22 February 2012

One way or another there are going to be Machinery of Government changes as Kevin pulls the pin

| johnboy
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Crikey have got a good take on Kevin Rudd’s dramatic 1am (Washington time) resignation as Foreign Minister and the brutal kicking of a speech he delivered to the Prime Minister.

It’s hard not to see some pretty major reshuffling of cabinet when all this is over and a fair chance of an election in the very near future.

Something for our public service readers to bear in mind.

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Holden Caulfield11:01 am 27 Feb 12

73-29

Sanity has prevailed.

whitelaughter10:17 pm 26 Feb 12

welkin31 said :

This comment by BLUEPOPPY at Crikey (well down) has me puzzled.
[If Rudd leads the ALP to the next election will there be a historical win for the Liberals in the two ACT electorates.]
What do Rioters think of that ?

Nah, don’t see it. Labor mangled, and reduced to a rump nationwide? Sure. But the ACT is trendy leftie central – most votes hemorrhaging away from Labor here will swing to the Greens: and then back to Labor after preferences are distributed.
Mind you, we might see the Greens take a seat in the ACT on preferences at some point this decade.

The two most dangerous egos in Australian politics are the most popular in the polls and yet we are told the people always get it right.

I’m seeing on other forums too, people saying how much they “like” Rudd. And as one of his colleagues said, if you know Rudd, it’s hard to like him, especially if you have to try and work with him. Clearly his obsession with media has worked, people are buying the image, and they don’t understand why there was a revolt against him by the people who worked with him. They think he’s the affable roly-poly chap they saw on that breakfast TV show.

2604 said :

Labor is all about narrowing the tax base and increasing the rate – the opposite of good tax policy – and the Greens are even worse in this respect.

But isnt Labour all about the BIG NEW tax. And other big new taxes. And then reducing payments to poor people who can’t afford private health care, while giving all the money to illegal immigrants?

The thing is, I like Mr Rudd. I feel comfortable having him represent me as the leader of this country. I suspect there are a fair few of us. I felt personally betrayed when the faceless men did their thing.

I do admire Ms Gillard, but IMO she is the perfect backroom brain – you know, the person that gets voted ‘best team player’ but should not be captain. She just doesn’t have the same leadership appeal as Mr Rudd. (I do get the muppet vibe sometimes, given all those faceless men).

I would be far happier to vote Labor federally with Mr Rudd back at the tiller.

I fully expect Mr Abbott to go once Kev’s back.

EvanJames said :

The funny thing is that this the exact same issue that may come up after one term of Abbott as PM.

I have a feeling his polularity will plummet and Turnbull will, most probably successfully, challenge.

Turnbull leading the coalition is a scary prospect. I might just be tempted to vote for them…. NO! NO! Stop!

Sadly a vote for the coalition is just as wasted as a vote for Labor.

Abbott is a policy black hole who promises tax cuts and a return to surplus and no cuts in services and no carbon tax, all at the same time. He might as well promise the tooth fairy, as well. The only coalition guys with any fiscal sense are Sinodinos and Turnbull, who (idiotically) are kept well away from the shadow treasurer and finance minister positions.

Labor is all about narrowing the tax base and increasing the rate – the opposite of good tax policy – and the Greens are even worse in this respect.

Tanya Plibersek has said she can’t stand the vilification of Rudd and could work under Rudd if he were to win on Monday.
Chris Bowen said he had no problems working with Rudd in the past.

Julia Gillard in her speech this morning was taking the credit for much of Rudd’s heavy policy lifting.

Her complaint about “working herself into the ground to compensate for Rudd’s shortcomings” – well, that’s an account of herself, not an account by others.

I actually think this is mob bullying in action. How unedifying – senior cabinet ministers acting like a pack of vicious dogs.

I don’t think they will ever live it down. And how much free footage are they providing for the Liberals’ next election advertising?

I think Rudd will get around 30 votes – enough to warrant going to the backbench and waiting Gillard out.

Evan James @ #20.

+1

Apparently many skeletons which would be revealed if made leader. Not universally loved.

JessP said :

As nice as it is to sit back and watch the fireworks, who is running the country?

Surely as a resident of Canberra you know the answer to that: the same people who are always running the country, the public service!

Another MoG = another $10 million out of the coffers to reward the precious minions .. meanwhile elsewhere in the Public Service .. voluntary redundancies!

some departments are already in the middle of a MoG process. It’ll be interesting to see if we get re-MoG’d

Does anyone find it a little bizarre that the MP’s/Ministers are today tweeting their positions on who they will be backing? I’m just a little uncomfortable with this “reality tv” type of thing we have going on as if it’s all just a bit of fun and will end in laugh and a pat on the back for the runner up at the end of the show.

This is the “elected” Government – not sure that Twitter really should be used given the gravity of the situation.

Yeah but all those re-tweets wil be pushing their klout scores through the roof!

Gotta keep your eyes on the real prize!

I forsee Rudd going to the backbench and white anting Gillard for the next 18 months as the government limps towards electoral oblivion.

This is where my money is. And if he plays that right, I could probably even get re-elected as an independent.

JessP said :

As nice as it is to sit back and watch the fireworks, who is running the country?

