Australia Gets Its First Female Prime Minister 419
An anonymous reader writes "Julia Gillard has been elected unopposed to the Labor leadership, seizing power in a bloodless Parliament House coup after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd decided not to contest this morning's leadership ballot. Ms. Gillard will now be sworn in as Australia's first female prime minister. Emerging from this morning's meeting, she said she felt 'very honored' and said she would be making a statement shortly. Treasurer Wayne Swan now steps up as deputy prime minister. He was also elected unopposed."
Please (Score:5, Informative)
Someone tell me if i should hate her or not, the internet has failed me so far
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Please (Score:1, Informative)
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:2, Informative)
It's in interesting idea!
Re:Please (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I for one... (Score:3, Informative)
Wrong. first redheaded PM was James Scullin
Re:The Aussie public had no say . . . (Score:5, Informative)
The did have a say - they had their say in 2007, and will have another say in only a couple of months.
Australians vote for their local members, and the party (or coalition) with the most members forms government.
The party then elects their leader, who becomes prime minister.
Labor elected Rudd initially, and now they decided to elect Gillard instead.
Also, she was deputy Prime Minister, and went as such into the election, so it's not like people were voting for Labor without the knowledge that she would have some power - and that she'd be filling in as PM from time to time anyway.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Informative)
Agreed. There are two reasons why this should be a story on Slashdot, and neither of them relate to Ms. Gillard's gender.
1. This is the first time that a serving Prime Minister has been deposed by his own party without even having completed his first term of office (not counting those that died in office, or were temporary caretaker PMs such as Forde). That alone is newsworthy and will make today a notable day in Australian poltical history. What's more, it would have to also be the most rapid fall from grace of a PM in living memory - Kevin Rudd, as recently as three months ago, was enjoying one of the highest approval ratings of any PM, ever. And now he is gone, removed by the very colleagues who as little as 48 hours ago were voicing complete support for him.
2. More relevant to Slashdot as a technology-related site, this coup means that there will be a ministerial reshuffle and a new Cabinet. Which means there is a good chance that Senator Conroy will be dumped as Communications Minister. Perhaps in favour of Kate Lundy (although this is far from certain). Given that the internet filter proposal was already on shaky ground (Labor has quietly been putting it on the backburner as being "too toxic a topic" for an election year), this may be the extra push needed to make sure it sinks into oblivion (and good riddance!).
Whatever happens, it certainly has been a dramatic day in politics. It has made the upcoming election, which was looking to be one of the most boring in recent history, into something a little bit more interesting ;)
Re:The Aussie public had no say . . . (Score:2, Informative)
They do. Westminster system. We do not elect the prime minister, we elect the parliament. The parliament elects the prime minister. If a political party holds more than 50% of the parliament, then this will be the (party-)elected leader of that party. The only non-members of parliament who voted for Kevin Rudd are the labour voters in his local electorate in QLD. Might wanna read up on how our democracy works sometime...
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:3, Informative)
Newcastle Sydney Wollongong, obviously. The limits of the known world.
Re:The Aussie public had no say . . . (Score:5, Informative)
I'm going to assume the parent is American and thus doesn't realise what the office of Prime Minister actually represents. If the parent is Australian, then, I don't know what to say :P
The Prime Minister is the almost-exact equivalent of the House Majority Leader in the US. The leader of the political party currently holding the most seats in the lower house/chamber.
In the US, the House Majority Leader is not directly elected. Similarly, neither is the Prime Minister in the UK, Canada, Australia, NZ, or any other Westminster system country. This does not mean those countries are not democracies.
Re:Strewth (Score:3, Informative)
Need +1 evil (Score:5, Informative)
Never has anything more inappropriate been said by accident.
(Julia has been attacked by a notorious opposition ratbag for being childless by choice.)
Re:Interesting Historical Fact (Score:3, Informative)
Technically speaking, no. We vote the parliament, not the cabinet. The parliament elected Kiviniemi to run the cabinet last week. The parliament is perfectly capable to do this with the mandate we gave them back in 2007.
Re:Interesting Historical Fact (Score:2, Informative)
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Informative)
Reptilians in human bodies don't count.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:3, Informative)
The fact that it is our first female PM is what makes it news.
Why? Because at least you got your first female head of state before the USA? Instead of years after dozens of other countries did? Including at least one Islamic country?
Australia's head of State is the Queen, not the PM; their PM is merely the head of government.