Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Our new PM. 
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rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Misleading headline
Misleading headline
Australia gets their first woman?
I'd have expected life in a penal colony to be hard, but man, I didn't know it was that though all those 222 years.
Misleading headline
Australia gets their first woman?
I'd have expected life in a penal colony to be hard, but man, I didn't know it was that though all those 222 years.
jmilkins
Digited User
wha' happen'd? Jeez - pop into the darkroom and when you come out everything's changed ...and stayed the same
Olsen
Well-known
Agree!
I got nothing against women in politics. Quite to the contrary. Our (Norwegian) best prime minister ever was a woman: Gro Harlem Bruntland. She solved the last bank crisis by writing the existing capital to nill and nationalized the banks. When the banks were later partly privatized the tax payers could harvest a huge profit. And much more. She was a decent politician.
But so was Kevin Rudd. The process smells bad.
Look up this: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/rudd-j24.shtml
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
That article sums up what occured perfectly. Rudd was the elected leader of this country and love him or hate him what happened to him was certainly not democracy in action.
I've spoken to a few committed labour voters who are ashamed of what happened!
Freakscene
Obscure member
That article sums up what occured perfectly. Rudd was the elected leader of this country and love him or hate him what happened to him was certainly not democracy in action.
I've spoken to a few committed labour voters who are ashamed of what happened!
It's only as undemocratic as the system: in Australia you don't really vote for a Prime Minister, you vote for a party who, as we've seen, can choose the prime minister. At least we have direct voting, unlike a lot of republics, including some of the big famous ones that go on about freedom and democracy.
Marty
Olsen
Well-known
We have the same system here. 'Democracy' expresses itself in that we choose a laundry list of politicians from one party. Who's gonna be on the lists, the nominations, are decided in secret processes within the parties. But I can't remember that any party here have changed their front figure, the one at the top of the list, between elections. Which is indeed undemocratic.
It is also to dumb that it was all about taxes & mining company profits. Frightening too.
Further: The mining companies in Australia live off a limited national resource. The more they sell, the less there is left. It is totally unacceptable then that these companies shall pay only around 28 - 30% tax. - Like any pizza restaurant around the corner. Proceeds from the Australian mining should be put aside in a national fund. Like many nations in the same situation do. To compensate for some of the loss.
You had a sensible prime minister with a lot of integrity in Kevin Rudd. Now you have someone who will just do what the mining companies tell her.
alan davus
Well-known
Olsen, for someone who lives a world away from us here in Oz you have a good handle on our politics..... My other beef (other than that posted above) about Julia Gillard getting the top job is I always hoped one of my daughters would be the first Labor PM of Australia.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I love that look she's giving Tony Abbott in the second pic I posted. I would like to know what she was thinking!
Olsen does have a bit of a handle on politics Oz style!
Olsen does have a bit of a handle on politics Oz style!
ChrisN
Striving
I love that look she's giving Tony Abbott in the second pic I posted. I would like to know what she was thinking!
It was reported that when she walked into the Chamber for the first time as Prime Minster, Julia Gillard walked up to Tony Abbott, shook his hand and said "Game on!".
I like her style!
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Leigh Youdale
Well-known
Well, she's smart, ambitious, abrasive, and probably going to be a bit like Maggie Thatcher but on the other end of the political spectrum.
Personally I think it's a shame that they dumped Rudd, but that's politics.The Labor Party here is infamous for shafting its leaders if they look like they're losing electoral support.
The name of the game as always is for the party to retain power, no matter what or who.
I think Rudd was too intellectual for the party 'heavies', not sufficiently inclusive in his decision making, and he made a couple of significant errors of judgement in taking on huge global issues that were important but for which he could not carry enough popular support - and he wouldn't compromise or back down, so both initiatives failed in the end. Climate Change, Depletion of Australia's Mineral Reserves, Whaling. There are a lot of domestic issues that he probably should have paid more attention to (not that they were ignored) but I think he wanted to make his mark, leave a significant legacy of policy and he couldn't quite get the general population sufficiently enthused about those issues to shield him from attack from within his party.
Those issues are still there, but someone else will have to confront them at another time.
Personally I think it's a shame that they dumped Rudd, but that's politics.The Labor Party here is infamous for shafting its leaders if they look like they're losing electoral support.
The name of the game as always is for the party to retain power, no matter what or who.
I think Rudd was too intellectual for the party 'heavies', not sufficiently inclusive in his decision making, and he made a couple of significant errors of judgement in taking on huge global issues that were important but for which he could not carry enough popular support - and he wouldn't compromise or back down, so both initiatives failed in the end. Climate Change, Depletion of Australia's Mineral Reserves, Whaling. There are a lot of domestic issues that he probably should have paid more attention to (not that they were ignored) but I think he wanted to make his mark, leave a significant legacy of policy and he couldn't quite get the general population sufficiently enthused about those issues to shield him from attack from within his party.
Those issues are still there, but someone else will have to confront them at another time.
Leigh Youdale
Well-known
I rather liked the description of Tony Abbott in the weekend papers when they (referring to his rather noticeable ears each side of a rather narrow head) called him "Wingnut".
