Prime Minister Julia Gillard, seen here launching the new $20 million University of Sydney Centre for Carbon yesterday, is a policy lightweight according to Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison (not pictured). Picture: Robert Pozo Source: News Limited
- KRudd playing cat and mouse with PM over leadership
- Most Australians are sick of talk about the leadership
- Rudd should either challenge for the job or keep quiet
- Prime Minister Julia Gillard enjoys a poll boost
COALITION MPs have jumped on the latest opinion poll calling on Kevin Rudd to stop "stalking" the Prime Minister and accusing Julia Gillard of "sugar hit" politics.
Nationals MP Darren Chester this morning said Mr Rudd had been playing a game of cat and mouse with Julia Gillard which needed to stop.
"I think most Australians are sick and tired of the will he or won't he Kevin Rudd game," Mr Chester said.
June 24, 2010
Gillard becomes Australia's first female Prime Minister after challenging Kevin Rudd. The incident becomes known as the 'knifing' of Rudd.
August 2, 2010
The PM says it's time voters had a chance to see the "real Julia". The move backfires when people ask: if it's now time to see the real Julia, who was she before?
December 15, 2010
At least 30 asylum seekers die when their ramshackle boat breaks up after being tossed against cliffs in rough seas off Christmas Island. The incident reignites debate about boat arrivals in Australia.
January 2011
Gillard visits flood-ravaged Queensland, and is criticised by some commentators for lack of warmth. Her one-off flood levy to help Queenslanders recover is highly controversial.
February 24, 2011
Gillard breaks an election promise in announcing a carbon tax. Tony Abbott slams the announcement as "an utter betrayal of the Australian people".
March 21, 2011
Gillard cops flack when she reveals she is opposed to gay marriage and, despite being an atheist, that she thinks it's important for people to understand the Bible.
March 23, 2011
A carbon tax protest rally led by Tony Abbott in Canberra turns personal when anti-government demonstrators start chanting "ditch the bitch". Placards at the rally read "Ju-Liar" and "Bob Brown's bitch".
May 7, 2011
The Gillard Government announces it is close to signing the "Malaysia Solution". Issues surrounding human rights and unaccompanied children then dog the government.
May 18, 2011
The Prime Minister flicks the switch on the National Broadband Network on mainland Australia. Many commentators and the Opposition call it waste of money but Gillard says naysayers are out of touch.
May 30, 2011
The government suspends live exports after Four Corners exposes brutal mistreatment of Australian cattle in Indonesian slaughterhouses. Pastoralists' livelihoods suffer as their cattle remain in limbo.
June 15, 2011
Newspoll shows support for Julia Gillard has crashed to a record low of just 30 per cent. The figure is lower than Kevin Rudd's was when she replaced him.
September 27, 2011
Kevin Rudd adds fuel to leadership speculation when he makes a gaffe on ABC Radio: "I'm a very happy little vegemite being prime minister ... being foreign minister of Australia."
November 23, 2011
The mining tax is passed after parliament sits late into the night. The Opposition vows to repeal the tax if elected and accuses the Government of secretive "backdoor deals".
November 24, 2011
Canberra is stunned by a deal installing Peter Slipper, a member of the Queensland Liberals, as Speaker of the House of Representatives. It shores up the government's numbers but the ousting of Harry Jenkins, a popular and effective Speaker, is seen has harsh.
December 2, 2011
Gillard is widely criticised for "airbrushing" Kevin Rudd from ALP history at the party's National Conference in Sydney.
January 22, 2012
Gillard reneges on a deal with key independent Andrew Wilkie to introduce measures to tackle problem gambling. Wilkie pulls his support from the government in retaliation. The move puts a new complexion on the installation of Slipper as Speaker.
January 26, 2012
One of Gillard's key advisors is forced to resign after admitting he tipped off Aboriginal activists to incorrect reports that Tony Abbott wanted to close the tent embassy.
February 24, 2012
Kevin Rudd announces he will contest the leadership, saying Gillard has lost the confidence of the Australian people.
February 27, 2012
Gillard retains the top job after winning the challenge 71-31, but it comes at a cost as Mark Arbib resigns.
March 26, 2012
Queensland Labor is stunned with a landslide state election reducing the party to a rump in the parliament. Gillard says she respects the "shouted" message from voters, but rejects claims it serves as a warning to her own Government.
April 23, 2012
The PM is forced to defend her decision to appoint Peter Slipper as Speaker after allegations he abused his Cabcharge account and sexually harassed a former adviser.
April 29, 2012
Gillard accepts Craig Thompson's resignation and stands Peter Slipper aside indefinitely. She says the scandals have "crossed a line", but some commentators see it as another complete U-turn.
May 8, 2012
Voters were unconvinced by Gillard's 2012 Federal Budget offering $5 billion in cost-of-living offset measures to counteract the impact of the Carbon Tax.
May 9, 2012
Gillard said she was "deeply disturbed" that a three-year investigation by Fair Work Australia found suspended Labor MP Craig Thomson had spent almost $500,000 of union members' funds on prostitutes, fine dining, hotels, cash withdrawals, air travel and electioneering.
May 10, 2012
Gillard declared that US President Barak Obama's support for same-sex marriage would not change her own view on the issue.
June 21, 2012
About 90 asylum seekers were lost at sea after a boat capsized north-west of Christmas Island. Rescue attempts successfully pulled 109 out of the water.
