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Stanley on Power to the People So now we are people.No wonder even the East Timor parliamentarians rejected our begging for attention.Did the people decide ... more
Jenifer on Yes We Will .. Will We? Yes, we will....go to the dogs ,if I don't win. Gillard's last jinx. more
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Hughes on Yes We Will .. Will We? I suspect Lenny is a tree hugger and BBrowntongue is expecting to ride on Labor prefs at the cost of Labor itself. They ... more
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Kate on It ain't over til it's over The National Beijing Network will be bought and run by you know who ? So no complaints.All is fine. Only I have the ... more
baron of bentleigh on Yes We Will .. Will We? I am in Crean's electorate and most of us in line have switched sides. We are making our vote count and putting Labour and ... more
Lenny on Yes We Will .. Will We? Sue, only an ignorant self serving imbecile would vote for the Liberals. The Rabbit couldn't manage a game of two up~! ... more
peed off on How to vote in Federal Election I would like to know if either party is going to do anything about changing the policies in the department of housing. Wait ... more
Brendan Mason on How to vote in Federal Election I used to believe in compulsory voting but now only want people with fair dinkum opinions to vote. Those who don't care ... more
Brendan Mason on It ain't over til it's over The fear of the Liberals is of what may or MAY NOT happen where as we know what to fear of Labor...house fires, rorts, ... more
David on It ain't over til it's over Lets not give this incompotent government another term. more
mylene on Yes We Will .. Will We? Lots of people say if the election result doesn't go their way they'll leave the country but I'll bet anything that nobody ... more
Danny on It ain't over til it's over Gillarding is the word.You will wake up on Sunday You will wake up on Sunday You will wake up on Sunday, will you really, ... more
janet page on It ain't over til it's over Just remember people when you vote tomorrow, you are Not voting for an Individual, but a political party, and the parties ... more
janet page on Power to the People If you want people power, Look up the, Senate on Line Party. more
janet page on It ain't over til it's over Labor has announced it will sell off the multi billion dollar Broad Band, that we the people will be forced to pay for. And ... more
steve murphy on Juila will and Tony will not? Gerard, It is the one big question that hasn't been answered during the campaign. What will it cost me to access 100mbps? ... more
Kevin H on Yes We Will .. Will We? I hope Labor wins and the GST goes up to 40-50%, petrol 5$ a litre and more, bank rates at 19.7% as it was with the last ... more

Juila will and Tony will not?

Posted by: Steve Murphy, Political Analyst | 19 August, 2010 - 4:51 PM

UNCUT: The entire 17 minutes of Julia Gillard with Neil Mitchell can be heard by clicking the image above.

STEVE MURPHY: As the finishing line comes into view in Campaign 2010, and everyone from the pundits and bookmakers to the politicians themselves are predicting a cliff hanger, it has to be said the Prime Minister is finishing the race fast and hard.

Ms Gillard appears to have hit her straps at the right time with a clear ‘cut through’ message that provides voters with a basic checklist of choices between her and Mr Abbott.

The, “I will and he won’t” contrast, has been at the core of the PM’s pitch since her official campaign launch in Brisbane on Monday and she has honed it to perfection in subsequent days from the peoples’ forum in Brisbane last night to her final set piece of the Campaign at the National Press Club in Canberra today.

Having shaken off the shackles of leaders past; leaks and poor strategy such as the ‘new Julia’ and ‘peoples’ assembly’ moments, the PM is looking, sounding and acting more confident and aggressive than at any time in this campaign.

It might be that while says she is expecting a cliff hanger, (you don’t want the voters to think you think you are going to win and run the risk of a latent protest vote) she is actually confident of victory.

Her final pitch to voters is of a choice for an integrated plan for the future built on a sound economy, education, health and the benefits of the NBN or an untrustworthy Coalition that can’t add up, will slash and burn across health and education and restrict the country’s prosperity by ditching the NBN.

The issue of costings has become a nightmare for the Coalition with Mr. Abbott spending the past 24 hours defending his absence from the official release of those figures by Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, and subsequently the accuracy of the costings themselves. Not a good position 36 hours out from polling day and with economic management at the core of the battle.

The clear choice checklist being deployed by Ms Gillard is an effective message at the tail end of a campaign when people are more focussed than ever and have had a gutful of the white noise of a long campaign.

Providing that simple choice summary is something that the Opposition Leader has failed to do. He has stuck with his largely negative approach and has been either unable or unwilling to craft a clear choice message on the positive side.

On the evidence so far this week, it is apparent that Ms Gillard is having the better of it, but camp Abbott intends to run full tilt to the end, with the Opposition Leader in the midst of a 36 hour non-stop campaign whirlwind through Queensland and Western Sydney.

Blog comments

Gerard, It is the one big question that hasn't been answered during the campaign. What will it cost me to access 100mbps? Under the plan you can buy speeds of 25/50/100 at different rates, but we don't know what those rates are. Additionally, the NBN became a totally Government funded project after private enterprise couldn't make the numbers stack up in NBN mark 1.

steve murphy Friday 20 August, 2010 - 10:46 AM
Gillard has a simple philosophy; whatever it takes and whatever it costs!
'Thin lips sink ships!'
Labors NBN plan will be the biggest 'white elephant' ever concocted by these out of touch, out of control non-thinking Labor lemons.
Sure, an NBN may sound good in theory, but when Labor tries putting it into practice, then just watch things truly unravel;
$5,000 per household...? And that's before you have to pay for the service itself.
$43,000,000,000 will blow out to $80,000,000,000+ in typical Labor 'know how' style. This will no doubt become $10,000 per household as a result.
Even Grandma & Grandpa Computer Illiterate living on Struggle Street will be hit with this outrageous financial burden along with the rest of us.
This will certainly be another 'Ranga's rort' in a long list of many. A National DISGRACE...!!!

Gerard Thursday 19 August, 2010 - 8:05 PM