Post by wheelspinner on Jun 24, 2011 3:26:12 GMT -5
Today is the first anniversary of the shocking night when an Australian PM was deposed by his own party members and replaced by his Deputy. In the process, Australia acquired our first female PM.
The Australian media this week have been falling all over themselves to mark the "anniversary" and harp on how unpopular Gillard still is. Funny, I don't remember expectations that we would be celebrating the one-year anniversary of Hawke's knifing by Keating,or Snedden's by McMahon. Still our media have to write about something, and if they don't talk about tis they'll be forced to talk about boring stuff like progress on the National Broadband Network, a new logging deal in Tasmania, review of the Aboriginal intervention in NT, progress on refugee exchanges in Malaysia, etc.
Essentially, if it can't be boiled down to the cheap slogans so beloved of Tony Abbott ("Stop the boats!", "Great big new tax!") our political media are not interested.
This is my first time living under a minority Federal government, so I'm not sure what the expectations should be. However I'm sure that the Gillard government has achieved a lot more in less than a year than the shoe-chuckers give her credit for.
Our election was last August, but we ended up with a hung Parliament. Negotiations had to proceed with a handful of independents and the Greens. All of the independents were nominally conservative, so one of her biggest achievements is being PM at all. She totally outflanked Tony Abbott when it counted.
Off the top of my head, here's some things of the achievements she can claim since then:
If I delved further, I reckon I could find more, but that's really not bad for a period of only 9 months, all whilst having to deal with a hung Parliament, an obstructionist Opposition and plummeting approval ratings.
Overall she's kept on with her program, and life will get easier very soon when the Greens get the balance of power in the Senate and make the Nopposition virtually irrelevant there on issues such as climate change and the NBN; issues which they currently play for all they are worth.
There's a lot to criticise about Gillard; I abhor her stances on Afghanistan, refugees and gay marriage, for example. I also think she's a bit of a creature of the factions and may prove ineffective at reforming her Party's organisation, something that is desperately needed. However, for all the non-stop flak she and her government receive, Tony Abbott has never passed her in the "Preferred Prime Minister" polling. She's managed this despite having to roll out unpopular reforms while he has been able to luxuriate in populist cliches while never enunciating any policy that might alienate people.
I think Gillard will be quietly optimisitic. She knows that the Greens will make her life a bit easier, and she also knows that things she is doing now are gradually snookering Abbott. How will he stop the NBN once Telstra and Optus have made billion dollar investments in it? How will he roll back the carbon tax without also rolling back the accompanying income tax cuts and angering the voters. How will he shake the perception that he will be a hawk on industrial relations?
Gillard knows that Abbott will be forced, some time before the next election, to start enuncuating some policies that are going to turn people off; he can't be all things to all people forever. If the things she is doing now get bedded in and don't frighten the horses, she is going to be able to make him look like Chicken Little at the next election. As with all Governments, Labour will have an election budget where they hand out the largesse to help smooth the way.
If things go well for her in the next year or so, Gillard could relegate Abbott to a role where he is just a carping vice from the sidelines, losing relevance all the time. That is her best hope; it's up to her to make sure she implements and executes her reform program well. The rest should take care of itself.
The Australian media this week have been falling all over themselves to mark the "anniversary" and harp on how unpopular Gillard still is. Funny, I don't remember expectations that we would be celebrating the one-year anniversary of Hawke's knifing by Keating,or Snedden's by McMahon. Still our media have to write about something, and if they don't talk about tis they'll be forced to talk about boring stuff like progress on the National Broadband Network, a new logging deal in Tasmania, review of the Aboriginal intervention in NT, progress on refugee exchanges in Malaysia, etc.
Essentially, if it can't be boiled down to the cheap slogans so beloved of Tony Abbott ("Stop the boats!", "Great big new tax!") our political media are not interested.
This is my first time living under a minority Federal government, so I'm not sure what the expectations should be. However I'm sure that the Gillard government has achieved a lot more in less than a year than the shoe-chuckers give her credit for.
Our election was last August, but we ended up with a hung Parliament. Negotiations had to proceed with a handful of independents and the Greens. All of the independents were nominally conservative, so one of her biggest achievements is being PM at all. She totally outflanked Tony Abbott when it counted.
Off the top of my head, here's some things of the achievements she can claim since then:
- Keeping Australia's economy in a healthy state, with inflation, interest rates, unemployment and debt all under control. We are Unquestionably better off than most of the countries we compare ourselves to, no matter how much the Nopposition and Murdoch press fulminate
- Macro-managing the housing market so that, when the inevitable decline came, we had a soft landing and not a burst bubble
- Getting the States to accept reforms in how the health system is funded. This is a lot harder than it sounds, given that the State governments were turning Conservative during the negotiations, and it could always have been scuttled on a States' rights basis.
- Maintaining a course to return the Federal budget to surplus on the schedule promised.
- Getting Telstra (our version of AT&T) re-structured to separate the services arm from the infrastructure arm, thereby improving access to the national network to all players.
- Starting rollout of the National Broadband Network on schedule, and getting the major telecomms companies - Telstra and Optus - to sign major contracts that ensure its future.
If I delved further, I reckon I could find more, but that's really not bad for a period of only 9 months, all whilst having to deal with a hung Parliament, an obstructionist Opposition and plummeting approval ratings.
Overall she's kept on with her program, and life will get easier very soon when the Greens get the balance of power in the Senate and make the Nopposition virtually irrelevant there on issues such as climate change and the NBN; issues which they currently play for all they are worth.
There's a lot to criticise about Gillard; I abhor her stances on Afghanistan, refugees and gay marriage, for example. I also think she's a bit of a creature of the factions and may prove ineffective at reforming her Party's organisation, something that is desperately needed. However, for all the non-stop flak she and her government receive, Tony Abbott has never passed her in the "Preferred Prime Minister" polling. She's managed this despite having to roll out unpopular reforms while he has been able to luxuriate in populist cliches while never enunciating any policy that might alienate people.
I think Gillard will be quietly optimisitic. She knows that the Greens will make her life a bit easier, and she also knows that things she is doing now are gradually snookering Abbott. How will he stop the NBN once Telstra and Optus have made billion dollar investments in it? How will he roll back the carbon tax without also rolling back the accompanying income tax cuts and angering the voters. How will he shake the perception that he will be a hawk on industrial relations?
Gillard knows that Abbott will be forced, some time before the next election, to start enuncuating some policies that are going to turn people off; he can't be all things to all people forever. If the things she is doing now get bedded in and don't frighten the horses, she is going to be able to make him look like Chicken Little at the next election. As with all Governments, Labour will have an election budget where they hand out the largesse to help smooth the way.
If things go well for her in the next year or so, Gillard could relegate Abbott to a role where he is just a carping vice from the sidelines, losing relevance all the time. That is her best hope; it's up to her to make sure she implements and executes her reform program well. The rest should take care of itself.