Tony Abbott vaguely racist, more than vaguely wrong, and a bit of a liar.

[Platypus]

Surprise!

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has argued Julia Gillard should be in Jakarta “right now” discussing asylum seekers with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – despite the fact Mr Yudhoyono, like the PM, is in New York.

Treasurer Wayne Swan criticised the comments as “yet another example of reckless negativity from the leader of the opposition in complete defiance of the facts and common sense”.

Ms Gillard is in New York for four days to address the General Assembly for the first time, and to lead the lobbying effort for Australia to gain a temporary seat on the UN Security Council in 2013-14.

...

Mr Abbott was heavily critical of the bid on Monday and linked it with Labor’s border protection “failures”, telling radio station 2GB that “our Prime Minister should not be swanning around in New York talking to Africans, she should be in Jakarta, right now, trying to sort out the border protection disaster”.

“Rather than talking to African countries, trying to drum up the numbers to get us a temporary seat on the Security Council, she should be in Jakarta talking to President Yudhoyono about how we can cooperate better with the Indonesians to stop this flow which is putting our border protection hopelessly under the pump”.

But The Jakarta Post reports that President Yudhoyono arrived in New York on Sunday at 8.30am local time, where he was met by influential Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and other officials.

Full article: http://www.afr.com/p/national/gillard_should_be_in_jakarta_abbott_Z7UkIiXiNBuMkfOWaYNFRO

[Vosem]

The basic point -- border security is more important than a Security Council seat -- has merit, but the way that was put was just wrong.

[Secretary Polnut]

The basic point -- border security is more important than a Security Council seat -- has merit, but the way that was put was just wrong.

No, Abbott knows he's slipping and it's desperately grasping at straws.

[Platypus]

The seat would be very worthwhile if it wasn't going to end up representing an Abbott government. As it is, whilst we deserve it, i'm not as 100% behind it as I was.

Also, any time Abbott opens his mouth on asylum seekers (not an issue of border security, btw) I feel slightly more disgust in him.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

In other news, Tony Abbott has called for a federal election.

[Platypus]

He'd probably win it, and I think Smid's suggested the earliest date for Senate reasons would be late March, right?

[Smid]

He'd probably win it, and I think Smid's suggested the earliest date for Senate reasons would be late March, right?

I think later than March - I think second half of next year, depending on what goodies can be dished out in the budget (which would kick in from 1 July). Antony Green wrote a great piece recently about why an early election is not necessarily in Abbott's best interest. There are certainly Constitutional constraints about when an election can be held. A half-Senate election cannot be held until the final twelve months of a Senate term. According to Antony Green, the earliest date a normal General Election, with a half-Senate election, is 3 August 2013. Anything earlier would have to be House only, or a Double Dissolution.

[Secretary Polnut]

Yeah... I've heard rumbles about Gillard pushing the button if she gets a consistent lead....


But even IF she had to go early with a Senate election in June 2014, she'd have two years with a majority and a friendly Senate... so it's not exactly an insane concept. We're preparing for an election being calling from late October on.