The headline says it all.  The Abbott Express has run through the night and continued throughout the day, leaving a path of Labor destruction in its path.  The evening news was kind to Abbott, as well as the editorials of the important newspapers in the context of this election.

People around Australia are as we speak setting their alarms so that they can get to the polling booths early on Saturday morning and cast their vote.  The Australian people will be voting for the strength and unity of the Abbott team, and against the spin and treachery of the Labor party.

After being encouraged to do so, loyal readers of this blog took the generous odds of $3.70 on hand yesterday, backing the Liberals into $2.38 by Friday evening.

It has been a great pleasure in being able to provide you with expert analysis on the 2010 election (and there may well be a post or two to write).  I hope you have found it entertaining – blogging in a more serious style with more of an emphasis on what this site was originally created for will hopefully continue, albeit on a less frequent basis.

The Abbott Express has powered to full speed in the past 24 hours with a force that no amount of drone attacks from Julia Gillard seems able to stop.

Right now Tony Abbott is barnstorming the nation, catching flights, navigating the high seas on Sydney ferries, sharing drinks with locals, having a hit of tennis and paying a special visit to the seat of Bennelong before hitting the radio graveyard shifts.  The man of iron has vowed to go without sleep to show the nation that he is serious about being Prime Minister.

Gillard is left looking like a bunny in the headlights of the fast moving express train.  Not knowing which way to turn, watch out for a spin finale from the lady that has all but succeeded in her quest to become more disliked than Kevin Rudd in a fraction of the time.

But Gillard is irrelevant now, the seven economic refugee boats that have arrived since the election was called are irrelevant, the only thing that is relevant now is the growing roar of the Abbott Express as it races towards election day.

The bookmakers still have the Abbott Express priced at $3.70, allowing all followers of this blog to get set with their bets, and sit back and watch as the Express comes in on Saturday night.

On Friday night there will be a special analysis of the 6pm news, the final news that many people will see before voting, which will be critical in maintaining the momentum of the speeding express.

TheRealists have proposed a visionary policy for Australia that will transform the economy and lay the groundwork for years of economic growth and prosperity.

Key Points:

• New International Airports in every regional centre
• 1,000 New Airbus A380 super-jumbos
• Visionary $237 billion price tag

The National Airline Network (NAN), will see regional airports upgraded to international airports; and where a regional centre doesn’t have an airport then a new airport will be built.

Along with the visionary new airports, a visionary 1,000 new Airbus A380s will be purchased to service the NAN.

The real beauty of the NAN is the visionary price tag that goes with it.  Why spend $43 billion on a National Broadband Network (NBN) that will in years down the track deliver speeds that are already available today at no cost to the taxpayer, when the government can spend $237 billion of your money – and when the NAN is built people will be able to take flights that are already available today?

Of course, the $237 billion will provide better airline services to regional centers.  The people of Wagga Wagga, Merimbula, Cooba Pedy, Taree, Lismore and Ceduna, to name just a few, will no longer feel the tyranny of distance.  A flight from Dubbo to Sydney, which currently takes 1hr 10m will take just 40 minutes when the NAN is built.  Again, why spend $43 billion reducing download times for a movie from 10 minutes to 3 minutes when you can spend $237 billion and reduce travel times by a visionary 30 minutes?

The NAN will provide more comfortable, safer, faster travel and create thousands of jobs for people in regional Australia.  Currently people wanting to travel from Mount Isa to Brisbane have to cram onto small, noisy propeller propelled planes.  That is the past.  By embracing the NAN Australians will be moving forward confidently to the super-jumbo age

People who don’t support this plan are standing in the way of progress.  The biggest investment in a NAN by any government anywhere in the world will provide untold benefits to Australians.  People are already excited about being able to order pina coladas on flights from Mildura to Melbourne – something that just isn’t possible on old, small, propeller bases planes.  There are just so many benefits to the NAN, let alone it being visionary.

People talk about motorbikes, bicycles, cars, taxis, buses, trains and different sized aeroplanes.  The people promoting these other methods of transport are promoting a patchwork, not a network – that relies on old, slow and inferior technology – and Australia deserves better.

The NAN will future-proof Australia, create thousands of jobs, and propel us – at 1,000 miles an hour – into the 21st century.

With less than a week to go before Australians go to the polling booths TheRealists have taken the liberty to write an alternative campaign launch speech for Tony Abbott.

“I, Tony Abbott, stand before you today asking for you to put your trust in me and to elect me as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia.

There have been many policies thrown around during the course of the campaign, and I know that many people are undecided about who to vote for.  So let me cut through all the campaign noise and the spin, and tell you why I am better placed than Labor to lead this country.

