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wombleoz
01 Jan 13 00:05
Joined:
Date Joined: 15 Feb 03
| Topic/replies: 12,882 | Blogger: wombleoz's blog
My prediction is an August poll and that plenty can and will happen before then

Bring it on Cool
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Report Joel September 7, 2013 2:26 AM BST
No sausage sizzle at the Tokyo embassy Scared
Report therhino September 7, 2013 2:28 AM BST
encouraging news teddy, is it too much to hope for Bakers Delight bread and not Sunblest?
Report therhino September 7, 2013 3:27 AM BST
No sausage sizzle Shocked Sad Angry

What has happened to our great land? A black day for baseball this is.
Report Joel September 7, 2013 3:34 AM BST
Actually that was yesterday though, there might be one today Excited Might have to check it out.

I never realized how boring baseball really was until I went to a game the other night Cry
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 3:49 AM BST
I'm becoming increasingly concerned about you womble. Cleary the intensity of your delusions is increasing alarmingly. Under no circumstances should you be gambling while you are prone to these out of reality episodes. I hope you have a good support network of carers that can take care of you at this emotional time. I'd hate to think that you are being left alone to dress yourself or use any electrical appliances without supervision. Maybe would be best if you doubled your medication this afternoon and have an early night.
Report Joel September 7, 2013 3:56 AM BST
.

http://www.electionsausagesizzle.com.au/
Report Craig The Speculator September 7, 2013 11:06 AM BST
Rudd getting exactly what he deserved for spoiling for 4 years

Said at the time it was amazing his party rewarded such despicable behaviour but glad the Australian people saw through it.

Bill Shorten seems to be talented but wow he has a lot to live down from his latest disaster of a decision

#poorjudgement
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 11:28 AM BST
Where are all the Labor dudes tonight?
Report Joel September 7, 2013 11:32 AM BST
I am here, still a lot of counting to go.
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 12:13 PM BST
Gina Rinehart is at Barnaby Joyce's pissup. For Christ sake don't stand between her and the sausage rollsLaugh

how pist is Malcolm

still it is the 50s..you can drink n drive again
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 12:19 PM BST
Jaymes Diaz has reportedly just been fired out of a cannon outside Parklea Markets Shocked

if he gets elected,can we reverse the frontal lobotomies on his constituants Confused
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 12:20 PM BST
Are you f cking kidding me! Pauline Hanson to get a Senate seat. Oh FFS Australia YOU SUCK!!
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 12:24 PM BST
are we that racist...
should have a kkk party..
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 12:38 PM BST
HERE WE GO AUSTRALIA!Laugh
Report Joel September 7, 2013 12:42 PM BST
**** off
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:00 PM BST
I read that Pauline put a grand or was it a hundred on herself at 25/1 so as a punter I say get in there.
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:12 PM BST
At least Bigted has balls big enough to show his face here even if his posts are still a bit bizarre.

AFL

Wombleoz

Pittsburgh Phil

conspicuous by their absence.
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:18 PM BST
I believe they have all killed themselves..would you bother posting after doing something like that?
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 1:19 PM BST
Did Abbott just quote Radiohead Confused
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 1:23 PM BST
Interesting that the wardrobe department made Tony Abbott's daughters look like the women backing up Robert Palmer in Simply Irresistible LoveDevil
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:26 PM BST
You've had quite a few drinks tonight haven't you Ted?
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:27 PM BST
Btw that's cool!
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:28 PM BST
I have
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:31 PM BST
I saw your alcohol survey results. Alcoholism is a disease.
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:33 PM BST
It's still better than the alternative
Report Craig The Speculator September 7, 2013 1:36 PM BST
sounds like the Sex Party will get a senate seat

does their anti wowserism extend to in play betting
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 1:37 PM BST
dons party style...just need a stray to fk Happy
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:37 PM BST
It's curious you should say that. I've often thought,or been told,or medically advised to stop drinking but the thing is I LOVE IT!!! What will I do if I don't drink?
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:40 PM BST
You could probably live an ordinary dull life I suppose.
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:41 PM BST
Do you like Vodka? Just yesterday I bought 2 700ml bottles for about 25 dollars. Japan really is a great place.
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:47 PM BST
Nah I like to get drunk slowly. My turbo charge is champagne. I see young dudes knocking back shots these days and I just cringe. That's not how you do it! Getting drunk should be gradual. I haven't had a hangover since the 2003 RWC.
Report therhino September 7, 2013 1:47 PM BST
Not having a sausage sizzle at every polling booth was the last straw for voters. Labor were a punchers chance until people had to vote hungry.
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:51 PM BST
Sounds boring to me
Report Joel September 7, 2013 1:53 PM BST
I haven't had a hangover for a long time either, which is a real shame because there's a drink in the fridge here with a label 'hangover cure'. I would like to see if it works but I cant if I don't have a hangover.
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:58 PM BST
Beer or cheap champagne is a pretty good hangover cure. Dose liberally as soon as you wake up!
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 1:59 PM BST
FOR FCKKS SAKE WHERE IS WOMBLEOZXXZZXXZZ?????????
Report therhino September 7, 2013 1:59 PM BST

Sep 7, 2013 -- 7:53AM, Joel wrote:


I haven't had a hangover for a long time either, which is a real shame because there's a drink in the fridge here with a label 'hangover cure'. I would like to see if it works but I cant if I don't have a hangover.


You're not trying hard enough joeline

Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 2:03 PM BST
Hangovers are for amateurs.
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 2:06 PM BST
Womble is at Adam Bandt's victory party..
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 2:58 PM BST
The worst thing I ever get is hiccups. So annoying. I've tried everything with various levels of success.
Report doubleagent September 7, 2013 3:02 PM BST
I gotta say at midnight on election night the silence is deafening from the Leftie big noters on this thread. Very ordinary. FFS be a man and front up cop it. Who cares anyway?
Report therhino September 7, 2013 3:09 PM BST
91 seats so far. Smashing victory.
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 3:22 PM BST
Hope abbott doesn't tell Obama he was good in shawshank redemption ,when he meets him Scared
Report bigted. September 7, 2013 3:28 PM BST
Good news..All my single friends on Facebook wanna get pregnant now tony is pm.. Excited
Report Joel September 8, 2013 3:39 AM BST
Just saw womble

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOzF5ec6B_k
Report PittsburghPhil September 8, 2013 7:49 AM BST
I'm back.

