It would be remiss of me to let the events of today go by without comment. Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, decent sort of a guy was voted in just over two years ago, inherited an economic crisis and managed to keep us out of recession, was today ousted by his deputy, Julia Gillard.
This in itself is not unusual. Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull was ousted by the current Liberal opposition leader Tony Abbot in December. Party factions are always playing silly buggers and leadership challenges are commonplace but . . what pisses me off is why they're allowed to take place.
I mean I vote for a leader/party and expect them to do their damndest for 3 years until the next election. I think it only fair that a leader be given the opportunity to fulfil their promises, consolidate their party and have a good crack at running the country, Unless they turn out to be a total dipshit and incompetent or megalomaniac, let them run their course and the people decide whether they've cut the mustard. Is that too much to ask? Although were times when I'd have liked my boss to face a leadership challenge!
I'm really annoyed at factions running political parties when we the voters did not vote them into those places of power. Sure, change portfolios if you must (not a great fan of that either) and having worked in Government for many years, I know it's actually the public servants that run the country but give a man his dues. Let him make his mistakes, reap his rewards or pay the price at the next General Election.
I mean it takes an awesome event to impeach a President. You don't just have a party room meeting and decide that "Oh Obama's not delivering so we'll wack Hilary in there as President". Can you imagine?
I have only a small opinion about our Julia, I don't like that she's sidled up to Kev then ousted him but she's very labour, very left, very union, very much what I stand for. She's also a woman which can be a good thing. Although having said that I find that women in 'high' places soon begin to act like the worst of men.
The media tonight are treating this as if it was an election victory. It wasn't. It was a back-biting factional usurpation of a leader who has taken charge of a country during a global financial crisis and managed to keep it afloat (albeit thanks to a surplus left by the previous Government and an Opposition as weak as piss). Frankly, I don't think he's done that badly.
Anyway, Kev's on the back bench but still going to challenge at the next election. Julia is smiling a smile of victory and probably wondering when it's her turn to feel the cold blade of a million Brutus' in her back and the Australian public, expecting a Federal election in March are in a quandry.
This in itself is not unusual. Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull was ousted by the current Liberal opposition leader Tony Abbot in December. Party factions are always playing silly buggers and leadership challenges are commonplace but . . what pisses me off is why they're allowed to take place.
I mean I vote for a leader/party and expect them to do their damndest for 3 years until the next election. I think it only fair that a leader be given the opportunity to fulfil their promises, consolidate their party and have a good crack at running the country, Unless they turn out to be a total dipshit and incompetent or megalomaniac, let them run their course and the people decide whether they've cut the mustard. Is that too much to ask? Although were times when I'd have liked my boss to face a leadership challenge!
I'm really annoyed at factions running political parties when we the voters did not vote them into those places of power. Sure, change portfolios if you must (not a great fan of that either) and having worked in Government for many years, I know it's actually the public servants that run the country but give a man his dues. Let him make his mistakes, reap his rewards or pay the price at the next General Election.
I mean it takes an awesome event to impeach a President. You don't just have a party room meeting and decide that "Oh Obama's not delivering so we'll wack Hilary in there as President". Can you imagine?
I have only a small opinion about our Julia, I don't like that she's sidled up to Kev then ousted him but she's very labour, very left, very union, very much what I stand for. She's also a woman which can be a good thing. Although having said that I find that women in 'high' places soon begin to act like the worst of men.
The media tonight are treating this as if it was an election victory. It wasn't. It was a back-biting factional usurpation of a leader who has taken charge of a country during a global financial crisis and managed to keep it afloat (albeit thanks to a surplus left by the previous Government and an Opposition as weak as piss). Frankly, I don't think he's done that badly.
Anyway, Kev's on the back bench but still going to challenge at the next election. Julia is smiling a smile of victory and probably wondering when it's her turn to feel the cold blade of a million Brutus' in her back and the Australian public, expecting a Federal election in March are in a quandry.
Gotta love the Westminster system and frankly, "Yes Minister" was so close to the bone it aint funny.
"Just sayin' " as the Yanks would articulate.
Julia is 'sworn' in - read into that what you like!
Now, if you're looking for Theme Thursday, shameless plug, take a look at Creative Infanticide and kill my baby.
36 comments:
I just heard about it this morning - first thought was "oh those aussies elected a woman" but then it became clear.
politics - (big sigh)
Amazes me how people don't understand they are voting for a party, not a leader.
I feel so much the same ....SO much ...I admire her and she leans the way I do in most things I suspect. Perhaps it's our Welsh immigrant parents!
I do though feel dreadfully said for our Kev!
So are you going to Paris???
every so often a politician surprises us and remanes human once they take office...very rare...
