K-Rudderless.

In one of my previous posts I ridiculed the Liberal Party for choosing an unelectable Tony Abbot as its leader.  Now, although I still believe him ultimately unelectable, he is in there with a chance. Kevin Rudd has somehow managed to turn an imploding Liberal party into a united party by shooting himself in the foot, toe by toe. If he has a spin doctor, he should have his political allegiances’ checked. In this election year, several alarm bells should be going off for our leader.

Firstly, he comes across and still looks like and dresses like, teacher’s pet.  It is not the sort of character Australians necessarily warm to. However they were sick of the ‘class nerd’, Howard.  There is no doubt that Rudd is intelligent. We know he feels at home with diplomats and speaks Legalese, Diplomatese and fluent Chinese. His few attempts to be blokesy or folksy sounded so unnatural they were held up for ridicule It may be unfair, he may be a great guy, but I have to admit, I’d rather have a beer with Tony Abbot.  Even though I disagree with much of what he says and thinks, he comes across as someone you could have an interesting discussion with and not come out feeling like you were being condescended to.

Secondly, Rudd lacks a rudder. He seems to go where the media directs him. He has been reactive rather than pro-active.  Abbot came to power with a party seriously split. Forced to back down from a promise their previous leader had given on the ETS. More than 50% of Liberals supported the ETS. However, Abbot was allowed a Honeymoon period in which he managed to equate the ETS with a “Great Big New Tax on Everything”. There was no attempt to explain the ETS to the public as a response and therefore every Australian today can chant the mantra that the ETS is a Great Big New Tax. The eventual Liberal alternative plan was farcical, but never seized on by the government. It was never compared to the ETS to show that the opposite was in fact true. Liberal spin doctors managed to change the discussion to “Insulation-gate”. It was something that Rudd should have nipped in the bud and Garrett should have been the political collateral sooner rather than later.

The strange apology for not doing enough, or for not doing what he promised, or whatever it was for, left me dumbfounded. After a few days of niggling from the opposition the Prime Minister removed his foot from his mouth to replace it with the other.  It reinforced a feeling that Rudd reacts to his perception of the polls. The problem with public apologies is that they need to be backed up with public action.

The health plan seemed like a grab for headlines. If proposing a federal takeover from the states, the minimal amount of homework would have required him to check in with the states, especially since they are all Labour states.  The Education plan on the other hand, while coming under some criticism from Teachers Unions and schools, but seems to be accepted by the public at large. Perhaps because this is under the control of Julia Gillard who sounds like a Primary school Principal when speaking, or perhaps because she seems to be in control.

This should be Rudd’s third alarm bell. I am not familiar enough with the internal machination of the federal Labour party to know why Rudd holds the stick over Gillard, but I imagine that eventually that will become irrelevant. Rudd is clearly seen in the minds of most Australian as the visiting Australian Prime Minister, while Gillard is seen as Prime Minister of Australia.

The fourth alarm bell was fired off recently by the Liberal party calling for restricting immigration. This call was made on the basis that this year’s number of immigrants was unsustainable as a level of immigration.  I would challenge that fact, but that will be another post, but the obvious answer to that is that there is no data to support the assertion that this figure would be repeated. 

Australia is a country built on immigration. European migrants, who arrived as refugees after World War 2, would not be allowed into Australia under today’s laws.  We are part of a world treaty on refugees as well as many regional ones. We fulfil our obligations under those treaties. That has been true of Australian governments across the political spectrum since 1972.

Immigration should not be confused with the refugee issue. Immigration is the people that we allow in.  Having tried unsuccessfully to bring my wife and son to Australia, I know how difficult it is to immigrate to Australia. The business community were quick to condemn the Liberal policy, but guess what Kevin did. He seemingly backed the Liberals. I am also quite vary that this issue will explode into a race issue in the next election campaign.

Generally speaking Rudd is surrounded by very competent people. It is the redeeming factor of this government.  Gillard, Smith and the very versatile Junior Minister Greg Combet and Lindsay Tanner do their jobs and others.  Luckily for them, Tony Abbot will always be unelectable to some and raise a question mark with many others. He is backed by Julia Bishop who seems to like being deputy to everyone. Joe Hockey, likeable, but not seen to be in Abbot’s camp.

 A party that his healing, but still deeply wounded needs to be put to  the sword by a party in power that would win an election if held today. If I was Kevin I would introduce that great American value of bi-partisanship looking for cooperation outside of the usual committee room, cooperation for the benefit of Australia, thus diffusing the ability if the opposition to attack government policy and exploiting any splinters in the opposition.

My feeling is that Rudd is busy doing something, but doesn’t seem to control the country. He controls the party and shines at question time, where his condescending sarcasm is appreciated. I hope he can change that image or turn it over to the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard.