Gillard - It's time to leave her alone...

Gillard - It's time to leave her alone...

Most Australians who read the newspaper, watch the news and listen to the radio will know that there has been a lot of commotion involving our prime minister Julia Gillard and her Carbon Tax Policy.

I'm not claiming I know the whole story nor am I trying to be sympathetic, but I just want to say that I feel sorry for the lady for constantly being targeted by the slanderous reports on the media. It makes me wonder how much of it is really true.

Firstly, a recap of the issue:
After pulling Kevin Rudd off the chair, Gillard ran for PM while telling the nation that there will be "no carbon tax under the government [she] leads". But the moment she assumed the position, she announced that she WILL introduce a Carbon Tax, leaving many voters angry and annoyed.


Understandably, the nation's angry because she broke her promise and did the exact opposite of what she promised. Her supporters turned on her, attacked her with questions and insulted her. I understand the passion and grief these people feel but some people go too far.

Yesterday, Gillard defended her Carbon Tax Policy while breaking down in tears in front of the media causing voters to accuse her of crying "crocodile tears" and doing it for "sympathy". These accusations are a little unfair. No one has the right to assume whether or not her tears are genuine unless they have definitive evidence PROVING that the tears she shed were for strategic use.

Even if she broke her promise, she doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. This isn't the first time a PM broke a promise. The only reason why this became such a big deal was because all the angry people out there fed off each others anger, egged on by the media. I admit, for a short period of time I was one of them (not that I was angry...just annoyed) but I'm starting to believe otherwise (no, not because I've been brainwashed).

So here's a few points I'd like to rant about.

But before I begin...

Disclaimer: 
1) I'm not a Carbon Tax supporter nor do I feel it's necessary.
2) I don't really favour any particular political party.
3) This is not a propaganda or a post to convince you to change your mind. 
4) I was once just as angry and critical as the people out there. That's why I understand why people are angry.
7) THIS IS A RANT so it's my PERSONAL OPINION.

Okay,  let's begin
 
1 - Just because she promised it, doesn't mean she has the power to execute it. No one is perfect.
Indeed. No one is perfect, especially when you're in parliament. People think Gillard lied to them, but are they really lies?

While defending her policy, the Prime Minister explained to the media that she had meant what she said when she stated there "will be no carbon tax". So,...let's think about it.

How many times have YOU promised something but had to break it because of unforeseen complications? Does that make YOU a liar too?

Of course not. That's silly. It just means you're a victim of Life. Things don't always go the way you want it to.

Therefore, when the Prime Minister said she DID mean what she said at the time, I believed her. I believe that at the time of her campaign, she sincerely wanted no tax.

But after the election, the power in parliament shifted towards the Greens so it wasn't up to her anymore whether or not a carbon tax will be introduced. The Green Party's power and control over the parliament forced her to break her promise and compromise with the thing she originally rejected.

Sure, a lot of people said that she did it to keep her seat as Prime Minister, but again, let's think about it. Wouldn't that be the most logic thing to do for anyone in her situation? It makes no sense for her to resign her seat as PM just so she doesn't have to go through with the carbon tax. That's not what a leader's suppose to do. Instead, she opted for the best option given to her at the time by the Greens which was the Carbon tax. Chances are, even if she did resign, the Greens would have influenced the next PM to introduce it. Besides, if she did resign, the next PM probably would have ended up being Tony Abbott and with all the rivalry going on between them, I don't think Gillard gave it a single thought.

Also remember that she's the first Female Prime Minister of Australia. That's a lot of pressure for her to be under seeing as her name will undoubtedly go down in history. Would you want to be known as THE FIRST FEMALE PM OF AUSTRALIA - Resigned within the year?

Of course, that doesn't justify what she did nor does it offer her redemption but hey, isn't she already paying the price? Enough is enough. I don't think she was TRYING to deceive the country. It sounds to me like the only mistake she made was assuming she would have the power and liberty to do what she wants. That's a mistake we've seen before in MANY previous PMs.

