Rudd out as Australian PM

From my formative years spent in Australia, I still see the culture as being inherently chauvinistic, especially in places such as Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. As articulate as this new woman may be, I’m sure she’s just another “sheila” to the beer-swilling chauvinists that dominate the working unions and rural areas. People that voted for Bob Hawke cuz he could swill a yard of beer faster than anyone else.

While some of the places are obviously not Labour Party enclaves (more Liberal or National Party), I still think there is enough chauvinism in the land to swing an election 5 percent points or so to the Libs. Of course, I think they need get rid of their leader that is too religious. Not going to play well in Oz. Get a modern, centre-right leader in the Andrew Peacock corporate mold and I think they’d really kick Labour’s ass.

Unless someone can come to grips with a fingerful of evidence, she should be struck out of the Ginger ranks for being such a bleedin’ poser.

Nice move on the tax job, though. I tell ya, give a sheila an inch, an she’ll take several plots.

[quote=“Chewycorns”]From my formative years spent in Australia, I still see the culture as being inherently chauvinistic, especially in places such as Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. As articulate as this new woman may be, I’m sure she’s just another “sheila” to the beer-swilling chauvinists that dominate the working unions and rural areas. People that voted for Bob Hawke cuz he could swill a yard of beer faster than anyone else.

While some of the places are obviously not Labour Party enclaves (more Liberal or National Party), I still think there is enough chauvinism in the land to swing an election 5 percent points or so to the Libs. Of course, I think they need get rid of their leader that is too religious. Not going to play well in Oz. Get a modern, centre-right leader in the Andrew Peacock corporate mold and I think they’d really kick Labour’s ass.[/quote]

The pundits are all saying that Abbott has a problem with women voters. A recent poll shows that men haven’t turned away from Labor because of the sheila.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/gillard-regains-a-winning-edge-20100625-z9sv.html

[quote]Asked whom they preferred [Men and women] as PM out of Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard, the new PM had a decisive lead of 44-36 per cent.

Men were evenly divided on 42 per cent, but Ms Gillard led Mr Rudd among women 46-31 per cent. Almost twice as many women preferred Ms Gillard as PM to Mr Abbott - 59-32 per cent.

Mr Abbott’s approval has fallen another point to 40 per cent[/quote]

It will be interesting to see if the ‘honeymoon’ ends.

Fuck! All I can say is that I’m glad I’m not in Australia and I’m glad I don’t vote. What a Clayton’s choice. Abbott gives me the creeps, but so does the entire top echelon of the ALP. I wouldn’t trust my life to any of them if they could make a quick 0.5% in the polls. The mere fact that I (a rabid atheist) find one of the most religious figures in Australian politics less creepy, scheming and generally untasteworthy than the atheistic alternative is evidence of how weird this whole situation is.

It doesn’t surprise me at all that this was Rudd’s demise. Years ago, I remember seeing him and Joe Hocking (I think it was) on the weekend edition of Sunrise when they would go head to head and at the time, Rudd had all the ambitions of PM written all over him and I knew he would be PM someday. However, I also knew that in typical ALP fashion, he’d die at the hands of his own inner circle and Gillard was just biding her time.

Chewy: Yes, Australia is incredibly chauvanistic. Undeniably so. That said, there have been females MPs who could have made good PMs, but I’d be highly suspicious of most from the ALP simply because to get anywhere near the top of the ALP you probably have to be even more under-handed and unscrupulous than the average politician anywhere in the world. My father was a very active member of the ALP when I was younger and still knows many people at both state and federal level and the factional system is sickening.

[quote=“headhonchoII”]
Was Rudd done in by the mining lobby, or did the new PM just see her chance to her place in the sun in the midst of a tough battle?..[/quote]

The rich mining company bosses (who also fund and/or run various unions) launched a massive TV campaign that managed to convince voters that the ordinary Australian will be worse off if the mining bosses profits are taxed higher…

Makes me embarrassed to be an Australian, not only are the general public swayed by whatever they are told on TV, but the labour party has made it even more abundantly clear they are more interested in doing whatever it takes to get elected than acting in the best interest of Australia.