Nicola Roxon is very much in the news for using the John Button Memorial Lecture to indulge in some rather nasty and shameless office politics, cat-calling ex-PM Kevin Rudd a "bastard"(?!).

The ex-Attorney-General, whose vendetta has no room for democracy has called upon Rudd to resign and leave the Parliament. So much for the electors put him there.

In the private sector such behaviour is taken as very poor form indeed. Particularly where the offender had previously received a generous golden handshake, and would guarantee that the s/he would never be considered seriously for a job anywhere ever again.

Nicola is good mates with Julia Whatshername, who had words recently too.

What will be ALP Leader Bill Shorten's reaction? What should his reaction be? Because the wounds are wide open still. Will Bill be firm or limp for the benefit of the Party? Or will it be another case of 'Whatever she says'?

i tried to listen..to her
all i saw was churlish..not girlish

sour grapes cause she lost one of her agenda point scores
[mental health]..ok so kevin..is a dikk..she just out chikked him..because he peeved at yet more of her agenda

[putting the smokers off side..
pre election..has to/be worth 2%..of the vote]

when..the whole thing..was a colluded lie

social cost[32 billion..bulldust*

its..NOWHERE NEAR THE TRUE hospital cost[800..MILLION..
but that lying ..bitter $cabies biter..just wanted her revenge..[paid back..every /gift/entitlement/bribe in full..to her lobby masters..

and got it..by selling out
to green/greed/green eyed agenda..who run..the boys club numbers game

she alone..broke the budget..plus was
directly responsible..for many new taxes

bill..lol..he backed her every step
thus..no..cant say nothing

what a silly topic..

she..won near everything she wanted..yet still has sour grapes
a poor example of woman-hood?..

no..just poor person-hood..
poor judgment..and spite full..person-hoody-ness

Not the sort of surprise present the new ALP Leader Bill Shorten would have wanted.

There is bad blood. The hatreds run deep and long. Those are the facts.

Bill Shorten must do something, but what? Firm or limp?

Pontification by ex pollies is pretty much the norm.
Ex is what they are and should be treated as such. They have run their race no matter what brand they are.
Entertainment value is about it, that is of course if one finds the rantings of an ex pollie entertaining.
Who really cares ?
SD

It was ex-PM Julia, then Maxine McKew, a minister in both Rudd and Gillard governmnents, and now the former Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon.

McKew
http://tinyurl.com/k9bzpc5

Factional strife with an overlay.

OTB,

The only thing worse than a current pollie is a past pollie.
They are all tarred with the same brush, past and present, with very few exceptions.
The saving grace is we can have a change every three years, pity they do not have a 3 month probation period. Most wouldn't get past that.
As regard your reference to the women pollies, maybe the old adage applies. 'Women can keep secrets it just takes more of them to do it.'
It's all good fun and not to be taken too seriously.

SD

Shaggy Dog,

It is always pleasant to encounter dry wit and I thank you for it.

You are right of course.

I have to say that I find it laughable that these Labor members thought it a great idea "twice" to take advantage of Rudd's popularity in the electorate and to make use of him to "lead" them in elections.

If these people regarded him as such a bastard, why did they put themselves up for election under him and, by definition, support his leadership?

I have a problem with pollies abusing past leaders, only after they're employed them as attractive fodder for votes.

And that's beside the once again ridiculous situation of Labor fighting internally in front of the cameras.

Yes, yes, hypocrisy is the glue that holds politics together, whether it be Gillard delivering her misogyny speech on the same day as legislation was passed to a pauperize single parents - most of whom are women - or whether it's sour grapes from the post-election wings.

it is obvious Labour has learn't nothing. They are still blaming personalities for their loss instead of lies and incompetance. Still they are trying to 'sell 'their story as if promising billions on education and disabilities knowing that they had deliverted on no other promises in 5 years is a good legacy.

Poirot I mostly agree with the points you made.

Overall I'd have had a lot more respect for Roxon's comments if they had been made while the party didn't need Rudds vote to hold office.

I've not seen any reason to doubt the truth of what I've heard of Roxon's comments but I suspect Labor might have saved themselves a lot of grief if they had been upfront about that stuff when Rudd was sacked as PM rather than leaving it to whisper campaigns and letting Rudd carry on with the alleged destabilisatiin campaign.

At the same time parts of it are not all that different to the Libs not going public about their concerns with Slipper until he had swapped his loyalties although I have the impression that they had started moves to have him kicked out of the party or disendorsed (not certain of that) before that change occurred and while there was a chance they might still need his vote.

R0bert

I agree with OUG in that politicians are politicians, whether they are male or female.
Roxon's rant has nothing to do with her gender and everything to do with the sour grapes that persist in the Labor party.

The sourest grape was undoubtedly Rudd, with his thunderous face and petty remarks after his party threw him out in favour of Gillard.
She never had a chance with him in the background.
She has shown more dignity with her retreat from the top job than Rudd could ever dream of.

Labor had better watch out that the backstabbing doesn't continue, with people like Rudd and Roxon still whinging from the sidelines.
I think they should have sacked the lot of them and started again!

Everyone has the right to express their opinions. If Roxon feels that way about Rudd, she has every right to say it.

Yeah, it's a great strategy for keeping your party in Opposition.

By electing Shortarse, they guaranteed a considerably longer stint in opposition!

No one should have to keep quiet if they feel that things need to be said. After they are out of the rat-race, and what they have to say won’t affect their future too much, then that is the time to say it.

And let’s face it; what Roxon said is by all accounts pretty damn close to the truth.

It is relevant that Nicola Roxon is an ex-senior minister and a previous federal Attorney-General at that.

If (say) you had chaired the selection committee that had chosen Ms Roxon above all others for that position you would be putting that file in the safe and keeping a low profile, wouldn't you?

I'm afraid its just more of the same from this incompetent (now opposition) party.

Bill is caught between a rock and a hard place, as on the one hand Rudd is clearly hated, while on the other hand he would still be leader if the people were to have the choice, because had he been in the race, Bill and Albo would have been fighting over the crumbs because Ruddy would have won hands down.

But hey, why would the labor party care about what their members want.

It is a vein of hatred between factions that runs deep. It isn't just about Rudd.

Emily's List seems to add another dimension to the argy bargy, wheeling and dealing and of course, the usual hatred that in Labor and the unions seems to endure for decades past the grave.

An aspect of the comments about Rudd being very difficult to work with and his alleged disgusting treatment of staff which I find interesting.

After apparently removing Rudd from the top job because of his alleged erratic management style and being difficult to work with it was apparently acceptable to give him an important portfolio where yet more workers were presumably left to deal with all of those alleged faults.

Those who overthrew Rudd apparently thought it OK to foist him on others just as long as they didn't have to deal with much of it themselves.

R0bert

RObert,

You raise important matters to do with duty of care and vicarious liability. Bullying and harassment (which is often not sexual) are topical issues.

There is also the use of 'bastard' by Nicola Roxon. Very offensive. She should be modelling better.

Auditors say that the tone of any organisation is set from the top. That would include political parties and governments.

As a female I would love to get my bitch boots on and tell all you grumpy old men (don't be offended, Im pullin ya leg) that you are all wrong, but sadly I must concede that the "Lady's" need to shape up or ship out.