Tony Abbott is no more and Australia is in a state of national relief. Our centre-right-occasionally-progressive hero Malcom Turnbull has emerged from hibernation to take his rightful place as leader of this glorious, politically dysfunctional country. What a day to be alive.
But for real let’s take a moment to compare this leadership
spill with the last. Here is a table I prepared earlier:
Gillard >
Rudd
|
Turnbull
> Abbott
|
|
Was the existing
prime minister unpopular?
|
Yep
|
Yep
|
Was the
spill constitutionally voted upon by the party?
|
Yass
|
Yass
|
Was it
necessary party politics to ensure election success?
|
Definitely
|
Definitely
|
Was the usurper
publicly liked prior to the spill?
|
Sure
|
Sure
|
Was the usurper
publicly liked post spill?
|
Nope
|
Yeah
|
How did the public
view the new PM?
|
Backstabbing
bitch, committed the ultimate act of betrayal. “She wasn’t even voted on by
the people!” Witch, bad dress sense, sounds like a bogan, dates a gay
hairdresser. She’s cold and ambitious, it’s no wonder she doesn’t have any
kids. Probably barren.
|
What a
legend! Saved the Australian people from a fate worse than death, he will put
us onto the right track. It wasn’t backstabbing; he just did what was
necessary to ensure a positive political landscape and solid policies. What
an amazing politician; so considerate of his people.
|
The Australian public took every chance to dig into Gillard,
but claims of sexism were pushed aside on the premise that she did initiate a
leadership spill, and anyone would get the same reaction from such an act.
Now we have proof that it’s bullshit.
J
Hannah
P.S: Did you know that the last time Australia had a prime
minister complete their term, the iPhone wasn’t invented yet?
isn't it a bit early to judge whether the usurper was liked post spill?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the reactions of Rudd and Abbott respectively are important considerations and influence the views of the usurper, and these havn't really been taken into account.
On the whole though, I still agree.
Good point, though it still remains that the immediate reaction to Gillard was calling her an ambitious backstabber as soon as the spill was announced, so the disparity is already apparent.
ReplyDeleteAlso Turnbull's fertility will never be questioned haha
xx
i think the main reason turnbull's been so lauded in this affair has been largely abbott's massive unpopularity
ReplyDeletesince the spill, every form of media i've seen has been flooded with compilations of abbott's gaffes and sheer stupidity--i think it's pretty fair to say that in comparison to turnbull, who's always been a popular and charming political operator, abbott, a suppository of fuckups, is widely viewed as an appalling option, and on the whole, australians are very glad to see the back of him.
as for the other side of the table, i don't really agree that rudd was considered that unpopular by the majority of people as rudd seemed pretty popular to me pre-spill, so i'm not sure that these two examples of spills are really that comparable (although i have absolutely no evidence for this, only vague memory, so i'd happily concede otherwise if presented with appropriate examples).
all this aside, i'd like to clarify that i absolutely agree the reaction to gillard's challenge to the leadership was a wholly sexist one, and abhorrent in its manifestation in the media. this only serves to add to the farce of abbott's complaints regarding "character assassination" by a "febrile media culture", blaming "poll-driven panic" for the prevalence of spills, shifting the blame as his party have been so wont to do--the blatantly misogynistic and biased right wing media that so backed him (in contrast to an obviously deranged ABC and the "jihad" of Fairfax!) obviously not being considered a part of this. interestingly enough, our new prime minister isn't much of a fan of the abc either, as evidenced by his funding cuts of 254 million over the next 5 years (-4.6%). i guess if you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
i suppose by this point the discussion has rather shifted from feminism, but i think that's only because (at least in my view) this spill wasn't really that related to sexism. apologies for the lengthy response. i await eagerly further posts, ms blount.
if you check out Turnbull's Facebook lots of people are still calling him a backstabber
ReplyDeletePlease keep in mind that Abbott had lost 30 news polls in a row while Kevin Rudd was still winning, or at least, not in such a dire situation as Abbott. That being said, I think the public's reactions can be attributed a lot to their confusion as to why Rudd was being challenged. Sure amongst the party, he may have been unpopular but the party isn't necessarily a reflection of the people. Whereas Abbott was both unpopular amongst the party and the people. People evidently wanted him to go and so their mentality to Turnbull would be relief rather than O_o. Great read though xo
ReplyDelete