Sorry I didn't have time to join your victory party last night. I was busy doing the form for the first at Belmont Park ... AND I backed the winner Happy

But I did have time to watch Kevin Rudd's speech. As it went on ... and on ... all I could think was "Does this guy ever shut up?" It was an absolute bladder-buster.

I also stuck around for Tony's victory speech. He thanked his family ... and his campaign workers ... all the usual suspects ... but there was one notable exception. He forgot to thank his number one campaigner ... Rupert Murdoch.

Very remiss of you, Tony. This could be your first mistake as P.M. You don't want to get Rupes offside. He could bite you on the arse bigtime in 2016.

The only positive for the night was Adam Bandt. Without the Liberal preferences this time he increased his margin ... proving that no one in the seat of Melbourne buys the Herald Scum.

Enjoy your win all you blue-bloods and bogans out there. But I, for one, will be keeping this new government to account from day one. Er, hang on, that's today. Make that day two.
Report AFL September 8, 2013 9:20 AM BST
Murdoc's Liberals  couldn't get Glasson up despite the money pumped into trying to give  Rudd the same result as Howard. Laugh

Rudd saved a wipeout and was Labor's only defence against Murdoch.

Most biased/Media  term of Gov't in our history.

The MSM trying to make us believe that Murdoch only just started his drive for the Libs and Abbott once the election was called.

It began 3 years ago with their systematic belittling of Gillard......and then they started to belittle the office of PM with it.
Report AFL September 8, 2013 11:45 PM BST
No seats lost in Qld. 

No Cabinet Minister lost his seat.

55 to 60 seats in the parliament, gives Labor a good base to give back to Abbott some of what he has dished up in the last 3 years.

Stifle debate, make  a mockery of the Parliamentary process.

Cause chaos.

Laugh
Report wombleoz September 8, 2013 11:53 PM BST
Morning All

Congrats to winners, not the result I was hoping for but could've been much worse. Here is what I posted on Saturday? I think

wombleoz • September 7, 2013 1:44 AM BST
Labor will get a preference flow from the people voting for Palmer, the polls have that wrong, not enough to win though - unfortunately

My hopes for today

Greens in the teens overall - they didn't, primary vote went backwards BUT they look like gaining at least one seat Cool
Greens keep the BOP in the Senate - Labor let them down Sad
Labor 60+ seats - won't be far off, Labor will be high 50's, a great base to build off Plain
Rudd losses his seat (unlikely but would be nice)- unfortunately not, resigned as leader, hopefully leaves parliament Angry
Palmer wins his seat (please please please)- WAHOO - go you good thing LaughLaughLaugh
Palmer wins senate seats (Lazarus and Adamson - footballers in the senate, what could go wrong!!!)- looking like at least 2 - Qld and Tassie Happy
Indi goes Independent - bye bye Sophie Happy - still counting, it's close, very close Excited

Senate count will be fascinating - it surely is Happy

Today is the day the 2 party system dies - a good thing imo - i stand by this Happy

Heard throughout the suburbs January 2014 "where's my schoolkids bonus???" - bound to happen Crazy

Overall, I was hoping to win seats in Queensland not just hold ground. Was no where near the wipe out expected in NSW, Victoria hurt, Tassie sent a strong message. Labor has a good base to build off next time and will need to win less than 20 seats to regain power - there are a lot of marginals now

This wasn't a vote for Abbott, it was a vote against Labor and leadership disunity

Thread has a little left to give as the count unfolds
Report Joel September 9, 2013 12:15 AM BST
Boat seen off the coast of Darwin already....what is this man doing Whoops
Report secong coming. September 9, 2013 12:48 AM BST
a great result hooray for common sense returning to government!!

and a good result having labor with 60 odd seats, governments need strong opposition


womble schoolkids bonus no loss, parents been doing without it since year dot, and off all people complaining about middle class welfare you shouldn't be worried either
Report shiraz September 9, 2013 12:55 AM BST
wombleoz said...."This wasn't a vote for Abbott, it was a vote against Labor and leadership disunity"

That is correct, you would hope that these politicians have heard the message and 2013 is the last year in which this ever happens.




I still can't understand how anyone can vote for Palmer, he is a buffoon.
Report secong coming. September 9, 2013 12:59 AM BST
shiraz
no wonder womble likes palmer , did you see him tip the bucket on Rupert on the morning show lol ,chinese spy wife lol
Report Thebas September 9, 2013 1:14 AM BST
monday morning ... and all is good in australia

every state it seemed turned against labor hard (and the greens to a lesser extent)

i agree with womble it was a vote against labor more than a vote for the coalition

labor's deception, lies and disunity under the rudd-gillard-rudd travesty was ousted in a most emphatic manner

the greens appear to have suffered in the public eye under the gillard-brown-milne pseudo unification .. but milne said it best when she told the national press club in canberra that labor reneged on the partnership

will abbott do what he says ... only time will tell ???

... but i feel 100% more confident that the budget books will now improve since the swan legacy of pretence, the backflip, then  lies (as exposed by Chris Bowen - who seemed to have some commonsense in the fiscal field unlike the trickster swan)

all the best to australia .. and may the opposition be strong enough to 'keep the bOggers honest'

palmer ??? ... well question time might again become an interesting watch

so bye bye labor for 3 years ... at last ... and maybe more who really knows but should turnbull make a successful play at his leadership then i will be coming in boots and all

it has been an interesting past 3 years with justice done twice (imo) ... gillard DUMPED   Happy  as the liability she was by her OWN party ... and labor now taking a breather in the backblocks
Report Joel September 9, 2013 1:20 AM BST
It's a lovely morning here in Japan, home to a very fast and reliable broadband network, a very reliable public transport network, and some of the highest education standards in the world. Can't see the point in going home now (Visa issues aside)
Report wombleoz September 9, 2013 5:01 AM BST
Well done Secong - I agree with you re governments needing strong oppositions

Shiraz - surely they learn from the last 6 years and pick someone suitable, i'm hoping not Shorten but fear it will be

Palmer is a champ, well fool, but entertaining - just wait to see what he says under parliamentary privilege LaughLaughLaugh

Joel - you might be better off staying there Happy

Thebas - i guess we'll have to wait and see what happens, interesting times ahead
Report PittsburghPhil September 9, 2013 7:52 AM BST
Shorten comes with too much baggage, too much ammunition for Murdoch. Albo is a nice enough bloke but not the sharpest tool in the tool shed.

