After eleven-and-a-half years in government the recently deposed Liberal/National Party (LIB/NAT) Coalition is experiencing post-election blues of the worst kind. Not only were the conservatives subjected to a crushing defeat in late 2007 by a resurgent Australian Labor Party (ALP) which included Prime Minister John Howard losing his seat to Maxine McKew (only the second sitting Prime Minister in Australia to lose his seat, and the first in over 70 years), but the woes of the now Opposition have been exacerbated by a poll that shows a slump to 37% preferred party status.
In addition to this, the new Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson’s (former Education Minister and later Defence Minister) popularity has dropped further into single-digit figures from 9% down to 7%. Contrast this to Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s boost of 3% to 73% and you have a serious identity problem for the Coalition. Excuse the cliche, but the leaders are literally ‘polls-apart’.
Of course, after every big election win in Australia comes a period of grace for the newly elected government and an equally long (sometimes longer) period of soul-searching and wound-licking for the opposition.
The Rudd Labor government has already made good on some of its key election promises such as ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, holding regional Cabinet meetings and of course a long-overdue apology to Indigenous Australians over the ‘Stolen Generation’ issue. (Note: The issue of the apology requires – and deserves, further detailed commentary.) Rudd has promised to publish frequent ‘report cards’ on government performance as he launched his report on the first 100 days of the new government. It will be very interesting to see how often these reports are released well into Rudd’s term. Certainly worth keeping an eye on. Will it be the same once the ‘honeymoon period’ is over?
There is genuine good-will and optimism in Australia between the government and the people who elected it which is a welcome and refreshing step for the Australian political landscape. Let’s hope that it is not eroded through mismanagement and complacency – two ‘illnesses’ that popular governments can slowly contract with few outward sysmptoms. Just look at the collapse of the once (seemingly) invincible Howard government.
Editor.
(Statistics courtesy of: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/04/2178807.htm)
(Photograph of Kevin Rudd: Courtesy of www.geelongadvertiser.com.au)
Filed under: Australian Politics, General, World Politics
