On Tony Abbott's Election victory & the most pressing immediate issues ahead & Bill Shorten's monumental task to reform labor Party back to relevance!

It's been more than a month since Tony Abbott & the coalition's decisive victory at the polls in Australia.

It is clear that Tony Abbott has recognised the extent of the political damage the public infighting between the Gillard & Rudd camps caused the Labor brand, and the fact that the 24 media cycle fuelled the circus.

It is therefore clear that Tony Abbott wants to govern under the radar of the voters, at least for as long as possible! The travel expense issue can & will disrupt that strategy albeit momentary.

Abbott also appreciates the terminal damage the "No Carbon Tax" turnaround inflicted on Gillard's leadership. So he's acutely aware of the fact that in order to establish credibility & win voters' trust, he must reasonably quickly a) make sure asylum seeker boats trickle down to near zero, and b) repeal the Carbon Tax legislation.

However, the most pressing issues facing the Abbott Government are neither of the above: 
1) Low business confidence due to haphazard years of Labor policy initiatives & poor implementation 
2) Fragile consumer spending
3) Poor productivity gains due to stifling aspects of the Fair Work Legislation

Those three will be very much issues which will define Abbott's first term in government.

Bill Shorten has in many ways got a harder task ahead of him. The contrived US style leadership selection process of the last 4-5 weeks can hardly work as an effective strategy to cover up a bitterly divided party in need of major reform. The leadership ballot, whilst a good first step, falls far short of the real restructure & reform labor urgently needs, reform that was comprehensively reported by the Faulkner/Carr/Bracks Committee after the 2010 election & sadly conveniently ignored by Gillard & her faceless backers.

There's no doubt that Bill Shorten is the most politically competent individual amongst the current crop of Labor politicians in Canberra, and the person most likely able to lock horns with Tony Abbott.

However, if Bill Shorten is serious about broadening the base of the Party 7 its future relevance & his own leadership, he must restructure the preselection process to allow more candidates from NON UNION backgrounds to represent Labor Party at State & Federal politics. 

As it stands, the vast majority of Bill Shorten's much hyped Shadow Cabinet are former Union officials (including Bill Shorten himself of course) and 22 of the 26 Labor Senators in the new Senate next July will be former union officials who have almost been handed over cushy Senate seats.

Surely, Bill Shorten, Anthony Albanese & the still very much alive & kicking faceless men of Labor Party understand that is hardly a good start in broadening the appeal of the Party amongst the clearly disenchanted voters!