Australian Politics (5 Viewers)

[Garygaz]

or maybe he's disillusioned with how much of a joke politics is and is having psychiatry sessions

 

[Lentern]

or maybe he's disillusioned with how much of a joke politics is and is having psychiatry sessions

I wouldn't be surprised if he was just trying to stay out of the fight either but understandably if the Gillard camp can't get assurances from someone that he's strong, particularly of Smith's profile, they begin to panic.

Edit: Mind you Smith isn't the saint he appears to be either. In 2002/3 it was Swan, Conroy and Smith who led the destabilization campaign against Crean and then after the 2004 election began gnawing incessantly at Latham's authority. I think part of the reason he's been quiet for so long is that he's normally been on the opposite side of argument to Crean and Gillard whom were firmly against Beazley all the years Smith was Beazley's numbers man, and Smith never really got on with Rudd so it's like he has no allies. Swan and Smith are close but Swan is now also closely linked to Gillard and Smith is anything but.

 

[Funky Monk]

If you are confident in holding your seat I think you are mindful that if you back Rudd you'll be facing a vicious preselection battle before long, if you are in a marginal seat I think you back Rudd anyway because under Gillard, Crean or Shorten you're a dead duck. Smith has purportedly gone underground, Gillard backers begining to freak out he's either going to back Rudd or have a run of his own.

(he's hiding out at Little Willy's, me fav' cafe)

he has been eating breakfast bagels

 

[funkshen]

i hope he hasn't been having breakfast bagels for lunch or dinner

that's a scandal

 

[Azure]

Apparently K Rudd has announced a press conference within the next hour in Washington (despite it being the middle of the night).

Edit: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...as-move-against-him-looms-20120222-1tn8j.html

 

[Lolsmith]

So I just watched this weeks QandA (fuck Eva Cox is a fucking badger) and I like Bill Shorten more than both Gillard and Rudd

Like I can actually stomach Bill Shorten being on my TV. This upsets me.

 

[funkshen]

i've seen bill shorten's medical prescriptions

 

[Lolsmith]

also he was giving free trade solutions for issues in workplaces

what the fuck is going on

 

[funkshen]

also he was giving free trade solutions for issues in workplaces

what the fuck is going on

what no he wasn't

 

[Rafy]

Rudd has resigned as Foreign Minister

 

[funkshen]

Rudd professes his love for Sarah Palin in Washington.

 

[IamBread]

Rudd left

 

[Lolsmith]

what no he wasn't

He was saying that the way you go about innovation in employment conditions is you let people bargain in their own way, collectively or otherwise. You don't have the government involved, because it didn't do anything. The people and the employees got the conditions they wanted via bargaining which is a distinct factor of a free enterprise system, historically and philosophically.

Whether there is any reality to his words is a different ball game.

 

[funkshen]

He was saying that the way you go about innovation in employment conditions is you let people bargain in their own way, collectively or otherwise. You don't have the government involved, because it didn't do anything. The people and the employees got the conditions they wanted via bargaining which is a distinct factor of a free enterprise system, historically and philosophically.

Whether there is any reality to his words is a different ball game.

no, he was saying collective bargaining managed by union representatives, and thus government is necessarily involved (union rights etc.)

his point was that unions deliver, and he wasn't lying about his experience at alcoa

 

[Garygaz]

So it's turning out just as planned

 

[Lentern]

Far out how bad are Gillard's office at playing politics. He was trying to roll her and somehow he's come out of it with the sympathy/underdog/victim status.

 

[soloooooo]

Rudd for PM by this time next week.

 

[Lentern]

Absolutely disgusting the way Burke, Crean and Roxon are behaving. Making the environment so toxic as to make Rudd a completely unelectable option if he came to the leadership, not even Nick Minchin was this pathetic when he was trying to undermine Turnbull. Wilson Tuckey maybe but he was of course a backbencher.

 

[Lolsmith]

no, he was saying collective bargaining managed by union representatives, and thus government is necessarily involved (union rights etc.)

his point was that unions deliver, and he wasn't lying about his experience at alcoa

mmm...

 

[soloooooo]

Excellent column article about how Rudd outmaneuvered Gillard and pretty much all political commentators: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/...aldsun/comments/column_rudd_turns_the_tables/