She definitely needs to go, the question is how deep does the shit go in Canberra? There are zero desirable alternatives.

i don't agree.....that's a line labor voters roll out ad nauseum.

Except that I'm not a Labor voter.

But ignoring that gaffe, who is the viable alternative?

Except that I'm not a Labor voter.

But ignoring that gaffe, who is the viable alternative?

At this point, anyone would be an improvement.

Credibility gone, PM should fall on her sword April 30, 2012

JULIA Gillard should consider falling on her sword for the good of the Labor Party, because she can no longer present an even slightly credible face at the election. Her spectacular U-turn on everything she'd said before on Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper has left her looking nakedly expedient, and further exposed the state of crisis within the government.

At one point in her news conference Gillard wrung her hands. It was a metaphor for what the caucus is doing. Her claim that suddenly ''a line'' had been crossed, so she had to act to preserve Australians' respect for Parliament, came out as a workshopped confection she could not explain. After months of declaring Thomson had her support, after a week of backing Slipper returning to the Speakership if he was cleared on criminal allegations, she wants us to believe she arrived back from Gallipoli and suddenly realised that the public see a dark cloud over Parliament?

What actually happened is that she and whoever she is listening to observed a storm enveloping the government that could threaten her leadership.

Refusing to utter criticism of Thomson was always defending the indefensible. When Gillard then had Slipper added to her political burden, the weight simply became too heavy.

The Slipper affair tipped the balance, because she wasn't going to be able to sustain her stand. The opposition and crossbenchers had the parliamentary numbers to keep him out of the chair. In more normal circumstances, Gillard might deserve some credit for doing the right thing, albeit late. But when she said black was white so vehemently and, in the Thomson case, for so long, her cynicism overwhelms any other impression.

While on Slipper she acted because she was cornered, she could not deal with him without distancing herself from Thomson, because the parallels were too close. Bearing down on her also was next week's budget: hence the need for speed.

Gillard's belated change of position is made even less convincing because she has not been willing to acknowledge her own past lack of judgment and her trampling of propriety.

Defending Slipper last week, she pointed to what Labor had been able to do with the extra number gained by his defection. But the Slipper deal was always grubby politics.

And when Gillard talks about Australians expecting ''the highest standards'', what are they to make of Anthony Albanese last week pre-empting the police investigation by declaring Slipper cleared of the criminal allegations?

If Labor had any functioning party elders, they would be advising Gillard to consider the good of the party and relinquish the leadership gracefully. That would lead Labor down another fraught path, but it could hardly be worse off than now.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/credibility-gone-pm-should-fall-on-her-sword-20120429-1xt3a.html#ixzz1tUFTwREQ

yeah yeah, i wasn't saying you were.....when i'm in conversation with people and on the rare occassion where someone actually admits to supporting Gillard, i say like how bad can these pricks be and the reply almost 100% of the time is "Abbott is no better" so these people must have massive vision and foresight, perhaps the same vision and foresight that made them believe that Gillard is the answer,,,,,,??

Edited by batfink: 30/4/2012 12:28:12 PM

Saying anyone would do better is not offering up a viable alternative.

Isn't it the same as supporting Gillard merely because of the absence of a viable alternative?

No, it's not. It's lamenting the shitfest that is our political setup at the moment because there is no viable alternative.

the LNP are a viable alternative.......

How so?

Do you mean "if there were an election now" rather than "if they were elected now"?

I don't see how that paints a picture of hope that they are anything resembling a viable alternative. I think if there were viable alternatives we wouldn't have had a hung parliament recently.

I don't see how that paints a picture of hope that they are anything resembling a viable alternative. I think if there were viable alternatives we wouldn't have had a hung parliament recently.

Newspapers owned by right-wing mega-corp owner that is threatened by Labor's biggest policy success in shock announcement of anti-Government polls.

I agree. The Liberals had the chance to garner support in these last few months but have completely wasted the opportunity. They have not presented themselves as a viable alternative. If decent policy was presented instead of the endless "anti-everything that Labor says or does" people might have a different opinion. But at the moment the impression that I get is that they'll do the same job as the current government, if not worse.

Edited by pigeonpost: 30/4/2012 07:37:50 PM

Batfink - what decent, positive policy has the LNP put forward under Tony Abbott?

That's not positive, that's reactionary.