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Follow the money: punters finally getting on Abbott

Michael Sullivan

by Michael Sullivan

27 Jul 05:55am

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Filed under: Betting, Election 2010, Election Betting, Gambling

63 comments

In the hours following Sunday night’s Leaders Debate, a strange thing happened: punters started backing Tony Abbott for the first time since the election was called last Saturday.

Julia by a nose…or maybe Abbott by an ear. Photo: Getty Images

In doing so, they not only pre-empted yesterday’s Newspoll but confirmed most of the analysis about the Opposition leader’s performance in the papers: it could’ve been a lot worse.

As someone who has been taking bets on elections for years, it was a hard to imagine a bigger game changer in a betting market than when the ALP changed jockeys just weeks out from this election campaign.

From the minute Julia Gillard walked into Kevin Rudd’s office and informed him he’d not only be moving forward but moving out of the Lodge entirely, all the money has been on Labor to win with bets of $10,000, $5000 and $2000 coming immediately.

While Kevin Rudd was on the ropes, punters were backing Tony Abbott and the Coalition strongly – despite the candidate implosions in key Queensland LNP seats, with Michael Johnson in Ryan and Hajnal Ban in Wright both departing under legal clouds.

More recently the head-to-head betting has shortened up further with Labor’s compromise over the mining tax seeing big bets of up to $80,000 solidifying the government as firm favourites at $1.28 and pushing the Coalition out to $3.50.

Punters clearly expected Abbott’s performance in the debate to be below par as we saw over $50,000 worth of bets arrive for Labor in the 48 hours before the debate but it dried up immediately after his better than expected showing.

As the landscape changes almost daily, punters are attacking Sportingbet’s 55-odd marginal seat markets, which saw a number of marginal Labor seats pulled out of harm’s way following the Gillard coup.

Western Sydney marginals like Hughes have seen a lot of action, with a tight contest being waged between the two major parties. Rising Labor star Brent Thomas is paying $1.85 to take the seat from the Liberals, who have selected Craig Kelly ($1.95) following the departure of Dana Vale.

In Adelaide, Steve Georganas has seen strong money from punters to hold Hindmarsh for the ALP and has now shortened into $1.22 against Jasmine Wood for the Liberals, who has drifted to $4.00.

Meanwhile, in Brisbane’s inner eastern suburbs Labor’s Kerry Rea has trimmed down from $1.70 to $1.50 to hold the seat of Bonner against the LNP’s Ross Vasta.

In the cities where the Greens are playing havoc on the major parties, punters have been regularly plunging bets of up to $10,000 behind Labor candidates such as Tanya Plibersek in Sydney who has shortened from $1.55 into $1.18 against the Greens’s Tony Hickey who languishes at $4.00.

The only seat where the Greens are seeing any serious money is Lindsay Tanner’s vacated seat of Melbourne, where Adam Bandt pays $1.60 to claim the seat over ALP newcomer Cath Bowtell who is at $2.20.

And in Sydney’s eastern Suburbs, punters have given Malcolm Turnbull the tick for his defence of Wentworth, shortening him into $1.20 against strong challenges from Labor’s Steven Lewis ($3.75) and Matthew Robertson for the Greens at $15.00.

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Most commented

429Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
390There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin
333Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer
313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
265Who murdered the Arts degree?
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231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...
231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.

63 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Rosie says:

      07:25am | 27/07/10

      Thank you Australia! Slowly but surely wins the race!

      Thank you to Tony Abbott and the Liberals, the moving forward team for real action!

      Reply

    • Eskimo says:

      08:15am | 27/07/10

      More aptly, Ironman triathlons aren’t decided after the swim

    • Dale says:

      08:22am | 27/07/10

      What action? What are the Liberal party going to do? build infrastructure for the future? no. Stop fearmongering about the “armada” of boat people? No So what are they going to do? no party has shown leadership or drive to show where Australia will be in 10 or 20 years time

    • Seano says:

      08:40am | 27/07/10

      Huh? Labor are $1.28 in a two horse race, deserved, very short price favourites. Even if Tony Abbott continues to make ground (unlikely) at that rate he will catch gillard in about 2020….slighty after the polls close.