Election please. This is crazy.

It is possible for a Government to do more than one thing at a time. A few speeches doesnt stop everything else in its tracks.

The funny thing is that this the exact same issue that may come up after one term of Abbott as PM.

I have a feeling his polularity will plummet and Turnbull will, most probably successfully, challenge.

o, pleeeease be right… (might be worth re-emigrating back from new zealand for)

The funny thing is that this the exact same issue that may come up after one term of Abbott as PM.

I have a feeling his polularity will plummet and Turnbull will, most probably successfully, challenge.

Turnbull leading the coalition is a scary prospect. I might just be tempted to vote for them…. NO! NO! Stop!

Holden Caulfield11:31 am 23 Feb 12

Turnbull to the ALP would certainly put Rudd in his place, haha.

Its entirely feasible for the independents to switch their votes to the Libs and the Libs take over without an election. However, if that happens then the Libs will probably call an election straight away.

I find it quite quite interesting how hardly anyone in Canberra who has worked under the Rudd government likes Rudd or thinks he is competent, but he is apparently popular outside Canberra. That said, Gillard hasnt set the world on fire.

It appears that if Rudd loses by only a small number, he will try again – so months more of destabilisation. If he loses by a big number, presumbly he will resign altogether (its not the Rudd’s need the money). Which results in potentially very closes numbers in the House following the by election. And – potentially – lots of negatitivity if the swing against the ALP in that by election is huge.

Don’t suppose we could get Turnbull to lead the ALP?

VYBerlinaV8_is_back11:09 am 23 Feb 12

johnboy said :

You mean they’re admitting what liars they’ve been for the last 6 months?

Pollies? Lie? Say it aint so…

Rudd is a disgrace. How anyone can think he is worthy of even being in parliament is beyond me. He was a disaster as PM, much of Gillard’s work has been to fix the damage he did, to the government and the APS. This childish behaviour (or continuation of childish behaviour) by Rudd is pathetic, but our bored proletariat behaves like it’s some kind of reality TV show for their entertainment.

The only good thing is how many of the pollies are dropping their spin-speak and saying what they really think. How unusual.

You mean they’re admitting what liars they’ve been for the last 6 months?

chewy14 said :

I think it’s time for an election.

Having minority government is a joke and this kind of behaviour is ridiculous.

If Rudd loses, I hope he resigns from parliament altogether just to stick it up them- Mark Latham style.

Yup, he should walk

Holden Caulfield10:02 am 23 Feb 12

Fast turning into what ever is worse than a total abject disaster.

As nice as it is to sit back and watch the fireworks, who is running the country?

Election please. This is crazy.

I think it’s time for an election.

Having minority government is a joke and this kind of behaviour is ridiculous.

If Rudd loses, I hope he resigns from parliament altogether just to stick it up them- Mark Latham style.

welkin31 said :

This comment by BLUEPOPPY at Crikey (well down) has me puzzled.
[If Rudd leads the ALP to the next election will there be a historical win for the Liberals in the two ACT electorates.]
What do Rioters think of that ?

I’ve been trying to think of the connection. It may be the truism “if you like Kevin Rudd it’s because you’ve never met him” – there are enough people in Canberra, perhaps, who have and who, consequently, would avoid him like the plague. But I think it’s drawing a longish bow to translate that into a win for the Libs. If we know Kevin Rudd, we know The Mad Monk just as well.

Looks like it will be on for young and old. I do love how the Gillard supporters (Gillardians?) are screaming disloyalty, when it was a similar disloyalty that got her the role of PM. Rudd’s supporters (Ruddites?) have been essentially quiet, other than some subdued support; that will probably change once KRudd is back in country.

If he resigns his seat (possible), and the Coalition pick it up (likely), that will make it 71-73 in the House of Reps. The Crossbenches will hold even more power; Greens will stay with ALP (72-73), WA Nationals and Bob Katter will go with the Coalition (72-75). If the ALP gets the support of the remaining three Independents, it’s hung at 75 each. Take out the speaker, and they have a bare majority of one. If one of the independents decides not to formally support the ALP (*cough* Wilkie *cough*) it’s back to level pegging…

http://nowhiring.com.au/424936+job+Prime+Minister+of+Australia+ACT.aspx

I think I should apply, I’ll have a crack at it.

As a bonus, if you click ‘apply now’ you get 5 questions to answer on your suitability.

This comment by BLUEPOPPY at Crikey (well down) has me puzzled.
[If Rudd leads the ALP to the next election will there be a historical win for the Liberals in the two ACT electorates.]
What do Rioters think of that ?

The Traineediplomat11:18 pm 22 Feb 12

To be a Rudd Pedant, I’m going to suggest that Former FM Rudd took a commercial flight to the US. Sure it would have been at the ultimate pointy part of the plane, but thems-in-power tend not to take a VIP flight, when commercial flights are available.

Holden Caulfield10:47 pm 22 Feb 12

You think Rudd’s speech was brutal towards Gillard. Have you read Swan’s outburst? Wow!

The TV station I was listening to described it as “an emergency press conference” I actually have difficulty getting my head round that.

Wonder if he can still use the VIP jet to get home, she could really shaft him by making him get his own way home.

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