h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's been a tumultuous 24 hours in Canberra and I'm still trying to make sense of it, so this might be a bit disjointed.

At this time yesterday, Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister. There were rumours of discontent within the Party, but nothing more than had been floating around for the last few months. The Deputy PM, Julia Gillard, was stating that she had no intention of taking over the top job. But then something happened. Kevin, not believing Julia's statements that she didn't want the job, started asking other MPs whether she was seeking their support or not. This action of Kevin's seems to have pressed Julia's trigger.

At 7:30pm last night, there were only rumours of a leadership challenge. At 2am this morning, when insomnia made me switch on the radio, there was a report that there would be a leadership spill at 9am. At 7am this morning as I went past the Lodge (the PM's official residence) the lights were on and someone was clearly pacing up and down... At 9:35am this morning, Julia became our 27th Prime Minister when Kevin saw the writing on the wall and did not re-contest the leadership in the Party Room meeting.

(A note for readers from non-Westminster System countries: at our elections, people don't vote for a Prime Minister. They vote for a local member. The party with a majority of members in the lower house of Parliament forms government; the leader of that party, as chosen by members of the parliamentary party, becomes the Prime Minister. In this instance, the parliamentary Australian Labor Party has withdrawn support from Kevin and given it to Julia.)

Julia is our first female PM; she's been sworn in by our first female Governor-General.

I'm very much a fan of Julia. For the last two and a half years she's been my Minister, and I've seen sense in most things that have come out of her office. (There's a special fanboy thrill, I admit, that comes when something I've written is returned to me with her signature on it.) She will be a good Prime Minister if she's elected in her own right at the forthcoming general election.

So, what was the problem with Kevin? Well, he asked a lot of rhetorical questions and then answered them himself, for a start. But mostly, I think, the problem is that he's not a good communicator. His government did some good things - it got us through the GFC without going into recession, for instance, and Kevin gave a most eloquent apology to he indigenous people of this country for past wrongs while pledging to do better... But then, he was also inclined to autocracy. Everything the government did was filtered through his office, leading to delays and confusion. More often than not, Kevin would simply state that something would happen because it had to happen but would fail to explain things further. There have been policy failures and a failure to meet the expectations of the country. The government had gone way off track in recent months. Somehow, Kevin has managed to bring the Party from 70% approval to 30% approval in the last year... He's lost the confidence of the public. Even more alarming for him, he lost the confidence of the parliamentary party. So he's out. Julia's in. Julia is one of the government's best communicators.

So it was an odd sort of day. Most of us spent the time between 9:30am and midday glued to the televisions in the office as all this unfolded. I do feel sorry for Kevin, who is a fundamentally decent man put into a job that proved to be too much for him. But I am delighted to have Julia as PM. It was a very civilised coup d'etat...

(I think Julia must be the first redheaded Welshwoman to be head of government since Elizabeth I.)

How very civilised. A coup without the shedding of blood, sweat and tears!

I wonder what Kevin will do now. He's planning to re-contest his seat at the election, but it's hard to imagine him being a member of Cabinet, for example.

He will probably be on the 'back benches' for a while, until he can work his way back.

That's assuming he doesn't lose his seat...

Perhaps he should carry it around with him

Wouldn't it have been nice if we could have been so civilised a while back

Websailor

I don't know anything about how all of this works, but I'm glad that he's been replaced by someone with whom you're familiar and know can get the job done effectively. I know how that feels.

A red-headed Welshwoman is PM of Australia eh? How very interesting, thanks for this notice Ivan (my head is too full of and to tune into any news)

Thanks for this, Ivan. I haven't heard it on the nesws yet (but then I haven't listened to the news all day).

*does a happy dance*

finally, there might be some sanity brought to parliament

I was so happy to hear the news

and knowing the Ms Guillard was your minister, has made it even better

Helly, there will never be sanity in Parliament while Wilson Tuckey has a seat in it.

On reflection, I think I've worked out what the problem with Kevin is. Basically, it's that he resembles one former British PM far too closely. That PM, of course, is Jim Hacker. There are the fine words, the noble sentiments, the good intentions - and the tendency to back away from genuinely tough decisions and avoid fights that need to be fought. There's also a lack of genuine consultation, even within his own Cabinet.

Personally, I went off him when I found that he'd started writing books for children in his nonexistent spare time, even though he'd gathered all the reins of power into his own hands rather than leaving matters to the ministers and was said to be w*rking 21 hours a day. For crying out loud, someone who doesn't rest (and who expects everyone else to keep to his schedule) is bound to come a cropper sometime.

As for the kiddies' book: it's now available from the remainders table at my local ABC Shop. http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=559973&SearchID=3671376&SearchRefineID=7669374

Oh, and here's a reasonably well-thought-out opinion piece on the man: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/how-pride-in-his-brilliance-came-before-the-fall-20100624-z3i6.html

What an exciting 24 hours. I'm impressed that Rudd went gracefully and didn't do any of the usual crap.

>>Julia is our first female PM; she's been sworn in by our first female Governor-General.

How long 'til complaints that the country is run by lesbians? (I think it took a few years in NZ).

How should one be able to take complaints like that seriously

And why would that be a complaint?

When NZ started having women in top positions as a matter of course (PM, Governor General, Chief Justice, Leader of the Opposition, CEO of Telecom etc) it was a bit much for some of the good old boys who thought the country was being taken over by lesbians (not based on anything real of course - no idea about the sexuality of any of those women and it's not something generally discussed in NZ - and yes, being a lesbian is hardly a criticism). It's an interesting juxtaposition of women's rights and the bastions of hardcore sexism. Australia is a different country, but has a similarity I think of strong women and strong sexism.

Yes Kea, it's horribly similar. But those who are worried about the lesbians taking over are a bit late; Senator Penny Wong has already crashed through that barrier, and she's not just a lesbian, she's also Malay-Chinese. That's enough to send most of our local right-wing idiots into spasm.

hehehe, good for her

Well, from what I remember Helen Clark was very supportive of the gay community and important anti-discrimination and civil partnership laws were enacted by her governments. She was also a regular at gay pride marches.

So clearly, she must be a lesbian. No straight person would ever be supportive of gay folks rights to exist.