Julia Gillard: Australia gets a Barry girl in charge. Tidy.

[Proper Tidy]

It's hilarious, a supposedly liberal Welsh bloke

Ed's a liberal? For shame.

 

[editor]

Yeah ok, a bit overegged, is being happy at/with or mildly 'celebrating' a tad better?

I'm pleased that a woman has managed to make it to the top of the pile in a country like Australia, and I think it's an achievement when that woman is a working class immigrant from a particularly rough part of Wales who cites Bevan as one of her political heroes.

I think I'd prefer to learn a bit more about the political situation in Australia and give her more than a few days in office before rubbishing her achievements as eagerly as you.

Ed's a liberal? For shame.

News to me.

 

[gabi]

Kevin Rudd was the best thing to happen to Australian politics in their history, so I'm assuming you're just slightly ill-informed here ed...

 

[editor]

Kevin Rudd was the best thing to happen to Australian politics in their history, so I'm assuming you're just slightly ill-informed here ed...

"Ill informed" how exactly? I haven't even mentioned Kevin Rudd, although I know he was hugely unpopular with his own party after public support slumped catastrophically under his leadership and had no choice but to go.

Julia Gillard has been sworn in as Australia's first female prime minister after a surprise leadership vote in the ruling Labor Party ousted Kevin Rudd.

Mr Rudd chose not to take part in the ballot knowing he would suffer an embarrassing defeat to his deputy.

Ms Gillard said she believed "a good government was losing its way" and vowed to revive Labor ahead of a general election expected in October.

The party has suffered a sharp drop in support in opinion polls this year...

Mr Rudd started this year as the most popular Australian prime minister in three decades and was widely expected to win the federal election expected in October with ease.

But his popularity plummeted following a number of policy setbacks, our correspondent adds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10393918.stm

 

[Proper Tidy]

I know bugger all about Oz politics. All I know is that Kevin Rudd always appeared to be on the verge of tears.

 

[gabi]

"Ill informed" how exactly? I haven't even mentioned Kevin Rudd, although I know he was hugely unpopular with his own party after public support slumped catastrophically under his leadership.

The reason he became unpopular was because he was way too liberal for his own party. The cheek - apologising to the Aborigines etc. Of course such actions will make him unpopular.

He's been stabbed in the back by the right wing of his party, not sure this is reason to celebrate. He was a genuinely decent politician. His days were always going to be numbered in that political climate.

 

[editor]

The reason he became unpopular was because he was way too liberal for his own party.

The nosedive in support wasn't just from his own party though, was it? From what I've read, he was responsible for losing massive public support for the party too:

Australia’s first woman prime minister has boosted the government’s once—lagging popularity to an election—winning lead over the opposition, according to a respected opinion poll published on Monday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s early public support since she ousted her predecessor Kevin Rudd in a shock leadership challenge last Thursday could tempt her to call an election soon.

The survey by Newspoll, a Sydney—based market research company part—owned by News Corp., found that the center—left Labour Party government’s public support had bounced back to the levels it had enjoyed before Mr. Rudd’s popularity crashed in April.

Mr. Rudd, elected in 2007, had been one of the most popular Australian prime ministers of modern times until he made a series of policy backflips that included shelving a key promise to make major polluters pay for the carbon gas that they emit.

Many voters then abandoned Labour for the left—wing minor opposition Australian Greens party, earlier Newspolls indicated.

But with Ms. Gillard at the helm, Labour support had climbed seven percentage points to 42 percent since the previous Newspoll was conducted June 18—20. Greens support had slipped from 15 to 10 percent while the main opposition coalition remained steady at 40 percent.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article490247.ece

 

[gabi]

The nosedive in support wasn't just from his own party though, was it? From what I've read, he was responsible for losing massive public support for the party too:

I think you need to look at the public support he lost. We're talking about a bunch of fucking rednecks by and large, with all due respect to australians.

The only shock was that he ever made it to the top job with his views on indigenous rights, womens rights, climate change etc.

