The Changing Security Environment
Making the greatest foreign policy mistake in the last thirty years would have this effect I guess:
THE Coalition lost its traditional position as the party of choice on defence and security last year, helping Labor win the election, a new study reveals.
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Report author Ian McAllister said the coalition held a decisive lead over Labor on defence and security issues at the 2001 and 2004 elections, but that had evaporated by 2007.
Professor McAllister, a political science expert at the Australian National University, said that was partly because the coalition was in power at the time of the 9/11 and the Bali terrorist attacks, with the public largely approving of the government response.
At the 2001 and 2004 polls, Labor trailed by 23 and 29 per cent as the party regarded as best able to handle security matters.
But for the 2007 election, there was a major turnaround in public opinion.
On both defence and terrorism, Labor improved its position by a substantial 20 percentage points, he said.
Somehow I don’t think that moving from the arrogant incompetence of Howard government security policy to the shambolic incompetence of the Nelson reign is going to turn this around.
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