New boss same as old boss? (Or steady as she goes Julia.)

By REGINALD RENAGI

 

So what's new in Australian politics? 

Julia Gillard is the new boss now but what can she do different from her old boss?

 As the old pop song goes... 'new boss same as old boss', and many wonder whether Julia will be any different or will she be the same as her old boss, Kevin Rudd. 

 Some sections of the Australian public think this way because Gillard is also seen as the co-drafter with the man she dethroned of key ALP policies.

 Some of these policies have been the main cause of former PM Kevin Rudd's diminishing popularity in recent times.

 So Julia is equally guilty by association and should take part of the blame for Kevin's drop in ratings by opinion polls.

 She played the loyal deputy's role very well whenever she was given a chance to appear on breakfast TV shows during studio debating sessions one-on-one with opposition leader, Tony Abbort.

Both looked liked good mates on the surface but Julia struck me as a more shrewd and calculating pollie not to be trifled with, as Kevin Rudd found out recently.

As deputy PM, Gillard looked good to viewers when defending her government's policies against prevailing public criticisms.

Gillard accounted herself well in the public's eye on national TV while her boss's popularity slump as he refrained from constructively engaging with a concerned public.

The opinion polls subsequently convinced Julia to make her historic move a fortnight ago to oust one of Australia's most popular PM in recent years.

Her reason?

The country needed strong leadership to move it forward and Labor was not doing that well and might prove much worse come election time. 

ALP stalwarts broke poor Kevin's career as PM so Julia can rebuild Labor's wavering public support as inside power brokers felt the party would have a better chance of winning with her in the coming polls this year.  

So will the new PM make some real changes or will it be 'steady as she goes Julia?'

 I think it will be the former. Gillard will try very hard with her new cabinet team to try and regain Labor's popularity slump.

 Labor will in the short time it has under Julia Gillard to build up public support and trust before the elections.

 So what key policy changes will she make for the ALP? 

 Key ALP policies will remain very much intact except the ones that are controversial with the Australian public like the new Mining tax slapped by the former Rudd government.

Here Julia will be a more engaging PM than Kevin Rudd was in talking more with her critics and try to reach a middle ground to appease a recalcitrant industry.

Other key policy changes may be in climate change and whether to reintroduce Rudd's ETS in another form and configuration, stronger border policies, asylum seekers issue, AusAid programme with Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, Pacific Forum and possibly a relook at its future ADF troop involvement in Afghanistan.

Australia under Julia Gillard is a new sea change.

The ALP just need three new good policies now to sell to the Australian public and they just might win the election for Julia Gillard: Cut PNG aid levels to zero and instead increase trade by 100 percent, do more for indigenous Australians than before and lastly; pull Australian troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas.

Keeping troops in Afghanistan will not make Australia any safer but a very unsecure country in future.