Rudd: I don’t pretend to be some sort of perfect leader

Evan Findlay says:

05:56pm | 03/03/10

And Abbott is such a shining light!

Evan Findlay says:

10:19pm | 03/03/10

First Abbott used the fact that he nearly got rear ended by a truck to sidetrack the electorate and now he has apparently gone walkabout to sidetrack the electorate from the fact he has no policy on health reform, whilst the Prime Minister unveils an historic piece of reform. Something Tony Abbott was unable to do as health minister in the previous government. The moment the government signals their intention to fix the wrongs of the previous government, we see Mr Abbott pulling death defying stunts or supporting unequivocally the non core promises, the “let’s do nothing attitude” of the Howard government. And he expects the electorate to continue the lethargic and non committal process of electing a conservative government. An opposition committed to doing nothing on health, education, infrastructure, productivity, social justice or economic reform. An attitude it held for twelve years. An opposition, that whilst in government did nothing but waste nearly 250 billion dollars on unsustainable middle class welfare like the first home owners grant, baby bonuses and 30% rebate for private health. By the end of their tenure most economists were shocked to realise that with so much tax revenue going into the government coffers very little went to non inflationary public spending and even less to increasing the productivity within the economy, hence why the Howard government resided over one of the lowest productivity figures. Economic conservatives they were not, wasteful they were. Given the chance Abbott would waste the next resource boom on more unsustainable welfare and still have nothing to show for the countries efforts.

Jen from Nana glen says:

09:55am | 04/03/10

Agree Luke!  Rudd is a dud and he can’t keep up the fakery for long as his heart is not in it.  He is the master of spin and arrogance and people are seeing through him.

Brad Coward says:

11:28am | 04/03/10

I am especially glad the Mr Rudd is advising that he isn’t a perfect leader.  It’s the first honest comment to leave those perpetually pursed lips since he slid into the office of Prime Minister !

Note…Mr Rudd has indicated that he won’t up the GST to pay for his brilliant new health reformation policy.  This means that he already has support from his side of the house and the state premiers to do so.  The Senate could be a little harder to convince !

Jack Thomas says:

11:41am | 04/03/10

If Kevin 07 is saying this then he lied when he took the job. He falsified his CV, misled the public.

If the PM isn’t the best leader we have, then no job below is worth much.

No wonder we don’t trust or respect people like this, not even a full term into his job and he’s given up.

Best he heads back to his bureaucratic hole, or that UN job he’s been lobbying for, and gives the role to someone who will take some responsibility.

When you look up “leader” in the dictionary, there’s no photo of little Kevin 07 that’s for sure.

Brian says:

03:30pm | 04/03/10

Evan Findlay….................Evan Thornley?

Jane says:

03:25pm | 03/03/10

LOL..he’s already a ‘b’ grade actor anyway….so he can portray himself.

This new PR ‘tactic’ of Rudd’s screams even more FAKE!!
It’s totally gagworthy…..and a little insulting.

Evan Findlay says:

09:34pm | 03/03/10

How about the minister for aged care under the Howard government, the right honourable Bronwyn Bishop. “It’s like this your honour,” I didn’t know about such practices”.The opposition; ” But you had been informed on a number occasions by correspondence of this abhorrent act being perpetrated on the elderly” “Oh yeah but y’know that’s whats required to keep them clean.”  Humiliate the elderly and yet Howard never demoted her or sacked her. Yes actually the more I think about it, Bronwyn is a little maniac and irresponsible to play Kevin. You need to find someone more ethical and moralistic. Oh well that denies anyone on the opposition frontbench the part.

Tex Ranger says:

09:22am | 04/03/10

Bishop did get moved on.  She wasn’t a minister after 2001.

eye4aneye says:

08:29pm | 03/03/10

A Labor leader going postal? - already seen it from Latham

persephone says:

06:59am | 04/03/10

Abbott’s far more likely to go the biff in public than Rudd.

eye4aneye says:

12:14pm | 04/03/10

@ perspehone - agreed however Rudds the odds on favourite for having an epic hissy fit (Sandwhiches and hairdryer already done curious about what could be next).

KM says:

03:16pm | 03/03/10

Alex Megas
Are you joking Please explain, we never had a GFC it was a con job on the australian public by the Rudd government!
.

luke09 says:

03:37pm | 03/03/10

Wait till we make it through the RLGSFC(Rudd Labor Government Stimulus Financial Crisis) before giving Kevin Rudd credit. 

CH says:

03:44pm | 03/03/10

That’s right KM, there was no GFC. There’s no global warming either. The evil ALP just made it up to “con” you. Fair dinkum! I imagine you really miss “honest” John Howard and “straight talking” Pauline Hanson ....

Fleeced says:

04:04pm | 03/03/10

@CH - Oh, there was a GFC, but Australia wasn’t invited.

