"You might want to get up and listen to Kevin Rudd's speech."
"Mrrr?"
"Well," mum said gently, "He's not Prime Minister anymore. There was a coup."
"Mrrr!"
Some of you (okay, one or two of you) may know that I am a huge fan of Kevin Rudd. More than half of you probably have no idea who he is. Well, he is now the former Prime Minister of Australia.
Apparently during afternoon tea yesterday, the Labor party decided there'd be a leadership vote. They voted last night, and now we have a new Prime Minister.
Sure, Kevin Rudd's approval rating was dropping. Sure, he'd made a couple of unpopular decisions recently. But in terms of preferred Prime Minister between him and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, Rudd was miles ahead. They didn't need to kick him out. He was still relatively popular, and in his early days he was the most popular Prime Minister we ever had. They could have at least taken around a week to do this as is typical of such events but no, the Labor Leftists and Union people just decided to kick him out of his job with less than a day's notice. It's not fair. That is no way to treat a Prime Minister (as the opposition are making clear in Question Time, which I am currently watching, and I say good on them).
I feel betrayed by the Labor party, and I feel lied to. Julia Gillard (now our Prime Minister) has continued to pledge loyalty to Kevin Rudd and yet from what she's said, she was a key facilitator in yesterday's happenings. Wayne Swan (now Deputy Prime Minister) has also betrayed his long term friend. It used to be Julia, Wayne, Kevin and some other person whose name escapes me, and all of a sudden they just kicked him out. Now it's just three of them. Kevin Rudd has gone from Prime Minister of Australia to Member for Griffith and that upsets me. I've actually been quite effected by this, I have a sinking feeling in my chest.
Good on Kevin Rudd for showing up to Question Time today. It must have taken a lot of strength to do that. And good on him for showing emotion in his speech this morning. And good on him for all the amazing acheivements he made in his two and a half years as Prime Minister. He may not have cared much about mental health but I don't hold that against him. He was a great leader and today is a very sad day for politics in Australia.
In Tony Abbott's speech, he stated that many people will feel disillusioned by what the Labor party has done today. I think this is absolutely true. I think Labor have shot themselves in the foot. I don't know how to feel about Labor now, even though I've been a supporter since I was six (yes I got into politics really young, I was a very, very smart child). I feel disillusioned, I feel disheartened, and I feel somewhat glad I haven't sent in my forms to join the party yet. Could I really support a party that would do this to their leader while in government? I just don't know.
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