I believe in equality and justice for all, a fair and equitable society,
Paul1405,
Most people would agree with that but many don't, they want us to mollycoddle them cradle to grave at our expense. Just look at elitism that is Academia yet it is funded by us.

Indi, I was being philosophical about the billions of people in our world, not about a minuscule section of society such as academia, although I don't have a problem with such people who do perform a vital function in society.

Paul1405,
so you don't object to elitism yet you proclaim to be a socialist ?

Pelican what you obviously fail to realise is that many people use the mirror defense when under attack.

I like many I know was prepared to give Gillard a go. She destroyed much good will in minutes with her carbon tax lie.

She then spat venom at those who expressed their annoyance at her lying.

Those of us who may not have expressed our annoyance at this rather large lie, but did feel it, considered ourselves included in the target of her venom.

Naturally we threw up our mirrors, & reflected her venom back at her. With every passing day it became more obvious what a horrible person she was, & just how much hate she had for most of us.

That she became hated by many was her own doing. That most of the rest of us became disgusted with her was also her own doing. In fact I think it is fair to say that what she got was merely a pale reflection of what she projected to anyone who dared to disagree with her. She got off lightly in other words.

Dear Hasbeen,

I don't think that history will agree with your take on
things. Here's an article written by John McTernan,
a politican analyst who served as a senior advisor to
Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and Harriet Harman:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10148550/Julia-Gillard-Australian-blokes-have-done-their-country-down.html

According to McTernan the former Prime Minister "faced serial abuse
as a woman on a scale that is unprecedented in modern politics.
That negative, corrosive, and anti-woman rhetoric that Gillard
endured for so long damaged Australian politics and public opinion."

I recall her being called "deliberately barren," by a
leading member of the Opposition in 2007.
I recall her being asked on
public radio whether her partner Tim was gay, I recall the
dreadful menu that was produced at a LNP fund-raiser and as
McTernan points out the most remarkable thing about the former
PM was that in the face of this serial abuse her sense of
self, of calm, was never rocked or rattled.

Her strength was that she was a woman who believed above all
in the power of rational argument. That if you counter prejudice and
ignorance with reason and logic you can change the world.

McTernan tells us,
she was the best parliamentary performer
of her generation, male or female.
Her strongest instinct was to refuse
to let the abuse get to her. McTernan explains
that, although "the belief that everyone should be
given a "fair go" runs deep in our country - at the same time
there does exist a very powerful sense of mateship, male
values, and a male-oriented inscribed culture."

It's the tension between these two characteristics of Australian
life that was the backdrop to the former PM's time in office.

We can only trust that she has made it easier for the next
female PM. That her treatment shall be different to what
Julia Gillard had to put up with.

Foxy,

You really have some gall and more front than a Sydney bus quoting UK Labor's spinmaster, imported by Gillard as her 'director of communications' and disliked by all Australian journalists regardless of their political orientation.

What about the 457 visa system in his case? Or do you reckon there were no journalists available in Australia? Typical Gillard and Labor, one rule for others and a different one for themselves. Very foxy indeed.

That fellow was responsible for the very ill-advised and unsuccessful gender and class wars waged by ex-PM Julia Whatshername. Obviously such negative, gutter politics, beating up opponents with allegations of 'isms', eg 'sexism', appeals to your oft-demonstrated hatred of your fellow Australians and of men particularly.

However it doesn't wash with Aussies can see straight through that stuff and voted with their feet accordingly.

However, since you are forever partisan in your posts, it is worthwhile reminding you that it was your mob, the forever bitching Left, Rudd and the factions, who put Julia Whatshername's flaws into the limelight and rightly so in most cases. The smiling but always treacherous Bob Brown and the Greens she took on as her sidekicks busied themselves knee-capping her, just because. -Just because that is what the Greens do best.

What about the feminist sisterhood's role in her toppling? To take an instance, Penny Wong did alright out of it, didn't she?

The current players for the Labor leadership are reversing her policies. Julia Whatshername is best forgotten they believe and so does Labor.