Hey, Mat, it isn't just the non-blokes he's alienated, but quite a lot of us 'blokes' who happen to know, care for, respect and have valued relationships with people who don't fit the description of 'bloke', either through gender, sexuality or personality.

Mind you, there's nothing necessarily so wrong with blokiness, provided it isn't used as a Trojan horse for insensitivity, bigotry and general stupidity.

Stephen, I think you probably have summed up politics for many people. I'm already tired of the endless political game playing that we have been subjected to, particularly since the minority government was formed.

I'm in no way a political extremist, so the polarisation tactics used by the Liberals has left me without any desire to vote for an Abbott led party. The Liberals are just too far gone on the extreme conservatism path for me to even preference them highly, at federal level. Although Labor is also highly conservative these days, and fails to inspire, or present much of a difference in policy, the only difference so far is how much either party is prepared to go to make the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer. This seems to be the projected outcome for both major parties, along with a "stuff the environment, but pretend we care" attitude. Its only the level that changes.

In WA we have a state election coming up, and we are seeing shades of the federal Liberal bent coming into state politics as well. With bickering about costings for public transport infrastructure in the city, congestion issues in the city, building sports grounds etc, in the city, but precious little being discussed about what either party will do for country voters, (although many issues in the country areas will directly affect those in the city), it seems its all about the money, again. The Liberal front bench is made up of bully boys, the immature, and chair sniffers, (Troy Busswell), and the current Premier fails to inspire, particularly as he is announcing electoral promises that he has failed to act on in the last three years, and thinks the electorate wont notice. Labor is playing much the same game, its all so predictable.

The only light in the tunnel of state political bickering, is that my own country electorate has some excellent candidates, from all parties, and the current member has been tireless in his work for our particular electorate. This at least will be a choice between equals, all of good character and with a desire to work for their electorate, rather than a desire for power over others.

I'm with you on the use of the mute button when Abbott speaks, I make use of it for Hockey and in particular Pyne. Abbott wants this coming election to be about trust, but inspires none, particularly about not changing policy decisions after being elected, when he did exactly that when he was health minister. He comes across as being a hypocrite that underestimates the intelligence and memory capacity of voters. I do not trust a word he says.

Its going to be a long, long, uninspiring decent into muck raking, mud slinging, and political point scoring, with little substance, and even less policies that will lead to a better country for all Australians. No wonder people are disengaging.

There will be a very large number of voters that feel exactly as you do Stephen, come September.

Those sentiments are what lead to minority governments.

Let's not forget, although the Coalition got less votes, neither they nor Labor won outright.
Donkey voting upswing was quite notable as well.

Perhaps, this time, it'll be split three ways instead of two large and the rest mixed.

In that it would still be a minority government only it won't be the same kind of dogfight and it may even work better.

Hi Emma, I have no problem with minority governments, in reality it has been good for the country, its the unreality of the mud slinging, and muck racking that is tedious in the extreme, but that would have occurred, minority government or not.

I would love to see the smaller parties, and the independents gain even more power, and the major parties less.

here's a thought. If the coalition does win the election, thereby benefitting from unrelentingly negative conduct in parliament i.e. "no-alition" does this mean that that particular approach is effective? Does this mean that the Coalition can look forward to a "block everything no matter how trivial" response in kind from Labor in Opposition? Do we as a country really want that? Should we as a country reward that kind of behaviour in parliament? Can we as a country afford another 3 or so years of the same games played in high places? Or would we prefer all sides to actually roll up their sleeves and do whats right for the country and not just whats right for themselves and their party?

Robert, funnily enough, though it may not be perfect, I thought that the work of Labor, Grens and the two country independents on the carbon pricing policies was one of th few examples we've seen recntly of differnt sides rolling up their sleeves and doing the hard slog of negotiating around their differnces, in a spirit of comprmise, in order to at least try to get a god result for the country.

As I recall, the Coalition were invited to joing that process but decidd not to soil their hands by being a party to an actual attempt at a workable solution.

What we got from this process is still too little to late, but at least it was a start and better than absolutely nothing.

Really good points Robert.

Abbott's behaviour in this (and many other arenas) suggests that he lacks "Theory of Mind" and hence empathy. Theory of Mind is something that most of us develop in late childhood, and allows us to recognise that other people have different thoughts to us (their own minds), and that their thoughts (feelings etc) are also valid.

