Decision has been made

Well finally after over two weeks we have a minority government.
Labor with Julia Gillard as P.M.
I personally think it was a good decision.
Because of
NBN
Price for carbon
Reforms to parliamentary practices
Less power to political parties, they are not there for the countries benefit but for their own short term benefits.
More money for regional and rural areas, long overdue.
Not another 3 or 6 years of conservative sit on their hands inactivity.
What this should sheet home very clearly to the Nats. is that they should leave the coalition. Then after each election they should negotiate with the two major parties for their rural electorates. Unless all they want is a few ministries and the deputy prime minister position. If that is all they want they deserve the irrelevance they have now. They should be fighting hard for their people, in coalition, they are not.

Who should the Independents support?

The three independents, Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott face an unenviable task in choosing who to support to govern Australia Federally for hopefully the next three years.
They essentially represent possibly conservative electorates.
They have to, as far as I am concerned, make a decision for Australia, not just their own electorates. They will be under great pressure from all factions, and if what is reported is correct have been under immense pressure from the conservatives to go for the conservatives. Particularly since the other independent, Wilkie has gone Labor and the Greens have supported Labor as well.
They have at their disposal much more information to make an informed decision than any independent has ever had before. This type of transparency should be available to all voters before the election happens, but then again "pigs may fly".
          I will point out who I think they should support and why.
          Philosophically I lean more to Labor. I am not a conservative. So I do have a bias.
          I think the Independents should go for Labor.
          Labor has a good record recently in saving Australia from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). There is much contention that they spent too much. The conservatives say they would have spent about half of what Labor spent in Stimulus Packages. I am not an Economist so I do not know who is right. I have heard many financial people here and overseas applaud Labor for their stimulus package. But of course some have criticised it as well. In fact I have heard more praise than criticism.
          Labor have a National Broadband Network already started. This network will have integration nationwide. I feel this very fast fibre optic network will thrust the whole of Australia into the 21st century.
The Conservatives plan seems to rely too much on the private sector and is possibly too fragmented. The private sector will not service the sparse rural areas. I do not trust the conservatives to deliver on this.
          Their track record with infrastructure and nation building is woeful. John Howard had eleven years of inactivity, presiding over massive surpluses, and only giving tax cuts back. He wasted this massive surplus just so he could say, "look how good a financial manager I am." He should have not given the tax cuts. He should have started some much needed infrastructure building instead and he would still have had a surplus.
          I am afraid that Tony Abbott is going to be just as inactive as his hero was. We cannot have another eleven years of conservative inertia.
          This now leads me to Tony Abbott and what has happened since the elections.
          Of course first off is the up to eleven billion dollars of black hole in his costings for his policies. No wonder he would not give them to Treasury for costing. He only did this because if he did not the independents would not have supported him. How does this sit with his own tag of being a much better economic manager of the country.
           Then there was the one billion dollar (what Tony thought) clincher of promising Wilkie a brand new Teaching Hospital in Hobart. How did he cost this? How reckless was this? Luckily Wilkie saw through this and rejected it.
          I think Labor will form a more stable government, particularly after July next year when the Greens will have the balance of power in the senate.
          They will also get a carbon price and set up a carbon tax or emission's trading scheme that will get through the senate.
          How the independents will go I do not know. They have taken their time and talked to and looked at a lot of documentation so hopefully will make the best decision for this country.

Federal Elections

I thought I may throw my two cents worth about the elections right at the end.
First off I think the Coalition will win because of the swing in the marginals in NSW and QLD.
Labor has been running scared from the issues of "Climate Change" and "Asylum Seekers".
If they had a real carbon policy, plus not running with the scared hysterics that the Coalition has regarding asylum seekers they may be in a better position.
The wild card in all of this is the Greens. They have what looks like a 13-14% vote. This may help Labor over the line. If the Green voters in the marginals are 13-14% and they second preference Labour it may be very interesting on Saturday night.
I cannot at all see anything separating the two parties except the NBN. The NBN for me is the big thing that is very important for the future. I cannot see how the coalitions broadband policy will deliver much at all.
It will not be up to me who wins, my electorate is a safe Labor seat. The senate will hold more power to me.
Look forward to Saturday night.