Can Ms Gillard cling onto her seat of power?
It seems as though the parental leave leak that put Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the defensive may have cost her the election after all.
Recent polls undertaken by Nielsen show that support for the Labour Party plummeted to 48%, behind the opposition who led by 52%. Previously Ms Gillard had done extremely well in popularity polls, but the leak and government in-fighting may have turned public opinion against Australia’s first woman PM.
The accusations of governmental in-fighting stems from the source of the leak that revealed Ms Gillard at first raised objections to paid parental leave in Australia and pension rises. Sources pointed to a cabinet leak although Ms Gillard would not speculate on the rumour. Now some are pointing the finger of blame squarely at Mr Kevin Rudd who was replaced by Ms Gillard.
It has been said, notably by the Sydney Morning Herald, that Mr Rudd is seething about the way he was replaced and feels betrayed by the woman who once announced that she had no intention of standing for Prime Minister. There were talks of a deal struck between Gillard and Rudd that she later went back on. Of course this is all mere speculation and rumour, but these reports do not help popularity contests when it comes to the election.
There are still three weeks to go before polling day, but judging by the latest results Ms Gillard is not guaranteed to have an easy ride. This all seems horribly reminiscent of Britain’s pre-election campaigns when Gordon Brown’s ‘bigot-gate’ scandal appeared to cost him the election. Polls at the time showed a Tory victory but the results were divided, giving the Tories a small majority but not enough for them to claim victory. The country experienced a hung Parliament for the first time in over 30 years.
Will Australia go down the same route? Well there’s still everything to play for, but Ms Gillard had better have some tricks up her sleeve to boost her failing popularity with the voters.
As far as immigration in Australia is concerned, both parties have pledged to cut back on immigration numbers in the future, but Tony Abbott has gone a step further in committing to process all refugee’s offshore and even use the army to turn back boats full of asylum seekers. Annual immigration would be cut from 300,000 to just 170,000 to reduce the growing population, yet in an ironic twist Mr Abbott has also stated that he wants to see the country’s birth rate rise as it was “significantly below replacement level”. A strange thing to say when criticising a growing population that is apparently unsustainable.
But didn’t Mr Abbott also famously say that you cannot trust everything a politician says?
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One Response to “Gillard May Lose Australian Election”
Comment by Ken Harper — August 2, 2010 @ 6:19 pm
In the Uk we are appalled at the sexist nature of Australian political debate in this election. It seems Aussies are only interested in Ms Gillards fashion sense, her partner’s lack of support in the camapaign and the fact that she is childless. When are you lot going to grow up and join the 21st Century?