Hasn't happened yet guys... but I think it's a good move. god forbid if the budgiesmuggler becomes PM. Julia will shite all over Abbott in the Fed Election.

good riddance to rudd,the guy is a #*x#in idiot.

hope she gets rid of garret as well,he is a bigger idiot.....if that is possible!!

Yep - no result yet...any minute now.

Gillard is our new PM - the first female and first single PM we have ever had!

Not single, in a de facto relationship.

Not married then...every other PM has been married.

Gillard's election slogan will run something like ".. because I'm not Tony Abbot"

Unfortunately for Kevin, a good lesson in ALP politics, factions and the quota game. Over the last few weeks he has had a huge swing in public opinion and this had been his downfall. The tail can't wag the dog.

While some argue he has implemented some good policies, some are of the opinion that he has done in less than one term what it take most ALP governments to do in two.

Julia will definitely provide appeal to women voters, who from what I understand makeup around 80% of swinging voters. The ALP need to maintain support in this area, particularly in Western Sydney and South East Queensland if they wish to hold government. Women are marketed to under the guise of fear. I anticipate the message we will hear moving towards the election will revolve around how the Libs are a risk to family lifestyle, want to bring back work choices, reduce childcare, increase health costs etc. The message won't necessarily be "they are evil beings who bite children", rather "what damage will they do?" As an aside, marketing is about subtle messages and whenever women are marketed to, a brunette woman is used, whenever men are marketed to, a blonde woman. Just watch the TV ads, you'll see what I mean. Don't laugh too loud if you see election adverts with two brunette women with small kids having a coffee in a family room.

Short term, the big issue at the moment is the proposed mining tax. The government needs money, mining companies need infrastructure. We should all expect the new PM to be the "master negotiator" and broker some changes to the tax over the next month.

Got to love those swingers!

Good Ruddance is all I say. Maybe now we can start repaying the debt he has created for our kids and grand kids. Piss Swann off as well.

Interesting that in some intial polls Labour has now slipped further behind. I would have thought there would at least be an initial surge. Too early to tell anything definitive though, but it will be interesting given Gillard and Abbott are two quite similar personalities.

I'll reserve my judgement until I see Gillard in a pair of Speedos.

Had to happen. Not sold on Gillard's record so far, but at least she provides a circuit breaker and can communicate with the media!

Not happy with Labor right now, but I can't think of anything worse than Tony Abbott. He will do or say anything to get what he wants. Then, like a mafia hitman, he apologises for his sins and expects everything to be forgiven.

Just makes you realise what a golden era we have just left behind. Hawke, Keating and Howard were all a cut above what we are stuck with now.

How is it #280419 that Australia IS THE ONLY nation to survive the GFC?Puts paid to rest the Liberal backers argument over the best Budget treasurer.

On a lighter note my Grandfather was from Unley and had a middle name of Gillard(Family named after) and his wife's name(my Grandmother)is Aileen.

What perplexes me is people want hard decisions/changes to be made but the swinging voter has caused this purge of power.Take the seat of Adelaide and look at the demographics ,its inner Adelaide YUPPIES.It has loss lots of low income Trust homes and became a land grab for exec/business owner types.The chartered accountants praised the Mining Tax the other day?

If you vote for her, you vote for him and you vote for the same party that has put this country back into debt beyond recognition and without making light of what is a very situation, been at least partly responsible for the lives of a small number of young men due to their botched home insulation program, and ruined more industries and businesses than you and I have had kitchen dinners. For those that don't believe me, try working in an industry that deals with some of these things. She might be knew as the boss, but her finger prints are all over these decisions. Worst government this country has had since I joined the human race. Sorry kids, not for me.

I should've said "very sad situation"

Concerned about the Education System, but I think she'll get them past the post.

The alternative..? No thanks.

"How is it #280419 that Australia IS THE ONLY nation to survive the GFC?Puts paid to rest the Liberal backers argument over the best Budget treasurer."

Shotclock, that is very narrow minded of you. Can you please tell me which other country had a Surplus of nearly $90 Billion (Thanks to Liberal) to help save it from the GFC?

Anonymous, at least put your name to your post.

As for what's said, I'm all for healthy debate. It's what makes this country great. That said, this is a basketball forum so we best let the political arguments slide for now.

Moses, what, now that you copped a bit of a beating? ;)

Will admit that I haven't followed the insulation issues closely at all, but at some point you have to take responsibility for your actions and this is at all levels, including the companies diving into the industry for a quick buck. (Please note that I said "including" - not denying some blame at other levels too.)

When it comes to the difference between labor and liberal, I have always liked what someone told me years ago;

"At least with Liberal, they don't pretend to care"

Another pearl of wisdom from same guy:

"Voting Labor is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders"

Damn filter, wasn't even talking about you know who!

