[SeaCzar]

Australia has a new Prime Minister. Full story
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. Also, the first shelia to have the job. And I thought politicans fell out of favour here (US) quickly.

[Pandemonium]

I have watched the unfolding events with interest. In the span of a week his opinion polls crashed through the ground for no apparent reasons. Many political commentators speculated on the reasons why; such as the ditching of the emissions trading scheme until the senate presents favorable conditions. Apart from that he fulfilled most of his election promises though the populous did not exactly perceive that. The problem when you don't advertise your successes and the media neither presents them.

There were a few policies I personally don't support for various philosophical or technical reasons but I liked the guy. I don't particularly like the new prime minister for no apparent reason. However, we get whom ever stabs the previous in the back. I will vote for her in the next election because I think that the new prime minister and possibly the labor party would be better than the alternative.

[Geminii]

Interesting, in that she also doesn't have much of a media history - she's not pegged in the Australian voter subconscious as being for or against any particular thing. This gives her a lot of wiggle room to set her own image by how she deals with the items currently on the national political radar.

She's also gotten lucky (in a sense) in that she hasn't taken over in a time of complete national collapse where everything is wrecked, nor has she moved in during a period of complete satisfaction when there would be nothing notable for her to make her mark with. She's inherited a small plate of relatively minor yet mostly fresh political issues as something of an entrée, and the population is, at most, only mildly interested in the actual outcomes and more in how she tackles them.

It's also interesting that the top three political positions in the country (Prime Minister, Governor General, and Monarch) are all held by women at the moment. I wonder if that's a first for a Commonwealth country?

From a personal perspective, I'm enjoying having a bit more diversity in the Lodge (Australian semi-equivalent of the White House), and just crossing my fingers that her time there will be seen by history as being at least neutral and at most excellent. Britain's first and last attempt at a female Prime Minister, for example, seems to have soured them on the prospect; I can only hope that won't happen here.

[Hctim]

I have nothing against a women being Prime Minister, but I definitely hate this one. The way I see it, she saw an opportunity to be in the history books and took it rather than wait and contest it at an election. She has at most 4 months to do anything, if she was serious about fixing the country she would have waited for the election. But what I hate the most is the attitude of some women in Australia... "Of course I like her, shes a women. Now things will get done". I've never liked betrayal

But perhaps I'm biased. I dislike all politicians and am slightly cynical

[Geminii]

I dunno. From the various reports, it was more like the previous guy was going to be drawn and quartered by his own party for having an approval rating so low it would have lost them the next election, and she was the candidate likely to be able to get the most public support together in the shortest time.

If she's smart, she'll fix up the current political media-attracting issues in a voter-friendly way, call an election, and pull the Opposition's current leader (who has a lot of unpopular views) into quick-fire TV debates on subjects like abortion, women's rights, unions, and other things he's known to have very conservative (and disliked) opinions on.

In turn, he's best off either handing the leadership off to someone seen as more centrist, or trying to pin her to Rudd's back-room kingmakers, or pulling in someone like Julie Bishop to be a 'running mate' and talking head on issues traditionally seen as of particular concern to female voters.

Unless he hands over the reins completely, though, I can't see him winning against Gillard, particularly if she calls a very fast election. And Abbot's not likely to do that - he's going to want to make it a personal win. He wants to be the Head Honcho, the Big Cheese, the guy calling the shots. He wants it too much to step aside. And I think Gillard will be able to use that to nail him to the wall - IF she plays her cards right.

[SamDwight]

Rudd signed his own death warrant. He took responsibility for everything, it was never the party's policies, they were his own.

He was responsible for the insulation, ETS, school building project etc.

Julia Gillard didn't help his cause, while she never came out and said it, she never supported anything. She always avoided direct questions and said she supported Kevin Rudd or the labor party. Thus distancing herself from any negatives and appearing to agree with the positives.

I feel sorry for Kevin Rudd, but i really dislike Julia Gillard. To me she just seems so scheming, smug and arrogant.

As for the election, i think she will probably win, polls show she has greater support than Rudd & Abbott. Having said that i'll be suprised if she's more than a one term prime minister.

