June 6, 2013 - 10:52AM
Election countdown: 100 days to go
Peter Hartcher, Jacqueline Maley & Mark Kenny reflect on the electoral landscape one hundred days out from the federal election.
Two Labor MPs have begun packing up their offices, despite the fact that Parliament still has two sitting weeks remaining before the election.
Victorian MP Alan Griffin confirmed he had begun putting his office into boxes.
''As the boy scouts say, be prepared,'' Mr Griffin said.
But he denied that the move would compound the perception that the government is heading for an inevitable electoral rout.
''I'm working to win; I still think I can,'' the staunch ally of ousted former prime minister Kevin Rudd said.
''If I'm unsuccessful I don't want to be coming back up here.''
Mr Griffin was first elected to parliament in 1993. The former minister for veterans affairs in the Rudd government holds the Melbourne seat of Bruce by about 8 per cent.
Daryl Melham has told the ABC that he has also begun packing up.
Mr Melham holds the south-western Sydney seat of Banks by the more slender margin of 1.5 per cent.
Mr Melham was unavailable for comment, but he earlier told the ABC that while he was ''working his guts out'', he was clearing out early to save taxpayers the cost of three days' packing after the election.
MPs are not the only ones thinking of a future in the event Labor loses the election. It was flagged on Twitter that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's director of communications John McTernan was thinking of a radio career.
Sydney radio host Ben Fordham tweeted: ''Met @johnmcternan last night. He floated the idea of a regular spot on my radio show next year if ALP loses the election.''