Kids, that's why we don't assume. It makes an ASS out of U and ME. Even so, you can't call her a liar because lying wasn't her intention. I don't think she was trying to deceive anyone. Things just got out of control.

Naturally, I could be wrong and Gillard COULD BE lying. Everything she's done so far could just be a part of her plan. I wouldn't know because I'm not her. But in the end, doesn't everything come down to what ME and YOU believe in? Whether she's a determined, scheming, lying woman or if she's just another prime minister who meant well but couldn't perform, in the end, it's just our perception of the same person. 

In the end, it comes down to what the voters believe in. A PM's worth is what the nation thinks of her. If you believe she's a lying bitch then to you she will be one. But if you have faith, then maybe you'll start to see her as someone more competent than you think.

2 - The position of Prime Minister does not entitle her to absolute power over the parliament.
As I've mentioned above, it's not up to her what policies get passed. That's not the point of a democratic government. If people want someone who has control over everything then what they're looking for is a SOVEREIGN not a Prime Minister. Sure, if Gillard was Queen Elizabeth I (they both have red hair!) and went back on her word, then sure, accuse away! But she's not. She doesn't have absolute power. 

I understand that the Prime Minister's job is to make sure his/her policies DO get passed but it's more difficult than it sounds. Just because Julia Gillard wanted no Carbon Tax doesn't mean the rest of the government will let her have her way. 

As we have seen in the past with many ex-prime ministers, a policy proposed by the head of the House of Representatives (a.k.a PM) csn be rejected by the Senate REPETITIVELY. This happened to Gough Whitlam when he was trying to push through with his policies but was constantly rejected because of the power the Opposition had over the Senate (my year 10 history is coming back to me!) creating "a deadlock". His policies continued to be rejected and nothing was passed. To the public, he was incompetent but if you were in his shoes, what COULD you have done? The whole deal ended with The Dismissal.

Of course, Gillard isn't really facing this problem at the moment but I think she's trying to avoid a situation like this by not agitating the Greens. Particularly now, seeing as Gillard's position as PM was made possible because of the Green's votes and also because the influence of the Green Party over the Senate has increased significantly following the recent election. 

House of Representatives

The Senate

Gillard told the media that the Carbon Tax was never suppose to be a PERMANENT plan for the future of Australia because she favoured the Emissions Trading Scheme (a market-based approach to reduce emissions) over the tax. But due to complications within the parliament she was forced to come to a compromise with the Greens. 

Because Gillard use to oppose the ETS, people are accusing her of using it now as an excuse for her actions. That is a possibility but wouldn't it make more sense that she just simply...changed her mind? Or are politicians born differently from the rest of us and are not subject to changing of minds? Could be. What do I know right?

The PM did say however how she hopes that with time, the Tax would open the doors to the ETS. Sounds to me like she's trying to fix her mistakes.

Let's just move on and try to do what we can with what's left? 


3 - Even if Global Warming and Climate Change isn't true, what's wrong with trying to cut pollution and save the environment? 
There's a lot of people out there who think Global Warming is rubbish. I'm neutral because I do believe that EVENTUALLY something like that would happen but I'm undecided as to whether or not it's happening NOW. Nevertheless, I hear people constantly complaining about how the fact that there's no evidence of Global Warming means that we don't have to do anything about it right now, that the Carbon Tax is unnecessary and that Gillard is wasting her time and the country's money.

In case people hadn't noticed, trying to save the environment is GOOD and even if climate change/global warming is not true, do we really need something drastic like that to happen before we start taking care of the environment? Are we so self-absorbed that we can't be bothered with something that COULD happen in the future, even if it's not immediate? 


I'm not trying to preach but environmental awareness is important! Hasn't Blade Runner taught anyone ANYTHING?  

I do agree that the Carbon Tax IS unnecessary. But why condemn the PM for wanting to save the environment even if right now, she's doing it in a way that's a little more controversial? Why can't we just have a little faith (even if she did let us down once)? 

