Topics: Kevin Rudd becomes Prime Minister again and Julia Gillard’s legacy
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David Lipson
….Kevin Rudd will step up to the despatch box after being sworn in by the Governor General today as Prime Minister of Australia, but of course it will be Kevin Rudd’s second time as leader.
(Clip: Kevin Rudd)
Lipson
It has been an extraordinary 24 hours, indeed, three years that have lead us to this point and now there are still many questions that need to be answered like when the election will be held, whose going to fill the gaping holes on Kevin Rudd’s frontbench with the leaving of some very high profile and senior Gillard supporters. To go through some of it, I’m joined by Liberal Senator Scott Ryan and Labor MP Julie Owens. Thank you both. Julie Owens first to you, who did you support in the ballot last night?
Julie Owens
I supported Julia…
Lipson
…and why is that?
Owens
I think she’s done an extraordinary job, mind you I think they’ve both done an extraordinary job. Kevin did a great job during the financial crisis and he was the best person for the job then – he’s direct in his approach. Julia has done a great job during a hung-Parliament and was probably the best person for the job as she’s more consultative. Both of them did great jobs at the times they were in power, which is why you get different views in the caucus about what approach is better. 57 people in the caucus voted for Kevin and I’m very comfortable with that.
Lipson
We’re you sad to see Julia Gillard ousted?
Owens
Look, I was but I’ve been sad to see the false perceptions of Julia Gillard for a long time. I know her well and she’s the type of person that the closer you get to her the more you like her. She’s very straightforward and nothing underhand about her and she’s a very hard worker. I’ve been sad for sometime because I don’t think she’s been given the credit she deserves. Even last night after she gave her speech a number of media commentators were saying what a great job she had done. I think it’s always sad when somebody doesn’t get the credit they deserve. The replacement of Work-choice with Fair-work was her work. The improvements in educations were her work – moving through the NAPLAN testing was achieved by Julia. The Emissions Trading Scheme in the end was Julia. It was an incredible achievement for Julia over two terms –as Deputy Leader and then Prime Minister. I think history will judge her more kindly then over the last six months.
Lipson
Do you put any of the blame for her not being able to have a fair go, as you put it, at the feet of the party, within the caucus?
Owens
Hasn’t been our best year, hasn’t been our best term. Anytime, I could try and fluff that one, anytime you talk-out-of-school in a caucus particularly in a 24 hour news cycle looking at us, looking for any disagreement. I dare any workplace to have a press gallery looking over their shoulder looking for any disunity. Anytime that happens it takes away from the real story of government and the real story of government is the lives people live. It’s the person in the community who’s working hard trying to buy a house and send the kids to school. They are the stories that matter and sometimes we make ourselves the story. We’d all have to admit that there’s been a bit too much of that but the ‘lived story’ that pensioners are $100 a week better off, schools have twice as much as they did. In my area the number of disadvantaged and disabled people going to university under Labor, there are people getting opportunities now that they didn’t get before – the NDIS and others. The actual stories that matter are good ones. It’s just this noise over the top of it and sometimes we don’t help it.
Lipson
Just before I do to Scott Ryan I’ve got one last question about that. Do you think that now there will be unity behind Kevin Rudd because you and 44 others voted another way?
Owens
I actually think there will be unity behind Kevin, in fact I have no doubt. I voted the other way but I gave myself 10 minutes of heavy breathing in the caucus room and then was ready to walk out and back the leader. There are many people out there that want us to win. I get emails everyday saying please, please, please not Tony Abbott. I have 650 branch members some of whom have worked for 50 years and we owe it to the people who matter – which are the people out there living in our communities and the people out there that have supported us to do what needs to be done now.
Lipson
Kevin Rudd gave his first address to the Parliament just over an hour and an hour ago. He urged people in the Parliament to be a bit more kind and gentle with each other. Take a look
(Clip: Kevin Rudd)
Lipson
Tony Abbott did have some nice remarks for Kevin Rudd but he didn’t waste too much time going on the attack.
(Clip: Tony Abbott)
Lipson
Scott Ryan, is that a line we can expect to hear more of, from the Coalition attacking again the faceless-men, and again will it get traction this time around?
