Is the political climate really changing?

mags says:

06:17am | 26/06/10

You mean Rudd carried the can for the poor decision making by Swan, Gillard, Tanner and Rudd, don’t you?  None of them have clean hands and, while it is admirable that Ms Gillard accepted a ” fair share of the blame ” for their stupidity, she and Swan certainly didn’t get their fair share of the repurcussions.

Macca says:

08:38am | 26/06/10

“Women (and anyone remotely progressive) are excited that a woman is filling the top political position”.

Well I must not be “remotely progressive” because I couldn’t give a stuff if the PM was a man or a women, had red, blonde, black, brown or purple hair, or was of European, African, Asian, Australian or Plutonian origin.

Congratulations to Julia on the top gig, I’m sure many are very proud to see her achieve this feat in the manner that she did

Luke says:

09:38am | 26/06/10

I would be a bit cautious with too much fanfare and frivolity over the Leadership change. People who start at the top find it a quick slide to the bottom. Labor saved by Gillard, rah rah rah stuff. Usually people who start on an unrealistic high all finish up in tears. As we’ve just seen.

Cobber me strewth blue, wheres the ute? says:

12:04pm | 26/06/10

Is it changing,yes,towards Abbott,all the colloquialisms used by laboring speech writers,cobber,strewth jooles is ok,bewdy,she has my vote,drongos,shes apples blue, beaut shelia are all supposed to be based on the crap labor preach on a fair go mate platform,yet they turn around and stab their mate kev,the bloke with the ute ,square in the face for some shelia,crikey,why didnt they help him,support him,drag him aside at a barby and say listen boxhead we need to sort this,no raw prawns,Im telling you as a mate,sooner or later the light will click on,Labor unionists are scum who will kick their mate in the face for a free beer,and a cushy job,stuff their mates,its just the way they are

Greg says:

01:47pm | 26/06/10

That is sure some surreal piece Sophie and no doubt you expect some significant changes.
Resignation for starters is such a polite term for what happened and your Julia of all whatever you see/claim has just shown how loyalty is defined in politics.

The ETS was shelved because there wasn’t consensus at Copenhagen and fortunately the Labor gang of however many decided it wasn’t our greatest moral challenge of all time afterall.
Do you think it was that alone and only Kevin’s head in the sand, well not by a long shot and the other policy disasters have been aired infinitum of late.

Sure they may have all sounded great as a way of supposedly saving Australia from recession but Labor somehow or other always seem to forget that every government program can come with an economic cost and they just pay little heed to the hollistic management whilst in the euphoria of the moment also paying little attention to how programs should be managed.
If they did, there’d be less wastage, no deaths, and certainly should be little opportunity for rorting.

Julia herself has probably always been the most evasive about accountability and maybe in the past you’ve not taken note of how she’ll deflect questions with phrases like ” in such a huge program there can always be mistakes “, ” we are doing this so every child has the chance for an education ” and haven’t they already and now ” we have appointed what’shisname, a top business man to head an enquiry ”

Now she throws the door open to the mining industry! and why when isn’t it a governments job to establish what the laws of the country should be, including of course in regard to taxation.
If they wanted to increase personal taxation, would they throw the doors open to the greater population?
I would have thought the treasurer and now her deputy, the same one she has said should negotiate with the mining industry would have either consulted the mining industry or regardless, the government has built this new tax and revenue projection into the nations budget, arguably the most important annual government documentation of where the country is to head.
So where does these supposed negotiations leave all the budget planning work?
No, Julia’s open door approach certainly shows a depth of cunningness for she realised the government was on a hiding to nothing.
Meanwhile the immediate urgency for negotiation is shown by sending Swanny swanning off to Toronto.
Where would his time have far better been spent?

If the above is an example of a new fresh approach of commitment to the Australian people, heaven help us for whilst we may have had a questionable captain attempting to charter a course through dangerous waters in stormy seas, a new Captain seems to have taken the approach of doing so with hands off the rudder.

That’ll mean a shipwreck is no longer a factor of the Captain’s mentality but very certainly quite imminent

Gilly Gully Man says:

03:11pm | 26/06/10

Rather a woman atheist than men ho pray to the man upstairs.  Is that what happened to Rudd? 
And did Abbott’s God tell him to lie?  The Monk seems to think that is OK and it’s ‘gospel’.  Let’s just wait and see what Gillard comes up with before thinking she will stick in everyone’s gills.

nosthow says:

03:21pm | 26/06/10

Ms Gillard has arrived like a breath of fesh air to the electorate , who it might be noted via polling , had sent their votes not to the hapless Abbott but to the Greens. Chistopher “Spinny” Pyne even went so far as to say that voters “were parking their votes with the Greens on their way to the Liberals !” Oh dear - sad sad sad. Now Abbotts worst nightnmare has arrived in Julia Gillard his only concern will be how to pay off that gigantic mortgage on a lowly backbenchers pay ? Pizza delivery at night Tony ?