I reckon they should give Tanya Plibersek the gig, with Kate Ellis as deputy. Bowen for shadow treasurer, and a front row comprising mostly of people without any history of scandal or alleged scandal.

Swannie can make the coffee and Kev should be put on a lucrative contract to say and do absolutely nothing outside his own electorate.
Report therhino September 9, 2013 8:13 AM BST
Womble, did your polling station have a sausage sizzle? I'm still furious about mine, thinking of moving into another electorate where this sort of thing just doesn't happen.
Report bigted. September 9, 2013 8:30 AM BST
Report AFL September 9, 2013 9:40 AM BST
And the winner is : Rupert Murdoch


Sunday, 8 September 2013 12:19 by Ad astra
thepoliticalsworddotcom

In a fair contest, Kevin Rudd and the Labor team would have been more than a match for Tony Abbott and the Coalition team. But it was not a fair contest. From the very beginning of the election campaign Rupert Murdoch marshalled his formidable forces in support of Abbott while he waged a barefaced propaganda war against Rudd and Labor. When before have we witnessed such an onslaught?

Conscripted by Murdoch from his position of editor-in-chief of The New York Post, ‘Field Marshall’ Col Allan, known inside News Corporation as ‘Col Pot’, a reference to Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge genocidal dictator, was instructed by Murdoch to "go hard on Rudd, start from Sunday, and don't back off".



Allan soon got to work. His message to Murdoch’s editors was straightforward but brutal: “You have been going hard on Labor but now, with Rudd's revival in the opinion polls, you have to go harder.” Indeed, they had been ‘going hard’ with vicious front pages since July: Captain Chaos, Wreck it Rudd, Hellhole Solution and Rudd’s Boat Show (referring to the PNG arrangement), Kev’s $733 million Bank Heist, Price of Labor, It’s a Ruddy Mess and Rudd’s Carr Wreck, when the Budget revision was released, and Island Hell referring to Manus Island.

The attack heightened with The Daily Telegraph’s: Finally, you now have the chance to…KICK THIS MOB OUT on Monday 5 August.



As Bruce Guthrie, who had a successful legal run in with Murdoch, so well recorded in his book Man Bites Murdoch, writes in his Brisbane Times article It's on: Rudd gets the Col shoulder as Murdoch telegraphs his punches: “By Thursday he and the Telegraph editor, Paul 'Boris' Whittaker, had taken another shot at Rudd, casting him, Anthony Albanese and Craig Thomson as ''Thommo's Heroes'', playing on the late 1960s sitcom Hogan's Heroes. By Friday, it was the turn of The Courier-Mail, the Brisbane tabloid turning Rudd and star candidate Peter Beattie into circus clowns.” Guthrie questioned Rudd’s wisdom in ‘taking on’ Murdoch: “What can he expect? First off, News does not play fair. And it's not always troubled by the truth. The PM will be misquoted and misrepresented, photographed - or Photoshopped - any notion of balance abandoned.

“My case [his Supreme Court case against Murdoch for wrongful dismissal] taught me there are two kinds of truth in this world: what happened and what News Ltd says happened. And in Murdoch's world his version trumps everything - given his clout and reach in this country, that can be a scary realisation. Rudd should also know he is not only taking on the Telegraph - he's taking on the entire Murdoch empire.”

Referring to Rudd’s strong reaction to Murdoch’s mauling of him, Guthrie concluded: “I hope for his sake he has thought it through. Because he's about to get a working-over he'll long remember. I managed to hold on to my house; I'm not sure he'll hang on to The Lodge.”

Not satisfied that his readers had got his message, Murdoch’s Sunday Telegraph shouted Australia needs Tony, with the Abbott face filling the front page. Yesterday, it was YOUR TURN under a smirking Abbott with a wistful Rudd looking on.

Murdoch’s power is profound. A Get Up ad that criticized the anti-Labor coverage of Murdoch's newspapers was banned on commercial TV for fear of upsetting him. Channels Seven and Ten refused to air the ad, while Nine screened it over four days in Brisbane – then cancelled it after blaming a "coding error".

The Murdoch threat to Labor is not new. Over a year ago I wrote: Julia Gillard can defeat Tony Abbott in 2013. But how does she neutralize Rupert Murdoch?

When in April 2012 Murdoch tweeted: @rupertmurdoch 
Dramatic, slimy events in Australian politics. Country desperately needs election to get fresh start, 
28 Apr 12, no room for doubt remained – Murdoch wanted an election and expected that it would be the end of Julia Gillard and her Government.

The piece argued that while PM Gillard needed to defeat Tony Abbott and the Coalition at the next election, that was not her most forbidding task. Her most powerful enemy was Rupert Murdoch. It was he who needed to be countered for electoral success: “Our PM has two virulent enemies, and an unequal battle with them.”

The piece went on to document how Julia Gillard was superior to Tony Abbott on every parameter, but that might count for naught against Murdoch’s forces. It concluded: “We have all known about the influence he exerts via his 70% ownership of metropolitan newspapers, and through his TV outlets here in Australia, and in recent months we have seen his pernicious influence on politics in the UK and the depths to which he will stoop for a salacious story. I expect we might see something similar in the US.

“Rupert Murdoch has always sought to influence politics in every country where his vast empire has its tentacles. He has now stated overtly what we all knew, that he wants PM Gillard and her Government out and Tony Abbott and the Coalition in, and will use all his massive media power to achieve that end. He will not ease back, he will not take the pressure off, he will, through his media, one overseen by sycophantic hirelings, wage relentless war on our PM and her Government. It is to the mainstream media’s eternal shame that so many of the others have followed the Murdoch lead.

“Julia Gillard would trounce Tony Abbott were the election to be based on competence, performance and behaviour, and an accurately informed electorate. But we know that the Murdoch factor will ensure that not only is the electorate not informed about the Government’s achievements and its plans, but that it will be deliberately misinformed through distortions, omissions, and at times downright lies.

“Julia Gillard can defeat Tony Abbott, but can she counter the Murdoch menace?”

This piece, written over a year ago, was prescient. What was predicted then has unfolded before our very eyes over the last six months. Murdoch has won the election for Abbott.

The Sun's contribution to the unexpected Conservative victory in the 1992 general election in the UK evoked a Murdochesque front page headline: "It's The Sun Wot Won It", reflecting the influence of the Murdoch press over politicians and election results, something Murdoch relishes. We may see similar sentiments expressed here, although Murdoch conceded to the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, that the headline was "tasteless and wrong".

