Why is gillard so bad

We are told that having the most successful economy in the world is irrelevant. Of course, none of this is to excuse the various problems of the Gillard Government. But there is a point to make about the level of aggressive hysteria that currently infects mainstream commentary about this government. It cannot simply be explained by the performance of the government or the behaviour of the current prime minister.

If economic issues are what matter, then this government is performing as well, arguably better, than the Howard Government, and in much more difficult circumstances. It cannot simply be explained by the 'scandals' each government brought upon itself. Maybe you can argue that Gillard's problems with Slipper and Thompson are more serious than Howard's with, say, Mal Colson and the plethora of ministers he had to sack for breaching the code of conduct.

But the differential doesn't explain why so many commentators were willing to excuse Howard's problems but portray Gillard's as some sort of existential crisis for Australian democracy itself. And honestly, what is more serious than a government committing the nation to war on the basis of demonstrably false intelligence? Compared to that, shifting positions on a price on carbon is small potatoes.

Stripped of all the self-justifying nonsense used to maintain the rage that currently fills our newspapers and airwaves, there are three pertinent distinctions between this government and the Howard Government: it is a Labor Government, it is a minority government, and the current prime minister is a woman. Being a Labor government not only alienates the dominant right-wing media, it brings business into public discussion in a way that simply never happens with a Coalition government.

Bad behaviour by Howard was excused by a phalanx of media apologists. Policy disagreements that would have been discussed in backrooms with a Coalition government are now made the subject of multimillion dollar advertising campaigns.

The hung parliament forces the government into deal making that is nearly always interpreted as weakness by the media, and they also tend to preference stability interpreted as 'strength' over achievement. The buzzword is 'authority'. Gillard being a woman means she is judged by a different standard, and let's not pretend otherwise.

Both encounters came after the introduction of the carbon tax, which Gillard had consistently told her MPs would be the moment when the dark electoral clouds would part for the government, and only a few months after Gillard had thrashed Rudd in a caucus ballot and declared that the leadership question had been settled for all time.

And yet, Gillard managed to hang on as Labor leader for almost another year, right up until Wednesday of this week. Or maybe not. The truth is that the Australian Labor Party nationally has in the past three years experienced its most rancorous divisions since the split of the s. Unlike the period of the split, which occurred in opposition and guaranteed many more years of it, the party has endured these divisions while holding office, and the enmities have, for the most part, grown from ego rather than ideology.

If the events of the past few days are to have any meaning, they need to be seen in the context of what has happened to the Government since early There was no acknowledgement that she had lost the confidence of most of her colleagues because of her own performance. Notably, it was the advisers who had made the big mistakes. Her mistake had been to follow their advice. Gillard had been a brilliant deputy to Rudd, an earthy foil to his high-flown nerdishness.

Nor did she have the benefit of a deputy who could perform as well as she had. Indeed, in Wayne Swan she had one of the least effective communicators modern politics has seen. But there are some things that can now be said with some confidence. Ms Gillard has managed the period post prime minister better than other recent leaders since. Indeed, Gillard has grown in stature since leaving the lodge. She has judiciously weighed in on select issues, but not become the story like other attention-seeking former PMs.

On Monday, Gillard returned to parliament where she joined hundreds of others for the national apology to the victims of institutional child sex abuse. The current PM and Opposition Leader officiated proceedings but Gillard was mobbed as the person victims most wanted to meet and thank. When Gillard announced the royal commission in critics in the media slammed her.

The cruellest irony of Gillard's prime ministership was the chasm that existed between public perceptions of the first female prime minister and the views of those who worked with her closely as I did. To those who knew her at a personal level, she was regarded as warm, good-humoured, dignified, hard-working and courageous.

But among the shock jocks, and much of the population, she was viewed as a godless, childless, unmarried, lying, backstabbing witch. To understand this brutal disjuncture, a balanced appraisal is needed of Gillard's ability as a politician and the historical context of her period as prime minister.

As prime minister, she ran a disciplined, professional office. Cabinet process was strictly upheld and the massive flow of administrative and policy paperwork that moves between government departments, the prime minister's office and the PM's desk was dealt with efficiently.

She was impeccably courteous to staff, MPs, public servants and stakeholders — every person entitled to a view was given a chance to express it before a decision was made. She was generous with her time and did not rush people in the way busy leaders often do.

Female political leaders around the world describe being belittled, treated less seriously, judged on their appearance or their clothes and constantly asked how they manage family responsibilities.

Questions male politicians rarely must answer. I wish I could share their optimism, but I see few, if any, signs that Australian federal politics is improving for women. You only need read the torrid memoirs by Julia Banks and Kate Ellis for graphic accounts of very recent shocking behaviour by their male parliamentary colleagues.

Or look what happened to Julie Bishop, hounded out after being humiliated in a Liberal leadership ballot. And there is zero leadership from the top. And, something all of us can see at question time: the Prime Minister turning his back every time Tanya Plibersek approaches the dispatch box. Anne Summers gave permission to the producers of Strong Female Lead to have access to some of her papers stored in the National Library.