JCC [Australian politics] And here we go again...

Was there something about the political climate over in the US that made Rudd resign from his post as foreign minister and decide to challenge Gillard for the leadership?

The only good thing I can think of about this is that at least things have come to a head, quite a few of us were getting tired of all the speculation and nothing actually happening.

I don't think he has the numbers for a successful challenge, and if he fails the next election result will no doubt be worse for Gillard.

Why can't political messes like this stay outside the country?

 

Impressive.

 

Which one has been a better ally to the US? By which I mean policy, but equally important, the quality of gifts they've offered to the first family during visits to the White House.

 

I believe Obama said Rudd was the leader closest to his mindset.

 

Well given Gillard's background in trade unions, it's hardly surprising.

The challenge is on and it's going to be messy.

 

Last I checked he hadn't actually confirmed that he is challenging the leadership (at least not until he lands back in Aus). It's the media that have spurred him on to do it though which is appalling really.

I don't understand why Rudd has chosen to do this. There was a reason he was removed as PM, he won't be any different if he gets the job back so why take that risk?

Also what was with his daughter's tweet:
"Effing proud of you dad. xxxx"

What is there to be proud of? Rudd has taken himself out of a decent portfolio just to cause havoc amongst the caucus/Labor Party. Why would anyone be proud of this stupid act?

 

I know it is, but Gillard says she is calling a ballot monday morning. It's clearly on. And the media was stiring things up because they were recieving leaks from Rudd's supporters, apparently. He started this intentionall, as far back as soon after he lost the leadership.

Our poltics are a real circus at the moment, I'm ashamed to be a voter. Maybe I'll vote for Mickey Mouse next election..

 

This is all I can think of.

 

Raise your hand if you'd heard of either of these names before reading this thread.

 

Well, there was an election thread two years ago, Ross.

 

So I watched part of Rudd's news conference this morning.

One word: eh ...

I suppose it would be an exciting thing to get involved with if you were a Labor voter, but if you're not (aka. me) it's just more of the same cliched crap we've been hearing for months on end (about Rudd and Labor in general) - faceless men, Tony Abbott is a big scary monster who must be vanquished, the Australian people deserve a choice, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Rudd's taking the approach I think we all expected - nasty facelss men are running the country, but YOU (yes you, the Australian people) can help put him back in if you ring your local Labor member and tell them to vote for Rudd. In other words he knows his support within the caucus is rubbish so he's pitching to the general populace, hoping to spook the backbench into turning for him regardless. He's also refusing to be drawn on whether he'll retire quietly to the backbench if his challenge fails (ie. shades of Keating from 20 years ago) like Gillard has done. So if he loses (quite likely) the shenanigans probably won't stop here.

Meanwhile Abbott's probably having champagne for breakfast somewhere. The Libs/Nats are sitting pretty atm - all they have to do is not **** up and let Labor drown.

All I'll say is that I'll laugh my head off if after Monday they put Rudd back in ... and then the independents pull their support (whether it be supporting the Coalition, or refusing to back either and forcing an election). That would be hilarious.

 

Yeah. Hilarious. Then it's months of campaign ads. Considering the Olympics are coming up this year, that would totally destroy TV for the whole year.

 

Honestly, the majority opinion of the situation seems to be that we're over it, and we don't really care about either of them. Rudd's always been a fake, I saw through him in 2007 and tried to convince my friends about this but a lot of them were convinced by Rudd's charm and pleasantly round face. Honestly, if he comes back in, if they're stupid enough to give us Kevin 2.0...

The best outcome I think is if Rudd loses, and then the ALP loses power (which will happen at the next election) before he can make another bid from the back bench. The only way they can get rid of him would be if he lost his seat, which won't happen in a million years.

Anyone else feel like voting informal next election? I don't like either of them, and Abbott's conservatism is going to take us back 30 years.

 

I'll never vote informal. Ever.

At the last election, there were over a dozen candidates standing for my local seat. Labor and Liberal are only represented by 2 of those candidates (it's a Liberal-held seat so the Nationals don't stand as per their Coalition agreement). For the other candidates we had representation from the Greens, the Democrats, the Sex Party, the Secular Party, a couple of other parties I forget the name of, plus some Independents.

Unless you truly live in the safest seat in the country there should always be some variety in your candidates. Go to the AEC website and look up your electorate - it'll list all those standing and will include links where you can find more of their policies and background. I did this in 2010 which led me (for the first time ever) to vote for an independent for the House of Reps and the Secular Party for the Senate. Clearly I wasn't the only one doing this since the independent in question beat out even the Labor candidate to come 2nd (as I said before though, the seat is Liberal-held and has practically always gone conservative).

Please, never vote informal. At least you can say you made the attempt to try and enact change rather than pissed your vote away by not doing anything. And never say "oh it'll just be one of either Labor or the Libs/Nats." Wilkie's election in 2010 showed that even a safe seat can be overturned if they have strong preference flow and can beat out one of the major parties to 2nd place (which is how Wilkie won - beat the Libs who then preferenced him over Labor, giving him the victory). The major parties just like to keep pushing the 'vote for us, don't throw away your vote on nobodies' because it suits them and keeps them in power.

/rant

Nah, it'll be Kevin '12. With sprinkles.

 

Well, you need to make sure where they're putting their preferences and not for the party you don't want to get in.

 

That's easy - just fill out the preferences yourself. No need to follow the 'How To Vote' cards they hand out at the door.

EDIT: sorry, you're probably referring to my Wilkie example. Certainly a bizzare situation but the logic is quite steaightforward in hindsight. He got enough primary votes to push him into 3rd, got enough preferences to leap over the Libs into 2nd, then the Libs preferences made him number 1.

Even if he hadn't won, a strong showing that knocks a seat from 'safe' to 'swingable' is often enough to at least confirm things aren't always inevitable.

 

What seat are you in? By the time the election rolls around I'll be in Bennelong, unless it happens in the next month or so.

 

I'm in Farrer (Tim Fischer's old seat - the Nats were really narky about losing it to the Libs back in 2001 when he retired). The Libs in 2010 won the seat with something like 65%+ of the vote. It's an old conservative stronghold (both state and federal level - I think the only times Labor has won it was when back in the 1920s/30s the conservative candidate forgot to nominate, and then in the late 1970s when NSW had the Wranslide).

I think Bennelong will probably remain in the Libs hands for the forseeable future (though I don't know what the specific vote breakdown for 2010 was), though I understand it has an increasing Asian-centric population which is more progressive than it originally was when Howard first won it all those years ago.

 

Katana, have you ever read the US election thread?

 

Not recently, I was told in no uncertain terms NOT to comment in there...

 

US politicians are mostly worse, but the Australian media makes me want to gouge my brains out through my ear with a rusty spoon.

 

I thought this thread was about Australian politics?

 

americans not knowing about non-american politics, whaaai I never

 

I'm not seeing anyone with their hands raised.

 

Saw a bit on this here in the UK on BBC News. However today it's been the return of the 'dingo ate my baby' case that's being covered.