Kevin Rudd

It was organised as a celebration of Australian car makers but the 250 people in the Great Hall of Parliament House found themselves witnessing a reunion of Veterans of Labor Leadership Wars.

A big chunk of the event became what one attendee called “a festival of Kevin”. Kevin Rudd that is, of course.

What was designed as a rousing salute to the automotive industry had to share the focus with anti-Gillard comrades-in-arms uniting on a stage, and in videos.

Continue reading "The festival of Kevin is not over yet" »

Do you remember what Wayne Swan said in his 2007-08 Budget speech?

I bet you do. And in intricate detail.

It went something like this: “Working families, working families, working-families—working-families—working-families—working-families! Working-families, working-families-working-families—working-families—working-families—working-families, Mr Speaker.”

Continue reading "Uh-oh, time for another round of “working families”" »

People looking for reasons for the ongoing implosion of the federal government are, it is fair to say, spoiled for choice. There is a phalanx of reasons lined up ready to drag Labor into electoral and political oblivion.

These include the assassination of Kevin Rudd, the carbon tax, the mining tax, the pokies cap, the second Rudd showdown and subsequent recruitment of Bob Carr and the Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper scandals.

However at the core of them all is one common element. One fundamental characteristic of the current Labor leadership which will prevent it ever again winning government in this country until it is expunged.

Continue reading "A Hildebrand guide: how Labor destroyed itself" »

The commonly accepted choice between a stuff-up or a stitch-up is to go with the stuff-up.  Anyone reading the Auditor-General’s report into Labor’s botched tender for the Australia Network television service will reject that accepted wisdom and conclude a stitch-up was more likely.

While the Australia Network may be Australia’s soft diplomacy channel into the Asia-Pacific, Labor’s internal wrangling over who should produce this service has involved anything but soft diplomacy.  A needless internal power game saw the most senior figures in the government face-off over the future direction of the Australia Network.

Sadly, Labor wasn’t content to just battle it out amongst each other.  The owners of Sky News and the ABC were dragged into the fray as proxies in a war over a contract that need not have gone to tender in the first place.

Continue reading "The tender trap set by Government mired in enmity" »

The first and last time I was in mainland China was 1988. I caught a train from Guangzhou to Shanghai. There was a Chinese girl in my cabin, being molested on a top bunk by a Frenchman. He spoke English and Chinese and between their activities I took the opportunity to interrogate her.

I asked her what had changed in China since Mao Zedong’s death. She said: “Mao Zedong is not dead.”

I assumed this was one of those “cultural things” they go on about with the Chinese. Perhaps she regarded the Great Helmsman as an Eternal Spirit, or such.

Continue reading "Mao is dead, but his doublespeak lives on" »

The Gillard prime ministership is like a badly scalded arm. The mildest touch can cause pain way out of proportion to the force behind the blow. Even when she does nothing unusual, remarkable or even particularly clumsy, the Government ends up screaming in agony.

So when Julia Gillard followed standard procedure by canvassing possible candidates for a Senate vacancy and for the post of Foreign Minister, there was an outcry over what was actually a light brush.

In broad terms, the suggestion is that Julia Gillard had decided former NSW Premier Bob Carr would fill the Senate slot and become Foreign Minister replacing Kevin Rudd, but was rolled by furious ministers led by Defence Minister Stephen Smith who wanted the job for himself.

Continue reading "The ALP still so tender the lightest touch causes agony" »

Over its 122-year history, the Labor party has suffered three major internal cataclysms. In 1917, the issue of conscription saw leader Billy Hughes take many Labor members with him across to the Liberal party. It took years for Labor to recover.

In 1930, the depression saw Jack Lang leave the party, form his own, and wreak havoc with Labor support for a decade. In 1955, the issue of communism saw many Catholic members of the Labor party defect to the DLP. This kept Labor out of office for a generation.

The Gillard versus Rudd affair reached a preliminary climax on Monday. The 71-31 vote appears conclusive. But the word “preliminary” is necessary, as some fundamental issues are left hanging.

Continue reading "This isn’t the first time that Labor has blown up" »

Rudd thinks Federal politics is “childish” and has become worse over the past decade.

Sorry - not that Rudd, who frankly we’re all sick of hearing about - but his brother Greg, who is now a business consultant.

Don’t expect him to provide any behind-the-scenes revelations from Camp Rudd over the past few weeks - he hasn’t actually spoken to Kevin since May last year, saying they “agree to disagree” in many areas. But he does have a background which qualifies him to speak with some authority on political machinations at the federal level.

Continue reading "Rudd: Politics is a childish farce and it’s getting worse" »

Psychotic. Mongoose. Saboteur. Liar. Traitor. Dysfunctional. Egotistical.

Childless.

In week of whirring insults, the claim that ex-PM ex-FM Kevin Rudd called Prime Minister Julia Gillard a “childless, atheist, ex-Communist” is a standout.

Mr Rudd’s office dismissed the story that he badmouthed Ms Gillard at an Adelaide pub a year ago as “lies”.  Maybe the witnesses were all mistaken. Maybe he said “guileless, earnest, optimist’. These things can happen in noisy bars.

Continue reading "You’re kidding if you think all women should be mothers" »

Everyone knows the result of the ALP leadership ballot but speculation has been rife as to what really went on inside the caucus room. Now, in yet another extraordinary exclusive, The Punch can reveal the full transcript of what took place…

JULIA: Well thanks for coming everybody. I trust you all know why you’re here?

TONY: Sussex Street.

PETER: Sussex Street.

MATT: To get me out of Sussex Street.

Continue reading "What really happened in the caucus room yesterday" »

Now the real fun starts. Julia Gillard might have trounced Kevin Rudd in the Caucus room this morning, but she lost some skin in the battle. Expect Tony Abbott and his team to pounce like a pack of hyenas in Question Time. Join us here from 2pm for live coverage.

Kevin Rudd has found out the hard way that he is neither Cory Aquino nor Evita Peron. His People’s Power push to regain the prime ministership was tactically flawed from the get go. The numbers bore it out in dramatic style.

The vote Rudd received in Caucus was not a springboard for a second tilt at the leadership. It was, you would have to think, the end of his leadership tilt.

As former leader Mark Latham said on Sky yesterday, this wasn’t the Arab Spring. Urging a popular email uprising while also jumping out of bed to yuk it up with Mel and Kochie on Sunrise was never going to win Rudd a vote inside the Caucus. Quite the opposite.

Continue reading "Labor: the only question which matters is what now?" »

The result of today’s ballot was set by last Friday evening but the Labor Party was put through a further two and a half days of upheaval and heartbreak.

Kevin Rudd went through the weekend without picking up a vote in Caucus.

His grandstanding as the punters’ pal in a Brisbane mall was a desperate bid for electoral leverage which did not succeed.

Continue reading "A win too late to save the Prime Minister" »

Welcome to The Punch team’s live blog of the Labor leadership showdown. All times are in AEDT. Refresh your browser for updates.

Head over to news.com.au for a blow-by-blow of the ballot, and check out The Punch’s Labor leadership coverage to date, then stick around here for all the blood, guts, glory and nerdy political chatter.

1.30pm: We’re signing off this blog. Will see you in our Question Time Live coverage from 2pm. Happy non-spill day…

1.13pm: Gillard is now being very nice about Kevin Rudd, saying his legacy as PM deserves to be honoured. If she’d done this a little while ago this whole debacle may not have become so nasty. Perhaps in the ugliness of the past few days Gillard realised the public doesn’t hate Kevin Rudd as much as she does. TMaguire

1.11pm: In a delightful piece of understatement Julia Gillard says “Australians have had a gut-full of seeing us focus on ourselves” and promises “that this political drama is over.”

