For all his faux blokeishness and Western Sydney credentials, Latham had no more ability to relate to the electorate than any insider Labor hack.

Preparing for war

Sunday, 24 March 2013   State of the parties, Tactics   42 comments 

You think it’s about Rudd v Gillard? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

What is more important is that Gillard and Labor, detached as they (like the Coalition) are, can be seen to relate to someone in society.

It is the loss of that social base that Labor is struggling to adapt to, not some problem of ideology.

It will be the breakdown of the factional system that will be the necessary precondition for the return of Rudd, but not sufficient.

Lame duck

Thursday, 31 January 2013   State of the parties, Tactics   18 comments 

In Australia, a Prime Minister facing even the most inevitable of defeats still holds to the end one power of incumbency – deciding when it will happen. Now even that has been thrown away.

Compulsion

Monday, 21 January 2013   State of the parties   12 comments 

Wait till you see what is coming to Canberra this year.

Last dance

Monday, 14 January 2013   State of the parties   14 comments 

The old will have to give way in 2013.

Howard’s Golden Age

Monday, 20 August 2012   State of the parties   16 comments 

The over-turning of the orthodoxies of the Howard period during 2008-2009 has been forgotten as much as the reason for the popularity for the man who brought them about.

Making an enemy of a party on which your supporters agree on practically every issue is at best an empty gesture and at worst will make the Greens the anti-establishment party they clearly crave but don’t deserve.

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