If the states and territories do not sign up to fundamental reform then my message is equally simple: we will take this reform plan to the people at the next election - along with a referendum by or at that same election to give the Australian Government all the power it needs to reform the health system.

Most of the provisions designed to fix what ails our health system don't kick in until 2014 which one wishes administration officials had noticed is two years after he has to win an election.

I think about my parents all the time especially on Sunday when I'm at Mass. My mother always said 'We do not pray to win elections. We pray for people's health we pray that God's will be done we pray that we do our best. But we do not pray to win elections.'

Some of you read with me 40 years ago a portion of Aristotle's Ethics a selection of passages that describe his idea of happiness. You may not remember too well.

Apparently a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.

Although my seat is a contest between Labour and the Lib Dems it could well make the difference between a Labour and a Tory government at the next election. In terms of international development this choice is a very clear one.

In Scotland the indication is that for the Westminster elections at least Labour voters are satisfied with their government.

People know something has gone terribly wrong with our government and it has gotten so far off track. But people also know that there is nothing wrong in America that a good old-fashioned election can't fix.

Now let me be clear. The path I lay out is not one paved with ever increasing government checks and cradle to grave assurance that government will always be the solution. If this election is a bidding war for who can promise the most goodies and the most benefits I'm not your president. You have that president today.

Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

It is our job as members of parliament to legislate with an eye to the long term future to look over the horizon beyond the next election and ensure that as far as we can what we do today will make Australia a better place a safer place for future generations to live in.

A lost election can have the jolt of a drop through the gallows door leading to a dark night of the soul in which the future presses down like a cloud that will never lift.

I mean it's funny playing music how of course you want it to do well you want them to like it but it's not competitive like an election it's the Olympics it's not a Formula 1 race. The Billboard charts are just to show you what people like.

So why am I facing a recall election? Simple: the big government union bosses from Washington want their money. They don't like the fact that I did something fundamentally pro-worker something that's truly about freedom.

A nice easy place for freedom of speech to be eroded is comics because comics are a natural target whenever an election comes up.

To be fair lying is part and parcel of public life. Every politician has lied about something because they are owned by the special interest groups that finance their elections.

Look Congress has allocated more money to finance the upcoming Iraqi elections than it has for the American elections. There's something wrong with that.

There's enormous progressive activism and more often than not success at the grassroots level - everything from living wage campaigns to efforts to finance our elections are having terrific success.

Unfortunately money in politics is an insidious thing - and a loophole in our campaign finance system was taken advantage of with money going to existing or new 527 groups with the sole purpose of influencing the election.

It's possible that the 2012 general-election race will be the least overtly religious one since 1972 the last campaign before Roe v. Wade and the rise of Jimmy Carter brought evangelicalism into the political mainstream. That's because faith remains a complicated issue for Obama who is still wrongly thought to be a Muslim in some quarters.

Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.

If one area I felt it was a tough election was I couldn't see my young son and I couldn't see my wife a lot but apart from that for her also it was an experience.

Elections are also about the future - the pledges that we are making for this country. For those who care about equality and fairness in the UK and beyond Labour really is the only choice.

Federal elections happen every two years in this country. Presidential elections every four years. And four years just isn't long enough to dismantle all the environmental laws we've got in this country.