tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post2980081597628940882..comments2023-12-06T00:23:28.790+11:00Comments on Press gallery reform: Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-46503674879968570172010-09-09T08:02:59.933+10:002010-09-09T08:02:59.933+10:00I think people are impressed with the slow and pat...I think people are impressed with the slow and patient negotiations of recent days and both Fielding and Abbott will look like prats if they just block everything. It's one thing for Abbott to do that a few months out from an election but to maintain that over three years is too much to ask.<br /><br />I agree with you about Labor, they'll have the experience of staffers from five state ALP governments which had to manage independents.<br /><br />Abbott's position today is much like that of Kim Beazley in 1998 or Andrew Peacock in 1984.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-58963771884611799342010-09-08T22:38:54.608+10:002010-09-08T22:38:54.608+10:00If Labor gets to mid 2011 without too much trouble...If Labor gets to mid 2011 without too much trouble in the Senate (Fielding will be the main obstacle as he desperately clings to relevancy) then I'd say they will be ok for the rest of the term. <br /><br />There is folk wisdom that Abbott won by losing. If Labor can hold itself together (and that is a big if) they will come out of it front runners for the next election. Even Turnbull may think twice about standing for opposition leader if that is the case.<br /><br />Abbott probably will never ever get another chance to be PM.Shaunhttp://www.polydaidaloi.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-54359947653066245412010-09-08T18:30:07.773+10:002010-09-08T18:30:07.773+10:00I think those attacks will not have the force they...I think those attacks will not have the force they once had. He might be counting on an early election, but if we get to mid 2012 and there's no election in sight he's pretty much stuffed.<br /><br />He'll also miss out on being part of the big changes on tax, broadband and climate change if he's not careful. Howard's record in supporting the big reforms of Hawke-Keating blunted many of Labor's attacks in 1996 that Howard was a carping naysayer. Abbott doesn't have that record of consistent principle, which Gillard could well develop.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-42758616510204641712010-09-08T14:25:17.444+10:002010-09-08T14:25:17.444+10:00Nah, Abbott never WANTED a deal. His strategy was...Nah, Abbott never WANTED a deal. His strategy was always to go through the motions in order to force Gillard to make lots of concessions to the independents, especially to their more unsaleable concerns - Mad Bob Katter's defection to him was bad, not good, news.<br /><br />Now he will relentlessly attack the government's legitimacy - as we've already seen him start to do. He's counting on an early election.<br /><br />This is exactly the sort of shit behaviour that you decry, but it is likely to be very effective. And so long as the swinging voter is too ignorant or uninterested to punish such behaviour it will continue to be effective.derrida deridernoreply@blogger.com