The Australian reports Newspoll has Labor’s lead back up to 57-43 after two fortnights at 55-45. No figures yet provided to back up its headline “Costello wanted as leader”. Hat tip yet again to James J.
UPDATE: Graphic here. It shows Peter Costello’s rating as preferred Liberal leader up to 41 per cent from 23 per cent in April (wrongly labelled in the graphic as April 2007), Brendan Nelson up from 15 per cent to 18 per cent and Malcolm Turnbull down from 25 per cent to 24 per cent – bearing in mind that 19 per cent has been freed up because Julie Bishop and Tony Abbott were not included in the question this time.
UPDATE 2 (31/7/08): Further attitudinal polling, including the finding that the Prime Minister is 3 per cent less experienced than he was six months ago.
UPDATE 3: Suggested Newspoll question format for next time: Is Rudd experienced? Has he ever been experienced?
1,444 Comments
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Rx
#1049
“Remind me why I will never vote Liberal …”
I’ll take your preseding sentence Rx: “This millionaire advocates below-minimum pay for apprentices! ”
As for that Fielding and FF Party , what hypocrites , i mean taking that bob Day , a extremist pro Workchoices advocate and FF hav audacities to endorse him Family first more like Fielding first to me Wish everyone would preference against him
GG @ 1048,
I agree with you – why he wasn’t entitled to do whatever he liked, after 12 years in one of the hardest jobs there is, is a question that none of the Costello-haters have ever answered to my satisfaction. And it’s not as if he delayed making his intentions clear after the election last year.
But as a Liberal supporter I now think things have changed, following the speculation of the past month or so. If Costello has the good of the party at heart, he must pronounce publicly on his future, quickly.
It’s clear Nelson must go. If Costello is available it’s actually a pretty easy choice for the Libs. If he’s not available, then they need to get on with finding someone else.
There is another irony in all this. Jamie Briggs, who won preselection for the Libs in Mayo, was attacked by his competitors for being an architect of Workchoices. he has since renounced Workchoices.
Actually, Nelson would do far worse than bring on a leadership spill. Yes, he would lose but that will happen anyway but he will also flush out Costello. He may find costello saying “no thanks, I don’t want to challenge, I want to be handed the job”. That will leave Turnbull and Nelson. I’m not sure the Libs really want Turnbull either.
“Jamie Briggs, who won preselection for the Libs in Mayo, was attacked by his competitors for being an architect of Workchoices. he has since renounced Workchoices.”
do not believe him , Hockey may ? be able to put that , Briggs is jjust being a hypocrite seeing th policy was out there long enough for anyone to say they agree or disagre
GB @ 1054,
Agree, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Nelson did just that.
The Fibs also renounced the GST way back in 1995-6 (Never ever). So we are supposed to believe them now.
oops got my name wrong.
GG
1048
” I believe that 12 years as Treasurer entitled him to that time to decide.”
Really, 6 -12 months on the public purse just because of 12 years service as a Treasurer, for which he was well-remunerated and has earnt a parliamentary pension the size of which most people just dream about.
Is this something we should extend to all ex-Ministers – on a sliding scale for years served?
Paul Keating served for 15 years as Treasurer and Prime Minister he left within a month of losing the 1996 election. This has been the established pattern for all Ministers from both parties, until this year.
Like I said. The Fibs also renounced the GST way back in 1995/6 (never ever) and we are supposed to believe them now.
Grace-
you have to factor in that he was the World’s Greatest-Ever Treasurer, so we owe him.
Pity Bob Katter saw the light and ditched the Fibs/Nats. As leader he’d sort the precious posers like Yellostello out. Could bring along his stock whip and really let some skin fly. An QT would be a ratings winner lol.
I’m positive the Liberals still hold to Work”Choices”. (They’ve only dropped the name; not the agenda)
It is their means by which they deal unions out of the workplace equation, thereby drying up union membership and its financial contribution to the Labor Party.
It is the means by which they increase their party’s stranglehold on power .. all the easier to continue legislating for the right of their employer and business support base to cut the pay and conditions of workers.
If, in good times, the voters turned their backs on Workchoices, what makes anyone think they’ll warm to it in difficult economic times? Costello is Mr. Workchoices along with Minchin. It really is a no brainer.
Dyno
#1052
“why he wasn’t entitled to do whatever he liked, after 12 years in one of the hardest jobs there is, is a question that none of the Costello-haters have ever answered to my satisfaction.”
If you ar suggesting he needed a ‘rest’ , then had he been made PM at APEC as nealy hapened in Sept , that means logicaly he would hav been too ‘tired’ to be PM in 2008 anway !
