Saturday, July 31, 2010

there to lose

Opinion polls out today in the Sydney Morning Herald show that the Opposition has nudged in front of the Government. Its not hard to see how this has happened - what, with a week of leaked documents, focussed campaigning by the Opposition and a second rate campaign by the Government.

I can only pray that somewhere in Gillard's Election HQ, someone is saying, with absolute clarity, that the population are not going to buy safety and spin, and that they want to see what the PM has planned for her term in office in very plain language. Gillard, with the exception of her leak-driven defence last week, has looked subdued, almost robotic and nowhere near as convincing as Tony Abbott. Now I know that the latter is a shameless opportunist, but he is a plain-speaking one.

The Government may not be able to control the leaks, but it can enter into a spirited fight over its generally excellent record and its plans for the immediate future. Gillard needs to take some risks and engage with the population.

That, or else we get another conservative government. In three, short weeks.

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