Welcome to the Lodge, Julia!
Julia Gillard has won the day and with the support of two of the independents, will form a Labor government. We are going to have Australia's first female in the Lodge, our first atheist, and the first person to be our Prime Minister who has never been married. Blimey!
Turning tables
What a time we are having in Australia. Everywhere you look, tables are turning, tides are changing and shoes are flying from foot to foot. Not only do we have daily political power shifts as the Labor and Liberal parties try to square off the independents to give them government – “Give it to me!” “No, no, give it to me!” – it now looks as if the CEO of David Jones may face eight more claims of sexual harassment.
Who sank the boat?
Who are the ALP and Liberal parties talking to? I want to know more about the hardhearted self-satisfied people who want to sink the hopes of people who have been through hell – are they truly my fellow compatriots?
The Big Move
There is nothing quite like an interstate move to remind you that nationally, Australia still has a long way to go. These are some of the things I encountered over the past few months in my Big Move from a rural community outside Canberra to another semi-rural community a short distance from Melbourne. Perhaps there are some policy lessons here for a government that is interested in moving forward?
Women worries
While Jenni is moving house, I get to say a few words - and I am just wondering about whether it’s having a feminist perspective which makes me think that Julia Gillard is having subtle ‘woman based’ smears thrown at her?
Thank you Prime Minister
What a day it has been for Australia. Prime Minister Rudd, in the most graceful way possible, has stepped aside to allow our first woman Prime Minister to take charge.
ALP against six months leave
On May 27 the Liberal Party attempted, and failed, to amend the government’s paid parental leave scheme to increase it to 6 months leave on full income replacement. The amendment was defeated.
Maternity leave scheme problems
The Women and Work Research Group (WWRG) at Sydney University have identified a few more problems with the government’s proposed paid parental leave legislation in their recent submission to the Senate's Inquiry into the Exposure Draft of the Paid Parental Leave Scheme Bill 2010.
Who's a clever boy, then?
My first reaction to the federal budget is that Tony Abbott must be VERY pleased with himself. In no uncertain terms he told the government, and Australia, that the most important challenge facing us is getting rid of our surplus, and this has been swallowed hook line and sinker by the Rudd government at the expense of everything that Labor holds dear.
Come in spinner
Don't you love spin? In the past few weeks, according to the spin, the Rudd government has protected us from becoming a 'divided community' and cleverly avoided 'disrupting parents' and 'unsettling the child care industry'.
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