June, 2010

Cardinal George Pell is worried about it, but almost everyone has accepted the inevitability of a Greens balance of power in the senate following the election. But what would this peculiar shade of green really look like post-election.

“Was there a retrospective lesson for Gordon Brown in the rise of Julia Gillard?” a UK newspaper asked a couple of days ago. The thought seems predicated on the idea that Australia hasn’t yet got that inter-tubes thingy which allows us to see what’s happening in other countries. For it seems likely that the one [...]

In an entirely minimalist pre-election reshuffle, Julia Gillard has shifted Trade Minister Simon Crean to her former portfolio of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith picking up Crean’s workload. There will be no further changes until when and if Gillard wins the forthcoming election. Gillard has avoided the problem of the [...]

A leader elected to widespread acclaim a mere few years ago, empowered to make real change and sweep away a discredited regime — now on the ropes, a target of the party they had brought to success. Yes, Angela Merkel is having a tough time. Having come in as the great alternative to a succession [...]

I regret that some of my words over the last fortnight might have given the impression that I thought Kevin Rudd was in no danger, and that the whole idea of a challenge from Julia Gillard was a beat-up, nothing more than a product of Chris Mitchell’s fevered imagination. This, of course, was completely mistaken: [...]

ALP sources say Victorian Socialist Left faction secretary Andrew Giles has been sounded out for the vacant federal seat of Melbourne, after finance minister Lindsay Tanner announced to parliament that he would stand down early this afternoon.

A remarkable 24 hours in Federal politics has continued this afternoon with Labor stalwart, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, announcing he will not contest the next election at the conclusion of Julia Gillard’s first Question Time as Prime Minister. Tanner is one of Labor’s greatest talents, a political veteran with a substantial intellect – he is [...]

Julia Gillard was elected leader of the Labor Party shortly after 9am this morning and sworn in as Prime Minister just under four hours later at 1pm, along with the new Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan. In between were some remarkable scenes. Without a leadership ballot, the customary tension of a leadership battle was lacking, [...]

My 14 year old daughter claims that although I told her that I was looking for on the record comments for my blog piece last night, she was almost asleep and has no memory of the event. She demanded the opportunity to “say something more intelligent” and so (with sophies’ expressed permission) here we go. [...]

So we have it. First female PM – and other “firsts”, as well (dumping of a PM in his first term, etc). Can anyone think of another unmarried PM? If there has been one, it must have been a good long time ago. And it’s exciting and it’s thrilling and a Big Moment. But it’s [...]