Michelle Grattan described it as an “extraordinary collective vomit,” the last week in which we’ve witnessed the Labor government expel the secrets of cabinet and the 2010 coup, that is.
Evidently, the scorched-earth approach of Julia Gillard’s supporters has proved devastatingly effective, with caucus voting for her this morning 71 votes to Kevin Rudd’s 31. The ALP may have just killed off the only candidate that could have beaten Tony Abbott.
In a letter from John Button to Bill Hayden dated January 28, 1983, Button attempted to convince Hayden to stand down for Bob Hawke with this appeal:
“You said to me that you would not stand down for a ‘bastard’ like Bob Hawke. In my experience in the Labor party, the fact that someone is a bastard — of one kind or another — has never been a disqualification for leadership of the party.”
In this case, it was.
Former NSW premier Bob Carr wrote on his blog today: “If after Julia Gillard’s decisive victory in the Labor leadership ballot today there is a revival of white-anting against her, the whole party will explode with anger. Especially as this challenge has done so much profound harm; part of which will be reflected in the Queensland result on March 24, 2012. The public reaction against Labor if after today leadership speculation is resumed will be catastrophic.”
But in the unlikely event that the Labor party manages to unite after all this, the collateral damage from this flare up will have lasting damage.
That’s the problem with nasty stain like vomit, it’s very hard to get the lingering smell out of the carpet.
Mind you vomiting up poison can also be quite cathartic and is often the recommended treatment.
Comparing Rudd’s bastardry with Hawke being a bit of a bastard is pretty lazy.
It’s no good Rudd beating Abbott if he would be a worse prime minister than Abbott. I at least do not subscribe to winning at all costs and I don’t think politicians should either.
Just love the quote from John Button – priceless!
However, the musings from Bob Carr seem to completely disregard
the fact that most of the “white-anting” came from the Gillard side
and was directed toward Rudd. History being revised before it has
even had a chance to hit the bookstore!! Carr seems to have forgotten
that it was Gillard who called on the spill, not Rudd. If the latter had
been left to his own devices, I believe he would have waited until
the end of this year/early next to mount a challenge. By then the
turkeys in the caucus may have changed their minds about voting for
Christmas!!
Regardless of the Rudd-haters out there, his work as Minister for
Foreign Affairs appears to have been universally celebrated. What
a waste of a great talent. He didn’t do it to himself, the Labor party
and particularly the lesser beings (read Gillard, her cronies and the
backroom boys), managed that all by themselves.
So, nothing will change – Gillard still won’t win the election and the
Labor party will self -destruct. All her own work!
@CML
Everyone is entitled to their opinion even if they view Kevin Rudd through rose-tinted glasses, however to say that most of the white-anting came from the Gillard camp is re-writing history.
After Kevin was asked to stand aside as his colleagues were totally over his management style he had the opportunity to ask for a vote in caucus but squibbed it. In revenge he leaked big time to Laurie Oakes and has since white -anted anyone he thought had slighted him.
No one, except Tony Abbott, has suggested that Kevin Rudd has not performed well as Foreign Minister, but the role is completely different to that of PM, another position that he has clearly demonstrated by his deviousness that he is unsuited.
Ms Gillard called the leadership spill to get Kevin Rudd to put up or shut up. Pretty reasonable after nearly derailed the return of Labor at 2010 election and has since maintained a constant barrage of criticism to selected journos.
Labor may or may not win the election, but Kevin Rudd has had a big hand in destroying the party for his own ends, not those of Labor.
To compare the way that Bob Hawke became leader and governed with the way that Kevin Rudd gained the leadership and governed is pure fantasy. All PMs have a bit of the b…….. about them but to completely lose the support of an entire parliament is a record.