Can confirm I have never voted LNP. I swing vote between Labor and Greens... Or independent if there's an outstanding candidate.

I'm still undecided for September, but in the grand scheme of things for my seat it really doesn't matter.

The party I actually belong to wants me to run, but I would have to fund the candidacy myself. How would you guys feel about group funding my candidacy for the good of this thread?

While I agree with what you're saying, the process appears to be more about making sure they at least tried to look for an Australian based worked first.

-PB

I find it funny that the same "stop teh boatz" people are now crying about xenophobia because companies won't be able to import unskilled labourers from the Phillippines anymore.

well unemployment isn't at that rate in real terms after Gillard introduced new start and her training packages.......and shifted what is termed unemployed....under this government you only have to clock up 3 hours a week as a casual and you not unemployed.......some analysts put unemployment at around 7%

Wrong batfink ,under Howard that was normal . He gloated about our low employment rate ,but was found out . Your bias is outstanding

All governments change the goalposts on unemployment. It's not unique to Gillard, and its disingenuous to suggest that it is.

Real unemployment generally runs 8-10%, underemployment 6-8%.

http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/unemployment-may2013-201306060504

Fresh Abbott punch claim

June 8, 2013

As he walked towards Sydney University's Wentworth building one morning in 1978, university researcher Peter Woof was heading for a physical confrontation with Tony Abbott that would land both men in court.

It was September 25 and feelings were running high on the Wentworth's lower floor where the Student Representative Council offices were located.

Mr Abbott, then a firebrand conservative student leader, had won a ballot wresting the presidency from a left-dominated student council. Now he was intent on ejecting his recalcitrant opponents and claiming his new domain.

The locks had been changed three times by the rival groups over the weekend, and Mr Abbott had camped at the offices to protect his beachhead.

Entering the SRC complex from the rear, Mr Woof, then 25, stumbled into a melee. Speaking for the first time publicly about the encounter, he recalls taking up a ''protective'' position across an inner doorway .

Almost immediately, he maintains, an agitated Mr Abbott came up without warning and took a swing at him. ''I don't think he meant to connect,'' Mr Woof says. ''It was more like when a person … keeps their elbow quite bent and brings the fist sort of across the face.'' Nevertheless, he adds, ''I had to duck.''

Mr Woof was sufficiently aggrieved days later to go to the Glebe courthouse and lay a previously unreported civil claim for assault against Mr Abbott.

''I didn't think the bastard should get away with it,'' Mr Woof says. ''He wasn't a liked person … it wasn't his politics, it was the way he implemented his politics.''

When the case came on, Mr Woof showed up alone to represent himself. Across the room was the young Mr Abbott, accompanied by half a dozen middle-aged men in suits whom Mr Woof took to be his opponent's legal team.

''Perhaps he could have got his friends to wear wigs and gowns, but they were dressed like practising barristers and solicitors,'' he recalls.

After giving evidence to the magistrate and being asked to call witnesses, Mr Woof decided his cause was doomed in the face of this firepower, and withdrew. ''One way or another I could see I would be outmanoeuvred,'' he said.

He left Sydney the following year to join the anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd, and these days lives as a secondary school principal in China.

Memories of his encounter with Mr Abbott have been stirred by the resurfacing of accounts of the fracas and events leading up to it.

One leaflet, headed ''President's report: Left clings to power'', is apparently written and signed off by Mr Abbott. ''Unfortunately one Peter Woof, claiming to have business with Honi [Honi Soit, the student paper] in fact proved interested only in opening the door to his confreres outside. I had to restrain him from doing so,'' Mr Abbott wrote. ''I also had to restrain [then SRC electoral officer] David Patch from closing the front office in my face.''

Mr Woof and Mr Patch remember matters very differently. Mr Woof says he had gone to the SRC offices alone, and was neither trying nor able to let others in when Mr Abbott swung at him.

