Merged Australian Prime minister steps down.

nvidiot said:
Rofl the closest thing Rudd came to a sex scandal was getting blitzed in New York and going to a strip joint. From memory his popularity went up after that, but I think that story broke before he was elected pm.
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Lol, reminds of the strip in 2000AD (the brit scifi comic not the year) in which the Chief Judge of Oz is being blackmailed by a large corporation that has video of him getting up to naughties. When the tape is actually released to the public, his approval rating shoots through the roof.
 
So now Australia's got a female PM, a female Governor General, and a Queen as head of state. At least that's something good. :D ;)
 
Julia's decision to stay in her (extremely modest - my kids thought I was joking when I showed them) house in Altona while letting Rudd stay in the Lodge as long as he wanted was a real class act. Compare this with Howard who insisted on living in Killibilli House as well as the Lodge, and Rudd who couldn't wait to move in. This alone will win her votes.
 
lionking said:
Poor decision making, combined with a pompous, intellectual, pedantic persona. The decisions included:
  • the nature of the stimulus package - one of the initiatives was free roof insulation. This brought out a heap of untrained cowboys who just threw fibreglass insulation over light fittings and so on. Dozens of fires resulted, and nearly one in my house (the worst he'd seen according to the inspector I called in). There was a lot of other spending of dubious worth
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I'm reliably informed that this had little to do with it. It may have been part of what lost Rudd popular support, which certainly played into the hands of those who wanted him gone.
lionking said:
  • the mining super profit tax - partly to pay for the stimulus package, and also because miners are benefiting from relatively low tax, Rudd legislated so that if miners made a profit above the long-term bond yield (about 6%) they would taxed at 40% of this so-called super profit. Mining ventures were cancelled and a massive advertising campaign against the tax resulted. Rudd's popularity slid alarmingly
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This was a biggy. This is what lost him the support of Victorian kingmaker (and former President of the AWU) Bill Shorten. As well as the CFMEU and the West Australians.
lionking said:
  • the emissions trading scheme - whether it was right or wrong, Rudd dropped it when faced with opposition, making him look weak and indecisive.
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This was possibly the biggest. It was the one which got Mark Arbib (NSW) to get the knife out. As well as what lost him a large amount of support from the left.

I was also reliably informed that you would have been shocked with how little backing Rudd would have had in the party room if it had have come to a vote. Somewhat surprising since it took caucus 2 tries to oust Bob Hawke, and his opponent (Paul Keating) had one of the best numbers men of all time (Richardson) on his side.
 
EvilSmurf said:
I'm reliably informed that this had little to do with it. It may have been part of what lost Rudd popular support, which certainly played into the hands of those who wanted him gone.


This was a biggy. This is what lost him the support of Victorian kingmaker (and former President of the AWU) Bill Shorten. As well as the CFMEU and the West Australians.


This was possibly the biggest. It was the one which got Mark Arbib (NSW) to get the knife out. As well as what lost him a large amount of support from the left.

I was also reliably informed that you would have been shocked with how little backing Rudd would have had in the party room if it had have come to a vote. Somewhat surprising since it took caucus 2 tries to oust Bob Hawke, and his opponent (Paul Keating) had one of the best numbers men of all time (Richardson) on his side.
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Interesting you mention Mark Arbib. I've had a fair bit to do with him through work, yet only today realise the power he weilds. I think he will get much of Julia's old portfolio. A rising star.

PS, You are well informed.
 
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lionking said:
And none of them elected. :p
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to be fair....and a bit pedantic I admit....Julia is as elected as any other prime minister. Even the one who is the head of the part at the election is not elected PM by the voters....they may (in theory) be dumped and replaced the morning after the election by the elected members of the party.
 
Trivia for you. Only three PMs have been dumped by their own party. All slightly different.
John Gordon. The vote was tied, so he resigned.
Bob Hawke. Voted out.
Kevin Rudd. Resigned rather than be sacked by his party.
 
The Fool said:
to be fair....and a bit pedantic I admit....Julia is as elected as any other prime minister. Even the one who is the head of the part at the election is not elected PM by the voters....they may (in theory) be dumped and replaced the morning after the election by the elected members of the party.
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Agreed. We've got a representative democracy. We don't vote for a person, we vote for a party. Personally I voted for a guy named Mike Kelly. We have no control over what the party does after it's been elected. We vote on trust - we trust that the party we elect does what we want it to. Unfortunately that's wildly optimistic.

Myself, I wached the drama from 9am today. And it was strangely disappointing. I hope Julia does well as PM. But I would much rather our first female PM were elected by actually contesting an election. This was kind of an anticlimax.

Kev started out well, but quickly turned into a nerdy nobody, then finally took a nosedive. It was classy of him to step aside rather than force the Caucus to sack him, but just barely.

Julia has promise, but I get the impression that this isn't something she ever wanted. Now she's a conniving backstabber, and I don't think that's particularly fair.

We'll see at the next election. And will I vote Labor? Absolutely. After all, the alternative is Abbott.
 
I didn't vote for her grumble grumble....
































I voted for, and given the margin I can just about claim this, won the election for Fran Bailey.
 
Damien Evans said:
I voted for, and given the margin I can just about claim this, won the election for Fran Bailey.
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As I did for Mike Kelly. By voting for the Labor candidate I helped Labor get a majority of seats, and therefore the PMship for whoever they choose to put there. Right now, that's Julia. I have to deal with the consequences of my vote.
 
arthwollipot said:
It was classy of him to step aside rather than force the Caucus to sack him, but just barely.
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Not sure if it was "classy" or "avoiding an absolute embarrassment". As I said, my reliable source tells me Kev would have been walloped badly in a Caucus vote.
 
arthwollipot said:
As I did for Mike Kelly. By voting for the Labor candidate I helped Labor get a majority of seats, and therefore the PMship for whoever they choose to put there. Right now, that's Julia. I have to deal with the consequences of my vote.
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Not anything remotely like what I was talking about:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/court-confirms-bailey-win-20080702-30on.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/02/2292520.htm
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2008/692.html
 
Lindsay Tanner resigning is pretty big news too. He's pretty much just handed the seat of Melbourne to The Greens, giving them their first ever lower house member
 
bit_pattern said:
Lindsay Tanner resigning is pretty big news too. He's pretty much just handed the seat of Melbourne to The Greens, giving them their first ever lower house member
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2nd. Mike Organ was elected in the 2002 Cunningham By-election. He lost his re-election bid in 2004, and was the losing Greens candidate for 2007 too.
 
Damien Evans said:
Gillard was exactly as elected as Rudd was.
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Yes I know that's strictly correct, but Rudd said "When people elected me as PM" and Gillard said "I'm aware that I have not been elected as PM". It is a presidential style election in almost every way, except technically. Ask someone who they will vote for and 9 out of 10 (at least) will say either Gillard or Abbott.
 
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