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."
"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Insightful)
The news value here being a Prime Minister's gender is condescending to Julia Gillard as a politician.
The news value should be "Aus PM changes: Will she drop Conroy?"
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Funny)
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We had the same thing happen in the UK with our previous government, and it turned out to be a great boon to the economy.
Oh, wait...
Hopefully it's just you... (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that Australia follows the Westminster system, and our government is a representative one (i.e. we all vote to choose our own electorate's representatives), then no Prime Minister is 'voted in' directly by us (well, unless you live in his electorate). The party with superior numbers in the Legislative Assembly has a leader it elects, and that party is invited by the Governor-General to form government. If the party elects a new leader, then they by definition are the elected Prime Minister.
And if you're suggesting that K. Rudd was any less beholden to the 'big, bad Unions' than J.Gillard, and secured his leadership solely with the aid of non-union aligned factions and a bit of magic pixie dust...
It's like complaining a vote for Liberal is a really vote for Corporate Swill-meisters: the power bases of the major political parties have been pretty much as is for all eternity.
I didn't vote for K. Rudd either, but all the best to Ms Gillard. Just please Julia, dump that dead arse Conroy and whatever wheelbarrow he pushes, tell Fielding to stick his poison apple support, and get on with the job.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sick of "First X Elected To Whatever Office." Haven't we moved past this yet? Ideas matter. Gender, ethnicity, heredity do not.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately no, we haven't. Sadly, we don't yet live in a utopia. Most power structures are dominated by men, racism still exists, etc, etc.
*Should* this be news? No. But the sad fact is, it is.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Informative)
Reptilians in human bodies don't count.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Prejudice in general is useful - it allows us to defend from threats we cannot fully assess. Inductive reasoning, for example, it's also based on prejudice. But it's obvious that it's a bias and therefore unhelpful if we actually can inform ourselves and make a rational decision.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Yes, but NSW is only part of Australia. Which most Sydneysiders seem to forget
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I'm from Sydney, what is this NSW you speak of?
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Newcastle Sydney Wollongong, obviously. The limits of the known world.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Funny)
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Also she is an avowed atheist.
This part is far more newsworthy, especially given the rise of the Christian Right in Australia over the last decade or so.
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Also she is an avowed atheist. I think that's a first for an Australian PM, too.
I certainly consider that far more interesting that the fact she's a female. I'm a pretty "staunch" atheist myself, and find it quite sickening how we're becoming more and more persecuted in the western world these days simply for saying that we refuse to believe a bunch of nonsense without strong evidence. It used to be that the western world was the best place for atheists, but over the last ten years that's been taking a VERY sharp down-turn. For a modern Western country to have an atheist in the "top
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Not in Oz. Historically, religion has been quite distant from politics - yes, we have our resident right-wing religious nutjob (currently that position is taken by Steve Fielding, and before him, Brian Harridene), but even then, it is only really in the last couple of years that religion has started to become mainstream in politics, which is BAD and hopefully will now stop.
When I was growing up, I always knew Brian Harridene as the resident wingnut (he came from the same state as me too), but it was onl
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Don't see why it's that 'funny'.
After all, US States have Governors. Imagine there was also a Governor for the whole Union as well. A general Governor, if you will. Like the Attorney-General. Gee what could we call that office ...
In the case of Australia, Canada, NZ etc. we certainly can't call them a President (because those countries are not republics). I'm sure we could have come up with far more bizarre names for the position than Governor-General, but we didn't.
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It's in interesting idea!
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Old news.
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Agreed! But your post did invoke a mental picture of Spock as leader of the Klingon High Council...
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I can't remember the last time I wish I had the points to mod an AC first post up, but this would qualify. It's her policies that matter, not her plumbing.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, for fuck's sake. Do you really think the only difference between the sexes is "plumbing"? Stop listening to feminists and observe the world around you once in a while.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Funny)
"For fuck's sake" is exactly why I do listen to feminists. =P
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You may be barking up the wrong tree there.
So to speak.
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Funny thing is when it started happening I said "whoa, gotta be the first victorian pm in a while". Took a good 30 seconds before I figured out why people were looking at me funny
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 ;)
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I don't think there will be such a big reshuffle. A lot of serving ministers (including Steven "fuckwit" Conroy) pledged support to Gillard.
