As I write this blog entry, I am watching 7 News Coverage of the news unfolding at the Parliament House in Canberra. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has stood down due to unpopular support of his colleagues at the Australian Labor Party making way for Australia's first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Treasurer Wayne Swan will be sworn in as the new Deputy Prime Minister.
Kevin Rudd led the Labor Party to a landslide victory in 2007 after 11 years of John Howard domination. He was the most popular politician back then with lots of Australian thought that the country will be spending many more years under his leadership. He was branded as Kevin 007, a parody of James Bond 007, famous for his clear alternative to politics especially his campaign for a fairer work choices and promotion of balanced workers' rights. He has a clear vision for Australia and he is famous for his quote "Without vision, people shall perish." PM Kevin Rudd made the historic apology of the stolen generation of Australia.
Kevin Rudd became unpopular with his super profit mining tax and his policy on global warming. He was also critised of being an agry man having lost his temper in some occasions. However, in a Nielsen latest Survey, Kevin Rudd leads Mr Abbott as preferred PM by 49% (down 4) to 39% (up 1), a lead of 10 points (down 5) and a majority of voters (55%, down 16) expect Labor to win the next election.
Did the Labor Party get it wrong? There has been a mixed reaction on this unfolding historic event in Australian history. Personally, I admire Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He has been fighting a galant fight for all Australians. He led Australia to be spared out of global recession that could have devasted half of the Australian population. I believe that his government had done a lot in the infrastructure development, the famous education revolution with the uniform national curriculum for Australia, the national broadband project, and improved health delivery, age pension, paid parental leave, issues on homelessness, among others. For me, he has done his very best. He has given Australian a fair go.
But we must move on. Julia Gillard will take over the leadership of the Australian nation and I congratulate her. As the former Deputy Prime Minister, she was then the most popular next in rank candidate for the PM leadership in the Labor party. Will she be a formidable candidate against the opposition's leader Tony Abott? That remains to be seen. At the moment, she will be very busy with the healing process within the Labor Party.
Julia Eileen Gillard
born 29 September 1961
Parliamentary Service:
Elected to the House of Representatives for Lalor, Victoria, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007.
Ministerial Appointments:
Deputy Prime Minister from 3.12.07;
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations from 3.12.07;
Minister for Education from 3.12.07;
Minister for Social Inclusion from 3.12.07
Party: Australian Labor Party
All the best to our new Prime Minister, Julia Eileen Gillard! Congratulations Australia!
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