Will it be Rudd or Gillard?
The Australian Labor government’s fortunes are at an all-time low; Prime Minister Julia Gillard has emerged victorious; and the most talented and respected members of her cabinet have resigned.
I am often asked whether Australians don’t like Gillard because she is a woman. The short answer is no. Fundamentally, Gillard and her government are under great pressure because of their incompetence, vindictiveness and lack of truthfulness to the nation.
Due to media pressure and social media campaigns by interest groups, the Gillard-Labor government has consistently broken from good processes through decisions such as the kneejerk ban on the live cattle trade and super trawler fishing. These decisions rode over established processes in favour of preferred political outcomes.
The Gillard government has also introduced a carbon tax (after promising not to) and is pursuing a nationalised broadband monopoly that could cost double the estimated $39 billion (an invented figure in the first place).
The government attempted to introduce new media laws to muzzle its press enemies (the Murdoch press in particular) and ‘consolidate’ anti-discrimination laws, where offending someone or holding an ‘offensive’ political view could potentially constitute a crime.
All the while the bread-and-butter of government has gone mouldy. Despite record terms of trade (and higher-than-expected tax revenues in 2012), the Gillard government has run ever-increasing deficits and is now promising policies – such as universal disability insurance, dental care, and ‘closing the gender wage gap’ – that it has no conceivable way of paying for. Productivity is stubbornly low, and the eastern seaboard is in recession.
Australian politics is played hard, and some of the vitriol directed at Gillard is grossly unfair, however, it is not based on gender but her overall performance. Launching faux class and gender wars to excuse her government’s failings have not helped either.
The political circus in Australia reminds us that the New Zealand government is heading in a positive fiscal direction, albeit at a modest pace. New Zealand’s productivity conundrum is acknowledged by both sides of politics.
Most importantly, however, it is evident that governance is in the national interest rather than on behalf of a coalition of disparate interests, factions or vested interests. It is easy to criticise our elected representatives, but this is one occasion to be thankful we don’t share the current crop of Australia’s Labor politicians.