No matter how tasteless, Rudd and Labor will be exhibited as a scalp on Murdoch’s well-endowed belt.

Of course, it would be unreasonable to suggest that Murdoch alone was responsible for Labor’s defeat. Abbott himself would want to take much of the credit, and his minders and supporters inside the Coalition and in the sycophantic media would want to take their share. They insist that Abbott has succeeded brilliantly by mesmerizing the electorate for so long with his simplistic, monotonously repeated three word slogans, by continually demonizing Labor and the PM, by being consistently ‘on message’, and by being supremely ‘disciplined’ (how the media loves that term), which is code for not disastrously putting his foot in his mouth. To the Murdoch media, all Abbott had to do was not stuff up and stay on message, and it would act as his megaphone. It mattered little that Abbott never acknowledged the global fiscal situation, nor detailed how the economy would need to adjust to the new reality of a slowing resource sector, nor how he planned to manage the transition to a different economy. His success was measured only by how well he avoided missteps.

Moreover, it would be foolish for Labor supporters to ignore the contribution Labor and its leaders have made to their defeat. Mistakes have been made, errors of judgement have occurred, some policies and plans have been faulty, some strategic moves inadvisable. Like all political parties managing a vast nation through turbulent global times, Labor has found judgement difficult. Hippocrates’ famous aphorism about the practice of medicine applies equally to politics: Life is short, the art is long, the occasion fleeting, experience fallacious, and judgment difficult.

Some Labor ideas quickly evaporated: the community forum for achieving consensus about global warming, and the East Timor ‘solution’ for offshore processing. Some well thought through moves such as the ETS were frustrated by Coalition and Greens’ opposition, but eventually it was Rudd’s timidity about calling a double dissolution election on an ETS that resulted in its suspension. The Malaysian arrangement never got to be tried because of a High Court ruling, and several sound measures were blocked by the Greens and the Coalition.

But for every unsuccessful move there were many more that were spectacularly successful: the stimulus response to the GFC that saved the nation from recession, contained unemployment and kept small businesses afloat; the Building the Education Revolution that had a 97% success rate, which provided much needed school infrastructure; and the Home Insulation Program that insulated a million roofs, reduced power costs to households, and lessened power usage and pollution, are three significant examples.

Yet there was trenchant criticism of all three, from Abbott and the Coalition of course, but promulgated widely by the mainstream media, particularly the Murdoch media. Tame economists such as Henry Ergas and Michael Stutchbury demeaned the stimulus package up hill and down dale. Murdoch columnists, especially in The Australian, ran a weekly column attacking the BER, headlining every small problem in what was a highly successful program, as demonstrated in three reports by businessman Brad Orgill.

The same happened with the HIP. Although there were administrative problems that allowed some shonky operators to enter the industry, what the Murdoch media highlighted was the ceiling fires, actually fewer than before the HIP began, and the sad deaths of four young workers, all shown to be the result of OH&S shortcomings occasioned by careless contractors.

The result was that by design, through Murdoch’s media, these successful programs were demonized and deprecated to such an extent that even now the mere mention of the BER immediately evokes the words ‘waste and mismanagement’, and mention of the HIP brings forth talk of ‘pink batts’, which is code for bungling inefficiency, carelessness, ceiling fires and deaths. Thus two highly successful programs that brought great benefit to our nation have been given a big black mark that has so negated all their benefits that virtually no credit has accrued to the Government. And all this has been the direct result of deliberately disingenuous and deceitful Coalition propaganda, amplified by the Murdoch media.

Murdoch’s campaign to unseat the Labor Government started long ago. He has been at it for years. His latest foray, spectacularly vicious though it is, is but the finale to a long-standing and persistent strategy of demonization and denigration.

Moreover, the spectacular achievements of the Gillard Government, such as the NDIS, the Better Schools Plan (Gonski), and the rollout of the largest infrastructure project in our history, the NBN, quite deliberately have received paltry recognition and credit from the Murdoch press. When it was not criticizing, it simply ignored and effectively hid these accomplishments.

Murdoch has supported the Abbott notion that we need to return to the halcyon days of the Howard era. Abbott gazes longingly in the rear-view mirror at a golden age of rivers of gold flowing into the Treasury, tax cuts and middle class welfare, and Murdoch stands beside him.

Of course, there is no gainsaying the damaging effects that the change of leader from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard in 2010, the prolonged sabotage of her prime ministership by Rudd and what Kerry-Anne Walsh terms ‘Team Rudd’, and the change back to him in 2013. Labor ministers readily conceded this last night and again this morning. Had there not been this destructive behaviour, Labor would have been miles ahead, and not struggling to maintain momentum and electoral support, as has been the case for the last three years.

It has had to function with the brakes on, looking continually in the rear view mirror to watch for threats to its continued existence as a coherent political party. The damage that Team Rudd has done is inestimable, and in the light of the election results, spectacularly unjustifiable. Whether Julia Gillard and her ministers would have done any better than has Kevin Rudd we shall never know, but many will express learned opinions one way or the other, even if inauthentic, even if worthless.

We now enter into a dark and uncertain place. Murdoch will be certain to get what he wants from Abbott, who will be keen to repay him for his powerful and unremitting support. 'Murdochracy' will blossom. Obsequious Abbott will pay homage to him, and to Gina Rinehart and George Pell, who will continue to be his sponsors, but only so long as he does their bidding, as weaklings do.

Even before the election, Abbott was threatening his opponents, threatening a double dissolution election if they obstructed his carbon tax repeal. He insisted he would not tolerate opposition, although he had offered nothing but opposition and obstruction for the last three years.

He reacted angrily to the Greens and Labor ministers insisting they would stick to their policy positions. He insisted that he would have a mandate to do as he pleased and that Labor would be acting suicidally to resist him. His bullyboy nature protruded through the thin veneer of reasonableness with which he has covered himself throughout the election campaign. This is a foretaste of what is to come. Be very afraid, the ugliness of the Abbott persona will soon be exposed for all to see.

And as this ugliness and the nastiness emerges like an erupting volcano, Abbott will take comfort in Murdoch’s protection, which he knows will always be there so long as he complies with Murdoch’s wishes.

Abbott’s moves will be given sympathetic publicity in Murdoch’s outlets. He will be given a long, long honeymoon. Now that he has chosen a winner, Murdoch will make sure he protects his own reputation as a kingmaker. Moreover, he will always do what his commercial interests dictate – they always take precedent over his ideological position.