When the Rudd/Gillard government was elected in 2007 it promised to do many things.  It promised to take action on climate change, it promised an education revolution, it promised to say sorry to the Stolen Generations, it promised to build a national broadband network costing then only $4 billion, it promised to keep grocery and fuel costs down, it promised to turn the boats back, it promised that every school kid will get a laptop, it promised 31 GP Super Clinics, it promised 260 new childcare centres, it promised to end the blame game in hospitals, it promised a review into tax reform and then ignored its recommendations.  Rudd and Gillard promised the world and barely delivered anything.

I’m not going to make any promises.  I’m going to set out a vision for Australia that I would like to achieve, a vision vastly different to that of the Labor party.

The Liberal party believes that individuals are better at making decisions for themselves rather than having government make decisions for them.  The Liberal party believes that the money that the government obtains from its citizens should be spent wisely and efficiently.  The Liberal party believes that people and communities, left to themselves, are better at providing services than centralised government bureaucracy.  The Liberal party believes that having a job is preferable to receiving welfare.  The Liberal party believes that welfare should be provided for those in genuine need, rather than a right that one is born with.  And the Liberal party believes that being seen to be doing good is not sufficient if you don’t have the will and conviction to make the tough decisions.

That is why I won’t shy away from the tough decisions that need to be made.  That is why I will stand up for individuals over government, and that is why I will return money to the hands of individuals rather than spending it on wasteful government programs.

A Liberal government will look to introduce a flat rate of tax as recommended by the Henry Tax Review, providing incentives for people to earn, save and invest more.  We will expand the welfare quarantine provisions that are currently in place in the Northern Territory to apply throughout Australia.  A Liberal party will replace the current plethora of welfare payments and grants with one simplified welfare payment for those that are in genuine need.

The Liberal party will recalibrate the funding of public hospitals and schools to be a system where education and health credits are given to every citizen and the people decide how to spend their credits, making a more fair, efficient and equitable system.

The Liberal party will make real reform in the welfare of our indigenous people, providing for conditions that allow jobs and growth rather than the stagnation and welfare that we have now.

Julia Gillard says she wants to bring in “the right kind of migrants” but has no policies to achieve this.  The Liberal party will enhance our immigration program to require that immigrants come from counties that have a history of successful integration into Australian society, and the Liberal party will stand up to big business and reduce our immigration levels from the current record high levels to levels that are more appropriate to the needs of our country.

The Liberal party won’t put at risk $43 billion dollars worth of taxpayer money investing in one technology to build a broadband network that duplicates much of what already exists without any taxpayer input.  The liberal party won’t spend billions on carbon capture and storage technology that scientists say have no hope of ever working.  The Liberal party won’t have a cash for clunkers scheme that has questionable environmental benefits.  The Liberal party won’t waste money on pink batts or building school halls that schools don’t want.

The Liberal party will reduce taxation, reduce wasteful government spending, and reduce government intervention into people’s lives.”

The country took a breather from the election campaign on Thursday night to watch Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle.  The show interviewed Australian Dr Kim Streatfield who has been living in Bangladesh for the past 18 years.

Every summer Dr Kim Streatfield treats 1000 people a day for severe diarrhoea in squalid conditions.  Despite this, every year he loses his best trained doctors, nurses and office staff to rich overseas countries.  Dick Smith visited this centre and said “One of his most experienced doctors told me she’d be willing to “get a boat” to come to Australia”.

On the show Dr Streatfield says “And this centre loses staff at the rate probably of 100 a year.  It’s just happening every week, every week.  And it’s immoral.”

Of course, this kind of immorality is okay as long as you don’t get seen as racist by questioning aspects of the immigration program.

With the new Julia appearing on two TV shows on consecutive nights (the light-entertainment 7PM Project, as well as a very Gillard-friendly audience on the ABCs  Q and A program), it appears that she has been able to claw back some of the ground lost early in the campaign to the point where the Abbott Express now has a contender to deal with.

The new Gillard has been sedating audiences with her sickly sweet platitudes and first class spin; combining it effectively with her mesmerising drone attacks.  It’s enough to make anyone interested in the political process go out and buy head protection equipment as insurance against self harm -  just in case the new Julia is returned as Prime Minister for what would be a blissfully excruciating 3 years.

Except for maintaining his fitness, staying alert and ensuring he keeps the up his caffeine intake, there is little that Abbott can do against such a tactic from the new Julia, except hope that the public can stay alert enough to appreciate what they will be getting if they return Labor for 3 more years.

With a successful Liberal campaign launch it’s clear that the Abbott Express has overcome any loss off momentum from early last week and is beginning to build up a head of steam.  The Labor party must surely be worried that the Express will soon become a force of nature that can’t be stopped by August 21.