June 28, 2012
A second asylum-seeking vessel sank, claiming the lives of at least four people. Merchant and naval vessels rescued 125.
August 12, 2012
Gillard was forced into a major back-down by announcing the Government would nominate Nauru and Manus Island to be reopened as offshore processing facilities for asylum seekers.
August 18, 2012
It was revealed Julia Gillard had been under investigation when she resigned from her law firm Slater and Gordon in 1995. Questions had been raised about work she had done for her then boyfriend, a union boss accused of corruption.
August 23, 2012
The Australian reveals that Gillard admitted that the entity she set up for Wilson was a slush fund to raise cash for the re-election of union officials. Gillard breaks her silence, denying any wrongdoing and declaring the story is part of a sexist internet smear campaign.
October 9, 2012
A fiery speech by Prime Minister Julia Gillard slamming Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for being a misogynist gains global attention.
November 11, 2012
Wayne Hem swears in a statutory declaration that he made the Gillard payment and other payments after being instructed to do so by Bruce Wilson.
November 15, 2012
The Australian reveals that former AWU official Helmut Gries, who first raised concerns that union money may have been spent on Gillard's renovations, now doubts that version of events.
January 28, 2013
First bloke Tim Mathieson attracts the wrong sort of attention for the following comment: "We can get a blood test for (prostate cancer), but the digital examination is the only true way to get a correct reading on your prostate, so make sure you go and do that, and perhaps look for a small Asian female doctor is probably the best way."
January 30, 2013
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces a September 14 election date, initiating one of the longest campaigns in Australian history.
January 31, 2103
Former Labor MP Craig Thomson is arrested at his electoral office on the NSW Central Coast and is charged with 150 offences relating to allegedly fraudulent use of union funds at the Health Services Union.
February 2, 2013
Ministers Nicola Roxon and Chris Evans announce their resignations ahead of the election.
February 19, 2013
Greens leader Christine Milne announces the end of her party's minority government agreement with Labor over its failed mining tax. The Greens will continue to offer supply until the September election.
February 26, 2013
A Newspoll published in The Australian shows a five-point drop in support for Julia Gillard as preferred Prime Minister, giving Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a four point lead of 40 to 36 per cent. Last November, Ms Gillard enjoyed a 14-point lead in the preferred PM stakes.
"I mean he's gone from playing with her like she’s a mouse and he's a cat just whacking her around from time to time, now he’s just stalking her from a distance.
Leaders toast 100 years of Canberra
"This is ridiculous. If Kevin Rudd wants to challenge the Prime Minister he should challenge now and get it over and done with otherwise he should just go back to being the member for Griffith and conduct his business in his own electorate."
John Kerry looks forward to Canberra trip
Mr Chester also called for the tone of public debate to be lifted in regards to Julia Gillard.
"I believe we need to lay off the Prime Minister and the personal attacks," he said.
"It's not Australian to continue to comment in a vicious and personal manner about the Prime Minister. I think we need to focus on the policies, and I think the Australian people can learn a lot more about a dignified debate and I think the members in this place have to lead the way.
"As I have travelled throughout my electorate and in Western Australia I was disappointed to hear comments along the lines of we hope she doesn’t make it to the next election and I think it’s extremely sad for the Australian people and we’ve got to lay off the personal attacks."
Labor today had a three point bounce in its primary vote in the latest Newspoll to 34 per cent.
Julia Gillard also returned as preferred prime minister at 42 per cent over Tony Abbott’s 38 per cent.
But the issue of leadership still looms with the polling, published in News Limited’s The Australian, showing Labor's primary vote would be at an election winning position of 47 per cent if Mr Rudd was returned as the party's leader.
However, Newspoll CEO Martin O'Shannessy says the government faces a big task to win the September 14 election.
"Julia Gillard has had a number of bounces that haven't been sustained," he told Sky News.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said Julia Gillard "governed in stunts" and accused her week-long trip to Western Sydney last week of being as such.
"The Prime Minister is in a panic room and she makes decision as if she is in a panic room," Mr Morrison said.
"She engages in sugar hit politics, there will be sugar hits but what the country needs is good policy."
Opposition chief whip Warren Entsch told News Limited Labor should "bring on an election".
He said he wasn't concerned about the politics between Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard but that "this government is an absolute disaster".
Labor today sought to downplay the Newspoll jump and said they were focused on governing not on opinion polls.
"What the Australian people want to hear and will get from this government is a conversation about them, not a conversation about ourselves," Cabinet minister Craig Emerson said.
"While ever we're talking about and implementing polices for the Australian people they respond positively."
Canberra MP Andrew Leigh said Australians were sick of polls.
"The majority of Australians are hanging up on pollsters," he said.
"I am entirely unfocused on polls."
Tertiary Education Minister Chris Bowen, who supported Mr Rudd in a leadership ballot a year ago, is not backing any change at the top now.
"This matter was resolved last February," he told ABC radio.
"We've got to just stay focussed on the job of governing."
Meanwhile the Greens' poor result in the West Australian state election at the weekend showed the minor party's days were numbered, he said.
WA Greens senator Scott Ludlam appeared to agree, following the swing of almost four per cent against the party that cut its representation in the WA upper house by half.
"It comes down to preferences and that makes me extremely uncomfortable," he said.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét