She might be our first Female prime minister, but that doesn't matter - we didn't put her there, her life-long commitment to the unions and the Labor party (Though some would say I repeat myself) put her there. She's an atheist, but that doesn't matter - She's never going to do anything more than tow her majority-Christian-hyper-conservative party's line.
I think you are overstating the influence of christian groups down here. They're influential to a degree, but not so much that their every whim is catered to - most people wouldn't stand for it. And the union thing... it's called the Labor party, champ. A little union influence (OK, a lot) is to be expected. But don't forget, Gillard went to the mattresses with the teachers unions over the My Schools website - she's not afraid to kick their arses from time to time. I say, leave your prejudices aside for a while and see how Gillard behaves now that she's at the summit. If early indications are accurate, she's going to make Abbott look like he copied her homework - they are good friends, after all. Stay tuned.
Edit - Oh, and I almost forgot - she backs The great Firewall of Canberra just as much as the Milky Bar Kid and his Crazy Catholic Comrade Conroy. Well, fuck.
No surprises there, but it has been put it into a review process, which may be a face-saving way of letting it disappear.
I think you are overstating the influence of christian groups down here.
I didn't state myself clearly enough - I don't mean christian group influenced, I mean that the majority of Labor(and Liberal) politicians are particularly religious. Surely, you remember how Rudd was a Christian first, and a human being second, and how Conroy is more catholic than the pope, just for two examples. Hockey is also pretty religious, and there is a good reason for Abbot to be nicknamed the Mad Monk, because if Conroy is more catholic than the pope, Abbot is roughly level with a cardinal or three. The Party itself is literally majority Christian with it's members, not anything about Christian group influence on them.
As for the labor party - well, yeah, they're the unions, pretty much. It's the fuckin' labor party, it's not like I expect anything else. I just worry some about the unions having as much influence as they do, as the unions can often be unreasonable and ludicrous in their goals and ideals. They provide a good service, true, but I'm not comfortable with the way they behave sometimes - I've been fired before, simply because I refused to join the union, and not only refused to give in to but also outright recorded and reported to the police a bit of old-fashioned monstering.
But you are right - She has shown before that she can go against the majority, however, this time she can be yanked just as fast as Rudd was, so she might be a bit more reticent than before to say owt, as she has more to lose. But I am willing to give her a fair go - the only reason I didn't give Rudd a fair go at the start was because he was my local member and I'd seen his style before, and I'd already had dealings with him - and frankly, he'd shown no signs of changing at all. J-gilly, I've got no prejudices about, really - and I've also no prior experience about her, only what I can read up about after the fact. I'll give her the same go I'd give any other pollie, no matter where they're coming from.
All of your politicians seem to have such wonderful nicknames, are there more of them?
I can hardly remember all of them - Some people have started calling J-gilly "Peppermint patty" instead, but I personally prefer the former. For future reference - Kevin Rudd gets the Milky Bar kid, because...well.... Julia Gillard - J-gilly or Peppermint patty. The former is obvious, the latter, because it's a redheaded female character who breaks the norm, plays with the boys, and has another character calling her sir. Tony Abbot - The Mad Monk, both because of his last name, and his very strong Catholicism - before he entered politics, he was indeed in a Seminary, studying to become a priest. I'll give him a bit of credit, though, as his stance is that politicians should never be able to justify their decisions using Religion, and when his party was criticised by the catholic clergy, he said "The priesthood gives someone the power to consecrate bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It doesn't give someone the power to convert poor logic into good logic." Wayne Swan is also known as Treasurer Duckman, and we have Wilson Tuckey who is known by Ironbar Tuckey, and not to leave out "Sloppy joe" Hockey.
And of course, let's not forget some of the classics, such as Edmund “Toby Toss Pot†Barton, Billy “The Little Digger†Hughes, Rober “Pig Iron Bob†Menzies, and Bob "The Silver Budgie" Hawke, and that Our last Prime minister, John "Little johnny" Howard looked remarkably like Mr Sheen.
Forget nicknames, what you need areinsults, from the master of Question Time smack talk, former Prime Minister Paul Keating.
Nicknames and insults, it's what we do. After all, if your government isn't a half a hair away from degenerating into a brawl, it's hardly a government at all.
Comments
As for the labor party - well, yeah, they're the unions, pretty much. It's the fuckin' labor party, it's not like I expect anything else. I just worry some about the unions having as much influence as they do, as the unions can often be unreasonable and ludicrous in their goals and ideals. They provide a good service, true, but I'm not comfortable with the way they behave sometimes - I've been fired before, simply because I refused to join the union, and not only refused to give in to but also outright recorded and reported to the police a bit of old-fashioned monstering.
But you are right - She has shown before that she can go against the majority, however, this time she can be yanked just as fast as Rudd was, so she might be a bit more reticent than before to say owt, as she has more to lose. But I am willing to give her a fair go - the only reason I didn't give Rudd a fair go at the start was because he was my local member and I'd seen his style before, and I'd already had dealings with him - and frankly, he'd shown no signs of changing at all. J-gilly, I've got no prejudices about, really - and I've also no prior experience about her, only what I can read up about after the fact. I'll give her the same go I'd give any other pollie, no matter where they're coming from.
For future reference -
Kevin Rudd gets the Milky Bar kid, because...well....
Julia Gillard - J-gilly or Peppermint patty. The former is obvious, the latter, because it's a redheaded female character who breaks the norm, plays with the boys, and has another character calling her sir.
Tony Abbot - The Mad Monk, both because of his last name, and his very strong Catholicism - before he entered politics, he was indeed in a Seminary, studying to become a priest. I'll give him a bit of credit, though, as his stance is that politicians should never be able to justify their decisions using Religion, and when his party was criticised by the catholic clergy, he said "The priesthood gives someone the power to consecrate bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It doesn't give someone the power to convert poor logic into good logic."
Wayne Swan is also known as Treasurer Duckman, and we have Wilson Tuckey who is known by Ironbar Tuckey, and not to leave out "Sloppy joe" Hockey.
And of course, let's not forget some of the classics, such as Edmund “Toby Toss Pot†Barton, Billy “The Little Digger†Hughes, Rober “Pig Iron Bob†Menzies, and Bob "The Silver Budgie" Hawke, and that Our last Prime minister, John "Little johnny" Howard looked remarkably like Mr Sheen. Nicknames and insults, it's what we do. After all, if your government isn't a half a hair away from degenerating into a brawl, it's hardly a government at all.
Newsworthy - With a bottle opener attached to his penis via a genital piercing.
Front Page - This wasn't the first time, either.
Just too much to handle - He now works part time in a liquor store.