Liberals are afraid

The federal Liberals are afraid of an early election and have dodged one this week by backflipping on the Alcopops tax and deferring the vote on the Rudd government's Emissions Trading Scheme. It was widely speculated that if defeated, the Rudd governement would use the Alcopops legislation to force a double-dissolution.

Labor is now claiming that the opposition are making the parliament unworkable and the country ungovernable and that they are affecting ordinary Australians. These are all words which indicate an election is imminent. The question is how?

Without a double-dissolution, the government may only hold an ordinary election after August 2010, however these words indicate that the government is considering calling a house-only election to demonstrate the Rudd government's mandate and capitalise on disunity in the opposition.