If you ar sugesting he needed time to make up his mind , well I can uinderstand that seeing he has always vasilated , as per his history
But if you ar suggesting that after 12 years wanting to be PM , AND his Party wants him , and THEN he would not either take it or get out , then thats what he should hav dune ! John Howard WOULD hav done one or th other if situation was identical
Thats why i am crirtical of him Doing nothing hurts th party & destabilizing it
I think he’s waiting to be ‘drafted’ a a ’savour’
Jen
1060
LOL
Can you imagine Dollar Sweetie pushing for all people employed in stressful jobs to get 12 months pay for doing nothing – after 12 years?
Yes but Grace, no one else has worked as hard as Pete.
And all for the Greater Good
I believe that 12 years as Treasurer entitled him to that time to decide.
I don’t. It would be unacceptable in any other job.
I found this on the Tiser blog re Bob Day running vs the Libs. Is there any danger of further defections across Oz? In SA, the Libs do seem to be losing quite a few to FF. I have included the exact spelling of the blog as posted for those who laugh at the last line…
1062
Rx Says:
I’m positive the Liberals still hold to Work”Choices”. (They’ve only dropped the name; not the agenda)
Agree. They still want it so bad, always have, and always will, it is one of the main tenets of conservative political philosophy. They will never give it up, just put it on hold for a while.
So Diogenes – they are wearing their true colours.
Homophobic fanatics.
There’s a surprise…
1049 – Is any wonder Day was not preselected again after showing his inability to keep his ideas in his head during the election?
ron @ 1064,
All I’m saying is it’s his life, if he chose on 25/11/07 that he would serve as the elected Member for Higgins, and nothing more, why is that anyone else’s problem?
Till fairly recently everyone was assuming he would retire some time in 2008 and therefore his presence in Parliament wasn’t hurting the Liberal Party.
However I think the recent press outpourings mean that he does have to go up or out, for the good of the party.
He chose after being elected Member?
If every pollie thought this way there would be a by-election for every seat, every term!
Surely deciding he would serve would be a decision he should make before standing?
1072
Dyno 1072 Says:
“ron @ 1064,
All I’m saying is it’s his life, if he chose on 25/11/07 that he would serve as the elected Member for Higgins, and nothing more, why is that anyone else’s problem? ”
Dyno , from Peter Costello’s personel point of view thats fine However as th one 90% of Lib MP’s wanted to take over , his peronel status is overshadowed by his Party position/status INEVITABILITY by staying on , as soon as th second choiceLub leader had polling problems , Costello’s continued presense would cause leadership speculation & destabilization This has ocured , and was always going to politicaly happen
Now it has , caused by costello either not taking th top job immediately , or getting out A poor 3rd choise would be to 100% rule out being leader , but he did not & refused to rule that out 100% either So Dyno , there were th above 3 choises he could hav made , but chose non eof thems and now there is a Liberal party problem he caused by not making any reel politcal decision
Rx, what I said was “he chose on 25/11/07 that he would serve as the elected Member for Higgins, and nothing more”.
Your omission of the last three words completely changes the sense of my comment.
ron,
He should either go up or out now, I’ve already said that, I think you and I are in agreement on that point.
But at the time he first announced he wasn’t going for the leadership (November last year) I think everyone was assuming he’d ruled out future aspirations to lead. In effect, we all thought he had made a “real political decision”. It seems he now needs to provide further clarification on the point, though. And quickly.
It was the and only smart thing Cossie has ever done. Not take the leadership straight away or from a position of weakness, but from a position of strength.
Remember, at the time Turnbull was more preferred to lead the Fibs than Tip in the polls.
Check the date: 16 May 2008:
“Sulker undoing party”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23705277-7583,00.html?from=public_rss
Same paper, same day, but with variation of the headline
“Divisive sulker undoing party”
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/yoursay/index.php/theaustralian/comments/divisive_sulker_undoing_party
All this time he has been knowingly “undoing” the party. Yet still they crawl to him. They must be desperate.
Rx,
Your response to my 1076?
Dyno:
“he chose on 25/11/07 that he would serve as the elected Member for Higgins, and nothing more”.
You’re saying he decided to serve the people of Higgins after they elected him to serve them.
I’m saying that the proper course of events would be:
1) he decides he wishes to serve
2) he stands for election
2a) if elected, he serves … no pulling the pin a few months into a 3-year commitment like Dolly did just cos they didn’t win.
No, Rx, I am not saying he chose to serve as Mbr for Higgins after the election.
You know, it doesn’t prove all that much, doctoring my quote, and then attacking me on the basis of something I never said. Still, if you find it enjoyable, be my guest …
What I am saying is that he chose after the election that he wouldn’t go for Leader.
And that, unlike most people here, I don’t see a huge problem with that.
And that, he now needs to make a clear decision to stop the media circus that is inevitably unfolding around Nelson’s weak leadership.
Whatever Dyno. To me it read as, the day after the election (25/11/07) he decided he’d serve the people of Higgins.