Let's not forget, that the reason Rudd was thrown out was because the current MPs felt he could win a election - and by extension they would stop being ministers. this wasn't some Gillard coup, rather a self-preservation exercise by the serving ministers. As such, they will be expecting some kind of reward for their support. Expect Conroy to be shuffled to another minis
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Funny)
Steven "fuckwit" Conroy
Thats Stephen "fuckwit" Conroy thanks.
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While I like to think of myself as being a open minded as the next person, I do not believe that equality should extended to the head of government.
Right now I am sure the other countries are laughing at our choice for PM.
We appointed a wranger, that right a red head as our prime minister! What she is female? That irrelevant, a red head did you hear!
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Insightful)
Really?
You know that Australian political parties outside of minority parties have had a habit of dumping a senior female politician into a dog's breakfast role so she can lose an election? (I strongly doubt this is the case here though.)
What exactly is newsworthy about "the first woman to..."? The gender balance in women pre-selected for electable seats is newsworthy. The gender balance in parliament by party is newsworthy. The first woman to play blurnsball isn't newsworthy, and it is a trite encapsulation of the idea that sexism is about extraordinary individuals, and not every day discrimination against every individual member of a group. Julia Gillard's particular political background, her association with the union movement and her strengths as a minister, are more newsworthy than the contents of her undies.
You know, because Julia Gillard won a Labor caucus vote today, my professional female colleagues suddenly received pay status and seniority top ups to the level of equivalently employed males. In addition, as a result, more women applied for STEM undergraduate positions, post-graduate research, and achieved professional outcomes in line with their performance at University and at work, both institutions suddenly began dismantling their cultures of aggressive hyper-masculinism.
Don't invest Gillard with symbolic imagery: she's a competent minister and ought to be a competent Prime minister. But this doesn't represent the culmination of the day to day struggles of millions of powerful, skilled, energetic women around Australia to achieve in their own lives.
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What exactly is newsworthy about "the first woman to..."?
It shouldn't be newsworthy, just as "the first black president" ought not to get any coverage. However, it's often because of biases (whether intentional or not) that the particular newsworthy event is discussed. At a deep, fundamental level, people want to discuss the change and whether or not it is important.
Of course, there are sometimes novel things that happen which are completely unimportant and morons will go to great lengths to make a big deal out of nothing. I believe this explains the popularit
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The fact that it is our first female PM is what makes it news.
TFA is titled "Gillard ousts Rudd in bloodless coup". It mentions her being the first female PM, but that's not the focus of the article.
That would have made it a pretty retarded article. First female whatever is uninteresting non-news.
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Like the first female President of the United States wouldn't be news? Like the first black President of the United States wasn't news?
OK, but a Parliament decides who the Prime Minister will be. And if things are not going well, they can decide again. The people (allegedly) decide who the President will be. Then they live with that choice for the term of office, baring despotism or tragedy. So between the two positions there is a significant disparity in the difficulty of the acquisition of office, the term of office, and the practical, usable power of the office. It's kind of like comparing apples and bowling balls.
All that being said,
Re:"First Female PM" is not news. (Score:4, Insightful)
Then again, would it be any different if it were wealthy, conservative black men with large stakes in multinational mega-corporations or wealthy, conservative women with large stakes in multinational mega-corporations?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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So bloodless coups are pretty much the norm in Australia?
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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.
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The Aussies (and Aussie worshippers) have taken over.
That's not a story.... THIS is a story.
Now, go put the kettle on...
Re:But it's AUSTRALIAN "news". (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdot is just working its way through the alphabet of centric foci:
America
Apple
Australia
In October, we'll be expecting a slurry of submissions from Bavaria, followed subsequently by the BBC, Belgium and some guy called Bill.
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It'd last about three weeks.
I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
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How do rustymuffs survive down under, with the hole in the ozone layer and all that?
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Wrong. first redheaded PM was James Scullin
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So... (Score:2, Interesting)
Does this mean they're done trying to cut the cable to the Internet in Australia, or is that still on?
Re:So... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's hard to say... it is a toxic policy, and a new leader is the perfect opportunity for a "cabinet reshuffle". If she makes Conroy Minister for Something-To-Keep-Him-Busy-So-He-Can't-Fuck-Up-The-Internet, maybe we will have meaningful change.
