Lost in Spades

One thing should be abundantly clear, after tonight's "Q&A" on ABC Television, to those of you who were befuddled during the election campaign: the LNP Coalition have no plan and never did - just a bunch of slogans and policy aims; but no detail of policy. Australians voted for an Aero-Bar party - more air than substance. Why do you think Tony Abbott was so quick to get to work? Yes, it is camouflaged behind words like: "slowly"; "methodically"; "carefully"... but they are winging it Big Time! No policy. No Plan. NFI. You get what you vote for - nebulous, superficial, unprepared, sloganeering. Make no mistake: Australia  IS the laughing stock of the world. Now Mr Murdoch, send in the clowns!

The Liberals have played 'Magic Cup' with the 'Mug' Punter   Yes. Labor really annoyed me when they deposed a sitting Prime Minister.   And then they did it a second time. Ropable, I was. Still am. I consider my politics to be just left of centre (prudent, but not a fanatic), but because of their twice deposing of a sitting prime minister, and also because of the Green's more humane asylum seeker policy (and strong climate policy), I was considering voting the latter ( they have been quite transparent ) and perhaps preference Labor, or, believe it or not, the PUP. Sound ridiculous? So fed up was I that I was considering a vote for Clive Palmer (mind you, you could do worse in this election – how dull would it have been without him). But this is no laughing matter – this is our future. And here’s the rub… Aware of Labor heartland disaffection, the Liberals are using this as leverage to wager an increasingly right-wing agenda; bu...

For f---'s sake Australia. If you vote or preference the LNP you'll be voting for the far right wing and a whole big f---ing world of pain and embarrassing stupidity .

WA Today - Leanne Nicholson, September 6, 2013 - 1:36PM Disturbing findings from a cost of living investigation by a peak WA body is being reflected in the streets of Perth with more and more families living the hardships identified in the report.

The Age - Adam Turner, September 6, 2013 - 1:42PM The man who would be Prime Minister of this country skimmed this important policy document for the first time, only days before the election, and then signed off on it while either failing to spot a giant mistake or simply failing to understand it. There's no ambiguity here. It looked pretty clear that the Coalition felt it could drop the filtering bombshell two days before the election and escape any serious scrutiny. The plan isn't as draconian as Stephen Conroy's now abandoned filtering scheme, but at least Conroy had the guts to lay his cards on the table and argue the point.

Gabrielle Chan , political correspondent theguardian.com , Friday 6 September 2013 19.22 AEST Campaigning on the central coast, the prime minister insists the election is still there to be won, against all polling data.

After preaching doom and gloom for years, the Abbott honeymoon has started already, Michael Pascoe reports .

by Ben Grubb , Deputy technology editor, SMH September 6, 2013 - 7:28PM They are harvesting not only your own Facebook likes, which I think is quite dangerous, but the Facebook likes of your friends and they're not asking for your friend's permission.  

September 6, 2013 - 6:54PM by Jane Lee , Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age Indigenous Australians could be more likely to go to jail under an Abbott government in light of Coalition plans to cut $42 million from indigenous legal services .

You might be able to accuse the Greens of a few things, but avoiding scrutiny is not one of them. Posted by  Greg Jericho , Thursday 5 September 2013 13.51 EST theguardian.com   

Political photographer Mike Bowers spent the second half of the campaign on Tony Abbott's media bus. Guardian Australia caught up with him to discuss shooting a cautious campaign on the brink of victory .

Tony Abbott's climate policies are about removing the social and environmental protections enjoyed by all Australians to allow the filthy rich to become richer – and filthier. George Monbiot, theguardian.com , Thursday 5 September 2013 11.35 AEST

Lenore Taylor , political editor theguardian.com , Friday 6 September 2013 13.33 AEST Tony Abbott ended the campaign doing what he has done for so long with such brutal success – framing the political debate.

Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb gave us a list of numbers but no explanation of how they add up . The Coalition's Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb – playing us for mugs. Photograph: David Crosling/AAPIMAGE

Australian voters face an uninspiring choice. We won't try to tell you how to vote, but there is much at risk from an Abbott victory. Depressing though it is, this is nevertheless a vote that must be taken seriously, as much is at stake. Labor is broken; the Liberals are hiding – but they are not the same. Mr Abbott has asked the Australian people to trust him, but he doesn’t trust them enough to give them the facts they need to make an informed decision. Those who choose the Coalition because they think Labor don’t deserve it might soon feel regret; those who vote on Saturday for change may be surprised what that change entails.

I cast my ballot without really knowing what the Coalition intends to do, writes an anonymous postal voter.

Tony Abbott – the man likely to become Australia's next prime minister on Saturday – has given his most enthusiastic endorsement of Rupert Murdoch since the election campaign began, describing the News Corp Australia chairman as a “hometown hero”. Oliver Laughland , theguardian.com , Friday 6 September 2013 16.41 AEST

JOE KELLY  , The Australian   September 06, 2013 3:15PM KEVIN Rudd says he needs to win over 300,000 to 400,000 Australians before tomorrow's election, as polls point to a convincing Coalition victory .  

by Michael Gordon, SMH Abbott's been criticising the Fair Work legislation that Labor implemented that protects people, when it's a little known fact that labour productivity has been improving quite significantly over the last couple of years and is almost three times as high under the Fair Work legislation than it was under WorkChoices. We've now got the benefit of the clean energy package and the carbon price being in place for over a year and, putting politics aside, it's worthwhile considering facts – and the facts are showing us that emissions in the national electricity market are down and that emissions from the emissions-intensive power stations in Victoria are down significantly and that renewable energy generation is up 30 per cent.

Even CNN think we are a bunch of hobos. See for yourself: Australian election campaign: Gaffes, giggles and groans