RIP Kev07 Gov't.
Just a quick one to keep you all up to date with what's going on in my fair country...If you've not heard already (doubtful).
Basically what happened is our former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd (yeah, a PM named "Kevin"), was stood down by his party, the Australian Labor Party (ALP), because they were unhappy with the direction in which he was going. The man was brilliant at first - he really was ; he ratified the Kyoto Protocol, he apologised to the Stolen Generation (which the PM before him refused to do), he made changes regarding same-sex people (but not marriage, of course), he boosted the amount that retired people get, he changed the way organ donations, and indeed the health system, works. He did a lot of stuff, some great stuff, but he lost his way and never got back on track. He was a man who cared too deeply about the political popularity polls and he changed his agenda accordingly, which I think is pathetic - he was a leader, a strong one in the beginning, and he should have guided the way for his country and he didn't. He should have said, "this is what we're doing, and this is where we're going," and he didn't. And that sucked. He wasn't a bad guy, not at all...Maybe too polite and diplomatic (but that comes from being a dilpomat, lol), and he did some good things, but it just didn't play out....And not being able to gather the cajones to introduce the carbon emissions program and this stupid mining tax were the final nails in the coffin, I'm afraid. (By the way, our country's major export is minerals...Minerals mined from our soil...Don't just give them away!!)
So, yesterday - officially today - the Deputy PM, Julia Gillard, and the Treasurer (whose name I forget), believed that they had the correct information to be able to overpower K-Rudd (or Ruddy, if you like), and so they did. Julia Gillard will (I hope) put our great country and its government back on track and get us up and running, and ready to play the political game with the rest of the world's big hitters (America, we're looking at you...I'm sure you all would like to know how we survived the GFC relatively unscathed ;)) She'll get this mining thing sorted and get to working toward the carbon emissions thing.
Of course she's a politician and one can't get too idealistic (though I'm sure she won't do what another former PM did and lie just to get reelected), but she did the hard thing...She listened to what the party members were saying and she got him to stand down without a fuss. She's strong enough to make this work, she's honest enough to keep us going and she's smart enough to take no crap.
Julia Gillard, Australia's first female Prime Minister (sworn in by Australia's first Govener General, Quentin Bryce).
P.S. Sorry that wasn't shorter, lol. I think that's my first post on politics.
Basically what happened is our former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd (yeah, a PM named "Kevin"), was stood down by his party, the Australian Labor Party (ALP), because they were unhappy with the direction in which he was going. The man was brilliant at first - he really was ; he ratified the Kyoto Protocol, he apologised to the Stolen Generation (which the PM before him refused to do), he made changes regarding same-sex people (but not marriage, of course), he boosted the amount that retired people get, he changed the way organ donations, and indeed the health system, works. He did a lot of stuff, some great stuff, but he lost his way and never got back on track. He was a man who cared too deeply about the political popularity polls and he changed his agenda accordingly, which I think is pathetic - he was a leader, a strong one in the beginning, and he should have guided the way for his country and he didn't. He should have said, "this is what we're doing, and this is where we're going," and he didn't. And that sucked. He wasn't a bad guy, not at all...Maybe too polite and diplomatic (but that comes from being a dilpomat, lol), and he did some good things, but it just didn't play out....And not being able to gather the cajones to introduce the carbon emissions program and this stupid mining tax were the final nails in the coffin, I'm afraid. (By the way, our country's major export is minerals...Minerals mined from our soil...Don't just give them away!!)
So, yesterday - officially today - the Deputy PM, Julia Gillard, and the Treasurer (whose name I forget), believed that they had the correct information to be able to overpower K-Rudd (or Ruddy, if you like), and so they did. Julia Gillard will (I hope) put our great country and its government back on track and get us up and running, and ready to play the political game with the rest of the world's big hitters (America, we're looking at you...I'm sure you all would like to know how we survived the GFC relatively unscathed ;)) She'll get this mining thing sorted and get to working toward the carbon emissions thing.
Of course she's a politician and one can't get too idealistic (though I'm sure she won't do what another former PM did and lie just to get reelected), but she did the hard thing...She listened to what the party members were saying and she got him to stand down without a fuss. She's strong enough to make this work, she's honest enough to keep us going and she's smart enough to take no crap.
Julia Gillard, Australia's first female Prime Minister (sworn in by Australia's first Govener General, Quentin Bryce).
P.S. Sorry that wasn't shorter, lol. I think that's my first post on politics.