Comments on: Still wanted; still in the best interests

By: sam from sunshine

sam from sunshine — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:42:36 +0000

For all those Coalition supporters who are so worried about a future economy under the ALP, here is your opportunity.
Make some money by backing JWH to win the 2007 Election. Look at the Odds below, you can retire rich!. (As at 10/09/2007)
Win only.
1. LABOR 1.42
2. COALITION 2.90
It’s time to put your money where your mouth is.

By: Annie E. Hawke

Annie E. Hawke — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:30:46 +0000

Willy Bach, so you think that we stand beside the illegal entrants in the supermarkets etc., you must live in a fools paradise, just come down to Dandenong and Springvale. The old inhabitants have moved out and left the illegal entrants to their own paradise, I have no idea why they do not want their women and children sexually abused and their cars being involved in accidents because of unlicenced drivers driving unregistered cars, to put it bluntly we are no longer safe to walk the streets so moved on. Come on Willy I dare you to spend a week down here then write another article and by the way, it has nothing to do with race or religion, it is the behaviour of some of them and I would feel the same about you if your behaviour copied theirs.

By: Noreen Wills

Noreen Wills — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:42:01 +0000

Absolutely spot on – to change leadership now would be a disaster for the Liberals. If it had happened earliere Costello may heve been able to establish himself and project a different style of leadership (which would probably be more palatable to the voters – viz. less aligned with Bush and more environmentally conscious). But now is far too late.
Not quite so sure about the inevitability of Labor’s win though. After all why change when the only difference Rudd is offering is a return to union power. The economy has never been stronger, unemployment is at its lowest.”If it aint broke, don’t fix it”.

By: Geoff Robinson

Geoff Robinson — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:19:32 +0000

Good and insightful analysis. I think there is a Costelloite group in the electorate: private-sector managers and professionals who think Howard is yesterday’s man. Costello would help with them but his negatives with others and the loss of Howard’s positives would swamp any gain.

By: Willy Bach

Willy Bach — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:08:50 +0000

Thanks for this illuminating article. I think, however, that some important elements are not being â€˜brought to lightâ€™. People are at last waking up to the uncomfortable reality that John Howard is a fraud. His elusive allure has been skilfully crafted in the realms of the â€˜politics of fearâ€™, as described by Carmen Lawrence, in her book and by Winnifred Louis, who describes how John Howard made Australians scared of very vulnerable asylum seekers.
The people who were locked up in Woomera and Baxter and other expressions of hell are now standing next to us in the supermarket queue and waiting outside the same schools for their children to emerge. They are part of us. We should not be very happy about the deliberate harm that Phillip Ruddock and others did to the mental health of these people. Just read the reports from Sev Ozdowski of the Human Rights Commission and from Drs Louise Newman and Jon Jureidini.
Australians are starting to realise that they do not want to have this gnawing at their uneasy consciences. Silently, Australians have realised that they feel no safer going along with mandatory detention of asylum seekers and would prefer to look their neighbours in the eye.
John Howard tacitly sanctioned the torture of Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay and did nothing about it. So much for the marvellous special chummy relationship John Howard boasts with President of the USA. Australians are entitled to discover how expensive it is to buy over-priced weapons systems that we only need for â€˜interoperabilityâ€™ not for the defence of Australia and the poor return for our farmers afforded by the Free Trade Agreement.
You say that John Howardâ€™s â€œstrengths [are] in economics and foreign affairsâ€. Both of these assertions that are often regarded as â€˜givenâ€™. On economics â€“ our â€œstrong economyâ€ has been based on an unhealthy reliance on digging up minerals, not on a sound industry or innovation policy and â€˜dead luckyâ€™ that the Howard regime coincided with rapid growth in China. The wealth from this boom has mostly been squandered with no thought of the future.
What if we try to â€œpaint in Costello’s detailsâ€? This former member of the HR Nichol Society wants to remove unfair dismissal for 100% of the Australian workforce. Watch out for the smirk from this man who fuels the flames of fundamentalists. “He stands only for the Liberals’ frantic desire to hold onto government. He’s Howard’s last trick. Don’t be taken in by him.”

By: Jason Wilson

Jason Wilson — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:52:55 +0000

Graham – very thorough and considered analysis. It’s interesting to me that your consistent line – that voters don’t like Howard – differs from many commentators, who think that this is the logic of the “Howard haters”. e.g. Paul Kelly’s line last week was that they did, but adjudged the better part of his contribution to be in the past. I’m guessing yours is partly premised on TNFs qualitative surveys over the years – I was struck when reading Kelly’s piece that he did not bother to support his divinations into the electoral mind with anything much.