The 2010 election will be held on Saturday 21 August, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced this afternoon, after visiting the Governor-General Quentin Bryce at 10.40 to dissolve Parliament. A House of Representatives and half-Senate election will be held on the 21st.
The Opposition needs a 2.3% swing to collect the 17 seats that will enable it to form a majority, based on new electoral boundaries.
In her first press conference of the election campaign, Gillard in essence offered a condensed version of what she has already presented in the early days of her Prime Ministership. She discussed what is likely to be one of the key Labor themes of the weeks ahead – a purported contrast between Gillard’s “moving forward” and Tony Abbott’s commitment to “taking Australia backward”. She yet again stressed the mainstream values that have formed the rhetorical core of the early stages of the Gillard Prime Ministership. And she made a point yet again of implicitly attacking Kevin Rudd and his commitment to a “big Australia”.
However, Gillard was, predictably, light on policy details even when challenged to indicate how she would be handling climate change, the third of the three major issues she identified upon becoming Prime Minister as requiring action on. She merely indicated she would be making a statement about it during the campaign.
Gillard also potentially left herself open to being ambushed by soundbite when she answered a question from Michelle Grattan on circumstances in which it is acceptable to break promises, indicating that she thought when “objective circumstances change” then promises needed to be reconsidered, and referred directly to the Government’s change of heart on childcare centres in the aftermath of the collapse of ABC Learning. While an entirely reasonable response, it appeared to create an opportunity for the Opposition to paint her as untrustworthy.
That’s the sort of intense and often unfair scrutiny both sides are under as their opponents, and the media, search desperately for anything that can be labelled a “gaffe”.
Beyond that, it was a polished, if content-lite, performance from the new Prime Minister.
Tony Abbott gave a similarly content-free press conference, using a short – too short – announcement (in a poorly-prepared venue in Brisbane, with no backdrop and bad lighting) to attack Julia Gillard and particularly her apparent obsession with “moving forward”. Abbott faced repeated questions about his commitment, issued this morning, not bring back Workchoices for the life of the next Parliament, which did not rule out the use of regulation (which can be changed by the relevant Minister) to enforce “flexibility” and support the Coalition’s goal of removing small business from unfair dismissal laws. Abbott, still in Opposition rather than alternative Prime Minister mode, was primarily focussed on attacking Gillard’s competence and trustworthiness.
63 Comments
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What about the revised mining tax revenue? The MRRT will collect just $1.5 billion less than the RSPT would have … give or take $6 billion or so. Was that gospel truth? Was that an absolutely calm, considered, prepared, scripted remark?
“Gospel truth” — what rubbish. Abbott damned himself out of his own mouth. No getting away from it.
Nah JamesK or MPM or whatever your name is, just use a dictionary and find out what slogan means (powerinstrength needs a dictionary as well).
JamesK:
I was here first, me me me…..blah blah blah, wanna medal??? I get less selfishness from a blood fart….
@mook shanker or socreatease or twat or whatever your name is
You have not made an argument.
Try again.
You’re pure entertainment.
Copying my comedy now JamesK or MPM or whatever your name is
You obviously haven’t you read the Crikey’s Code of Conduct have you? If you want to make personal attacks on people then maybe news.com is for you? I reckon Rupert would love your blogs…
1.What personal attack that’s not in kind?
2. Are you biding for time whilst I ignore the fact that you “get less selfishness from a blood fart”?
3. If I use a name that I’ve used on this site for over 3 years long before you turned up then what right do you have to show fundamental disrespect to a contributor who hasn’t addressed you before by using the utterly inane unintelligent addendum “or MPM o whatever your name is”?
4. Where did you learn the bizzare idea that using “*” all thru’ a perversely stupid post gives meaning or deserves an intelligent response?
5. A commitment spoken in the english is not generally accepted as a ‘slogan’ whilst repeating a statement repetitively which in and of itself says nothing specific in the political setting especially 24 times in a short speech generally is.
6 Your posts are a joke.
Ha ha, choice from :
Hello world, JamesK s complaining about “disrespect”, guffaw….
And from our friends at wiki, they never lie of course….
Can’t be a*ed with the rest…
The breathtaking command of the English language.
The rationale.
The sheer inanity, …… but hardly the “comedy”
@Socratease, of course you can simply keep repeating the same assertion about Abbott five times in the face of counter arguments – sloganeering, in other words. After all that’s what passes for thinking in many places, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But you’ve also chosen to name yourself after one of history’s great polymathic geniuses and the inventor of the dialectic method … Do you think you live up to the name, or would something a bit more down-to-earth suit you better?
^ Whereas I see that you have chosen to name yourself as a slogan, LOL!
Very good, that’s the most observant thing you’ve said in the entire thread.
Perhaps a follower of the intellectual giant whose name you presume to use, would also have observed that some slogans are statements of serious belief, maybe even food for thought, while others – like “Moving Forward” – are sludge that defeat thought.
I have been posting at Yahoo7 news message boards for 2 years.
I started after Kevin Rudd was elected in 2007, so I don’t know what their policy is during election times.
After the 2010 Election was announced last Saturday, they just cut off the boards mid afternoon whilst I was in the middle of a post. Since then nobody has posted in any of the Threads related to Politics. There has been no explanation. They have kept their Finance and Entertainment threads open.
It seems they do not propose opening them until after the election.
What does this say about democracy, freedom of the public to comment etc
I have posted in the Finance and Entertainment sections querying the Politics Board shut down.
I have gone so far as to speculate as to why they might have been closed.
This did draw a response.
My comments were deleted from their boards. They came into my private blog, where I had recorded my comments ( copy and pasted them) and they deleted my remarks from there as well….!
So, they are still maintaining the presence of moderators, to “police” any unwanted comment. Political comment is simply not allowed anywhere on their boards. Especially comment relating to Yahoo7, shutting their boards down over the election period.
Coming into my private blog and deleting comments, seems extreme…!
Any comments?
********
Are our so called political “Leaders?” so inspired to gather the intestinal fortitude to question Kraft changing the flavour of VEGEMITE to meet their Global Marketing inititives. Is the new milder Flavoured VEGEMITE to be rendered swill “where the Great Australian Icons Go!” RIP Vegemite old friend all my life, May your Mellowed Flavour be the Spread of a Milder Global Generation! Or is it an Election Issue in Disguise??? Rather look back for inspiration to move forward here? These are the things that Really Matter!!!
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