Gillard on the way out

Image by MystifyMe Concert Photography™ via FlickrLatest polls have the Labor support down to 26% and that's after her address to the nation and tax cuts. I doubt those new ads will work people have stopped listening.

THE government has flatlined, personal support for Julia Gillard has plunged and Tony Abbott is by far the nation's favoured leader, according to the first comprehensive national poll taken since the release of the carbon price policy.

After a week of fevered campaigning by both leaders, the Herald/Nielsen poll shows Labor's primary vote has hit a new record low of 26 per cent while Mr Abbott has opened up an 11-percentage point lead on Ms Gillard as the preferred prime minister.

And despite the generous compensation package accompanying the carbon price, 53 per cent of voters feel they will be worse off
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/gillard-down-for-count-20110717-1hkak.html#ixzz1SYNj2aex

A brief hiatus

As you may be aware Australia will be either Standing Up or Moving Forward on 21 August. I'm busy trying to ensure we can take Real Action so there's unlikely to be many posts from me until after the election. In the meantime I'll leave you with this little video.

Gillard stuffs it

Oh dear I was hoping for more sense from her but I should have known better:

DEPUTY East Timor PM Jose Luis Guterres yesterday indicated his country would be unable to accept Australia's plan to build an asylum-seeker processing centre.

Amid increasing signs of opposition to the plan in East Timor, Ms Gillard yesterday held discussions with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and pledged $25 million to fund a crackdown on people-smuggling across the region, including patrol boats and surveillance planes to help Jakarta's efforts.

East Timor leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta will meet this morning to debate the Australian government's plan, but Mr Guterres yesterday said his country had previously rejected a similar request from former foreign minister Alexander Downer and was still "not in a condition to accept a detention centre".

It might have been an idea to clear it up with the East Timores leaders first don't you think?

Yes Julia Gillard PM should get a clothing allowance

I will stray from my usual anti government spending  rants and say I agree that a female Prime Minister deserves a special clothing allowance. A Prime Minister has to dress appropriately , they are representing Australia and should always honor the position. Its easy for a bloke to dress well, just wear a suit. If you want to look casual take the jacket and tie off. Its much more complicated for a woman. She will be judged for her appearance especially by other women. So yeah, increase her allowance and send her to a good Australian designer for a new wardrobe.

Prime Minister Gillard

OK so we have a new Prime Minister. I believe in the Aussie tradition of a fair go so refuse to say anything negative about her at this stage. I was pleased to see she acknowledged the contribution of the Howard/Costello government in her first speech, something I never heard Rudd do.  And I do like her bogan accent. Good luck Julia.

How the mighty fall

The recent collapse of the Rudd government has been nothing short of extraordinary. To seriously think that a first term federal government could be kicked out after only one term is amazing. Now Labor MPs are supposed to be plotting the replacement of Rudd by Gillard:

SENIOR Labor MPs says the leadership is Julia Gillard's for the taking before the election - if she wants it.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's control of the party has entered a treacherous phase, with Cabinet ministers and backbenchers canvassing the idea of changing leaders before this year's federal election.

As Ms Gillard was forced yesterday to publicly deny she wanted the top job, Labor MPs described Mr Rudd as a "leader under fire" and said his prime ministership was "terminal".

Senior Labor sources said Ms Gillard has always had the numbers to seize the leadership, but not necessarily the will to challenge for the top job.

Kevin Rudd's problem is that he doesn't really believe in anything. Successful prime ministers such as Hawke and Howard came to office with a reformist agenda which they started  in their first term. The voters then reelected them to carry out their policies. Rudd's big policy was supposed to be the ETS which he has abandoned. If he really believed in it he should have held a double dissolution. There's no reason to believe a future Gillard government would have more fortitude.