12.59pm: Gillard has called a press conference for 1.10pm.

12.57pm: So Kevin Rudd has pledged to remain the Member for Griffith, both for now and after the next election. Anyone fearing he would quit his seat and blow-up the Government would be relieved, but as long as he’s sitting there on the back bench, he’ll be a thorn in the side of the Prime Minister. TMaguire

Continue reading "Live blog: The Rudd/Gillard leadership showdown" »

The night Kevin Rudd dramatically resigned in Washington, Tony Abbott dined in Brisbane where he was asked how he could manage to eat with a grin that big. The Opposition Leader’s response was to stretch the grin even wider.

The past five days of the Labor leadership head-clash have seen the theft of some of Tony Abbott’s best anti-Govenment lines and the gifting of a few more he never thought he would be able to use. Many could get a trot during Question Time today when uncomfortable Labor MPs gather in a group for the first time since the morning leadership ballot.

Kevin Rudd has testified that the public had no confidence in Prime Minister Julia Gillard and that an injection of trust was needed for the Government to survive. Mr Abbott’s taunts of “faceless men’’ pulling invisible strings have been confirmed by Mr Rudd. Thank you Kevin.

Continue reading "Today’s winner: Tony Abbott" »

The existential threat to Julia Gillard’s prime ministership has now passed but the price in political terms will be colossal.

To the extent that a path out of the woods exists at all, it will be narrow, precarious and often hard to discern.

For an error-prone minority government, that’s a big ask. The depth of the problem is exemplified by the dilemma of its chief attack-dog and most effective advocate, Labor’s favourite son, Anthony Albanese.

Continue reading "Why is Labor’s favourite son backing the pretender?" »

It’s the Battle Royale the press gallery has been waiting for: “Juliar” vs “K-Rudd”. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (without the Good).

Gillard has a strong front line of some of the most prominent lights in the Labor Party. Kevin has a parade of freaks and malcontents, oh, and the Australian people.

RUDD, Kevin Michael
Born: 21 September 1957
Draft date: 3 October 1998
Knock outs: Beazley, Howard, Nelson, Turnbull, self
Nickname: Lazarus with an actual bypass
Nickname if you know him: F—-face

Continue reading "Monday bloody Monday: Our Labor leadership form guide" »

“Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.” Such was the proverb employed by my late mother whenever she suspected a colorful new acquaintance was providing an alarming insight into the after-school activities of one of her children.

And just like that the parent-friendly, studious, non-smoking, non-drinking personas so carefully cultivated by my siblings and me would be exposed.

With behind the scenes jostling now under way in earnest ahead of today’s ALP leadership ballot, the identity of those extending the hand of friendship to Kevin Rudd has also been something of a revelation.

Continue reading "Conservatives for Kevin" »

Most of you political junkies might skip over this piece because it doesn’t involve a hard-edged analysis of who-hates-who in the ALP or speculation about where numbers will fall at 10am this morning. The reason I’m not writing that is because for me, it’s not the main game.

Despite the myths about the influence of unions on the Labor caucus, what really motivates me and my colleagues is representing Australia’s workers and improving their lives, regardless of who runs the government.

In the end the decision will be made by 103 elected Labor members of Parliament. I don’t envy their position. The level of internal anger, now spilling into the public arena, has made it harder for Labor to win the next election. The jibe “if you can’t govern yourselves, how can you govern the county?” is one of the hardest for any political party to shake. The 90 per cent of the population that is too busy to pay more than casual attention to politics sees the unholy mess the ALP is in and turns away.

Continue reading "While Labor self-immolates, workers want answers" »

To rework a line from those garish billboards which make the kids ask embarrassing questions, Australia is suffering from election problems.

The quaint notion that voters get to decide who does or doesn’t run the country has been challenged during the past few shambolic years in Canberra. I know, I know – it’s up to the Caucus to elect a leader from its team of MPs. But there is a widely-held and completely understandable public view that when that leader goes to the polls, and receives a popular mandate, their continuing employment will be decided by a general election, rather than covert conversations by king-makers and trouble-makers.

It’s why the hurdy-gurdy leadership transitions by State Labor governments over the past decade have usually failed. It’s also why federal Labor is in the mess it is currently in. By dumping Rudd in record time back in 2010, the factions and the Caucus failed to realise the extent to which voters would regard their conduct as an act of gross impertinence, an usurping of the power of the popular ballot. It was this act which martyred Kevin Rudd and he has capitalised on his martyrdom ever since.

Continue reading "Off the record, you’ve all been conned" »

I really wanted to write about My Kitchen Rules this week, but it turns out there’s even more distasteful backstabbing, strategy and deluded egomania to be had in federal politics.

After 18 months of reassurances that our Foreign Minister is a happy little vegemite in a united ALP team, it now seems clear that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been battling two formidable adversaries: TAbbs and KRudd.

I’ve got to admit, for months I thought the Labor leadership tussle was little more than Canberra commentators feeding off a limp carcass.

Continue reading "Knives are out and I wish they’d chop chop" »

Early last year, a former Rudd Government insider sat down to write about the experience. The resulting document - he called it “a reflection in all seriousness once the period of madness was over” - has never been published.

But in the current climate, where the way Kevin Rudd operated as prime minister has become the central issue in Labor’s bitter leadership contest, it makes fascinating reading.

The author, who operated in a key role and observed much of the discussion and decision making, says  he would not bother to set down his recollections “except that they are such a powerful warning for future governments”.  

Continue reading "The World According to Rudd: an insider’s guide" »

There were always hints that Kevin Rudd might have had a bit of a problem when it came to dealing with women. When it emerged he blew his top at a RAAF hostie because he didn’t like the meal choice on his VIP jet people wondered if he would have acted that way if served the offending sandwich by a man.

Now in the torrent of revelations about what Kevin ‘07 was actually like to work with, it’s women Ministers who have been the most scathing (apart from Wayne Swan, who went totally off his ‘nana about Rudd). It’s also impossible to ignore the fact not a single female front-bencher has come out on his side.

In fact, the only two women publicly cheering on the Rudd spill are his wife and daughter. Perhaps sensing an uphill battle with the ladies, Jessica Rudd conscripted the most female-oriented website possible to the Rudd cause, urging Mamamia readers to “own this spill people”.

Continue reading "Has Kevin got woman trouble?" »

Stand by for the Kevin Caravan, that cavalcade of bad jokes and cheesy lines we saw used so effectively in the 2007 election, and never really since.

From touchdown today Kevin Rudd will be putting on a show, not just for his Caucus buddies but for the general electorate, those people his wife yesterday asked to lobby their local Labor MP on her husband’s behalf.

Mr Rudd will be calling for support from people not in Parliament, not even in the Labor Party. He wants to be able to claim a popular groundswell.

Continue reading "Welcome to the Rudd show: It’s the Kevin Caravan" »

Kevin Rudd is on a plane, which makes it hard to campaign for the prime ministership. So in the absence of media attention today he’s relied on the two most important women in his life - his wife Therese Rein, and his daughter Jessica Rudd.

Rein did a doorstop just after Julia Gillard’s press conference today where the former first lady urged people to call their local ALP member and tell them who to vote for in next Monday’s Caucus ballot. But tonight Ms Rudd made an even more unorthodox intervention in the bloody battle.