In the case of Abbott and Murdoch, ideologies coincide. Murdoch will want Abbott, whose conservative pose he applauds, to look after his commercial wellbeing by protecting his Foxtel empire from any adverse effects of the NBN. In Murdoch's vicious attacks on Rudd: it's business, Paul Sheehan assesses this hazard as follows: “Foxtel has responded to this threat by launching its own content-on-demand product, FoxtelGo, and is launching an online-only version, FoxtelPlay. Foxtel's co-parent, News Corp, is engaging in a more structural response. It wants to kill the NBN threat at its ultimate source - Kevin Rudd.”

In his piece in Public Opinion, David Rowe quotes Barry Jones, who insists that the quality of political debate has become increasingly unsophisticated, appealing to the lowest common denominator of understanding. On the role of the media, Jones says: The Murdoch papers are no longer reporting the news, but shaping it.

They no longer claim objectivity but have become players, powerful advocates on policy issues: hostile to the science of climate change, harsh on refugees, indifferent to the environment, protective of the mining industry, trashing the record of the 43rd parliament, and promoting a dichotomy of uncritical praise and contemptuous loathing. Does it affect outcomes? I am sure that it does, and obviously advertisers think so. The Coalition is still playing to fear and anxiety with its rhetoric about the Australian economy being a smoking ruin due to Labor’s ‘irresponsible’ fiscal policies.”

Writing in similar vein in Are You Scared Yet? The Mugging Of The Australian Electorate in The Global Mail, Mike Seccombe gives a fascinating account of the difference between progressive and conservative brains and thinking, that will repay the reader’s attention. He uses ‘mugged’ in the sense of being ‘robbed’. He writes: “Conservatives, for example, tend to have a stronger ‘startle reflex’ in response to sudden loud noise, than [progressives] do. They exhibit stronger sympathetic-nervous-system reactions to what they perceive as threatening images. They are more inclined to feel disgust and are generally more fearful.” Referring to the 2013 federal election, Seccombe asserts: “Tony Abbott, his political allies and media claque have managed to convince a significant portion of the electorate that it has been mugged. They have done this not over a few weeks in an election campaign, but over a period of years, and in defiance of the objective evidence. What’s more they have done it, in many ways, with the complicity of the Labor government, which has shown itself to be rather worse at running the debate than at running the country.”

Barrie Cassidy plays down the Murdoch effect: “The Daily Telegraph is trying to influence people who are already savvy and interested enough to buy a newspaper in a declining market. They don't fit the lemming mentality, by and large. So newspaper campaigns are limited in impact. The six o'clock news is still more influential, and the social media gets bigger by the day.” Some would wish Cassidy’s view to be correct, but most would see it as a future prediction rather that a contemporary reality. Murdoch has already done his damage for the 2013 election, damage that is now all too clear.

Victoria Rollison though has no doubts. In An Open Letter to Journalists at News Ltd she concludes: “It’s also important for you to know that we won’t forget what you’ve done. If your boss gets his way, and you do manage to deliver Australia the most conservative, austerity obsessed, downright mean and selfish government we’ve ever had, it’s very likely most of your readers, especially those in areas like western Sydney who’ve you’ve conned most successfully, will not be very impressed with you.”

Let’s give the last word on the Murdoch effect to Mike Carlton. In his article: Lies, damned lies and Australia's future in yesterday’s SMH, Carlton refers to the appearance of Fairfax chairman Roger Corbett on the ABC's Lateline on Tuesday. Carlton writes: "Here was a media mogul and Reserve Bank board member wickedly interfering in the election", and goes on to quote him: “…to be as strongly biased as News have been in the last few months, I do think does a great damage to the credibility of press, at just the time when the press needs to be highly respected as we go through this digital transition".

Carlton comments: “You betcha. It matters not that the opinion pages of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and Brisbane's Courier-Mail are a bottomless swamp of right-wing idiocy. So be it. Rupert Murdoch and his myrmidons are entitled to their own opinions. But they are not entitled to their own facts. When you prostitute your news columns with cant, slant and bias, as News has done so relentlessly, it is a betrayal of your readers and a trampling of every ethical principle of journalism.

“This is not surprising from the global octopus that so disgraced itself in Britain, but it is a tragedy for Australia.”

While some will dispute the Murdoch effect on this election outcome, insisting that Abbott did it, or the Coalition did it, or Labor did it to itself, in my opinion the most credible explanation of the Coalition victory is that Murdoch did it. Abbott could not have succeeded on his own merits. He needed Murdoch to do it for him.

Although he might not want to say so in public, in private Murdoch will be saying to himself: ‘It's The Telegraph Wot Won It’. I believe that’s right.

So the winner is: Rupert Murdoch.
Report bigted. September 9, 2013 9:55 AM BST
Murdoch is  an amoral **** ,who hacks into the voicemails of missing teenagers and then trys to cover it up..hope Tony takes the lube for the first meeting with Rupes,he gonna need it..how many free front pages did he give the libs..deary me..
Report AFL September 9, 2013 9:56 AM BST
9 September 2013, 10.20am AEST
theconversationdotcom

For whom the polls toll … with a little help from the media

Well, the polls were always going to be right, but they were also completely wrong.

The Coalition have seen in a comfortable victory, but with a seat swing not as great as had been predicted, for which Labor can supposedly be grateful to Kevin Rudd.

But where does this sense that the victory for the LNP and the loss for the ALP is not as great as it could have been, come from? Well, from the polls of course, not from the campaigns themselves.

So let’s look at how accurate the polls were in relation to how the reportage of them may have influenced the actual outcome of the election. To do this, I will look at the polls taken in the marginal seats where the tabloid reporting of those polls was most concentration. And what we find is the polls that News Ltd reported were substantially inaccurate, but that reporting them clearly had an impact.

In a previous post, I had suggested that Abbott had a more focussed campaign on marginal seats in the largest cities and that it was in these cities that the News Ltd tabloid offensive had been most strident. A big part of the offensive, which has been quite overt, with editorials and advertorials supporting the government elect, was the reporting of the polls.

The election we have just had has been characterized by more obsessive reporting of the polls than has been seen in previous elections. Reporting a one-sided result of micro-polling arguably has had more influence over voting trends than political advertising. When the polls become a dog-whistle to marginal electorates that suggest changing winds, they can potentially inaugurate a bandwagon effect. Journalists from all media outlets, are quick to jump on this wagon, interviewing each other about the polls, and speculating on how great the loss might be for the side that looks like it is losing.

