Alan Stokes Columnist
June 12, 2013
Julia Gillard is the gutsiest Australian politician I've seen since Gough Whitlam.
I, on the other hand, am a man who is unable to cope with a changing world. I just cannot hack someone like Gillard who is standing up strongly to all the bullies. It is entertainment to see me snapping like a rabid dog. I wear shorts to Chinese restaurants. I am a pathetically compromised Latte Leftie. I am a right-wing bigoted twat! A scum smart-ass bastard! A blaggard. Judas. All noise, no substance. Patently sexist. Don't know where I was dug up from but I should go back there.
And readers expect my next column on the Prime Minister to congratulate her on an election well won.
Well, this is my next column on Gillard and those kind words about me came from readers less than three months ago. I have left out the offensive bits in case the children are watching.
Some readers were angry when I wrote the following on February 20: ''With utmost respect … Julia Gillard, it is time for you to make your graceful, dignified, humble, selfless exit from the prime ministership.''
Gillard had done great things, was a role model for women and deserved respect for having had a red hot go, I wrote.
But as her leadership became untenable I said she knew about grieving, ''how at first you deny it's happened … Then you get angry because you did not get to do everything you wanted. Then you start bargaining - gimme just one last chance … Then you get depressed when reality sets in … Then you accept that what will be, will be.''
I regret some saw those words as uncaring. I was just trying to show the empathy I felt for Gillard. Our world views most often align; I admire her.
Granted, by quoting from my previous column I am all those rotten things listed above, plus more.
But I raise the grieving again only because at the weekend senior ABC journo Barrie Cassidy used the same ''five stages of grief'' analogy in arguing Gillard will not lead Labor to the election.
Cassidy should know. In December 1982 he pressed Bob Hawke on his plans to unseat Bill Hayden.
Hawke berated Cassidy: ''Grab hold of yourself … you are just being a bloody pest.''
Hawkie became Labor leader weeks later and duly won the March 1983 election. Cassidy became his press secretary.
Thirty years on, Cassidy has written of Gillard's fifth stage of grief: ''Does she yet accept that she can no longer head up a united party and bring out the best in the team in the critical weeks ahead?''
Acceptance would mean accepting a tap on the shoulder from a respected friend or a delegation of party elders saying ''time's up''. It would also mean losing face; giving in to a schemer like Kevin Rudd.
Gillard, to her immense credit, will not be bullied.
''Yes there's rumour-mongering and speculation. It's wasted breath,'' she said on Tuesday. ''I will certainly be leading Labor at the next election. People elect governments to do the big things our nation needs for the future, and they re-elect governments if they are achieving and getting those big things done.''
They are worthy words. Her education and disability reforms are Whitlamesque in their vision. Sadly, it is Gillard's breath being wasted.
It was telling on Tuesday when she said: ''I am the best person to lead the Labor Party.''
That is a party run by factions, apparatchiks and unions irrelevant to most people.
Notwithstanding her talents, Gillard capitalised on those party insiders to oust Rudd from the top job. Most voters have not forgiven her. They don't trust her.
Yet she still believes she is the best person to lead the party.
So, too, do the faceless men who helped get her there, as do those within Labor who have disproportionate power thanks to the party's rigged structure.
But voters do not like the party. And they do not think Gillard is the best person to lead their country.
Never has the gap been so wide between what Labor is and what the nation wants it to be. How does Australia reconcile this?
Rudd as Labor leader would be competitive with Tony Abbott; he may even save Gonski.
Crucially, Rudd would also have a popular mandate to fight the unions, apparatchiks and factions.
That's why they do not want him back.
The sad truth is Rudd is the best chance to fix Labor for democracy's sake.
If Gillard does not step down, the party will not change for yonks.
And a Third Way will have to emerge. Can't wait.
Such is life …
