Does anyone know if this election is going to include an election policy speech in the traditional sense from Rudd or Howard (or has there been one that I missed?). In every election I can recall, the party leaders made a speech setting out their major policy commitments. With two weeks to go and the big money spent long ago, I’m wondering if this tradition has been abandoned.
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John Quiggin 
Yes, there will be.
There’s one tomorrow, but I can’t recall if it’s Howard or Rudd.
The coming week is official policy launch week so both leaders will be pitching to the nation over coming days.
My guess is that the Libs will say something about affordable housing and childcare. I’m not across the jockey-ing as to who is going first but if Labor follows then they will respond plus lots on the vision thing. Of course Howard will keep flogging the economy thing. The elephant in both rooms? Petrol hit $1.35 today where I live.
Coalition Monday, Labor Wednesday.
Crocodile is right. Don’t expect too much. Skanky drivel from Howard. Overly cautious ‘message’ from Rudd. I saw Rudd on Lateline last night and for a moment he let go and talked about his personal drivers. He is a real reformer. Catch up with the interview yourselves. His ambition is to be a moderniser. The interesting thing for me is that he was unsure when asked (in a typically stupid question) by the presenter who he thought he most resembled in past Prime Ministers. For what it is worth,I suddenly thought of Whitlam – for all the right reasons. The high order of intellectualism. The integrity. The commitment to betterment for the youth of the country.
i don’t associate whitlam with any high standard of integrity, but then i realized you might be speaking in a satirical sense- good one!
being a professional politician requires facility at lieing. talking about integrity in this context displays a breath-taking naivety.
“Coalition Monday, Labor Wednesday�. “Don’t expect too much�. That just about sums up what the old parties have to offer.
We are poorly served by these parties. They are both shamefully unready with a plan to effectively mitigate the effects of global warming. We are poorly served by this simplistic presidential campaigning. We are poorly served by the infotainment-level media. What passes for analysis fails to effectively engage us in the discussion – that is why are we blogging.
Liberal and Labor are stuck in an archaic paradigm that is all about crude vote buying and nothing about sustainability, vision or even genuine concern. John Howard is sounding increasingly unconvincing and unconvinced by his tired message of more and more economic growth with no mention of climate change.
“The elephant in both rooms?â€? Sorry, Pablo, it isn’t that petrol is reaching A$1.35 per litre. The elephant is rapidly outgrowing the room. Petrol will go on rising in price and will eventually be subject to rationing and long queues. Petrol prices are already much higher in Britain. In China the rationing has already happened and will happen again. When energy security is our main concern we will see increased willingness to go to war to corner the market. Hasn’t that already arrived?
When we cannot afford to buy petroleum products for plastics and fertilisers we will be forced to consider permaculture gardens in our suburbs to grow some of our food. We will need to do much of our work from home and overseas holidays will be a thing of the past for most of us. Other resources are also running out. That will be another discussion.
What are we going to do about the likely loss of the Great Barrier Reef and thousands of species? Don’t expect John Howard or Kevin Rudd to have any answers. They will pretend it isn’t happening until it is too late. I thought we have already passed that point.
When we look back on this vacuous election campaign about nothing we will feel cheated. We are considering voting for more of the same failed policies of the Luddite twentieth century.
Willy Bach
Greens candidate for Griffith
After the policy launch MPs travel expenses are not allowable.
rog is on the money ( haha) and this is the despicable reason why party launches are so late into a campaign
Petrol isn’t rationed in China; where did that come from? They’re cutting out leaded petrol and there is a bit of interim subsidization.
An appealing explanation, rog. Do you have a source for this?
My impression was that after the proroguing of parliament, MP’s travel was not able to be claimed. Of course in the past that used to coincide with the policy launch.
The explanation is much simpler. Howard wanted to go in ‘Big Bang’ and surprise the pants off Labor with the revenue figures that I presume he’s been sitting on for months now. So the policies came first and the launch later.
Rudd, OTOH, took a different strategy. He held the unofficial launch before the election was called to say, “Bring it on” and the official one will be even later than the Government’s, and in time to react to the Government’s launch.
“After the policy launch MPs travel expenses are not allowable.”
Michael Brissenden, of the 7.30 report, made the same claim as rog in a conversation with Red Symons on Melbourne local ABC during the last week
J.Q.
If that is an acceptable source. Probably not.
It is an unofficial convention between the parties and administered by Finance – they regard the campaign launch as the official beginning of the election campaign
A depressingly cynical and all too credible explanation for the late launches:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/11/2087535.htm?section=justin
Federal Finance Minister Senator Nick Minchin has defended the protocol under which taxpayers foot the bill for politicians’ election travel expenses until the formal party launches are held.
The Coalition and Labor have both waited until week five to have their campaign launches in Brisbane.
Under Commonwealth convention, once the campaigns are officially launched politicians can no longer claim travel allowances.
Oh my that is breathtakingly cynical. Still, now we have our explanation.
Annabel Crabb made the same point – the launches are delayed to maximise taxpayer-funded travel – in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald. It was in the print version; can’t find it online.
I think it’s predictable that today we’ll hear the ‘keep the economy strong, interest rates dangerous, instability, who do you trust on economic management, yada yada’
I would hope that on wednesday the ALP moves away from their rhetoric (which is rapidly becoming tedious) of ‘education revolution, new leadership, interest rate lies’ to something that really defines the differences, and steps away from the me-too-ism label.
I’m thinking those biggest areas of difference lie in: Climate Change & Renewable energy, Iraq, Workchoices, Nuclear, and Asia.