A Meaningless Title

Things Tony Abbott, newly elected Prime Minister, has said over the years:

"If we’re honest, most of us would accept that a bad boss is a little bit like a bad father or a bad husband … you find that he tends to do more good than harm. He might be a bad boss but at least he’s employing someone while he is in fact a boss." - 2002

"I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman’s right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man’s right to demand I think they are both they both need to be moderated, so to speak." - 2009

"I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons" - 2010

"Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia." - 2010

"Climate change is absolute crap" - 2010

"Now, I know that there are some Aboriginal people who aren’t happy with Australia Day. For them it remains Invasion Day. I think a better view is the view of Noel Pearson, who has said that Aboriginal people have much to celebrate in this country’s British Heritage." - 2010

"There may not be a great job for them [Aborigines] but whatever there is, they just have to do it, and if it’s picking up rubbish around the community, it just has to be done." - 2010

But, hey, at least he'll stop the boats, right?

So, everything old is new again, as another leadership challenge brings down a sitting PM, and brings to an end a long, strange three years of federal politics.

I am willing to forgive Rudd a multitude of sins if his return means we avoid the prospect of Prime Minister Abbott. If he loses though… if he loses, it’ll be a loss of his own making, after three years of leadership challenges, leadership debates, factional infighting, and undermining of the government from within.

Of course, Rudd and his backers won’t share all the blame – there’s also a media that wanted Gillard gone from the beginning, and a culture of misogynistic bullying both inside and outside of parliament that never accepted a woman in the top job as legitimate. The fact that Labor managed to hold onto power in 2010 and, largely, managed to govern fairly well for the last three years was an incredible achievement, with all the cards stacked against them. If Labor pulls off another victory this year despite its problems, it will be a real statement of just how unpopular the Coalition’s policies are, that they can’t scrape by a win even against a Labor divided against itself…

It’s probably going to be another decade before either major party risks putting a woman in the top job, and Gillard’s departure from politics is an incredible waste of talent and skill. As I said, I’ll forgive Rudd if he can pull of a victory – but I’m not going to be celebrating either.