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Another Day in Labor

A ~~poem~~ ditty by GD

Kevvie in his kevlar suit
laughing ‘cos it’s all a hoot
Simon Crean gets the boot,
another day in Labor

Stephen Conroy’s face is red
his underpants are on his head
the censorship is all shot dead,
another Labor failure

the deficit is on the loose
Swan is looking like a goose
spending all with no excuse,
another a drunken sailor

the rusted-ons believe in Rudd
to save them from this bath in mud
but really he’s another dud,
not a Labor saviour

the voters wait with bated breath
to hear about a Labor death
but Joolia is such a pest,
it’s six months more hard Labor!

Tags: Australian Labor Party, Bob Carr, current-events, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Politics, Prime minister, Rudd, Simon Crean, Stephen Conroy, Swan

By GD in Australian Politics, Federal Election, Federal politics on March 22, 2013.

24 Comments

GD says:

March 22, 2013 at 5:42 PM

Crikey, Iain, you’ve hoisted my ditty to a post.
Iain Hall says:

March 22, 2013 at 5:55 PM

Well I thought it deserved it 😉
Ray Dixon says:

March 22, 2013 at 7:00 PM

And while Abbott’s waiting in the wing
The fat lady’s warming up to sing
He might win in a pretty big way
But Sophie’s waitin’ to take it away
Richard Ryan says:

March 22, 2013 at 7:13 PM

IN days gone by, in other parts of the world, the plotters and traitors who played their part in the aborted down fall of Gillard, may have faced a firing squad, along with the media whores,as a warning to others.
Richard Ryan says:

March 22, 2013 at 7:18 PM

I sent GDs, ditty along to a ALP mate of mine, he asked me who the smart-arse was, told him he was muso, and he writes letters to the newspapers.
Iain Hall says:

March 23, 2013 at 7:13 AM

Gillard could have and should have seized the moment to make a dignified exit. Rudd was sticking to his script that he would not challenge. She walked into the party room as the only candidate, having called the meeting. Had she immediately thrown open the ballot and announced she was not standing, her departure would have been fairly cast as a selfless initiative to break the worsening impasse. But what a long, long time it is since John Grey Gorton used his own vote to end his broken prime ministership.

And who, if not Gillard, is the principal architect of the existential crisis into which Labor has collapsed?

Critics have attacked Rudd for disloyalty and for using guerrilla tactics against Gillard. But what claim does she have to the moral high ground in this contest, beyond the fact of incumbency – a fact which meant nothing to her camp when they evicted Rudd from the prime ministership in June 2010, even less when a string of her supporters publicly trashed Rudd’s reputation to thwart his challenge last year.

And the catalogue of bungles over which Gillard has presided since then has both compounded Labor’s woes and further eroded her credibility, most recently the media regulation fiasco and the absurd and unworkable commitment to deliver a budget surplus.

And how can Gillard now maintain the pretence that she leads a united and effective government when another clutch of ministers and other senior figures who had the temerity to seek a way out of the mess are relegated to the backbenches – to join the casualties of last year’s leadership contest.

Some Gillard supporters nurse the idea that the brutal era of our first woman prime minister will be judged far more kindly by history, as was the Whitlam Labor government. But the Whitlam era, however flawed, had a reformist vision that made it a benchmark for Labor ideals. The Gillard government has little such achievement and a clutch of unfulfilled promises in areas such as education. Its defining characteristic is and will remain one person’s determination to cling to power, whatever the cost to her colleagues and her party.

In failing to end the madness on Thursday, the Labor caucus dug its own electoral grave and climbed in. The Coalition will dance on it from now until September 14 – and likely for many years to come.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-pms-famed-toughness-is-exposed-as-a-terrible-flaw-20130322-2gl9f.html#ixzz2OIv9zbFV

‘The terrible thing about this is that business confidence in Australia is low, and this will certainly detract from business confidence,” Mr Shepherd told Sky News on Friday. ”We are becoming the coup capital of the world at the moment.”

Both the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and the Minerals Council of Australia said the resources industry held former minister Martin Ferguson in the highest regard for his deep understanding of the business, especially its need to remain competitive in global markets.
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Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said the departure of successive ministers went hand in hand with a lapse in productivity and the government’s ability to address small business’ needs.

Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said she was disappointed by the resignation of Chris Bowen. ”We’re also disappointed at being confronted by the prospect of the fourth minister going into the revolving doors of higher education in a matter of 16 months.”

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/business-dismayed-at-coup-capital-20130322-2glh8.html#ixzz2OIzSry5B

There are no excuses any more for Julia Gillard. She can no longer blame destabilisation by Kevin Rudd’s supporters for her woes. It will not be possible from now on for her to complain that Rudd’s activities are distracting the government or depriving it of clear air to sell its message.

Gillard has lost her scapegoat. What happens between now and the election is all on her head. She performs or else. She can’t duck responsibility.

The other side of the coin, though, is that Labor no longer has a Plan B. It is stuck with Gillard. If she and her lieutenants fail to lift their game there is no fallback.

