldn't be about popularity (perceived or otherwise) they often are. On that basis, Costello would never be Prime Minister while his bum pointed south.
Would he however make a better Prime Minister than either JuLIAR or the Mad Monk? Undoubtedly IMO.

 

[Intrinsic Value]

Irrespective of his competencies (or lack thereof) Peter Costello was perceived as arrogant, aloof and devoid of all emotion or compassion by a large percentage of the public (I'm assuming that's the case, because I did, and I'm pretty average) so whilst elections shouldn't be about popularity (perceived or otherwise) they often are. On that basis, Costello would never be Prime Minister while his bum pointed south.
Would he however make a better Prime Minister than either JuLIAR or the Mad Monk? Undoubtedly IMO.

Agree PC was never popular with the Australian public and that was one of the main reasons the rest of the then Liberal Party didn't oust Howard in favour of Costello.

Would he make a better PM? Who knows?

Unfortunately Tony Abbot is very limited and not a very savvy political operator. Just remember he couldn't get the conservative independents to form a minority government.
That speaks volumes for me.

 

[sails]

...Unfortunately Tony Abbot is very limited and not a very savvy political operator. Just remember he couldn't get the conservative independents to form a minority government.
That speaks volumes for me.

Going by some of your posts, IV, I don't think it would take much for you to dislike the conservatives...

I think it's pretty obvious that Tony Windsor is clearly labor at heart. I posted an article here at ASF where labor had already done a deal with Windsor only days before the 2010 federal election with several million for a dam in his electorate about the time the polls were indicating a hung parliament. And then I understand his cousin is none other than the labor Bruce Hawker who spent a lot of time with the independents during their drawn out decision making process - most likely to make it look like they were actually deciding between the two. Pretty much a family affair with Tony and Bruce.

Oakeshott also seems clearly labor at heart or he surely wouldn't be putting up with the nonsense being dished up by the government he is supporting. IMO, if he was in any way conservative in his views, he would have already crossed the floor with his allegience.

No, IV, I think both these independents are as much labor to the core as yourself - at least going by your posts. It will be interesting to see what their electorates think of them at the next election.

 

[Calliope]

Agree entirely. He is absolutely not in tune with anyone other than himself.

Turnbull and Hockey were noticeable by their absence from the rally yesterday. They have their own agendas which don't necessarily coincide with Abbott's.

 

[IFocus]

Hi

Maybe in the background, the coalition are looking at the bigger picture.
They have WA, SA and hopefully, NSW by 8pm on Saturday. If they can roll QLD into
the coalition, they are in control of the majority of Mining resources.
They can then truly dictate to the Federal government. Possibly stop supply or whatever ?

Generally the states run their own agenda getting votes by bashing the federal government is a given no matter what party is in. Barnett in WA often serves it up to Abbott.

On Peter Costello. If Peter would have been given the opportunity to contest the election against Rudd he would have probably won. If he had not, he would have continued as opposition to beat Gillard easily.
The Liberal party made a major tactical error in their decision, and Peter a man of principle, basically said if you do not support me now prior to 2007, then I will go gracefully. And you will be left to your own stupidity.
So basically to sum it up, John Howard's ego was his own downfall. The majority of Coalition supporters knew Howard had to go, but the muscle disallowed it.

Pete didn't have the ability to galvanize support from with in his own party in politics the numbers count, the best leaders work the backbenches Pete didn't do this.

 

[Ferret]

I suggest "great big new tax" is replaced with "Julia's big red snatch". I'm talking about her communist leanings and taxing iron ore of course!

Libs can contact me if they want to use that!

No call from the Libs yet, but I’m continuing to work on the new catch phrase for them. Here are a few lines I’d like to hear from Tony:-

On nationalising broadband:
“I’m not going to put a byte into Julia’s …..” or
“Let’s keep our digits out of Julia’s …..”

Julia goes to the Diggers & Dealers conference to sell another tax on iron ore producers:
“Australian miners have had enough of Julia’s ….”

Heinz stops producing tomato sauce in Australia because of the carbon tax:
“My sausage is dry thanks to Julia’s ….”

Back on topic, I’m sure Peter Costello would use them.

