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Merged Australian Prime minister steps down.

The Fool

Penultimate Amazing
The Fool
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After suffering popularity polls that rate him less popular that genital herpes...Kevin has fallen on his sword.

New prime minister of australia is Julia Gillard. A Welsh born female....couple of firsts for Australia there.


Can we get some subsidies from the UK for employing someone from Wales?
 
Australian Prime Minister stands down

Story here

Given Rudd had a combination of bad luck and bad management, it's not entirely surprising. Still interesting that a man who knocked off the 2nd longest serving PM in Australian history, and had ridiculously high approval ratings last year (which have since plummeted) got a knife in his back.

Julia Gillard takes over, and becomes Australia's first female PM. She will (barring unforeseen circumstances) face an election later this year against Tony (The Mad Monk) Abbott.

If there is an interest I can explain the factional wrangling that lead to this in a later post.
 
from a personal perspective. I have met Kevin rudd a few times in the past and I have always been amazed how he was parcelled into an election winning leader. He is the sort of guy that you have working in a backroom and keep the door locked. He always appeared to be a complete ******** in his personal manner to people around him.. I could never understand how he gained enough party support to grab the top job....

"Kevin 07" the nice guy on the breakfast television show.....

"kevin 10" the guy that will be blamed for everything that has happened.

"julia".....met her a couple of times too..... Very clever, will probably make a good PM. Which is what we need to keep the Taliban (Abbott) out of office.
 
Ysidro said:
Yeah, but yours only has you posting in it. :D
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bad luck...I am a ruthless man and I don't often get the first post on an important topic...I normally scoop stories on a new type of chewing gum...
 
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first labor leader to be dumped befor completing first term....thats gotta sting :)
 
For non-Aussies, Rudd has presided over a government where the nation did not go into recession, where unemployment is extremely low (around 5%) and inflation is low. It is also the practice of the Australian electorate to give Prime Ministers at least two terms. Rudd has become the first PM who didn't contest a second election. He'll go down as the biggest failure as Prime Minister in history.

I've met Gillard a couple of times and she's everything Rudd is not - personable; not superior in any way; a sense of humor. Having said that, she's still got a lot to do to win the next election. She was party to the government's recent disasterous decisions after all. I notice Sportsbet made the Coalition favourites after Gillard took over.
 
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.

Good on ya Gillard, congratulations on becoming the first female PM of Australia. Now don't do what every other female political leader does after seizing the reins of power... (I.e. Lose the next election)
 
Tricky said:
What then? Sex scandal?
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no....he made a few mistakes. He tried to take some money off mining billionaires. and he treated people like **** on a presonal day to day level. I think the underlying problem was his personality but the crowning stuffup was the mining tax. The anti government TV adds from the mining industry would kill off any governments chances... first thing I expect Julia to do is drop the mining tax like a hot spud.... get some programs up and running quickly....free somethings for whoever.... ride the honeymoon into a second term.

as I am firmly in the ABA (anyone but Abbott) camp...she will do me fine.
 
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Tricky said:
What then? Sex scandal?
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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
  • 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
  • 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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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
  • 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
  • the emissions trading scheme - whether it was right or wrong, Rudd dropped it when faced with opposition, making him look weak and indecisive.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the carbon trading backflip after declaring climate change as the greatest moral challenge of our time, that's where the rot really set in and the ALP started bleeding from their base.
 
It's not going to mean anything with the internet filter but one can dream. :(
 
lionking,, regarding the mining tax. If you had a stimulus, that doesn't - on its face - seem like a bad way to pay for it. Was it good policy run over by powerful corporations or bad policy from the get go.
 
Australia has a PM?

:)

I thought you just hire the nearest dingo to run the show for 4 years.
 
SezMe said:
lionking,, regarding the mining tax. If you had a stimulus, that doesn't - on its face - seem like a bad way to pay for it. Was it good policy run over by powerful corporations or bad policy from the get go.
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The problem is not the mining tax per se, it was where it kicked in. Any profit over 6% is a super profit? Hardly, particularly when mining companies invest billions in speculative ventures. Although you won't get them to admit it now, mining companies not so long ago conceded that they should pay more tax.

Gillard has stated that she will now negotiate with the miners. Rudd was doing the same - sort of. He stated that the 40% was non-negotiable. It was just plain silly.
 
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