As of yesterday, Julia Gillard threw open the challenge for Prime Minister to everyone in her party with the only rule being if you lose then you must leave Federal politics (basically, it was all or nothing). Keven Rudd accepted the challenge (given so many of the public have been pushing him to do, despite his families concerns) and low and behold, the party jumped the sinking ship and Rudd returned. Some could say this was wrong, but it was simply Karma.
Ms Gillard, for many of us, was considered the illaginament Prime Minister. Why? There was no denying that she was Australia's first female PM (Prime Minister), but (as my mother puts it) she was not Australia's first elected female PM. She gained power but overthrowing Mr Rudd (see, karma) and at the last election, only became PM after the independents sided with Labor, two weeks after the election. Apart from the show, she has done little to cement her name as a good PM and as time has gone on, her popularity has dwindled. As of last night (since Ms Gillard lost) there has been a backlash, mostly of women, who felt that this was a mistake. It's hard for someone like myself to respond to such comments without 'sexist' being used against me. I'm far from it, and believe someone like Penny Wong would be an excellent choice as a female PM.
My argument was simply, if she was such a great PM then why is she so unpopular and why did Labor feel she was leading them to their doom eh? Politics is a cruel and vicious area and one cannot enter it without risking their public standing (just ask Peter Garrett). The Gillard/Swan take over was well planned before the knifing of Rudd, given that leaked information showed that they had advised him on many decisions, which would ultimately ruin his policy stances and thus, cause the cataclysm for the take over. Now the blades have come back to bite them, that's how politics work in this day and age. Will the return of Queensland's hero Rudd save the party? I'm not so sure, but that is mostly due to the fact that people have ignored the other side.
There is a reasons why Queensland wanted Rudd in. The first being that his removal the first time was seen as an act of treachery by Labor to the people. If someone is to be forced out, that should be the peoples choice and since he never got elected out, people were angry. The second was the disaster that was the state election. While many new that Labor had lost before the campaign had even began, no one had predicted just how much power the LNP (Liberal National Party)would get or that Campbell Newman would actually be officially elected in. What resulted was what many consider the destruction of Queensland. Now many fear should the LNP win power in the upcoming Federal election that the rest of Australia will suffer the same fate (Queensland's only hope maybe if the Palmer United Party can steal a few chairs from the LNP, but that would be like asking one demon to save you from another).
Many have forgotten that Tony Abbott was the Minister of Health under the Howard government and that he did extensive damage to both health and medical research (his stance on stem cell research and other areas put back Australia's medical advancement, something which we pride ourselves on here). The man has a mind set of being in the 1800's and thus far, his policies have ether been proven to be more costly or unreliable. His big push was in the 'boat people' with his plans to send them back to Indonesia. The only problem, Indonesia would not accept them and that they would simply turn them back to Australian waters. His 'nerfing' of the National Broadband Scheme is also seen to be a major blow to the future technological improvement in this country. His own party approved the passing of a bill which would render one of his election promises impossible. There appears to be no real plans for the future when it comes to health, education and reducing the cost of living. Sadly, Shaun Micallef got it right when he referred to the LNP future plan as a pamphlet (though his picture of Tony Abbott which he merged with Lord Voldemort was hilarious).
Alas, once again we go into this next election feeling that no matter what the outcome is, we are all royally screwed.
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