 

[Julia]

Agree PC was never popular with the Australian public and that was one of the main reasons the rest of the then Liberal Party didn't oust Howard in favour of Costello.

That's true but such a sentiment was in comparison to the positive feeling toward John Howard at the time.
If such a measure had been taken now, with the circumstances being so different, i.e. Tony Abbott as the alternative Liberal leader, and Ms Gillard in government, I'd be very surprised if he was not very popular indeed.

Popularity is only measurable in comparison to others.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

He just didn't have the mojo.

gg

 

[Julia]

He just didn't have the mojo.

gg

Do you consider either Ms Gillard or Mr Abbott has "the mojo"?
I certainly don't.

 

[springhill]

Generally the states run their own agenda getting votes by bashing the federal government is a given no matter what party is in. Barnett in WA often serves it up to Abbott.

Nowhere near as much as he slices, dices and grinds up Gillard, hell even opposition leader Ripper distances himself against her socialist stances.
One thing you can say about Barnett is he puts W.A. first everytime. An underrated leader.

 

[Intrinsic Value]

Going by some of your posts, IV, I don't think it would take much for you to dislike the conservatives...

I think it's pretty obvious that Tony Windsor is clearly labor at heart. I posted an article here at ASF where labor had already done a deal with Windsor only days before the 2010 federal election with several million for a dam in his electorate about the time the polls were indicating a hung parliament. And then I understand his cousin is none other than the labor Bruce Hawker who spent a lot of time with the independents during their drawn out decision making process - most likely to make it look like they were actually deciding between the two. Pretty much a family affair with Tony and Bruce.

Oakeshott also seems clearly labor at heart or he surely wouldn't be putting up with the nonsense being dished up by the government he is supporting. IMO, if he was in any way conservative in his views, he would have already crossed the floor with his allegience.

No, IV, I think both these independents are as much labor to the core as yourself - at least going by your posts. It will be interesting to see what their electorates think of them at the next election.

You are glossing over the fact that Abbot didn't have the political savvy to stitch up a deal with these conservative independents.

Politicians spend their whole lives making deals and the Liberals with TA at the helm were just not up to it.

The Labor Party may not have a done a great job to date but TA just doesn't offer a viable alternative government.

He is furthered hindered in the eyes of many for his strong connection to the Howard government a government, which was , incidentally, thrown out in the previous election with the PM himself losing his seat.

I doubt very much if the Liberals can win the next election with TA at the helm. He already has way too much political baggage to carry.

The very fact that he doesn't have the present government on the ropes considering their performance must be ringing alarm bells among the party faithful and nervous backbenchers.

Don't be surprised if Turnbull has another tilt at the leadership in the near future . I doubt he is hanging around just to be a minister he has bigger ambitions than that.

 

[drsmith]

Turnbull will be hoping Labor gets its carbon tax up.

 

[sails]

IV, it's interesting that it's labor supporters who keep calling for Turnbull as leader for the coalition. I don't think any such staunch labor supporters would vote for the coalition no matter who is leader, so it's clearly an effort to get rid of Abbott and get the more labor friendly Turnbull especially with alp's minority government.

Abbott isn't perfect and most conservative people acknowledge that, but it is pretty rare for a conservative to want Turnbull with his climate change nonsense (IMO) back as leader. Surely, he should be an alp member and not liberal?

Which only leaves one conclusion to me - and that is Abbott is a thorn in the flesh to labor - and so it should be. Someone needs to stand up for the views of Australians who are not happy with the way Gillard intends to impose her carbon tax on us without having the guts to call an election first.

 

[drsmith]

Someone needs to stand up for the views of Australians who are not happy with the way Gillard intends to impose her carbon tax on us without having the guts to call an election first.

Where's a standing ovation smiley when you need one ?

 

[Julia]

You are glossing over the fact that Abbot didn't have the political savvy to stitch up a deal with these conservative independents.

You are glossing over the fact that the personal always trumps the common good and the ex Nationals were out for revenge against the National Party, and even prepared to go against the wishes of their electorates to attain this.

Have a look at Oakeshott's popularity now in his own electorate - they're disgusted with him. Tony Windsor doesn't care as he won't be standing next time round.

Bob Katter, for all his eccentricity, is the only one who actually has the interests of those who voted for him at heart.