Joel Fitzgibbon

UPDATE 2pm: Kevin Rudd just announced Faulkner’s got the gig.

Who would be defence minister? The poisoned chalice effectively killed off the political careers of the last four people who held it. Peter Reith, Robert Hill, Brendan Nelson and now Joel Fitzgibbon were all so battered after scrapping the military top brass they ran out of the ammunition needed to take things to the next level.

The last person to hold the position without it completely wrecking his public image was Kim Beazley, who was so defined by his ability in the difficult portfolio he’ll be forever known as “Bomber.”

Talk of putting former union chief Greg Combet in the job is madness. Union heavies are one thing - war, both militarily and with your own department, is another. Bring on the owl glasses, forensic nature and hard arse exterior of John Faulkner, he’s the only man for the job.

Continue reading "John Faulkner should be the next defence minister" »

The biggest fib Kevin Rudd told today, after he’d lavished insincere praise upon Joel Fitzgibbon for his work as Defence Minister, was to declare the young Hunter Valley MP could return to the ministry at some stage.

As long as Kevin Rudd’s backside points to the ground, Joel Fitzgibbon has a better chance of becoming the next Pope than making a ministerial comeback.

And most people in the ALP will be pretty happy about that, as Fitzgibbon, for all his affable, knockabout charm, has long been regarded by many colleagues with suspicion and ambivalence on account of what was a long-standing and especially close friendship with disastrous former leader Mark Latham.

Continue reading "Latham’s little mate won’t return to frontbench" »

Joel Fitzgibbon hasn’t just been skating on thin ice: he’s been hosting rave parties on it.

It seems Kevin Rudd has been left with little choice but to sack Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon after it emerged that a meeting had been organised in the Defence Minister’s office between defence officials, Mr Fitzgibbon’s brother Mark who is head of NIB and US insurance company Humana.

While no doubt the victim of some white anting by his own shambles of a Department, Fitzgibbon has proven himself to be one of the few genuine liabilities on the Rudd front bench and the Prime Minister should have done this months ago.

Continue reading "Joel’s gone: about time" »