Writing on the website Mamamia, Jessica Rudd donned some literary pom poms and cheered on readers to “Tweet something. Rant on Facebook. Put a video on YouTube. Put a sign on your front fence. Have a chat with your neighbour. Tell your friends. Email your local MP. Ring them up. Stop them at the news agent and make them listen. Call your local radio station. Have a rally Vote in an online poll. Write a song about it. Get on Mamamia and say, ‘OMG she’s just saying that because she’s KRudd’s daughter.’”

Continue reading "“Let’s own this spill people!”. Retail politics Rudd-style" »

It’s really quite surprising that Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s head has not yet exploded, spraying reform-flavoured bits of grey matter all over her minders.

Whether you’re a lover or a loather, you have to admire how she stands up to pressure – which is one of the things those close to her often comment on.

This morning in a little courtyard, flanked by the outdoor SA Parliament loos, pot-bound ficuses, baby bamboo, and the stench of over-excited journos, she gave quite an impressive performance - read all about it at news.com.au and check out the Punch blog here.

Continue reading "If only Julia Gillard was always this convincing" »

Julia Gillard will give a press conference at 9.30am Eastern Time to respond to Kevin Rudd’s shock resignation as Foreign Minister. The Punch’s Tory Shepherd will be there. Join us here for live coverage and to take part in the national bun fight!

And feel free to comment below.

After modest carousing following his second elevation to Prime Minister - no more than half an hour - Kevin Rudd fronts a press conference to outline a re-Kevinated Labor government.

“The fight against the ravaging of the natural environment by the poison of carbon emissions remains a fixed and vital element of Labor’s plans for a better Australia,’’ he says. “However, a penalty price of $23 a tonne of carbon is excessive in current national and international circumstances. A Rudd government will reduce that, for a limited period, to $10 a tonne.”

That single policy switch, produced after six months of consultation with Australian business executives, suddenly re-aligns Labor’s electoral prospects. Suddenly, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has to confront a carbon reduction program which is cheaper than his and well within the parameters of global responses. The carbon tax is no longer an all-purpose weapon against Labor.

Continue reading "A sneak preview of PM Kevin Rudd Mark II" »

Never underestimate the furiously protective streak of an adult daughter towards her father. Last night as the ALP conflagrated in an orgy of Rudd-loathing the now former foreign minister’s daughter Jessica tweeted: Effing proud of you, Dad. xxxx

Rudd should hang on to the warm fuzzy feeling seeing that might have given him, because the bile that’s been seeping out of the ALP over the last two years last night turned into a gushing geyser.

Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan put on the public record what Caucus members have been saying privately for years: “For too long, Kevin Rudd has been putting his own self-interest ahead of the interests of the broader Labor movement and the country as a whole, and that needs to stop.”

Continue reading "Scorched earth is all that will remain if they keep this up" »

Yikes. Kevin Rudd has just quit as Foreign Minister. It is a spectacular escalation of the battle for the leadership which Rudd hopes will achieve two things – enhance his status as a martyr with the voters, and free him up to devote himself fully to the task of wresting back the prime ministership.

Tactically, Rudd has sensed Gillard’s hesitation about whether to discipline him, to dump him, to bring the issue to a head by calling a spill. She has been reluctant to do any of those things because she knows Rudd is already a figure of considerable sympathy with voters who believe he should not have been knocked off in the first place, and would much prefer him over Gillard as PM.

By sacking himself Rudd is trying to play the victim.

Continue reading "Rudd quits: Now for the next episode in his soap opera" »

Julia Gillard’s painful leadership bind will force her to demote and further humiliate the man she abruptly ousted - and deeply scarred - as Prime Minister in June, 2010. It is the best option she has to deal with Kevin Rudd and even then it is a ghastly one.

A problem for the pro-Gillard forces is that in the public sphere it is they who have been doing all the nasty talk. Simon Crean spoke of Rudd disloyalty, for example, on at least three radio stations and one TV network.

Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd is, in public, seen to simply be doing his public duty as Foreign Minister, building a reputation as one of the top performers among his international peers.

Continue reading "Sweet-talking Rudd has forced Gillard to be a bad guy" »

So Labor MP David Bradbury has offered to get a tattoo declaring his support for the Prime Minister.

Perhaps a tasteful heart with “Julia Forever” emblazoned on his bicep? Or, if he really wants to be hardcore, how about J-U-L-I-A scratched across his knuckles. That raises a dilemma though – left or right hand? Perhaps left. Then he can hedge his bets and do K-E-V-I-N on the right, just in case.

You don’t want to regret your decision later Dave – like your Labor colleague Graham Perrett who last year threatened to resign if Rudd became leader again. He is suffering serious buyer’s remorse now and says he will have to consider his options. What’s more, he’s suggested the deadline of the second anniversary of the Gillard election as a timeframe in which MPs can make up their mind about Julia. Helpful stuff.

Continue reading "Julia Gillard is starting to sound like Comical Ali" »

There are several theories about Kevin Rudd’s alleged popularity. One is that it is simple nostalgia - made possible because memories of what his government was really like have faded and because voters themselves were never that concerned with internal problems anyway.

Some say it is the ``anyone-but-Julia’’ factor - she is not him which by definition makes him an attractive alternative.

Still another theory has it that while his popularity appears a mile wide, it is only an inch deep and could evaporate rather quickly with a return to prime-time exposure. But there is no denying it is there at present. The question is why?

Continue reading "Why is this man so popular, and how long can it last?" »

The battle for the prime ministership has absolutely nothing to do with policy and everything to do with personality.

It is not about who has the best agenda to govern the nation.

On the part of Kevin Rudd, it is about payback. Payback for what he sees as a moral wrong – the removal of a democratically elected prime minister, in defiance of the will of the people, by a bunch of no-name factional hacks, on behalf of someone who either can’t remember or won’t reveal how much involvement she had in the days leading up to the June 2010 coup.

Continue reading "The war over personality, hatred and grudges" »

Sometimes, you’d swear a higher power was trying to tell us all something. Not that the universe would trouble itself over anything as trivial as Australian politics, but all the same.

On the weekend, former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting was brought back as a fill-in for the injured Michael Clarke. Ponting proceeded to do his customary lousy job, and was duly punted for good. Could the message be any clearer? Do we really need to spell this thing out?

The Ponting return was a screaming reminder for Kevin Rudd to stay the hell clear of a leadership challenge. Second stints don’t work. As the American novelist Thomas Wolfe once nearly wrote: “You Can’t Go Home to the Lodge Again”.

Continue reading "What Rudd can learn from Ricky Ponting" »

The nation has been rocked this week by the shock revelation that politicians swear. A leaked video reveals that former (and future) prime minister Kevin Rudd used several expletives while attempting to read out a recorded message.

However in yet another extraordinary exclusive, sources close to Kevin Rudd have now released the full transcript of the video which shows it was very selectively edited. In fact all the seemingly angry and abusive things he said have a perfectly reasonable explanation…

Beachside, somewhere in Mexico

Hi Julia! Had a few minutes free so I just thought I’d Skype you to say hello _ or “hola!’’ as they say here in Mexico. Crazy guys. Lotta fun though.

Continue reading "A Ruddy postcard from sunny Mexico" »

Monday, 13 Feb 2012

Morning

A lot of my constituents have been writing to me re: concerns over interest rates and housing prices. Plan to spend the week kicking around policy ideas with the gang. Really hope leadership speculation is over – is getting in way of governing.

