JULIA Gillard obviously think gender sells in politics.
Forget the drowned boat people, the busted Budget, the never-never promises of the national disability scheme and the Gonski “reforms” – concentrate on the gender wars.
Like the student politician she was and remains, Gillard is still firmly fixed on below-the-belt issues.
Last week she assembled a small band of feminist activists to launch Women for Gillard.
The idea was stolen from the Us where a group was brought together to give US President Barak Obama a feminine cheer squad – he had so few women in any power positions around him.
The Australian version held a closed meeting with Gillard which was filmed by a hand-picked crew – nothing unscripted here – and the vision later distributed to the media.
So much for openness and transparency.
But it now emerges that Chloe Bryce, daughter of Governor General Quentin Bryce and the woman Labor Minister Bill Shorten left his first wife for, if to be president of the new Labor wimmin’s front group.
What a dumb idea.
No matter how beguiling Ms Bryce Jnr may be, there is no escaping the perception that one of the really rotten things about Gillard Labor and Gillard’s own political life is the constant reminder of the incestuous nature of her relationships.
When the AWU scandal hit the press – and it has not gone away by any means despite what Gillard has said – it became clear that the senior law figures she was closest to or answered to at her former Labor law firm Victoria’s Slater & Gordon had been promoted to high-paying federal government jobs.
Nothing wrong with promotion on merit but senior public servants claim that Cabinet appears to have been unaware of the candidates’ prior association Gillard when their names were put forward.
Then there is the slush fund she set up for her former union boss boyfriend.
All too cosy, too much family.
Ms Bryce Jnr has apparently responded to Gillard’s claim that “Labor is the party of women”.
That catchcry didn’t resonate too well with Labor men who dropped their support for Gillard, according to the Nielsen poll.
Then Gillard tried to make a political point about abortion – in breach of the long standing convention between the major parties not to politicise what most Australians believe should be a private matter for women.
Gillard sees it as an opportunity to highlight what she claims are Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s views on the topic – though she isn’t above verballing him in the process.
Abbott’s view is the same as former US President Bill Clinton- that abortion should be safe, legal and rare.
Attacking men and bringing abortion into play cost Labor 7 percentage points among men and a 1 per cent increase among women.
Wipeout.
Chloe Bryce may be her own woman but voters will link her to Bill Shorten for the simple reason they are married.
Shorten has said he will agree with Gillard no matter what she says, even when he doesn’t know what she has said.
He was one of the principals responsible for axing former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Cosy, isn’t it?
If Labor thinks the electorate will warm to it over the next 88 days while this monkey shine continues, good luck.
Even the Labor wimmin might follow the outcast Labor men and walk away from the wreckage.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/piersakerman/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/gillard_sex_assault_flops/
