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If It's Thursday, it must be Gillard
Went to work yesterday and, it being the last few days of the Financial Year, worked like a lunatic to get everything done before June 30.
On the way home, listened to the radio and there was all this buzz about a leadership spill in the Government. Can't be, I think. This is a first-term popular government. Sure, they are suffering in the polls from some stupid recent policy backflips and disasters, but overall they aren't going too badly. And though we have an election within a few months, it is still theirs to lose.
Then it built, and built. At 9:30 this morning, the labour party caucus meets, and the Prime Minister (by then aware that he can count on only about 30 of the more than 100 sitting members) declares the leader and deputy leader posts vacant, and does not nominate for the leadership. The deputy leader is elected unopposed, and with the space of about 15 hours the Prime Minister went from a person unquestioned in his role, to a backbencher with no influence.
Did someone transport us all to Italy?? This is Australia, where in politics at least, change happens after lots of forewarning, and questioning of policies and decisions. A place where popular Prime Ministers always stay just one term too long and get ignominiously dumped. This instant 'all change please' style of policitcal upheaval just doesn't happen.
The real problem is that we suddenly have a new Prime Minister, and its an other first being a woman; and we haven't had time to ponder on what might be before it is.
Bloody hell, I wonder who will get the job next Tuesday?
Comments
In fact, the only thing missing is the '80s perm at 9 oclock'
Look out you lot, we're coming to get you and we know where you live...........
[Edited on 29-6-10 by oznomad]
[Edited on 11-7-10 by viges]
Some would say that claiming ownership of a five-year-old, forty three years later when she becomes mildly important.........is...........drawing..............a..............long......................................................................................................................................bow
as those cheeky primates in Sumatra.
"Ranga", I guess supersedes "Bluey". Which is so fifties.
Clear as mud?
Roo, you're showing your age, I haven't been called bluey in 20 years or morer.
Won't be watching either. Would rather sit on the couch scooping my eyes out with a melon baller.........
It's one of the reasons I love this country. Another is that fact that at our local shops, they just knocked down a child care centre to build a new grog shop("off licence" for those UK viewers). LOVELY...........
All the Libs can manage is scare and negativity, whilst the Government is busy scoring 5.5 levels of difficulty for all their policy backflips.
I have decided to do something quite shocking (for me, anyway). Since I was 20 years old, I have been a closet socialist and voted Labour. Nothing, and I really mean NOTHING could ever get me to vote for a conservative. But I've had enough. We voted for Rudd to make a real impact on climate change policy, and it is just not good enough that neither of the major parties have anything resembling a coherent policy. I don't know if Carbon Trading is the answer, but I do know that unless someone does something, the energy producers are just going to keep doing what they are doing. I also don't accept any of this nonesense about nothing will happen until the large poluting countries do something.
The reality is that there is a huge opportunity for taking a technical lead on renewable energy technologies, and it needs intelligent legislation that forces the energy companies to invest in the intellectual capital that is available to develop these technologies.
So on August 21st, I am voting Green. I'm not going to vote them in the Senate as is the historical way that Australians send messages of dissatisfaction to their party of choice. I'm going to vote Green in the legislative body; The House of Reps.
Due to our very sensible preferential votes system, the vote will go to Labour anyway (assuming the Labour candidate polls better than the Green candidate), but the message will be sent. The way that the world works, I'm pretty sure that I will not be in too small a minority, since most people come to similar conclusions when similar environmental factors affect their thinking. So here is hoping that:
- There is a huge swing to the Greens
- The Libs don't get too many default votes
- Labour wins, but is sent a big big signal that we are unhappy about climate change policy
- We start to get some decent, inspired, and visionary policy and legislation
Nothing will change until the truth is told. Is the climate changing? Hell, yes. Did we do it? Hell, no. Did we contribute to the process and accelerate it? Absofrigginglutely. Are we going to stop? No a snowball's chance in Hades. Do we need to do something? My oath sunshine.
But let's start talking about real ways of fixing it, not friggin' slogans that attract the great unwashed that wouldn't know their arse from their elbow.
Didn't figure on that happenning.
Neither major party has a clear majority to govern in its own right. Will be like 72 each, plus one green, and 4 independants. So they have to start schmoozing the independants to get them on board.
Unbeleivably, Labour are touting that the swing against them was because of problems during the campaign, so they really are not getting the message being sent to them on climate change. The Greens got a 3.5% swing to them for crying out loaud. They got one lower hopuse seat, and nine senate seats, which definitely gives them the balance of power in the upper house.
We haven't had a hung parliament for 70 years, so no rules written on how to do this. The Green member will go with Labour, no question, so it is the other 4 that are important. All are disenfranchised conservatives, and each have a local focus so they will be taking a grab-bag of local ambit claims to the negotiations.
Some pundits are predicting better outcomes because whoever governs will have to draw back from the party-political, and deal with broader demands, but I don't reckon. The way I see it, whoever gets the independants on side will spend 6-12 months shoring up their support, then a trumped up double-dissolution, and back to the polls for a new majority.
So at the moment we wait, because there are still around 5 seats undecided, and these will come down to postal votes (counted last). Each of these seats will be won by less than 100 or 200 votes, so tense times for all until the election is finally declared (then wait for the appeals and re-counts).
We will know who is to govern in about 2 weeks.
Wait till Big Bad Bob Katter from QLD gets amongst 'em. For you overseas viewers, see if you can find thids bloke on youtube or similar. He's Gold.....
At least we beat the Belgians, and the Iraquis; both of whom don't seem to be in any hurry to form a government.
We live a post-ideological age. Apparently people want centrist parties with very little to distinguish them. Maybe we will have to get used to hung parliaments.
Time to introduce an IQ test in place of universal suffrage.
Honestly, people vote these days on local issues, handouts, what the fuckwit rightist shock-jock says, anything other than considering the party that best conforms to their own ideology and actually looking at the policies.
You're right though. almost impossible to tell the right from the left these days. About the only thing you can use to leverage them apart (apart from a crow bar) is that the left still thinks it's OK to spend public money on the public; and the right likes to save money and give it back in tax breaks, whilst watching infrastructure crumble.