Around the traps …

Bryan · Tuesday 21 November 2006 · 5:51 am

The purple zone

Well, it is on for young and old. Shaun Carney and Michelle Grattan list Beazley’s flaws according to his unnamed party room detractors.

  • He has focused too much on the Government’s industrial relations changes at the expense of other issues, a repeat of his failed anti-GST strategy in the 2001 election.
  • Labor has been left behind on broader issues, including climate change, Iraq and education.
  • The Prime Minister’s use of “values” in debates over such areas as citizenship has failed to elicit a workable response from the Labor leadership and has left the Opposition floundering.
  • Mr Beazley’s regular mispronunciations, of which his Rove McManus/Karl Rove confusion on Friday was just the latest example, are hurting his credibility.
  • His closeness to twice-jailed former West Australian premier Brian Burke is damaging the party’s prospects in that state.

Carney and Grattan also dispense with the pre-Christmas deadline for any leadership challenge. This purple zone could drag on until March 2007. A prospect with which Labor would not be happy.

Phillip Adams has an op-ed that begins with the memorable phrase, Kimbo’s in limbo.

ACNielsen: 51 to 49 for Labor in New South Wales

The SMH has the latest ACNielsen polling from NSW.

THE last tumultuous month of sleaze and sex scandals in the NSW Parliament has damaged Labor but proved disastrous for the Opposition Leader, Peter Debnam, a new Herald/ACNielsen poll reveals.

The poll of 1014 voters, taken last Friday and Saturday, shows Labor’s primary vote has sunk 4 percentage points to 36 per cent - its lowest level since 1997. The Coalition’s support has dropped, too, as voters defect to independents, the Democrats and Greens.

But the worst news for the Opposition is with its leader: Mr Debnam’s approval rating has plunged 9 points since July to 29 per cent.

What should have been a rolled political gold opportunity for Opposition Leader Peter Debman has turned to dirt. He clearly overreached with his attacks on Attorney-General Bob Debus.

Election 2007 · NSW ·