Mr Patch says he was on opposite sides of a door from Mr Abbott but was trying to protect frightened female staff who had closed it because Mr Abbott was being ''loud and scary''. ''He just kicked the door in,'' Mr Patch alleges.

Mr Patch, later an unsuccessful Labor candidate in Wentworth and now a state prosecutor, stressed that no one was hurt in the incident.

The year before Mr Abbott had unsuccessfully run for student president. The winning candidate, Barbara Ramjan, alleged that he came to within a couple of centimetres of her nose and punched the wall on either side of her head. He later denied her account.

A spokesman for Mr Abbott declined to comment on the fresh allegations. ''These matters have been dealt with,'' he said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/fresh-abbott-punch-claim-20130607-2nvtf.html#ixzz2VaFY0mTi

Rudd back to denying bid to overthrow Gillard

Kevin Rudd insists he has no designs on Julia Gillard's job but has continued to choose his words carefully declaring he could not ''see any circumstances'' that would see him become prime minister again, and confirming that he is not a candidate.

That differed from a previous formulation that said there were ''no circumstances'' in which he would lead again.

Fresh from a provocative television interview marking the 100-day countdown to the election on September 14, Mr Rudd was in full campaign mode on Friday, making a high- profile breakfast TV appearance, holding a press conference, and hitting the hustings in two marginal seats based around Geelong.

Sounding and looking every bit like the political leader he once was, Mr Rudd visited a shopping centre, a local college, and attended a morning tea, all accompanied by a throng of media and cameras.

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''Please come back,'' called one elderly supporter.

With his every utterance parsed for evidence of an ulterior motive, the former prime minister continued to be less definitive than he had been when categorically ruling out a shot at the leadership following the abortive March tilt.

''I have said very plainly that I am not a candidate for the leadership. And I have said equally plainly that I do not see any circumstances under which I would return to the leadership,'' he said.

The comments came as he campaigned with Labor MPs Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite) and Richard Marles (Corio).

Mr Cheeseman told Fairfax Media that he had invited Mr Rudd to Geelong.

''There's absolutely no doubt about it, Kevin Rudd is an electoral asset, particularly for those in marginal seats like me,'' he said.

Arguing it was entirely appropriate for him to be out campaigning, Mr Rudd said he would ''argue the case for Labor at a local level, up hill, down dale'' between now and the election.

While officially the government welcomed Mr Rudd's contribution to the campaign effort, some Labor figures contacted on Friday expressed suspicion at the timing of his sudden emergence as a high-profile campaigner.

Ms Gillard's leadership was strained this week by several outbreaks of ill-discipline as despondency gripped the ALP.

Speculation once again has turned to the final two weeks of parliament from Monday, June 17, when the possibility of leadership turmoil will reach its zenith.

Opinion polls timed for the last sitting before the election may give Labor MPs renewed hope or alternatively, send morale further south.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-back-to-denying-bid-to-overthrow-gillard-20130607-2nvqr.html#ixzz2VaKPe8EI

Opposition is all smirks at Labor winter of discontent

The smirks gave the game away, betraying the real agenda of an opposition that can already taste the victory that is expected in 98 days. The four words, crafted to push the buttons of focus groups and woven into every question asked by Coalition MPs, were just as revealing: Convicted, Egyptian, jihadist, terrorist - with nothing to protect the people of the Adelaide Hills from him but a pool fence.

They describe a father of six who was convicted in absentia in 1999 by a reviled regime that systematically tortured and killed political prisoners, in a military trial that Amnesty International and other agencies insist violated some of the most fundamental requirements of international law.

When, in April, The West Australian reported that the man had arrived in Australia by boat and been held in low-level immigration detention in South Australia, the opposition had a case study in how the soaring number of boat arrivals was posing a threat to national security.

