Money not buying Gillard love.

Labor has been pushing a theory that once the carbon tax is in place its stocks will rise with the electorate. For over a month the government has been engaging in its ‘cash splash’ which tosses money at pensioners, welfare recipients, low income earners, and pretty much anyone it feels it can influence. This is compensation for the impact of the carbon tax, a point not made clear in ads like this:


There are plenty of these, with over $30 million being spent to prop up Gillard and her party. This has failed to convince anybody.

The latest Newspoll indicates that despite the advertising and the cash handouts, Labor has fallen in the polls yet again. The Coalition are actually leading them in every mainland state and across every demographic. Victoria is the only state where they lead on a two party preferred basis and that is only 51% compared to the 55.3% in the last federal election.

After the Queensland state election when Labor was reduced from governing to only seven MPs left, it was assumed that they had hit rock bottom and the only way from there was up. This has been proven wrong with their primary vote falling to 22%, which has caused some pundits to predict that they will lose every seat here. This is doubtful, as Rudd will probably buck the trend.

Meanwhile today marked the first working day of the tax, which caused Labor ministers to go out on an unedifying grandstanding mission. The idea was to highlight the fact the tax was in and nothing has changed. It is a good time to do this as the impact will take a couple of weeks to a month to bite.

Gillard addressed the cameras before dawn to make the point that the sun was coming up and the sky hadn’t fallen. This has most likely convinced the punters that she considers them to be idiots.

Trade Minister went one better to celebrate the fact that the industrial city of Whyalla had survived the first day of the tax, with a rather poor song and dance routine. This has convinced the nation that either:

• His advisers are idiots; or
• He doesn’t listen to them; or
• Craig himself is an idiot; or maybe
• All of the above.