Howard's end?
James Campbell 10:30pm
Nothing is going right for John Howard at the moment. Following a slight improvement in the polls last week came a poor showing against Kevin Rudd in the only debate of the Australian election campaign. Now a devastating poll has Labor with a crushing lead of 58-42%. Most worrying for the government must be the news that Rudd has made big strides on the issues of economic management and national security. These are supposed to be Howard's strong suits and suggest that having made up their minds to vote for Rudd, voters are now telling themselves that he can be trusted with these issues.
Howard opened his campaign with a bang last Monday by promising $34 billion in tax-cuts, mainly to low-income earners. It was an attempt to wrest momentum away from Rudd and raise the morale of the party faithful but it appears to have failed. Labor's rival tax-plan, released on Friday, has been well-enough received to negate the issue, shifting the debate back to industrial relations and the perception that Howard has had his time. Ominously the promised tax-cuts appear to have increased speculation that the Reserve Bank will raise interest rates in the middle of an election campaign.
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Comments
Laurie
October 23rd, 2007 1:20amHoward is a tired old man with no new ideas and an appalling record of deceit. He is dead meat.
Gerard Drummond
October 23rd, 2007 2:11amI disagree with Laurie, and I make the comment that, though he may be older than Mr Rudd he has still a lot to give and he is a far superior politician,he may have made some mistakes, but he is the first to admit it, and I can go back to other labor leaders who were not so hot, and could bend the truth as good as anybody. I think," better the devil you know than the one you dont"
Franklin
October 23rd, 2007 4:18amJohn Howard's liberal/national government has presided over the most prosperous period in Australian history which is due in no small part to their responsible fiscal policies. More often than not he has led into elections with poor poll results and has still emerged the victor. In terms of ideas he has come up with a lot more than the Labour candidate, Kevin Rudd whose election policy is so similar to the goverments that he is dubbed Mr "Me too" in Australian papers.
Andreas Berg
October 23rd, 2007 4:28amI am surprised that some people could still seriously consider the re-election of Howard's government. John Howard and his government are fully responsible for the involvement of our country in unlawful war in Iraq. As a result, some people and even some countries view Australia as a country-aggressor being currently governed by war criminals. Don't you think that John Howard and his "command" should be handed to the International War Crimes Tribunal for investigation instead of being re-elected? I believe that international law is there for every human and every country and double standards are unacceptable. Do you?
Informed
October 23rd, 2007 7:29amIt is interesting to note that Rudd is copying most of Howard's policies, so the arguement that he has no new ideas is laughable. Anyone that thinks Kevin Rudd can be a safe pair of hands with the economy has also been fooled. Rudd copied 90% of Howards recent Tax announcement, and in doing so got the bracket creep in future years incorrect - showing that Labor has no idea what they are doing- they were caught out. You have to remember that elections are won on a seat-by-seat basis. The result will be a hung Parliament - The independents will go with the Coalition - not cheaply though Australia cannot afford Labor. On another point - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQ8YiIV1AI
Laurie
October 24th, 2007 12:53am"though he may be older than Mr Rudd he has still a lot to give and he is a far superior politician" If you define "superior politician" as being more prepared to put personal and party interests above those of the nation I would have to agree with you. Personally I would rather have a superior "leader" in control. As for the economy well my take is....John Howard's liberal/national government has presided over the most prosperous period in Australian history which is due in no small part to the efforts of the previous Labor Government in undoing Howard's mismanagement of the economy as treasurer. I repeat...he's dead meat!