2013 Election. Preferred Prime Minister.

[manrush]

You mean that carbon tax that was successful? I still like how Libs spin it so furiously.

A general question: can passport-holders abroad vote in the elections? Or is Australia protected from my ability to vote in the elections?

[Brizer]

But if Gillard goes, look at what we'll get.
Abbott is hardly a bastion of temperate, accepting, honourable, tolerant integrity.

You know what they say about being careful about what you wish for, frying pan into the fire and all those other old adages.
Keeping up with the clichés: we are not going to get the best of possible worlds, but rather the lesser of two evils and that is why I cannot vote for Abbott. So instead of looking at the negatives some find so unacceptable in Gillard, look at what she has achieved despite all the rubbish that's been thrown at her. Abbott has a very dodgy record especially on moral & social matters which, to my mind, outbalance any of Gillard's shortcomings.

I'm not excited about the options, in fact, I'm fairly depressed, but the lesser of two evils is the sad reality.


##
Yes, you can vote overseas: contact the Electoral Office soon and find out your options.

[ryan79]

If (or since) the leaders are both shit then vote for the party that you think will deliver the best outcomes. The leader really is irrelevant.

[Brizer]

Not entirely, in reality, as the leader sets the agenda and the standard for all the talk about party.
You are right to the extent of knowing who the contenders are in your own electorate and making the decision about them as much as possible. In that sense, I am lucky, as my local federal member is Tanya Plibersek, one of the very few politicians of either side I have any time for.
Also the Libs don't seem to be able to come up with anything/one approaching a viable alternative, in this electorate, perhaps believing it a lost cause in a safe electorate which is a bit of slight to genuinely committed right wing voters who have no substantial candidate to support, though I guess it doesn't stop them voting for them anyway.
Also guess I'm pretty naive to keep hoping for a greater level of integrity from politicians, thus the very small number for whom I have any regard.

[Danubis]

Why demand qualities we don't demand of ourselves?

[MILIUX]

I want to see NBN continue to rollout as planned, which means Labor. This is the most important issue for me. It's good they're planning to cut down on welfare payments and encourage them to participate in workforce.

[Samuel77]

Originally Posted by Danubis

Why demand qualities we don't demand of ourselves?

Ha Ha, I was thinking the same thing, but more that everyone is so quick to judge.

But we do need to hold them with the highest standard so they at least know what is expected, even if they fall short. If we hold them in low standards, then we couldn't expect to get anything but the lowest standard of behaviour.

[Samuel77]

Originally Posted by GaryinSydney

Interesting to see how divergent all of our views are here - especially in relation to Gillard.

I personally find her abhorrent - her knifing of Kevin Rudd, her being in the pocket of unions, her hypocrisy on her anti-same-sex marriage stance, her awful accent & droning voice, her hairstyle even ffs!

Not to even mention her dodgy political opportunism in regards to running a minority Govt - the influence of the Greens with her change on introducing the carbon tax etc, her support for the dodgy Peter Slipper and corrupt Craig Thomson.......I won't even bother commenting on her "border protection" failures.

She has to go.

Im ok with Gillard. I'm even ok with her knifing Rudd, this is politics. It got a little personal against Rudd when he challenged which i didn't really like, but most of the commentary seemed to be more on his leadership style which is fair game. Although I don't understand Gillard's stance on same sex marriage considering she is living with a defacto partner which many years ago would have had a similar abhorrence in the community, compared to the coalition, at least she has allowed a conscious vote. So although she may have personal views about it, she is open enough to the issues to allow everyone to have their own say. So ultimately I respect that more than I respect the coalition stance. I actually don't find her 'hypocritical view' on same sex marriage a problem, I can somewhat understand it because when you are brought up with certain beliefs, they can be hard to reconcile when they contradict with other beliefs such as universal rights. I may not agree with it, but i dont judge her or Abbott or anyone if that is their personal feelings and they vote that way on the issue - I think it is only a matter of time before same sex marriage becomes a legal reality. But I don't agree with making everyone "tow the line" on an issue that reflects personal opinions so heavily.

Her voice isn't pretty, but her hair and general style is quite alright.

Her political opportunism to me is simply that, politics. And to me she has seemed overall quite true in her political aspirations and goals as PM. The unions, I have never really liked the influence they have in the Labor party. But they are still relevant organisations in this day and age.

When I look at her positions on Craig Thompson and Peter Slipper, while I think that Thompson is most likely guilty and Slipper seemingly has some character flaws, ultimately I think that the course of proper justice should be taken where neither should be judged by either side of politics until they are found guilty of any misdoings - and mostly she has chosen the positions I agree with.

The whole carbon tax thing is simply a non-issue to me, and I do not understand how people get so emotional about it. If you look at what she said and what she did, and the circumstance, to me there was nothing nefarious, and there was no lie. She ultimately negotiated to reach a deal that was contrary to what she said, yes, but was in line with party policy and was what she believed was the best interest for the country. That is what I want a leader to do.

I have similar but less sentiments for Howard regarding Iraq. I felt it was a massive mistake to go to war, and I was totally against it. But I have some level of respect for Howard making the hard choice that he thought was best for the country in the long run.

Border protection, again is another non-issue for me. It has little impact on our society or economy considering the absolute numbers.

The navy and govt departments do a good enough job of protecting our borders as it is, they don't need it spun into a political issue. And if it wasn't made such a hot political issue, then I am sure less money would need to be spent on it.



.

[RallyOz19]

Labor under Gillard. Her minority govt has been more effective than any recent majority govt.

[motion]

The problem for labor is that people who are more likely not to vote, vote incorrectly deliberately and care less about the outcome tend to lean toward labor whereas most liberals tend to be die hard liberals who are very loyal to the party regardless of what they will have you believe. That's a lot of votes that labor is potentially losing every election. Also many labor voters will vote green or independent if they are not happy with the incumbent govt assuming its labor whereas liberals tend to remain loyal.