Truth is, our problems were over-hyped, the excessive spending wasn’t necessary, and the stimulus programs were handled disastrously.

It’s much easier for politicians to over-hype real but small problem than it is to create pretend ones from scratch… the latter requires a conspiracy theory, the former just some effective propaganda.

annie says:

04:05pm | 03/03/10

KM the northern hemisphere had a GFC no major economy south of the equator suffered significantly even NZ with no banks or major company collapses. Mr Rudd just had a panic attack being a new boy on the job at our expense.

Bertrand says:

04:06pm | 03/03/10

I am confused. If he did such a great job, then why is he apologising?

I am more inclined to believe that he has done a rubbish job , and he now thinks that by saying he recognizes that he has done a rubbish job, but promises to do better in the future, the public will give him a second chance.

Jason says:

04:08pm | 03/03/10

CH is right on both counts (no GFC, no Global Warming).  These lefties are smarter than I gave them credit for!

Jack Thomas says:

04:11pm | 03/03/10

According to the head of the RBA Glenn Stevens last week the GFC only lasted for “6 to 8 weeks”. Roughly the same length of time Kevin Rudd took to write a 9,000 word essay on the death of capitalism.

I know it’s hard for most Laborites to hang on in an economic discussion that doesn’t involve how much government handout they will get, but I’ve had longer migraines CH.

To use an analogy, Australia was facing a small fire in its letterbox while suburbs away there was (and still is) a house on fire. Kevin Rudd mortgaged all our futures to buy a big pink fire truck to spray billions of litres of foam across the block.

While the GFC was momentary, the billions p1ssed away by Labor on pink batts and extra school tuck shops will cause us pain for a long time.

Less than 14% of the ‘stimulus’ was actually spent on anything related to GDP, or long term growth. 86% was just an economic sugar hit.

You sound as gullible for his spin as the fawning Australian media.

iansand says:

04:28pm | 03/03/10

KM - You might want to take that message to Iceland.  Or Greece, or even the UK and USA.  They will find your insight reassuring, albeit fantastical.

Stephen says:

04:41pm | 03/03/10

Maybe he should be concerned about what is going to happen when Europe falls over, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain (aka PIGS) are a basket case. Many experts are questioning the numbers (figures) coming out of China too. We have no money in the bank because Rudd and Swan have blown it all. Labor is only ever good at spending money. Why? Because they have only ever spent other peoples money (Unions). They are spending OUR tax dollars. They should be held accountable. No business plan for the NBN is a perfect example.

Evan Findlay says:

06:06pm | 03/03/10

Could it be too simple for you people to understand. The reason we didn’t go into recession, although we came close, was because of the government stimulus. Is that too difficult to understand or is it simply because it worked and our economy is the envy of the world? It appears the only ones to dispute this are those rusted on conservatives. Abbott claims we should have followed New Zealand lead but that would have meant going into recession and a contraction in our economy of 3.8%. Brilliant Tony! And his fiscally illiterate followers would probably laud such economic incompetence.

Philip Crowley says:

10:24pm | 03/03/10

Well said Evan Findlay… Straight from the party handbook :-p

Marvin H says:

11:13pm | 03/03/10

KM another Liberal conspiracy theory? Tell the rest of the World there was no Global Financial Crisis. Many countries are still in a mess. Don’t you watch the news? Iceland went bankrupt and Greece is headed for a big fall and America is still floundering.If you Liberals can’t understand it or don’t want to pay for it, you say everything’s a con job, just like Global warming.. Yell louder someone may believe you

Dingo says:

11:20pm | 03/03/10

Evan, you really need to look past the Rudd Government’s press releases as your source information.

Is it so hard for you to understand that:

Chinese demand for Australia’s resources grew during the supposed GFC, supporting the booming economies of Qld and WA and flowing through to the rest of the nation.

The reserve bank, having increased rates unnecessarily at the beginning of 2008 (partially thanks to Swan declaring the “inflation genie was out of the bottle”), spent the next 12 months slashing official rates giving 30% of the population (those with mortgages) an average windfall of $800-$900 per month. 

The Australian banking system was already well regulated and unlike the US had not been required by socialist politicians to give home loans to disadvantaged groups, therefore did not have significant loan defaults.

The evil Work Choices legislation introduced by the Howard Govt allowed employees and employers to negotiate reduced hours and shifts for some of their staff to avoid sacking people all together, hence unemployment only rose slightly, which also meant less defaults from those with home loans.

The national accounts were in surplus, so as a net lender not borrower, we were not slaves to the international credit markets then as we now are, so watch out for the next credit squeeze.

