I agree
with Gillard on one thing – the only poll that matters will be the one taken on
election day. And I will say one thing in Gillard’s favour – the woman has HUGE
ovaries.
How much
of the ALP leadership crisis rubbish we’ve seen in the news lately is simply a
media-creation - “man bites dog” re-packaged as a political sitcom with just
enough plotlines to spin out for 13 or so episodes?
How much
has been just spakfilla to tide us over til the beginning of the AFL season
this coming weekend?
Whether
there were leadership rumbles inside caucus or not, the constant speculation
about the leadership over the last week or more was damaging to the ALP.
----------------------
Simon
Crean’s father, Frank, was the Whitlam Government’s first treasurer. He was a
lacklustre chappy, really. Sure, it would be hard for anyone to look impressive
if standing in the same room as Gough, but there was something about old man
Crean that always looked crumpled.
In the
end, the public perception of Frank Crean was irrelevant. A life-long Labor
man, he became treasurer at the worst possible time in Australian history. At
least Whitlam replaced him as treasurer before the worst of Labor’s fiscal
shenanigans went haywire.
His
political career ground rather quickly to a halt, but he never jumped from the
Labor ship.
Reading
spakfilla headlines for the past week or so, I’ve been struck by the thought
that only an idiot would put his/her hand up for the job of Labor Leader any
time in the next ten years unless, as a new broom, they could really sweep the
party leadership clean and start from scratch.
Anyone
who aspired now to leadership of such
a [ahem] “rudderless” bunch would be tainted forever by association. Anyone who
aspired to leadership of this mob would have to lack either brains, standards,
or any real ambition.
So what
was Simon up to today?
.jpg)
Raph
Epstein played a recording of Simon Crean’s comments about Rudd during the last
leadership spill. Crean’s opinion at the time was, effectively, that Rudd had
not changed, could not change, and never would change. Rudd’s leadership style was
a leopard-spot.
When he
demanded a spill today, was Simon Crean naïve enough to think anyone would
elect him as deputy leader? That Rudd had a clear majority? I doubt it.
What I
suspect really happened is Crean saw his political career spiralling down the S
bend and thought “what the heck, I’ll light one last petard for the good of the
party. At least it might get the leadership sitcom off the front page for a
while.”
-------------------
Some of
the texted comments Raph Epstein read out on the radio included
-
I
will vote for Rudd but not for Gillard
-
I
would vote for Turnbull but not for Abbott
-
I
will vote Greens but give my preferences to the Liberals
-
I’m
sick of this: Just how many Prime Minister sized pensions will tax payers be
funding for the next 40 years?
-------------------
So, has
all this brouhaha made Australia a laughing stock, as one expert claims?
Whether
or not it is amusing to outsiders might depend in part on how they feel about
the Westminster System.
We vote for local representatives, and the majority of
those representatives choose the Prime Minister.
Voters do not directly choose
the leader.
This leads to stability and ensures the Prime Minister always has
the confidence of the Parliament.
One could
be forgiven for thinking the reality is quite different if recent news headlines
are anything to go by, or even if we accept that some people do not vote
according to party philosophy but really might prefer Turnbull to Abbott,
Gillard to Rudd and so on.
The
stability thing works when there is a clear majority. But… maybe not so well if
the Government is patched together with a series of treaties and deals as shonky
as those that caused World War I.
-----------------
The end
stages of this democratic process are underpinned by party machinery. I was
appalled when Hawke was parachuted into the seat of Wills, and when an attempt
was made to demote Penny Wong to 2nd place on the SA Senate ticket
for 2013.
More
frightening was when Julia Gillard announced – rather too autocratically for my
liking – that Nova Peris must be given pre-selection for the NT Senate, and
that long term Senator Trish Crossin could lump it. Julia Gillard might have a
sound vision for Australia
As for
Peris, no one can hand her respect. She has to earn it. If the pre-selection is
handed to her, she will have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously. Maybe
three times as hard.
-------------------
There are
things to like and dislike about both the Westminster
If, as
Australians, we are expected to vote primarily for a party philosophy or set of
policies, we are stuffed.
Policy
statements are too often descriptions of outcomes rather than prescriptions or
plans for achieving those outcomes. Policies have been replaced by simplistic
promises. Promises are broken.
The how
to part of outcomes should, if the Westminster
Let me be
honest: I’m very interested in policies and philosophies but on election day my
decision will be an emotional one. Who is the [current] party leader least
likely to embarrass Australia
Tony who
is so negative he can only talk of what is not?
Julie
Bishop, who just looks like a Stepford Wife, nodding, laughing or shaking her
head on cue?
Joe
Hockey, who I suspect could pick a fight in an
empty house?
Julia may
have ovaries, but she seems increasingly self-referencing, and is unable to
sell any positive in a practical way. [She’s no Stepford Wife, but still seems
quite clueless.]
Swan?
Torn between fiscal sanity and a desire to be re-elected. A fence-sitter.
Rudd? It
is always a mistake to go back.
I’ve
often said in the past that we deserve the right to directly elect a leader,
encouraging someone to come forward who actually has a clear vision and the
ability to sell that vision.
Sadly, I’m
not sure anything would change. I’m not sure anyone who's interested is up to the challenge.
-------------------------
