We're down but not out.

The last election in Oz has been a dismal failure. We elected (again), an old government, full of old people. This isn't an ageist observation; they are all old in mind and spirit. They won convincingly, and legally, but not morally. The question is not why did we elect them, but where do we go from here. Labor is well and truly out in the wilderness, and the word is that they won't govern again till 2011 if then. They need a leader who inspires, who has the demeaner of a leader not a loser. It's all about image and convincing policies. The elction process must begin soon, not in the last weeks before an election. The new opposition leader has a big task ahead, but as Howard has shown, it is possible to fool most of the people most of the time. Howard's speech writer came up with a winning slogan: " We will decide who comes to Australia, and under what ciecumstances they come here". It's a meaningless statement, and ignores the estimated 800,000 peopel who live in Australia illegally, having overstayed their visas, and the thousands of people who have gained legal access by becoming New Zealand citizens.
Labor needs a new speech writer, and a new leader-minder a new campaign manager and a dull treaurer who looks like death warmed up. It would help if he has leadership ambitions, and a fundamentalist christian outlook. Six years is a long time in politics. maybe Labor can get it together by then, with the help of a massive number of Greens preferences, and a healthy swagger of Greens policies.
Another question is how soon will Howard wait to move to abolish the Senate? Certainly he will have opposition support for such a measure. It would be a major blow to minor parties like the Greens, but hey the Greens won't always be a minor party, judging by the increased votes in the last elections. It's an inevitable political fact, that as the Labor party takes another lurch to the right, more people turn to the Greens.