ToM is also about being able to see 'fairness' and act fairly. People without Theory of Mind believe it's OK for them to do X (be rude, lie, bully, hit their siblings, block every trivial policy in Parliament...), but claim it's unfair if they are subjected to the same treatment.

This could explain why TA cannot understand, empathise with or care about people who are not like him (women, refugees, blue collar workers, the disadvantaged... just to name a few).

He has never been able to imagine (or stomach) why he didn't win power. Even worse, someone quite unlike him became PM--female, not Catholic, not upper class/privileged background--a job he believed he deserved by virtue of who he is.

I agree, we don't want to end up with a leader who do anything to gain power (and consider it 'fair') while criticising the tiniest fault in other parties (which is not to say that other parties don't have major faults as well).

That's what the ALP did in opposition.

Expect ALP to do the same.

The difference is that the Libs will not keep complaining about it

Ken, I don't ever remember an opposition who has whined as much, or for as long, as Julie, Tony, Christopher, Eric, George, Joe, Barnaby, Scott, Warren etc. They have had a 25 point Hit List of topical points to whinge about (the other side) for the last couple of years. And they are directed to refer to it every time there is a camera. This however distracts from a proper scrutiny of policy direction they may have. They never fully talk about it. They have to work back to the 25 slag points ad finitum.
They do nothing but complain. They have been complaining for three years. What makes you think they will stop.

Who said 'Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.'? Ah yes, it was that clever dick John Stuart Mill.

But there's a couple of things to remember in an Australian context. Good blokes or not, never more than 30 per cent of the Australian electorate has ever voted for the Liberals. Without their – even more conservative – coalition partners (and the first four letters of coalition provide a clue) they could never achieve government.

And another thing: the oft reviled as loony and whacky Greens usually get more votes than the Nats.

So, perhaps, returning to Mr Mill, there are less stupid people in Australia than some would think.

Will the Australian people really buy Mr Abbott's sudden re-conversion to the climate change denialist ranks (cf the Auburn speech)? Will they buy the Green Army? Repealing the carbon tax?

Yeah well, if you consider Labor to be non-conservative then why do they not have the 'IQ' to manage a budget?

My recommendation would be to change the TV channel from that documentary, as some other channels have programs that require a higher IQ.

Couldn't agree more - the current Coal-ition are ideologically-driven hard right neo-liberals. Though most of it was negative and backward, John Howard lead one of the most radical and change-making governments since Whitlam. It's just that the mdia parrot and too many people follow the mantra of "coalition conservative; labor left.'

A bit like 'four legs god; two legs bad.'

hi stephen, I agree, I have no idea, I would guess no, I have met people who worked with him, it's all true. I think he's burned to many bridges in reality to ever have the numbers. Much of the media seems to flirt with the idea.
Malcolm, who only lost by one vote to tony, seems to be another story hardly ever discussed. Why. He seems to represent the more traditional liberal values of the party, but he's disliked in their party. Maybe tonys forceful nature is so all-consuming, they've forgotten.
There are a great many politicians I cringe at, Labour, Lib., Nat., Green, and Bob.
The point for me, is about what is the least repulsive "culture", I can see within the parties on offer, which policies more or less describe what I would want for the future. Tonys gang aint it.

Abbott has brought the ALP to its knees politically.
The polls during Turnbull's leadership were nowhere near Abbott's.
Why would the Liberals make such a change?
He is the leader they wish the Liberals had right now because they know they can beat him.

Ken, I don't see things as simply as Labour vs Liberal, nor do always admire the way Julia speaks. I don't like everything about our federal government, but dislike the opposition more.
I don't see things the way you do.
I now recall a reply, to me, from you,(in the past), which was to my mind, pure nasty.
I also don't believe Craig Thompson is guilty, until he has been shown to be. Computer generated signatures prove nothing. And nothing done by the HSU under Williams would surprise me. I suspect dates and times could be interesting. I like you am waiting to see what happens in court. Here-say isn't evidence.
You want to reply to every single letter I write, why?

Great clip.

Robert Menzies' concept of the "forgotten people" that were ignored by both big labour and big business comes to mind. The two extremes are still with us today. The HSU and Fairfax. The AWU and Murdoch. I will add a new one, Big Green, another organization type completely alienated from the people. There are many other examples.

Your link gets a security warning from my Virus Protection as a phishing site.