Bill Shorten is the new ALP leader, and it is time to examine the process the ALP employed. It has meant a conflict of interest with the Governor General (his Mother in Law) in which she has offered to resign, when she should have resigned. She has never had a problem working with clear conflicts of interest before. It may well be the case that she is eventually charged over the Heiner affair with obstruction of justice. But that is a side issue to the show that was the campaign. It was handled badly by an ALP wanting to heal from the personality divisions and failed policy of the recent past. It did not feature discussion on policy. Apparently, the dismal failed policies regarding AGW, Broadband, Immigration, Border Security, Health, Infrastructure, defence, IR and financing are all retained. Shorten promised multiple quotas which should dilute the power of a single gender quota, but be patently unfair on those who merit promotion.

The US Primaries are excellent at building support for the President. But US elections are not compulsory for voters. So those primaries work to gain support from party supporters. In Australia, it is compulsory to vote, so parties try to appeal to the centre, swing voters. The difference means a GOP advert might have a prospective member shooting a target. Whereas a (conservative Australian) Liberal Party advert would be for families, struggling workers and those aspirational peoples wanting a better deal. Maybe in the future such a process will be adopted by the Liberal Party, but at the moment it is redundant .. Mr Abbott is leader and Prime Minister for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, there is a big challenge regarding IR laws. Under Fair Work I was employed under a federal grant on less than minimum wage without conditions. When I pointed this out, the bastard boss sacked me. I had no cause of action for complaint. Under Work Choices, I had had protections against such abuse. But, such abuse, possible under Fair Work, requires special circumstances beyond the average employer or multinational unless they are endowed with political corruption. In fact Fair Work means it is hard to employ people and expensive and so business skip the opportunity cost. There is a need for reform. However, business has not made the case for it and unions are cashed up from the previous ALP government. There are slush funds available for much campaigning. If business want improvements in IR laws, they have to make the case .. and dismiss the ALP/Union partisan Fair Work leaders for reliable ones who are independent.