The formidable Gillard
June 25th, 2010 at 1:37 pm by David FarrarBeing in Aussie has meant I’ve been able to see pretty much non stop coverage of the Gillard coup, which is much better than just seeing the highlights at 6 pm.
I was especially interested in Gillard’s press conference. Her performance can only be described as stellar. I’m one of those people who is always critically appraising speakers – often thinking to myself (or saying so to people with me) how an answer could have been made better.
I could not find a single fault with Gillard. Her answers, her tone, were all near perfect. She communicated her values and made it about Australia, not about her. I’ll give a couple of examples.
She was asked how did it feel to be Australia’s first female Prime Minister. Now Helen Clark (whom Gillard has some qualities in common with) had a burning life long ambition to be NZ’s first female Prime Minister. Everyone knew this. And she hated the fact Jenny Shipley bet her to it, so settled for New Zealand’s first “elected” female Prime Minister.
Gillard’s first response was a great joke – how she was also the first redhead to be Prime Minister and people can decide for themselves which was more unlikely.
But then she said that she didn’t enter politics to hit her head on any glass ceilings, but instead wants to keep her feet firmly on the ground.
Now that was superb. Cynically I wondered how many times and for how many months had she practised it. For she communicated that it wasn’t about her, it wasn’t about identity politics, it was about Australia.
Andrew Bolt also reviewed her press conference, and gives it a 9/10.
Gillard will be a far more formidable opponent to Tony Abbott, than Kevin Rudd was. That does not mean of course that she will automatically win.
There does appear to be some resentment over the method of her succession. Overnight online polls all showed people preferred Abbott over Gillard. However they are online polls and you can’t place reliance on them.
In a few days we’ll get the 1st set of phone polls. I’d ignore them also. What I will be looking at is the second set of polls in around three or four weeks time. That will give a better indication of what the change means to how people may vote.
Related posts:
- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
- Gillard calling the election
- Gillard to address NZ Parliament
- Rudd rat-fucks Gillard
June 25th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
I watched her press conference live as well. Basically she said she would carry on with Kevin Rudd’s policies. She wants an Australian ETS and she wants to impose a super tax on Australian mining companies.
Just goes to show she hasn’t learnt anything from Kevin Rudd’s downfall. I look foraward to the Liberals gaining office in a few months time.
By the way David, have you told your Liberal friends in Canberra your views on New Zealand’s ETS? They could do with a good laugh.
If you can convince you Liberal friends to adopt New Zealand’s ETS system and anti-Mining beliefs then maybe National might just be able to close the income gap with Australia. Close the Gap by dragging Australia down to New Zealand’s pitiful level that is.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
GILLARD – “A left wing barrister with the mouth of a bricklayer” is how one experienced, Australian political commentator described her to me.
Vote:And check out the Reuter’s-sourced pix on page B1 of todays (June 25, 10) Dumbonian-Post. Colder than Clark?
June 25th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
No need to wait for the second poll, iPredict has the answers right now.
Changing leaders added 20% to Labour’s re-election chances, up from just under 50% before Gillard moved against Rudd to just under 70%. Libs now just a 29% likelihood of winning the election.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
So colder than a Witch’s tit flipper?
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
OECD Rank 22 Kiwi -
Vote:Yes, David does have a blind spot on the ETS.
But, on the ETS, check out Gillards actual words….
Lots of wriggle room because the Aussie Treasury’s advice is “dont do it!”
June 25th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Exactly, the insta-polls are a waste of time.
First we have to endure the endless nitpicking about her appearance. How many vote on image over substance? Probably far too many.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Ha ha Ben, you forget that Australia isn’t New Zealand. Australians don’t have a National need to be broke ass poor like New Zealanders. Australia actually aspires to be a contender on the World stage. New Zealand on the other hand is just a backwards hick village at the ass end off the World.
Stay classy New Zealand.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Does the Witch have any?
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I could not find a single fault with Gillard… she’s a Ginga DPF.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
If we ever had elections for a Pm Clarks claim might have some meaning. But we don’t. We elect the party and they decide who they want to run them.
Helen clark, NZ’s second female PM.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
But the leader (PM) is promoted heavily by parties and media and many people do vote based on critical leadership qualities like whether their poster has been properly airbrushed or not.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
She may be the Aussie’s first woman prime minister but her rein will also be the shortest. She is as mad as a march hare, spouting the same bullshit the idiots over here do so well. Hope she enjoys it well it lasts.
