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As this is Melbourne Chat I thought I would look at the seat of Melbourne.
It is held by Adam Bandt and one thing is certain, regardless of your political thoughts he has worked tirelessly for his own electorate and many people in the electorate are extremely impressed by his compassion.
In the house of Reps he is alone, no Lib or Lab bullies to back him up but he has shown composure, intelligence and humanity.
At marriage equality rallies I heard him speak and he was outstanding.
Nothing stuffy about him he mingled with the crowd.
I have just read a galaxy poll predicting stating Adam has a pretty impressive 68% approval rating but I am sadly not convinced he will hold the seat. People often fall for the spin of the big parties but I for one think it would be regrettable to lose a fine political talent.
To be balanced in the Melbourne seat there are three impressive candidates but I think Adam will very sadly lose out.
I am still predicting an Abbot win, even a land slide.
Fortunately I am mostly out of the country, living in an Abbot land is just too awful to contemplate.
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Sounds like he will keep his seat if the rating is so high.
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That means they would have to either give their preferences to Labor or win the seat outright.
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Both are unlikely IMO.
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Nice to meet you PZ and enjoy your posts. Actually I know the Lib candidate and he is a very nice guy.
I hope Adam wins though but I really dont know. Pity as he is a wonderful fellow. A great talent too!
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Watching Q and A last night Adam was incredibly impressive. Seemed that even if you disagreed with him he gave clear concise answers to the questions.
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I missed that big debate the other day. Apparently is was a bit dull and they didn't really announce much/any policies. Would that be a fair summary?
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I wrote a report in another forum so I'll just copy and paste it in my next post.
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Noticed that Tony Abbott today announced that all lower house preferences will go to the ALP in an obvious attack on the Greens' seat of Melbourne.
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As for the debate... IMO it was crappy one too. This is what I posted elsewhere.
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The opening and closing speeches were a win for Kevin Rudd because his appeal for my vote was more convincing. Tony Abbott appeared to be begging for my vote just for the sake of changing Govt rather than with any real solutions. However, the debate itself and the questions asked were poor. The way it was moderated was rather poor as well. Rudd did somehow appear to capture more airtime than Abbott but let himself down by having to read notes all the time.
So the scores I give will be low because I think the whole deal was a wasted opportunity.
Rudd 4/10 - Abbott 3/10
The economy debate was 50/50 and frankly, both sides were quite unconvincing, embarrassing even.
It wasn't a debate about the economy at all - just a series of false accusations and counter accusations about the GST, budget black holes, tax levels, tax revenue, spending etc. Both sides were going on about this shift in changing circumstances and having our eggs in one basket but.... as seen in recent polls, the most important issue for voters
appears to be the cost of living which sadly, was neglected in this debate.
IMO the most important factor in the cost of living for most people will be the inevitable rise in interest rates and how best to manage it / contain it / control it and what sort of relief would be applied.
People who took out a loan in the last few years are in for a real rough ride over the ten years IMO and neither side outlined a policy to deal with it. Whoever is in Government at the time will cop it sweet.
Rudd 2/10 - Abbott 3/10
Stopping the boats.
Kevin Rudd started off well by pointing out the flaws in Abbott's "turning the boats around if safe to do so" policy.
It won't work simply because the asylum seekers will sabotage their boats at the first sign of any patrol boat.
Rudd then lost the advantage by fibbing about the percentage breakdown of who stayed/didn't stay under the Pacific solution. Meanwhile, the ALP's current policy continues to fail as the boats are still coming and reports of seekers escaping from PNG and getting to Australia anyway.
Rudd 1/10 - Abbott 2/10
Climate change.
Now it's Abbott telling lies. A few months ago, the Coalition (and their supporters) seized on a report suggesting the floating price would fall to $A15 because of the bad economic issues in Europe and thus, would create a budget black hole in 2015. Now Abbott is saying it will be $A38, putting more pressure on affected businesses and therefore contradicting the Coalition's earlier comments. Also Rudd is saying emissions have fallen since the Carbon Tax, Abbott is saying they actually rose. Who do you believe?
Rudd 3/10 - Abbott 2/10
Sydney airport response? Fail. No direct answers from either. Don't even know why it was raised in a national debate.
Productivity? Rudd won that debate. Getting business, Government and unions to the one table is paramount and has been done before. Only difference is Hawke had more allies from all sides back then whilst Rudd seems to be hated by just about everyone involved. Abbott went on to go on about changing the IR system which is stoopid. Happy to see the Building construction commission restored but taking money off workers or threatening their job security doesn't improve productivity. Indeed, Labour productivity is better under the current system than it was under Workchoices. Furthermore, the unemployment % is roughly the same today as it was when Fairwork started in July 2009. Not bad considering the current economy.
Rudd 5/10 - Abbott 1/10
Same sex marriage - depends upon your view but in terms of directly answering the question it was a win for Rudd.
Overall? I think while Rudd put up a better performance he was let down by defending a rather poor Government and Abbott failed to capitalise on that opportunity by being too negative and not having his own properly prepared policies.
Final score? Rudd 3/10 - Abbott 3.5/10
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What a wonderful post powerrzone I read it several times. Not sure I agreed with everything but its the kind of political analysis I miss on the site.
Marriage equality certainly a win for Rudd but I predict big changes on this issue with the Libs. I have friends in Denmark who find the opposition here quite ridiculous. They have had marriage equality for several years and the straight community are not wandering around crying its the end of the sanctity of marriage lol.It is simply looking quite odd that International same sex couples are married in their own country but not here. "Welcome to Australia folks! Have a great trip. Oh by the way you are not married here" New Zealand has not fallen into the sea!
Actually I dont think its been a bad Government but as always ALP fails to sell its achievements.
I still want to know Abbots plan for action on climate change.
Ok no carbon tax but what?
Any way a ripper post powerzone.
Back to Adam.
I think it will be remarkable if he holds the seat. Personally I dont think he will but one thing is clear he has done a magnificent job and he wont be short of offers.
It depends on how progressive Melbourne people are.
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Unlike others I will congratulate the Liberal Conservatives on a very impressive victory.
I have my theories why but I will leave it there.
On the other hand I am so proud and happy that Adam Bandt did so brilliantly.
Even though Libs put him last he still won. This is historically amazing.
The reason why he won was he was a superb member for his own constituent. I have spoken to scores of business people in his seat and all say they were voting Adam because he put in so much time for their concerns ranging from parking issues to rents.
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Centre link bureaucratic night mare and the problem is its not understaffed its badly organised as well.Â
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Folks I meant no offense in my onion/ oyster comment. But deleted it any way. The nick name is onion. It smells and makes bosses cry because staff are late for work. Despite what some suggest its a great big mess.
But there are differing points of view. I have never met a Londoner who liked it.
Any way its not on topic.
