The view from America: "the plot has thickened like barbie sauce and Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott is the happiest man in Australia." Aaron Goldstein, The Spectacle Blog.
Gillard government a policy free zone: "Now that the Rudd agenda has mostly been passed or abandoned, Gillard has no policies whatsoever, a point I made some time ago." John Quiggin.
Policy isn’t Labor’s problem: "alone of Australian institutions the ALP conducts no systemic training for its personnel, no mentoring, no coaching, no management of high potential talent. And we pay the price with spokespeople thrust into jobs with no preparation and no support or guidance. Good cases are lost because nobody can articulate them, our debating prowess has leached from the organization." Bob Carr, Thoughtlines.
What does it mean for women in politics? "my greater concern is that Gillard’s particularly choppy time in leadership will be remembered by the Australian people and taken as representative of what things are like when a woman is in charge – and that as a result, our second woman Prime Minister will be a long time coming." Chloe Angyal , Feministing.
For the good of the party? Comments on the Kevin Connects blog:
"Stick it to the caucus … POWER TO THE PEOPLE"
"Just a thought, why dont you form your own party?, you at least have 30 serving politicians by your side and no faceless men!!"
"abandon the challenge and go independant! You will be savaged by your colleagues but you are now anyway."
"MMM the speach is full of ‘I’. I have my doubts about K Rudd. He seems to have narcissistic tendencies, despite sound policies and an intellectual mind."
Huh? Alison Caddick’s editorial in Arena.
What leadership challenge? "The US Presidential election is the most important we will have this year anywhere on the planet, and may in the long run affect us in Australia even more than any election we might contrive to have ourselves." Steve Kates, Catallaxy.
Updates …
That’s not a leadership battle: "compared with the bone crushing, rugby style of Australia’s governing Labor Party; the GOP proceedings seem like a game of touch football by comparison." Aaron Goldstein, The American Spectator.
Zombie-Rudd: "This is like Julius Caesar, reinterpreted as a Zombie flick." J Murph, Twitter.
Robot vs Zombie: "Robot overlord goads zombie army to attack. Most faeries wonder what fuss is about. Wish they’d all just get on with improving the kingdom." Argumentalist, Twitter.
Lucky us! "Rudd-Gillard debacle sign of Australia’s privilege: countries don’t allow themselves such diversions unless things are going v well." Alain de Botton, Twitter.
I think I was about 5 years old when I was last so un interested in Federal Politics.
Spot on, fxh. A fatuous media feast.
Could we by not looking closely at the current imbroglio miss a very substantial shift in the very way Australian politics will be played out in future?
Reduced factional influence if Rudd gets up, bottom up participatory selection processes for candidates rather than deals done by union officals particularly in the Senate?
Bob Carr returns as saviour and directs changes as per the Bracks/Carr/Faulkner report…
And as for the Liberals well…..
Then on the other hand on LP I think I just read that Rudd did come here directly from Washington and the US has directed the whole episode as a sort of action to continue the neocon rule over the world.
1975 all over again!
Maybe Alain de Botton is right.
AS Whitlam said, not the faceless men, but the witless men.
I doubt it murph. The inner workings of the ALP will be irrelevant to the future of Australian politics since you can expect them to be in opposition for the next 20 years after we are done with the 2 worst governments in history.
I see this sort of phrase a great deal in comment threads on “The Drum”.
Has Yobbo been turned into a bot? If not, is there somewhere you all go to get trained to use the correct phrases?
I ask, because I just don’t see that these have been the worse 2 Governments in history. I honestly don’t. The resource rent tax proposals have tried to tackle a very difficult problem but have been vociferously opposed by the Abbott and the media. Ditto for a price on carbon.
Abbott has consistently over-promised and is now seriously in the hole to find the funds. He’s supported interventionist Gov programs (Climate Change) versus market mechanisms. He’s proposed a new business tax to fund his maternity leave proposals. He has promised to kill the NBN even though it could well cost more axe it than it will to complete it.
This is your money Yobbo, that he is planning to flush down the toilet.