The Australian: Janet Albrechtsen: Why Julia Gillard will never be PM [March 15, 2006]
Janet gives more detail than I did on why Julia Gillard would not be electable as PM. (I didn't know her right wing immigration policy had been forced on her.)
Also, Janet doesn't mention about how fast Julia has run to distance herself from the Tasmanian forest policy which she seems to blame for much of Latham's loss. She the additional interview material on the Australian Story site.
However, it would be a very interesting time if she were running for PM. Us conservatives should really just keep quiet.
Update: Currency Lad's post on the same topic is good, and (as usual) better written than my post. I like his bit about Beazley too:
And yet it is precisely his unsaleable political nature that somehow recommends him - at least to those who believe that the people who actually yearn to be prime minister are, at some level, dysfunctional egomaniacs.
1 comment:
Janet needs to get her facts straight. The immigration policy was not forced on Gillard.. Julia wasn't even responsible for the immigration portfolio at the time Janet states in her article. Gillard wrote into The Australian the next day:
'AMONGST an extraordinary outpouring of senseless bile, Janet Albrechtsen ("Why Julia Gillard will never be PM", Opinion, 15/3) claims that in 2003, in the lead-up to the 2004 ALP national conference, I was asked to draft Labor's immigration policy. She claims that I returned to the Labor sub-committee dealing with the matter, my draft was rejected within an hour and a new policy imposed on me.
This is completely untrue. Indeed, it is so wrong as to be laughable.
I wrote Labor's immigration policy in 2002. It was launched in December 2002. It was my own work and I remain proud of it. I worked with a shadow cabinet sub-committee and it was a terrific sounding board. At no point was a policy imposed on me. Everything the sub-committee considered was written by me.
In 2003, I became Labor's health spokeswoman. I was not even Labor's immigration spokeswoman in 2003 in the lead-up to the 2004 national conference.
I would also like to record the fact that despite Albrechtsen's assertions to the contrary, I am a strong supporter of the American alliance and had the opportunity in January this year to visit the US and meet with officials to discuss furthering the alliance.
Whatever Albrechtsen set out to prove with her article, the only thing she has proved is that she will never be a quality commentator.'
Julia Gillard
Opposition health spokeswoman
Personally I think Gillard would be a great leader. Far better than Beazley at any rate.
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