So let’s see what happened.

Case study one: Marginal seats in western Sydney
Daily Telegraph Front Page reporting a western sydney ‘wipeout’ on August 23.

On August 23 The Daily Telegraph in Sydney reported that Labor was facing a western Sydney election wipeout’ with only the seat of Barton nominated as one that it would easily retain. Telephone polling was conducted of 550 voters in each of 7 seats, with a wipeout expected in Werriwa, Lindsay, Greenway and Banks and Reid, a close running in Parramatta. But in fact, of the 5 wipeout seats, Werriwa and Greenway were retained by Labor, Lindsay and Banks were won by the LNP with very small swings, and Reid remains undecided. If Reid does go to the LNP, it won’t be a landslide. Barton which was nominated as an easy ALP win, ended up in doubt with a big swing to the LNP.

Whilst these polls were well wide of the mark in their ability to support an ‘exclusive’ ‘wipeout’ story, they did correlate with one trend that gave them some validity … every seat polled except for Greenway, displayed a definite swing away from Labor, even if it did not always convert to an LNP seat.

Case Study 2: Marginal seats in Brisbane
Courier Mail Front Page on August 24 reporting a poll saying Rudd would lose his seat

Brisbane is the other marginal-seat city that had seen some of the heaviest campaigning by both Abbott and Rudd.

On August 24, the Courier Mail ran a front page story:

‘Poll Shock: Voters in Rudd’s own seat say: Time to Zip’ claiming he was trailing Bill Glasson for the seat of Griffith, 37% to 48% on first preferences.

On page 2 of the paper Madonna King went on to explain that the weekend Newspoll had surveyed 1382 voters across eight marginal LNP held seats in Brisbane to find that support for Labor across the seats had gone down 4% and the LNP up 8.3%.

Of course, Rudd won his seat easily, and there was a small swing to each of the other marginals, but as of today, this has averaged 3.28% across the 8 seats, well short of the up to 10% swing consolidation of mooted for the LNP .

Again however, in all these seats, there was a swing to the LNP across the board.

But it is difficult to say just how much these small but consistent swings across the board, may have been influenced by the reporting on polls in which much larger swings were forecast.

When a poll is reported, its influence is far more substantial that political advertising, because, whereas the ads are just spruiking a party line, a bundle of spin and opinion, a poll presents itself as an inert fact. However, the influence of these polls also depends on their presentation, and the editorial discourse that surrounds them.

For example, the article on the front page of the Daily Telegraph doesn’t even name the ‘exclusive poll’ which is later generalized to ‘polls’, adding a sense of authority to a Labor loss being inevitable. The news becomes: ‘the polls (plural) are saying this and saying that’. The audience can even become addicted to ‘officially’ hearing the latest about the polls, in the same way as we might obsess about checking our twitter account or email.

The ability for publishers and broadcasters to publish polls, stands at the apex of their influence. A trend emerges that looks to be unstoppable and can take on a life of its own. The polls quickly become trans-media stories. They are mainly commissioned by newspapers but get first billing in the television and radio news bulletins.

When they take on a life of their own, and our view of them converts from understanding to belief, we do not question how they came about in the first place. But they are based very small samples and their methodologies can vary so widely, even though they seek to legitimate themselves by publishing a ‘scientific’ margin for error. They have inbuilt biases, with many only surveying people with landlines, but the questions can be so selective and biased also. You can ask all kinds of questions about voting attention, but which results get published?

The range of questions that polling companies asks leaves room to accent one outcome over another. For example: ‘Which party are you currently leaning toward’, ‘how likely is it that you will change your mind’, ‘has your opinion (of Labor or the LNP) gone up or down since the election was called, ’ Many of the polls only give voters an option between ALP or LNP and not the Greens or the minor parties, which doesn’t pick up the complexity of preferential voting, or minor party affiliation.

Journalists will inevitably report the results that create the best story for selling papers or fit with the newspapers political editorializing. It is impossible to measure how poll mania can mobilize votes that would not have occurred if the polls were taken out of the election campaigns.

But given our electoral system embraces the idea of a media blackout in the last days of the campaign, and given the lessons we have learned about the flaws in polling itself, and given the concentration of media ownership in this country, it is worth reiterating that a poll blackout during election periods would do wonders for Australian democracy.
Report AFL September 9, 2013 9:59 AM BST
Ohh that's right....Murdoch owns a couple of Polling Companies......

All bases covered.


DevilDevilDevil
Report secong coming. September 9, 2013 9:39 PM BST
ffs,give it up AFL
may I suggest as we were told 3 years ago
SUCK IT UP!!!
WE WON!! HOORAY HOORAY!!

the people didn't need Rupert to point out the obvious!! (lies and deception, infighting, movie star PM even their own party all hate)
deep down you cant say labor got it ALL right, you know they made mistakes
just focus on the future now, be happy if you want to point out any short comings from here on
Report AFL September 9, 2013 10:30 PM BST
The most biased election coverage in our history.

The lies and deception came from Murdoch and his despicable rags they laughingly call NEWS papers.

He has NO RIGHT to taint the political process for his own interests.

He should BUTT OUT and fcuk off.

Devil
Report wombleoz September 9, 2013 10:32 PM BST
Rhino - yes it did, looked pretty ordinary though so I didn't partake

Looking more and more like Sophie will lose her seat LaughLaughLaugh

Also looks like the end result will mean Labor is well within reach at the next election, double dissolution or regular

One term Tony imo Cool
Report AFL September 9, 2013 10:36 PM BST
Just watch the honeymoon he will give Abbott as MURDOCH protects his investment.
Report secong coming. September 9, 2013 10:41 PM BST
and the whole of Australian buys a newspaper afl?
Report secong coming. September 9, 2013 10:42 PM BST
btw WE WON!!
Report shiraz September 9, 2013 11:00 PM BST
Agreed secong coming, it is really pathetic that some people cannot accept Labor does anything wrong.


So when Murdoch moves on and no longer has any influence then Labor will be the only party elected for the rest of eternity?
Report AFL September 9, 2013 11:03 PM BST
The political debate in this country is set by the Murdoch papers.

The commercial networks and the ABC all run the morning headlines on their morning shows.

All other media use these newspapers for their content.

The 3 commercial networks refused to run the GET-UP ads that were critical of Murdoch  during the campaign.

This is a total disgrace.

They are s h i t scared of him.