And when, last week, it emerged that it took the Australian Federal Police five months to confirm that he was the subject of an Interpol red notice, and the Immigration Department another five months to move him to high security immigration detention, the opportunity to conflate two of Tony Abbott's charges against the Gillard government was irresistible.

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Weak border protection and gross mismanagement were now threatening national security, the charge went, prompting a political attack that forced Julia Gillard to announce an inquiry by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Vivienne Thom, into ''the management of Australian government agencies of persons seeking asylum who present complex security issues, particularly this case''.

The surprise was that the announcement came at the end of question time on Wednesday, after the government had faced half a dozen questions on the case, and not at the start. What followed on Thursday revealed the extent to which the opposition will go to play to fear and prejudice for political gain - and, more tellingly, the desolate, defeated space Gillard now occupies.

What guarantee could the government offer that other ''terrorists'' were not in the detention network? asked Michael Keenan. Had this case undermined confidence in the government's ability to protect our borders? asked Warren Truss. Was detention behind a pool fence the government's idea of satisfactory detention? asked Julie Bishop. Why hadn't steps been taken to deport him? asked Scott Morrison. All described a man who protests his innocence as ''the convicted Egyptian jihadist terrorist''.

Gillard's response was to accuse the opposition of running an ''ill-informed scare campaign'', but not to make the points Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had made outside Parliament - that the judicial system of Egypt should be regarded with a ''great deal of caution, even suspicion'' (Carr) and the need to ascertain all the facts before rushing to judgment (Dreyfus).

Towards the end of question time, when Christopher Pyne asked whether unrelated allegations by an anonymous source that had just been reported by Fairfax Media should be included in the inquiry, Gillard finally found her rhythm.

Pyne, she suggested, should take the report to Thom and say: ''I know nothing about it. I read it in the newspaper. I don't know who the source of the complaint is. I've got absolutely no knowledge about it … But I've played a little question time stunt with it, so I'm forwarding it through.''

She finished with a flourish, declaring: ''Gee, at the end of the week it's pretty embarrassing for the opposition it's come to this.''

The bitter reality, however, was that any discomfort was overwhelmingly behind her, on the government benches, where MPs sat mute. It seemed that, like the electorate, they had stopped listening.

One later compared her performance to the last scene in one of the Rocky movies, where the fighter has absorbed so many blows he is just flailing away, incapable of rational thought or recovery. Media commentary tended to be even less kind.

The dark mood of Labor MPs reflected the anticipation of annihilation on September 14 - and the sense that nothing will, or even can, be done to avert defeat.

During the caucus meeting on Tuesday, one of her supporters, Laurie Ferguson, suggested a way to avoid ''death'' in western Sydney was for Gillard to engage with voters on the issue of boat arrivals - to explain the complexity of the issue and how there were no easy answers.

This is optimistic, at best. While there is no doubting the complexity of the issue and plenty of scope to attack the opposition for refusing to embrace the plan put forward by the ''expert panel'', the fact remains that the government could and should have done much more to confront the issue at a multilateral and bilateral level.

The take-out from the caucus meeting for many MPs was of a PM in denial, not least because she made no attempt to acknowledge the scale of the challenge facing the party. The pessimism was vindicated when Rod Cameron, the highly respected former Labor pollster, was prepared to put on the public record his private assessment that Labor faces a disaster.

Cameron's point is that being unpopular isn't Gillard's main problem. ''She has lost credibility and that's the key,'' he tells me. ''Once you've lost that, you cannot get that back - and that's the thing Keating never lost, at least to a significant section of the electorate, and even Whitlam to an extent. With a loss of credibility, you tune off completely and you don't listen to, or you get angered by, whatever she says - and that is the point from which you cannot return.

''That's why I kept my peace for so long - because I assumed that would eventually become clear, if not to her, then to enough of the members who are going to be voting for their own demise.''