Afternoon

Gillard Press Secretary (GPS) drops in. Just wanted to remind me to watch tonight’s Four Corners retrospective on Rudd’s Prime Ministership. Says Rudd won’t have 26 supporters by tomorrow morning. Laughs.

Laugh with him. In times like these, not laughing can be an act of disloyalty.

Continue reading "Minister’s journal: The return of K-Rudd" »

It wouldn’t be possible for two candidates in a leadership contest to be more damaged than Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard - and the joke’s on us because right now they’re fighting over what’s left of the carcass of the Australian prime ministership.

This weekend one was publicly called a “psychopath” by one of his colleagues, the other was told by a different colleague the best thing she could do for the ALP was to stand down in favour of a “strong candidate”. Take anything said on the record and times it by ten for what Caucus members are prepared to say without being named, and we still have a week of this to endure before Caucus meets again in Canberra and has a chance to find some kind of resolution.

Both of them have proven totally incapable of running an effective office. Rudd has all but admitted he micromanaged and overworked his staff and ministers into oblivion. He’s had to acknowledge his issues as part of his I’ve-changed narrative. And the lack of discipline in Gillard’s office has in recent weeks been on display with crystal clarity. Now her camp has inflamed tensions with the release of the Rudd-swearing video and threatened to “unleash bloody vengeance on all of those who brought this vampire (Rudd) back to life”. These are not the actions of a crew hell bent on stability.

Continue reading "The plague is already on both their houses" »

Conspiracy theorists should adjust their tin-foil hats if they think Julia Gillard was personally involved in the release of the Sweary Kevin video.

Today she is attending a function where she is able to look every centimeter a national leader, the commemoration of the WWII bombing of Darwin. This is an important occasion at which a Prime Minister can look like a Prime Minister and not an MP down in the ruck of scrapping politicians.

No way would she have wanted the moment ruined by nasty internal Labor Party head kicking.
However, the video release did just that.

Continue reading "Leaking of Rudd outburst does Gillard no favours" »

Labor MPs now feel condemned to an unhappy routine of Gillard Government advances crashing into the roadblock of the leadership standoff with Kevin Rudd.

Many are also despairing over the prospect that the only way to end instability caused by Kevin Rudd’s ambitions is to gratify them.

For many, that reward for all the trouble caused is unacceptable. Which means the next leadership change—and the odds of one happening are growing stronger—is likely to be from Julia Gillard to Bill Shorten or Stephen Smith. Not Kevin Rudd.

Continue reading "Odds rapidly Shorten on a different leader" »

Julia Gillard today said she never dodges questioning but there are some, including Labor backers, who wish she had last night. However, many of these tut-tutting critics would also have been piling into the Prime Minister had she snubbed the Four Corners interrogation.

Still, it looks strange she participated in a recounting of painful ancient history which further highlighted the bitterness brewed in June, 2010 when she knocked over Kevin Rudd.

And agreement to the interview exposed the Prime Minister to questions she had difficulty handling, such as whether she knew her staff were preparing a leadership speech two weeks before the ousting of Kevin Rudd, and what she knew of party polling at the time.

Continue reading "Questioning her judgment over facing questions" »

The joke when Peter Costello was trying in vain to cobble together a viable leadership push was that he had enough supporters to fill a Tarago van. Kevin Rudd probably has around the same level of support – Kev’s van might also be fitted with a trailer to carry a few extra bods up the back – but it in numerical terms it is far from being an unstoppable juggernaut which will steamroll Julia Gillard out of the top job.

It’s the numbers that matter in politics. In the absence of good numbers, aspiring leaders fall back on psychology. History suggests it offers no sure path to the leadership. Quite the opposite.

Peter Costello was a bit like the dorky guy at the school disco who hung around in the corner hoping a girl would ask him to dance.

Continue reading "Memo Kev: Pee or get off the pot" »

As key moments go, it ranked with Gough Whitlam’s dramatic dismissal speech branding Malcolm Fraser “Kerr’s cur’’ or the latter’s lip-quivering concession on election night, 1983.

It was June 24, 2010. Before a huge media throng, a teary Kevin Rudd, his composure failing, his bewildered family staring awkwardly forward, detailed his achievements one by one. Long silences exacerbated the tension.

It was excruciating.

Continue reading "Kevin 2.0 could be better. Or it could be even KRuddier." »

Typically, leadership contests have that nagging chicken-or-egg feel about them.

They usually involve a period of intense public speculation with various insiders anonymously cited as backing this option or that.

It is a process which can leave voters suspicious of motives if only because change, division, and conflict, make great news copy.

Continue reading "Julia Gillard is on the highway to the danger zone" »

How far do you commute to work? One hour? Twenty minutes? Do you work from home? Where’s head office? Do you think a person who has to drive 15 minutes to their workplace is unqualified to do the job?

In politics, like no other job, being born and raised in the one area is some sort of political necessity. It’s a ridiculous thought because if we all thought like that, we’d be doing piecemeal work from home on looms.

This week, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd called Campbell Newman an ‘alien’ because Newman doesn’t live within the electoral boundary of Ashgrove. Newman lives one suburb away from the seat of Ashgrove. Does this mean he is unqualified to represent the people of Ashgrove?

Continue reading "Politicians don’t have to live in their own electorates" »

Julia Gillard needs time to repair her scarified personal standing in the broad electorate and this year simply will not give it to her. She also needs time to reorient political debate to economic management and other areas of relative Government strength. Again there simply will not be enough days for her in 2012.

This is a measure of both the magnitude of the Prime Minister’s plight and the crammed agendas for this year, the crucial positioning period leading up to the scheduled election in 2013.

This week Ms Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will bid to impose their own structure on the national debate in major speeches—Mr Abbott tomorrow and Ms Gillard the day after.

Continue reading "So much ground to make up, so little time to do it" »

Those in the business of applying the defibrillators to Julia Gillard’s prime ministership have been quick to talk up her grace and decency during the tent embassy mayhem, while also pointing an accusatory finger at Tony Abbott for inciting the chaos.

Whatever sympathy Gillard may have received after her frightening ordeal will now be undermined by the resignation late Friday of a junior staffer who had stupidly worded up the protesters as to Abbott’s whereabouts. Nevertheless the PM clearly handled herself with courage and compassion.

The footage revealing her asking the security service to ensure Abbott would also be safely escorted from the restaurant was a credit to her. She didn’t know she was on camera, and there was nothing confected about her concern. Laudable, too, was her comment later that day that her only regret was the violence had disrupted an event recognising the courage of emergency services crews. At a more human level, Gillard simply looked terrified as she was rushed from the building. Only the most jaundiced critic would have felt for her as she was dragged to safety.

Continue reading "Year starts with shoe off, trouble ahead is a shoo-in" »

Julia Gillard will need to do more to win over the MPs who have deserted her than the offer of a sizzled sausage and a weekend whiteboard session. The love may have come too late.

With Parliament due to resume in less than two weeks, the fragility of the PM’s leadership will be the issue she most has to deal with. And for her, there can be no moving forward from the horrors of last year, until she gets the monkey off her back.

For that reason, Labor MPs are left with little doubt that the so called special caucus “planning day” scheduled for the Sunday before Parliament resumes, is all about Kevin Rudd.

Continue reading "Butchers papering over the cracks in Caucus" »

BY all accounts it was an extraordinary sight. Kevin Rudd was in flying form. As were his guests. Last Saturday night, while dining at Noosa’s trendy eatery, Bistro C, adoring patrons mobbed the foreign minister’s table.

