Australia to the polls, 24 November

[Dobson73]

From www.abc.net.au/news

Posted 26 minutes ago
Mr Howard launched the election campaign after visiting the Governor-General. (File photo) (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)

• Map: Canberra 2600

Prime Minister John Howard has announced Australia will go to the polls on November 24.
Mr Howard launched the election campaign after visiting Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery, earlier today.
Federal Parliament still needs to be formally dissolved for the election campaign.
The election is likely to be fought in the key areas of health, education, the economy, but also climate change and national security.
Other state-based issues will also likely play big roles, for example the approval of the Gunns pulp mill and Mersey Hospital takeover in Tasmania and local council amalgamations in Queensland.
The Labor Party need to win an extra 16 seats outright to claim a majority government.
The Coalition has had a string of poor opinion polls, a recent Newspoll showed Labor with an election-winning lead over the Coalition, with 56 per cent of the vote after preferences, compared with 44 per cent for the Government.

BRING IT ON!!!!!

 

[sparky95]

Finally!! I thought this phoney campaign would never end....

 

[Homoaffectional]

Good riddance to John Howard, barring any rigging or "October surprises" by the (Not-very)-"Liberals"...

 

[wyke06]

Despite this not being my area of politics, I must say that you must never rely on the polls, 56%:44%, they prove nothing, remember the 1970 general election in the UK, they all predicted a Labour (with a 'u') Party win, but Ted Heath's Conservatives got in.

 

[Homoaffectional]

Despite this not being my area of politics, I must say that you must never rely on the polls, 56%:44%, they prove nothing, remember the 1970 general election in the UK, they all predicted a Labour (with a 'u') Party win, but Ted Heath's Conservatives got in.

This is not the same thing whatsoever. Also, people aren't just relying on "polls" in this situation. And honestly, I wouldn't put it past the UK Tories that they didn't do a little ballot box stuffing.

 

[kallipolis]

Homoaffectional,

Any proof for this allegation of ballot box "fiddling"?

Highly unlikely, in my opinion.

If you have ever witnessed a vote counting exercise in the UK, you will observe how various party representatives keep a close watch on the counting process.

 

[Homoaffectional]

Homoaffectional,

Any proof for this allegation of ballot box "fiddling"?

Highly unlikely, in my opinion.

If you have ever witnessed a vote counting exercise in the UK, you will observe how various party representatives keep a close watch on the counting process.

I agree that it's less likely to happen in the UK. But just as UKers don't want things attributed to their country that typically happen in many other countries, people shouldn't cite things from the UK as proof that something will happen in Oz. Better to cite an Aussie example. Don't worry, I have confidence that the Aussies will finally do the right thing. Even they regain their sanity eventually...

 

[AdmiraalW238]

Finally!! I thought this phoney campaign would never end....

It has been a long 'faux' campaign so now is the time for us to standup and be counted....me think it will all come down to the wire...you watch...the final week will be full of voe buying policies from both of them

 

[beermate]

I must be the only gay to be gunning for Howard and the Coalition. Well, somebody else apart from Alan Jones has to be!

Kevin Rudd is just as much anti-gay as John Howard and many people in the ALP and the union movement are highly homophobic, witness the recent scandal when the ALP's dirt department accused an un-named cabinet minister of frequenting bath houses, having a relationship with a young male staffer behind his wife's back and sexually harassing other parliamentarians. Yet the ALP hopes to win the tree-hugging pink vote...

Some of the most pig-headed homophobes I've known have been union thugs and factional hacks in the ALP (that is, all the ones that aren't lesbians). Remember the ALP was the party which introduced the White Australia policy and has always left it up to Liberal governments to grant rights to Aborigines and generally make our society more open, while Labor relies on celebrity candidates and platitudes about "change" and "new"-ness, without exactly explaining how they'll change or what'll be new about them. In fact, they're doing the exact opposite by echoing everything Howard says.

If Rudd gets in, we'll end up with a situation where we have a left-wing party led by one of the most conservative and religious right-wing politicians in Australia, who has a team of left-wing catholics against any gay-rights reform leading to civil equality, let alone gay marriage. So we'll be poor, miserable and hapazardly governed if they get in. It actually sounds exactly like the situation they had when Tony Blair was leading "New" Labour and look at what a bunch of immoral, dishonest cunts they've been.

