will she go quietly?, page-58

I hope Gillard continues as leader. She has been subjected to one of the most vitriolic campaigns in history, and despite being in minority government where every little detail is magnified beyond reasonable, she has been responsible for getting people together to vote through some major, major pieces of legislation.

I focus on the great achievement of this government in the most difficult of circumstances, and not on whingeing brigade of the right wing media, unsourced members of her own party (including Rudd who should just get over his removal as he was in complete freefall at the time of his going), and the Coalition, who have whipped up all the fear in order to manufacture a crisis through constant lies and negativity.

Wayne Swan may not be a great salesman but he has got all the big calls right for this country. He has performed better than Costello in that he has had to operate under the toughest of conditions. Swan is a good example of someone whose personality we should look past to see what he has achieved.

At the end of the day, the huge reform program undertaken by this government - NBN and the massive impact this will have on how we do business, trade training centres built and increase in apprenticeships, biggest spend ever on infrastructure, the changing of how business will operate under a carbon pricing system, the rebuilding of schools after so many years of neglect, the reforming of the hospital system, means testing the health rebate, introducing hecs for TAFE students, the MRRT and the increases in super contributions......and the saving of so many hundreds of thousands of jobs that would have gone had the Coalition been in power with their scorched earth policy response to the GFC (and the fact they would also have gone way into debt)..........the ALP has much to be proud of.

Gillard is not perfect. She has flaws like we all do. Her "lies" are dictated by circumstance, and some can be seen as spin. But they are not outright lies. Each can be understood and explained. But the right wingers don't want that. They continually peddle misrepresentation and fabrication. It's part of their deliberate campaign designed to create a crisis so as to have Gillard removed by her own party and thereby enforce the fall of the government.

The nervous nellies in the ALP are playing right into the hands of the Coalition if they continue to agitate. They also provide succour for a media that needs the excitement of power plays in order to maintain ratings and sell papers.

Let us concentrate on the legislation that this government is getting passed and ask ourselves, why is it possible in the toughest of environments that is minority government for so much to be so successfully negotiated as to become law?