Getting into a discussion about women in politics is pointless on this thread. It's happening all over the world so whether some males feel threatened by that, that's their problem. The facts are, women have to work now, most full time and if they are expected to be fully employed in the modern work place then some will be in politics and will be union officials. They are educated people.

Women can't just be told work but don't expect to take up positions of power. Julia Gillard is about the only women in the Federal Labour Government that I have any time for at all. The poe-faced Penny Wong is a Rudd puppet. So what? She knows her place and is happy being there.

Fact is, back when labour was truly socialist the party did do some really great things whether some agree or not; public housing for instance. Some Australians would never have been home owners had it not been for the introduction of public housing the people were able to buy eventually. Better working hours and conditions in the workplace, now being eroded by BOTH parties.

Some people cannot abide Paul Keating but I always thought he was one of our great politicians not to mention treasurers, looking at those past and present. Politicians just conform to party lines now and keep putting out the rhetoric.

A new party would be something would it not? I wonder if Keating could be encouraged to come out of retirement. He is none too happy with KRudd and Company. The bottom line is, I will not vote labour either state or federal at either the state or federal elections.

How nice of Kevin to pass blame to the aging population and elderly today. Nice Australia Day message Kev, young people have no respect now the aged and aging, now they are being told they should work harder than ever, as if they are not working as hard as they can now, but no, work harder to sustain the aging population.

Again, many thanks KRudd and a Happy Australia Day to you too.

It wouldn't be your back room decisions on an ETS that might, just might, be the reason for this buck pass.

And if that's not the message our Prime Minister wanted to put out for Australia Day, well think again, because that's how it's come across.

RaeBee:"Women can't just be told work but don't expect to take up positions of power."

I don't dispute that for a second. If a woman is able to rise on the basis of her achievements, good for her. If she rises on the basis of her gender I've nothing but contempt for her and the process that puts her there. Think of Anna Bligh as a supreme example of a minimally capable woman who has risen far beyond her ability thanks solely to her playing of gender politics. Karen Struthers is one of her female buddies that keeps getting promoted despite no evidence of any competence at all. Lynn Kosky, who resigned yesteday in Victoria, is another. Kristine Keneaaly in NSW couldn't run the planning ministry competently, but she's been made Premier, mostly to try to entice some women to vote for the terminally on-the-nose NSW ALP. Ability to do the job was never part of the selection criteria. Does anyone think that Julie Bishop is really the best person to be deputy to Tony Abbott? Hardly, but she is female and they need the "women's vote", so she keeps getting put up as deputy, despite her obvious lack of talent for anything other than selecting nice dresses.

Julia Gillard, although her gender was critical in her rise, is at least a very competent person and would no doubt have risen regardless. OTOH, Tanya Plibersek, Kate Ellis, Jenny Macklin are all chronic underachievers who've based their career on their gender. Wong managed the triple bonus of being female, lesbian and Asian - she HAD to get a Ministry, regardless of her capacity.

Please note, there are incompetent male ministers too, but they didn't get the job based on their gender.

RaeBee:"How nice of Kevin to pass blame to the aging population and elderly today"

I can recall the famous demographic plots from school during the 70s. What is new is that the PM is actually being honestly pragmatic in acknowledging the real reason for his support of feminism.

Anti
Trouble is if you champion the cause of disadvantaged women and they start realising their goals, they, by your definition, become just another middle class princess. Most women are middle class, not all of them with a sense of entitlement based solely on gender.

You mention Anna Bligh but you don't mention the numerous male politicians who rose to the top purely by the grace of the boys club and their position in party politics with little or no talent. If you know anything at all about Labor, you would know that women have to fight every step of the way to get through the very male dominated party machine. This is just the reality. So some of the women may not prove to be worthy by our standards, but are the men any better? Women and men face the same party pressures to conform unfortunately, and not many survive independent thought or public declarations that conflict with the party line.

RaeBee
Yes I agree, the ageing population rhetoric must be the biggest furphy ever laid on the electorate. Just watch it being used as the excuse for an increase in taxes. It was poor planning and inappropriate allocation of resources that created the problem and emphasis on growing the population will only result in a repeat of the situation later on. We are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past so it would seem.

The Blue Cross,

Lindsay Tanner was not simply an “employee” of the FCU. He did not “apply” for a job with it. He won an election for the assistant state secretary’s position in opposition to the then leadership group. He then used it to win the following election for his team. I say this simply to correct the record. I am no fan of Lindsay Tanner because he treated my friends who were actually employees of the FCU appallingly. In the end, the FCU just disappeared, a sad end to a great anti-communist union.

I am a fan of Jenny Macklin. She is a very decent person, and she is doing a good job under very difficult circumstances in continuing the intervention in the NT.

Antiseptic,

Lynne Kosky was, in fact, a very competent minister. She inherited the mess in transport. Prior to that, she played a significant role in rebuilding the education system of Victoria after the dreadful 1992-99 period.

"Wong managed the triple bonus of being female, lesbian and Asian - she HAD to get a Ministry, regardless of her capacity".

It is very easy to sit online and anonymously fire off cow-pats at public individuals from a safe distance. The reality is though, whatever people think of Penny Wong's position on issues (myself included), it is clear that she is no political light weight and is there by virtue of her brains and toughness, and that is what needed in politics.

Antiseptic on the other hand is no-where except on OOL firing of anti-feminist and anti-women barbs and those missives miss rather pathetically more often than not. Glad that it's Penny in the job rather than him.