john howard says labor will rise again.

And it may in fact happen sooner than Abbott anticipates!

"John Howard warns Liberals frail Labor will rise again."

Bill Shorten's beleaguered Labor MPs should not despair at being banished to the electoral wilderness, says no lesser authority on Australian politics than Labor's arch-enemy, John Winston Howard.
The fiercely partisan former Liberal prime minister said Labor would bounce back.
He said "Australia's oldest political party" should take heed from history noting that even after the electoral debacle of 1975 when Gough Whitlam's shambolic government was bundled out in a landslide of record proportions, a new Labor state government, led by Neville Wran, was elected in the largest state of NSW within six months.
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"His narrow win in May 1976, followed by landslide victories in 1978 and 1981, not only revived Labor spirits but demoralised the New South Wales Liberals," Mr Howard said delivering the 2013 Dean Jeansch Lecture at Adelaide's Flinders University on Tuesday evening.
"The moral of this story is simple: never underestimate the recuperative powers of either of Australia's major political parties."
The unrivalled elder statesman and hero of the Liberal Party, Mr Howard is equally reviled on the political left both for his electoral success in winning four federal elections on the trot, and for a series of uncompromising policies including his stance on immigration and asylum seekers.
While Labor can take heart from Mr Howard's upbeat assessment, the 74-year-old was actually sending a warning to his own party as it embarks on a golden period.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/john-howard-warns-liberals-frail-labor-will-rise-again-20131022-2vz5x.html#ixzz2iRBnhmCn