Gillard becomes Australia’s first female PM

Australia has its first female Prime Minister after Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd at a partyroom meeting this morning.

In an unprecedented move, Ms Gillard will replace Mr Rudd less than six months out from this year’s federal election.

Once she is sworn in by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Ms Gillard will become Australia’s 27th prime minister since Federation.

Ms Gillard, a Victorian who represents the Melbourne seat of Labor, will be joined by Treasurer Wayne Swan as her deputy. Mr Swan is from Queensland, like Mr Rudd.

After the caucus meeting this morning, Ms Gillard emerged with Mr Swan by her side.

She said she was honoured to be Australia’s first female PM.

“I feel very honoured and I’ll be making a statement shortly,“ she said.

A smiling Mr Rudd emerged from the partyroom 20 minutes later with Senator John Faulkner by his side. He refused to comment to the throng of reporters which chased him back to his office.

After it became clear that Mr Rudd’s support in the ALP was evaporating, he decided against standing for the PM position this morning.

All elements of the Labor Party swung behind Ms Gillard in the face of opinion polls which show the Government still in a winning position but with dire satisfaction ratings for Mr Rudd.

The Labor Party’s returning officer for the meeting, NSW senator Michael Forshaw, said Mr Rudd, Ms Gillard and Mr Swan had given gracious speeches.

Declaring Ms Gillard would lead the Labor Party to victory at the next election, Senator Forshaw conceded the events of the past 24 hours had been tough

“This has been a difficult time for the Prime Minister and has been a difficult time for the party,” he said.

A visibly tired Senator Forshaw paid tribute to Mr Rudd.

“He led us to victory in 2007, a victory that was achieved when many people thought we still would be spending more years in opposition,” he said.

“That was a great achievement.

“We now have a new team and I’m looking confidently forward to the next election.”

Brand MHR  Gary Gray, who according to a recent Westpoll would lose his seat despite sitting on a 6.1 per cent margin, said ahead of the poll that a change was needed to turn around the Government’s electoral chances.

“It’s necessary to have both a fresh pair of hands, fresh eyes and a different approach to the management of government,” he told ABC radio.

It is understood Mr Swan will remain in the Treasury portfolio.

Source : www.thewest.com.au

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Australians caught in terror attacks

THE Federal Government is trying to confirm the identities of three Australians believed to have been killed in the Indonesian terrorist hotel blasts.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a press conference tonight that he had grave concerns for one embassy official and two other Australians in Jakarta.

Perth businessman Nathan Verity is believed to be one of the Australians killed in the bombings, which Mr Rudd described as “appalling”.

Jim Truscott, a personal friend, said Mr Verity had run a human resources and recruitment business out of Jakarta, but lived in Perth with his wife Vanessa and five-year-old son.

“He only lived in Jakarta for work. He would spend a couple of weeks in Jakarta and couple of weeks in Perth,” Mr Truscott told Fairfax Radio.

More Information  :  www.news.com.au

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Rudd signs deal to help jobless

A PLAN to help up to 124,000 retrenched workers has united the states but drawn criticism in Canberra.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed a deal with the states and territories to give intensive help to unemployed people aged over 25.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) conference in Darwin agreed to give the jobless access to government-subsidised vocational training.

Labor says the “compact with retrenched workers” will help up to 124,000 people.

“Workers who have been retrenched as a consequence of this global recession have lost their jobs through no fault of their own,” Mr Rudd said.

“Acting to support young Australians who are finding it hard to enter the labour market … represents an important intervention by government.”

Under the agreement, the Federal Government’s new employment agency Job Services Australia matches retrenched workers, aged over 25, with a path to a qualification.

The state and territories would set aside training places.

The training is for people who have been out of work since January 2009 and who are registered with a Job Services Australia provider.

The entitlement is available from now until the end of 2011.

It follows an “earn or learn” COAG agreement reached in April to make youths aged 15 to 19 undertake training and guarantee places for 20-24 year-olds in skills development.