Personally I think she is a hard looking thing, wouldn’t want to come home late from the pub with her waiting inside the house.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
‘Ha ha Ben, you forget that Australia isn’t New Zealand. Australians don’t have a National need to be broke ass poor like New Zealanders. Australia actually aspires to be a contender on the World stage. New Zealand on the other hand is just a backwards hick village at the ass end off the World.’
How did we do at the Football World Cup OECD? I’d say we are happy to be contenders when we can.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
“..But then she said that she didn’t enter politics to hit her head on any glass ceilings, but instead wants to keep her feet firmly on the ground.
Now that was superb. ..”
sheesh…!..
a couple of simplistic homilies/cliches..
..and yr anyones..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
“..Personally I think she is a hard looking thing, wouldn’t want to come home late from the pub with her waiting inside the house…”
an oil painting are you..?
does the missus mind the stench of death that you bring home with you…?
blood under the fingernails…eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
@flipper:
I’ve lived in Australia for well over a decade and have watched Gillard’s rise with interest. She’s nothing like Clark – except perhaps for the fact that she’s a left-wing female politician I guess.
Gillard is intelligent, articulate, and as Australian female politicans go she is pretty easy on the eyes – not that this is relevant to her intellect or ambition, but she looks OK on TV. She certainly had a makeover about 3 months ago, which is when I started telling friends “she’s gearing up for a challenge”.
She has honestly addressed the fact that she’s a childless woman trying to appeal to families, and she did so with candour and dignity. I gave her points for the way she handled it.
She comes from a union background but her biggest achievement recently has been to stare down and basically bitchslap the Australian teachers union into accepting a national standards programme.
She also has a strangely flirtatious adversarial relationship with the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbot. There is chemistry between the two and it’s obvious to anyone that they are good friends even while they’re going hammer and tongs.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
side show bob (2531) Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
She may be the Aussie’s first woman prime minister but her rein will also be the shortest.
I’m prepared to bet it won’t be the shortest. I have $250.00 to back it up. Takers?
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
RKBee (889) Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I could not find a single fault with Gillard… she’s a Ginga DPF.
in Oz she is known as a ranga or a fantapants, not a ginga.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
how do you know helen was upset about not being first woman PM?
Did she tell someone this?
I’d say, Gillard is secretly pleased with herself as she will be remembered in the record books.
Even more special, would be to be the first woman PM as voted in by the people . She does not have that honour yet.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Gilliard want an ETS, so in that regard she’s likely to be aligned with DPF, himself a staunch proponent of the new tax imposed on us by his beloved National Party.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
SHG …. Nice piece and thoughtful analysis.
Vote:Your point on the teacher unions is well made. Janet Albrechtson made the same point in her “Australian” column some weeks ago. But cold. Let’s wait and see when the honeymoon is over – before or after the election.
June 25th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Either I am out of touch or a lot of people don’t know what they’re talking about when they try to jump on the ginga bandwagon.
Many shades of brown seem to be being lumped under the one label, but most people I see labelled as gingas don’t seem ginger at all to me. Is ginga a catch-all phrase for anyone with any semblance of brightness to their brown?
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
I predict a short honeymoon…
Firstly, at the end of the day the Liberals have spent over two years saying that Rudd was a bad PM while Labor said otherwise. Now Labor agree with the Liberals. Being wrong for two years isn’t a good look.
Secondly, Labor have a record of almost complete failure. They can’t even run a petrol prices website, and their home insulation and school building programs are unmitigated disasters that have killed people. Labor can either ditch all their old policies AND become competent. Or it’ll just look like Rudd was made a scapegoat while Labor continue to fail in everything they try to do.
Thirdly, this whole lefty faction thing just creeps me out. NZ Labour have their union and gay factions, but Australian Labor politics is dominated by back room deals and a system that owes more to the mafia than to democratic and open governance.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
NewsRoom.co.nz Agency report
Following is extract from their coverage on ETS etc…..
[........ She touched on the sensitive issue of a carbon tax, saying she would seek consensus.
"I believe human beings contribute to climate change. It is as disappointing to me as it is to millions of Australians that we do not have a price on carbon and in the future we will need one. But first we will need to establish a community consensus for action.
"If elected as Prime Minister I will re prosecute the case for a carbon price at home and abroad. I will do that as global economic conditions improve and as our economy continues to strengthen," she said. ]
Lots of wiggle room there and, as previously stated, CaZnberra’s Treasury isa opposed to ewither a Cazron Tax or and ETS.
Only fools and New Zealanders accept a need for an ETS (with apologies to Ogden Nash).