Yes, I suddenly noticed a piece about it on the BBC website this morning and it was a surprise to me : I thought he was doing a more than decent job for you. Ah well - we venture together into difficult and uncertain political waters.
i used to take notice of politics but these days i dont know if kevin is good or bad, i dont know what tony abbott is like and i dont have an opinion on julia but i was thrilled with the drama of it all.
you make some great points and if you are lefty then you must be ok
What??? No more Howard???
Here, we have 4 year terms for the Prime Minister and 5 year terms for the President of the Republic. We have replaced Prime Ministers 3 times since the change of regime. In 1993, one of the died in office in cancer. He was quite a maniac, because he governed the country from a hospital at times. The second of them became the victim of his Brutuses and the third became so unpopular that he resigned. It seems to me that the Prime Minister's position is stronger here.
Anyway it is nice to see that a foreigner can make career in your country. It is a good point to Australia in my eyes, however I am not a backstabber type. My rest without guilty conscience worths more.
That's just crazy making, switching up like that. How does anything get accomplished if people are putting their energy into a coup every so often? Then again, there have been a few presidents that left me wishing there could be a change-up mid term. Just sayin...
It seems that your brain works differently than ours. Here 81% of the parliament seats are taken by right wing parties (68% - Fidesz (conservatives) and 12-13% Jobbik- radical party).
What Brian said is so true. But they are so rare, that we have yet to have seen one in so many years, that I think we forgot what they look like.
I think it has something to do with power going to their head. It changes them. No one then knows who they are. Or maybe the real person is brought out through the power.
Once we vote in a President it is almost impossible to get them out until their term is up. I think I kinda would like to keep it that way. Although there have been a few that it would be nice to have changed the term to two years instead of four. But this is how we yanks do it. The majority votes their guy in. But right now the majority would like to vote him out and we cannot vote for another two years. This sucks. See two years would be good, then if they do a good job then we could vote him in for another two years.
But our Congress and Senators need to have a one term limit. The power really goes to their heads and they are the biggest jackasses about it. Sad thing is that they turn into the biggest crooks in the country, well except for Madoff. But still they get bought out faster then any other group of government that we have. If we are lucky this November we are going to fire their asses by voting them all out. The thieving, back stabbing, tax us to death, cheating sons of bitches need to go.
Oh it is kinda funny how my TT post has a political thing going for it too. Triangle was a hard one to figure out.
God bless.
she just wanted a free trip to canuckistan, to chat with our illustrated [or is that illustrious?] leader... as for cutting muster [NOT mustard :P]....
I had no idea that such governmental goings on were possible in Australia. I hope Julia does a decent job for you all...
I'll drop by as I can and see if you can chat the legs off my chair...
Gotta love the Westminster system? You have to be joking. We now have a coalition that was foisted on us by the politicians, not voted for by anybody, pursuing policies that Lib Dems violently opposed before the election. And there's going to be a 5-year fixed-term parliament and new rules making a premature dissolution virtually impossible. We've been taken for a ride!
I'd argue that if the PM doesn't have the confidence of his/her own party, then the government becomes disfunctional and there will be party dissent. Otherwise, the whole country suffers as the government fails. The reason Howard was such a successful PM (politically) is that he had near total respect and loyalty from his party (not that I was a Howard fan). It's the hardest gig in the land, being PM.
Rudd tried his best, but he was a one man band, according to his ministers. He rarely consulted them on key decisions and that has backfired spectacularly. You can't govern well without your party behind you. And besides, Rudd provoked her. There is an interesting piece here. Julia may not be the backstabber she is being portrayed as.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-deputy-scorned-20100624-yzgp.html
And besides, it's only a few months before the election anyway. And now with Julia as leader, Labor may just stand half a chance at stopping mad Abbott from sending the country back to the 1950's.
I never did understand that method of picking a country's leadership. For all our problems, I'm still glad we peeled off and declared independence from that system back in 1776!
I hate it when politicians "cross the floor" i.e. suddenly decide to change parties. So, you vote in, say a liberal, and then, all of a sudden, you have a Torie representing you. It is just not on and I don't know why it is allowed.
Gee for a minute there that description sounded like someone in the US dips..etc..
hahah
You're right...Julia better watch her back.
one of our representatives quit because he said it's impossible to make a difference anymore in our system; another resigned because he was profamily and got caught in an affair...i'm in d.c right now, you know, and the history is amazing and the leaders were geniuses...what happened?
ANd I thought American politics were wild.
For some reason I cannot post comments at Creative Infanticide. But what I was going to say there was this:
Like the way you describe the sensations her music generates in him.
I like the idea of playing with poise and pause.