Rudd gave a lot of people, living and dead, Aust resident or not, a one off $900 cheque, squandered a few billion replacing existing school facilities to supposedly revolutionise education (thanks for that Julia) and spent $2.4 billion borrowed from China, to insulate, electrify, burn down or decorate with poisonous insulation from China, 1 million roofs in homes around Australia.

Chinese demand for Australia’s resources (mainly), along with well regulated banks, and co-operative workplaces meant this was the recession we never had.

The Rudd Government’s contribution was positive in supporting the economy, but minute in comparison. The bill from the stimulus however, is enormous and growing.

If you’d like to discuss fiscal literacy, you really should improve on your own first.

Dingo says:

11:43pm | 03/03/10

Marvin, don’t worry. The way Rudd et al are mismanaging our economy, it will only be another year or two before Australia is worse off than every other developed nation in the world. You will have your wish fulfilled.

Margaret Dungan says:

07:44am | 04/03/10

Ha ha ha ha, you’re nearly as funny as Rudd!  Clearly you are a moron.
What work ethic would you be speaking about? Rudd’s only work is how he’s going to get his head in the newspapers, tv and magazines. When does he do any work and what the hell does he do besides this and travel the world.

Kim says:

04:36pm | 03/03/10

Anyone that would *lead* our country would be good.  Obviously KRudd can’t.

Margaret Gray says:

03:37pm | 03/03/10

Is this the “single greatest health policy initiative since Medicare”?

Sounded more like it was cooked up in the Caucus room on Monday between muffin breaks.

What. A. Joke.

As for Rudd’s new found sincerity…some of us aren’t that gullible.

luke09 says:

03:52pm | 03/03/10

persephone, didn’t you know this is a pretend policy from a pretend leader. 

Julie Coker-Godson says:

04:03pm | 03/03/10

Careful there Persephone, you too are a member of the audience!

Kim says:

04:14pm | 03/03/10

luke09 - let’s just hope that the australian public don’t *pretend* to fall for it and vote him back in again!

Mark says:

04:47pm | 03/03/10

Focus groups said “hospitals promise go get to it”. Press actually says to him what about this promise you haven’t fulfilled.
Kevvie says I will act .....with the following provisos and most likely after a referendum and etc etc etc etc etc.
Yeh real leadership here.

persephone says:

05:48pm | 03/03/10

Margaret Gray

And the only thing the Coalition can offer is hospital boards in two states.

Obviously they don’t have enough muffin breaks.

Mark

sorry, but politics is more complex than you obviously believe. In this case, there’s a thing called the Constitution that gets in the way of Rudd delivering his plan directly.

Of course, if you want to trash the constitution, that’s a whole other conversation.

Evan Findlay says:

06:14pm | 03/03/10

Luke09, a pretend policy from a pretend leader would be Mr Abbott. So far he hasn’t committed to one of his silly little rantings. Announces a few lines of banal thoughts and then states that it’s not policy yet he’s just throwing out some ideas to the electorate. Seems like he’s all show and no substance. But what would you expect from the leader of a conservative party. In a recent article in Time magazine, Peter Costello clearly articulated the shallowness of the Liberal Party by stating that ” We have never, nor will we be, the party of reform” Well if you don’t do reform you obviously don’t do policy!

BMJ says:

04:23pm | 03/03/10

I agree. Howard stood for something. He had his vision and he sold it well to the public.

Kevin Rudd left the second half of last year just drift by and he is paying for it now. Only a few months ago the Libs were in turmoil. Instead of sticking the knife in, Rudd chewed on popcorn enjoying the show. The only person out there selling the ETS was Malcolm Turnbull. Rudd should of taken the lead.

One thing that saves Rudd is that the GFC distracted his agenda. But he has come out saying it’s not an excuse so he is stuffed.

persephone says:

05:56pm | 03/03/10

Saved us from a GFC and massive job losses, too, which most thinking people will be grateful for.

And this policy is a lot more than just hospital boards, which Tony Abbott was only proposing for two states and do nothing to address the main problem, which is the way hospitals - and States - are funded.

Interesting that the State Oppositions can find a way to fund something out of state forward estimates that noone else can, but that probably just demonstrates their lack of understanding of the economics of health.

How are State Oppositions going to save money - let alone fund the health system adequately - when health expenditure is increasing by twice as much as state revenue increases each year? (The GST grows by 3% a year, health expenditure by 6%). Particularly with an ageing population?

If I wanted to run a scare campaign, I could run a beauty on the basis of this post, because the only way that could happen would be by massively underfunding or cutting services.

And you’re misrepresenting what happened here, not surprisingly. Rudd promised to deliver a reform package by last July; he delivered it today. The next step was to see if the States will accept the package; we’ll know that in April. The step after that is to take it to a referendum.