So, with just eight sitting days of Parliament before the election there is, once again, speculation about whether Labor will change leaders - but a familiar set of assumptions: that Gillard won't voluntarily stand down, that Kevin Rudd won't accept the leadership unless there is a bloodless handover, and that antipathy to the former leader is no less strong than it was in March, when he chose not to contest a ballot.

This invites speculation of a handover to someone else in the event that Gillard concludes that this is the best course - a seasoned Simon Crean, or one of the next generation, such as Bill Shorten or Greg Combet.

Shorten on Friday focused attention on the do-nothing scenario: that Gillard stays and Labor's best hope is to encourage voter apprehension about the prospect of an Abbott prime ministership. Rudd more or less did the same while showcasing his campaigning abilities during a visit to Geelong.

While Labor MPs ponder their fate, those who delighted in demonising the ''convicted, Egyptian, jihadist, terrorist'' would do well to reflect on the warning Interpol carries with its explanation of what a red notice actually means. ''The person should be considered innocent until proven guilty,'' it says.

Michael Gordon is political editor of The Age.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/opposition-is-all-smirks-at-labor-winter-of-discontent-20130607-2nvih.html#ixzz2VaO0QM4j

Gillard to go like Whitlam

Julia Gillard has now won four prime ministerial elections, a caucus election (unopposed) on June 24, 2010, a popular general election on August 21, 2010, another caucus election on February 27, 2012 (when she secured 71 votes to 31 for Kevin Rudd) and a caucus election on March 21, 2013 when she again won unopposed.

Two details of her popular general election win are worth recording. In two-party preferred votes the numbers were 50.1 per cent for Labor and 49.9 per cent for Liberal-National. In seats in the House of Representatives the result was 76 for Gillard and 74 against her.

However (and I write this with regret) there is no way she can win a fifth election, a second popular election. The fifth/second election to which I refer is the one which will take place on September 14. Speculation is useful only in respect of events beyond that date.

I begin by making these predictions.

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For the House of Representatives I predict 102 seats for the Coalition, 45 for Labor and three others. Labor's seats will consist of 44 retained and one gained from the Greens, Melbourne.

Where would that leave Gillard's reputation? I compare her to Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating. They were more successful politicians than Gillard - although I think the Gillard government is the best of the three.

However, if my predictions are correct only Whitlam would have led Labor to a bigger defeat than she did.

In 1975 Whitlam Labor won 36 of the then 127 seats, or 28 per cent.

In 1996 Keating Labor won 49 of the then 148 seats, or 33 per cent.

I am predicting that Gillard Labor will have 45 of the 150 seats, or 30 per cent.

Keating ran a bad government but he benefited from the afterglow of a very successful prime minister, Bob Hawke, our best since Bob Menzies. Comparing Keating and Gillard I much prefer Gillard. However, she suffers from being a woman and, consequently, is easily mocked. Whereas today children throw sandwiches at Gillard, in 1996 adults waited with baseball bats to get Keating.

Reverting to September 14, the referendum on local government recognition will go down to defeat.

In many ways, therefore, the most interesting event on September 14 will be the election for half the Senate, 40 senators out of a total of 76.

At present (numbers which will prevail until June 30 next year) there are 31 Labor senators and nine from the Greens, total 40.

I am predicting that from July 1 next year there will be 28 Labor senators and nine from the Greens, total 37.

The big question is what is going to be the fate of the repeal legislation promised by Tony Abbott.

There will be two sets of repeal legislation.

The first will tear down Gillard's Clean Energy Future legislation, passed by the 43rd Parliament in the second half of 2011. That is popularly known as ''the carbon tax''. The second will do away with the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, popularly known as ''the mining tax''. Abbott will loudly proclaim that he has a mandate for both these repeals and the Murdoch media and the Liberal Party's propaganda machine will shout the same proposition.

However, I confidently predict that the 40 Labor-Greens senators will resist that, thus ensuring there can be no repeals before June 30, 2014.

