The race is on - Federal election on November 24th
October 15, 2007The Australian Prime Minister has finally called for an election on November 24th. He’s already fired the first successful salvo with a $32 Billion Tax cut. I note that those in the $34k-80k tax bracket don’t get any changes, so there’s nothing in it for me. I think Howard has had an extremely successful 11-year run. But he really should’ve handed over the reigns to Costello at the beginning of this year. After 11 years of playing maid-in-waiting, Costello deserves a chance to prove himself as PM. I’ll therefore be voting Labor this time around.
Despite this, I’ll be taking an impartial stance for this election. My mother observed that Australians are more interested in short-term gain rather than what’s best for everyone. So I’d say the Liberals have a real vote-winner on their hands with this tax cut. I’d prefer they invest that money into Health, Education and Infrastructure. It’s not as popular, but it’s the responsible thing to do.
Do I think Howard can win this election? Yes. But I think it will be a much closer contest than in 2004. I doubt that Labor can win back 16 seats. At best I hope they can peg back the Liberals huge electoral- and vote-winning lead and win back the Senate.
