Howard Govt was doing well except the fact he refused to give Costello a go which is fair enough because the people voted for Howard not Costello as the PM... Same crap here, the people voted (I didnt...) for K Rudd not that red hair back stabber, either way the whole Labor party was in it for the mining tax and numerous other bad decision (insulation, BER program etc...) to blame it on Rudd is kinda treating us like kingarden kids... The last election perhaps the general public was mersmerised by K Rudds appoarch and charisma as how i see it their only policy difference was Kyoto and 'saying sorry to the stolen generation' + the talk fest of ETS, which as we can see a mere symbolic gesture more than anything else practical... People said the BER program helped, well I worked in the program and its worst than a mess, currently there is internal decision to pushing spending as high as possible just to tell the public that the work is being done... (that includes final payment before 100% completion and project management fees running into salaries higher than you and I combined before the a shovel was digged into the gound...) As for the insulation you knew all about it on the news... the rest of their policy was pretty similar (except ETS) and I'm surprised the attitude that going Rudd a fair go when Howard govt did pretty well for 12 years with economic growth... (nevermind the fact they are lucky or not, luck is how you make of it...) 3 years on - housing cost still high and unlikely to come down in the near future... unless you want to move out way out there... - grocery watch was a hmmm... - fuel watch? still high no matter what... - we will take Japan to the court for whaling in our area... they backed down for 2 years and i have nfi if they did took them to court recently... - ETS that was shelved where the entire election was based on the moral watever of the generation... - 2020 summit, now i have nfi where that went too... - NBN, net filter...??? etc etc etc... tbh i have no idea who to vote, whoever is in the govt will have us to pay back the debt for all the quick spending in the past 3 years, i highly doubt if increasing GST was never considered as a way to increase their revenue stream... (12% -> 10% goes to the state and maybe 2% goes to feddys...) and its good that the mining tax will get serious look at and consultation but it will be implemented one way or another or maybe delayed till next election... for the record, i'm a swing voter... i dont have a preference... :P