Abbott and his colleagues will say that Labor should do ''the decent thing'' and allow repeal - in much the same way as the Coalition allowed the Rudd government to repeal Work Choices.

Here is what Labor's members and senators will say: ''All of us were elected on a platform to preserve the Clean Energy Future legislation.

''Far from defying the will of the people (as Coalition propagandists claim) we are keeping faith with those who elected us. We are obeying the will of the people.

''Coalition politicians who voted to allow the repeal of Work Choices were not acting out of any sense of morality. They were simply ashamed of themselves - and voted accordingly.

''We are proud of the achievements of the Labor government and we are certainly not in the business of voting to tear down those achievements.''

Consequently, there is no way Abbott can make any progress with repeal legislation in the short term. Nor would there be any point in having a double dissolution election which, by the way, would mean that senators elected on September 14 would never take their seats. That has never happened before.

So Abbott will bide his time, accept Senate defeats later this year and in the first half of 2014 but be aware that he may be able to make progress in the second half of next year by which time the Labor-Greens combination will have lost its majority.

The key player in the second half of next year will be Senator Nick Xenophon. On climate change he has indicated that he opposes Abbott's ''direct action'' plans. However, he has also indicated that he has some respect for the concept of an electoral mandate.

So I predict there will be a compromise in the winter of 2014. The carbon tax will go but much of the substance of Gillard's Clean Energy Future legislation will stay in place.

For that reason I predict no double dissolution. The 44th Parliament (the one elected on September 14) will be dissolved in the spring of 2016 and there will be a House of Representatives plus half-Senate election on October 23, 2016.

That would avoid a clash with the ACT election on October 16, one week earlier.

Labor, under its first post-Gillard leader, Bill Shorten, will make big gains in 2016, positioning itself well for a victory in November 2019.

Malcolm Mackerras is visiting fellow in the Public Policy Institute, Australian Catholic University, Canberra Campus.

malcolm.mackerras@acu.edu.au



Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/gillard-to-go-like-whitlam-20130606-2ntaf.html#ixzz2VasViaNX

you mean like the julia gillard one ? same thing but a lot of people say meh its only gillard.
also wheres the letters and talk back complaining about the sandwhiches been thrown at gillard? hell people were bitching and moaning about the shoe that was thrown at dubya and howard but not a peep about gillard!! I dont care if you hate gillard personally but respect the office of prime minister. Sadly journalism and the public have caught the american filth politics

Edited by mvfcarsenal16.8: 8/6/2013 04:13:26 PM

[youtube]g28IoLq0D4k[/youtube]

sorry NOT wrong...but hey enjoy those rose coloured glasses;)

so your saying i'm right...;) :d

Completely wrong champ. Each leader redefines the definition of "unemployed" to suit what analysts think the rate should be to balance the books.

Everyone can see your bias. Just admit it.

I'm saying that you're disingenuous.

Is it really a "card" when both of these things are true?

Abbott maps out first day in PM's office
Date
June 9, 2013

Tony Abbott wants to lead a government that is far less factionally driven than the one he hopes to replace and become a prime minister who gains respect even from those who do not vote for him.

Stressing that he does not take September's election outcome for granted, the Opposition Leader told Fairfax Media he had a busy first day planned should he win office.

"There's a real sense within the community that the current government is more interested in dividing Australians for its own political interest, rather than governing in the national interest," he said

"Every part of Australia matters and every Australian counts. The last thing that you'll ever see from me and from Coalition frontbenchers is dividing Australian from Australian on the basis of class, gender or whether you were born here or not."

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Discussing the prospect of a Coalition victory, Mr Abbott said he would tackle the carbon tax and the continuing issue of asylum seekers as the first priorities.

''If elected, our first day will begin with instigating the carbon repeal process. The second job will be to talk to the navy about new instructions for our naval forces in the seas to our north,'' he said.