The Rudd Government says it has invested $300 million in programs to help retrenched workers, but it did not provide a cost for the latest one.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said COAG’s new scheme would prepare Australia for economic recovery.

“We know only too well how quickly this country can find itself in a situation of serious skills shortage.”

But Opposition employment participation spokesman Andrew Southcott said training programs for the unemployed had failed when Labor last took that approach in the mid-1990s.

“Training for training’s sake, without a job at the end of it, is cruel to the unemployed,” Mr Southcott said.

“The experience around the world is that a skills-first approach for the unemployed tends to be very expensive and you have poor outcomes.”

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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Rudd plays a straight bat on Rove

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd may have been worried about his prime-time appearance alongside Bruno on Rove last night, but it appears he came through smelling of roses.

Yesterday he said on his Twitter account he was wary of appearing next to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Austrian fashion reporter, asking his followers: “Any ideas guys about how I can get out of this one?”

But after a week in which Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull spectacularly failed to secure the Prime Minister’s scalp over the fake OzCar email, Mr Rudd was always going to like his chances of a sympathetic audience on national TV.

He used an interview with Rove McManus to explain his stance on the OzCar affair, and answered the traditional “Five Questions” from the popular television personality.

Gone were the stilted colloquialisms that have been typical of Mr Rudd’s staged media performances, but McManus didn’t let the PM get away without confronting his now infamous “fair shake of the sauce bottle” remark.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

“How many times a day do you actually shake the sauce bottle?” asked the host.

Mr Rudd parried back with “not often enough,” earning the approval of many Twitterers who were watching the show.

“Sauce bottle joke – awesome! ‘Not often enough’,” said one blogger, while another said they had a “lot more respect” for Mr Rudd after his appearance.

Twitter was alive with chatter about the Prime Minister’s cameo, with topics like “Rove”, “Rudd” and “KevinRuddPM” among the most talked about on the microblogging service.

Channel 10 and the Prime Minister’s office would have both been happy with that result – Mr Rudd’s appearance on Australian television was getting as much debate as “Iranelection” and “Michaeljackson”.

While some bloggers dismissed his appearance as awkward and cringeworthy, most reactions were positive, with one lamenting the fact that Bruno did not share the stage with the PM.

Mr Rudd said he was nervous when he found out the comedian was going to be on the show, telling McManus: “Basically I’m in a state of induced panic.”

Perhaps it is lucky for Mr Rudd that they did not share the stage because Bruno’s appraisal was straight to the point: “Your Prime Minister? That guy I saw backstage? He’s so hot.”

Parliament has risen for six weeks, Mr Turnbull’s approval ratings have taken a huge dive in the wake of the OzCar affair and Rove’s audience likes the Prime Minister.

Source  :  www.abc.net.au

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Grocery Choice website scrapped

THE Rudd Government has dumped one of its key election promises, the Grocery Choice price monitoring website, after supermarkets failed to provide enough information to make the site reliable.

After a meeting today with major supermarkets, Competition Minister Craig Emerson announced that the measure – an election promise that was aimed at keeping grocery prices low – would not proceed, The Australian reported.

“Upon close examination of the data requirements for reliable price information, I have formed the view that it is not feasible to generate that information in a timely manner, “ Dr Emerson said.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The scheme had been due to be up and running next week.

The dumping of Grocery Choice comes after the Government last year abandoned FuelWatch after it was defeated in the Senate.

Mr Rudd campaigned heavily prior to the election on easing the cost-of-living pressures on working families and increasing competition in the petrol and grocery sectors.

Both FuelWatch and Grocery Choice were criticised for not putting downward pressure on prices.

Earlier this month it emerged that the consumer advocate Choice would be forced to go it alone on the website as the major supermarket chains continued to drag their feet over supplying price data.

Choice took over the running of the website from the Rudd Government, which launched it after campaigning on easing cost-of-living pressures before the election.

The $13 million site, which originally launched last August, was heavily criticised for displaying information that was too general and outdated to be useful.

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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