Unfortunately for Gillard; Messrs Rudd and Latham, along with the anonymous leaker, have all conspired to prevent her having a clear run and any hope of building up a similar head of steam.

The Liberal party is even running positive TV commercials (albeit along with a healthy does of attack ads) in the clearest sign that the momentum is with them and the Labor party is creating enough of its own negativity.

For astute punters the price of $4.10 for a Liberal party victory is no longer available, with the coalition price now at $2.27 for an election victory.  Many people that follow this blog will be disappointed that they missed out on the $4.10 price that was available when the Express was just pulling away from the station.

As we come to the final two weeks of campaigning the action is finally starting to hot up on the campaign trail.  People are asking ‘Who will be the ultimate victor?’  ‘Are there more unknowns unknowns?’  ‘Is another Julia going to be revealed?’

The nation waits on the edge of their seats for these answers and more.  It’s going to be a scintillating final two weeks.

For a look at why people are dissatisfied with the Labor party one only has to listen to Mark Aarons, Senior advisor to NSW premiers Bob Carr and Morris Lemma, a man who spent 11 years inside the NSW Labor party.

Tonight on Lateline he was asked what has changed in modern Labor that allowed the unprecedented destruction of Kevin Rudd’s leadership.    His answer confirms the opinion that the once proud party is now just a shadow of what it once was:

“I think what’s changed in modern Labor is that we’ve seen the morphing of what was once the hard men of the NSW right of the Labor party who had good practical political skills -  who had core Labor values and would do whatever it took in order to obtain power, but within the confine of standing for something -  and they’ve morphed into frankly the hollow men who stand for nothing other than following the focus group polling that they’re expert at doing; and substituting leadership and vision for what people who care very little about politics and mainly are focused on their own selfish endeavours tell them in focus groups.

And that has seen the collapse of one Prime Ministership and is I fear threatening another good Labor Prime Minister.”

The so-called faceless men that control the Labor party don’t deserve another election victory.

Julia Gillard this week astonished the nation by revealing that she is going to reveal the ‘real’ Julia Gillard.  When the announcement was made, onlookers were seen to be looking around waiting for a new version of Julia Gillard to enter from stage right, however when a new Julia Gillard failed to show up everyone agreed that another unknown unknown had just been lobbed into the campaign, along with its unknown consequences.

Unknown unknowns are making predicting the winner of the election a very difficult task, with your writer previously predicting a Liberal party victory before the latest bombshell from Gillard.

Initial impressions of the new Julia Gillard indicate that the old Julia Gillard studied TheRealists website closely before settling on a final design for her new self.  Very early in the campaign TheRealists predicted that Gillard Drone Attacks and having the Spin-O-Meter constantly set to high were going to be big issues in the campaign, and the new Julia Gillard seems to have toned down both of these settings.

So what will all this mean for the Abbott Express?  It’s still too early to tell.  The Abbott Express was just pulling away from the station before the new Julia Gillard appeared and did not have sufficient momentum to confidently say it won’t be slowed by such an occurrence.

Momentum has also been lost recently due to Press bias against Abbot, today being accused of trivilising anti-rape campaigns when he said “She said no repeatedly, and when she said no, I thought she meant no” when asked about having another great debate with Julia Gillard.

Thankfully the Man of Iron hit back strongly to such smear, saying “The Labor party spin merchants are running around saying `This is terrible, this shows Abbott is insensitive to women’, I’m not going to cop this kind of vicious smear. I’m the father of three daughters – no one respects women more than I do.”

This election campaign has had its fair share of unknown unknowns, making it difficult to predict just who will win.  That being so, TheRealists encourage people interested in the eventual outcome to cast their eyes to the West and remember the prediction made earlier about the Asylum Bogeyman.

At a vital stage of the election campaign, the Labor party has ignored advice from TheRealists and decided not to pursue the sympathy vote in the August 21 poll and has instead placed their all their eggs in running a smear campaign against Tony Abbott.

Unfortunately for Labor this tactic is likely to backfire as people see it as a desperate move against a man who plays by the rules.

Tony Abbott Boxing at Oxford University

A Rhodes Scholar, Abbott didn’t only pursue intellectual activities at the University of Oxford but also spent some time in the boxing ring, a place where if you don’t box within the rules you lose the fight.

The Labor party deciding to fight dirty shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, a fact that Kevin Rudd will attest to after being stabbed in the back by his own party when things started to look bad.

Week 3 of this 5 week campaign therefore promises to be another poor week for the Labor party as Gillard dishes it out whilst Abbott rises above the smear and looks more Prime Ministerial by the day.