But the government insists an Abbott-led government would divide Australians and implement funding cuts that hurt working families. Treasurer Wayne Swan said the Opposition Leader had already committed to "vicious cuts to workers' superannuation and vital support for families with kids" and there was more to come.

"We've had a sneak peek … it's not a pretty sight for hard-working families," Mr Swan said.

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Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-maps-out-first-day-in-pms-office-20130608-2nwvc.html#ixzz2Vdgl8nhz

Rudd is Labor's best last hope

June 9, 2013

Chris Johnson

Labor's electoral fortunes would be transformed if the party ditched Julia Gillard and brought back Kevin Rudd as prime minister, according to an exclusive Fairfax Media poll.

Under Mr Rudd, Labor would attract almost 7 per cent more votes on a two-party-preferred basis, if the results of polling taken on Saturday in six key election seats were repeated across the country.

And less than 100 days before the election, if the party does not change leaders, the results of the September 14 vote are likely to be disastrous for members of the cabinet. At least three ministers would lose office.

Schools Minister Peter Garrett, Jason Clare, a rising star of the ALP who holds the portfolio of Home Affairs, and Trade Minister Craig Emerson will leave Parliament, according to the ReachTEL survey.

The poll is also a blow to the Prime Minister's personal standing. A third of respondents rated her performance as ''very poor'', while just 14 per cent said she had done a ''very good'' job.

The poll is almost certain to fuel further leadership speculation amid claims that Mr Rudd is running another last-ditch bid for the leadership, with high-profile campaigning and media appearances across the country.

A spokesman for Ms Gillard said she would not comment on the leadership speculation.

Mr Rudd said the matters had been conclusively dealt with by the caucus.

In Victoria, ministers Bill Shorten and Jenny Macklin would be safe regardless of whether Labor goes to the election with Ms Gillard or Mr Rudd as leader.

But their votes would improve in their respective seats of Maribyrnong and Jagajaga if Mr Rudd were to take the party into the poll.

In an irony given their well-known dislike of each other, the chances of Treasurer Wayne Swan holding his Queensland electorate of Lilley would receive a major boost if Mr Rudd was reinstated.

Mr Swan's two-party preferred result would jump from 53.0 per cent to 56.6 per cent with the former PM at the helm of the ALP.

The option of Mr Shorten as leader did little overall to improve Labor's election chances.

Mr Rudd attempted to hose the speculation down. "These matters have been conclusively dealt with by the caucus and confirmed again by Mr Rudd's statements in the last 48 hours,'' his spokesman said.

''Therefore, the focus is no longer on the internals of the Labor Party, it is now on Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party's slash-and-burn agenda.''

Mr Garrett would enjoy a swing of 4.5 per cent with Mr Rudd, Mr Clare a swing of 8.4 per cent, and Mr Emerson a massive swing of 11.8 per cent.

But without Mr Rudd leading Labor to the election, they would all lose their seats, going by the results of the poll.

Ms Macklin's vote would improve 3.1 per cent under Mr Rudd, and Mr Shorten's vote would jump 8.6 per cent courtesy of the man he helped to topple as prime minister in 2010.

The most recent Nielsen poll showed the Abbott-led Coalition still had a strong two-party-preferred lead of 54 per cent of the total vote to the government's 46 per cent.

Strategists on both sides of politics believe the September 14 election will be decided predominantly in NSW and Queensland.

A March Fairfax Media/ReachTEL automated poll, taken in four safe Labor electorates in Sydney's west, has found much of Labor's collapse can be attributed to negative perceptions of Ms Gillard's leadership.

The automated phone polling firm ReachTEL uses Australian Bureau of Statistics and census data to identify people in the targeted electorates and weights responses to match the age and gender profile of the seat. Polling more than 600 people in six federal electorates across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, the margin of error is slightly less than 4 per cent.

