Tag Archive for: Julia Gillard

Panda-prodders versus panda-huggers

 Former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd giving a speech at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, marking the half way point of Imagine Australia, the Year of Australian Culture in China. 4 November 2010.Only five years ago, it was possible to categorise Canberra’s clash over China as setting Oz dragon-slayers against Oz panda-huggers. The differences within Canberra were mild and muted compared with those in Washington, but we did have the makings of a real set of open arguments between hawks and doves. Since then, the questions have kept getting bigger while the sharpness of the language has softened.

No longer is it panda-huggers versus dragon-slayers. Today, geopolitical correctness reigns. The Canberra contest has become one of nuance—between panda-prodders and panda-huggers. Read more

Of Kevin, Julia and Tony: maddies, straights and fixers

Lieutenant Commander Shane Doolin, Commanding Officer of Aware Two explains the equipment on the bridge to the Hon Tony Abbott MP and Mrs Natasha Griggs MP prior to departure from HMAS Coonawarra basin on board HMAS Glenelg.

To paraphrase Julia Gillard in her farewell press conference, the three categories of ‘maddy’, ‘straight’ and ‘fixer’ do not explain everything about political leaders, but nor do they explain nothing.

As the previous column said, we’re indebted to the British politician Tony Benn for getting an immense amount of truth into one dazzling sentence: ‘All political leaders, irrespective of party, political system, country or period in history, come in one of three categories—straight men, fixers and maddies.’ This model helps us reach towards the truth Walter Lippmann uttered long ago: the supreme qualification for high office is temperament, not intellect. Accepting Lippmann’s assessment, the question becomes what we can know of a leader’s temperament and how that will drive his or her judgement and performance? Read more

Rudd as ‘straight’, Julia as ‘fixer’….and Tony?

PM Kevin Rudd

Politicians can be divided into ‘straights’, ‘fixers’ and ‘maddies’. This ‘simple but dazzling insight’ from the British politician Tony Benn is one of those lightning bolts that light up a vast landscape. And even explain a few things.

Consider the application of this flash of explanation to a strange moment in Australian politics. Kevin Rudd is a straight. Julia Gillard is a fixer. And Tony Abbott? Before applying the labels, turn to the definition and description of the categories. The central truth of such attempts at understanding leaders is that the focus is on personality as much as policy. This is an act of division and designation that many have tried. Read more