Well may we say a wedding saved the monarchy, but would another one save the Prime Minister?
The recent post-Budget polls are dismal. A weekend Newspoll found Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s standing is worse than Kevin Rudd’s was before he got axed, and a Galaxy Poll suggests that it doesn’t matter what Labor does, people still hate them.
So is there anything that could turn this inexorable tide around? Australians have shown they have a soft and gooey spot for a ‘fairytale’ wedding, turning off a republic and back on to the monarchy with the marriage of Wills and Kate. And then First Bloke Tim Mathieson has hinted that he’d quite like to pop the question. What do you think? Could a garter belt be a lifesaver for Ms Gillard?
Penbo says:
When Tim Mathieson decided to lift his arm in a friendly manner upon exiting an aircraft, a wave of anger swept through the stupider sections of Australia about the audacious conduct of our first bloke. How dare he wave at us. He has no right to do so. I didn’t vote for him. He’s not even married to the Prime Minister anyway.
Past partners of PMs have also waved. Annita waved quite a bit. Janette often got the arm out, as did Hazel. Their waves passed without comment.
But that Tim bludger – put it away son.
The reaction to Mathieson’s innocent and genial gesture exposed a quaintly horrible mindset on the part of many Australians. The same people who are suss about Julia Gillard being a godless and childless career woman are also offended by the fact that she has thumbed her nose at holy matrimony. As such Mathieson is not afforded First Man status but seen as a vaguely committed de facto handbag who’s inveigled his way into the pointy end of the VIP jet and is necking taxpayer-funded Crownies.
Whether Julia Gillard and Tim Mathieson get married or not is obviously their decision, and their business. Being high-level public figures it’s understandably going to be the subject of debate and coverage. I doubt whether it would change the way the PM is perceived by her more unhinged socially conservative critics. These people would most likely regard the wedding as a vote-grabbing sham, such is their irrational hostility towards the PM on the basis of the life she’s chosen to lead, what with her job and all, and not going to Church, or knowing the joys of mastitis and being chundered on.
Ant says:
You know what? I don’t care whether the PM gets married or not, and I think most Australians would share that opinion. The majority of decent Australians have always been very good at playing the man (or in this case the woman), not the ball. Julia Gillard’s person life is Julia Gillard’s personal life.
But Julia Gillard’s political life is most definitely not her own. It belongs to all of us, and we will continue to judge her on that. At the moment, the polls state clearly that we are judging her harshly. Why? Because we don’t believe what she says, or much of what she professes to believe in.
But in a roundabout way, a Mathieson/Gilard marriage could change all that.
There’s a moment when you’re up there at the altar getting married and you think to yourself “holy crap, these vows are pretty powerful things. They’re really built to stand the test of time”.
The act of getting married might just remind Gillard that there are some core beliefs which are really worth sticking to, and fighting to protect at all costs, no matter what the pain. And that mindset might just set her on the road to poll redemption.
Tory says:
At best a wedding before the next election would be a distraction. At worst it would be seen as a revoltingly cynical move by the Prime Minister.
‘First Bloke’ Tim Mathieson is probably regretting he ever hinted that he would like to ask her.
Ms Gillard came to power not through her own leadership, but a calculated coup. She has then remained in power through a series of compromises, backflips, and policies contorted to fit the strange alliances she was forced to form. We just don’t see her as a leader.
The coup was a bad start; but one she could have overcome by standing firm, making brave policy, by cultivating an image of someone you could trust to head the country.
In a way politics is all about maintaining that façade – the illusion of complete control. Once that slips away you can never claw it back and attempts to do so look increasing desperate.
A wedding would throw into sharp relief all the things we cannot forgive in our PM.
Lucy says:
Napoleon and Josephine, Victoria and Albert, Marc Antony and Cleopatra; some weddings do have the power to change the world and the course of history. But with all due respect to Julia Gillard and Tim Mathieson, theirs wouldn’t be one of them.
The last thing we need from this Government is more “band-aid” solutions. As Stephen Conroy put it yesterday, “let’s stop with the navel gazing” and take stock of the issues at hand.
Step one: identify the main issues of contention in order of their significance. The Malaysian deal is making people uneasy; five for every asylum seeker we send away? We need a proper explanation of how this is going to work. Then there’s the budget. 37 per cent of us thought we’d do OK with the budget, while 32 per cent of us thought we’d be worse off; 28 per cent of us think the Coalition would have produced a fairer budget compared to 41 per cent who thought they couldn’t. That’s not exactly a huge margin. It’s workable, reasonable gap, enough to stir the pot of competition and hopefully the pursuit of good solutions. So let’s get cracking.
Step two: don’t forget what Gillard and Mathiesons’ de facto relationship status means to thousands of Aussies (more of us than ever, according to the ABS) who have also chosen not to get hitched to prove the legitimacy of their relationship or the strength of their partnership. It’s a realistic and typical reflection of modern life. We should stand by Gillard’s de-facto relationship and her decision not to have children. Her independent status can bring real benefits to her position as leader.
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