Scott Ryan
For the second time in three years, Australians have gone to bed at night and woken-up with a new Prime Minister, the only difference this time around is that it happened a few hours earlier. It’s an entirely reasonable point that our changes of government should be undertaken by the people not by factional leaders. For the second time now the Australian people have had somebody thrust upon them that wasn’t on the ballot paper, or on the corflutes or on the ads before that. In 2007 they voted for Kevin Rudd and they ended up with Julia Gillard. In 2010 people who voted for Labor voted for Julia Gillard and now they’ve got Kevin Rudd. This chaos to not know who is going to be the Prime Minister before or after an election by one of Australia’s major parties is unprecedented. We go to an election sometime over the next few months, there’s no guarantee that Kevin Rudd will be leader after the next election if Labor happen to be successful. Who are people really voting for?
Lipson
Well we’ve just heard from the outgoing MP Rob Oakeshott, yesterday he announced he would be standing down, it got swamped by the leadership story, he and Tony Windsor both leaving politics at the next election. Just in the last few minutes we have seen Rob Oakeshott give his valedictory speech, Julia Gillard was in the chamber for that and Rob Oakeshott paid tribute.
(Clip: Rob Oakeshott)
Lipson
Some pretty kind words there from Rob Oakeshott. Julie Owens, how do you think in the long term Julia Gillard will be remembered do you think? She was essentially removed because she was so unpopular – will that changes?
Owens
I think it will. I think we’ll look back on this time and, I’ll just say this, if people could see my inbox and no doubt yours too, and see some of the filth and appalling stuff we get concerning the Prime Minister and the language used and that’s the sort of stuff that comes out – people even put their name to it. I think we will look back on this time and wonder that exactly happened here, when a Prime Minister that achieved so much and was so popular before she became the leader and even after her achievements she gets very little credit for it. I think time will be kinder. It took a time for people to judge Gough Whitlam kindly as well, it took a time for even people like me to judge Malcolm Fraser kindly – I didn’t agree with some of the things he did but I was a great fan of some of the things he did with refugees for example. Sometimes in the wisdom of time and after the gossip has gone, and there’s a lot of gossip around Julia – more than most leaders. When that gossip actually dies down and people actually look at what happened I think they will probably have a different view. I think she’s been an extraordinary Prime Minister. There are real questions about whether or not, as the leader, of the party she couldn’t reconnect with the people whose stories matter and I think that’s why the larger number of caucus members went with Kevin. I think it’s a shame for Julia but I think she will go down as the toughest Prime Minister we’ve ever seen. I had one person email me to tell me the size of my bottom, and that’s not the word he used, made him vomit but I just can’t imagine being on the end of that day after day – knowing that people are writing obscene things about you and posting your face on pornographic images. I can’t imagine what that feels like day after day.
Lipson
Scott Ryan, just to reflect on Julia Gillard and the criticism she copped not just from the Coalition but shock-jocks, the media and all over. Did she receive harsher treatment than she deserved?
Ryan
I think it’s unfair to conflate some of what Julie and the media are saying with the Coalition. The Coalition’s criticism of Julia Gillard was based on policy, it was based on broken promises and it was based on the chaos that we think this government has brought to our national polity. We all get abusive emails and pictures, we all get abused for certain things. It’s not just one way, I think different people experience it in different ways. A person who gets abused for their racial background may cop it differently to someone based on gender. The unpopularity of this Prime Minister and this government is been primarily driven by the fact that they’re no good. The things she promised to first when she took over three years and three days ago are worse now than we she took over at the time. I think respectfully that most of us get those cartoons you’re talking about but it isn’t just in one direction. Some of the vilification towards Tony Abbott has been particularly harsh and I’ve been at rallies where union groups will say some pretty awful things about John Howard I remember rallies where groups would have swastikas next to John Howard, so the offensive nature of some elements of our polity goes in both directions and I don’t think it goes just one way.
Lipson
That’s a very good point. Scott Ryan and Julie Owens thank you very much for your insights today.
(Ends)