Hello, Prime Minister.
Well, well. This morning Australia got a new Prime Minister (read the story here).
There was no public vote, no election. It came about as a result of a change in leadership of the party in government, Labor.
I think it was a risky, but brave move for the Australian Labor Party to elect Julia Gillard to leader of the party and, consequently, as Australia's first female Prime Minister.
I do feel bad for Kevin Rudd, though: I dont think he was a particularly bad Prime Minister, and he always seemed like a nice enough guy (a total nerd!), but when the public starts getting antsy and the going gets tough, I guess someone has to take the blame. Sorry, Ruddster. :(
In case anyone who reads this actually cares, there was a series of policy "backflips" by the Labor party, including a major one relating to an Emissions Trading Scheme (which they had no other choice but to withdraw because it would never have passed the Senate), but the crunch came about as a result of the Super Profit Tax, introduced by the Rudd Labor Government at the last budget. Basically, the SPT will force mining companies in Australia to pay more tax, because at the moment they take all our resources overseas but give next-to-nothing back to the public purse. The SPT is good policy, and Australia needs it, but the mining companies have got themselves all in a tither over it and dont want to pay more tax. Who does, right? Anyways, so the mining companies started this Scare Campaign, spending squillions of dollars on advertising (money they didnt pay in tax, and expenses they get to claim back on tax!) that basically says that if the public support the SPT, mining companies will take their business overseas and Australians will lose their jobs. In no way is that true: There is too much money to be made in Australia for them just to go "elsewhere". As my sister so eloquently put it:
"...mining is not textiles. You can't just pick up your sewing machines and 'go overseas'. That logic is sheer madness. Mining in Australia is a very high tech, very profitable industry. Even with the mining tax, there will be no 'going overseas'. They just say that shit because they think people are too stupid to work out they're a bunch of fucking liars.
I think it was Joe Hockey, talking about the maternity leave scheme, who said something to the effect of, well, they always cry poor when you try to make them pay for something. It doesn't mean they're actually poor."
How true.
The bottom line is that the mining industry simply does not want to pay extra money to the Australian Government for coming in and digging big freaking holes all over our country. So, they've been trying to blackmail the Australian public into not supporting it. The saddest thing, though, is that it's actually been working: There has been an onslaught of advertising from the mining companies, the media have jumped on board because it makes for good news, and the end result is that we end up with a new Prime Minister who now has to try and put a different "spin" on things before she calls an election.
No one can say that politics is boring. Well, not in Australia anyway.