According to the pundits the election will be won or lost in Qld and NSW, where apparently Labor is well and truly on the nose and why both leaders are out 'pressing the flesh' so eagerly

Yes the 21st will be a very interesting day

Another seat with two fresh faces is Aston in Melbourne.

The Liberals won it in 2007 and have held it for about 20 years so one would assume that they would win again.

The sitting member, Chris Pearce is retiring and the Libs new candidate is Alan Tudge, and the ALP is running Rupert Evans.

It still could be considered a marginal but the Liberal Party has a decent margin to hold onto.

The 2007 two-candidate-preferred result, the Libs got 55.05% (a swing away of 8%) and the ALP got 44.95% ( a swing to of 8%)



Maybe another one worth watching - Tony Abbott has been reported campaigning in this area lately.

Now that Labour and the Greens have agreed to a deal to exchange preferences, I believe that it is "all over, bar the shouting". Labour should win comfortably.

One thing I have not seen announced is.......just what was the deal? What promises/undertakings were given on either side to seal this deal? Surely the voting public have a right to know.

Stay out of Queensland Julia, it's bad enough as it is with a female Labor Premier.

And it seems Gillard is prone to telling lies--



Gavin Atkins dissects a piece of Julia Gillard spin:





Let me get this straight. Our current Prime Minister manufactured a media interview so that she could then lie in Parliament that a text she meant to send to a friend was actually sent in jest to Tony Abbott. Misleading Parliament is considered a serious offence in Australian politics...



He’s referring to this anecdote, as told by Annabel Crabb:



One night, as the 2004 election approached and Ms Gillard ensnared herself in the logistical nooses and coils of health policy…she fired off a despairing text message to a friend, confessing exasperatedly that health was too confusing for her.



Receiving no reply, she idly checked her message some hours later and realised to her horror that she had in fact, by accident, sent the message to Tony Abbott.



... she could not bear the prospect of Mr Abbott reading aloud her message - perhaps in Question Time - in triumphant demonstration of her unsuitability to assume control of the national health system.



So what did she do? ... Ms Gillard and her staff arranged for her to be interviewed by a regional radio station with a small listenership.



During the interview she laughingly confessed to having sent a tongue-in-cheek text messages to her opponent feigning frustration with the minefield of health reform…



Ms Gillard had the transcript of her radio interview prepared, lest the allegation ever be made by Mr Abbott that she was unequal to the task of handling the health portfolio.



Had it been raised in parliament, she would musically have read aloud from the transcript, demonstrating that the whole thing was a bit of a lark.



I think people should be aware just how brazenly Gillard is prepared to spin. Remember when she claimed to be merely the part-time typist of the Socialist Forum, when she in fact was on its management committee, and that she’d left it a decade before she actually had?

Sadly they are all prone to telling lies--I really would not trust any of them

I'm with Laurie Oaks, I want to know what happened on that fateful night. Did she go back on a deal or not, the more she refuses to tell, the more inquisitive we become.



Julia is now Prime Minister but she wasn't elected by the people. I think we have the right to know what happened and bugger professional confidences.

And it seems Gillard is prone to telling lies--





What ? you found a politician that tells lies ? Wow !



The complete story by Annabel Crabb is [url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/19/2957224.htm?site=thedrum]here[/url].

Quite an interesting story.

I think it's important to give good policies a tick, no matter which side you are on.



In the Sydney suburb of Blacktown today, Julia spoke about her $2.5 billion national cadetship program - Labor will spend $25 million to fund 50,000 work experience placements for secondary school students who enter the cadetship scheme. We need skilled tradespeople. Tick



In Brisbane today,Tony Abbott announced he would extend and increase Labor's current education tax rebate program for school students from January 2011. The 50% tax rebate is currently $390 for primary school students and $779 for secondary students, but would be lifted to $500 a year for each primary school student and $1,000 for each high school student. They would also increase the spending limit for the rebate to $1,000 for primary schools students and $2,000 for high school students.



Tony said "At the moment, basically this is a laptop rebate. We are expanding the rebate so it can be claimed for school fees and also for other educational costs such as tuition and special educational costs for children with, for instance, dyslexia. The rebate would start on January 1, 2011 so it is in place for the beginning of the school year. We'll pay more, it will cover more, and it will start sooner than is the case with the Government's rebate." tick

The seat of Wentworth is marginal and Malcolm Turnbull is working hard to keep it. After he handed out flyers at the Rose Bay ferry terminal, he went to a Jewish breakfast, then to a senior citizens concert, and was due last night to have fish and chips with young people at a Youth Centre.



Julia described him as a man who ''went down fighting for an issue he believed in''. Since he lost his leadership over the emissions trading scheme, Labor has embraced Turnbull like a brother and some Liberals think he is one. I can't understand why Tony promised him a place on the front bench if they win, they don't agree on climate change, Tony said on Sunday ''I say that you can be certain under a Coalition government that there will be no carbon price imposed on consumers''. So how could they possibly work together?

Wentworth has always been held by conservative parties, including the Liberal Party since its foundation.

Malcolm Turnbull won the seat in 2007 with a 1.3% swing towards him, in spite of a national swing against the Liberals.

The ALP has preselected lawyer Steven Lewis.

The Greens have Matthew Robertson



When Malcolm Turnbull announced his retirement, the Libs looked as a possibility of losing the seat, but as he is running again it should be safe for him.



In 2007 the Liberals got 50%, ALP 30% and the Greens 15%, all other candidates got less than 2% each.



Wentworth looks like a safe Liberal seat.

I think Turnbull is just waiting to pounce

Labor candidate Steven Lewis is not going to pretend that his bid to oust Malcolm Turnbull from Parliament will be anything other than a hard slog. The 53-year-old class action lawyer and prominent member of Sydney's Jewish community is not unknown to locals in the city's eastern suburbs. "Malcolm Turnbull is a formidable opponent and he has been there for six years," Mr Lewis says.



The Greens have preselected Darlinghurst local Matthew Robertson to contest the seat of Wentworth at the 2010 federal election. Matthew is a legal researcher for the Refugee Advice and Casework Service, and holds degrees in law and politics. He is passionate about social and environmental justice issues.



“I am enthusiastic about offering the voters of Wentworth a true alternative. We will run a strong Greens campaign in Wentworth and send a message to the major parties that effective action on climate change is long overdue.” said Robertson



Have a look at this http://greens.org.au/wentworth