History in the Making: Australia’s First Female Prime Minister

This topic is something a little different for my blog. But as it was such a huge and fascinating turn of events, I simply had to ask my readers, students and colleagues to weigh in on this debate!

So, I’m sure all of you are aware by now that Ms Julia Gillard has replaced Mr Kevin Rudd as the Prime Minister of Australia. For a recap of the sitauation, watch the video below.

 So what can we expect, next?

Many have warned that Julia Gillard may take advantage of the “honeymoon period” that follows this dramatic leadership switch, to ensure Labor is elected for another term while people are still enamoured by her introductory speech and promises for the future and before they have the chance to properly review the policies of each Party. Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, reminds us that “The labor party have dumped their leader but they haven’t changed their policies. It’s clear that if you want to change their policies, you’re going to have to change the government.”

At present, Yahoo!News puts Ms Gillard 12 points behind Mr Abbott in popularity polls. It would be interesting to see how this develops over the next for weeks.

I also received an interesting article in my inbox, the other day, in which the CEC (Citizen’s Electoral Council) gives their opinion on the change in leadership. An excerpt is below:

One year after Kevin Rudd’s infamous outburst, “I regard Mr LaRouche as right off the planet”, he’s fallen victim to the planet-wide mass-strike that only LaRouche saw coming.

On 30th June, 2009, Rudd had reacted to CEC Queensland Secretary Jan Pukallus asking him why he didn’t heed LaRouche’s advice on the global economic crisis that his government falsely claimed nobody saw coming. In Australia, Rudd led a government which has been madly bailing out banks, all the while, simply denying the crisis that has driven many Australians to the wall, into bankruptcy, mortgage stress and economic helplessness, but crowing of a “recovery” that doesn’t exist.

On the unfolding dynamic of the mass-strike, Lyndon LaRouche commented, “most people do believe in the idea that history is shaped by events. And on the contrary, history shapes events. That’s the way it works, and you see this in the process of the mass-strike … .”

Rudd’s CEC opponent in Griffith, Jan Pukallus, said today that the mass-strike is still driving Australian politics – the government’s change of leader doesn’t change its policies, or its disconnect with the people’s needs in this economic crisis:

“How long is Gillard going to last?” Jan asked.

“Go back and look at what she said on our HBPB DVD-she’s lied as much as the rest of them on the economic crisis, and if she sticks with that line, she’ll go down like the rest of them.”

CEC leader Craig Isherwood had a sober response to Julia Gillard’s rise to Prime Minister, “Julia Gillard has an historical opportunity to save Australia from economic destruction, but only if she returns her party to the common good principles of the ‘old’ Labor Party of John Curtin and Ben Chifley.” As Ben Chifley said in his famous 1949 Light on the Hill speech, ‘I try to think of the Labor movement, not as putting an extra sixpence into somebody’s pocket, or making somebody Prime Minister or Premier, but as a movement bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people. We have a great objective-the light on the hill-which we aim to reach by working the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labor movement would not be worth fighting for.’

“Gillard and the ALP will only recapture Chifley’s vision, if they join the CEC’s fight against the Money Power in the City of London, for national economic sovereignty, on behalf of the people,” Mr Isherwood concluded.