Kordez says:

10:53pm | 14/06/10

@persephone, Kev hasn’t and won’t save Australia from the greed created GFC. All Australians did and will continue to for about another (insert government analyst acquired approximate years figure here.) Cutting revenue from the states under cover of fabulous things such as health reforms and unreasonably increasing the price of some booze and smokes are ways we will continue to pay off the debt a Labour government has always caused our country.
Kev’s time is likely to be short lived, just like each of his initiatives.
You know what.. I’d support Kev if his Mining tax were used to fund the success of 100% clean and renewable energy, we have the technology why not use it to power ahead of other economies.
But instead we are lead to believe this particular tax will ensure all Australian’s benefit from the sale of our non renewable resources. I enjoy your posts but they are fuelled by one sided politics, I’d like to see you have an opinion of your own for a change.

stephen says:

04:43pm | 03/03/10

Yeah and Dame Tammy Wynette says ‘‘Stand by your man’‘.
(I’m a bloke, but yer know what i mean ).

et316 says:

05:26pm | 03/03/10

Well said.  Everyone,  especially the Media, conveniently forget the damage this bureaucrat was responsible for in QLD.
His Macromanaging of every portfolio proves this man is still a Public Service hack at heart..

Kim says:

05:32pm | 03/03/10

You forgot to add the new *PA* Hospital that was never quite finished properly.  The work carried out on the building in both materials and labour were inferior and now the building has major plumbing problems, leaks, mould etc.  But, I guess the builders must have been friends of “the troika” so that makes it okay.

Evan Findlay says:

06:34pm | 03/03/10

Get your facts right formersnag. The reason we had to import medical practitioners was because Howard, and the then president of the AMA, Dr Brendan Nelson agreed that increasing the intake of medical students into universities would lead to an explosion of graduates thus diminishing the earning capacity of those in the medical profession. I, to this day, vividly recall the news conference and thinking at the time, ” What a pair of ignorant dicks” Putting doctors livelihoods above the health and wellbeing of Australian citizens. And only years later when state governments, who at the time were the ones calling for increases in the level of students entering medicine, realised that the current level of graduates would not suffice so they began advertising overseas. Hence why we ended up with Dr Death.

Typical conservative voter, no research, no truth, just a tardy memory and a creative mind. What happened to the mind propaganda formersnag? No conspiracy theories on this one?

Ben says:

08:06pm | 03/03/10

Evan Findlay - “Typical conservative voter, no research, no truth, just a tardy memory and a creative mind”... Good job blasting any credibility from what you just said mate, you should have resisted the urge.  Why would you even bother trying to be sincere about something when you finish by pretty much saying “I’m writing this because i’m a one eyed rusted on leftie by the way and I automatically disagree with anything that came out of Howards mouth”?

formersnag says:

10:04pm | 03/03/10

Evan Findlay, You are half right about that one, Howard & Nelson did add to, or worsen a rot, that had been started earlier by the Hawke/Keating government. Have you forgotten when they merged CAE’s into the universities.

While they were at it they reduced overall funding to both TAFE & uni’s. Particular attention was payed to schools of medicine. It was claimed at the time that there were too many doctors already, plus way too many medical students coming through. They even threatened to withhold medicare numbers from successful graduates, to reduce increasing costs of medicare.

Another problem, (are you listening Eric) is feman-nazism. More than half of all medical students now are women & after graduating they only want to work part time. They also don’t want to go into specialities that are considered, hard work like, Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

persephone says:

07:06am | 04/03/10

Rudd.

Howard would be shrieking, well before one got anywhere near the alleyway, about non existent toxic gas, land mines, Muslim terrorists, feral cats, oversized rats…anything to make sure you entered the alleyway in a state of quaking fear.

If you got out the other side without anything happening, he would then say it was because of all his hysterics.

Rudd would, on the other hand, assess the real likelihood of danger, discuss it with you politely, and point out several ways of dealing with a problem should it arise.

If you did meet a thug in the alley, at least you’d be prepared.

JR says:

10:08am | 04/03/10

Based on what persephone?

persephone says:

10:48am | 04/03/10

Performance, JR.

JR says:

01:56pm | 04/03/10

Go on…

persephone says:

02:46pm | 04/03/10

One was a scaremonger. The other is a policy wonk who likes to try and anticipate problems and also likes to explain things to people.

Adam Diver says:

08:46am | 04/03/10

My school was a sensible program delivered well. Kudos to Julia on that one. However the rest of the education revolution seems like a waste of funds. School halls? Seriously how important are they to your education.

persephone says:

10:53am | 04/03/10

You’re an Ancient History teacher and you don’t know that it’s ‘allusions’ not ‘illusions’?

The Wolf says:

04:15pm | 04/03/10

I’m always amused by people who are not understood and claim it is because they are too subtle for their audience.  You’re not subtle, you’re a bad communicator.  I hopes that’s not too subtle for you.

PS Appeals to authority are defective induction.  Go and be defective somewhere else.