Oh Kevin ... where did we fall apart?

The Australian PM is famous for working through much of the night. Tonight he is on the phone ringing around to see if he can get the numbers to hold onto his prime ministership. In 10 hours he may have lost his job.

Some background.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a brilliant political mind who is also a very rational person. This is a problem, because he governs a country that is not famous for having a rational electorate. Basically, he's a reasonably conservative, if small l liberal, Professor Flitwick, though he looks like Harry Potter with a charisma bypass. A year ago he was the most popular PM in Australian history.

( Details about Kevin's last year )

After a bad year, Kevin has slumped in the polls and is actually polling behind the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott. Abbott's the Vincent Crabbe of the Australian parliamentary scene, who last year rolled Draco Malfoy (aka Malcolm Turnbull) for leadership of his party. A rabid right winger, who is disturbingly keen to introduce religion into politics, Abbott is keen to have no emissions trading, no new mining taxes, and many fewer rights for workers, because workers probably don't vote for him anyway.

Tonight, Kevin has been tapped on the shoulder by members of his own party and told that he will face a challenge in the morning from the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard (very much Hermione Granger). Now she is lovely, and very bright, but did not previously have the numbers to win power within the party on her own, so settled for the deuptyship at the last election. She is on the Left wing of the ALP.

However, today the Right-wing numbersmen who largely govern the ALP in the largest states have all decided to switch their allegiance from Kevin to Julia, as has the Australian Workers Union. When asked why, there was a lot of blather about the need to defeat Abbott (which I am all for -- he is evil, Malfoy was heaps better), and then a declaration that they don't believe Kevin will be able to go to the next election and talk about policy when his leadership within the party is under question.

Which seems ever so slightly circular since they are the ones who are questioning his leadership.

It's a little bit rich to me: construct a problem and then breast-beat about the depths of the problem. But apparently that's the way we do things these days.

I miss Cardigan Politics, where all you had to do was be clever and committed and work hard and everything generally followed neatly along until you turned into a complete pillock, at which point another cardigan-wearing person was elected.

Still, Julia will be a fine PM if we end up with her, it's just a very stupid way for Kevin to be removed. I rather hope he gets the numbers now, as he will be unleashed to be the fierce little policy wonk he really is, and THAT would certainly blow Abbott out of the water.

Oh Kevin ... where did we fall apart?

The Australian PM is famous for working through much of the night. Tonight he is on the phone ringing around to see if he can get the numbers to hold onto his prime ministership. In 10 hours he may have lost his job.

Some background.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a brilliant political mind who is also a very rational person. This is a problem, because he governs a country that is not famous for having a rational electorate. Basically, he's a reasonably conservative, if small l liberal, Professor Flitwick, though he looks like Harry Potter with a charisma bypass. A year ago he was the most popular PM in Australian history.

( Details about Kevin's last year )

After a bad year, Kevin has slumped in the polls and is actually polling behind the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott. Abbott's the Vincent Crabbe of the Australian parliamentary scene, who last year rolled Draco Malfoy (aka Malcolm Turnbull) for leadership of his party. A rabid right winger, who is disturbingly keen to introduce religion into politics, Abbott is keen to have no emissions trading, no new mining taxes, and many fewer rights for workers, because workers probably don't vote for him anyway.

Tonight, Kevin has been tapped on the shoulder by members of his own party and told that he will face a challenge in the morning from the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard (very much Hermione Granger). Now she is lovely, and very bright, but did not previously have the numbers to win power within the party on her own, so settled for the deuptyship at the last election. She is on the Left wing of the ALP.

However, today the Right-wing numbersmen who largely govern the ALP in the largest states have all decided to switch their allegiance from Kevin to Julia, as has the Australian Workers Union. When asked why, there was a lot of blather about the need to defeat Abbott (which I am all for -- he is evil, Malfoy was heaps better), and then a declaration that they don't believe Kevin will be able to go to the next election and talk about policy when his leadership within the party is under question.

Which seems ever so slightly circular since they are the ones who are questioning his leadership.

It's a little bit rich to me: construct a problem and then breast-beat about the depths of the problem. But apparently that's the way we do things these days.

I miss Cardigan Politics, where all you had to do was be clever and committed and work hard and everything generally followed neatly along until you turned into a complete pillock, at which point another cardigan-wearing person was elected.

Still, Julia will be a fine PM if we end up with her, it's just a very stupid way for Kevin to be removed. I rather hope he gets the numbers now, as he will be unleashed to be the fierce little policy wonk he really is, and THAT would certainly blow Abbott out of the water.