Even if you detest her, her team, her party & her policies (guilty!), you have to hand it to her as a gutsy, back-to-the-wall fighter.
If she's going to go down (and I hope she does), she's going to go down fighting.
She sticks on her message whatever they throw at her.
I doffs me lid to her as one tough cookie.

She's an idiot, no f#ckin idea, if I was her advisor everyone would love her and she would be looking at an election landslide win.

John Smith wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 1:19pm:


Never. Or pesky voters. JuLiar is an excellent people-person.

A couple of her policies, on the other hand, well. Let's just say she's followed Abbott more than he's followed her - particularly on the boats. In a policy sense, the Libs and Greens have set the agenda in this term more than Labor. DisabilityCare and the Gonski reforms are a couple of exceptions.

But JuLiar' hasn't stopped. Most mortals would have been frozen into paralysis in the current hostile climate, but JuLiar has come out fighting.

God knows - I might even vote 1 Labor for the first time.

Actually, the public are listening again. Disability Care and Gonski are popular policies. Abbott was smart not to stand against disability funding - pity about the education reforms.

And he's stupid to get rid of the carbon tax. No one notices it. The industry are used to it. Why fix something that's not broken? The carbon tax is lowering CO2 emissions - it's doing the job it was set up to do. No one cares about it anymore.

All they care about is the "lie" - JuLiar. Ditch the witch.

This will happen, but Abbott would be smarter to keep some stability. He's essentially getting voted in to do nothing. No one really wants Abbott, they just love to hate JuLiar.

Abbott would be smart to stay well under the radar for a while. He doesn't need to put his stamp on a new government until well into his first or second year. He should pick the best ministers and give them their chance to shine. His flagpole policies will come to him. He's not coming in with a reform agenda like Hawke or campaigning on one like Hewson. He just needs to deliver a sober, level-headed and thrifty government.

My bet is his ego will get in the way before long - and this is just what people don't want to see. People don't question Abbott's "heart" the way they did during Howard's first term. Abbott is not seen as a spineless Mr nice guy. On the contrary, Abbott needs to prove the public perception about his far-right stance wrong.

Abbott's challenge is a little similar to George W Bush's first term, when a so-called "compassionate conservative" candidate did not win outright. Abbott will get an overwhelming majority, but it's purely a vote against JuLiar. Abbott needs to prove he can "govern for all Australians".

The agenda has shifted a bit since the last election. Abbott's three-word policies won't wash. Still, Abbott's not in the position that he needs to do any explaining. He can pretty much say or do what he wants from here on in.

If I was Abbott's staffers, I'd try to create more of a sense of a statesman. Abbott's essentially running as a state premier - complete with the marathons, safety vests and lycra. The Liberal front bench don't have much foreign policy clout, and this is the Asian century.

JuLiar is much more of a statesman than Abbott. He'll need to learn on the job - and he could take a fair few pages from JuLiar's book.

Dnarever wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 1:58pm:


That's a very long way off. If I was Abbott, I'd be thinking of the long-term now, rather than the short-term election in September, which is his.

Essentially, this just means not putting his foot in it. How hard can it be?

For Abbott, I think, hard. When he was a student, he went around campus posting up pictures of the queen and the pope. Can you imagine?

Abbott does not fit within the mainstream - at all. He needs to surround himself with some very good advisers.

And harder still, he need to learn when and when not to listen to them.

bogarde73 wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 2:26pm:

This is the time Gillard and Labor could be the most dangerous to the coalition, given Abbott and his conga line are being smart asses expecting they have the election in the bag. All it will take is another one of  those dog head nodding moments ( like phony Tony's moment of thirty second silence with Mark Riley where it was clear Abbott was considering punching Riley) for it to all end in tears. I hope it does, Gillard may not deserve another term, but phony tony certainly doesn't deserve the baton.

bogarde73 wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 1:12pm:


bogarde73

No she is just stupid, she had this odd theory that the electorate will turn around and like her and the ALP let her stay.

The ALP is even more stupid then she is but I will give the ALP one latitude, after knifing one PM ....... to do it again would have even been dumber.

Socrates wrote on May 21^st, 2013 at 3:10pm:


you sound much more bitter than she does ....