PM facing heartache in Labor's heartland

KEVIN Rudd is losing hearts in the heartland and the support of traditional Labor folk such as Bill and Lyn Cooper.

KEVIN Rudd is losing hearts in the heartland and the support of traditional Labor folk such as Bill and Lyn Cooper.

The couple run an ironing business in Cambridge Park, in outer-western Sydney, and are feeling stressed and under financial strain.

Catching an early dinner in Penrith last night before heading back to the toil of their small business, which they run from home, Bill and Lyn are disappointed by the Prime Minister's performance.

The Coopers are enrolled in the federal seat of Lindsay. Labor took the seat from the Liberals at the last election and a redistribution has pushed the margin out to what should be a fairly safe 6.3 per cent.

But Labor is in trouble in Sydney's suburban fringe, its brand tarnished there, as evidenced by the 25 per cent king-hit swing in the state seat of Penrith on Saturday.

Wayne Swan argues that NSW Labor's rude by-election shock has "no federal implications at all". But Lyn believes voters don't distinguish between Rudd's feds and the poisoned state administration of Kristina Keneally.

"They're both Labor and that's all that matters. People don't differentiate here between the federal and state governments. Of course federal issues played a part in Penrith."

The Coopers, both 60, voted for Labor in 2007, confident Rudd would make the country a better place and help ease cost of living pressures. "I thought Rudd was a good person and that he seemed to know what he was talking about," says Bill, finishing his coffee.

"Coming up with the stimulus package was very good, but he hasn't done enough since then. The price of everything keeps going up and the bank balance is going the other way. Rudd hasn't recognised that at all. He has lost touch."

The Coopers are more than ready to switch their vote to Tony Abbott, although Bill has a nagging feeling that the Coalition would bring back Work Choices or could jack up the GST.

"People speak more through their pockets than anything else in politics," he says of voters.

Lyn believes the Opposition Leader should employ a small-target strategy, keeping details of his policies under wraps before "whipping them out during the campaign".

Labor is languishing, she says, because of the home insulation fiasco and the waste in the schools building program. "The people around Rudd also need to take responsibility for the mistakes, but the buck stops with him," she says.