Even if worst comes to worst she never gets through with her plans, I would cut her some slack anyway. People, if you hate her that much, don't flame or curse at her. Just calm down, bite your tongue and vote for someone else in the next election. But for now, give her a chance.  


I was skeptical about her before too and complained to my friends constantly but now that I know more, I apologise for it because it was wrong of me. I'm not trying to convince anyone that she's a good PM but what she's trying to do is NOT WRONG OR POINTLESS. In fact, I respect her for it. 

Why?

Because she's determined to do something about the environment even though all her predecessors failed to do so. SOMEONE has to take the first step and that's always the hardest thing to do. If each Prime Minister thinks..."Oh, the environment? Nah, we don't need to do that right now. The next Prime Minister can worry about it." then it will NEVER GET DONE...until one day BOOM, something does happen and then maybe it will already be too late.


What do they say? PREVENTION IS KEY.


4. The Media can be misleading! 
I thought that's pretty obvious by now. Newspaper companies need to sell papers and how do they do that? They need HEADLINE material and they need it EVERYDAY! So what do they do? They write about things that they know the public wants to hear. 
I'm not accusing of them of fabricating information but I do think that they do sometimes misinform others or exaggerate situations. What you hear is not always what you get. 
Here's a few things you need to know about the Carbon Tax (I didn't know about this until I visited the site). 

1) The main purpose of the Carbon Tax is not to tax ordinary Australians. The most impact will be on the BIG businesses and companies who uses A LOT of Carbon in their line of work. It's an attempt to make THEM cut down. 

2) For those who complain that low-income families and pensioners will suffer greatly from the tax because they won't be able to afford electricity etc; the Gillard government stated that payments to pensioners and family benefit payments will be INCREASED so that they can afford the rise in bill prices. Where does the money come from? From the Carbon Tax of course (paid by the BIG companies that use tonnes and tonnes of carbon). Not all families will benefit from this but it's a start.

3) To prevent shops from over-pricing products with carbon tax as an excuse, Gillard has introduced investigation teams to catch these instigators and fine them SEVERELY. 

Everyone seems to be blaming everything on the Carbon Tax these days. I mean, it's true that it has caused a stir in the economy but I can't help but feel that Julia is becoming the scapegoat of everything that goes wrong.

- -

Personally, if someone is to be blamed, then Bob Brown (the leader of the Green Party) should take more blame than Gillard. Afterall, he's the one behind the veil, the one with all the power. People on the net often compares him to Hitler (who also deceived the world with his ambitious causes but later became a walking nightmare). To me, this is a bit of a stretch but I can see why they would make the parallel.

For one thing, they both started their careers as someone powerless but ambitious and constantly craving for control. They both came into power bringing with them a noble cause that will "change the world". And for both of them, as soon as power was within their grasp, things started to get out of control. Negatively. 

The only thing is, Hitler achieved things Brown would probably never achieve. Hitler took the fragile, defenseless and crippled Germany under his wings helping it rise from the ashes, stronger and more powerful than it has ever been. For that, Hitler ought to be congratulated. But ofcourse his general conduct in the second half of his life was too terrible for him to be considered a great person in my eyes. Sounds kind of like Voldemort. Both had troubled childhoods, both deceived others around them, both had a terrifying period of rule with vicious followers and both tried to stamp out "impure bloodlines" but was not pure themselves. [We'll talk about this in another post soon ;D]

"For Hitler did great things. TERRIBLE! Yes...but great."

But yes, I'm straying from Bob Brown a little. All in all, he's not on par with someone like Hitler...not as GREAT nor as TERRIBLE...at least not yet. I'm sure he has his reasons for doing what he's doing, it's just that he's not revealing it just yet. I'll also reserve my judgement of him for later.

But regarding Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her Carbon Tax, well, I'm still undecided. But I do want to believe that she can make things better. For someone like her with the pressure of being the first Female Prime Minister and wanting to achieve something during her post, mistakes are understandable. 

You don't have to support her. But don't flame. Leave her alone.