[Brizer]

Let's not forget, it's the Coalition V Labor, so what motion said about the (not so) Liberals probably applies more so to the Nationals.

[Mornnb]

Originally Posted by Samuel77

Im ok with Gillard. I'm even ok with her knifing Rudd, this is politics. It got a little personal against Rudd when he challenged which i didn't really like, but most of the commentary seemed to be more on his leadership style which is fair game.

This outraged me. Not so much that she knifed a colleague, that's just politics. The problem is that she seemed to have no sense of respect for the publics democratic choice and no sense of responsibility for retaining the PM the public had chosen. While true that we do not vote directly for the PM, people do vote for their local member with a thought to who will be Prime Minister. She felt it was okay for her to ignore the democratic will of the country and grab the head office. That is quite simply despicable.

Although I don't understand Gillard's stance on same sex marriage considering she is living with a defacto partner which many years ago would have had a similar abhorrence in the community, compared to the coalition, at least she has allowed a conscious vote. So although she may have personal views about it, she is open enough to the issues to allow everyone to have their own say. So ultimately I respect that more than I respect the coalition stance. I actually don't find her 'hypocritical view' on same sex marriage a problem, I can somewhat understand it because when you are brought up with certain beliefs, they can be hard to reconcile when they contradict with other beliefs such as universal rights. I may not agree with it, but i dont judge her or Abbott or anyone if that is their personal feelings and they vote that way on the issue - I think it is only a matter of time before same sex marriage becomes a legal reality. But I don't agree with making everyone "tow the line" on an issue that reflects personal opinions so heavily.

Up bringing is no excuse for bigotry. She has a brain and is able to use it to reach her own conclusions. I think if someone is fit to be Prime Minister they need to be capable of independent thought rather than to just obey societies prejudices.

The whole carbon tax thing is simply a non-issue to me, and I do not understand how people get so emotional about it. If you look at what she said and what she did, and the circumstance, to me there was nothing nefarious, and there was no lie. She ultimately negotiated to reach a deal that was contrary to what she said, yes, but was in line with party policy and was what she believed was the best interest for the country. That is what I want a leader to do.

Well she did give the impression before the election that climate change was an abandoned policy. It was barely mentioned in the 2010 campaign and she did deny that there would be a tax. That is opportunistic behaviour that is unbecoming of someone who's supposed to represent the country. Still, she got the best deal through negotiation she could. Rudd brushed the Greens off as extremists and impossible to negotiate with.

[redbaron_012]

I'm not too fussed whether Labor or Liberals win, just as long as whoever does wins on their own votes and not propped up by independants or the Greens. A Government should be able to bring in it's policies without blackmail by a few crazies that are the most powerful group in the country !
Sure none of us will ever agree what policy is good or bad as it seems almost any nation across the world is similarly divided ( other than Dictatorships )
I think when a Government wins a term it wins or loses the next election on the basis of that term. I am not happy with the present Government and think the negativity by the Liberal side of politics is mainly a result of them knowing the public is not satisfied either...yeah a few are happy as mud but that shows how diverse we are : )

[tuanhung]

Originally Posted by Derek40

Abbott is a good quality Tyke who will get the job done, and this is coming from a swinging voter.
Labor run a real risk of being routed here in the traditional heartlands of Newcastle and the Hunter.
Labor would be better off rebuilding with young guns of my vintage like Tony Burke.

come back to me when he did anything under howard worth mentioning, dude was always in the media for the wrong reasons cause he never delivered

[LanceDriver]

I will vote for whoever promises the most stuff. That's why I loved voting for Howard as he gave away lots of stuff. Lately they haven't been as good at giving us things like bonuses so whoever gives lots more wins in my book.

[MelbourneOnTheRise]

[Dimethyltryptamine]

Originally Posted by Brizer

But if Gillard goes, look at what we'll get.
Abbott is hardly a bastion of temperate, accepting, honourable, tolerant integrity.

You know what they say about being careful about what you wish for, frying pan into the fire and all those other old adages.
Keeping up with the clichés: we are not going to get the best of possible worlds, but rather the lesser of two evils and that is why I cannot vote for Abbott. So instead of looking at the negatives some find so unacceptable in Gillard, look at what she has achieved despite all the rubbish that's been thrown at her. Abbott has a very dodgy record especially on moral & social matters which, to my mind, outbalance any of Gillard's shortcomings.

I'm not excited about the options, in fact, I'm fairly depressed, but the lesser of two evils is the sad reality.


##
Yes, you can vote overseas: contact the Electoral Office soon and find out your options.

But Abbott is a volunteer lifeguard and volunteer firefighter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gavin84w]

Originally Posted by Planks & Sticks

There is usually a rhetoric about how Liberals need to get back into the government in order to "balance the books". The thing that confuses me is just how well are we doing? I often hear about how Labor has the lowest spending in government (per capita?) for the last ~20 years, yet on the other side I would hear how the government is spending too much and being quite wasteful with their finance.

Try this site, wont tell you what it,s going on but you sure can see how much has been spent!!

http://www.aofm.gov.au/

[L2]

Here's the three people who'd all like to be prime minister, albeit the third will never have a chance:





It's not hard to see that there's only one choice to be made here

But into it also comes another man that L2 highly respects. It's highly likely that this man will eventually become PM if you go for the Liberal Party and Tony Abbott this election. You'd be voting for a winning combo. Now that'd be a smart move.


L2 who is soon becoming a member of a major Australian political party

[Samuel77]

Originally Posted by L2

L2 who is soon becoming a member of a major Australian political party

Yeah? Which one?