Megan McSampson says:

03:58pm | 26/06/10

As executioner, she did it quicklly and bloodless, while Wayne was rubbing his hands in anticipation and is now swanning it overseas. Gillard and Swan have painted themselves into a corner, with RSPT. Soon the electors will really send a message. The election will be called “before the end of the year”, and a 25.5% swing against will translate into defeat. They have destabilised the country , they have lost the basic Aussie view of fairness, abandoned the high moral ground on climate change, oversaw 4 deaths and more fires in insulation debacle.. PLUS they condoned a total rip -off in the schools funding… with tuck shops the size of cubby houses and most priced like maijuhana mansions, at
25,000 per sq metre instead of 1,000.00 pe sq metre.
That won’t be forgotton by every Pand C and the parents. We will not forget

BobM says:

06:01pm | 26/06/10

“On Thursday Kevin Rudd stepped down from office” - you mean he was shafted by his ‘loyal’ Deputy who said she had more chance of playing for the Bulldogs than becoming PM.  Just goes to show she was lying to him and she is taking the gullible voters to the cleaners over this First Female Prime Minister balony.

Juju says:

08:17pm | 26/06/10

‘Complaints roll in over BER scheme Anthony Klan From: The Australian June 26, 2010 - MORE than 100 NSW public school communities filed complaints with the taskforce looking into the $16.2 billion schools stimulus program. This means a fifth of public primary schools in the state have now lodged official concerns’.
Well done PM Gillard - Labor couldn’t run a chook raffle let alone a country.

Simmo says:

09:26pm | 26/06/10

I see great similarities between what has happened this week in politics and what has happened in South Africa to the Socceroos.

We as Australians will unhappily cop defeat when we know we galantly fought to the death and died on our feet.  What we won’t cop is conceeding defeat.  The Labor party deicdes to axe it’s PM on the basis of polling, waved it’s white flag and hence drew another pitch and moved the goal posts.

All the championing of females and monumental rhetoric won’t change the fact that the party backed down, and so did one of the most popular Prime Ministers in the nation’s history.  A good side with a good culture believes in it’s people and backs it’s leader, and never concedes defeat until the final siren sounds.

They have changed their style to suit their opposition, the Socceroos did just that and suffered our most embarassing defeat in history.  Success is achieved by sticking to your game plan, the one that got you there in the first place, riding the bumps, doing it tough and showing strength under fire.  Belief is crucial to winning, and the Labor party have destoryed the peoples’ belief in the ability to run themselves and perform for the nation.

This act of throwing the “Baby out with the Bath Water” will never be forgotten, and has soured,what should have been monumental, the first ever Female PM.

They say the Libs are corrupted by big business, well the ALP has been corrupted by the use of power.  What could have been the making of the ALP is now one of the saddest weeks in the nations history.

Chris says:

08:42am | 27/06/10

Nothing has changed for the better. A lot has changed for the worse. Is it too much for the media to stop displaying a gross degree of bias and to acknowledge the manner in which this took place? Julia Gillard’s place at the top must seem pretty shaky to them if they cannot give an honest account of how she got there. Of course she will be popular while they ignore that and play the “she’s a woman but that is beside the point” card. This is doing other hard working, competent women more harm than good.

steve says:

10:42am | 27/06/10

Somedays I will delight you….some days I will disappoint you…”

Frankly Ms Gillard, actually you disgust me with your ruthless, opportunistic streak.

Luke4 says:

10:43am | 27/06/10

I can see Gillard starting the “me too” policy shift.  It will be 2007 revisited. It makes sense for Abbott not to release to much policy before the election is called.

Lee from WA says:

07:06pm | 27/06/10

Here here. Spot on article. The is a change for PR reasons not policy.

DD Ball says:

10:42pm | 27/06/10

Everything is changing for the ALP bar policy. The ALP have clinged desperately to their failures. Rudd became unpopular for the failed policy which was so little remarked on by the press as voter anger rose. It was desperation that got the ALP to knife Rudd, and it is still desperate .. and the policy remains the same.

Beach Boy says:

03:44am | 28/06/10

Great .A fellow traveler from the socialist left stages a coup in the middle of the night.
Real progress!

Australia is now a laughing stock internationally as well as a sovereign risk for foreign capital.

As for Red Julia,don’t believe a word she spews forth.
She could not even handle the eduction portfolio.

The worst government of all time.
The Australian voters will throw this lot out without doubt.