[Politics] New ALP Leader

[utopian]

Now that Simon Crean is out of the top job, who do you see rising to the leadership position in the ALP? Kim Beazley will be running for the position and will be facing Mark Latham and possibly Kevin Rudd. Do you think Beazley still has what it takes to lead the party, despite him losing two elections to John Howard? Will the new leader have what it takes to pants Howard in the 2004 Federal Election?

Then there's Bob Carr and the possibility of moving from State to Federal Parliament. A few people I know say that Carr has what it takes to lead (I don't know first hand, as I don't live in NSW) and that he could go all the way to the top. Others have said that he has waited too late to move into Federal politics and that he should live out the rest of his political career as the NSW Premier.

I think that the current Labor Party hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of winning the next Federal Election unless they can elect a leader that promotes confidence and stability. Beazley isn't the man for the job, as it's hard to be confident about winning against a man you've lost to twice. It seems like we know who we don't want to lead, but not who we do want.

[kré]

I'd vote for Pirate.

[Ins0mniac]

Mark Latham because he's a republican and sounds cool.

Nestled in the great Australian dream of his own quarter-acre block, Mark Latham today began his push to lead the Labor Party, vowing to fight poverty, boost education and put Australia back on the path to a republic.

Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/29/1070081581311.html)

[MoleTeaser]

Anyone who publicly calls John Howard an arselicker is an absolute legend in my books, so my vote would go to Latham.

If Beazley wanted to be the leader still, he shouldn't have bloody stood down in the first place. And then he lost his challenge to Simon Crean? If they get Beazley back in, they are not making progress.

[Ins0mniac]

Latham 0wnz j00 411 H3 15 13373R T|-|4|\| B3AZ13Y!

[Bifrost]

Mark Latham is a deadset legend (as mentioned by me in this (http://forums.zgeek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13764) post). He has a real straight-up style much like Keating had and he actually talks to CNNNN and The Chaser (and yeah - he said what was on everybody's mind about little Johnny too)...

My only fear with him becoming leader is that he may suffer the same fate as Natasha Stott-Despoja and be crucified by his own party (and the media) for being "too young" and "too inexperienced" to lead the party...Although from what I've seen, Latham's arse-kicking capabilities are somewhat ahead of Stott-Despoja's...

I'm shooting for Latham...Even if he doesn't win the next election (it's next fucking weekend or something afterall), he can gain some serious experience and be well and truly entrenched as leader by the time of the election following...Oh and his socks have more charisma than little Johnny...

I agree with you Utop - this was Bob Carr's chance, but I think he needed to be A) in Federal politics a bit earlier and B) not still premier of NSW. Oh and FYI he does an alright job...There are just a lot of kickback and "jobs for the boys" rumours surrounding him (thus far unsubstantiated I think). He's kind of an invisible Premier and the State hasn't fallen apart just yet, so he must be alright.

[Ins0mniac]

.

[Buffy]

Originally posted by cray
I'd vote for Pirate.

I would to, just so I could see him meet the queen... shaven haven, respect :cool:

[utopian]

Well I guess it looks like Latham's won. Funny that.

[The Black Dog]

Originally posted by utopian
Well I guess it looks like Latham's won. Funny that.

Yeah ... funny for the Liberal Party .. I don't think they will be too scared of Latham.

[utopian]

I don't think they would've been too scared of Beazley, as he lost a leadership challenge to Crean and has been beaten in the federal election twice. Latham is at least a new face to the leadership and seems like he's got a good idea about what to do. I'd say the Liberal party would be more scared of Latham than they would've been of Beazley, well, at least they'll take him a bit more seriously.

[The Black Dog]

Maybe ... I would have thought that Kevin Rudd would have been a better choice than both of them. That may have had the Liberal Party a little more worried.

[utopian]

Rudd backed out because it would've taken votes away from Beazley, right? I would've preferred it if Beazley backed out and gave Rudd a shot at the leadership. Rudd probably won't get a shot for a while, as the party is "Ready to move on" from all this leadership nonsense. I'm just disappointed that it's taken them so long to get a decent leader. Everyone hated Crean, but no-one wanted Beazley back. Latham might just be what Labor needs to head them in the right direction, even if it doesn't mean a win next year.

[pleed]

I don't know Letham at all, just what I have seen in the news. I don't know who I will vote for, John Howard is due to retire and Peter Costello is a wankarse so I don't want Labor to win. I want my vote to count so I won't vote for the greens or democrats cos they just waste all their votes.
This guy better be good.
Else, I vote for Guy Sebastian.
http://au.i1.yimg.com/australianidol.aunz.yimg.com/contestants/guy_sebastian_bio.gif

[Bifrost]

I really need to know now - see I'd heard of Mark Latham before, but honestly I'd never heard of Kevin Rudd before this leadership challenge (aside from him being shadow Foreign Minister).

I plan on doing a quick spot of research on Rudd and Latham, but what has Rudd done that makes you think he would have been a greater challenge for Johnny, Black Dog??

[utopian]

So you want your vote to count, yet you won't vote for any of the major parties, or the more vocal minority parties?

[Bifrost]

Originally posted by pleed
I don't know Letham at all, just what I have seen in the news. I don't know who I will vote for, John Howard is due to retire and Peter Costello is a wankarse so I don't want Labor to win. I want my vote to count so I won't vote for the greens or democrats cos they just waste all their votes. Well, I would argue that point. Apart form the fact that I'm sure you meant to say that you don't want Liberal to win, a political party cannot "waste votes" and the Greens do not provide preferences to either major party, so any votes you provide them go toward electing one of their representatives. Not that I consider either the Greens or particularly the Democrats at the moment (who was their leader again?) a threat to Liberal's re-election, I just consider both of those parties to be a more sensible, less corrupt and preferable alternative to Liberal.

I'll see how Labor's policy platform pans out, but at the moment, I'm just happy to have a man in the leadership who actually knows that there are voters under retirement age.