You thought Bush was unpopular? Meet Brendan Nelson!

[Axver]

Brendan Nelson, leader of the Opposition in Australia, has a 9% approval rating. Nine per cent. It's a record low for this country. Kevin Rudd, who is perceived as pro-active and delivering swiftly on election promises, is riding high on 70%. That's a 61% gap, also a record. Here's a source.

Brendan Nelson: epic fail.

He was only elected to the Liberal Party leadership late November last year and you can already sense Malcolm Turnbull and his supporters are getting out the knives for a new challenge.

Where to from here for the Opposition? The Howard years are hurting and they seem to be going nowhere new in a hurry.

[Kieran McConville]

Serves them right. After hubris, the fall.

Oh, I'm sure the opposition (not the 'coalition', actually about that I am not sure at all) will be back in power some day, in the medium term. But it won't be this decade and it won't be without a lot of internal pain.

I think that maybe Australia has a taste for incumbency, at the federal level anyhow. I am thirty years old and Kevin Rudd is the fifth prime minister in my lifetime. Three of that total date from the last 12 years or so. Think about it.

[Varitek]

You thought Australia was conservative? Meet America!

[Axver]

Originally posted by Kieran McConville
Oh, I'm sure the opposition (not the 'coalition', actually about that I am not sure at all) will be back in power some day, in the medium term. But it won't be this decade and it won't be without a lot of internal pain.

Barring a remarkable scandal or something else on that level, I can't see Labour losing the next election. I don't doubt we're in for a two-term government, and if the Coalition collapses, probably a longer one. The Liberals would struggle to achieve a balance of power on their own in the lower house, and I think the days of either Labour or the Liberals/Nationals having a majority in the Senate are gone, due to the rise of the Greens.

I think that maybe Australia has a taste for incumbency, at the federal level anyhow. I am thirty years old and Kevin Rudd is the fifth prime minister in my lifetime. Three of that total date from the last 12 years or so. Think about it.

At the state level too. Playford in South Australia is a ridiculous example. And of course there's Queensland's Bjelke-Pietersen.

[Axver]

Originally posted by Varitek
You thought Australia was conservative? Meet America!

No thanks.