CAMPAIGN DAY 33: 8 TO GO
The election draws near at last. I’ve been here in Australia since July and it feels like we’ve been campaigning for 5 months straight. Things are becoming pretty busy, so just a few dot points:
Labor’s got a good series of ads, the first of which is well critiqued here. YouTube has hardly played a pivotal role in the campaign but it’s had an interesting, constant rollover of individually generated pieces – my favourite (by a contributor who is by no means signed up to the Liberals) is this. It’s not been a good campaign for Tony Abbott. To satisfy those readers who insist that polls are the only things that matter, John Major notwithstanding, the current polling is like this. On the other hand, those who might prefer focus grouping would be interested in this. I’ve got an article on the election available here.
No mention of the Coalition's Regional Partnership program released report by the Auditor-General heavily criticising the Government nor the changed economic situation which Labor has put the coalition on the defensive.
ReplyDeleteNo mention of why the polls are not moving.
Paint a complete picture Alex
Read the Spectator's Coffee House. It is a good post and makes the points I have made above.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I suggest you reflect on these comments.
What is frequently not mentioned in respect of the Oz election is that currently EVERY state in Australia is held by the Labor Party. There is no real comparison in the British system but it's hard to accept arguments that they are ideologically hard left. Rudd is an unapolagetic Christian and his wife is a self-made millionare. In fact the Conservatives in UK are more left-wing than Labor in Australia. It looks like the Liberals (innappropriate name but for historical reasons the Conservative Party)will lose is for the same reason Labor lost in 1996 under Keating. Australians have a healthy disrespect for politicians. The same people who vote Labor in the states have voted Liberal nationally. I suspect the reverse will now apply.
ReplyDelete"Changed economic situation", Howard? What, since the late eighties when my father (a small businessman) would come home daily with stories of other small businesses going to the wall and people losing their jobs?
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to the situation where CEOs talk about 'near full employment' in Sydney and Melbourne?
I guess that's the difference you mean Howard.
Troll patrol there are a million miles between where Keating was in 96 and where Howard is now.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in suburban Brisbane and remember the profound loathing Keating inspired in Queenslanders in particular. "The recession we had to have", the cultural dietician, the arrogance... you couldn't make it up.
Fast forward to 2007 and we have a swing largely due to Generation Y, who is...well, bored. Bored, so they want to mix it up a bit.
Every generation flirts with the ALP, and then they learn the same lesson. I can only hope Rudd's wife gives her husband an occasional reality check on the economy's challenges...
Alexander Drake,
ReplyDeletenot sure I agree with you it's a million miles from the Keating situation. Certainly Keating was loathed but so is Howard by a lot of people, (and loved I admit, by more). They have/had both been capable steerers of the Australian economy. I remember listening to a program on ABC radio in 1992 in which the point was made that Labor was in an unloseable position having got the political and economic cycles in line. You only need one in 10 voters to go the other way, for whatever reaon, for a 55% landslide majority to turn into a 45% rout.