    • Mark says:

      09:15am | 27/07/10

      Yes in 2020. Just in time for us to see the final outcome of that wonderous conference held back in 2008.

      Oh I do so hope Cate and Hugh are there to unveil the triumphs in the year the conference was named after.

    • Freeman says:

      09:21am | 27/07/10

      the reason labor are short favourites now is because of the heavy betting on labor from punters wanting the best odds back when rudd was flogging turnbull. the odds move more slowly than the public’s sentiment as most betting agencies offer odds based on betts invested in both camps. I can’t see myself betting this election, the reward is not worth the risk on labor at $1.30

    • Tim says:

      10:27am | 27/07/10

      Ha Ha,
      you know that the Liberals are dead in the water when a bookie starts spruiking them.
      Michael old fella, I think you’re going to have trouble making a book on this contest.

    • BobM says:

      12:32pm | 27/07/10

      Dale, apparently Labor have been warned about the ‘armada’

      http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=490600&articleID=1631239

      Authorities warn of ‘10,000’ boat people
      Updated: 08:41, Tuesday July 27, 2010
      Labor’s credentials on asylum seekers have been dealt another blow with claims immigration authorities told the government the success rate for asylum seekers was encouraging boat people.

      Earlier this year, 90 per cent of Afghan asylum seekers were successful in their claims for refugee status.

      The Australian newspaper claims the government was warned that figure was out of line with the rest of the world and to expect up to 10,000 boat people this year as a result.

      The warning reportedly came before the claims of Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers were suspended on April 9.

      The Opposition will today meet with Nauru’s foreign foreign affairs minister to discuss the possibility of reopening the country’s asylum seeker processing centre.

    • Seano says:

      08:17pm | 27/07/10

      @Mark - for that to have been funny or biting it needed to be relevant.

      @Freeman - Bookies dont lose, the odds have bearly moved since Abbott has been in charge because that’s where the money. Labor will win because to a large segment of the electorate Abbott is unelectable.

    • Jason CR says:

      08:31pm | 27/07/10

      @ seano,  Jeff Kennett was $1.08 and lost in 1999.  A protest vote is alive and well in this election. Time will tell.

    • Belle says:

      09:59pm | 27/07/10

      I predict a landslide victory to the Coalition- Julia Gillard is being given an overly generous run by the media but I believe that the majority of voters have not been fooled.

    • Freeman says:

      09:25am | 28/07/10

      Seano, bookies often loose, and can be bankrupted.

      larger betting agencies never loose, no matter what the result. as there payout to the winners = betts invested from both sides -10% which is their profit. bookies are forced to offer similar odds to the larger betting agencies.

    • TimB says:

      07:43am | 27/07/10

      The renewal of the Miner’s ad campain will help a heap too. I just hope there’s enough time for the Coalition to retake the lead. After all the only reason Gillard rushed to an election now was because her soap bubble was starting to collapse the same as Rudd’s did.

      Here’s hoping she will be completely exposed by the time election day rolls around. (To the general public I mean, anyone paying the slightest bit of attention can see Gillard has no substance).

      Reply

    • Seano says:

      08:41am | 27/07/10

      And Abbott has substance I suppose? But only on “scripted” comments.

    • TimB says:

      09:35am | 27/07/10

      @ seano. Still more substance than Julia. Even her scripted comments can’t be trusted. Just look at her lies during the debate.

      Labor has no policy on anything beyond what will get them elected. Then, just like last time “they will change everything” once (re)-elected. You have no idea what crazyness you will get.