They flattered and fawned over the local celebrity, who was born nearby in the hinterland of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. An obliging Rudd did his best to accommodate them, leaving his guests at the table to stand arm in arm for group shots with his fans. He was in his element.

But that wasn’t the most extraordinary of things. Few people noticed the other man sitting at the table with him. And why would they. The former Attorney General Robert McClelland, dumped only last month in Julia Gillard’s frontbench reshuffle, is hardly a household name in Queensland or a face that many would necessarily recognise. But there he was, the political cuckold, dining with Rudd and several members of their families, as if they were long time friends.

Continue reading "PM beware former foes dining in fancy restaurants" »

Earlier this week, we learned that North Korean dictator and supreme being Kim Jong-un is the “Genius of Geniuses”.

This life-changing knowledge flowed gently into our puny human brains through the magic of a video presumably produced by Kim Jong-un himself.

So far, no one - except a bunch of people in gulags - has disputed this. And why would you? Who wouldn’t want a leader who is the official Genius of Geniuses? A crazy person, that’s who.

Continue reading "Stop horsing around and hail our glorious leaders" »

Let’s get one thing straight up front. Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott probably deserve points merely for surviving this arduous first calendar year of minority government. With everyone on a steep learning curve, the most obvious lesson is that there is a parallel between minority parliament and the concept of dog years: twelve months of this ages a government like the full three years of a normal term.

The other lesson is that while Julia Gillard has shown she is as tough as nails, simply refusing to blink, Tony Abbott has also adapted to the situation better than he’s been given credit for.

So, to some ratings.

Continue reading "Someone’s getting grounded: our pollies’ 2011 report card" »

With Parliament over for the year and Christmas just around the corner, our politicians will be looking forward to a well-earned rest. So what will they be reading over the summer break?

Usually they tell us they’re tucking into long, complex works by Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or biographies about obscure and impressive sounding military strategists from ancient Rome. Of course that’s rubbish.

Luckily, someone in Kevin Rudd’s office has leaked the entire list of what our leaders will really be reading this summer. Some of the highlights are reproduced below.

Continue reading "The definitive summer reading guide for our pollies" »

Much has been made this week of the leaked excerpts from the ALP’s election post mortem by Bob Carr, Steve Bracks and John Faulkner.

The excerpts leaked were highly critical of Kevin Rudd but the authors now say that there is even more material that has not been released that paints a very different picture.

Now, in yet another extraordinary exclusive, an explosive second extract has been leaked to the Joe Hildebrand column. Of course some people say these excerpts have also been selectively edited but I see no evidence of that…

Continue reading "Leaked report reveals leaked reports cause leaks" »

“She gave us nothing really, no inspiration and no feeling for the party’s mood. She calls Abbott ‘Dr No’ but it’s Julia who’s going to be known for saying no, and sometimes for things she later praises like emissions trading and probably gay marriage.”

This damning critique came not from an Opposition MP or conservative commentator, but a moderate member of the ALP’s Left.

It speaks to a growing frustration that was all too evident in Sydney last weekend when the PM had to be rescued from the membership following the embarrassing “we are us” opening address to National Conference.

Continue reading "She robs Rudd of office, then rubs him from history" »

The ALP national conference is coming up and this time it might actually be interesting rather than an event more scripted than an inflight safety announcement.

By this time next week the Labor Party will know whether it has reinforced its claim to stand for something or simply invited internal voices of dissent to an unseemly shouting match.

Further, Julia Gillard will know whether the party gave her the authority she needed or was marking her down because of the manner of her elevation.

Continue reading "ALP conference: This party’s no cause for celebration" »

I’m a young, Caucasian, university-educated male. Like many who match that description, I have a longstanding man-crush on the President of the United States, due to arrive in Canberra this afternoon.

It’s not just because Barack Obama is such a cool cat. It’s not just because of those 2008 YouTube videos of good-looking ladies singing about how excellent His Excellency is. It’s not even really because of his policies, some of which are spot-on and others, questionable.

I’ve got a man-crush on Obama for an old-fashioned reason. He can spin a story that’s at times, enchanting. He can tell compelling yarns with Hollywood-style blockbuster special effects.

Continue reading "Tell a good story, Barack, or you’ll end up like Our Kevin" »

The polls show that he is the people’s choice for prime minister.

And Kevin Rudd believes that, if the Labor Party still has a soul, it will soon heed the will of the people by committing an act of mass contrition, recognising that the factions were wrong, and reinstalling him to the job he secured so comprehensively at the 2007 election.

Rudd’s mind at the moment is driven by two things. One is personal, the other is pragmatic.

Continue reading "A behind-the-scenes look at Kevin Rudd: The Sequel" »

Despite what Tony Abbott would have us believe, the striking thing about the build-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth was not division between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. It was the way they worked together.

The two rivals put differences aside to try to ensure that CHOGM is a success. And they will consider it a success if the Commonwealth leaders leave Australia with smiles on their faces.

That’s what it’s all about. Keeping all of the 53 delegations happy. Because folks, behind the talk about strengthening the Commonwealth’s commitment to democracy and human rights, the Gillard Government is approaching the summit as a $60 million PR exercise.

Continue reading "Big guns down weapons for UN Security Council seat" »

Striding along Rome’s Piazza Navona in late September, his “Nikon necklace’’ bouncing off his chest as a sign of a duty-free camera indulgence, was Paul Keating.

He was, he told a group of Australians, constantly being stopped by Australian tourists who wanted a chat and to get in a photo with him.

It was suggested to him he was having the same public popularity problems as Kevin Rudd.

Continue reading "Rudd not a Caucus winner, but an expert on talkfests" »

I am becoming increasingly tired of seeing, hearing or reading in the media, former Prime Ministers or politicians struggling to retire from political power and influence with dignity.

Anyone with even a modest interest in politics could compile a substantial list in just a few minutes. Think Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Pauline Hanson, Peter Beattie, Bob Carr, Cheryl Kernot, Jeff Kennett, Mark Latham, John Hewson, Peter Costello, Graham Richardson and Peter Reith and you will have just started. Why don’t these ex-pollies just put the kettle on and relax?

Then of course there is deposed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who is suffering the “Kath and Kim “ syndrome: “Look at me, look at me, look at me!”

Continue reading "FOOI #10: Ex-pollies, just shut up and put the kettle on" »

Today’s news that an Iranian actor faces a year’s jail and 90 lashes for starring in a South Australia-funded film is an affront to justice, artistic license and about 100 other things. It is, however, very good news for a certain K Rudd.

The man who was Prime Minister until he walked backwards into a very long scimitar has had a good week. Not since he confronted a jaded John Howard and his despised WorkChoices at the 2007 election has Rudd been presented with such a string of scenarios tailor-made for his popularity.

If politics is normally the equivalent of facing missiles hurled at 100 miles an hour, this week has been T-Ball for Rudd. First, he out-manouevred Gillard with the Kuta Kid, owning the news cycle and making Gillard’s phone call to the boy’s cell look like a desperate grab for attention. Now he’s got the chance to go into bat for Iranian actor Marzieh Vafamehr.

Continue reading "This must be a job for SuperKevin…" »

“Always forgive your enemies,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “nothing annoys them so much”. And no advice could be more prescient for Kevin Rudd, who must be feeling positively Churchillian at the prospect of being drafted back in to the Labor leadership.

