| Julia Gillard | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 26 2013, 01:59 PM (1,843 Views) | |
| caissier | Jun 26 2013, 01:59 PM Post #1 |
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Administrator
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Julia Gillard ousted in a vote of confidence and will retire ..... a pity - she has shown fire, class and dignity, especially in the face of some vile personal attacks. The new leader of her party is Kevin Rudd ..... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/26/julia-gillard-australia-prime-minister-kevin-rudd Edited by caissier, Jun 26 2013, 03:05 PM.
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| Mobson | Jun 26 2013, 02:39 PM Post #2 |
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Hmmm - 'very Australian' - exactly what does that mean (as if I didn't know!)
Edited by Mobson, Jun 26 2013, 02:40 PM.
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| waiting4atickle | Jun 26 2013, 10:04 PM Post #3 |
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Ruddy 'ell! |
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| Caro | Jun 27 2013, 08:07 AM Post #4 |
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We can't understand from NZ just what Julia Gillard has done wrong and why the Australians like Kevin Rudd so much, since he seems a slimy little backstabber from this side of the ditch. On another board an Australian has tried to educate us, but the commentators we hear and the impressions we have is that she has been very badly treated, at least in part because she is a woman. She said, "The issue behind this - it may not be mentioned in your media - is that Gillard was a union lawyer and the role of the unions and the 'faceless men' who wield power in the modern Labor Party, despite the fact only 13% of the Australian workforce are now in a union Rudd was axed before he could finish his first term in office and Gillard was promoted to PM by the unions and kept there by them. Rudd is very unusual in modern Labor as he is unaligned with any faction, he won back in 2007 because he was popular in the electorate and the governing Coalition Government had become rather tired..." People have also said that she didn't capitalise on the boost from the mining industry - but Australia under her stewardship has been one of the few countries not to go into recession in the past few years. People say it's simplistic to say the attacks on her are just sexist, but there is an odd double standard about the spouses of female leaders in this part of the world anyway. Helen Clark and Julia Gillard have both had aspersions cast on their marriage and their spouses. Gillard's husband is reported to be gay, and Helen Clark had to fend off suggestions her (30-year-old) marriage was somehow one of convenience. In her case the suggestions were that she was gay. Why this should be spoken as if it were an insult is another matter, of course. Helen Clark married at a time when living together would not have been politically wise - otherwise, certainly she probably would not have married at that time. Doesn't mean the relationship wasn't strong, though. The wives of male politicians just don't get this sort of snide comments - some sort of gallantry prevents it, perhaps? Labour parties don't seem good at managing this internal friction. Our Labour party has had various awkward changes of leader too - Helen Clark did rather suffer from ousting Mike Moore, and the present incumbant has someone under him with ambitions, but whom the parliamentarians aren't so keen on (just as they didn't like Kevin Rudd). |
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| AmosBurke | Jun 27 2013, 01:33 PM Post #5 |
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Point of order: Julia Gillard & Tim Mathieson aren't married; he was sometimes referred to as "the first bloke". As to why Rudd is favoured over Gillard, I can't say. I've been too long out of Oz, but my sister (who is there) says it's due to Gillard's connections to the unions. She also said that it doesn't matter if it's Rudd or Gillard at the helm, as come September (November at the latest), Tony Abbott will be PM. Abbott is seen as the least worse choice. |
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| becky sharp | Jun 27 2013, 01:36 PM Post #6 |
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That popular!
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| Caro | Jun 27 2013, 08:55 PM Post #7 |
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I thought he might be her partner rather than actual spouse, but a long-term relationship and a marriage are the same in my book. I have friends who are marrying after being together for some 25 years and I find this a bit bemusing. It is odd that there seems to be no one in the main Australian parties who can appeal to both the electorate and their own colleagues. I heard one comment saying something like, "They're going to get Tony Abbott and let's see how they like that." I just hope Labor don't get the swing they hope for. Kevin Rudd sounds just ghastly to me. |
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| tafkaj | Jun 28 2013, 01:49 PM Post #8 |
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I like Julia Gillard, she's a nice looking woman in my eyes. Some have apparently mocked her for having "small breasts and big thighs" (though I only heard of this recently) but that only makes her more attractive in my eyes - it shows she hasn't relied on her up-front assets to get on in her career and has intelligence in attractive abundance.
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