    • SkepDad says:

      10:02am | 27/07/10

      TA isn’t perfect, or even very good if I’m honest.  But TA comes with the Coalition behind him.  JG is a slippery talker shackled to the dead weight of the Labor party - all full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

      Even my five year old can see through her web of obfuscation.  http://skepdad.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/out-of-the-mouths-of-babes/

    • Beagle says:

      10:04am | 27/07/10

      Keep hope alive TimB.

      When you have a candidate like Abbott, all you really have is hope.

    • Christian Real says:

      10:21am | 27/07/10

      Tim B
      And you actually are gullible enough to believe that Tony “Don’t believe everything that I say” Abbott has got any credibility, integrity and substance.
      Tony Abbott lacks all three of these things

    • TimB says:

      10:46am | 27/07/10

      @ Beagle. That’s true unfortunately, all I can rely on is hope.

      After all I can’t rely on the collective intelligence of my fellow voters. Suffering through 16 years of Labor ineptitude in NSW has taught me that harsh lesson. The end result of the Kevin07 experiment is telling too.

    • TimB says:

      11:41am | 27/07/10

      @ Christian Real

      You show me Tony’s lies. I’ll show you Julia’s. 

      All politicians lie/spin/distort, the question is to what extent. Julia is far less trustworthy than Tony. And her lies have a far bigger impact.

    • BobM says:

      02:21pm | 27/07/10

      Here’s another example of how Labor operates.

      Stimulus grants skewed to Labor seats
      By Simon Cullen

      Posted 1 hour 28 minutes ago

      A report on the Federal Government’s $500 million regional grants program has found a disproportionate number of applications from Labor-held electorates were given money.

      The Government set up the scheme to help stimulate the economy by giving local councils money to spend on infrastructure.

      An audit of the scheme by the National Audit Office found the approval rate for projects in Labor held seats was 42 per cent, compared with just 18 per cent in Coalition electorates.

      However, it said the value of funding was largely consistent with political representation in the Federal Parliament.

      The Government told the Audit Office it believed the number of applications was skewed. However, the audit has criticised the process used to decide which grants were successful. It says the criteria was unclear and only documented a day before Cabinet decided which projects would get money.

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/27/2965419.htm?section=justin

    • Seano says:

      08:20pm | 27/07/10

      @TimB - is that scripted or unscripted rhetoric?

    • Joel says:

      08:14am | 28/07/10

      @Beagle.  You really are like a beagle arent you?  Stupid, stubborn and unable to see the facts when they are right in front of your nose.  Go away you annoying little man.

    • pete m says:

      08:31am | 27/07/10

      Jooolia will still win.  The women’s vote will see her roll home by about 6 seats.  some electorates will see crazy swing backs following the last election bizarro world results from left field.  I expect Abbott to continue to eprform well, but he needs now to move to positive campaigning and hamemr home what he will do - he needs 1 or 2 big items in addition to the parental leave policy.  He’s got mental health, parental leave and ...  Something for pensioners might do it.  libs lost a lot of grey votes last time and need them back.

      Anyway, it’s been nice to see Labor panick and dump Rudd.  If nothing else it repays some of the 07 nonsense.

      Reply

    • Jason CR says:

      08:27pm | 27/07/10

      Well pete, with Rudd obviously telling Laurie Oakes that Julia was against the paid parental scheme AND that she was against extra money for pensioners (because they don’t vote Labor), I’m sure we’ll see plenty of the grey vote switching back.

      K Rudd should get a safe Liberal seat - as he’s hurting Labor on a weekly basis.  I’m sure he has a lot more to say about Julia, and I’m loving it!!1

    • Retired Soldier says:

      08:56am | 27/07/10

      “Softly softly catchee Monkey” Tony. This is a good thing to see from a sensible voting perspective and it is a shame that the narrow minded female voters cannot see the folly of their support for Gillard. Clearly they are only voting on the basis that she is a female in the most important job in the country and for no other reason. It is almost inconceivable that they have failed to see the smoke and morrow act by this Labor and Union machine. I have watched so called educated female commentators stating that a vote for Gillard is a vote for all women…what the hell does that mean ? I know a young woman who is a waitress and she now truly believes she can make it to the top of the ladder “because Julia did “. This woman cannot string a sentence together so how can she expect to emulated Gillard. You can bet the majority of girls voting for this woman are in the same boat as my waitress and have no idea of the ramifications of their wasted vote. Go for it Tony and give the Labor mob what they deserve.

      Reply

    • Fred says:

      09:22am | 27/07/10

      “You can bet the majority of girls voting for this woman are in the same boat as my waitress”

      By the sounds of it you have no idea what the ‘majority’ of girls are thinking at all.  Yes, some unfortunate women will vote purely based on gender. Not to mention some men WON’T vote for her for exactly the same reason.

      But please don’t drag the rest of us down with them.

    • Polly says:

      11:22am | 27/07/10

      Abbot is a family man and supports women and families. Who wants a pm who would not know what having a child is like and raising them? Gillard said she would help with the price of school uniforms. Abbott goes further with up to a $1000 per secondary student tax claims and including uniforms. Abbott’s maternity leave allowance is much more generous than Labors and it is time for women in Australia to have a fair go in raising their children at least for a few months instead of just weeks. House-Dads too are included with stay at home Mums to receive financial help.  Women not liking Abbott? I disagree!

    • PollyWaffle says:

      11:44am | 27/07/10

      Polly, how much time do you think Tony actually spends with his family? 20%? 30%?
      Does he pop in at home in between marathons, bike riding, campaigning, his day job and all his other activities.
      I suspect his wife is the family man as well as being the mother.  Abbott donates the seed, provides the income and is an infrequent guest in his own home.
      I’m sure Abbott doesn’t have a clue what having children is like. He only donates seed. His wife has the children and raise them.

    • SkepDad says:

      12:08pm | 27/07/10

      @PollyWaffle:

      You’re probably right: TA, just like other working dads, probably spends far less time at home than he would like.  If he’s like other working dads, it probably breaks his heart that he’s not at home to see those first steps, hear those funny things they say, pick them up when they fall and help them with their homework.

      Someone’s gotta pay for those cappucinos you sip in the mall with your girlfriends Polly.  It’s called duty, and working parents of both genders understand the sacrifices they have to make to do their duty to their families.  In TA’s case, he’s got a duty to the nation as well.

      Of course, they probably don’t talk about that on midday TV do they?  I wouldn’t know, I’m at work then.  Lose the misandry, it’s a disease.

    • PollyWaffle says:

      01:09pm | 27/07/10

      @ Skepdad
      You are way off topic Dad.
      I’ll spell it out again for you.
      Polly said -“Who wants a pm who would not know what having a child is like and raising them?”
      TA has never had a child. He doesn’t have the ovaries for it.
      TA is hardly ever home, so I guess he raises them vicariously through his wife (whatever that looks like). Words perhaps - guess what the sprog did today Tony?
      I haven’t got misandry and it is hardly likely that I ever will. Can a man hate men?
      And in closing, you reckon TA’s got a duty to the nation? I reckon he does to. He should get out of politics after he loses this election and do something constructive instead of trying to drive wedges into the population.

    • Robert Smissen Rural SA says:

      01:27pm | 27/07/10

      Pollywaffle don’t judge other by how you would behave, If you saw 60 minutes interview with the entire abbott family you would know that Tony does his thing yes, but is a committed parent who parents with his wife, who incedently is a working parent too. Tony’s daughters were all clear eyed & focused because both parents are committed to very high standards of excellence. I will go on to say that if more familes were like the Abbott family, then Oz would be a far, far nicer place to bring up kids.

