news: gillard moves further ahead in polls; abbott with more snide remarks
In what is some sweet, sweet vindication and a firm ‘fuck you’ to every Australian media journalist who labelled Prime Minister Gillard’s ‘I will not be lectured by this man’ speech as nothing more than personal abuse, playing the gender card and being calculatingly political, it has come out in that last few days that Gillard’s now internationally famous oration has seen her surge ahead in popularity polls. This is particularly satisfying in the face of a bizarre media divide that saw the Prime Minister lauded and applauded widely overseas, yet derided and criticised here in Australia. Her motives were called into question; she was labelled a hypocrite and accused of misusing the word misogynist (which has since had its official meaning changed in the Macquarie Dictionary as a result of the speech).
In the most recent Fairfax-Neilson poll, Gillard now has a 10-point margin over Abbott as preferred leader; an impressive turnaround for a leader whose party’s support rating, not even 6 months ago, was one point at an all time low. It is Gillard’s largest lead in almost two years and to rub salt in the wounds of Andrew Bolt and his ilk, the telephone poll determined more men now prefer Gillard as Prime Minister, as opposed to before the speech where she lagged behind Abbott by six percent. Not surprisingly, the poll showed a 15 percent lead among female voters.
Despite the increased support for our first female Prime Minister, the Labor Party’s preference rating is still behind the Coalition, however now only by four percent. Given not too long ago, the election was essentially declared unwinnable by Gillard and Labor, it is an impressive swing and although should an election be called today, the Opposition would still be the likely winner, it bodes well for Labor’s chances at the federal election which is due next year.
With all this support behind Gillard and the exposure of Abbott’s sexism, one would think that Abbott might reconsider how he attacks the Prime Minister and her policies. Despite members of his party, including Julie Bishop and his own wife, Margie, coming forward to reiterate that Abbott does not have a problem with women, the stigma is growing increasingly harder to shake off. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Abbott doesn’t seem to know when to quit, today making a VERY thinly veiled reference to the Prime Minister’s childlessness whilst attacking a number of budget cuts together, including a reduction in the baby bonus.
Abbott stated, in response to the cuts, ‘I think that if the Government was a bit more experienced in this area, they wouldn’t come out with glib lines like that.’ Gillard refused to discuss the comment and stated on ABC Radio that, ‘Well I think Mr Abbott can explain what he means by that’ before endorsing the cuts and reassuring listeners that they are aware many families are indeed struggling financially.
Abbott then responded by suggesting the Prime Minister had ‘read far too much into the comments’ and offered an apology, one that was fooling no one with its sincerity and humility.
If Abbott continues to tread his path of criticisms based on Gillard’s personal life and gender, he surely has to beyond expecting a positive response from voters – especially after comically disastrous media appearances such as on the 7.30 Report creating even more uncertainty regarding his capabilities as Prime Minister. He’d do well to listen to voters (and probably ignore dear old Joe Hockey, who stated, ‘I’m not sure polls are always right’).
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