IF COALITION LOCKS-IN CONSUMER DEBT IN LAST WEEK OF CAMPAIGN IT COULD WIN ELECTION

By Con George-Kotzabasis

Presently consumer debt is unprecedentedly high in Australia. Many Australians don’t only pay-off their mortgages but also for luxuries installed in their homes, for four-wheel drives, and for yachts and boats. If the Coalition can make it evidently clear to these consumers in the next few days that these "beloved" luxuries issuing from their debt will be at a high risk of losing them under a Rudd government (remember what Paul Keating said he would do to four-wheel drives if he was still in government?) dominated by the unions, it will have more than a good chance to shift many of those consumers to its side, especially in marginal seats, who could push it over the winning line.

The Coalition’s main slogan “Go For Growth” is totally inept, unimaginative, and does not pull voters to its side as it’s too abstract in their minds. Since the major aim of the Coalition was and is--by concentrating on the economy--to discredit Kevin Rudd as an economic manager, its slogan should have been Go For Economic Security. It’s a concrete slogan and concentrates the minds of those who are heavily in debt. It also highlights the fact that under the Coalition none, with rare exceptions, have lost any of the luxuries mentioned above, whereas under a Rudd Government, the gurus of the Liberal campaign, even at this late stage, could build up the perception among those consumers in debt of the risk that many of them might lose some of these luxuries due to Rudd's economic policies.