Foxy,

A debate should be on the facts. Giving links to fact-free opinion pieces from left whinge blogs carries little to no credibility.

An example of shameful attacks by TA on Juliar would be a good start.

Shadow Minister,

You lived during those times and are fully aware of
Tony Abbott's pugnacious style to oppose the then
Prime Minister at every turn. Under him the Coalition's
"whatever it takes" approach was extraordinarily vicious and
downright dishonest. Distortions, misinformation, and
innuendo were all thrown into the mix designed to whip up
fear in the community and generate an atmosphere of chaos.
What drove the man was his hunger for power. As Tony Windsor
stated at the time, "That man would sell his arse to be PM."

Diverting from its usual practice for the Opposition to hold
the government and ministers to account - instead of seeking
information and explanations - Abbott turned Question Time
in Parliament into a hectoring session against the government
and especially the Prime Minister. Abbott was relentless on her.

Frivolous censure motions, abuse of points of order,
interjections, and a barrage of heckling became standard
practice in Question Time. Abbott's strategy was to totally
disrupt Question Time.

Look, you know all this. And these facts are there on record.

I don't want to argue with you. I could go on - but as I
stated earlier - it's pointless.

Foxy, you lived in those times as well.

I'm no fan of Abbott but from my perspective much of the complaints about the criticism of Gillard involve a massive set of blinkers. People who saw no issue with the continual focus on Abbott's budgie smugglers, on his ears, on his unusual speaking style etc who were outraged at any comment on Gillards look's, dress sense, or style of speech.

Her redefinition of misogyny in that famous speech directed at Abbott was a particularly low moment in Australian political life.

Many of the same ones who were horrified at the treatment of Gillard appeared to think the comments about physical characteristic of Amanda Vanstone, Browyn Bishop etc were all fair or at least not worth objecting to.

Gillard and Abbott both played very rough when it suited. A world view that says that women should be able to go for the jugular but be treated with kid gloves by men does not fly.

I'd personally like to see much higher standards of civility across all of our political debate but I don't think that should ever involve men being required to play to an entirely different set of rules to the ones expected of women.

R0bert

Dear RObert,

I totally agree with you that there should be civil
behaviour from all of our politicians and that they
should be judged accordingly if they misbehave whether
they are male or female. However our former PM Julia
Gillard was the first female PM of Australia and
Tony Abbott's aim was to make her seem illegitimate and
obscure her government's achievements.

From day one after
the 2010 election she had the blow torch applied.
Despite Tony Abbott's predictions in 2011 that he'd live
in the Lodge by Christmas. Julia Gillard successfully
managed to navigate through the treacherous waters of a
minority government to ensure that it saw out the full
term and in the process she introduced a raft of broad
ranging policy initiatives.

I remember that Christopher Pyne never referred to our
former PM Julia Gillard as "Prime Minister," but as "she."
That was the tone set by the Coalition under Mr Abbott.
Her "Misogyny Speech," was her final reaction to all of the
extraordinarily vicious attacks from the pugnacious style
of Mr Abott whose strategy was to oppose the PM stridently
on every front. He got what he deserved. And then some.

Julia Gillard successfully managed to navigate through the treacherous waters....
Foxy,
It may have looked that way from your southern viewpoint but looking at it from the North it appeared more like Gillard muddied the waters & then they became treacherous.

individual,

I'm merely stating what I saw and read at the time.

Look at how difficult things are made for other
female politicians as well. I bet you can think
of several yourself.