I said a while ago, before the leadership challenge was even a whisper, that I'd vote for a Labor Party if Kevin Rudd were at the helm. It was a safe bet: I liked Rudd, but I didn't see a prospect of him being leader too soon, after he shot down a leadership challenge last year and Howard was ahead in majority of the poles.

Well, waking up nice and early today to watch the cricket and get my hands on the first snippet of information about the caucus vote, I wondered if I'd still be voting for a Rudd Labor. I thought about whether the I.R. reforms were that important to me at the moment, my stance on environmental issues, on nuclear power, on stem-cell research, on our foreign policies and everything else that's going to be an issue come the next federal election. Would I swap (what I had usually thought) my traditionally preferred political party for their rival?

Well, while I support the increase in use of nuclear power, I also feel there should be more done with the environment. I.R. reforms I just have no opinion of, but I can see that there are holes that can be exploited, and I'm not keen on that. I'm an adamant supporter of stem-cell research. And, of course, our foreign policy has sucked as of late, leading to an increased threat of terrorist attacks, a multitude of options for the current government to exploit the fear of people, and irreconcilably tarnished our international image.

The only thing that pulls me back to the Liberals are their successful economic credentials Costello seems to have (though I have heard the argument that he inherited a healthy economy, and even a monkey could have done what he did, though I don't subscribe to it). But with all of the Labor positions up for grabs, and a possibility of Gillard taking the economic portfolio, I'm prepared to jump to the Labor side of things.

Come election time, I expect to hear the call 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. The only problem is, sure, Australia isn't broken per se, but it's starting to go on the blink (depending who you ask, of course). So do you let it go until it's broken or give things a shake-up and a new perspective?

Thomas.