Well, the main problem with the Libs is “what do they stand for these days?� What is their philosophical position that distinguishes them from Labor?

The Libs stand for whatever the Howard government does. The lack of a sizeable and identifiable bunch of Liberal dissenters and the never-apologise-never-resign creed of Howard means that Libs will not be able to claim any sort of ideological consistency in the face of inconvenient truths, both those that have come to light and those yet to do so.

The philosophical position arises after they lose government and search for something to keep them going through the long dark march of opposition.

Just because the State Libs are unpopular, it does not follow that the Federal Libs are unpopular for the same reasons. I think the last state leader who suffered for the unpopularity of the Federal party was Dunstan in 1975, and he had been busy pissing people off in his own right. The Feds are rightly unpopular due to their own efforts. These dills who attempted to publicly fund partisan campaigning look like corpses twisting in the breeze, waiting to be cut down. It’s doubtful that the ALP would have tolerated someone like Michael Johnson.

It’s interesting that there are three Federal cabinet ministers from Queensland, and none of them come from the nation’s third-biggest (soon to be second-biggest) city.

PLOTTERS of Liberal leader Bruce Flegg’s demise are jostling to shore up numbers for a possible challenge next week.
Clayfield MP Tim Nicholls is said to have at least four votes but it’s believed he will only challenge Dr Flegg if his colleagues call for a spill and second the motion.

It’s understood the ongoing speculation and uncertainty is frustrating state Liberal Party president Warwick Parer, who next week may call for an end to the conjecture, although he has no control over the eight-member parliamentary wing.

Speaking to The Courier-Mail yesterday, Dr Flegg said he was disappointed with some of the backstabbing but described himself as “tough”.

“This week would be viewed as a setback (for unity) but one of the positives of this week was all the MPs were mature . . . and absolutely rock solid (in support),” Dr Flegg said.

“This is politics. This is a challenging occupation.”

However, Dr Flegg hinted that he made sure he had the numbers to head off any challenge.

“I had very little quiet moments (this week). My phone was going from 5am in the morning.

“It’s when your phone doesn’t ring that you have to worry.”

Asked if he believed he should resign as leader for the good of the party and for the upcoming Federal election, he said: “That’s the equivalent to asking, ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’ – and I’m not married.

“It’s a nonsense of a proposition.”

Howard’s gambit is simply to avoid going near the toxins.

Has anyone tried to get the privitised Telstra to connect a customer to broadband lately? I’ve talked to almost every Telstra employee in Bangalore and can not get anyone to set a date for connecting broadband from the corner of my house to the computer.

It also leaves the Liberals responsible for very little and leaves the public paying very high taxes and more money for services which government once provided.

State wise it will take a long time for the Coalition to have a reason to be elected. They just do not perform well as an opposition and are prepared to sit back and rubber stamp whatever Canberra decrees is good for Queensland.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints about Labor as “Liberal-lite”, which I agree - but the result is that the Libs are looking more and more like the “Labor-bloated” party in 2007. Just with extra fundamentalism and wowserism added in.

(I’m not saying Labor are that much better. But for some reason, they seem to be better, period… time and time again.)

Catanzariti has probably just been given an opportunity by a munificent employer to explore a wide range of enhanced career possibilities unencumbered by the daily minutiae of, you know, an actual job.

To leave such a basic service in such disarray is unforgivable!

A good cleanout in the next election and couple of decades in opposition could be just the thing needed to make them appreciate how good they had it and what wasted years the last eleven years have been.

And how large was this poll for any significant subsets of it to have any statistical significance?!

Er.. the Qld ALP machine (the one which produced Mike Kaiser) wouldn’t stand for WHAAT exactly? (guffaw)