By: Nick Rodham Churchill
For those of you who don’t [shockingly] follow Australian politics, arguably the biggest political kung fu in years took place one week ago today. Kevin Rudd, the once most popular Prime Minister (PM) in Australian history was ousted by his Deputy, the brilliant and masterful Julia Gillard. It was a brilliant execution (the whole thing unfolded in less than 12 hours) and the first of it’s kind; Kevin Rudd was still a first-term Prime Minister and ousted not by the Opposition, but by HIS OWN PARTY.
The reasons given were simple. K-Rudd, has he was called, had been straying off course. It was a government that had “lost its way.” True, the evidence was there. in 6 months K-Rudd had tanked in the polls faster than almost any PM in history. A general election loss was at stake against the Liberals, which would have meant a horrific change of course. A few recent decisions really hadn’t gone over well with the public, and K-Rudd was pretty terrible when it came to dealing with the media.
Okay, so Special K is out, big J Gill is in. First, history is made. First female Prime Minister. Woohoo! Next, major policy changes, right? Not so much. Immediately we heard there would be changes to the mining tax, the most controversial leftover from Mr. Rudd. Oops, not so fast. The government is just “swinging open its doors” to negotiation. Certainly we’d refocus other key issues. Instead, it’s all about “consultations” and “new approaches,” but not a whole lot of change in terms of real policy (most of which J Gill was central in creating with Captain K).
Regardless, the press and the country seem to be eating up every last word, believing wholeheartedly that this is a “new direction” for the party, the government, and the country. So then, what changed? The spin. The packaging. The perception of reality is what changed. All it took was a new face and a thesaurus and BOOM, a “brand new day.” You do have to take your hat off to Madame Prime Minister though. In one foul swoop she cut off the past, reinvent the present, spin the futre, and creat a whole new headache for the opposition. Well done Julia. Well done.
Photo Courtesy of: http://images.theage.com.au/2009/01/02/338501/gillard-420×0.jpg
SPIN DOCTORATE 
