Australia on track to a female PM?

[Joseph27]

Ingredients

Rudd under a lot closer scrutiny

Lots of backtracking

A botched tax on mining without the requisit consultative groundwork

A pissed off green movement threatening a lot of inner city ALP seats

Libs polling numbers increasing steadily

ALP under the threat of being a one term party

Deputy PM annoyed at having back seat to Australia's nerdiest PM

How to bake

Deputy PM gets close backer to question tax opening a slight rift in the party room.

Said backer qualifies statement but leaves open the door by not retracting the essence of said statement

Sit back over the next 4 weeks and watch Poll numbers come in - conduct own polls in key seats and see the impact of switching.

This is shaping up to be a more fun year than one otherwise would have thought. Abbot is a tosser but the coalition is looking a lot more unified under him. The natural flow of greens preferences can no longer be taken for granted and though the Libs lost significant ground in 2007, there are a large amount of seats sitting on a knifes edge that could just as easily slip back into the Libs hands. Up until Dec last year, the next election looked like it would give the ALP a stronger mandate to carry on however the equation has changed and ALP power brokers need to weigh up sticking with a factionless nimmy or think about switching to a dynamic lady boss.

[baloo]

I think Gillard will make a great PM. And Gender has nothing to do with it.

[Tas]

the day will come in a century or so, where the need to make any reference to the gender of a leader will not even occur to anyone...

Gillard is straight up competent, and Tony Abbott & Christopher Pyne look like pathetic whiny boys each and every time they come up against her. Liberals only look re-united because Mad Abbott is playing the old game of fear and hate politics - a zone they are much more comfortable in.

[Burbage]

If Gillard becomes PM I'm emigrating.

[Joseph27]

Agree Tas - Abbott excels in that political space and I can't envisage how I could vote for him, and Rudd is thoroughly unlikable and I wont vote for him again. I would happily back Gillard because she is very capable - she reminds me of my old boss Its only months now until a Poll is called so we have another fun time ahead of us...

[daffodil]

I think Gillard will make a great PM. And Gender has nothing to do with it.

Absolutely agree, she is a straight talker and doesn't suffer fools gladly. Including the MAd Monk and co.

[baloo]

the day will come in a century or so, where the need to make any reference to the gender of a leader will not even occur to anyone...

It'll be less than a century Tas. The minute we have our first female PM, the wall will be breeched and gender won't matter. Gender will always be brought up when a candidate has the possibility of being Australis first PM.

I hope the ranga is the first.

[Morrolan]

she's the MP for our shire. straight shooter and -talker. got more balls than the rest of Labor put together.

[Tas]

If Gillard becomes PM I'm emigrating.

that has to be a hook with the juiciest worm for a while?

[Burbage]

You'll have trade unions running the country in a matter of seconds. What are you people thinking?

[baloo]

You'll have trade unions running the country in a matter of seconds. What are you people thinking?

I told you before you moved to Aus, I really don't think Australia is the place for you Burb. You're just too sophisticated for our backwater hovel.

Surprisingly, despite the Coalition beat ups, it's when Labour has been in power that the Unions have had their influence reduced. The voters hate militant unions so the Government will placate them. The unions know, at the end of the day, with Labour they will not have any influence so they cop it.

[Burbage]

You obviously do not get exposed to all the crap we get here from the media. And, byt the way, you can't be reading too many papers either, the Australian Labor Party spell their name incorrectly.

Gillard talks to the electorate (via the media) as if they are five year olds, says nothing of any substance, and seems to manage to say "I have no ambitions to be PM" in every single interview she does.

Given a choice between Abbot, Krudd, Brown and Gillard, I'd pick Brown. Mainly because he is by far the most intelligent of the four. The problem is he's shackled himself to the ecoloonies, which is what Labor have also done, which means that neither of these parties can be given government. The coalition might be crap, but at least they won't destroy the country based on the global warming scam.

The unions go quiet in the presence of Labor because they are running the country. Destroy the employer, make everyone an employee. That's labor's mantra. It is illogical captain.

[baloo]

You obviously haven't got as much experience with Australian politics as I have if you find all that incredulous and believe your assumptions.

Oh, and I'll pass the note onto my spell checker, I'm sure he'll check with the spell checker's union to see if he can make the change for me.

[Tas]

All of the above from Burbage is pretty funny. Deeply deeply surface level stuff. Bob Brown is a single issue, black and white individual, no ability to negotiate, there's no way he should ever be put in charge of any country. The greens would shyte themselves if presented with a situation where they had to present a budget. It doesn't hurt to have a few types like him around to balance things out, but to suggest he has competence to run an administration is a joke.

[Burbage]

Australian politics

The problem in a nutshell.

These idiots are so busy banging away at each other, no one is running the country. It stumbles forward with a 19th century infrastructure while the population still thinks that it has a right to four family cars all of which have to have V8 engines.

Meanwhile the coal and iron ore, the country so desperately needs in order to make steel to build a modern infrastructure, is being flogged at a discount to the Chinese. Hello? The Chinese will buy steel, at three times the profit margin.

But no, it's department building and budgets which just throw good money after bad.

I didn't say I want Brown to be prime minister Tas. Your comments about him exactly reflect my feelings. Of those four I am saying he is the most competent to run the country. That doesn't mean he's competent, it merely demonstrates the level of incompetence displayed by the others.

Australia needs a completely new political party with a completely different view of the world. Having a 21st century view rather than a 19th century would be a massive bonus.

[Joseph27]

The problem is he's shackled himself to the ecoloonies

Brown? He is the ecoloonie - people shackle themselves to him. Don't get wrong - we need people like Brown in a society - very left orientated, very focused on the well-being of the downtrodden, land rights, the environment, gay rights... These are important issues however that isn’t the person you get to run a country - this is the guy you want in the Senate overseeing legislation of the day, fulfilling what the democrats once did before they sold their souls. I don't know of too many people in Aus who would want him as PM... though if he was the short term dropping of the dollar to $.20cents may be a benefit for those of us living overseas

What is quite clear is that in the next election, the Senate will have more Geens and they will most likely hold an outright balance of power. This isn’t a bad thing as Aussie politics seems to function more equitably in such circumstances – whoever is the PM then needs to be more focused on consensus building and for those really prickly issues that the Greens will stand firm on, the governing party will negotiate with the main opposition.

Rudd does stand a chance of losing this election and that is amazing given the last year in Aussie politics. Hope to see Gilard step up oh and denials are meaningless… You can say I don’t want to be PM 100 times in a row because even a slight pause makes front page news.

[baloo]

Australian politics

The problem in a nutshell.

These idiots are so busy banging away at each other, no one is running the country. It stumbles forward with a 19th century infrastructure while the population still thinks that it has a right to four family cars all of which have to have V8 engines.

Meanwhile the coal and iron ore, the country so desperately needs in order to make steel to build a modern infrastructure, is being flogged at a discount to the Chinese. Hello? The Chinese will buy steel, at three times the profit margin.

But no, it's department building and budgets which just throw good money after bad.

I didn't say I want Brown to be prime minister Tas. Your comments about him exactly reflect my feelings. Of those four I am saying he is the most competent to run the country. That doesn't mean he's competent, it merely demonstrates the level of incompetence displayed by the others.

Australia needs a completely new political party with a completely different view of the world. Having a 21st century view rather than a 19th century would be a massive bonus.

I told you before you moved to Aus, I really don't think Australia is the place for you Burb. You're just too sophisticated for our backwater hovel.

[Burbage]

The problem is he's shackled himself to the ecoloonies

Hope to see Gilard step up oh and denials are meaningless… You can say I don’t want to be PM 100 times in a row because even a slight pause makes front page news.

Perhaps you missed the irony. When someone says that she doesn't want to be the next leader of the labor party even when she isn't asked what does that mean? She making a pitch.

Krudd won't give up the leadership though, not until Labor lose a general election or he dies, and even then they'll have to throw him over. He's not the type. He's got his toy, and he won't let it go unless it ends in tears.

[Fat Bob]

Surely (a) the Australian PM and (b) whether it's a chick, bloke, unionite or spelling of Labour is not serious enough to put in here?

I mean, Aussies, get over yourself, your sphere of influence is only really on a sports field, and that's been diminishing for a while. Do you hold the Ashes? The 20-20 WC? Bill? Tri-nations?

Though must say, I almost tipped you for the Cook Cup this weekend. Only almost though.

[Burbage]

Surely (a) the Australian PM and (b) whether it's a chick, bloke, unionite or spelling of Labour is not serious enough to put in here?

I mean, Aussies, get over yourself, your sphere of influence is only really on a sports field, and that's been diminishing for a while. Do you hold the Ashes? The 20-20 WC? Bill? Tri-nations?

Though must say, I almost tipped you for the Cook Cup this weekend. Only almost though.

They're going to win the soccer world cup though.

[baloo]

Surely (a) the Australian PM and (b) whether it's a chick, bloke, unionite or spelling of Labour is not serious enough to put in here?

I mean, Aussies, get over yourself, your sphere of influence is only really on a sports field, and that's been diminishing for a while. Do you hold the Ashes? The 20-20 WC? Bill? Tri-nations?

Though must say, I almost tipped you for the Cook Cup this weekend. Only almost though.

I dunno mate. When the great man himself, Paul Keating, gave the Queen a little hug, you guys nearly declared war on us. If that's not proof of our influence I don't know what is.

We will kick your arse tomorrow.

[Fat Bob]

I left that off the list because, honestly, though the Aussies will throw their full support behind their national team, they ain't getting close and the Aussies know that.

They did get less medals than us in Beijing....wonder about London 2012?

[Joseph27]

Australia needs a completely new political party with a completely different view of the world. Having a 21st century view rather than a 19th century would be a massive bonus.

It would be good to see a new party in Australia - but ultimately its not going to happen anytime soon. The only party possible to emerge in the short term are the greens... The party rooms are quite fixed and disclipine keeps them together for the most part. A new party would need to involve a disintegration of one of the existing party's in which a well respected leader would set a new path. Given Australia's view of their political leaders, this seems highly unlikely.

[Burbage]

In 1930 it was highly unlikely that Hitler would become chancellor of Germany.

[baloo]

A new party would need to involve a disintegration of one of the existing party's in which a well respected leader would set a new path. Given Australia's view of their political leaders, this seems highly unlikely.

I can tell you now Millionaire Malcolm was seriously looking at this option when he stepped down. The lack of support he got from his fellow parliamentarians is what made him reverse his decision and stand again.