WATCHING Bill Shorten on Sunday trying to convince everyone that Julia Gillard's foray into western Sydney was governing, not campaigning, was a laughable effort. His explanation that she was launching new policy initiatives was hard to fathom. He refused to answer simple questions and waffled on like a programmed parrot.
Numerous polls indicate NSW is a disaster zone for Labor, which is caught up in a corruption inquiry that has put the spotlight on some former state Labor politicians.
Shorten says he supports Gillard as Prime Minister. He could hardly do otherwise - he was one of the conspirators who cut Kevin Rudd off at the knees and installed Gillard.
It is obvious that her five-day sojourn in western Sydney is an attempt to apply a tourniquet to a bleeding body of votes.
Coke Tomyn, Camberwell, Vic
IF ever a person deserved to be given a medal for courage it is Julia Gillard. After enduring a two-year campaign by the opposition to brand her a liar who couldn't be trusted, she has had the guts to go into the lion's den and face the people of western Sydney. Tony Abbott is yet to enlighten voters why they should not trust him.
Gillard may well lose the election but no one can take away her determination and courage under what must be one of the most gross campaigns mounted in this country.
D. J. Fraser, Mudgeeraba, Qld
WITH Tony Abbott campaigning in the western suburbs of Sydney on Julia Gillard's broken promises, I wonder if he would be prepared to give an undertaking that if he or any of his ministers break an election promise, should they be elected, they will resign.
Laurence Butler, Mittagong, NSW
MY wife and I live in the western suburbs area of Brisbane. The local ferry is closed during floods and we only have two main roads to the city. We also have other needy areas such as family, health and schools. Could the Prime Minister take time out from her governing to visit our area for a week to survey our many problems?
There is no RSL club but there are motels and nice restaurants. As no time has been announced for the election campaign to commence, hiring halls will not be necessary.
John Donovan, Chapel Hill, Qld
TONY Abbott imitating Julia Gillard, indeed. Bill Shorten should know that the difference between the two is that Abbott regularly, without fanfare, does community work. Gillard heads to the western suburbs of Sydney to "govern" with no discernible previous record of community work.
Tony Milln, Bridgewater, SA
TONY Abbott is right to deny Julia Gillard's western Sydney pitch that families will be left worse off under the Coalition. Not only is his word far more reliable currency than hers, her figures do not stack up.
Compensation for the $515 per family slug under the carbon tax will not be sustainable when, under an emissions trading scheme, half of the credits can be sourced from the EU's bargain basement, where the price has crashed to a few dollars.
Other payments Gillard warns are at risk include the schoolchildren bonus that under Abbott will revert to the targeted scheme where parents provide receipts.
But the least sustainable plank in Labor's policies is the intention to go on borrowing, when revenue does not match the fanciful expectations with which it underpins spending.
John Morrissey, Hawthorn, Vic
THE Prime Minister's announcement of a $1 billion contribution to western Sydney roadworks, conditional on the NSW government contributing more, without consulting it, reminds me when East Timor had agreed to house asylum-seekers but hadn't been consulted beforehand.
Don Stallman, East Brisbane, Qld
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