An old fellow explained the difference between liberal and labor to me years ago: "At least the Liberals don't pretend to care"

He also added: "Voting Labor is like a chicken voting for KFC"

Anyone that thinks that the Labor party single-handedly kept us out of recession is naïve and even more naïve if they think that the Libs would have preferred to do nothing. Almost every country in the world had some sort of stimulus, and no doubt the Libs would have done something similar, but not in the irresponsible, vote-buying way that Rudd did with his cash handouts. An absolute waste of money.

love all these comments about some red headed groupie who was elevated to pm . now lets look at the facts under the labor party this country has now gone into its deepest debt in history has become the greatest haven for boat people in history have created the greatest fire death trap homes in history have blownthe greatest amount of money in history pretending to fix schools have caused mining groups to take out ads for all the world to see showing how much of a fxxk up this labor party is . then we come to your new pm l say your new pm because until she is elected to the position of pm she will be no more the a sorry replacement for a poor figure head to all those women who are beating there breasts about the first woman p m .l hope that no woman ever again commits the same snake in the grass act and then BRAGS about it .your new pm what a poor excuse for a woman .women all over AUSTRALIA DONT LET YOUR LITTLE GIRLS BECOME THIS

ISAAC you said you dont know much about the insulation drama how about this the labor party let all these no hopers put insulation in people s home which in turn caused the deaths of 5or6 people this act should have been treated as man slaughter because when the goverment was informed about the problems it choose to ignore it because it was a vote getter for the labor party now l have an elderly mother whose house was done .we have redone the whole house again ourselfs .any way back to the start read up on the insulation problem .THEN MAKE A COMMENT

Thats a massive call Moses Guthrie seeing who you work for!!!!!

Labor have spent all our money......just history repeating really. This time they have really wasted tax payer funds with the home insulation and school building projects. We are now realising these wasted funds have to be repaid with interest and now have another dud policy - the super profits tax. Time now for the Liberal government to come back in and return us to surplus.

I disagree with the above in regards to the mining tax. A better option would be to increase the GST to say 15% and have a user pay system.

How about a sense of responsibility for all involved, including those in the trenches? The oversight would've been to assume that qualified people and established companies would've been doing the installing - fair enough, industry regulation helps and should've been in place, but the industry was not regulated before the scheme either; it just didn't have the catalyst of incentives to cause all the trouble.

At the core of this is greed: people out to make money courtesy of the scheme using untrained installers and product they'd brought in from overseas. When I talk about responsibility, I'm talking about the government not bringing in substandard product or insisting on untrained installers - my industry isn't regulated either: there is nothing saying I need any standard of training or must use specific software or hosting, etc.

Insulation is a good idea. Furthering its adoption or upgrades is a good idea too. And so is putting in safeguards to protect people from themselves (because they're too lazy to research and choose a reputable installer who wasn't set up the weekend before, or get training) but I'd point the finger first and foremost at those jumping at the chance to make money at any expense and not instantly at the ones who underestimated the greed of mankind.

Jake, the mining tax is on specific profits only, not on everything. It's also for an industry based around capitalising on a used-and-it's-gone resource owned by the people of the country. IMO the opposition to it is, again, based on greed - (often foreign-owned) companies wanted to maximise profits, and those with shares that are threatened.

(And I say this as someone with shares in various mining companies that have been impacted by all this.)

Have you read this? - it's not a site I have read before or since, but a friend passed it on and I thought it was worth a skim at least.

Why he should hurry to apply ETS while other industrial countries still not apply, we go ahead for crazy?

Krudd was the best leader of the labor party we have seen!
It's not hard to imagine him beating Abbott even with
the super tax all over the media! Gillard is a good 2nd in charge
but that is it. Ask any economist, best way out of a recession, or to avoid
one is to print money(increase public spending). Low and
behold we didn't go into recession! They thought it through
with No one else in mind but the Australian people!
I'm in the building trade and can see first hand how much the labor
party has moved Australia forward, consumer confidence!
Anyway, too late now, put up with gillard but she will lose it for labor
if Abbott wasn't in!!!

polls show the snake in front but the polls dont show that about 80% of voters are women l bet .how is the pm going to have enough room in her bed for her man when she will have the whole union movement in it to this will ad a new meaning to move over COMARADE.one thing for sure the labor party will have the best hair cuts in the house

Who would have thought that a political thread would create so much debate?

Wow give a redneck a computer and a white hood and watch him go.

you mean give a redhead a knife and a heap of union thugs and see how much more she stuff up this great country.by the way more labor supporters are on route to australia thanks to labor

DOWN WITH THE BUDGISMUGGLER!

OMG!
I have just picked myself up off the floor.

I have just heard that Julia has brokered a master deal between the mining companies and the government over the proposed tax. I wondered where all those "keep mining strong" ads had gone last week.

Wow, who would have seen that one coming?

(Mod: Get lost, racist. Banned.)

When I think of Pixie it conjures a particular image.
A subservient jester wearing only a pink ribbon and a g-string while mopping the floors of the whitehouse.
You want my stock exchange. Yes master.
You want my media outlets. Yes master.
You want my telecommunications network. Yes master. Let's call it NBN.
You want my military. Yes master.
Yes master.
Yes master.
Yes master.
May I have my bananas now?
Get rid of this abomination and shoot his horse to ensure he doesn’t ride back into town.