1073 Dyno – I agree. This situation is doing the “Liberal brand” harm. The sooner it is resolved the better. They really don’t have the luxury of waiting 12 months before getting rid of Nelson. The time has arrived.
We are going to be in for two honeymoons at the same time.
Rudd and the people .v. Cossie and the media.
Go the people.
If you think the media has been bad so far, we haven’t seen anything yet. We have had a dry cracker buscuit, now for the 5 course meal.
To be honest I’m still not convinced Cossie will take it on but, as a Labor supporter, I hope he does.
Labor will win the next election Gary. But I want to make sure of it. I hope he dosen’t.
Is the party really going to prosper under a “leader” who is so wishy-washy it takes him months to decide on a merely personal matter?
How would he go with urgent party decisions?
They want this no-balls to be Prime Minister.
I say again, they must be desperate.
Centre,
I don’t actually think Costello will do all that brilliantly against Rudd (barring the dreaded R-word, then he might do ok). He’ll do better than Nelson, but that’s a pretty low bar.
But the political media’s problem is that they rely on politics to make a living. Therefore it has to be interesting. And to be interesting it has to contain a semblance of a real contest. And to be a contest the Govt (with its continual double-figure poll leads) has to be taken down a peg or two, and/or the Opposition boosted (pretty much the same thing).
So you can expect to see the media boosting the next Opposition leader, whoever that may be.
But I don’t really attribute this to media bias, I think it’s more like a football commentator talking up the team that’s losing, they don’t want the audience to switch over to the movie on the other channel.
Rx, after Brenda, of course they’re bloody desperate
Centre,Gb
cossie will be electoral manna for labor which ever ways he flops
even if he aint leader ever, he will always have the mantle of asst. rodent and chief eunuch
Dyno, the MSM would pay to get Cossie elected
GB @ 1087,
I think Costello would be more competitive in 2010 than any other potential Liberal leader.
I don’t kid myself that he’s got much (or really any) chance of winning it, though.
Maybe so Gus, but I have the feeling the marathon to the next election will start.
In addition to the other things already canvased, Bob Day’s name is mud in many hills circles because his company built a house before all the necessary building permits were obtained which nearly caused the destruction of a historically valuable gum tree. It may still do.
Seems that not only does he believe in what amounts to slavery for 17 year olds, but isn’t all that fussed about rules and regulations, or the environment, either. Mind you, that probably makes him a great Lib PM candidate!
Dyno, it is pretty unrealistic to think that somebody like Costello could just sit quietly on the backbench, and that would never be a problem for the party (or him). His presence would always be looming over the current leadership, no matter how much he insisted he had no leadership ambitions.
He would have been very aware of the possible outcomes of the last election, and the implications for him. It is just an indulgence on his part to take a ’sabbatical’ to ponder his political future, or wait for the party to draft him.
Given there were no personal family reasons not to, he should have grabbed the job immediately after the election, it would have been much better for both him and the party.
He has to make his choice, go for the top job, or get out. There are no other options, and never were.
centre@1095
which is good in my opinion
it would allow afrank analysis of nation building skills (contrast 11 yrs of inaction with current gvt)
true economic debate without cossi having the benefit of speaker etc
and show what acomplete policy vacuum is his supposed intellect
also allow constant reference to the dark years and what could happen under cossi
worstchoices anyone?
Dyno
#1077
“ron,
He should either go up or out now, I’ve already said that, I think you and I are in agreement on that point.”
Yes we ar Dyno
Dyno
#1077
“But at the time he first announced he wasn’t going for the leadership (November last year) I think everyone was assuming he’d ruled out future aspirations to lead. In effect, we all thought he had made a “real political decision”
Guess where we disagre I listened to his interviews then & thought he could hav 100% ruled leadershp aspirations out then but did not I thought then frankley he was taking 50/50 , checking th business world opportunities & if they were goodies , off he’d go
Furthermore if I was wrong and you ar right that he did intend a no leadership
aspiration , then 1/ why did he not get out after a normal ‘reasonable’ time say 3 months (I’ve got no problem Pollies waiting say 3 moths after & then pulling th pin) 2/ why hasn’t he not simply said said as you thought ‘ I’m gonna serve Higgins for 3 years as a backbencher & 100% there’s no leaderhip cap is in my knapsack
Problem i see with his position is he satayed after say 3 months say February ,
BUT has he not in 9 months still not 100% ruled out a leadership aspiration and
Just saw Tony “people skill” Abbott gushing over Costello declaring: “We miss him, we want him and we love him”.
GG, i have no prob Cossie procrastinating, because that what he does the best. But I do have problem with Abbott trying to redefine one of the King’s best song:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj-3VP6f29A
As far as the other “unspeakable” item:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1n03a7cLf0M
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