Could it be?
Jun. 23rd, 2010 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been enjoying (??) a steady slide in his popularity ever since late last November, when his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was defeated, his moment in the Copenhagen limelight turned to failure, and Tony Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as Opposition Leader.
Since then, things have steadily got worse for him - and everything he's tried to do to deflect attention from the previous failure has gone into an even faster tail-spin.
Now it looks as though his days, possibly even his hours, are numbered.
If this happens, the likely successor is Julia Gillard (deputy PM). That would make her Australia's first female Prime Minister. Things to bear in mind:
1) She will not be an elected Prime Minister.
2) She must be judged on her competence, not on her gender. Unfortunately for her, the "Building the Education Revolution" program over which she presides as Education Minister has been far from stellar; with reports of gross mismanagement, total failures of consultation with expressed wishes of the schools being overridden, and horrific fiscal waste to the tune of FIVE BILLION DOLLARS. I have no problem with a female Prime Minister per se. I have a lot of problems with this particular woman as Prime Minister.
3) The next election is due no later than April; the best she can hope for is to be regarded as a stable caretaker. Essentially everything this government has done is going to have to be overhauled, and possibly undone and redone, before the Labor Party can regard itself as fit to govern beyond then.
10:19pm - according to the news sources, it's all over bar the shouting. From the ABC, the Government broadcaster:
One senior party source said: "This crypto-fascist made no effort to build a base within the party and now his only faction - Newspoll - has deserted him. He is gone."
His only faction - Newspoll. Says it all about the man. This is what happens when you're driven by the polls rather than by conviction. Even Whitlam - sacked in disgrace by the Governor General and then slaughtered at the polls by the electorate - had conviction. He who lives by the popularity poll will die by the popularity poll - metaphorically speaking, anyway.
ETA 24 June, 10:15.
Rudd is out. Good riddance to you, sir. You have besmirched the reputation of this fine nation for long enough.
Congratulations to Julia Gillard on a clean kill, elected unopposed. Prime Minister Gillard, you have approximately six months and not more than nine* to begin the undoing of Rudd's damage and start governing this country the way it ought to be governed. Show that you can be a principled leader, and not merely a poll-driven narcissist like the pretender you just toppled, and the country might give you another chance.
Congratulations also to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, without whom Rudd would never have entered his curious self-driven death spiral. Your job - to provide an effective opposition and pull the government up on its shortcomings - has been done well, but your other job (getting into government) might just have got a hell of a lot harder. If you can win against a resurgent Julia Gillard come the next election, you'll deserve the position.
* = Not a threat, but a constitutional and electoral reality. The next election MUST be called by then.
Since then, things have steadily got worse for him - and everything he's tried to do to deflect attention from the previous failure has gone into an even faster tail-spin.
Now it looks as though his days, possibly even his hours, are numbered.
If this happens, the likely successor is Julia Gillard (deputy PM). That would make her Australia's first female Prime Minister. Things to bear in mind:
1) She will not be an elected Prime Minister.
2) She must be judged on her competence, not on her gender. Unfortunately for her, the "Building the Education Revolution" program over which she presides as Education Minister has been far from stellar; with reports of gross mismanagement, total failures of consultation with expressed wishes of the schools being overridden, and horrific fiscal waste to the tune of FIVE BILLION DOLLARS. I have no problem with a female Prime Minister per se. I have a lot of problems with this particular woman as Prime Minister.
3) The next election is due no later than April; the best she can hope for is to be regarded as a stable caretaker. Essentially everything this government has done is going to have to be overhauled, and possibly undone and redone, before the Labor Party can regard itself as fit to govern beyond then.
10:19pm - according to the news sources, it's all over bar the shouting. From the ABC, the Government broadcaster:
One senior party source said: "This crypto-fascist made no effort to build a base within the party and now his only faction - Newspoll - has deserted him. He is gone."
His only faction - Newspoll. Says it all about the man. This is what happens when you're driven by the polls rather than by conviction. Even Whitlam - sacked in disgrace by the Governor General and then slaughtered at the polls by the electorate - had conviction. He who lives by the popularity poll will die by the popularity poll - metaphorically speaking, anyway.
Rudd is out. Good riddance to you, sir. You have besmirched the reputation of this fine nation for long enough.
Congratulations to Julia Gillard on a clean kill, elected unopposed. Prime Minister Gillard, you have approximately six months and not more than nine* to begin the undoing of Rudd's damage and start governing this country the way it ought to be governed. Show that you can be a principled leader, and not merely a poll-driven narcissist like the pretender you just toppled, and the country might give you another chance.
Congratulations also to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, without whom Rudd would never have entered his curious self-driven death spiral. Your job - to provide an effective opposition and pull the government up on its shortcomings - has been done well, but your other job (getting into government) might just have got a hell of a lot harder. If you can win against a resurgent Julia Gillard come the next election, you'll deserve the position.
* = Not a threat, but a constitutional and electoral reality. The next election MUST be called by then.