Elizabeth November 28th, 2007
HOWARD’S gone, Maxine triumphed and McLeod’s Daughters has been axed. Life just doesn’t get sweeter than this. Unless of course, George Bush chokes on his own foot.
But how about Julia Gillard? Hands up who wants to be president of the Julia Gillard fan club? I can’t look at that woman without wanting to burst into tears and give her a hug. Everyone’s making a big deal about her being the first female deputy PM. I think it’s far more significant that she’s in such a powerful position despite the fact she has red hair, because everyone knows that people with red hair don’t have souls. On Saturday night I was hoping Julia would say: “This is a victory for redheads, ‘rangas and carrot tops everywhere.”
…
On Sunday morning I woke and felt like a woman in love. I felt buzzy and post-coital. Do you reckon Kev got lucky? It was a full moon that night. I bet there are going to be a swag of election babies born in August — all with the middle name Kevin. I’m beside myself that I’ll be living in an Australia with a prime minister called Kev. If only we had a deputy called Narelle.
…
Saturday night felt like 10 new year’s eves. I feel as if I’ve started dating another man after being in an abusive relationship for 11 years. But who is this other man? It’s as if we’ve had an intoxicating kiss in the kitchen but still haven’t made it to the bedroom. Who knows what he’s like between the sheets. Is he really conservative or is he into kinky stuff and toys? Will he be sweet and shower me with kisses or will he be unreachable and aloof but behind closed doors like it rough. Who cares? Ding-dong the witch is dead, the fat lady has sung and it was time after all. But time for what?
via The Age
It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged on politics, and there’s just too much backstory to give to my international readers to do it justice tonight. All I’ll say is that I was pleasantly surprised by Australia for giving us a new PM, and for choosing “the devil we don’t know”. It sent a clear message to Howard that we are not prepared to sacrifice human rights, social justice and our environment for a stable economy. The times are changing, and he’s not part of the plan.
The rest of the article above is well worth reading at the source. My election weekend was a strange one, considering that I had to vote a day early and fly to Brisbane and back in 36 hours, and to miss all the TV coverage was really disappointing. This is the year that I really wanted to be in front of the TV, relishing every fallen Liberal seat and soaking in the new era before us. Instead, I quietly checked the ABC news website from my phone during Dad’s birthday dinner, and kept the news to myself.
I know that there are a lot of people who are unhappy with this result, including some of my friends and family. All I can hope is that Rudd earns the trust that we have placed in him, and that he legitimately changes their minds about Australia’s future. Five days into his leadership the terrorists aren’t at war with the unionists, and interest rates have not risen.
We’re going to be okay. We should be excited and proud of ourselves for demanding more. Now to hold Rudd accountable to all his promises, and to start repairing the damage caused by Howard’s divisive and bigoted policies.
For the first time in years I feel really positive about Australia’s place on the international political stage.
