Oh well, its been an interesting day but now its over.
Really, how big a deal is this ? None of the current characters are of any real stature; is there a Menzies, Ben Chifley, Frazer or Keating anywhere in this - no. With Rudd, Gillard, Abbott all we have are the equivalents of Billy Snedden, Billy McMahon, or Arthur Calwell or any other names who appear in history as names only.
Has anyone thought about what Gillard and Abbott are actually going to achieve, or is it telling that most people are only thinking about how today's change will affect the mechanics of the next election, but thinking nothing more ?
In terms of political leadership, we're still just rattling along, and its' not going to change. Julia Gillard did not inspire any Caucus blocks to get in behind her; instead she was installed by various left wing factional leaders (eg., Bill Shorten - there's an inspiring character...
). It was really just business as usual.
Has any political leader, ie., someone with the ability to inspire others to act on his/her vision of
their future, voiced a position on, and an intention to act on:
- Australia's energy requirements (even Vietnam is building eight nuclear power plants),
- an Australian Republic (or if it's not broken, why fix it ?),
- the Australia-wide housing shortage (where feasible solutions seem to include 40m2 residential units),
- the widening rich/poor gap,
- the undiscussed health crisis which exists in the form of Australian taxpayers financing the poor but readily available and cheap lifestyle choices of about six million overweight or diabetic or heart disease afflicted people ?
Aussie Aussie Aussie !
Yo....