Last year, when I traveled back to Australia for a family visit, I was able to get a first-hand feel for how voters on the ground and people in general truly think. And I was in for a few surprises.
Perhaps the first surprise was the amount of contempt that voters across the board, regardless of whether they consider themselves Labor or Liberal voters. The economy in Australia has been largely spared of the Great Recession that US and Europe has suffered (and are still suffering), and it's still going quite strong, given the strong demands for commodities from emerging markets like China. One would have thought that general public should feel quite good about themselves, shouldn't they. But no, they are generally more prone to complaints, like the inflation and outrageous property market that is still in a rage. By jove, when people ridicule the more than US$4 dollar a cup of coffee from Starbucks, one should be made aware of the fact that a A$3.50 a cup of just plain vanilla coffee in Sydney is the norm.
The media really does their best too, to play the voters' general belief of rampant inflation, into the carbon tax that Julia Gillard has helped introduced - a reneg on a campaign promise that some considered as cardinal sin. But is it really? Public opinion has it that, the carbon tax is going to make inflation worse, all thanks to Gillard.
And then there is the issue of Kevin Rudd who's been hanging over her head since the day she deposed him in a Labor leadership challenge. Rudd has never been able to settle with being a foreign minister after getting unseated from the top job as prime minster (PM). So now, he's doing the same thing to Gillard, mounting a leadership challenge to her. While his failure again in reclaiming the PM mantel, it only serves to fan the dissent.
While I don't have any love lost with Gillard as the PM, I do get the feeling that some of the blame that aren't really deserving. True to form, sexism has played a part as well. In particular, I don't understand why so many of the Aussie folks I talked to brought up the personal life or the outward appearance of Gillard as sticky issues. I must admit that, to a certain extent, I almost feel like Australia has moved backwards in that sense.
I have considered Australia to be a progressive country that is open (and open-minded enough). But talks after talks, people have criticized Gillard for having a unmarried, live-in partner, or the fact that she has no children ("she could not have understood family issues or values"), or the way in which she talks ("she doesn't talk as if she shows any emotions"), and the like. I thought, why are these general public playing into the hands of the media, and regurgitate the lines that the media has pumped into them? To be honest, I feel almost offended as I heard more of the same type of non-arguments.
The way that it's going, even though Gillard survives the leadership challenge from Rudd within her own Labor Party, her days are numbered since no one expects her to be able to win in a general election (unless some miracle happens). As a woman voter, I feel dismayed that Australia seems to be going backwards. While I don't normally judge any candidate based on their gender or race, I can't help but feel that most Australian voters are not in my camp. Afterall, Julia Gillard is not Hillary Clinton (who is still a galvanizing force within the Democratic Party in US and is held in very high regard).
Although I would love to see Australia moving in that progressive direction, I'm having serious doubts that I would see this happening in my lifetime. Afterall, Australians in general seem to be still in love with traditions (hello, British royal family) and everything that comes with it. I doubt if Australians can handle a Margaret Thatcher within their midst.
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