There are actually people within the Labor party who are far more qualified to be communications minister and who are actively opposing the filter (along with... everyone else in the fucking country). Kate Lundy would make a good Comms Minister, for one.
Interesting Historical Fact (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Interesting Historical Fact (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, happended only last week here in Finland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Kiviniemi [wikipedia.org]
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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:4, Interesting)
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Hmm that's genuinely interesting. Pretty similar story to what's happened down here today...thanks for that. No mod points to give you unfortunately!
Please (Score:5, Informative)
Someone tell me if i should hate her or not, the internet has failed me so far
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Re:Please (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone tell me if i should hate her or not, the internet has failed me so far
Mate, she's a politician. Surely that's all you need to know!
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I'm told 'howdotheydothat' is a total bogan, so ignore his/her suggestion unless it is corroborrated by non bogan sources.
sleight of hand (Score:2)
Labour need to go before it's too late. Censorship and economic mismanagement are things that simply can't be tolerated any longer.
Different leader, same old party & policies. (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately time and again, women politicians have proven themselves to be just as incompetent and corrupt (especially with their favouritism towards big business and their contributions) as male politicians.
As a women, I have yet to notice any women president or prime-minister leading a western country that has put any additional emphasis over their male counterparts in the same political party on women's only issues: gender discrimination, reproductive rights, healthcare inequalities, etc. So seeing a women as head of state no longer inspires me.
Re:Different leader, same old party & policies (Score:5, Funny)
"As a women" - Are you a hive mind?
Re:Different leader, same old party & policies (Score:4, Insightful)
Women's only issues? Seriously? I'm going to assume you're just using short-hand for a more nuanced idea, but still the underlying ideology warrants consideration. Last time I checked the fact that I have a penis didn't make reproductive rights any less of a personal, moral, political, and societal concern. Ignoring the fact that I have a mother, grandmother, sisters, female friends, colleagues, fellow citizens, potential future daughters et al, the fact is that there are underlying issues of fairness, law, and justice that make this relevant to me and mine. I'm not Black but I care about, and am directly affected, by racial equality. I'm not a sportsman but Title IX effects me. I'm not a pirate but IP laws effect me. I’m not a Fox viewer but their freedom of speech effects me. I’m not on death row but their experience effects me. All these things effect my life as a citizen and member of society, they speak to my values, my morals, my interests, and my obligations.
Discrimination affects us all and strikes at the basic fundamental underpinnings of democratic society. Sexism is just as much about relegating women as it is about controlling men and the way they live their lives, it affects the effeminate man, the homosexual man, the artistic and the socially awkward.
A woman shouldn't be placing any additional emphasis on these issues, that's interest politics at their worst. Male politicians often care deeply about said issues, their female counterparts are under no heightened obligation to aggressively pursue an agenda because of their testicular inadequacies.
Re:Different leader, same old party & policies (Score:4, Insightful)
So which reproductive rights were you hoping that your penis is granted?
Not sleeping on the couch would be right up there
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Emphasis on those issues? Or expressed an opinion similar to your own on those issues?
I have no issue whatsoever with women in positions of power. But when special interests start to cloud judgment, incompetence is shown. It mirrors my sentiment toward my own president. And hes a man.
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Strewth (Score:5, Insightful)
No she didn't, Australians can spell.
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No she didn't, Australians can spell.
You reckon? She's the new leader of the Australian Labor Party... and that's in a country that spells labour with a 'u'.
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Re:Strewth (Score:5, Funny)
Dear good sir,
Your sense of humour appears to have crashed.
Kindly reboot it at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
The Internet.
I only wish our politicians were as gutsy (Score:2)
"BUT SHe'S UNELLECTED!! BLAAAAHH!!11!!!!!!" (Score:5, Insightful)
This argument makes me want to kill myself.
Who cares that she was unelected? You voted for a party, not an individual, you moron. The policies of the party are unlikely to change significantly under Julia. The party leader can and is elected or negotiated) by the party, not the public.
I mean are people really this fucking stupid? I'll give you a hint - yes they are.