A big step backwards. Im glad I no longer live there.

 

[skyscraper101]

So erm.. do we like her or not?

 

[kyser_soze]

The reason he became unpopular was because he was way too liberal for his own party. The cheek - apologising to the Aborigines etc. Of course such actions will make him unpopular.

He's been stabbed in the back by the right wing of his party, not sure this is reason to celebrate. He was a genuinely decent politician. His days were always going to be numbered in that political climate.

So despite the main reasons for his being ousted - his failure to get a climate deal approved depsite it being the 'biggest moral challenge of our time' and resentment in the party for his centralising style (one of his cabinet on the record as saying he hadn't been phoned by Rudd for 3 years), you think it was the apology and his 'decency' that led to his being unseated?

 

[editor]

I think you need to look at the public support he lost. We're talking about a bunch of fucking rednecks by and large, with all due respect to australians.

The only shock was that he ever made it to the top job with his views on indigenous rights, womens rights, climate change etc.

A big step backwards. Im glad I no longer live there.

How is Gillard's appointment a "big step backwards" in regard to women's rights?

 

[kyser_soze]

I think you need to look at the public support he lost. We're talking about a bunch of fucking rednecks by and large, with all due respect to australians.

The only shock was that he ever made it to the top job with his views on indigenous rights, womens rights, climate change etc.

A big step backwards. Im glad I no longer live there.

So, the fact that even 18 months ago he was riding on approval ratings of 60%+ and lost it when he bottled it on the climate deal - which a lot of people voted for him for - his ratings collapsed. The Apology was hugely popular too.

So erm.. do we like her or not?

She's withdrawn the mining supertax and started ratting on about immigration. That would be a No.

 

[kyser_soze]

How is Gillard's appointment a "big step backwards" in regard to women's rights?

In the same way Thatcher's was.

 

[editor]

She doesn't exactly seem anti-women's rights to me - quite the opposite in fact:

Julia Gillard's ascension to the top office has been hailed as a momentous achievement for Australian women.

Labor Senator Claire Moore, the nation co-ordinator for the ALP women's advocacy group Emily's List, says it is an important step in the quest for gender equality in politics.

"I think in many ways it's actually one of those symbolic moments that people are going to look back and say that is something that has been achieved, and as you know Emily's List has been all about ensuring that women are part of the political process," she said.

"There will be many women across Australia and also internationally who will be watching this and also wishing Julia well."...

And [Gillard] was quick to pay tribute the deposed prime minister Kevin Rudd, saying he had championed the issues central to Emily's List.

"I do want to actually pay enormous respect and gratitude to Kevin Rudd, because on the issues that Emily's List supports, which is women's rights, women's equity, the Rudd government actually was a leader in all of those and we could not have wished for a better prime minister in terms of supporting our issues than we had in Kevin Rudd," she said.

Senator Moore said while the appointment of a female prime minister would serve as an inspiration to Australian women, it was unlikely it would significantly change the Federal Government's stance on women's issues.

"Julia has always been an extremely influential and inspirational figure for women and women's issues in our party and has always been very open to engage with women in the community," she said.

"So I think in terms of entrenching women's policy it will be very strong for us to have her as the leader. But I think the Labor Party policy has been well developed and is entrenched now that we have a strong commitment to an equitable Australian society which supports Australian women and men."

She laughed off the suggestion that Gillard's appointment would end the struggle for women's rights in the political arena.

"Just getting certain women into certain positions is not the end to our work," she said.

"We still do not have 50 per cent representation in any part of parliament or local government in this country.

"So the fact that we have some women leaders, around the states and particularly in local government [we have] the leaders, doesn't make up for the fact that if you look at any of our governing bodies it doesn't effectively represent the community that they're serving."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/24/2935884.htm

 

[editor]

In the same way Thatcher's was.

Yeah. Women are all the same, eh?

 

[Fedayn]

I'm pleased that a woman has managed to make it to the top of the pile in a country like Australia, and I think it's an achievement when that woman is a working class immigrant from a particularly rough part of Wales who cites Bevan as one of her political heroes.