The automated voice broadcast technology is used to collect poll responses so those surveyed are not pressured into ''popular'' answers, ReachTEL operations manager James Stewart said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-is-labors-best-last-hope-20130608-2nx3j.html#ixzz2VdhaZuFD

Talks about governing for individuals. Says the second thing he's going to tackle is the rising immigration. I'd rather he tackled the rising cost of living.

Smear campaigns are always shit.

Campaign on policies and changing the future of the country ffs.

-PB

This election circus puts Harry Kewell to shame.

I'll be voting LNP because that's who I align with for the most part (unless they do something completely dumb) but I would prefer an election run on who has the best policies not who has lady bits and who was an annoyed teenager in university

Yes, yes it does RedshirtWilly.
Harry actually hasn't put his foot in it unlike both parties in this election circus. The circus surrounds Harry and he just gets on with his business.

Rudd would only 'save the bean bags': Nick Xenophon

From: AAP June 09, 2013 12:40PM

BRINGING Kevin Rudd back as prime minister this close to the election wouldn't save Labor from a wipeout, independent senator Nick Xenophon says.

"Some MPs have said to me that if Kevin came in a few months ago that he would save a fair bit of the furniture," Senator Xenophon told ABC TV today.

"I think a few months ago he would have saved the leather lounge suite; right now I'm not sure he would save much more than the bean bags."

Senator Xenophon says any movement in the Labor leadership would have to be initiated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, not the Rudd camp.

But he doubts that will happen because "I don't think she's one for turning at this stage".

A Fairfax/ReachTEL poll published today shows that ditching Ms Gillard for her predecessor could save at least three Labor ministers - Schools Minister Peter Garrett, Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare and Trade Minister Craig Emerson.

Rudd takes lead, but not leadership

And while Treasurer Wayne Swan and ministers Jenny Macklin and Bill Shorten would likely retain their seats under Ms Gillard, their chances would be boosted if Mr Rudd were leader.

Under Mr Rudd, Labor would receive nearly seven per cent more votes on a two-party preferred basis, if the results from six key electorates polled were reflected across the country.

Senator Xenophon says his Labor colleagues are despondent.

Some Labor politicians knew they'd be able to save themselves at the September election with "the Kevin drug", he said.

"But they hate the person that will be administering the medication so much they don't want to be a part of it," he said.

Labor MP Richard Marles said the party now needed to focus on winning the election.

He lost his front bench spot after supporting Mr Rudd in the March leadership showdown.

"As a member of a team, despite the position I took then, I'm happy to go with the majority,'' he told Network Ten.

"I'm not about to go and dissect polls which are in the paper.''

Mr Marles on Friday hosted Mr Rudd's visit to Geelong in his Victorian electorate - a week after he welcomed Ms Gillard to the area.

He says on both occasions he wanted to get Labor's message out ``as loudly and as clearly as possible''.

"What we need to be doing now is focusing on winning the election and ... getting our message out,'' he said.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/peter-garrett-matt-thistlethwaite-say-rudds-campaigning-a-positive/story-fn59niix-1226660798571

RT Julia Gillard ‏@JuliaGillard
Wish I could be @Handmademarket today with all the Canberra knitters for knit in public day. Have fun! #WWKIP JG

Meanwhile economic migrants continue to drown at sea. shame

Funny he says that after he claimed the Leadership by one vote because of Turnbulls climate change views. :lol: They are as factionally split as Labor are, they've just given in completely to the anti-science and religious whackjobs in the party.

The only individuals they are going to govern for are G Reinhart, C Palmer and R Murdoch. Everyone else is expendable.

Our country's forward progress has stalled because our Politicians are too worried about upsetting one minority group at the expense of satisfying another, so they spend all their time slinging faeces at each other. These days Parliament House more resembles London Zoo's chimp's teatime than a Government.

Today's politics sicken me , to think i was asked to join my local party headquarters because i was young and passionate . I can think by know I would've become bitter and twisted by the shit throwing if. I did join

To be fair, your first post in here is often in WGMG and you love an old man rant ;)