Getting with the program
Posted by Christopher Sheil on Sunday, November 18, 2007
Kevin Rudd has revealed his first five priorities as prime minister if Labor wins government at Saturday’s election. They are:
- Ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
- Negotiate with states to reform the hospital system.
- Begin roll-out of high-speed broadband network and connections to schools.
- Upgrade trade training centres in secondary schools.
- Begin negotiations with US and Iraq for staged withdrawal of Australian combat troops by mid-next year.
Mr Rudd said that Christmas Day and Boxing Day would be the only holidays for a Labor cabinet this year as they began putting policies into action, and that he would use the Lodge in Canberra as the prime ministerial home. He said he wanted to be known as “an education prime minister”, someone who fundamentally transformed education. Mr Rudd, the hot favourite to be elected prime minister on Saturday, told the Sunday Age that the last week of the campaign would be “very tight and tough”, but said he had plenty of petrol left in the tank. “Fighting and raring to go, mate,” Mr Rudd said. “I’m moving from fourth to fifth gear, and certainly in my own personal engine there is capacity to move into sixth gear as well.”
Sounds good to me, except I guess repealing WorkChoices has to wait to the next parliament? Can’t something be done immediately? How about some real experts going through the pile up? What about an independent inquiry? What about an open-ended standing royal commission into the Howard’s government’s 12 years of crimes against humanity? Can’t we at least have Kevin Andrews in the stocks for tomato practice at Martin Place for just one day? How about Tone Abbott in an all-comers boxing tent? Joe Hockey on a stick? OK, the first five will do. *Sigh.*
Update: Classic Bill Leak.
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 12:12 AM and filed under Politics - national.
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Steady on there Christopher. Crimes against humanity? Although Kevin in stocks at a carneval stall might be fun. He’d make a great Carneval Kevin.
Anyway, I find this list interesting, not for its contents but for its omissions. I would have thought next year’s Budget would be a top priority given most of that work gets underway after Christmas/early New Year, no?
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 4:36 am | PermalinkIndeed. But what a political checklist for the punters.
In the current environment, the phrase “live in the Lodge” has a real power out there in the suburbs, i believe. Let’s hear a little more of that line for a day or so. It highlights the incredible fallacy of Howard’s battlers thing.
And bring on Thursday, the PM at the Press Club. I recall clearly Keating’s last stand there. The sentiment in the room came across, palpably, as the journo’s – the interface, who’d gone the distance for so long then – realised the man was gone, tired, disbelieved, but at core seemingly loved and believed in his country. Not here to pick up on anything than the last point: for Howard at core seemingly loves and believes in something else, with his country being used to perform some task towards that. I doubt there’ll be that same sentiment in the room on Thursday.
That truly great symbol is now growing clear again: may the Coat of Arms never be worn for such opportunism, morning walks or not, again.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 5:36 am | PermalinkWot? No national week of celebrations? I’d be more comfortable about them if he’d said they’re going to take a couple of weeks off–that would be sane, healthy–rational.
Saint, Howard has taught us well? Ya? ; A mark a yen a buck or a pound zat clinking clanking clonking sound is all zat makes the vorld go around. It makes the world go round. Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney
It won’t be Rudd, but one day, maybe, we’ll get a leader who says that the air we breathe and the water we drink i.e, the environment, is central to everything, not the effing economy. Howard’s greatest untruth, that marked him out as a small, fearful, man and no leader at all.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 6:32 am | Permalink*cough* let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves folks … only one more week to go … be patient.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 7:15 am | PermalinkIf there was justice in the world, I would like to see fatso Hockey actually doing some real work, like digging ditches or loading garbage bins onto the morning truck.
It would be good if this was with a pathological supervisor who detested slow workers.
Meantime, cs, Rudd seems to be concentrating on the positives, which is probably the wisest election strategy.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 8:26 am | PermalinkKen, it’s definitely time to put the Australian sparkling in the fridge. Nothing is going to stop a Rudd Labor Government now.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 9:03 am | PermalinkI respectfully disagree, though I hope that’s the case. Realistically it all comes down to a handful of voters in a handful of seats and none of them cares less about royal commissions or crimes against humanity.
As for the list, 1 and 5 are big steps, the rest is just filler. Has anyone clarified by the way whether the trade centres being in ‘all schools’ includes private schools?
Work Choices is winning as an argument based on fear rather than current situation. As per 4 corners and its marginal candidates, people expressed fear for their kids and for the future, rather than actually complaining about their current conditions. There are some people who’ve copped a poor deal by now, but I suggest the election-swinging aspect is about fear.
Not saying that’s unjustified- but the point, returning to Shiel’s call for quick action, is that a slow windback is much more what the populace (marginal populace in particular) want than a sharp yank.
As for health- negotiating’s fine but how about spending some money on beds?
As for education – how about ditching the trivial laptop junk and fixing the basics; our local highschools can’t affort toilet paper, decent classrooms, and good teachers. I am told, for example, that there is a manifest undersupply of language teachers in Melbourne. Why isn’t this an issue?
We probably won’t be using laptops in 5 years anyway…
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 9:15 am | Permalink[...] some others on Team Howard, and I am inclined to agree. There is also discussion of the list at Club Troppo and [...]
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 12:31 pm | PermalinkCaroline, you are preaching to the converted.
For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.–1 Timothy 6:10
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 2:39 pm | PermalinkBingo…early evening news. Howard’s criticism of Kev05…talks of it as a plan rather than list of priorities and notes the lack of economic management. If he’s so predictable to us punters…and if Kev05 is seriously economically conservative…
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 4:35 pm | Permalink. . .its just a jump to the left.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 6:15 pm | Permalink[...] some others on Team Howard, and I am inclined to agree. There is also discussion of the list at Club Troppo and [...]
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 9:04 pm | PermalinkHubris, CS? I’m with Ken. There’s a week to go and I for one will not believe it is so until Kerry O’Brien starts to smile on Saturday night.
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 9:18 pm | PermalinkNo hubris here, mate. I’ll find it hard to believe even after it happens, if indeed it does happen.
Posted on 19-Nov-07 at 12:13 am | Permalink“Sounds good to me, except I guess repealing WorkChoices has to wait to the next parliament? …… Cant we at least have Kevin Andrews in the stocks for tomato practice at Martin Place for just one day? How about Tone Abbott in an all-comers boxing tent? Joe Hockey on a stick? OK, the first five will do. *Sigh.*”
I’d get in early with the other harmless overcooked spinach leaves if I were you, before you miss out-
Posted on 19-Nov-07 at 12:41 am | Permalinkhttp://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22768910-5014075,00.html
Christopher Sheil:
Quite interesting comments here.
I’ve already commented on a similar topic over at Larvatus Prodeo In Exile [they've had server, etc. problems on the original LP site for several days now].
Posted on 20-Nov-07 at 12:48 am | Permalink