The only chance we have is for the Libs to win again and for John Howard to overlook Peter Costello for Malcom Turnbull as his replacement. Malcom has already shown us that apart from the economy, he'd do everything else differently to Howard. And he's a vote whore who lives in the gayset electorate in Australia. Plus whenever he opens his mouth, he makes anyone in the ALP sound like a retarded bogan who never went to school.

 

[gazzax2]

vote for the co-altion and i'll physically castrate you

 

[Dobson73]

beermate, you're a funny man. stop teasing us like this!! To say you're going to vote for the man who has lied, decieved, split and completely destroyed our "she'll be right" society is a cack!

Let's put aside our single, blinkered Gay rights issue. When did you last feel "safe and secure" in this country? It would be a bloody long time ago. Did you agree with going to Iraq for their war? Did you agree with the Children Overboard affair? How are you feeling about the Tampa? You're OK with the terrorism laws? Dr Haneef's deportation against ALL evidence sitting OK with you? Do you trust Abbott, the lying Right wing? Do you trust Downer who's lied his way through 11 years? Remember, Howard is a good friend of Bill Heffernan. The same Bill Heffernan who slandered Justice Michael Kirby. Our greatest supportor and "friend" in high places. Remember the idiot Heffernan running away from the media and Howard laughing at his antics? C**t.

Howard, the divisive little prick who didn't stand up against Pauline Hanson. Because she spoke what he believed.
We are a divided, narrow minded and and race concious society which is a long way from where we were before this little shit came to power.

Shame on him and shame on his party. Good riddence. He's lke shit on my boot; best wiped off in the long grass and not allowed into the house.

 

[Homoaffectional]

The only chance we have is for the Libs to win again and for John Howard to

Though I agree that the ALP isn't always the best friends of gay people, but bite your tongue!!

 

[beermate]

I wouldn't expect any less than threats against my manhood and the typical "Howard's a meanie-poo" call...

I've been on both sides of the political divide (I was once even a paid organiser for a blue-collar union ffs!) and came to the conclusion that left-wing politics and homosexuality are incompatible a couple of years ago.

Being a member of the Labor party means you have to support every policy your faction supports, if your personal opinion is known to others, you're excommunicated. As a minority in any group, gay people are pretty much ignored when everything is run on consensus. It's not just me who feels that our kind get the bum's rush from the ALP, why else do the gay divisons of Liberal branches have better turn-outs than ALP ones? People like Warren Entsch and Malcom Turnbull would be seriously reprimanded if they were on the dark side. Jeff Kennett would probably have been bumped off by now too.

All this talk of "working families" alienates me more than a few illegal immigrants thrown off a boat 5 years ago or a deported guy whose SIM card was found in that burning Jeep in Scotland. Forget about any tax relief or special attention for anyone who doesn't spend all day talking about mortgages and nappy changes...

Kevin Rudd was FOR the Iraq war in 2002/2003. Kim Beazley was FOR the war too. Bob Hawke sent troops to Desert Storm in '91. Don't think for a second it'd be different under Labor. I've never once felt "unsafe" in Australia - and I live in a city with many Muslims. The biggest threat to Australian security and sovereignty is the support the Indonesian government gives to terrorists and where has and does Indonesia get most of it's moral support from in Australia? You guessed it, the ALP!

As for Tony Abbott being a nasty conservative, his Shadow Minister holds the same conservative views as he does, if not worse due to her distaste for swearing, yet nobody cares because she's a "battler".

If anything, Howard unified the country and returned the status quo after Keating's disastrous stint as PM, when elitism and intellectual snobbery ruled in this country, unlike the Hawke years. Leave the grounds of a university or a trendy inner-city suburb and everyone thinks very much like Howard and wants a return to traditional Australian values where actions speak louder than wanky "symbolism" and a bunch of arty-farty celebrities pooh-poohing the average Australian's values. Even I think a thin man with a French clock fetish from Vaucluse in an Armani suit is a bit fruity and totally UnAustralian...

As for the Liberal party being racist and taking the country back, what a load of shit. The typical Liberal branch meeting is a mulitcultural melting pot, while an ALP branch meeting is just a bogan club for people stuck in a mid 20th century timewarp.

Most of all I can't wait to say "I told you so" when Labor does win. KRudd weilds as much strength as a wet newspaper amongst all the ALP factions, while his deputy - Juila Gillard is the party headkicker. Within a year there'll be a leadership coup and the smiling phoney will be replaced by someone who probably couldn't even go to the toilet without a committee of comrades.

 

[sparky95]

Meh, I think I'll still vote Labor/Green. Being inner-city trendy and blue collar bogan with a Asian boyfriend, I'm pretty much everything that real Australians like Alan Jones despise.

 

[ZeroPoint84]

from http://ozvotes.blogspot.com/2007/11/howard-wedges-rudd-wins-vital-orangutan.html
(love the headline)

Howard Wedges Rudd, Wins Vital Orangutan Vote


how desperate can he get?

 

[Telstra]

Howard mean & tricky according to his party member and I think so too. Therefore i vote Labor.

 

[Homoaffectional]

I've been on both sides of the political divide (I was once even a paid organiser for a blue-collar union ffs!) and came to the conclusion that left-wing politics and homosexuality are incompatible a couple of years ago.

Not a single aspect of society is completely free of homophobia just yet. We've a ways to go on that one. Hell, they're still working on racism in many parts of the world. Australia is big on that, as well.

The best we've got now is places where gay and gay-friendly people are so overwhelmingly in the majority that the smattering of homophobes that are still lurking about know enough not to open their mouths on the subject, and that's only in certain pocket industries.

You said you were "once" an organizer for blue-collar union ffs... would the "ff" stand for firefighters? Firefighters, in case you hadn't noticed, are notoriously homophobic. And how long ago, exactly was "once"?

There's still a way to go, but to try to single out "left-wing politics" for being homophobes in particular (and leaving the right-wing ones alone) is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. The next generation is more gay-tolerant. The generation that follows will be gay people-accepting. The generation that follows that one will be GLBT issues-supportive. These generations will replace the ones that you've had the displeasure of dealing with, and things will change, albeit slowly, but they will.

I know you've had a few bad experiences, but try to look past them and try not to come off as so bitter. Trust me, many of us have suffered, but we won't let that be enough to support our enemies in favor of those who aren't the perfect friends we'd like them to be. We may find completely new friends (like the Greens over Labor, and abstain completely if it's a choice between Labor and the "Liberal"s). We will fight for better treatment where it is possible, even if it takes a few more years.

 

[Dobson73]

Meh, I think I'll still vote Labor/Green. Being inner-city trendy and blue collar bogan with a Asian boyfriend, I'm pretty much everything that real Australians like Alan Jones despise.

Sparky, how can you show your face in Society? Fred Nile warned us about men like you and he was right!. The social fabric of our society is being torn asunder by people like you. Thank goodness we have an election next weekend so Family First can be given a chance to come to power and eradicate your type.

Ahh next Saturday night is going to be the best nights Television in this country for over 11 years. bibi Johnny..

 

[ZeroPoint84]

I'm MOST looking forward to the aftermath - when Peter Costello lets fly on John Howard...

 

[Dobson73]

I'm MOST looking forward to the aftermath - when Peter Costello lets fly on John Howard...

I don't think he can. Zero. because he didn't have the balls to challange Howard back in September, this is partialy of his making. When Howard canvassed the party and word was that he should go, he stared them down and dared them to know him off. The time would then have been ripe for Costello to challage and either win (narrowily probably) or loose (also narrowily I suspect), go to the backbench and do a Keating. With such distabilasation in the party, he would have been PM within weeks.

Instead, he wimped out, stayed loyal and now will be given the dregs of a party after the 24th. But to blame Howard now will be churlish after he kept Liberal in power for 11 years, albeit by playing on our fears and lying to us. So I think when Costello gets to lead the party, he won't be doing too much sniping. Also, if he starts with the blame game the Party will just turn on themselves. On second thoughts.......