Business sector decides it's now time to worry about The Greens?

Inside Retailing shows post-election ambivalence towards John Howard, is cautious of Kevin Rudd, and worries that its once favourite political party the Liberals may now be locked out of government by The Greens.

Another amusing moment this week.

 

"The boot is now on the other foot with no viable parties on the right to weigh in with preferences for coalition candidates but with the Greens, on the left, electing Labor candidates with their preferences.
It is dangerous to predict too far ahead in politics as there are always twists and turns but the Greens ascendancy, an ageing party support base and business and industry leaders less partisan in their political charity all make the road ahead for the Liberals a steep climb."
Inside Retailing Online yesterday:

http://www.insideretailing.com.au/articles-page.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=1761

The Greens have earned their bragging rights

"THE Greens have declared themselves Australia's third-largest political party claiming to have out-performed the Nationals by a "country mile".

The party says it attracted nearly 1.1 million (9.02 per cent) senate votes at Saturday's federal election compared with less than 6 per cent for the Nationals.

News.com.au yesterday:
 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22830818-29277,00.html

 

The Greens have certainly earned bragging rights after election night, and as a number of new Labor MPs in the House of Representatives gained their seats on the back of Green preferences, the incoming Rudd Government will ignore this party at its own future electoral peril.

 

WorkChoices may have been a principal concern of the Australian electorate last Saturday, but worry and alarm over climate change ran a very close second.

 

Technical aspects of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol are going to take some time to organise, so Federal Labor needs to hit the ground running with regard to domestic climate change mitigation measures.

 

The Rudd Government also needs to urgently consider facing down Monsanto acolytes in the agricultural sector and working towards a national permanent ban on genetically modified crops. In the meantime supporting state governments who have moratoriums on these crops and bringing Victoria back into line on this issue should be a priority. 

The Age on Monday:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/labor-mps-fight-to-keep-gm-ban/2007/11/26/1196036811771.html

 

Brand new Opposition begins its early whiteant campaign

It didn't take that NSW North Coast Nats more than a matter of hours to decide that the reason they lost Page and Richmond at Saturday's federal election was not the calibre of Nationals candidates or the party's history in government. No, it was because the election was run as a 'presidential' campaign which personally pitted each Nats candidate against the Labor candidate Kevin Rudd. 

A rumour is now spreading that the Rudd Government intends to raise the GST to 15% as soon as possible. Give you one guess as to the source. Twitter and bisted little losers aren't they?

It wasn't just the Libs, Nats and Democrats who failed at this federal election - the Christian Democratic Party bombed also

Gordon Moyes analysis yesterday of the Christian Democratic Party's failure to gain ground on 24 November 2007.

"We have moved too far to the right in conservative terms. We have become an extremist group.-----

We appear to be obscurantist and unthinking people as well as being unchristian. Christian leaders have almost without exception rejected us.-----

Our founder, Rev Fred Nile, is 75 and has outlived most of his strongest supporters. No political party anywhere still has a leader of that age.-----

We must be ruthlessly honest about the reasons for our losses instead of banning post election analysis or covering it with spin and gloss."

Gordon Moyes editorial:

 http://www.gordonmoyes.com/2007/11/26/learning-from-our-federal-election-failure/

 

It seems that some in this faith-based party are finally willing to squarely face the mirror, but will it really change for the better?

 

The West Australian thinks it knew something about Page

This was in The West Australian on Sunday.

 

"Nationals candidate Chris Gulaptis' vote collapsed as Labor's Janelle Saffin captured a swing of 9.31 per cent. The seat is still in doubt today and a recount is likely."

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=28&ContentID=48263

 

Seems rather a strange view of the situation as voters in Page are under the impression that Gulaptis conceded defeat on election night. Could it be that Chris still has some enthusiastic relatives left in WA who were giving out with an overly optimistic view of his chances or did he briefly flirt with the idea of trying to recant his acceptance of defeat?

Spare a thought for voter fatigue in Queensland this week

Yesterday the Australian Electoral Commission announced that the promised plebiscites on council amalgamations will begin in 85 local government areas across Queensland this week.

Thankfully the approximately 700,000 eligible people on the electoral roll will all receive ballot papers by mail.

Closing time for return of these postal votes is 2pm Friday 7 December for Caboolture, Caloundra, Gold Coast, Noosa, Pine Rivers and Redcliffe Councils.  The closing time for the other 79 Councils is 2pm on Friday 14 December 2007. 

 

Voting in these plebiscites is not compulsory, so I'm wondering if voter fatigue will cause a large number of Queenslanders to ignore this ballot now that John Howard is no longer around to gee them on.

The Federal Coalition is in such disarray that I don't think it has even noticed that this vote is underway. The plebiscites have all but lost their wedge factor anyway. 

Did my ears deceive me?

Did I really heard Tony Abbott last night telling the world that he would make a great Liberal Party leader because he had relatively good people skills?

And did I also catch the sound of a business group spokesperson calmly opining that the Howard Government had actually been too right-wing?

I know I witnessed the cock crowing thrice as a number of Coalition members sought to deny policy which they had previously said was set in stone and vital for the future of Australia.

Ah, strange fruit is beginning to grow in the orchards of those who had thought the former Howard Government electorally invincible.