Surreal touch to leader switch

When Prof Peter Robertson, an economist at the University of Western Australia, flew out of Perth on Wednesday night, bound for New Zealand, Kevin Rudd was still the Australian Prime Minister and Julia Gillard his deputy.

Prof Robertson, a University of Otago graduate, knew the two Australian leaders had been having lengthy talks but, when his aircraft took off at 9.30pm, was unaware that a leadership challenge was imminent.

After a six-hour flight to Auckland, a flight south via Christchurch, and hours waiting in airports, it was not until he reached Dunedin, the city of his birth, at 12.30pm yesterday, that he learned Ms Gillard had succeeded Mr Rudd.

"I was surprised to hear that the whole thing had changed."

Events seemed slightly surrealistic for him, given the hours of travel and limited sleep along the way.

Adding to that impression, he had even watched some of Alice in Wonderland, the Tim Burton-directed fantasy adventure movie, during his trip.

The most surprising thing for him was just how fast the leadership change had happened.

Perhaps the Australian Labor Party had "learned from the Opposition" and did not want to endure the lengthy leadership challenges that had dogged former prime minister John Howard and former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull - the latter recently replaced by Tony Abbott.

Key factors behind the leadership change had included a backlash from idealists over Mr Rudd's sudden move to defer a carbon tax, and the unpopularity of the proposed 40% mining tax, to affect 70% of Australia's exports, he said.

Prof Robertson is staying with his parents, Bevin and Inez Robertson, at their Mosgiel home, and is back in Dunedin to give a speech on China's economic transformation, at the University of Otago's latest annual Foreign Policy School, which starts today.

Prof Marian Simms, the Australian-born former head of the Otago University politics department, predicted that "a fascinating few months" lay ahead in Australian politics, with the expectation some Government policies, such as on climate change, the mining tax and refugee matters, would be changing.

Prof Simms, who last year returned to Australia and became head of the School of History Heritage and Society at Deakin University, Melbourne, has written extensively on Australian politics and on "Women's Political Leadership in Australia and New Zealand".

Former prime minister Helen Clark and Julia Gillard were "admired by both women and men for their intellectual attributes and political talents".

Both also had a "measured calm demeanour" and were "equally capable of talking tough", she said.

 

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