    • shabangabang says:

      08:57am | 27/07/10

      If the same officials are used for the election as were used for last nights footy between the roosters and the pony’s, anything could happen. I seriously believe that refs coach Robert Finch is trying to pay back the Roosters for their dumping of his son, Brett Finch.
      Twice in 2 weeks the roosters have beaten both their opposition and the officials.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      09:46am | 27/07/10

      Forget beating the opposition and the officials. We all want to know how your precious “Chequebooks” beat the salary cap for all those years.

    • Gary Cox says:

      09:01am | 27/07/10

      Apparently the bookies nearly always get election results right. Reckon I might sell my house and put the money on Tone just to bring the odds in a bit. It would be well worth it

      Reply

    • Ben says:

      12:30pm | 27/07/10

      If Julia get’s in perhaps you won’t mind leaving Aus.. I know I wouldn’t

    • BobM says:

      12:36pm | 27/07/10

      You can be sure that a lot of the big bets placed on Julia Gillard were from the Unions raiding their very fat piggy-banks (thanks Developers!) to shorten (pun intended) her odds.

    • Nicole says:

      03:28pm | 27/07/10

      @Gary, correct. My husband is a punter and last night said the same thing. In fact he put his money where his mouth is and whacked a rather substantial amount on Abbott. All I can say is he’d better be right. The unused dog kennel is rather cold at night.

    • nosthow says:

      05:17pm | 27/07/10

      @Nicole - hes done his money cold Nicole - move him straight into the dog house - Abbotts dud !

    • Nicole says:

      06:12pm | 27/07/10

      Let’s just wait and see nowsthow. I can feel a big shopping spree on the horizon.

    • Nicole says:

      08:26pm | 27/07/10

      Sorry nosthow. This is probably the fourth time in two days where my typing has been, to put it bluntly, shit. It’s my fingernails, they’re too bloody long.

    • Dash says:

      09:02am | 27/07/10

      I’m still convinced we’ll get the government the media wants us to have! And that appears to be Labor. I notice in the news today the stupid article saying “Pay cut for Mr Mum”. Talk about biased reporting! There is no scheme in place like this at the moment. How can it be a pay cut when Mr Mums get nothing now!! This is an example of the mainstream media supporting the Gillard camp. In addition, the media has also swallowed the Labor line about the 1.5% levy for maternity leave being inflationary in yet another show of media bias. I can tell you that this 1.5% will be nothing compared to the 3% superannuation charge that Labor are planning for business, nor the impact on prices of an ETS which has already put upwards pressure on power prices and we know what flow on effect that will have for prices! Not to mention the impact the profits tax will have on anything that uses output from the mining industry. Just wait for the day of the election when editors from both mainstream media outlets again, as they did in ‘07, actively endorse the Labor party. It’s so obvious it’s getting beyond a joke!

      Reply

    • casba says:

      09:16am | 27/07/10

      Speaking of KRUDD….has anyone else noticed when driving around KRUDD’s electoral territory in Brisbane, the fact that none of his political posters plasered up across the area mention the ALP?  All they proclaim is Kevin Rudd:working for the people of the Southside!!  There is also a Southern Cross flag on the bottom right hand corner but nothing remotely connecting him to the Labor Party.  Is KRUDD finally about to serve up his revenge on the people who assassinated him?

      Reply

    • jb says:

      10:03am | 27/07/10

      Rudd go Indy dude!

    • Digby Hughes says:

      09:20am | 27/07/10

      Centrebet has ALP @ 1.24 and Coalition @ 3.80 - in a 2 horse race pretty clear who the favourite is

      Reply

    • BobM says:

      12:38pm | 27/07/10

      ‘Favourites’ can still stuble befor the finishing post….

    • Beagle says:

      01:11pm | 27/07/10

      @BobM
      ‘Favourites’ can still stuble befor the finishing post….

      As Julia doesn’t have a five O’clock shadow, I guess the only one who can stuble is Tony

    • Frank says:

      09:21am | 27/07/10

      I reckon Labor should be in further than that.

      Short of some kind of massive howler - which don’t happen on modern Labor campaigns now that Latham has left the building - the electorate will give them another chance.