[Thinker]

	Originally Posted by SeaCzar To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Australia has a new Prime Minister. Full story To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. . Also, the first shelia to have the job. And I thought politicans fell out of favour here (US) quickly.

The PM here is appointed by the party who is in power...unlike in the US where the president is elected by the people.

Rudd definitely didn't resonate with the people.
They like emotion and he was too pragmatic and cold.
Every time he did act "human" he came across as a nerd.
He also upset people in the (parliamentary) caucus through lack of consultation.
The media also presented him in an unfortunate way.
Perception becomes reality.

Ultimately politics is a team game where you have to keep your team onside, just as much as you have to keep the electorate on side.

Then again people forget that Australia has navigated the global recession well and the government should be given credit where credit is due.

As for Julia Gillard you have to admire her.
People can keep being emotive about a betrayal, but if your team will be in the losing seat with the current leader, then you remove the leader.
If someone taps you on the shoulder and suggests you are the best alternative, you consider your options. Politicians are people who take betrayal like this seriously.

The leadership change was carried out expediently to ensure that Labor had the best chance of winning the next election.

I can see the logic in that sort of pragmatism.

[Geminii]

If Gillard can call the next election quickly, she'll probably win it on the policy platform of "Not being Tony Abbott". Particularly if she starts dragging out his history of female-unfriendly political stances.

[Thinker]

It is a complex decision.
Amongst other things, the legislation agenda needs to be sorted.
There are some important legislative changes which have been passed by the house of reps (and currently have both Labor and Liberal endorsement in the senate) and really should be passed before an election...otherwise the process starts again.

The only way to pass this legislation is to come back in August, have the legislation passed by the senate.....and then call the election.

Some of these legislative changes could come back to bite the Labor party (should they win) if they have to be re-processed through both the house of reps and the senate.

At the moment no-one really knows which way the senate electoral vote will fall in an election.
It may be that should Gillard win, the senate will be more Green, with the balance of power centred on the Greens and independents.
This was always the view of the Rudd government, and why they really never considered a double dissolution based around the ETS.

Once again you may end up with a toothless government with little room for movement on important issues like the ETS.

[Drey]

Interesting thread. After watching a few videos of Gillard's interviews, she strikes me as an INTJ.

Does anyone else think she may be one?

[HackerX]

Not a chance.

[Brittle]

	Originally Posted by Geminii To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I dunno. From the various reports, it was more like the previous guy was going to be drawn and quartered by his own party for having an approval rating so low it would have lost them the next election...

Actually, at the time he was ditched, his approval rating was still much higher that Abbott's. Rudd's undoing was the mining tax... because of the backflip on the ETS and other perceived backflips, he had painted himself into a corner where he either moved his position on the tax (allowing the opposition to paint him as someone who couldn't be trusted to stick to a policy decision), or stuck by the immensely unpopular tax which the opposition used brilliantly to tear him down.

	Originally Posted by Thinker To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Rudd definitely didn't resonate with the people. They like emotion and he was too pragmatic and cold. Every time he did act "human" he came across as a nerd. He also upset people in the (parliamentary) caucus through lack of consultation..

Precisely all the reasons I really liked the guy.

Ironically, the reason Rudd initially had such a great popularity rating was due to his appearances on Sunrise and Rove (I seriously LOVED the skit they did about him with that crazy laugh) - however once in the top job, serious decisions had to be made and party lines had to be toed. People felt he had "abandoned" them because he was no longer accessible (although he still answered live questions on Sunrise each Friday and was a keen Twitterer).

It's a shame things panned out for him the way they did, as he actually did achieve quite a lot in his time and on balance, his failings were few and far between (but tragically rather large!).

	Originally Posted by Drey To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Interesting thread. After watching a few videos of Gillard's interviews, she strikes me as an INTJ. Does anyone else think she may be one?

Who would know. She is so carefully controlled that it's hard to get any sense of who she really is (and I feel this is less to do with her type and more to do with the party not wanting the slightest gaffe to ruffle the feathers of the voting public).

Still, I'd rather her than Abbott. He could also join the circus with his ability to perform spectacular backflips.

And let's not forget the Liberal party's treatment of Malcolm Turnbull and Brendon Nelson when they start banging on about the Labour party's treatment of Rudd. Politics is a dirty business and they all have blood on their hands.