Completely Unnecessary

No long waiting periods after an election in Australia - the Rudd Government was officially sworn in today. Labor voters have waited 11 and a half years for power, and boy do they have it now.

First up - ratifying Kyoto, which is highly symbolic for both climate change and, I would argue, a more general breaking of ties (or sycophantic lockstep) with the Bush government.

Also - seven women in the Cabinet, which is just awesome! Women are shockingly unrepresented in Australian politics - even given the pretty abysmal standards set in countries like the US. (I’m talking here about percentage of women involved in politics versus their 50+% of the population, so don’t go waving Pelosi or Clinton at me.) It’s great to see Rudd moving to elevate female ministers; hopefully, it will encourage more women to run for office and see more successful female candidates in the future.

People are clearly looking for change in Oz, and here’s hoping they get it. I’m a little uncomfortable with both the Federal and all the state governments now in Labor hands. I think governments work better when there is a division of power. I’d hate to see Rudd go ramming legislation down people’s throats, similar to what the Bush Admin and all Republican-controlled Congress did.

Rudd has promised to govern for ‘all Australians’ - including indigenous peoples. Let’s hope he holds to it. Someone mentioned to me the other day (or I might of read it in the paper), who better to ‘keep the bastards honest’ than the investigative journalist that now holds Mr Howard’s seat? Onwards and upwards.

It still doesn’t seem real somehow. I keep expecting Howard to be like, ‘Just kidding! I threw some kids overboard, and all immigrants go home now. And take the Aboriginals with you; we’ve opened mines on all sacred sites.’

PM Rudd Rolls Up Sleeves [Age]

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