How was your night last night? Did you go out for dinner, or watch a movie? Bad move. Last night’s ‘leadership spill’ was an epic political moment if I ever did witness one. I’m not going to delve too much into politics itself a) because I’m a political no-brainer and b) I don’t want to make a fool out of myself. But I am going to delve into the politics of the politics of the last 24 or so hours. Let’s break it down.
8.30pm(ish) 23 June 2010- Twitter starts
A friend tweets this. Automatically, I think about the BP oil spill. But no, I find on the skynews website there is going to be a leadership spill.
Uh oh, welcome to the world wind that is Australian politics.
9pm 23 June 2010-It becomes clear
Through newsbreaks, twitter and the Sky News website it all becomes apparent. It’s a leadership spill and basically that means Australia could have its first female PM. Just over two year ago Kevin ’07 was one of, if not the most popular PM (my brother says since Whitlam). Wow. How did it all go so wrong? How did the cool PM that went on shows like Rove go from hero to zero? That’s what happens when you try to fool your public, that’s what happens when you don’t deliver. The Australian public can be a volatile bunch.
10.20pm(ish) 23 June 2010- Rudd’s speech
Just to recap- politics aren’t my thing. But I sat up straight, listened intently and was 100% without a doubt impressed with Rudd’s speech. He was strong and determined and should have sounded like this throughout his entire term. Laurie Oakes reports that afterwards, Rudd breaks down.
Late 23 June 2010- The aftermath
Twitter’s going into melt down, new coverage is going bonkers and my hearts finally recovered. I’m confused and full of adrenaline.
What does it all mean? Check THIS out for a 2 min cheat sheet on what’s going on.
8.00am 24 June 2010- Leading up to
News coverage is bonkers (still) and everyone is discussing the possibilities. A hot topic- What’s Julia Gillard’s partner Tim going be called? Overwhelming support for ‘First Bloke’.
9am 24 June 2010- The vote begins
Or so we think…
9.24am 24 June 2010- No ballot?
Ben Fordham just revealed that a journo from The Australian has tweeted that Rudd has given Gillard the PM spot; no ballot vote. (I wonder what Barry Hall thinks?- Remember when she Gillard said "there's more chance I'll line up at full forward for the Dogs than topple Kevin Rudd")
9.34am 24 June 2010- Australia’s new PM
The federal secretary reveals Gillard was appointed PM unopposed; Wayne Swan elected Dep. PM unopposed. This means THERE WAS NO VOTE: Rudd handed it over to Gillard.
What happens now; we’ll have to wait and see. Personally, I think the Labor party have just secured the next election. Tony Abbott must be shaking in his boots.
(Julia Gillard should be having her first press conference as PM... any second... now)
Awesome post Morgs. When I went on Twitter last I was like WTF?!? There were all these tweets about who is going to be PM. I totally missed it on the telly.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to respect Rudd for handing it over. He didn't want to drag it out.
First female PM, awesome.