So much for the free speech that Murdoch screamed about when Labor tried change the media regulation.

The media in this country is a sad joke.
Report AFL September 9, 2013 11:07 PM BST
Where have i said that Labor did nothing wrong?

They might have lost the election anyway....

They might have won without Murdoch supporting the Liberals.

Who knows?

Murdoch knows.
Report AFL September 9, 2013 11:13 PM BST
The 3 commercial networks refused to run the GET-UP ads that were critical of Murdoch  during the campaign.



Is that  ACCEPTABLE  IN A DEMOCRACY?
Report shiraz September 9, 2013 11:23 PM BST
AFL, you may or may not have noticed, but I stopped responding to your posts a few months ago because I think you have a closed mind and I was happier just letting you get on with it (live and let live).

but.....

I agree with you about this point, as long as they were paid for those ads should have been aired.  I was very disappointed that the ABC did not investigate this further.
Report AFL September 9, 2013 11:36 PM BST
No worries shiraz.

I didn't notice.

Wink
Report Thebas September 10, 2013 2:56 AM BST
i wouldn't trust Bill Shorten as far as i could throw him ...  as both Rudd and Gillard found out

and for the long term good of a disunified Labor Party neither should they imo

but a browse of his wiki page has turned up something i hadn't heard before

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Shorten


Until early 2006, he was a board member of GetUp.org.au


....   and from Getups website

We don't advocate for any particular political party


ffs lol maybe i am misreadint things here Confused

Labor .. be strong ... seek good people to try and rebuild the mess that shorten, gillard & rudd have left you Cry
Report Joel September 10, 2013 2:59 AM BST
I've had dealings with Bill Shorten before and he is a good bloke.
Report Thebas September 10, 2013 3:00 AM BST
did you wear a suit of chain mail   Confused
Report Joel September 10, 2013 3:03 AM BST
Nah
Report secong coming. September 10, 2013 3:10 AM BST
AFL - I agree with you on the getup aka labor ad

but we all know it was irresponsible , he didn't recycle the newspaper and this is why it was banned WinkWink

its also a bit like sky channel not showing anything other than TABCORP ads
Report bigted. September 10, 2013 9:34 AM BST
julie bishop already showing what a **** she is..

sacking Bracks..petty stuff Jules,he did asbestos as he could

Welcome to the New Adult Government.LaughSad
Report wombleoz September 10, 2013 11:47 PM BST
Agree Teddy - very petty by Bishop - too be expected though.  Are they opening up a position for Sophie who looks like losing???

I hope Albo stands as well and they let the members decide. Although I'd rather see a change of direction and someone like Jason Clare given the gig.  Shorten's hands are very dirty

In say that, they all have it over Abbott so will be happy enough for any of them to take over
Report Kye September 11, 2013 8:15 AM BST
Good move getting rid of Bracks. Why honour a political appointment for a guy that hadn't even started in the job?

Get over it guys Liberals run the country now! Go back to crying in your beers haha
Report bigted. September 11, 2013 9:49 AM BST
I sense the hand of Wendy Deng at play in Indi Shocked
Report Thebas September 11, 2013 10:32 PM BST
shorten, rudd & gillard took the once proud Labor Party into the depths of despair

in the week following the election even Labor's staunchest admit the party is still in chaos

the country needs a strong & viable opposition to work effectively

come on Labor ... get your act together ... for the good of the country ...  please  Cry

--------------

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/18885132/labor-senator-stephen-conroy-labels-kevin-rudds-new-leadership-selection-rules-a-farce/


Labor left 'helpless' by Rudd's rules

Mr Rudd's rules were approved by Caucus, but Senator Conroy told Sky News that they make Labor a "laughing stock".

Senator Conroy, a fierce supporter of former prime minister Julia Gillard, said the party's leadership needs to be resolved quickly.

We've got no leader, no frontbench, no shadow spokespersons who are able to lead the debate for us, and this will descend into complete and utter farce," he said.

"We have a situation where the US might bomb Syria [and] we have no official party spokesman, we have no leader.

"These new rules were a farce when they were put in place - rules that have left us helpless."
Report wombleoz September 11, 2013 10:35 PM BST
my guess is Albo won't stand meaning there won't be a need for a ballot and Shorten gets the gig

Kye - he was appointed in May and had been holding meetings with stakeholders already. He had started the job and should be in line for a payout.  Seems Nick Michin is the Liberals pick - getting him out of the way so he won't talk about IR reform or climate change being crap???

Sophie gone Happy
Report Thebas September 11, 2013 10:37 PM BST
shorten   Confused

king-maker, king-killer, queen-maker, queen-killer  Shocked

now he wants to be the BOSS of Labor ... no longer a faceless-backroom boy  ...  Cry
Report wombleoz September 11, 2013 10:50 PM BST
i'd much rather see the man of the people Albo step up, and hope he does, but it is a big ask

Shorten beats Abbott imo

Interesting the Liberals divisions are coming out after the election

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/i-was-treated-as-a-sec...
Report Thebas September 11, 2013 11:02 PM BST
Shorten beats Abbott imo


well Backroom Bill's got three years to do it in i guess   Wink
Report secong coming. September 12, 2013 10:41 PM BST
lol womble none of the labor party have beaten abbott for the last 3 years whats going to change?

would like to see one of the good guys in namely AA for good opposition, shorten too wishy washy changed his mind about leaders twice in 5 minutes ,how would you like him running the country ffs

btw labor to oppose the carbon tax removal very disappointing  seeing as tony said all along he would remove it and the people agreed with a clear majority, so if tony repeals it then when labor get in sometime maybe 9 years then they bring it back in again, I don't think so, just let it be and let the economy recover from the disaster we had last 6yrs let home grown manufacturing be viable again, it wont take long with decent governance we will get

gunna be a great ride now and consumer confidence is up now we have new government - I wonder why??
labor forgot small business is the engine room of the economy and forced many out , no doubt the decline will reverse over time with a team that cares
Report secong coming. September 13, 2013 11:34 PM BST
so its AA for BS lol BS may seem to indicate something!! pretty sure AA wins with the new setup thanks to KR
very good for the country having good opposition and I think AA can deliver , that said no NEW opposition leader after being defeated at an election has won the next election for 100 years , history is against him
I think the 9 years in opposition with maybe 2 or 3 leader changes swinging back to AA in 2022 will do it , little johnnie did it!!LaughLaugh
Report secong coming. September 13, 2013 11:35 PM BST
correction 1st line
so it's AA OR BS
(most people at last election thought the party was BS)
Report secong coming. September 13, 2013 11:46 PM BST
FORMER ACTU secretary Bill Kelty has accused Labor of underestimating Tony Abbott for years, declaring the party's breach of trust with voters over the carbon tax was a bigger cause of its defeat than the disunity cited by senior ALP figures. 
 