There is no alternative leader who can be called on to salvage the situation.

The leadership challenge that ended up without a challenger illustrated a fundamental difference between Gillard and Rudd. She is good at internal Labor politics, not much good at appealing to the wider electorate. He has public appeal but is hopeless at politicking within the party.

The PM showed yet again in this contest that she knows how to keep power in the Labor Party – but whether she knows how to keep the Labor Party in power is another question.

Laurie Oakes

Anyone who thinks that the recent drama will do anything good for Gillard’s Prospects are playing pocket billiards!
Ray Dixon says:

March 23, 2013 at 10:20 AM

A poem by GD

I might be wrong but I think technically GD’s little effort is actually called a “ditty”.

Either that or it’s the lyrics to his latest rap song.

Anyway, I agree with that article you posted above, Iain. The first one that says Gillard should not have recontested the position. Somehow I don’t think this is over yet because surely the fallout from Thursday’s Crean-led farce has only just begun. Already Rudd & co are vehemently denying that they in any way were party to Crean’s surprise announcement. I think it’s looking pretty clear that this was indeed a Gillard/Crean plot to remove the Rudd ‘menace’ once and for all. Trouble is, they’ve now got no alternative but to accept the poor polling (which is bound to get even worse) is all at their heads. I give her until May at best. Who will take over then though, I’ve no idea. Rudd won’t do it – not now.
Iain Hall says:

March 23, 2013 at 12:38 PM

Its going to be a very long suicide note for the Labor Party, who have always cared more about winning their own internal squabbles more than doing the right thing for the country.
Ray Dixon says:

March 23, 2013 at 12:41 PM

Ooops, I had my comment under the wrong post. Moved it now.
Juliar Blowhard says:

March 23, 2013 at 4:47 PM

Poor Kevin ….
Richard Ryan says:

March 23, 2013 at 5:59 PM

SUICIDE? Iain, Do you have this problem in your family. Myself the suicide vest, does a better job,—–take Iraq as an example, just ask the terrorist—the latest fashion in warfare
Richard Ryan says:

March 23, 2013 at 6:08 PM

OR Maybe chemical warfare as in Vietnam, Agent Orange kindly donated by the Americans, who were in turn badly humbled there. Oh yes the Americans know all about chemical warfare. Seen a lot of the effects of that there. Shalom.
Richard Ryan says:

March 23, 2013 at 6:18 PM

No it was not the carbon tax that caused the birth defects there in Vietnam, it was AGENT ORANGE, thanks to the Americans Invaders.
Richard Ryan says:

March 23, 2013 at 6:24 PM

AS for the election it is six months away, I just live one day at a time—–we may have another world war yet, World War 111,
Iain Hall says:

March 23, 2013 at 6:51 PM

Richard
You need to go back on your Meds MATE!
Richard Ryan says:

March 23, 2013 at 7:26 PM

IRAQ, Not a beep from our man of steel John Howard, 10 years on, and your mate Bolt tells us the war is won and over—dressed in his flack-jacket in the safety of the green zone. Don’t look to good there today to me, ah yes” laws are silent in war”.
GD says:

March 24, 2013 at 1:40 AM

Richard, perhaps you should ask your medico for an increased dose.
Whether you’re on or off your meds, it’s not working… 😦
Richard Ryan says:

March 24, 2013 at 6:44 AM

GD—-and what have you got to say for yourself? “Can’t use my real-name”, coz I am in the muso trade, me thinks it might affect the dollars in your wallet, come on be a real man like Ray and Iain, you do not see them hiding behind a screen name, but then the bile you pour out on the Muslims, might be a problem.
Richard Ryan says:

March 24, 2013 at 7:11 AM

YEAH GD—be a real man, post your name on the screen, for the whole world to see, what do you fear? Talking to a screen name is like speaking to a tin of baked beans.Shalom.
Iain Hall says:

March 24, 2013 at 7:22 AM

Richard
You have your little obsessions and the way you try to make every topic an excuse to give us one of your famous denunciations of either John Howard or George Bush over the Iraq war is the reason that you are not taken at all seriously by anyone. So to satisfy your obsession with the Iraq I am offering you the chance to do a guest post on the subject something between one and two thousand words ought to be enough space to make your argument. Apart from adjusting formatting and spelling I won’t edit what you write. Send it to my email and it will be promptly published
Richard Ryan says:

March 24, 2013 at 7:31 AM

Thanks Iain, will get on to that.
Iain Hall says:

March 24, 2013 at 8:05 AM
GD says:

March 24, 2013 at 8:44 AM

I’m looking forward to Richard’s guest post. Seriously, Richard, be a real man. Write something other than gibberish.
Ray Dixon says:

March 24, 2013 at 10:32 AM

The poll kind of suggests Gillard should have stepped down and let Rudd have the job back, doesn’t it? It’s hard to know what will happen from here because Rudd’s given an undertaking not to become leader under any circumstances. However, if she’s told to go …… ?