I think I'd prefer to learn a bit more about the political situation in Australia and give her more than a few days in office before rubbishing her achievements as eagerly as you.News to me.

Whoopee do, isn't it great, we have our own sell out to mining interests and immigrant/race card player and hey she's Welsh, oooohh gotta make you proud!! Why do you need to wait, she's already having a go at the immigration buttons.... And her position on the mining industry.....

"We need to do more than consult, we need to negotiate... we need to end this uncertainty," she said.

"Today, I am throwing open the government's door to the mining industry and in return I ask the mining industry to open its mind."

Pretty clear wouldn't you say? Or do you need more time to make up your mind? On immigration and big mining interests she's already made clear her views.... Gotta make ya proud....

Yeah, i'd say he was liberal with a small 'l' ie socially liberal.... Or is the editor not socially liberal now?

 

[Proper Tidy]

Is she on the right, the left or the centre of the Labor party?

 

[kyser_soze]

I'm just confused that on this thread we're bigging up a confessed, paid up member of the 'free market rules' collection of politicians simply on the basis that she's from Barry.

And her policy choices aren't that far away from Thatch either.

 

[Proper Tidy]

I'm just confused that on this thread we're bigging up a confessed, paid up member of the 'free market rules' collection of politicians simply on the basis that she's from Barry.

And her policy choices aren't that far away from Thatch either.

Ah, she's a neo-liberal Laborite. The wanker.

 

[Fedayn]

I'm just confused that on this thread we're bigging up a confessed, paid up member of the 'free market rules' collection of politicians simply on the basis that she's from Barry.

And her policy choices aren't that far away from Thatch either.

Exactly....

Wonder if anyone from Brixton woulda done a well done John Major thread when he became PM. Well he was from a poor background and made it to PM....

 

[kyser_soze]

I mean in fairness, Rudd's whole mining supertax was a pretty desparate bid to get back into the voters good books after dropping the ball on climate change, but at least he was making an attempt to screw the fuckers over.

 

[editor]

Whoopee do, isn't it great, we have our own sell out to mining interests and immigrant/race card player and hey she's Welsh, oooohh gotta make you proud!!

And there you go again with your lies. Where have I said I was "proud" of her appointment?

Yeah, i'd say he was liberal with a small 'l' ie socially liberal.... Or is the editor not socially liberal now?

My personal politics are irrelevant to this thread, although it's becoming very apparent that you're more interested in pathetic little point-scoring games.

*yawn

 

[gabi]

I dont quite get this thread.

ed, you're celebrating the ousting of the most liberal PM the aussies have ever had on the basis that the ouster was born in your country. bonkers.

 

[editor]

I dont quite get this thread.

ed, you're celebrating the ousting of the most liberal PM the aussies have ever had on the basis that the ouster was born in your country. bonkers.

I must have missed the bit where I'm "celebrating" anything.

 

[gabi]

I must have missed the bit where I'm "celebrating" anything.

Check the thread title

 

[kyser_soze]

Well, the thread title would appear to be at least a teeny, eeny bit celebratory about the whole thing.

 

[mattie]

Was it perhaps sarcastic?

 

[editor]

Check the thread title

Do Cardiff City fans all go "tidy" when their team score then?



The word can mean many things - sometimes sarcastic, sometimes positive, sometimes no different to saying "alright" - so perhaps you should read the words I've posted up in this thread instead of trying to misrepresent my opinion based on your limited understanding of the usage of one slang word?

 

[Proper Tidy]

Tbf, tidy is a multipurpose word west of Offas Dyke. Hence my user name.

 

[gabi]

Do Cardiff City fans all go "tidy" when their team score then?



The word can mean many things - sometimes sarcastic, sometimes positive, sometimes no different to saying "alright" - so perhaps you should read the words I've posted up in this thread instead of trying to misrepresent my opinion based on your limited understanding of the usage of one slang word?

So which context were you using this multi-faceted adjective in then?