      Surely $1.28 is a good bet. I might get on it if I can get Her Indoors to tick it off.

      Reply

    • jb says:

      09:32am | 27/07/10

      Well Tony Abbott brought his family to work Labor don’t have an answer to that.
      It’s not like people hate those that choose not to be married or parents and most people I know wear having gay friends like a badge, I just think most people just don’t get those lifestyle choices, Julia Gillard just doesn’t understand what it’s like to have someone dependent on you 24/7 she doesn’t know what its like to share your life with the one you love and then throw Penny Wong into the mix who doesn’t even have the balls to stick up for her own beliefs and it’s little wonder the people of Australia are now starting to second guess the principals of the Labor party…
      As a father I’m pretty sure I am going to put my faith behind the family man!

      Reply

    • Beagle says:

      10:15am | 27/07/10

      jb - you say nothing new.
      The deeply religious are always going to vote for their god over other gods or no gods.
      Look at the dis-endorsed candidate David Barker. Have you ever seen a more distorted (in more ways than one) individual.  How did this guy get selected by the Liberals? How many more David Barkers are still “hiding” in the Liberal party.
      I for one don’t want racist, homophobic religious zealots with wacko ideas in my government.  Fielding is already one too many.
      Hopefully Abbott can keep this side of him repressed and not encourage the fringe religious right.

    • jb says:

      01:08pm | 27/07/10

      Hey doggy, you nailed it dis-endorsed, at least the Libs get rid of their rabble, in the case of Labor they just get promoted, take a look at Kaiser…
      I chose to be a father and yep nothing new but I trust a guy with family values not the black widow she has no clue on what families need, we certainly don’t need a condescending bully as a roll model for our children!

    • Freeman says:

      09:45am | 27/07/10

      Could it be that Mr sullivan is trying to generate some interest in this election ?

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      10:30am | 27/07/10

      It is quite evident that Labour intend to spin out lies through this campaign. Very disappointed in SBS last night when 2 female reporters said Tony Abbotts child care scheme was a jab a Gillard not having kids. I can see a lot of female reporters supporting Gillard resorting to such low depths of reporting. This is a hard campaign for Abbott. He know he had to tread very carefully so not to be accused of all sort of awful things.

      I see Abbott was critisised for not bringing his wife out on the campaign earlier, but Gillard has a leave pass to leave her wife at home…

      Reply

    • DD Ball says:

      10:30am | 27/07/10

      I have been walking through one of the safest ALP seats recently, Blaxland, and I gotta say there is a lot of anger about the ALP and their lack of policy and their lack of compassion. Real people are hurting from the vacuous money grab of ALP policy. They resent the division of the ALP from the top down. They are hurt that the Greens seem to be fighting the Liberal Party on policy, while the ALP seem to be pointing fingers at each other and bailing out when they have an opportunity to lead Australia.
      It is true that many also openly despise the Liberals for reasons that lack coherence. One guy said that he didn’t like Serbs being called terrorists. Another said she didn’t like the mad monk. No policy of the Libs was opposed by the locals, and if you presented policies without labels, and they didn’t know who sponsored it, they picked Liberal policies.
      In dumping Rudd and picking Gillard, but retaining their policy, the ALP have not backed a winner, they have merely backed a horse in a horse race .. and their voters are feeling betrayed.

      Reply

    • Temerarious says:

      11:45am | 27/07/10

      I couldn’t agree more. There is huge anger and resentment out there, a lot of which stems from the fact that Rudd wasn’t given “a fair go”. Even if you didn’t like the guy, watching his knifing in the back, teary farewell speech and forlorn appearance in Parliament later that day was heartbreaking. Julia must be incredibly worried about this.
      Cost of living increases are also a massive problem. Queensland has gone from being one of the cheapest places to live to the most expensive in a few short years…the very reason my wife’s folks packed up and left.
      I wonder how many voters will punish Federal Labor on August 21 even though it’s State Labor they are most angry with? My bet is that many won’t even distinguish the difference.

