Soren wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 11:18am:



Lets say they stick with the carbon tax, and lose the election, then abbott repeals it.

The labor party will have a field day with the loss of compensation, and the hopeless waste of "direct action".   

Sometimes its best to take a hit for the greater good.

She doesn't have time.

For her hopes to play out (even though the carbon tax WILL cause cost of living increases across the board) she needs about a year.

People are whispering about her going now.
She is polling 27%. She hasn't recovered from that in a long time.
Her numbers have never been good.

The carbon tax will get blamed left right and centre for cost of living rises.

It's going to be similar to when the Euro was first introduced across the EU - cost of living rose and every supplier rounded up. Standard answer "it's cause of the new Euro".
This time it will be "it's cos of the carbon tax".

She is doomed.
Bad policy, bad Government, bad PM.

If she drops it and admits she made an error, she at least may claw back some core support.

Maqqa wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 11:38am:



Thing is though Macca - the Greens core support is not affected by and large by the carbon tax.

Labor's is.

That's why Labor's support has fallen off a cliff whereas the Greens have held steady.

The carbon tax will affect everyday working families, those of us with children, cars, mortgages, energy bills that are so high, groceries etc.
That's the battleground for Labor.
It is they who fear the carbon tax and will be whacked by this tax.

The Greens?
Their core vote are not your everyday run of the mill family people.
They tend to be your academics, assorted hippie style people and homosexual couples etc etc.
People who will either have a lot of disposable income to pay it or people who don't lead a "carbon producing" lifestyle by choice.
The Greens are not mainstream and they don't attract mainstream support.

Gillard, by shackling herself to a band of 'extremists' (for want of a better word) maybe 'fringe dweller' is better - is not doing herself any favours.

She's nailed her colours to the wrong mast.

Like I said, I think there is a lot more honour in admitting you were wrong and changing your policy than carrying on with something which is wrong just for the sake of sheer bloody mindedness.

The people do not want a carbon tax.
To ignore them is rank arrogance and a disregard for the people for whom you serve.

Soren wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 11:55am:


I dont necessarily agree.  Howard was able to get away with "non core" promises, which are exactly the same as what Gillard has done.

The difference is that Gillard has failed to justify why she did it, and the opposition have, with a compliant media, never stopped whinging about it.

Doctor Jolly wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 12:00pm:



Gillard is the worst sales person I have ever seen.
Seriously, if she was one of our sales reps, she would probably have gone onto commission only after 3 months and then gone after 6.

She has looked like a liar, she has looked like someone prepared to jettison anyone to save herself and her Government and she looks like she goes back on her word.

Think - carbon tax, Wilkie, Slipper, Thomson etc

It's just catastrophic.

She even managed to get a decent thing like Bob Carr wrong. "I never spoke to him about the role" - "Actually err, yeah I did" etc

She stumbles from disaster to disaster and this Government has gone from a majority to no majority after 1 term to now facing wipeout (and causing state Governments to be wiped out too).

It's just a shambles.

Every politician lies and does dodgy dealings - she is just a bloody awful sales man.

Grey loosely translated

"Left wing Governments ignore the people for whom they serve"

Reminds me of a quote

"Left wingers tend to ride roughshod over democracy whenever it suits. To them the ends justify the means. That is how their forebearers came about creating the gulags"
- Margaret Thatcher

Grey wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 12:28pm:



Thatcherism.
My parents current wealth is directly attributable to the polices of Mrs Thatcher 1979 - 1990 my friend.

We have far worse role models in this world.

We have in Australia an utterly abysmal woman PM and in comparison Mrs T was the best post war PM the UK has been fortunate to have.

Grey wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 12:12pm:



History says nothing of the sort, except about left wing governments in the 70s.
The Hawke/Keating government lasted 13 years (longer than Howard) because, on the whole, they were competent.