Rudd-Gillard Labor Government: What went wrong? (1 Viewer)

[Lolsmith]

you're straight from an election scare campaign arent you

outstanding

 

[Spiritual Being]

outstanding

This is a-class crazy.

 

[Riproot]

Gillard is an idiot. Gillard should have known that Greens always support Labor. Gillard is Australia's worst Prime Minister over the past thirty years.

That's not true though.
Gillard is a better person than Rudd she just couldn't handle the pressure of being the first female PM.
Regardless of whether she was female she would've found it hard, but being female it was harder.
You don't hear male Prime Ministers get called "bitch", "dog", "slut", "mole", "witch", etc. and constantly get judged on what they wear, their hair, their glasses, what they do that is masculine/effeminate, etc.

 

[OMGITzJustin]

female or not, gillard was one of the worst PMs in australian history

 

[funkshen]

gillard should've gone out gracefully like harold holt

 

[OzKo]

female or not, gillard was one of the worst PMs in australian history

Whether she was or wasn't, I respect the dignity she had to step back after she was deposed and not cause a commotion like Rudd did.

 

[obliviousninja]

gillard should've gone out gracefully like harold holt

Taken in by the japs, then fed a whole whale.

 

[JT145]

Taken in by the japs, then fed a whole whale.

It was the Chinese

But since we're both Honkie blaming the Japs sounds good :/

 

[AB940]

female or not, gillard was one of the worst PMs in australian history

How so?
Genuinely curious; I hear a lot of people say they feel this way but I've never heard any of them say why.

 

[isildurrrr1]

so much for rudd promising leaving politics if he lost the labour leadership before the election lawl.

 

[Lolsmith]

How so?
Genuinely curious; I hear a lot of people say they feel this way but I've never heard any of them say why.

BECAUSE BOATS AND THE CARBINE TAX TONY I CAN SEE THE BOATS FROM MY HOUSE TONY THAT WOMAN

so much for rudd promising leaving politics if he lost the labour leadership before the election lawl.

there's a difference between losing and giving away mate

 

[Lentern]

Normally in these sort of things there's a lot of room for nuance but really, in this case it was entirely Gillard and Swan's fault. They tore down an able politician, blundered around like student politicians when they were in charge then scorched the earth behind them when Rudd attempted a comeback. The biggest mistake Rudd ever made was not making Lindsay Tanner both his deputy and his treasurer. And before anyone wants to go on about leaks, let's be pretty clear about one thing, the single most damaging leak against Labor in the past six years was the deferral of the emissions trading scheme by Swan. So let's have no bullshit about white anting only going one way.

 

[Trebla]

The Labor Government has been kicked from office after only 5 years 10 months in power.

A government that came to power with so much promise has undoubtedly squandered it.

Where and why do you think it went wrong?

They in the end essentially kicked themselves from office. It is an instructive lesson in the notion that disunity is death. After years of infighting and leadership intrigue they forfeited the right to govern.

They also entirely underestimated and misunderstood Tony Abbott. They thought he was an unelectable, undisciplined and gaffe prone simpleton who would be easily dispatched. He exposed the fallacy of this view. Whilst Labor takes much the blame for the result, credit has to go to Abbott for running an amazingly effective opposition.

I don't think history will treat Rudd well. His personal temperament by his colleagues admission was chaotic. The government tried to do too much and as a result achieved very little. This is especially so in Rudd's case. A lot of hyperbolic talk and grand visions but they could never hope to meet the expectations they themselves created. (On a sidenote I think Abbott will be much more successful because he has set achievable, realistic goals for his government)

Gillard on the other hand will be remembered as a good administrator who tried to make the best of a tough situation. This despite the self inflicted damage she did which does need to be acknowledged. She wasn't any good at the politics.

People also took Rudd's 'popularity' the wrong way. In the end the electorate don't want a soap opera. He was media obsessed but the electorate just wants somebody who will put their head down and get on with the job. They don't want a rock star, they want a no fuss, competent administration.

Rudd's main legacy was helping to prevent Australia from slipping in recession during the GFC.

I personally think there are numerous factors contributing to Labor's loss:
- The cyclical trend of people getting tired of the same government and wanting new faces
- Disunity which played out in the public eye
- A bit too many policy failures which distracted from the more successful ones
- Poor campaign

I personally think the last point is the most significant because the polls initially put Rudd neck and neck with Abbott but the Liberals had a much more disciplined campaign since then as they were trying to focus on positivity after learning from their mistakes in the 2010 election. Abbott himself was a lot more controlled than he was back then. Labor on the other hand did not have a clear message in their campaign and were mainly focused on criticising Abbott rather than what they could bring to the people. Their slogan 'A New Way' was just silly because it was a gift for the opposition to say this means there should be a new government.

I think Kevin Rudd is not the villain everybody claims. The villain is Julia Gillard who was incompetent when it came to economics. You don't grow the economy by introducing a great big new tax on everything. The carbon tax was very toxic. Julia Gillard lurched massively to the left when it came to the environment/ economy and introduced the worlds biggest carbon tax at the behest of the Greens. She should not have sold her soul and the ALP's soul to the Greens. Julia Gillard was Australia's worst Prime Minister over the past thirty years. Before she was politically executed she got only 43 per cent of the 2 party vote for the Australian Labor Party and would have lost 40 seats. Julia Gillard in 2013 was a failed Prime Minister of Australia before she was replaced by Kevin Rudd. I want to congratulate you Kevin Rudd and Australian Labor party for mitigating the risk of a total wipe out at the federal election which could have resulted in Labor being out of power for 16 years.

Umm Rudd tried to introduce pretty much the same carbon tax back when he was PM (which ultimately divided the Liberals as opposition and led to Abbott's leadership) except it was called an emissions trading scheme. It's just that Rudd wanted to get a floating price in a shorter time frame than Gillard did.

When Rudd introduced the emissions trading scheme it was generally well supported by the people and businesses alike but the timing wasn't great (he decided to shelve it due to the aftermath of the GFC iirc) and the real reason Gillard's version of what was effectively the same thing was so unpopular was because she said there wouldn't be one prior to her election so it was more a matter of 'trust' than the policy itself.

 

[wannaspoon]

nuff said...

then that, and a whole bunch of other monumental fuck ups (even ones before that) played into the LNP's hands... they then cashed in on that really, really well...