Mr Kelty, who is backing Bill Shorten in the mould of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating to become the next ALP leader, said the seeds for last Saturday's loss could be traced back to the failure of Labor to explain to voters why Kevin Rudd was dumped in favour of Julia Gillard in 2010.

"To be honest, I think they lost the election in two points of history," Mr Kelty said.

"They didn't ever explain the change of leadership from Rudd to Gillard. Therefore they didn't lose the next election, but they didn't win it either. So there goes that first downward trend. People couldn't understand why it wasn't explained to them.

"Second, when Julia Gillard actually announced the Greens policy (of introducing a carbon tax), people saw it as a breach of faith, a breach of trust. When people have come to a view that they don't trust you, when you have broken a commitment to them, when enough people believe that, it gives them a great opportunity therefore not to be interested in politics, they just wait until the next election."

Mr Kelty's frank assessment contrasts with a raft of senior Labor MPs, including Tony Burke, Tanya Plibersek and Greg Combet, who have primarily blamed Labor's defeat on the leadership instability and party division.

Mr Kelty said when trust was lost between a government and voters over broken policy commitments, "You can see it".

"With Paul Keating, it was after the budget in 1993. People said: 'I think you have broken our commitment of trust, it's very hard for us to vote for you,' " he said. "When Anna Bligh decided to sell assets and she didn't explain it to the electorate beforehand, then it broke that covenant of trust.

"All the other things don't matter. When that essential covenant of trust between the electorate and those who are elected is broken, it's very, very hard to rebuild."

Asked about senior Labor MPs citing disunity for the defeat, he said: "You just think when that essential covenant of trust is broken, don't blame the media, don't blame all these petty divisions, always look for the fundamental cause. I think you learn in politics that the last thing you break is the covenant of trust."

Mr Kelty said Labor had underestimated Mr Abbott "for some years (and) you should never underestimate your opposition".

"Abbott has a lot of ability and works very hard," he said. "I think the best way to deal with Abbott is to deal with him honestly, combatively and fairly, and recognise his talent and work hard at it - the same way Abbott did against Rudd.

"If you want a lesson, then some of the lessons you get in life is that Howard stood up to Bob (Hawke), and to Paul Keating. He never beat them, in a sense, but he was a campaigner against them, was honorable, and he just worked assiduously at it."

He did not want to be critical of Anthony Albanese but believed Mr Shorten was better-placed to be the next leader.

"If the party wants to look to the next generation, look to the next generation, and I think Shorten is more of the next generation," he said.

Mr Shorten was an "old-fashioned leader, in the sense, that he is more Hawke, and more Keating, and more traditional Labor". "I think he's got to that point in his life where I think he has the maturity and the responsibility to lead the Labor Party," Mr Kelty said.

The process of opening up the leadership to party members had its advantages and disadvantages but "there's no point complaining about it".

'It gives the party an opportunity to give a legitimacy to a new leader," he said.



Labor would do well to listen to wise words IMO
Report secong coming. September 13, 2013 11:48 PM BST
he called it EXACTLY as it was - re trust issues with the government and notice didn't tip the bucket on media (delusional labor idea why we lost the election!)
Report wombleoz September 14, 2013 1:21 AM BST
Abbott win because Labor spent too much time talking about itself and sold out on some of it's principles (esp asylum seekers) - if they focus on the country and the government they can roll them at the next opportunity, hopefully a double dissolution in the next 12 months or so

They have to vote with the Greens to keep a price on carbon - they have no choice, would be a massive backward step for Australia if we don't move to an ETS a planned

I hope Albo becomes leader, a real person of the people

Interesting the ACT announcing they'll legalise marriage equality by the end of the year, how will Abbott react???
Report Thebas September 14, 2013 1:58 AM BST
and now she begins lol ...  talk about the pot calling the fkn kettle a colour   Laugh


http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/newshome/18922586/julia-gillard-slams-labor-leadership-rules-as-contest-between-bill-shorten-and-anthony-albanese-begins/


Former prime minister Julia Gillard has hit out at the new rules that govern Labor leadership contests, describing them as "a clumsy attempt" for bad leaders to hold onto power.

----

if she's bitter & twisted now about Labor (themselves) ... DUMPING her ... in favour of Rudd ... how bad will she be when her book comes out claiming poor me cause i'm a gal (could you imagine Thatcher crying like Gillard cause someone taunted her to test her spine)

Laugh
Report wombleoz September 15, 2013 7:38 AM BST
like she said in the article Thebas - if the new rules were there in 2010 they wouldn't have stopped Rudd being sacked and would've stopped it happening to her this time around
Report Thebas September 15, 2013 8:05 AM BST
new rules / old rules / backroom rules  ... Labor are just in a self made mess ffs lol


and what about the "old" Labor rule ?

where a backroom-faceless boy can just ring up the #2 deputy and tell her to stab her own SITTING PM in the back ...

loyalty is out but ... deception is in ... backflipping is in ... it's been an awful time for any true believer

Labor just make these RULES (for themselves) up ... on the fly it seems  Wink


... and as yet Labor do NOT have a leader/party spokesperson a day following Julia's original election date of Sept 14th   Cry


the country were very wise imo ... to emphatically vote out ... old Labor ...  while DUMPING Gillard themselves before the election    Love
Report wombleoz September 15, 2013 11:03 PM BST
are the Liberals any better Thebas - look at what's happened in Western Sydney, the stories will come out before too long.  candidates selected and gagged etc etc etc
Report Thebas September 15, 2013 11:13 PM BST
probably not mate ... politics   Cry

i'm just happy that Gillard has been consigned to the political scrapheap ... by her own party ... and replaced on the eve of the last election by the PM she originally stabbed  ... I couldn't have scripted her ending any better  Happy

and as long as she keeps her lying gob shut i'll leave her tainted memory alone I guess ... but she keeps bobbing up and making statements of no sense (ie nonsense)

statements like ... the new Labor rules re keeping or stabbing our sitting PM's are wrong
[and her's (presumably) were the right rules ... talk bout rationalisation ffs  Laugh]
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