While I'm ranting, there's another thing I hate. I hate this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf3KovsW1Zo [youtube.com] Actually I love the ad, it's friggin' hilarious. What I hate is the fact that this is the quality of election campaigning which political advisors think is worth engaging in. I hate this because this indicates that this is the sort of thing people are persuaded by when they decide who to vote for. People are persuaded more by a cute, idiotic cartoon, than actual political records, history and peformance. Those people are fucking stupid.
I mean think about it - Kevin was replaced mostly because he was unpopular with voters, and Julia gives Labor a better chance at the next election. This in itself proves the point - despite things not being significantly different under Julia, this change of leader will sway people's votes. WHY SHOULD IT?! It shouldn't, but it does.
Basically I hate the way democratic politics works, it's crap. And I hate stupid people. Stupid people shouldn't have this much influence.
-Brendan
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I think the threat by the mining companies to not donate to the election fund this year was the deciding factor in the Victorian and SA factions spilling. A lot of MPs out there rely on mining donations for their election campaigns. Losing those would have made it very hard for them.
The one thing that has come out of this very clearly is that you need the backing of a strong faction. Rudd was never faction-aligned and has now paid the price for it.
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Rudd's unpopularity is in part a reflection of his ineffectiveness as a leader and a politician. The electorate selected him because they expected significant change. The electorate also voted the previous PM out. Yet Rudd's tenure is marked by a parade of wasteful ineffective policies. He was all talk and no delivery. Disaffection has been brewing for some time now, for years for some people who voted for him only to be quickly disappointed (myself included). We by our politics may disagree on these point
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Basically I hate the way democratic politics works, it's crap. And I hate stupid people. Stupid people shouldn't have this much influence.
I agree. Think about how stupid the average person is, and realise that 50% of people are stupider than that. And these people are making decisions on who should run the country. It's ridiculous. I prefer despotism.
Bloodless? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Oh come on. Did you really need to tell us that the parliamentary "coup" in Australia was bloodless?
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Well it was bloodless.
The fact that it was only bloodless because Rudd did some last minute polling and found out exactly how much of it he was about to lose is unrelated.
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It's metaphorical blood. The press always says things that way.
They don't mean "no one was shot", they mean "they may have gotten the knives out, but it didn't get nasty"
The last two leaders of the coalition did not go in bloodless coups.
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All smothering.....
No seriously I think the "bloodless coup" bit was more a statement of disappointment that we did not thin out the political gene pool a bit with a few lynchings.
Re:Bloodless? (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sorry.
So sorry.
There is going to be an election (Score:5, Interesting)
Lindsay Tanner announced his retirement right after the new PM got in. That tells me the election will be sooner rather than later. Internet filtering is the main issue of interest to /. so I propose we get organized and attack Stephen Conroy.
Lets all put Conroy last. Copy my sig. Spread the word. Send a message to Gillard on this subject.
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Sorry, can't do that. I always put Family First members last. Can put Conroy second last though.
Yeah I know its hard to decide who to put last. There are so many contenders. Thanks for your support!
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Austrialian? Female? (Score:4, Funny)
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I don't believe she has any "young"
I am certain that she can kick like a Kangaroo though.
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.)
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Unlike the USA where all of the most senior government decision makers, with the sole exception of the President, are appointed? Do Americans get to vote for the foreign minister, attorney general, treasurer et al? No. No they don't. They are appointed.
How democratic is it when the most powerful positions in the land are filled by the unelected?
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That's because the USA isn't a democracy, either. It's a republic at both the state and federal level, something guaranteed in the Constitution. Voters elect people who are delegated the powers to act on their behalf, including the appointment of cabinet members and judges and impeachment and trial of same.
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I see you paid attention at school when learning about Australian politics.
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.
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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: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:MBCDE (Score:4, Insightful)
Whoever gets the post has to deal with the Telstra monopoly (bastard child of government and private enterprise with the worst aspects of both and none of the good aspects), so it might go to somebody the PM hates but needs to give an important job to keep a faction happy.
Politics is often quite disgusting if you look at it too closely
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Parliament elected Kevin Rudd to be PM. The people only had an indirect say. And the GG gets a veto anyway.
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A nematode would be an upgrade from Pauline Hanson. Julia Gillard is not from an extremely racist part of Queensland. Her seat may be in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and as someone who used to live there, they're not high up on the social scale, but they aren't filled with extremely racist people, either.
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In short, if you thought that at the last e