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Australia federal election tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 14, 2013
Mon, 2013-06-17 13:50
#1
Australia federal election tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 14, 2013
Mon, 2013-06-17 13:52
#2
Mon, 2013-06-17 13:54
#3
In an interesting turn of events, unless the Australian Labour Party soon dumps Julia Gillard as Leader, Labour is hooped in the upcoming election.
Mon, 2013-06-17 13:56
#4
Switch to Rudd would boost chances, but figures are slippery
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/switch-to-rudd-would-boo...
Mon, 2013-06-17 13:58
#5
Gillard Slips Again in Poll as Australians Abandon Labor
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-03/gillard-slips-further-in-poll-a...
Mon, 2013-06-17 17:18
#6
Left Turn
If I lived in Australia I'd support the [url=http://www.socialist-alliance.org/]Socialist Alliance[/url].
Mon, 2013-06-17 18:10
#7
If I lived in Australia I'd support the [url=http://www.socialist-alliance.org/]Socialist Alliance[/url].
Yup, so would I. The problems Labor is having is more or less par for the course these days among social democratic parties. What's even worse, they can't even legislate gay marriage, one of the few progressive things left that most social democratic parties in the West will still do.
Mon, 2013-06-17 23:56
#8
Labor leadership: Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd - politics live blog
LIVE Labor caucus meets as leadership tensions remain unresolved
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/18/labor-leadership-julia-gilla...
Tue, 2013-06-18 00:02
#9
Gee, just like Canada!
Business and unions do battle over 457 visa reforms
Rival groups lobby independents hard over the future of the government's work visa reforms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/18/business-unions-battle-457-visa
Tue, 2013-06-18 00:06
#10
Hey, this is neat!
How do we get a Canadian edition which would be inceredibly welcomed here - maybe it could even be bilingual in French and Cree!
Tue, 2013-06-18 00:21
#11
Looks like Labour in Australia must be connected to the BC NDP in that winning does not seem that important to them. Oh well!
Threat to Gillard headed off in Labor caucus
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/key-vote-deferral-a-face-saver-for-...
Tue, 2013-06-18 00:32
#12
This leadership issue sounds like it's far from over, and unless Labour does change their leader they are doomed. Sounds like the end of next week is when things will come to a head.
Hawke could 'broker Gillard, Rudd deal'
Peter Beattie believes former PM Bob Hawke should be drafted to help resolve Labor's leadership crisis.
http://video.news.com.au/2392076719/Hawke-could-broker-Gillard-Rudd-deal...
Tue, 2013-06-18 12:02
#13
Julia Gillard told Bob Hawke to stay away as leadership talks bid rejected
http://www.news.com.au/national-news/julia-gillard-told-bob-hawke-to-sta...
Tue, 2013-06-18 12:05
#14
Gillard's 'captain's pick' not the Labor way: Crossin
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillards-captains-pick-not-...
Tue, 2013-06-18 12:06
#15
Gillard stands firm on defence of high ground
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/gillard-stands-firm-on-defence-of-high-...
Tue, 2013-06-18 12:09
#16
Gillard brought voters' contempt upon herself
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gillard-brought-voters-contemp...
Tue, 2013-06-18 12:55
#17
Gillard stands firm on defence of high ground
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/gillard-stands-firm-on-defence-of-high-...
Thx NR that is a good opinion piece.
Julia Gillard has her back to the wall. She goes into this battle with a thin praetorian guard – the most publically divided party since Andrew Peacock and John Howard split the Liberals in the 1980s – and buffeted by the most devastating personal vilification in Australian political history.
What other prime minister, or even MP, in deep personal grief has had to endure the cruelty of the jibe that her father died of shame? What prime minister has had their private parts so demeaningly dissected for political advantage? What prime minister has been confronted with public questioning on their sex life? Previous PM's with mistresses and infidelities escaped this excoriation.
Gillard is right to fight back, a Boadicea who won't be bowed unless the electorate decides to end her prime ministership and replace her with Tony Abbott, the Opposition Leader who earlier lamented in his party room that “she just won't lie down and die”.
...
How would they or any man feel if their wife, sister or daughter was so depicted in public? Here was an opportunity for the would-be prime minister to take the "high ground". A personal apology on this would have garnered respect.
The Prime Minister's response was dignified. She said that Brough should be disendorsed by the Liberal Party. Remember that Pauline Hanson was disendorsed as a candidate by the same party for her racist claims.
There is no "poor me” with this prime minister. She is naming what she sees, and just as black men and women before her who named the racism they suffered, she has copped a tirade of "toughen up", it was "only a joke".
Wed, 2013-06-26 00:22
#18
Here we go and if they even have a chance at this point, it's Labour's only chance of being re-elected.
Labor leadership in doubt as Rudd supporters circulate petition - politics live blog
LIVELabor MPs pushing Rudd's return to leadership circulate petition to force special caucus meeting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/26/labor-leadership-457-visas-r...
Wed, 2013-06-26 11:15
#19
Let's see if Rudd will now become PM.
Maybe it really depends on who appointed Governor General Quentin Bryce just like in Canada, eh!
Australian PM Julia Gillard ousted in party vote Kevin Rudd becomes new Labor leader; could become new PM
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/06/26/australia-julia-gillard-pa...
Wed, 2013-06-26 11:18
#20
Well, well, Kevin Rudd recommened the Governor General Bryce in 2008 - how convenient is that
My hunch is that she will make him PM 
Wed, 2013-06-26 11:37
#21
Well, that didn't take long!
There definitely is a lesson here for the NDP.
If you are not going win with your current leader, get going and dump him/her and at least give yourselves a chance.
After all, the NDP is there to form government, so they will have the power to change things.
Now these comments have nothing to do with Tom as I think the NDP can form government with him as the leader.
Labor re-elects Kevin Rudd as federal party leader in caucus meeting
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/labor-re-elects-kevin-rudd-as-...
Wed, 2013-06-26 11:41
#22
Current Standings;
House of Representatives
Australian Labour Party - 71
Coalition - Liberal Party of Australia, The Nationals, & Country Liberal Party (right-wingers) - 71
Minor Parties - 3
Independents - 5
Total - 150
Senate
Australian Labour Party - 31
Coalition (right-wingers) - 34
Minor Parties - 10
Independents - 1
Total - 76
Wed, 2013-06-26 16:56
#23
Julia Gillard: where did it all go wrong?
As a female PM who unseated her predecessor, she faced some formidable obstacles. But there were also personal flaws
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/26/julia-gillard-where-go-wrong
Wed, 2013-06-26 18:51
#24
Moving right along in Aussieland, apparently Rudd will be sworn in as PM tomorrow morning.
Now can he win the upcoming election for Labour?
Wed, 2013-06-26 19:55
#25
He may have an outside chance...but Gillard apparently had no chance at all.
Wed, 2013-06-26 21:16
#26
Left Turn
[url=http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=1277]Socialist Alliance 2013 federal election campaign[/url]
TAKE BACK THE WEALTH!
Put the mines, banks and energy companies in the hands of the people!
Socialist Alliance says:
Bring the mining industry, the big banks and the energy companies under public/community ownership and control, so that they can be run in a way that respects Aboriginal rights, the environment and social justice.
The urgent need to address climate change alone demands that these industries be immediately taken out of the hands of the billionaires and their global corporations and operated as not-for-profit public services under the democratic control of the majority.
From Greece to Australia, the whole world has witnessed the moral bankruptcy of capitalism as it has destroyed the lives of billions of people through the wholesale privatisation of our collective wealth and socialisation of their losses.
We cannot afford to leave our future to the likes of Gina Rinehart, Clive Palmer and the faceless bankers. If we do so, we won’t have a future worth leaving to future generations.
The mining industry needs to be publicly owned not just to redistribute the huge profits being made from exploiting finite resources, but also to stop uranium mining and to phase out coal and other fossil fuels, while creating new jobs in radically boosted renewable energy, public transport and other social infrastructure.
The banks do not have to be run as a profit-gouging private operation. They can be run as a not-for-profit public service providing cheap credit to families, community groups and small businesses and a safe and ethical way for people to invest their savings.
Instead of gambling these savings on irresponsible and dangerous corporate schemes, our collective savings can be used to fund the public infrastructure we need for a just and sustainable future.
Wed, 2013-06-26 23:28
#27
Great idea but realistically how do you run and get elected under such a program.
I think the left is usually outfoxed by the right when it comes to winning elections.
Let's get elected first and then you can do something.
Right-wing supporters demand their reward as soon as a right-wing government gets elected, and the left needs to do the same when the left gets elected.
Wed, 2013-06-26 23:39
#28
Problem is, the left(or the center-left in practice, most of the time)runs on an excessively centrist or even barely non-conservative program much of the time now, and then the center-left politicians elected on that program take the result as a mandate to keep those to their left TOTALLY out in the cold. It happened in my country and it's happened to you in Canada(look at Nova Scotia and, most of the time, Manitoba as well).
So how do you turn "let's get elected first" into "let's actually DO something more than cosmetically different from the Right when we ARE elected"?
Thu, 2013-06-27 00:27
#29
Lobbying.
Don't give the left parties one cent of your money unless you get a committment they will work for the 99% as opposed, to the 1% represented by the right-wing Liberals and the Conservatives
Lobbying should start as soon as the previous election is over and should be very, very forceful the first few days, weeks, months of a new left-wing government. Don't give them an inch or the left voices will be drowned out by the right who lobby 24/7.
Let's try and be a lot smarter about it.
I think Labour in Australia today did something which may allow them to be re-elected. We need our politicians to be courageous like that.
Seriously what did they have to lose?
You never win them all but why has Ralph Nadar been so successful with his lobbying efforts?
Thu, 2013-06-27 03:13
#30
Rudd's back after being forced out? This game of musical chairs can't be good for party unity with 2 different camps at war with one another constantly. (Gee, which Canadian party has seen this game before?) Sounds like Labour needs to get its own internal house in order first.
Thu, 2013-06-27 10:39
#31
Gillard was facing almost certain defeat in this year's coming election. - the ALP made a wise decision in doing what they just did by replacing her.
Now at least they have a chance, slim as that may be. Party unity is not necessarily all that it is cracked up to be. What matters primarily is that you have a leader that is effective at winning elections.
Sun, 2013-06-30 14:51
#32
Kevin Rudd storms ahead of Tony Abbott in Newspoll survey 
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/labor-out-of-the-doldru...