election 2007

There's a large agenda of work, and I'd much rather have the public service hard at work over the summer rather than down at Batemans Bay with you folks.

Kevin Rudd (speaking to Caucus).

Every so often Joadja and I escape to the old shack at Possum Point that dad built in 1949. A couple of years later he
was killed training Bluey Crabtree's greyhounds at the old Nelligan racetrack. The cops said it was an accident, of course, and there wasn't much left of dad after the dogs had finished with him.

Its sunday night, the hangover has started to subside, and as the euphoria of the Liberals and Howards defeat at the hands of Rudd and Maxine McKew respectively subside , serious thought needs to be put in to the question "What now?"

Problems with labor

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) were elected in a landslide win in the Australian Federal election on Saturday, November 24. The 'bastards' of the Liberal and National party coalition Government have been voted out. And the Prime Minister, John Howard, once called by a Liberal Party colleague 'the lying rodent', is likely to lose his own seat in the swing against the conservatives, only the second Prime Minister to do so in Australia's short political history since federation in 1901.

Related: Our ballots: a dictatorial numbers game |
The task ahead: Thoughts on the new government

But will the new bastards be any better?

Some very cogent argument why they won't be at www.jmcdonald.org

• Policy Roundup and Scorecard... Know what your voting for
• Economic Mangement and Climate Change Score Card (Climate Institute)
• The Big Switch (Climate Change Score Card)
• Scorecard on climate change and our future environment (ACF's)
• Make Poverty History Report Card
• Australia's policy on asylum seekers and refugees (A Just Australia)
• Howard Government Fails on Refugees, Labor not much better (Asylum Seeker Resource Centre)
• National Rural Health Alliance on rural health.
• The Major Parties Fail the Privacy Test (Australian Privacy Foundation)
  
  

Stephen Taberner, musical director of the Spooky Men's Chorale and twice director of the Millennium Chorus, unwrapped a special springtime political/musical/anarchic bon-bon in front of a barely suspecting Melbourne CBD audience on Thursday, two days before the Federal election with flashmob performances of the song Vote the Bastards Out.

Videos: Vote the Bastards Out | Ziggy's anti-nuclear tour

Related: ACF releases final environment scorecard | votenuclearfree.net | Policy Roundup and Scorecards... Know what your voting for

As the six-week election campaign draws to a close,
the Australian Conservation Foundation’s final assessment of the main
parties’ climate and environment policies has given the Greens and
Democrats a high distinction, Labor a pass and Family First and the
Coalition a fail.

“The
big differences between the major parties are their positions on Kyoto
ratification, renewable energy, nuclear power, sustainable cities and
energy efficiency,” said ACF Executive Director Don Henry.