"Rudd should have waited until after this labour bloodbath for...

"Rudd should have waited until after this labour bloodbath for his challenge. Gillard camp probably suckered him into going early for this very reason."

Good point zurich. I suspect you are right. A Rudd challenge now would probably have unseated her. From the frying pan back into the fire.

Personally, I am happy that Gillard silenced him. I prefer her to be in charge going into the next election. She's totally unelectable. I also hope she carries out her promise yesterday that she got the message from Qld and that she will just peddle harder! That will make the hole even deeper.

I think Graham Richardson nails it in his commentary [never thought I'd say that]. The average voter is interested in cost of living pressures, first, second and third. They don't care about this big vision stuff. In particular, as Richo says, they want to be able to turn on their heaters in winter, their aircon in summer without taking out a third mortgage. If the power to run those comes from a coal powered station, so be it - the average punter really does not care. I look forward to having a sensible Coalition Environment Minister in Canberra some time soon, so that the growth states in the west and east coasts, can start building more dams and more power stations to fuel growth. This nonsensical delusion that Avatar was a documentary, not a fairy tale, may be believed by Bob "Calling Earthlings" Brown, but everyone else has woken up to it. Time for Canberra to re-engage with planet Earth and get the country out of reverse gear.