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I’ll put $250 on her reign being the shortest of any Australian woman prime minster to date
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Impressive press conference alright. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that Gillard and Tilda Swinton are related.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
And I guess in Australia that accent has got to be a plus. TV3 joked last night that she might need subtitles for American audiences though.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Answering questions “just so” at a Press Conference is really not that hard – any performing seal can do that. But she will be judged on how effectively she can run and ultimately lead a Government. There is nothing so far that suggests she cannot run a good Government, follow due process etc etc. But she has a big problem to overcome and that is the mining tax. The revenue from that tax is linked to the Government’s budget strategy. That is they have spent the money – before they can be assured of getting the money through the tax. If they reduce the tax then they have to revise the budget strategy. How stupid is that, but that is Julia Gillard’s big problem. The other stuff can be fixed quickly enough and then – she goes to the polls.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
She’s a real Assie ocker… they will love her… She’s Blue with attitude and a mouth to match..
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
HMM, well I suggest the evidence is there that she cannot run things. Gillard was responsible for the edu building program that has mightily pissed the okcers. Payments to mates in the unions by overpricing and protected job sites will be bought to the fore.
She also has a strangely flirtatious adversarial relationship with the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbot. There is chemistry between the two and it’s obvious to anyone that they are good friends even while they’re going hammer and tongs.
Wonder of she’s checked out the budgie smugglers at all?
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Wait until the payoff to the ACTU and other unions starts – it will make North Korea look like a capitalist paradise.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
I kind of like Julia Gillard. Can’t stand her politics, but she’s pretty straightforward and seems honest (i.e. she doesn’t hide the fact she’s left wing and what that means to her). She’s articulate and seems like a genuine person.
Now, if Australians are stupid enough to elect her, knowing what she actually plans to do (i.e. left wing), then you can hardly complain too much – that’s what democracy is about. Much better than electing someone like Rudd who pretends not to be left wing.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Gillard and Abbott used to stay at the same Hotel even had adjourning rooms. No no no no surely not. Wash my mouth out.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Gillard is just Rudd with tits and a thicker accent. If the Aussie population gets conned by this lot again they deserve every new great big tax they get.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Will be interesting to see if Abbott has his pants pulled now.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Australia are welcome to her. We have been punished enough (and now learnt) that the worst thing for a country is a hard left Prime Minister – I hope she gets tossed out at the next election.
In respect of Clark hating Shipley for beating her to be the first female PM the great – Clark will forever be second (Second is of course the first loser) – Clark was (and is) a nasty bitch and if that grates her then that is all the more reason to appreciate what Dame Jenny Shipley did for NZ.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Yaargh New PM Australia looks haughty, cold, and has a nasty voice.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
The mainstream media gloss over Gillard’s incompetence and her communist party roots, and kiss her arse because in her first press conference she “didn’t put a foot wrong”. That’s right, she didn’t put a foot wrong in concealing from the public what she really is, and the media didn’t put a foot wrong either in helping her conceal it.
Contrast the sucking up to Gillard and the gloss being applied by the media, to their adverse reporting on and intense scrutiny of Sarah Palin.
The media are the front line for the left. Contemptible charlatans.
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
At least she didn’t use a teleprompter…
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Her nickname is Julia Guillotine for a reason people…..
She is is even more left than the leftist woman this side of the black stump was running our country for 9 years….. The Aussies will wake up am sure, and will wake up quickly…
Vote:June 25th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
“Contrast the sucking up to Gillard and the gloss being applied by the media, to their adverse reporting on and intense scrutiny of Sarah Palin. “
let it go, russ, it’s
Vote:not all about your dirty
sheets fantasy ho
June 26th, 2010 at 11:48 am
@Whafe:
That would be a mildly amusing line except for the fact that you just made it up.
That is to say, she’s NOT known as Julia Guillotine. I’ve never heard that nickname.
Vote:June 26th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
If she is bonking Abbott would that help or hinder her with your convict bunch of voters ?
Vote:June 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Tony Abbott was my local MP when I lived in Australia, and I met him a few times at the sort of formal functions that tend to invite the local MP. I can safely say that on all those occasions Tony Abbott behaved int he way one would expect of somebody who is arrogant, reactionary, wowserish, fundamentalist Godbothering, rich prick. He would be a dreadful PM for any nation.
But maybe he has changed … like John Banks?
Vote:June 26th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Gillard and Abbot ending up booked into adjacent hotel rooms is a running joke in Australia. By the sounds of it their staffers make side-by-side bookings deliberately
Vote:June 26th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
For example…
Vote: