Jane Said:

Aussies , Will Malcolm Turnbull challenge Tony Abbott for the Liberal Party Leadership ?

We Answered:

I doubt it. Malcolm Turnbull knows that the Liberals are going to loose the election. It's very rare for the voters to boot out a government after only one term. Rudd is still quiet popular as is the government. Once Abbott looses the election Turnbull will probably challenge him for the leadership.

I've always admired Turnbull, he actually has the courage to stand for his convictions (unlike Rudd and Abbott). With the exception of Malcolm Fraser and John Hewson, he's the best leader the Liberal Party has had.

If he were to regain the party leadership and there were more people like Turnbull, Sussan Ley, Judith Troeth, Petro Georgiou and Joe Hockey in the Liberal Party, I would probably vote for the Liberals this election. Unfortunately though the party is full of the likes of Abbot, Peter Dutton, Nick Minchin (thank God he's retiring) and Wilson Tuckey.

@Auzy--Conservative 2.0:
Tony Abbott knows nothing about economic management. This is the man who finds economics 'boring.' Infact Peter Costello himself thought that Abbott wasn't up to economic management. Most recently he attacked Abbott's great big new tax on the corporate sector to force it to fund maternity leave. Industry has said that they will be forced to pass this tax onto the consumer. I certainly don't want to pay more for goods and services so that Abbott can put in place a maternity leave scheme when one is already being implemented by the current government.

John Howard (who was treasurer at the time) left huge economic problems for Hawke and Keating to grapple with when Labor won office in 83. He was the only treasurer in Australia’s history who’s been able to engineer – simultaneously – double-digit inflation (December 1981 to June 1983), double-digit levels of unemployment (April to October 1983) and double-digit interest rates (November 1980 to October 1983). In 1983, inflation was 11.1%, the unemployment rate was 10.2% and interest rates 12.08%. Upon leaving office the Coalition had left Labor with a budget deficit of 3.3% of GDP. In comparison when Howard became PM, Keating had left office with inflation at 3.1%, an interest rate of 7.5% and an unemployment rate of 8.1% and a deficit of 1.9% of GDP (the deficit was on track to reach 1% of GDP before John Howards spending cuts to the budget). To pay off that debt Howard cut funding to the arts (including the ABC and SBS), health, education (we were the only OECD nation to actually decrease funding to the tertiary education sector from 1997-2007, what sort of a Prime Minister does that?), ATSIC, vital infrastructure, Office of the Status of Women and privatised the CES. The only department that didn't recieve any spending cuts was defence.

I'd rather have a Ruddish speaking nerd who actually knows a thing or two rather than a know-nothing straight talker at the helm of the Australian economy.

@Auzy--Conservative 2.0:
During the 1996 federal election campaign Howard had promised that there would be no budget cuts. However I suppose that this was one of his 'non-core promises'; just like the GST we would 'never ever have.' To pay off the debt he should have cut defence spending and temporarily raised the personal income tax. Anyway, he obviously didn't care too much about debt when he was treasurer.

Jon Said:

Will Tony Windsor, Bob Katter & Rob Oakeshott reach agreement with Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott to form govt?

We Answered:

Hi Bella,

I believe they will reach a position to support one party or another, to be honest... it's in their best interests to do so. In my view, it's such a shame that the political situation in this country has gotten so horrible (with two very poor options for major parties, and the Greens with balance of power in the senate) that the weight of the entire nation now rests on 3 Independent members to fix this ugly political system for the benefit of us all.

As for Adam Brandt from Melbourne, he is almost certainly going to support Labor in any leadership vote. Tony Crook (Nationals member in WA) will almost certainly still support the Lib/Nat coalition in any leadership vote (he stated he would only support Labor if they abolish the mining tax, which Gillard declined). Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie has not yet decided who he will support for the leadership race but is having his own discussions with Gillard and Abbott - Wilkie expects to announce publicly who he supports for PM by mid next week.

I believe that Windsor (my local member here), Katter and Oakeshott are genuinely committed to doing the right thing by Australia and their local electorates. Because their electorates are very conservative, I do believe that their votes could swing to the Liberal/National coalition - despite Labors ETS and NBN plan - which Oakeshott and Windsor have both previously supported. These Independent members supporting Labor would almost be like shooting themselves in the foot in these parts, I heard one commentator describe it as "political suicide"!

As far as going back to the polls goes, I don't think it will be as soon as we think it will. The main problem we would face though is, from July next year - there will be another 9 Greens senators who will be in a position to block a coalition governments supply bills. We also need to remember that the Greens do not support Labors ETS plan either, so they would block that again too. This may mean, we might have another election in August next year... but I don't see it happening before then. I just can't see Gillard and Labor having the support to form government this time around. Also, even if we DID go to the polls again in a couple of months, I honestly don't see the election result changing much anyway - it's likely to STILL be a hung parliament and the same three Independents will keep their seats by a huge 60-75% of the vote.

It's going to be a tough choice for them, because they will need to also consider the makeup of the Senate as well in their considerations of a "stable" government. While the Coalition definately holds more senate seats than Labor does, the Greens will still hold the balance of power.

Russell Said:

Will Tony Abbott survive til the next election as Liberal leader?

We Answered:

I am still in shock that he actually became leader in the first place.
I think he will be long gone by time we go back to the polls.

Diana Said:

Is Tony Abbott Telling the truth?

We Answered:

The actual quote from Tony Abbott during his earlier interview on the 7:30 report was:

"I know politicians are going to be judged on everything they say, but sometimes in the heat of discussion you go a little bit further than you would if it was an absolutely calm, considered, prepared scripted remark which is one of the reasons why the statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks"

Sounds like he is saying what we all know anyway. ALL polititians (on both sides of politics) have made statements at times in the heat of the moment that they realise later they shouldn't have mentioned. He isn't saying that Tony Abbott makes up lies, or that we shouldn't believe anything he says... he simply refers to polititians in general as taking things too far sometimes. I understand what he said to mean that Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan are no better either but the media made their own interpretation - that Tony Abbott admits to lying, which wasn't what he said at all.

Vickie Said:

Will Tony Abbott's Liberal / National Party Bring Down Julia Gillard Labour Government?

We Answered:

No, I don't think they will bring down the government but ultimately it comes down to the Independents what happens... not Tony Abbott or the Liberal/National party. In fact BOTH sides are not keeping their word on lots of things - including Julia Gillard and Labors entire policies so I don't think we can credibly just accuse Tony Abbott of not keeping his word.

I'm hoping this hung parliament situation will hold both major parties to account more, especially the inept Gillard government. They expect a pairing on the voting in parliament because government members might need to "perform other duties" outside the house during voting... I don't THINK so Julia... you make sure ALL your parliamentary members are in the house when a vote is taking place which is where they are supposed to be. I'm glad that Oakeshott and Windsor sided with the coalition on that vote!

Jaime Said:

Who is in charge of the Liberal Party, Barnaby Joyce or Tony Abbott?

We Answered:

wouldn't surprize me if Lil' Johnny was somehow pulling the strings of his puppets still.