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It's on: The election we had to have

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It was a prayer that Tony Abbott probably said every night. With a parliament evenly spl ir., it came down to cwo men : Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who decided to case their l ot in favour of the Gillard camp. Tony Abbott has been spi rting bricks ever si nce that fateful announcement and has continually called on tbe Gillard and Rudd governments r.o call the election.

God has liste n ed and an election has n ow been called, but perhaps not with aJl of che adva n tages wh id1 Tony Abbott had a few months ago. This time, the contest is between two formidable oppo n ents, unli ke the battle between Abbott and Gillard, which was heavily tilted in tl1e favour of t he leader of the Coalition.

The Labor Party change of leadership was a change which had r.o happen.

Labor was slipping in tbe polls and all indications were tl1at they would be totally annihilated. \'(/bile ilie Gillard led government was putting groundb reaki n g reforms in place, the message was just not getting tl1rough. Too mum noi se about leadership spills, backgrounding of journalists by chose in tl1e anti Gillard, pro Rudd camp, all caused a toxic atmosphere To the Labor Party and aU political observers, Rudd was whiteanting his leader and the more he did so, the more popular he became with the electorate and ilie poU numbers in his favo ur shot up. The p ublic loved him, bur his own parry, other than a select few, desp ised him.

However, it was self preservation as Gillard was deposed and Rudd bec ame the new leader of the Labor Party, and the fourtl1 Prime Jl.,finisrer of Australia in six years Since then, poll numbers have shot up For tl1e Indian Australian community, Kevin Rudd has never openly demonstrated his fr iendship with India, milike his lo\·e for C h ina The Labor Party has been more d i smissive of t he smdent issues than tl1e Liberals. The issue w h im will emerge is which party aligns itself witl1 the asp irational Indians who have n ow made ilieir new h ome in Australia. Trends have been changing in the lnclian Australian commmu1:y. A large number which came down under in the lase I 0 -15 years have changed from being migrants in employed positions ro t hose who have dabbled in small businesses These businesses might be &ancluses of Subway, 7- 11, or Australia Post, o r even s mall businesses in exporting/importing, accounting servic es, food outlets, travel agents etc.

They now need a governmem whic h can support cbern in these activities by n:un imising red rape and the restrictions which lead co a free Aow of services. The Liberals have form on this bur Labor is erring to narrow this g ap, PM Kevin Rudd has increasiJ1gly spoken about his plan to connect wi cl1 business. ln his first term, he could n ot do chis. If he cannot assure tl1e migranr community iliac he now has a new plan ro help tl1e migrant community h o ping to make a better life here, it is going to be difficul t to get their ticks in ilie ballot box for the Labor Parry.

Pawan Luthra is the current Parliament of NSW Multicultural Jomnalist of the Year

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