Based on some past threads in the "Save Australia" section, it doesn't seem like it. John Howard seemed like a good prime minister. Isn't the new one supposed to be worse?
Lemme explain Australian politics.
There are two main parties and a few minor ones who'll never get into office.
The two parties are The Australian Labor Party and the Australian Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party is (traditionally) a centre-right party like America's Republican Party. The name is confusing to Americans because they think of 'liberal' in a neo-liberal or leftist sense. The name actually refers to classical liberal or 'libertarian' much like America's founding fathers.
The Liberal Party governs in coalition with the National Party of Australia. A largely farmer/rancher based rural party.
The coalition is like Urban and rural republicans in the USA.
The Labor Party is like Britains Labor Party. It was traditionally a party of the left/centre-left. It was a construct of the Union movement. While it has ties with unions it is independant of them. They are much like America's Democrats.
At the moment the political lines are very blurry.
In recent years, the Liberal (centre-right) Party moved more to the far right on economic issues- industrial relations in particular. The Labour Party has over 30 years moved from left, to centre-left to centre-right.
Simply put, The Liberal Party moved so far to the right it p*ssed the majority of Australians off. The Labour Party moved far enough to the right to be acceptable.
Now the Liberal Party is moving back toward the centre. On major policy it is almost impossible to tell the two parties apart now. There is a far wider gulf between America's Republicans and Democrats than between Australia's Liberal and Labor Parties.