(You could lose the first comma in the first sentence in the third paragraph.)
It reads as if you really understand music.
Do you?
Hah... I'm tempted to say something lewd... but I shall refrain.
Wanna swap? We've just had elections and now they are all arguing about who wants to form a coalition with whom (thought I'd throw in an m, looks good doesn't it? Could be totally wrong though.) And that party doesn't want to play with the other party except if the third party wants to play, then they might reconsider blablablabla etc. For some reason it always reminds me of kindergarten ;-)
I didn't do TT today. Too tired and zero ideas.
However, your country's quick switch is interesting. They do that in GB too, right? Or is it "right-o?"
I agree w/ Mrsupole we should have term limits for members of the Houses of Congress (not sure if I should capitalize or not??). I think they become so entrenched and they can be bought because they spend all their time raising money for the next election and the next. However, I do think a four year term for the Prez is appropriate...except for Bush. He'd have been outta there by year 6 if he'd only had a 2 yr term. Everyone was sick of him by then.
As for Obama? I am still hopeful but frustrated. He inherited a boatload of shit and more besides what with the BP oil spill. It's hard to know if he's effective or not there is just so much on his plate.
The media parses everything to death nowadays til you don't know WTF is going on. That's why I stick to the comedians or those whom I believe to be serious...Jon Stewart, the former, Rachel Maddow, the latter.
Hey! I think I just wrote a post in this comment!
What comes around, goes around. I agree with you, unless they are total failures, they should be given the time alloted, like everyone else, to make their changes.
Oh I don't know, I think it was the best reality check any controlling person could be given, he probably didn't even notice Julia's makeover in past months.
Thankfully there will be no more smirks and preaching from church steps on a Sunday*!*
Wow! You are in a ranting mood today! I gave up on politics. Nothing ever changes, no matter who is in office!
Awesome post Baino. I agree the media last night was totally over the top. Shite I even had to miss Two and A Half Men LOL
I'm in two minds. I really truly feel for KRudd - it was inevitable that after enjoying a hugely long and unsustainable 'honeymoon' period, that the media - and then of course his party and the public - would turn against him. It's not fair, not appropriate; it's just life.
Julia - brilliant to see a woman PM - is in danger of the same fate. What is hugely popular for a while (Hanson, Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, to use some recent pop references) becomes tomorrow's shameful and mocked enemy. I hope she has the grit to withstand the jibes that will come - most of them as personal attacks and very few to do with the realities of politics.
Oh, I am with you...I would be downright PISSED OFF if they switched it up on us after going through the painful pre-election banter/drivel/debates/commercials ETC., ETC., ETC., only to have the elected official ousted!
Let them do their good (or more often damage) for the time in which they are elected!
HUMPH!
I think its fantastic. I voted Rudd in and am very annoyed at what little he did for the environment (which was largely why I voted him in). He became soft and spent far too much time overseas. He did not include the majority of his ministers in decisions and was a law unto his own.
I thoroughly agree with Man at the Pub.
I think Julia will be a great asset to the labour party and from day one I said I wished she was leader and not Rudd.
I am not traditionally leftist. But am sick and tired of 2 parties that are virtually the same. At least now we'll know whose arthur or martha!
And surely, only a lunatic would vote Father Abbott into power!!! Look out all you women and guard your rights if he does win!
At least with the very articulate Jules we may stand a chance.
I was wondering how on earth she managed to get in so suddenly...
Surely to get an official new leader the party has to elect a new leader? Or chuck the present one out (or eg he dies) in which case you just have an acting leader? ... surely?
Your system obviously works quite differently from our heavily flawed one... I still don't understand what she's doing in power...
At least she actually IS by all appearances a woman. Not a Margaret Thatcher/Angela Merckl....
There are some huge egos in Canberra,enormous egos, and no politician every retires into abject poverty.They go into this with eyes wide open, enjoy the perks, get others to work extremely hard for them, and 'coup' is not an unknown concept for anyone in power.Ambition and wealth are more often than not, gained at the expense of others, even if it's the hard-working ordinary tax payer.Yes, I feel sad for Rudd, but more heartbreaking are many on low incomes laid off work. As a former PM he and his family will be well looked after...and as if Terese needs to be! These people are the monetary elite, and we can't begin to imagine the wealth of politicians I am sure...(or those in the upper echelons of mining interests - let's be clear who is REALLY running the country.)
I heard about your government while I was in California and wondered if it was a good or bad thing. We did not watch much TV. Anyway I usually watch the comedian news like Jon Stewart. Thanks for explaining it a bit. From one of the comment I gather she was not born in Australia? I guess this is allowed.
ys, good points all there. Adn i learbed something in the process too.
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