    • Peter says:

      02:57pm | 27/07/10

      The Labour party spat in all our collective faces and told us democracy is for them to decide who the leader is, not us…

      Kevin07 had a clear mandate from the people…. Kevin07 should have had an opportunity to go back to the polls if he wished..

      Gillard does not respect democracy…

    • Beagle says:

      10:43am | 27/07/10

      I’ll tell you what lacks coherence DD.

      It is what you just wrote.

      Perhaps you should consider what you write and read it before you post it.

      You present disjointed random thought bubbles that drift aimlessly in the ether. Kind of like Abbott really.

      Reply

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      11:17am | 27/07/10

      Why wouldn;t the punters start swinging towards Tony Abbott? This Federal Election is all about Jooolya.& that is why so many women are going to vote for her. They are not voting for the ALP. They are basing their decision solely on the grounds of gender. Their votes have not based ALP Policies.
      Under the Rudd-Gillard Government, or should that be the Gillard-Rudd Government? We are told that it was Gillard who ordered Rudd to abandon the “Greatest Moral Challenge of Our Time”: The ALP’s set-in-stone ETS?CPRS Policy.
      If this election had anything whatsoever to do with ALP Policies then the ALP Federal Government, whether it was led by Rudd or Gillard is immaterial, should have asked the Governor-General to dissolve BOTH Houses of the Federal Parliament & we would have got what we should have got & that is a Double Dissolution Election which, IF the ALP had won & this was NOT Guaranteed, would have resulted in a Joint Sitting of the Federal Parliament at which the ALP would have presented is ETS/CPRS Bills and had them passed.
      The question as to why the ALP did not go down the Double Dissolution route has been repeatedly asked of Julia Gillard & the Minister for Doing Nothing, Senator Penny Wong, & other Ministers. All have refused to address the question. Why?
      I, & I suspect many others, both male & female, don’t give a toss about the gender of our Prime Minister. What we do care about is that we get good, honest, clean government. A government which is capable of showing loyalty & that means a Prime Minister who is loyal, honest & trustworthy. Julia Gillard has proven that she has none of those necessary characteuristics.

      Reply

    • Saskia says:

      12:02pm | 27/07/10

      More Australians want the Coalition than the ALP and the Greens.  The ALP will only win thanks to Green preferences.

      We need first past the post here where people have to really think about who they want and back them.

      We will end up with the 2nd and 3rd place getters running Australia and these b-graders, and scrubbers will continue to f us up until finally gen Y gets it… The ALP and Greens are just not fit to govern.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      12:49pm | 27/07/10

      This is a joke right?
      Talk about a sore loser.
      I’m sure you’d be saying the same thing if there was a far right party that was taking a percentage of the Liberal vote too right?

    • Beagle says:

      01:18pm | 27/07/10

      Saskia
      By all means, when you have nothing to lose - -  keep hope alive

      But remember this.  The boomers who grew up in the sixties thought the same as you. They were going to change the world. What did their generation spawn politically? - The likes of Bush and Howard.
      Everything will be different when we are in power you echo from that era.
      As you get older, you will realize that in politics greed always trumps principles and ethics.
      But by all means, Keep hope alive.

    • Nicki says:

      02:14pm | 27/07/10

      People will get what they vote for.
      Stupid one will get stupid Government.
      Smart one will get smart Government.
      Worst are the in the middle ,they are the one who will suffer.

      Reply

    • Peasant #3167 says:

      08:27pm | 27/07/10

      I know the money got it 90% correct over the last 100 Elections World Wide. So it’s true to follow the money. But here’s a hot tip for the author if this thread. Go and buy a digital camera, take yourself to Ascot racecourse and get a bloody Australian bookie photo with real Aussie money. It’s not that hard, and Havery Norman got digital cameras on sale for $99 at the moment.

      Reply
 
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