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peterpan

Julia Gillard becomes new Australian PM








NEXT PM: Julia Gillard challenged Kevin Rudd for the Australian leadership - and won.
Reuters
STOOD DOWN: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will hand over the leadership reins to Julia Gillard.

Julia Gillard is to become Australia's first female prime minister after Kevin Rudd stood down as Labor leader at a caucus meeting this morning.
Ms Gillard, not Mr Rudd, will now decide when to lead her party into the next election.
It is understood Mr Rudd stood aside to avoid a humiliating defeat. The new Deputy Prime Minister is Wayne Swan.
Just a year ago, Mr Rudd rivalled Bob Hawke as Australia's most popular leader. But he now joins Mr Hawke as the only other Labor prime minister dumped by his party.
Mr Rudd had decided to fight to the death after refusing to step aside last night for Ms Gillard.
Ms Gillard, however, was believed to have to the numbers before going into this morning's ballot, which was not held. She also had the backing of the powerful Australian Workers Union.
A series of policy failures, poor polls and the decision to go to war with the mining industry have all contributed to Mr Rudd's plunging fortunes among his colleagues.
The Coalition fears a change to Ms Gillard. Although she bears responsibility for many of the government's poor decisions, including shelving the emissions trading scheme and the school buildings program, she would be harder to beat than Mr Rudd.
The push to oust Mr Rudd was driven by the Right faction in Victoria and South Australia.
The entire national Right, including the NSW Right and its kingmaker Mark Arbib, had last night swung behind Ms Gillard, as had the Victorian Left, led by Kim Carr, who installed Mr Rudd.
The hard Left was left doing the numbers for Mr Rudd.
After a three-hour crisis meeting in his office last night with Ms Gillard and the veteran fixer John Faulkner, Mr Rudd held a media conference and said he would fight.
"I was elected by the people of Australia as the Prime Minister of Australia," he said.
"I was elected to do a job and I intend doing that job."
But he had acknowledged that he was abandoned by most of the factional powerbrokers.
Mr Rudd had attempted to salvage votes by promising to bring a speedy conclusion to the mining tax saga and initiate a timetable to implement an emissions trading scheme.
After being pressured to take a hard line against asylum seekers, he baulked, saying he would not engage in a race to the right.

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bobo746

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

UpTooYou

I think she will do a good job, good on her. Proberly no chance of her getting a husband a a bit of cox now! Might have to send Nawty home twice a year to service her.

bobo746

MATE SHES A RANGA

sabang

Quite a fall from grace. Apparently Rudd was the shortest lived Prime Minister since Billy McMahon.

peterpan

^ Rightly so, arrogant potty mouthed God botherer. Happy to see the back of him and welcome to new sheila.

Roger Ramjet

Most Australian voters have been shocked today to find the Man that led the Labor party to the last election, and who many voted for to lead the country, has been shafted by his own team!

It is a wake-up call to all Australians to realise the weaknesses in the Australian "democratic" ??? system where people may vote for an individual based on their assessment of his or her "sense of values" to lead the country, to find him replaced by a union dominated party machine!

The choices of leader in the two party race at the next election will now be a left wing Welsh born woman lawyer, or a right wing anti-abortion, x catholic priest!....Options totally unpallatable to many voters.....Expect lots of votes for "Don Key"......what a piss poor situation!...More of the same, with no chance of eliminating the dead wood from government, and the public service, and seeing a positive change.....!

SiamLovinIt

Ruddy Hell
Broken Hill?
but as the mine for China can she speak Chinese ?

A certain Mr T who tried to buy a 28 million Sydneyside spread may be able to elp her .Mei gaunxi.
From old South Wales all the way to Kiiribilli !
Must be one of the few world leaders with a partner who is ahairdresser.
Good Luck Australia Tony Abbot can't wait

The Muffinman

Australians,

Get ready for the mad monk.

This bogan's got no chance in the next elections. Massive mistake by labour.

The Muffinman

Wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

SiamLovinIt

Must agree Abbot ale all the way

She said this about Abbot January 20th in Canberra Times which chimes nicely in Esan

"Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard accused Abbott of 'lecturing' women when he responded to a question from a women's magazine by saying that he would tell his own daughters that virginity was 'a gift' not to be given away 'lightly'

Thaiguy

Question:are GILLARD and ABBOTT eligible to stand as leaders or as prime minister ?
A precedent was set a few years back when the One Nation candidate Heather Hill was elected to the Senate and a Labor orchestrated opposition ruled her inadmissable by virtue of the fact that she was born in England and held dual passports thereby showing she had allegiance to a "foreign power " ie the Queen of Australia".?
( and got away with it )
My question is that as Gillard and Abbott were both born overseas ( Wales and England) you can bet your life they both hold dual passports and according to the precedent would thereby be ineligible for election to the posts in question ?

sabang

Not necessarily. When my family emigrated to Australia I did not have a seperate British passport- I travelled on their passport.

jojo333

They may not currently hold a British passport, but they are certainly entitled too.

No worry’s mate it was inevitable that one day the Aussie would need the Poms to take care of them

MeMock

Kevin Rudd a god botherer peterpan? More like a hypocrite.

I cannot stand Krudd as a person or as a PM but to be honest I think Gillard is even worse.

Nawty

She looks better than Thatcher and that kiwi chick....but not by much.


Told you lot...mark my fucken words i said....you got rid of the best PM ever and now look what happened.....geez I love being right.

Mr R Sole

^ It's great isn't it....I'm right 99% of the time as well Nawty....

Personally I couldn't give a rats arse what goes on in Oz....unless they get really strong on saving the environment instead of their bank balances like all the other twats around the world...then it's much of a muchness....IMO...

Tosser's the lot of em...

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masher

half the voters are female and rightly or wrongly most don't see anything negative about Prime minsiter Gillard. However the real power is with the unions, she knows them well. Any references to British background is becoming meaningless given the ethnic mix now in OZ.

baldrick

This is a coup orchestrated by the mining interests

A puppet installed by the amart and mining - not a real democracy

a fcukin travesty because some one was prepared to stand up to the corporates , and instead was cut down by the fifth columnists.

this stupid bitch could not even manage the building of outhouses for schools.

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Dug

I do miss Aussie politics.

slackula

Finally another Welsh prime minister! Pity it's in the wrong country though.

Ningi

first changes are in!! shares are starting to tumble ,aussie dollar losing ground against the pound and the euro,once more the unions have a puppet running the country,the mines tax will be dropped, the poor will get poorer , gives a new meaning to the phrase if it aint broke dont fixit!!!!!

Sir Wilson

Indeed, let's all wear green shirts and take over Sydney airport....

Exactly, if the public had been wiser back in 07 we wouldnt have this problem now.

Dug

Who is this moron? people in Australia well know they are voting for the party and the partys values when they vote for a member.
We don't have a president or presidential style politics or system. The party that was elected is still in power. No one has lost their MP.
I'm sure he's still a sitting MP. He's just not party leader anymore.

Dug

How will the poor get poorer??
The mines have money to ensure the workers get paid well (and they do).
And the investors earn more.
I do believe the mining companies should pay a hefty royalty (lets not call it a tax) to the australian people who own the land via the government the minerals the minining companies are selling.
I think it should be that these assetts are considered public property and every Australian citizen should get a share of the royalties.