The former ALP headkicker Graham Richardson, who is by his own admission more of an outsider these days than an insider, has claimed that Victorian backbencher Alan Griffin and West Australian senator Mark Bishop are running the numbers for Mr Rudd.

Commenting on the suggestion, the former PM mixed requisite denial with a rather heavy dose of aggression, attacking “factional bullies” and taking every opportunity to put the focus back on Tony Abbott. He is, quite literally, on the campaign trail – but the electorate is only an afterthought here. The voters that matter are in caucus.

Continue reading "The caucus dominoes could soon be falling Rudd’s way…" »

There is something enticing about the idea of life in the foreign service, with the promise of exotic travel, dealings and double-dealings with diplomats from the dodgiest regimes, cocktails on the lawn at lavish ambassadorial residences.

We have been reminded this week, however, that a very large part of the role of the foreign service is to lend a helping hand to ratbags who get themselves into strife overseas, and believe that it’s the job of the Government to get them out of trouble.

You would imagine that any Australian diplomat posted to a place such as Phuket would spend most of their time arranging ambulances for guys called Wazza who ploughed their Vespa into the back of a tuktuk after 14 bottles of Singha, safe in the knowledge that our Government can save them from their own stupidity.

Continue reading "Help me Kevin 747. You’re my only hope!" »

Kevin Rudd’s head is entitled to have swollen a fair bit recently. All week newspaper frontpages have been telling him how magnificent he is and how not-magnificent the current PM is. But just as magnificent as Rudd’s approval ratings is the gaffe (or perhaps, Freudian slip) he made this morning.

Kevin747 had just landed back home, shoulders sore after rubbing them against UN boffins all week in New York, when he said during an interview with a regional radio station that he was a “very happy little vegemite being Prime Minister - being Foreign Minister of Australia”.

It’s a ruddy spectacular slip, especially considering the leadership speculation kerfuffle of the past month. To commemorate such a brilliant verbal stuff-up, The Punch presents a few of the more embarrassing or just plain unfortunate conversational cock-ups of recent times.

Continue reading "A Ruddy spectacular compendium of gaffes" »

We’ve seen a lot of political oddity courtesy of this Labor crew – a first-term PM knifed and crying in the courtyard of Parliament House, his successor vowing to reveal “the real Julia” while never deviating from her robotic spin, and stunning and historic depths plumbed in the polls.

But last weekend, amid the circus that is Gillard’s embattled and high court rejected “Malaysia solution”, another surreal political moment occurred. 

A bizarre cross between hostage negotiation, desperate plea and slap in the face – yes, I’m referring to Peter Beattie’s “Dear Kevin” letter.

Continue reading "The oddity of Beattie’s ruddy “Dear Kev” letter" »

Kevin Rudd jet setting around the world partying with some of the world’s most powerful people might look like fun. It might even look like a waste of our tax dollars. Then again, it’s his job as foreign minister.

Suck it up, people. You might not like the guy but he’s got a job to do and he’s doing it. So what’s the problem?

Today The Daily Telegraph delivered a damning report of Kevin Rudd clocking up over $1 million on travel in his first nine months as foreign minister. Some will say it’s his revenge against Gillard knifing him in the back, making a big note of himself around the world. That’s rubbish.

Continue reading "Who gives a flying buck about Kevin 747’s expenses?" »

Much has been made of the tasteless descriptions of Prime Minister Julia Gillard on placards at anti-carbon tax rallies. Tasteless they are. They are also not really a world away from the descriptions used by our former prime minister Kevin Rudd to convey his toxic disregard for his successor.

Since losing the job in a swift and brutal coup just over 12 months ago, Rudd has been less than circumspect in his contempt for Gillard, at times in very public settings where he has gone out of his way to run her down to anyone who will listen.

When Julia Gillard seized the leadership last year, despite the role of the factional heavies, she took personal ownership of the decision to move against Rudd, memorably declaring that his was “a government which had lost its way”. Maybe it had, but in relative terms, it’s hard to see where that assessment leaves her government. A government which has lost its way, both its paddles, and has capsized its barbed-wire canoe in the deepest recesses of shit creek.

Continue reading "Rudd’s return a brilliant idea, possibly doomed to fail" »

On Saturday night Kevin Rudd celebrated having one million followers on Twitter. “Thanks a million,”  he tweeted.

But how many of those followers are members and senators of the Australian Labor Party?

Kevin Rudd can gathered all manner of tallies reflecting his popularity, but he has to get a majority in the federal Labor Caucus if he is to return to the job of Prime Minister. And Julia Gillard (67,131 Twitter followers) isn’t going to help him get it.

Continue reading "Kevin Rudd: One million followers and counting" »

Exquisite for some, bitter for others, the irony or perhaps karma of Labor’s current dilemma cannot have escaped members of Julia Gillard’s embattled caucus.

Last year, out of the blue and with no warning, they moved on a popular prime minister in what for most Australians was the dead of night.

On an otherwise non-descript Wednesday in June, the nation turned out the lights with one PM and awoke on Thursday with another. It was not foreshadowed in any way and has never been adequately explained.

Continue reading "Labor’s karma not dogma their own worst enema" »

Perhaps the most damaging outcome of all the dysfunction wrought by the Gillard Government is the shocking loss of respect for the office of Prime Minister itself.

If the headlines of “Dead Woman Walking” and the litany of ridicule in the weekend papers wasn’t enough to convince you that respect is lost, then tonight the ABC launches At Home with Julia - a sitcom, mockumentary, call it what you will, about the private life of Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson.

Of course, I haven’t seen it - it may well be a touching tribute. Just as Spinal Tap was an erudite tribute to those much misunderstood rockers. Point is, it’s playing for laughs.

Continue reading "At home with a PM who’s lost all of Australia’s respect" »

Have you heard of Changsha, Chengdu and Chongqing? How about Wuhan or Weifang? Indeed try a little test: name seven cities in China … you can even count Hong Kong.

To my shame, I was unaware of any of these places before I set off for China last week. I was also unable to name seven Chinese cities.

As a late ring in for our Foreign Minister – who had something on even closer to his heart than China – I joined Trade Minister Craig Emerson in leading a trade delegation to China of a hundred Australian businesses.

Continue reading "A city the size of London in the middle of China" »

Twelve months ago today, Julia Gillard was reduced to seeking public support from the man she had turfed out of the Prime Minister’s office so mercilessly just over a month before.

“I have said yes to that request,” Kevin Rudd told reporters gravely after approaches for help made on behalf of Ms Gillard during the August 21 election campaign.

Mr Rudd had been in hospital, as he is now. He now is recovering from a heart operation. A year ago it was removal of his gall bladder.

Continue reading "Drop the defibrillator. The “real” Julia has a pulse!" »

Want to know how Australia’s $4.836 billion in Australian overseas aid will be spent in 2011-12? Finding out is not easy of you are a journalist or documentary filmmaker and do not want to rely only on Department of Foreign Affairs press releases and what is to be found on the DFAT and AusAID websites.

“I am committed to enhancing the transparency of our aid program,” writes Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd on the DFAT website. “When people are able to access information, they are better able to hold those who are managing their money — whether AusAID, partner governments, or international organisations — to account.”

Noble sentiments - but how does Rudd’s professed commitment to transparency and accountability stack up when it comes to providing media access to the aid programs on which this money is being spent?

Continue reading "We need to know whether aid is helping in Africa" »

The COAG reform agenda, having stalled long ago under Labor’s chaotic governing style, is showing about the same signs of life as the US housing market, if the latest performance reports are anything to by.

The 2009-10 performance reports released in recent days did not make for pleasant reading. Almost two years after the deadline for Kevin Rudd’s promise to take over the hospital system if the states did not lift their game, we are still no closer to a solution.

Elective surgery waiting times rose nationally while “financial barriers” caused one million Australians to put off seeing a GP. No doubt these financial barriers will only worsen as the inflationary effects of Labor’s stimulus spending come home to roost through higher taxes and interest rate hikes.

Continue reading "Reform agenda has slowly COAGulated" »

It loomed like an end of year exam. Threatening. Dreary. Ominous. And completely necessary in order to proceed into the next year.  As Labor MPs braced for the anniversary of the most tumultuous day in Australian politics since the dismissal of Gough Whitlam, they already knew it would be tough. But what really ate away at them was what Tony Abbott had been skilfully exploiting for months.

The switch to Julia Gillard had failed. The Government had spiralled downwards.Yes it had survived an election, but even that “win’‘, by way of backroom negotiation after the fact (hardly the Australian way) was a poison chalice.

At around 27 per cent, Labor’s primary vote is now at the lowest level for any federal government in the 39 years of Nielsen Poll and the first time one of the major parties had dipped below 30 per cent. Equally galling was that twice as many voters prefer the man Ms Gillard had displaced. If an election were held now, the ALP would have been decimated.

Continue reading "Doom! Gloom! Gillard celebrates one year" »

Those of you who are eagle-eyed and able to connect the dots may have noticed our elected representatives have been participating in a scheme in the service of our nation this week.

It was suggested by outgoing MP Lindsay Tanner, who reflected that the political scene was far too serious lately and in dire need of some levity. To combat this he suggested something bold, something daring.
Parliamentary joke time.

Continue reading "Did you hear the one about Parliament joke time?" »

One day in the near future the world as we know it will come to an end.

Australia will have become a series of atolls populated only by Gold Coast property developers and surrounded by smug hippies snorkelling past saying “I told you so”.

I speak of course about climate change, which is now certain to drown us in saltwater and self-pity and consign our grandchildren to interbreeding with dugongs in a bold but unbecoming attempt to keep the species alive.

Continue reading "The humanimals in our government will kill us all" »

In music, “polyphony” is when a composition has more than one melody playing at the same time. This term should be adapted for the political sphere. So, all and sundry, I hereby declare the label ‘polliephony’ be applied to those times when pollies try and win both sides of the argument - in other words, when they try to walk both sides of the street.

Polliephony is unfortunately a technique that is pervasive in almost all Australian political debates. However, for purposes of “programmatic specificity”, I’ll focus on its use in the asylum seeker debate.  This is because the asylum seeker debate is ripe for the use of polliephony, as it has two distinct sides of the street to walk on: one ‘tough’ and the other ‘humane’. 

Which brings us to one of the more remarkable and indelible uses of polliephony in modern Australian politics. Kevin “Bonhoeffer” Rudd’s notorious “tough but humane” approach to border protection.

Continue reading "Phony pollies and polyphony on asylum seekers" »

There are two ways to deal with dumped political leaders. They can either be accommodated or destroyed. The fatal mistake the Labor Party made when it knifed Kevin Rudd last year was that it tried to do both.

Since Rudd’s removal the party’s public position is that there is a valuable role for Kevin to play at senior levels of government, that he is a team player, an asset in foreign affairs, someone who adds depth to the Cabinet and continues to enjoy deserved popularity with the voters.

The party’s private position is that Rudd is a high-maintenance sook, was a bully and a control freak as leader, that he is now using foreign affairs to gallivant about big-noting himself, that he is running Julia Gillard down to whoever will listen, and that it would have been best for everyone if he’d bowed out gracefully ahead of last year’s federal election.

Continue reading "Forlorn hope that a smited Kevin would go quietly" »

In April a school group from the NSW central coast was in Paris on the way back from an emotional visit to Australian war graves on France’s Western Front.

Maybe it was the excitement of a wonderful overseas trip, maybe it was homesickness that explains what happened in Paris. But the point is, it wasn’t unusual.

The pupils had stopped to take in Notre Dame Cathedral when they came across another tourist attraction usually not seen back home at Brisbane Water and Tuggerah Lakes.

Continue reading "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…" »

This time last year Labor’s factional bosses were loading the bullets into the chamber so that Julia Gillard could pull the trigger on Kevin Rudd’s prime ministership. No-one saw it coming - even on the night of the coup the most senior members of the government were dismissing the reports as a beat-up – and few predicted the chaos which would ensue.

Caucus was so quick to fall into line that Kevin Rudd ducked a leadership ballot after confidantes advised he would receive a humiliating handful of votes. The party believed that Julia was its saviour and two months later it failed to win a majority, with Ms Gillard having taken the government from its unassailable 2007 landslide position to a shambolic day-to-day operation, reliant on the vagaries of rural independents and inner-city Greens.

The polls now all point to a comfortable Coalition win at the next election.

Continue reading "Nothing to celebrate on Julia’s 1st birthday as PM" »

When I bring up the subject of Kevin Rudd’s brutal factional knifing, I am often accused of living in the past.

In fact nothing could be further from the truth. For example, let me take you back to 44BC.

This was another year when a group of factional powerbrokers decided their personal political interests would be much better served if they too knifed a leader who, despite his widely acknowledged vision and intellect, was criticised as being too imperious and autocratic.

Continue reading "Veni vidi vici Vo Vo*. Why Rudd is a modern day Caesar" »

They both have the unpleasant distinction of being among our shortest-lived political leaders – in the case of Malcolm Turnbull, just 13 months as Opposition Leader, in the case of Kevin Rudd, just two years and six months as Prime Minister.

The political decline of both men was intertwined with their shared belief in climate change and support for an emissions trading scheme.

They also have in common a somewhat imperious manner which grated with their parliamentary colleagues, who have often described them as condescending and aloof. It is unlikely that either man will ever lead their party again. Despite that reality, right now, the two biggest internal problems confronting the Labor Government and Liberal Opposition hinge on both men.

Continue reading "Tony and Julia battle for air with Mal and Kev show" »

Population stability in Australia today is all about immigration patterns and policy, not about some notion of enforced family size.

If it weren’t for sky-high levels of immigration we would already be well on the track to population stability, as are a number of other much wiser OECD countries.

At least the Burke review did not re-endorse Rudd’s “unapologetic” call for massive population growth.

Continue reading "We need to stop the cult of endless growth" »

It’s instructive to go back to the Kevin07 campaign advertisements, not least because the man himself seemed so confident and so damned chirpy.

The ads underline the fact it wasn’t long ago that many voters were prepared to place their trust in the abilities of the Labor Party.

Nielsen polling released Monday found Kevin Rudd was preferred leader of the Labor Party, 55 per cent to incumbent Julia Gillard’s 38 per cent. It was more a comment on Ms Gillard than a sign the mob wanted Kevin back, but the comparison was stark.

Even as Foreign Minister - even though he seems rarely in the country - Rudd retains the ability to connect that he mobilised so devastatingly against John Howard in 2007.

Continue reading "Video killed the Ruddio star" »

There was much laughter and teasing from the Labor side about the decision of the Queensland Liberal National Party to install a leader who wasn’t even in the Parliament. Federal Labor has its own leader in exile, except he’s inside the Caucus.

His name is Kevin, he’s from Queensland, and he’s here to do anything other than help Julia Gillard as she grapples with the horrors of minority government and seeks a difficult second term.

Julia Gillard has her work cut out for her. She’s up against not one but two alternative prime ministers, Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd. Tony Abbott is currently unassailable. Kevin Rudd is simply uncontrollable.

Continue reading "There’s nothing Julia can do about Kevin" »

It was another poor week for the Government, and one in which the Opposition didn’t have to lift a finger.

In fact, Tony Abbott just rode off into the sunset swapping the noisy “gutter politics” of the last weeks of Parliament for the majesty of the open road.  His lycra-clad parade along the 2011 Pollie Pedal charity bike ride gave us a new variant - gusset politics.

But Julia Gillard’s misfortune had nothing to do with nagging suspicions of where the alternative PM keeps his spare pair of socks.

Continue reading "Rogue Rudd has Gillard over a barrel" »

He’s jokey, he’s hokey, he’s contrite, he’s frank. He’s Kevin Rudd and he’s trying to convince you he has learned his lesson.

KR #2 last night used an ABC political chat show, Q&A, to suddenly start talking about some of those events of the past 12 months which are still shaping and plaguing the ALP and the government.

Rudd did so with a beguiling combination of Dad Jokes and aw-shucks language (in which Zimbabwe becomes Zim and Americans were Yanks, factional leaders were thugsters).

Continue reading "Chilled out Rudd is sticking the elbow in" »

The situation in Libya is constantly changing. For the latest updates see news.com.au.

It is hard to agree with the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on many things these days, but his efforts to effect a no-fly zone over Libya three weeks ago struck a controversial, but important, note. A pity, then, that the usual international politics surrounding the Western alliance and the United Nations bogged down the process to the point that the rebels in Libya were on their last legs when the UN Security Council vote was taken on the matter.

Centre after centre of opposition were lost to Gaddafi’s reorganised forces, and his family-led offensives bit into what seemed like a promising revolutionary movement late last month.

The Colonel is a seasoned campaigner both within Libya itself, and in global politics. Ronald Reagan tried to take him out by a surprise missile attack on his palace in 1986. The missiles didn’t harm him, but were said to have killed an adopted daughter and some other members of his extended household. He reportedly took to spending his nights in shifting tents from then on, blending traditional culture (he was born in a tent) with forms of security which have been most effective.

Continue reading "Rudd was talking some sense on Gaddafi" »

So Kevin Rudd reckons he’s a better bet to captain the Brisbane Broncos than run for Prime Minister again.

Julia Gillard, who once laughed off her Lodge aspirations by claiming she was more chance to play for the Western Bulldogs, could be forgiven for taking that as a declaration of war. 

From earthquakes and tsunamis to violent insurrection in the Middle East, 2011 has borne witness to enormous devastation – which, while tragic for those involved – has certainly enabled Rudd as Foreign Minister to suddenly become more ubiquitous on Australian television than the Daddo brothers. 

Continue reading "Kevin Rudd: Master of disaster" »

It’s time that Mr. Rudd learned some manners.

Imagine, for a moment, that your house has caught fire. Imagine that some of your family members are still inside the house.

You are doing everything within your power to get them out, and to safety. At the same time, you know that some of your family members have already died.

Continue reading "Rudd’s demand for ‘urgent briefings’ downright rude" »

One step forward, one step back. Elation, tempered by frustration.

These are the yin and yang senses in the Gillard camp as the PM flies back to Australia today following what should have been an unqualified triumph: a full White House reception extending to a schools visit, an address to a joint sitting of the US Congress, and meetings with all the key figures including the United Nations, General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon.

But for the still new-at-the-job Julia Gillard, struggling to stamp her authority on the prime ministership at home and abroad, Kevin Rudd, the man she displaced last June, remains a fly in the ointment.

Continue reading "Gillard is still struggling to clip Rudd’s wings" »

Most of us at some stage or another have received an invitation to a school reunion. Although I would hate to admit how long it has been since I left high school.

Even more sobering was an email I received inviting me to a reunion for the class of 1981 diplomatic cadets joining the Department of Foreign Affairs.

It is worth thinking about how much the world has turned on its head over the last 30 years.

Continue reading "The world has changed a lot, except the threat of violence" »

The loneliest man in the Labor Party never stops talking to people.

You would be financially wrecked if you had the telephone bill of Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd who is dialing around the international dateline.

He listed his calls yesterday - over the past few days he has spoken to the UN Secretary General, the US Secretary of State, the US Deputy Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, and the heads of the IMF and the World Bank.

Continue reading "KRudd. Lonely. Bitter. Savage. And quite chatty." »

Political leaders, be they premiers or prime ministers, need protection - especially during the tough times when the polls look sick, and the backbench can get nervy.

‘Twas ever thus. Bob Hawke could rely on the dominance and iron discipline of the Right faction. Factional heavyweights like Graham Richardson and Robert Ray controlled the numbers ensuring nothing untoward occurred.

It was a highly effective arrangement with only one major weakness. When some of those closest to him swapped sides it was game over. That’s politics. The King is dead, long live the King.

Continue reading "Keep voters close, and your political allies even closer" »

``Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you,’’ goes the much loved Crowded House song.

But if you’re in politics, it’s more often the weather which takes you and its colossal force can sweep you away.

Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott should remember this because climate and climate related politics have shaped many a political turn over the years.

Continue reading "When the weather can change the political climate" »

Over the past fortnight Kevin Rudd has monitored two major Australian issues from vantage points which don’t seem perfect for the task.

When Australians were reported to be trapped and in danger in Egypt, he was in Switzerland. When a massive cyclone hit his home state, he was in Lichtenstein.

Today, he will be back in the country for the first time in those two weeks, arriving just before the resumption of Parliament for the year.

Continue reading "Kevin 707: Rudd’s travel starts to raise eyebrows" »

In the aftermath of the Brisbane floods Kevin Rudd cast himself in the role of volunteer-in-chief, wading through the waters in his uniform of rolled up chinos and sodden business shirt. It’s easy to be cynical, I guess.

The real volunteers, of course, sought no recognition for their work. Over 22,000 of them, ably commanded by Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, rolled though Brisbane to lend a hand.

These volunteers are a testament to the Australian spirit of generosity and mateship. But Kevin Rudd could still do something genuinely useful to help the cause of volunteering.

Continue reading "AUSCORPS: Time for an official army of volunteers" »

Kevin Rudd might be egotistical, self-serving, mistake prone and a control freak but he is perfectly suited to the foreign ministry.

Although Rudd demanded the foreign affairs portfolio at the barrel of a gun, it’s a win-win situation for him and Australia. Rudd gets to travel the world and prepare for a post-political career and the country gets can rest assured that its biggest political liability has one of the least influential portfolios in government.

Rudd cannot do damage as Australia’s chief diplomat because diplomacy is the most overrated profession since travel agents. International relations is not about the high politics of the diplomatic elite; rather, it is about globalisation and interactions between individuals and firms operating within a global market.

Continue reading "Kevin Rudd is in exactly the right place" »

On a crisp night in Jerusalem just over a week ago, Kevin Rudd hosted drinks for a small bunch of journalists at the famed King David Hotel.

The globe-trotting Foreign Minister had jetted into Israel from Egypt, punctuating the whistle-stop visit with meetings with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.

As he sat nursing a whiskey - neat, on the rocks - Rudd was jovial enough but could barely keep his eyes open. He looked like he needed a week’s worth of sleep.

Continue reading "Kevin Rudd’s still flying solo" »